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The crunching sound rang through the forest, sending chills down the spine of those hearing it. The fairy inside the prison looked at the being emerging from the darkness.

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

The darkness covered the being from head to toe, and it rippled like a flame. It was munching on the fairy\'s head with its long, sharp teeth before it spat out its head.

"What...."

The fairy\'s body began shaking at the sudden death of its companion. It had no idea how this being slipped past their notice and how it effortlessly crushed their barrier.

Their queen blessed the fairies with a barrier that protected them from most physical and elemental attacks. However, the darkness destroyed the barrier as if it was nothing.

The head rolled on the ground to reveal the fairy\'s lifeless face—and the monster opened its jaw again to devour something ethereal coming out of its body.

"What are you?!" the imprisoned fairy shrieked with horror. However, the dark being was unbothered with it, and it didn\'t even try to devour its friend\'s body and threw it away to roll on the ground.

"I didn\'t think it would work," the dark being muttered as he crouched beside the wounded archeologist. "Do you think you can live?"

"Answer me!" the fairy said from behind him. However, it was ignored. The dark being was staring at the archeologist, who met his gaze.

"I... can..."

"Well said," the dark being stood up from his spot and turned toward the fairy. "I will help you," the being said, with his neutral voice that seemed masked. "However, you will have to give me something in return."

"I... accept..." Taly didn\'t hesitate because she knew without his help, she would die. The dark being revealed his fangs into what seemed to be a grin.

"It is time for another meal."

***

Nikolai used his darkness to hide his identity and to break through the fairy\'s barriers. One entity could be behind these fairies, but Nikolai didn\'t know why they were after the archeologist.

"Stay away!" the fairy shrieked as it slammed its body into the light bars, but it was trapped. "Let me out! I don\'t want to die! No! No!"

"I will let you out," Nikolai raised his hand again, and the darkness rippled. "Just be still," he grinned as he attacked the light, and it broke down like grass. However, his hand didn\'t stop and continued to grab the fairy\'s body, breaking through its barrier.

The darkness was the bane of elements, as long as the gods weren\'t involved. His hand grabbed the fairy of the body, which started struggling against the darkness, but it was devouring it.

"No, please, let me go, please, no. I will be good. I won\'t come back again, just don\'t kill me," it begged for its life, but Nikolai\'s jaws were unhinged.

Screams echoed through the forest as the crunching sound returned, and a body fell to the ground. Nikolai felt the euphoria of devouring a living soul as the system\'s notification appeared in front of him.

[A high-quality living soul has been devoured. The Curse of The Banished has been sated. Remaining time: 13 days, 23 hours, and 3 minutes.]

\'I gained two weeks by devouring these fairies,\' Nikolai was satisfied with his instinct to follow the light. It looked tasty, and Nikolai confirmed that it was.

After the euphoria disappeared, Nikolai remembered that he had a historian to save. When he turned around, he saw that the woman was looking at him with fear, but there was also despair.

"Do you want me to leave?"

Even though he asked, Nikolai had no intention of actually leaving. There was a reason that the fairies were after this archeologist, and he wanted to know what it was. Taly opened her mouth to say something, but she simply began coughing blood. Then, she stared at her blood before shaking her head.

"Then, we have a deal," Nikolai walked toward it as he took three potions that Sergio gave him. There wasn\'t a lot left from them.

Nikolai poured the first one on the wound in her stomach, then the one in her back, and then he made her drink the third potion. Her body began to glow as it began to heal rapidly.

"Thank... you..." when she regained some strength, Taly thanked him. Nikolai was confused because he expected her to run away when she could, not to thank him.

"I don\'t care about your gratitude," he harshly said as he crouched and grabbed the archeologist\'s hair, pulling her head back. "Tell me why these creatures were after you."

"I... don\'t know..."

"There must be something that they were after, and we both know that to be chased by such beings isn\'t an everyday occurrence. Don\'t lie to me, or I\'ll devour you too."

His mouth turned into a grin to reveal his sharp teeth, which were still covered in green blood from the fairy\'s bodies. The color of their blood came from the fact that they didn\'t need air to live, only mana, and their element was nature.

"Last month... I found something..."

The archeologist winced as she said, and Nikolai released her. A few strands of her hair fell because of his darkness, but neither of them cared about it.

"What did you find?"

  "A tablet," she said after gathering her breath. "I have yet to translate it, but I think it contains a secret. After I found the tablet, these beings began to follow me."

"How did you obtain it, but not them?" Nikolai pointed out the obvious. After all, these fairies were fast and countless, so they had a higher chance of obtaining the tablet.

"I solved a riddle," she coughed, "inside some ruins. The ruins belonged to a temple where an ancient god resided."

Nikolai looked at her blankly. There was something off because she was telling these secrets to a dark being. If anyone else met a being who could use this element, he would be running away to bring the church.

"You are lying to me," Nikolai\'s darkness exploded as a lotus appeared above him. The space began to shake because of his chaos element, and his mana was consumed rapidly.

"You are suspecting me because I told you too easily," Taly coughed again as she leaned on the tree without fear for her life. "But I learned those holy beings are more dangerous than dark beings."

His darkness paused, receding. "Why?" he asked with interest. This woman should not be lying about this because she had already proved her loath toward the gods.

"Those who believe they are right, that they are justice, are more capable of hurting others than those who do it for themselves. Therefore, holy beings are the most dangerous because they believe they are doing the right thing."

"Do you think that they are wrong?"

"There is no right or wrong," Taly laughed. "We created these concepts to help us survive. Otherwise, if everyone killed, then we would go extinct."

\'This woman is different,\' Nikolai realized as he looked at the color returning to her face. She adjusted her body to lean on the tree and look him in the eye, and Nikolai took a step back.

"The kindest queen of righteousness," Taly smiled weakly. "They say that she rules over small creatures who fly and save her worshipers in times of danger."

"I know her," Nikolai grinned, almost laughing out loud because this archeologist knew her stuff.

"Now, the kindest seem to be not so kind, and these creatures are hunting me day and night for me to give them the tablet. I can\'t break through their barrier, even after preparing, but you killed them so easily."

"You want me to protect you?"

"I want you to trust my need for you. I need you to survive, so I won\'t try to run away from you. If the gods want me dead, then the devil is my friend."

There were no words for a while because she genuinely amused Nikolai. It has been so long since he met someone interesting, and he didn\'t think that someone like this was here.

Taly.

"Your hate toward the celestial seems like an overreaction to this attempt on your life," Nikolai pointed out the obvious as his darkness calmed down. "There is a reason that you haven\'t told me."

The archeologist was quiet, and her face hardened. Nikolai almost saw himself in her eyes, and they had cynicism and hate toward life.

Then, the woman began to stand up. Her stance was unsteady as she leaned on the tree. Her hand reached out toward her shirt, and she lifted it to reveal her stomach.

"A long time ago," she said while revealing the symbol carved into her stomach. It was a giant scar in the shape of a circle and several lines connected inside it. As she traced her scar, Taly continued.. "I was an offering to the gods."