Chapter 101: The True Kaelos
“Merlin… do you truly wish to help these foolish insects?”
Stacie’s gaze swept over Carl, Yuna, Merlin, Alexis, Shirley, and Dilia as they crashed into her line of sight, suddenly becoming obstacles to her carefully laid plans for revenge.
Deep within Stacie, a torrent of complex emotions surged—anger, pain, and above all, a helpless sorrow tied to lost desires and shattered expectations. She had always believed that Boss Merlin stood on her side, that he would understand her if it were truly him. That conviction made the reality before her sting all the more bitter.
“Merlin!!!”
Merlin’s eyes darted to Kaelos, pinned mercilessly to the ground by shadowy tendrils. Kaelos lay flat on the cold earth, his voice faint yet urgent.
“Merlin, do not be deceived by her disguise! The figure before you is not truly Stacie—it is a mimic of the Moon’s Dark Whisperer. She is manipulating Stacie’s shadowed persona, trying to make us believe she is Stacie herself. But the real Stacie would never harm others—my sister! I know her better than anyone!”
A chill gripped Merlin’s heart, and he understood the gravity of the situation. His gaze locked once more on the twisted face before him. Stacie’s form swayed in the darkness, appearing as if it could be swallowed by the shadows at any moment.
“Defeat it. Shatter it! Do not let my sister sink further, Merlin!!!”
Kaelos remained pressed to the icy ground, pinned immovably by the shadow. His eyes tracked the corrupted form of Stacie, now overtaken by the Moon’s Dark Whisperer, and a storm of conflicting emotions churned within him.
Since childhood, his “teasing” of Stacie had never been born of cruelty. It was a twisted form of protection. Through this harshness, he hoped to convey a false sense of exclusivity to the others—that only he had the right to taunt this half-elf sister, and no one else. Stacie had been his unique responsibility back then, long before she had shown any sign of the remarkable talent she would one day wield as a fairy mage.
During their days in the Elven Forest, Kaelos had watched Stacie’s growth in silence. Though his face often bore a cruel, harsh expression, and he acted cold and unyielding before her, his heart had never stopped worrying for that fragile yet resilient soul.
“Why me?” Kaelos would often ask himself in the quiet of the night, resentment toward fate coiling tightly in his chest. If it had not been for Stacie, perhaps he could have enjoyed a carefree life in the Elven Forest, becoming a respected scion of royalty, unburdened by the tangled web of emotions he now carried.
As Stacie’s talents began to emerge more prominently, excelling in ways even Kaelos could not match, a dark, envious rot began to fester within him. He grew jealous of her success, fearing the day her power might surpass his own. Bitterly, he questioned why he had ever protected her, why he had shackled himself to this role.
Every accomplishment she achieved at the Arcane Academy sent a pang of anguish stabbing through his chest.
“I should bring her back.” In fleeting moments during their time at the academy, Kaelos entertained the thought of removing Stacie from this competitive and harsh environment, returning her to the Elven Forest—a place where everyone respected and adored him.
But even this idea was tainted with selfishness. Deep down, he could not admit it: he feared losing control over Stacie. He feared she might be harmed within the academy’s walls, just as elves in his family had always done. His protective instincts, interwoven with jealousy, formed an invisible web that bound him tightly, constraining his every thought.
Stacie’s strength had long since surpassed his own—though Kaelos refused to acknowledge it. Perhaps that was why he resorted to belittling her by her “bloodline,” clinging to the only thing he still felt he could claim superiority over.
Kaelos had already fallen into madness. The pressures of life had corroded him, and he found a perverse satisfaction in tormenting Stacie. In his mind, it became a measure of his own strength, proof that he could dominate her.
Merlin, however, knew nothing of the complicated history between Kaelos and Stacie. Even Stacie herself, at the heart of it all, had no idea of the darkness that resided within her brother.
None of that mattered to Merlin now. His only thought was to strike down this Moon’s Dark Whisperer, to wrench it from Stacie’s form and make it pay for daring to corrupt her.
The Moon’s Dark Whisperer seemed to understand that the boy before her would not hesitate due to her mimicry. Still, she pressed on, using Stacie’s voice and visage to exact a twisted sense of justice—helping this “poor thing” punish those who had once tormented her.
Before “Stacie,” the corrupted Guardian of Nature and Wind Speaker appeared.
The Guardian of Nature, once a serene embodiment of harmony and life, now radiated brutality. Its massive frame was tainted by darkness; the runes etched upon its antlers dimmed to lifeless grey, and its eyes were pitch black, as if plunged into a bottomless abyss.
The Wind Speaker, once a creature of elegance and verdant grace, had been transformed into a shadow of a crow. Its feathers bled with shades of gloom, its formerly graceful posture twisted into something menacing. Eyes blazing with instability and rage, it seemed to barely contain the fury simmering within.
Its cries were no longer melodious songs of wind—they tore through the air like rending steel, announcing its betrayal to the natural world.
Carl drew his sword. As a successor of the Sword Saint, he was not intimidated by the overwhelming presence of these two corrupted high-level fairies. Glancing briefly at Yuna and Merlin, he asked, “What’s the plan from here?”
Yuna’s eyes glimmered with fierce excitement. She stripped the bandages from her arms and retrieved her cloak and alchemical equipment from her spatial ring—gear she had worn when facing Stacie before. Twirling her wrist, frost and flames danced and spiraled around her feet.
“Didn’t expect to get the chance to reclaim the field so soon,” she said with a grin.
“Handle the Nature Guardian and Wind Speaker—I’ll take care of Stacie!”
Without hesitation, Yuna surged forward. Merlin followed closely on her heels. The Moon’s Dark Whisperer seemed unusually interested in Yuna, perhaps drawn to the indomitable spirit she radiated. After all, Yuna had once been defeated by it; normally, one would expect lingering fear.
Merlin, as Stacie’s beloved “Boss,” became the Moon’s Dark Whisperer’s target for a different reason—it wanted to savor Stacie’s terror by tormenting the one she cared about most.
The Nature Guardian and Wind Speaker maneuvered left and right, flanking and blocking the path of Carl, Alexis, Shirley, and Dilia, while allowing Stacie and Merlin to dash between them.
Alexis, pulling a shield seemingly from nowhere, braced himself against the iron-hoofed strike of the Nature Guardian. Feeling the immense force crashing toward him, he planted his feet firmly, the shield radiating a brilliant light as it absorbed the mountain-like pressure. With a resounding clang, the iron hoof slammed into his shield, pushing him slightly back—but his resolve remained unshaken, courage igniting like wildfire in his heart.