Out of the forest, the group of easy-going individuals located the source of the noise. Seeing the scene in front of them, they could only wear complicated expressions. What they found betrayed their expectations.

“Um, so is the bet nullified?” Desyra asked.

“No, you win. You see over there,” Menor pointed, “That’s a group of female bandits abducting slaves. If you wanted to add some details you could have mentioned female slaves.”

Desyra said, “But-“

“Yep, Menor is right,” Igno agreed.

“It’s plainly obvious,” Sors spoke, “Here take your prizes and go save them oracle.”

Being handed the four small bags and pushed out into the open, Desyra could only smile bitterly. As they say “Majority Rules”. Looking at the chaos in front of her, she decided to quickly open the sacks. Upon peering into the first bag, white powder exploded dying her veil white. The chance that the pouch was from Menor was high, only he would think of such a pitiful trick. The next bag held nothing, indicating it might be Igno’s, whose habit was laziness. In the third bag was acid, which was hers. With one bag left, Desyra knew that there was a high chance that Sors would rig it with a bomb.

Throwing the last bag away, it blew up a small group of people fighting. Similar to death, explosions did not care if you were innocent, dead, injured, or an immortal, it will always blow anyone up. With the reverberating ring of the high power explosive, everyone in the surroundings stopped fighting and looked over at Desyra.

The chaos that was halted, took place at a three-way dirt intersection. There was either a carriage or a caravan being attacked on each road. Attacking the vehicles were bandits and beasts. If anyone looked closely there were three different groups of bandits, indicated by what they wore. One group wore armor that lacked protection, another group wore bandanas of similar color, and the last group wore less than decent armor indicating the stereotype bandit clothes. The last group probably were knights group that was disguised as bandits. Of the three traveling groups one of them held people restrained by chains. The other two were fancy carriages with one of them having knights as escorts. Mercenaries were used as bodyguards for the last carriage and slave trader caravan. There were beasts mixed in the chaos too as they were drawn to the scent of blood.

Desyra greatly contrasted the crowd. She wore a long grey dress, black gloves, and an opaque veil. Not a single bit of skin was shown. Even when she had traveled through a dense forest there were no blemishes on her neat outfit. Except for the white powdered veil due to a certain someone. The aura she gave off did not hold the feeling of danger or caution, instead, it was of temptation.

“I bet you she’ll kill all of them,” Menor whispered.

“Of course,” Sors agreed, “No witnesses.”

“Guys, really?” said Igno.

With a flick of a wrist, she sent a pebble at a nearby beast. The pebble penetrated the beast’s head, killing it in an instant. Throwing a few more stones all the beasts met their end. To the people that inhabited the world, the beasts that Desyra killed off were some of the most fearsome monsters known to mortals of the world. Yet to people like her they were no less than free food at a buffet. When each beast was killed they would begin to float and fly towards the forest behind her. If anyone had listened carefully they would have heard someone moaning and throwing a few complaints about receiving extra work.

Conducting a curtsy, Desyra turned around to disappear into the forest. Before she could take a single step a stone flew out and killed one of the bandits, breaking the mystic trance everyone was in. As everyone regained their senses the fighting resumed.

“Bastard,” Desyra muttered.

Seeing that she was forced to participate in the fight, Desyra swiftly executed the people who were running at her. Like moths to a fire, Desyra quickly became the main target of the fight. Without a single drop of blood on her dress, she stood on the ground littered with corpses. Dusting off her hands she looked around and inquired if there were any more suicidal people.

As the surroundings became quiet, no one dared to step forward to volunteer. With a snap of a finger the ground rumbled, as if it understood hunger, the earth began to swallow the corpses and blood. The only things that were left behind were treasures and sacks of money, which began to float towards the forest also. Seeing such a scene no one dared to continue fighting.

Out from the fanciest carriage, an old but firm looking man appeared. The man wore extravagant clothes with a crown sitting on his head. Walking up to Desyra the man bowed.

“Thank you,” the man spoke, “If I may know your-“

SLASH!

Before the man could finish his sentence he was decapitated on the spot. Seeing the person they were protecting killed in cold blood, the knights attacked full of wrath.

“Wait!” Desyra shouted, “Didn’t you want him dead?”

Hearing such words, as if they were bliss, the knights froze. All of them had similar thoughts; none of them liked their king. Even if their kingdom was prosperous, the king they had was willing to indulge in luxury instead of managing his kingdom. The only reason their kingdom had not fallen was due to the brilliant nobles that knew happier people meant a better economy. While a better economy would mean more steady profits and the decrease chance of rebellions. Even though it was not completely true it was a good start.

With the king dead the knights were in a dilemma. They could not return to their kingdom nor could they run away. Returning back home would force the nobles to execute the knights for failing the king, due to tradition. They could not run away because they all had families to return to. The stereotype looking bandits were placed in the same situation. A lot of people wanted to send the king the afterlife in reality. Another problem was there were a lot of people who witnessed the king’s execution, and there was no such thing as sealed lips.

Desyra, herself, could not let information of her spread or else it would ruin her trip. After thinking for a bit she came up with a brilliant idea. She would alter the memories of everyone there. Proceeding with the plan she slowed down time to a standstill and begun. She walked up to every single person and altered their memories to ones that would benefit her the most. She planted the memories of the king being killed by a stray attack from a beast while the beasts were somehow killed. With a snap of the finger, timed sped up until it reached its normal rate. With the time resuming, all the witnesses began to question what was happening around them. The plan worked until the witnesses discovered the small inaccuracies between the scene and their memories.

Out from behind the bushes her companions laughed. Hearing them ridiculing her, she demanded them to fix the situation. Peeking their heads out from behind the bush they all questioned whether or not she was asking for a favor. Hearing such words Desyra became irritated, but before she could even speak a word, Menor causally walked out. With a gentle smile, he told her that she owed him one.

“Ok,” Desyra agreed, “Just do your thing- DON’T BLOW THIS PLACE UP!”

As she spoke Menor condensed heat energy and created a giant fireball. He intended to blow up the surrounding mile to hide their existences. It was easy, quick, and efficient. Fixing the crater of the explosion would also be simple. All he had to do was move a bit of earth and grow more plants. Doing such things would not take more than a minute.

“No witnesses,” Menor spoke.

“No! Where are your morals?”

“If you are raised as a goblin, humans are just sows.”

“…”

“If you are raised as a golem, humans are just balloons.”

“…”

“If you are raised as a demon, humans are just fodder”

“…”

“I can continue.”

“No, you can stop.”

“Well, there’s another way.”

With a frown, Desyra told him to use the other option. In truth, she did not care if the witnesses were going to be killed or not. She just wanted to mess around a bit, as she was born a demon; she had no current connections to humans. Out of all the people here, she could only feel the desire to survive. It was boring that there were no stupid expectations in the groups. The only reason that she did not want to kill the witnesses was that it would end up troublesome.

Clapping his hands, Menor yelled, “I’ll give you two options. One, you’ll give me a payment that is equal to being kept alive and having your memories altered. Two, I’ll kill you right where you stand. Everyone hear that? Ok? All of you get in a line and pile your payment over- um… there. If your payment does not consist of material substance you can come over to me and whisper your dirty little secret. Remember your life is more valuable than an object that can be lost unless it’s a memento.”

Pointing at a random spot on the ground all the witnesses ran over and placed their most prized possessions they had on them. Be it slaves, jewelry, secrets of treasure, connections, or whatnot everything was accepted. Waving his hand Menor instantly altered their memories and sent them off on their merry way. But there was a problem; the slave trader had left all their slaves in exchange for his life. There were a few bandits that were willing to go into servitude too.

Walking out of the bush, Igno asked, “What are we going to do with them?”

“You needed bodies right, It?” Sors followed behind him still harvesting the beasts, “You know for all the forms you have.”

“No, I already have enough,” Igno sighed, “Bipeds, quadrupeds, serpents, birds, fish, I have them all. I, also, have no decent affinity with anyone one of them too, so their bodies won’t be worth it.”

“So do we just kill them?” asked Desyra

“No I have a better idea,” said Menor.

Taking the time Menor got rid of the chains and bounding contracts on the slaves. After which he gave each of them, and bandits, a transparent crystal, informing them to not lose them or else they would eventually die. He then teleported all of them to random locations making sure they do not die or see each other anytime soon. Sending out a telepathic message to each of them, he told them that they need to find similar crystals of various colors that were scattered around the world. Whenever they found a crystal it would combine with theirs and would begin to glow. Once their crystal was filled with pure, white light they would achieve true freedom. But they had a time limit of five years; if they failed they would eventually die. Also, they could not steal or take crystals that belonged to or is in possession of other crystal holders if they did then they would pass on. The only problem was that everything was a giant lie. Menor had not done anything except giving them a white stone and teleported them away.

“And that is how you create a revolution,” Menor spoke to his companions.

“Or develop a disaster,” said Sors.

“I leave them to you, then.”

“Asshole,” she spoke while throwing meat at him.

With the people gone the four intruders were left with the pile of treasure next to them. Within the pile consisted of family heirlooms, tons of money, fine weapons and armor. The king’s crown was also thrown into the mix of things. Of the items there, none that could compare to what the four already possessed. Neither the less, they had no desire to carry such useless treasures.

“What about the secrets?” Igno spoke.

Menor handed Igno a piece of paper with all the information he heard. Skimming through it Igno marked some points of interest. Most of the information consisted of nonsense and thoughts that they did not care for, but one or two of those secrets made Igno lick his lips. Putting the paper away he then looked at the pile of treasures in annoyance. They could not leave it just sitting there.

“Why don’t we give it to her,” Desyra said, looking at one of the bushes beside them.

A bandit slowly stood up while raising her hands. Being told to step out from the foliage, she quietly obeyed. When she first saw Desyra, she found it odd that a person of such skill would randomly appear, excluding the already bizarre situation of three bandit troops and three different targets. After seeing all the beasts and so many people being slaughtered she had decided to silently retreat. The events that followed left her speechless and shaking in fear. To her seeing one person of such power was scary but then seeing a second person made her body shiver. When a third appeared, she dared not to run or even breathe. With the inclusion of a multitude of disaster-level dead beasts floating above them, the scene became more unusual.

Walking up to the bandit, Sors inspected her. “She’s different, the energy of pure naivety.”

“Really?” Desyra asked, walking up to check for herself.

“Make sure you don’t taint her, Desyra!” Menor yelled storing the treasure away.

“It’s been a while since I found one of them,” Igno joined in.

The bandit did not know what to do or expect, learning that she had something special she figured that she would be safe.

“I feel like corrupting her,” Desyra muttered, “What’s your name girl?”

“I told you not to taint her!” Menor yelled.

Hearing that she was referred to as a girl, when she looked older than them, a wry smile was drawn on her face. Considering her situation she had no right to disagree, so she told them her name, even when the four did not seem to care. After hearing a bit of bantering the girl hesitantly asked what the energy of pure naivety was. She was told that she was gullible, and her energy- magic, chi, soul or whatever -was easily influenced by outside sources. It is rare to find such energy still pure due to its nature.

“Unfortunately we have to kill her,” Sors spoke, “Sorry, July.”

“Ah, it’s Julie,” the girl corrected, “Wait, what?”

“Yes, even though rare, it’s unfortunate,” Manor agreed.

“Well, let me corrupt her first,” suggested Desyra, “Then kill her.”

“Yea…” Igno followed.

Nearly collapsing from the blunt words, the girl desperately asked why she was going to be killed. The simple answer was that she did not comply with the demand that Menor made earlier. Everyone has to keep their credibility some way or another. She never thought that the demand also included her as she was hidden. Knowing it was the end of her she dropped down to her knees and begged to exchange her life for servitude.

“Words recorded,” Menor spoke, “Contract made.”

“As to be expected,” Sors agreed.

“Hehe,” Desyra giggled.

Igno sighed, “Sorry about that.”

As if she was slapped in the face, Julie wanted to puke blood. She did not know if they were lying or took her begging seriously. All she can do was to look at the four above her while trying to understand her situation. Was she going to be killed, or taken in? She did not know.

“Decide which one of us you are going to serve,” said Igno.

The girl had no choice, but to choose. The only problem was that she had no information on who to pick. The only bits of info she had were from their actions over the past hour. It was obvious that all of them were unbelievably strong, but her instincts were telling her to choose carefully. From what she saw, the man with the leather coat was a horrible person. The lady with the braids seemed similar to the man. The women hidden behind a veil seemed nice, but the subtle comments did not sit well with her. Lastly was the person in a large grey coat, who appeared out of nowhere. She could only think that the person was ok. On the other hand, her gut was giving her opposite signals for all the things she thought.

“5, 4, 3,” Menor counted.

“Um…” Julie hesitated, “Ah…”

“2, 1…”

“Her,” she pointed to Desyra.

Seeing that Julie chosen was Desyra, the other three released a sigh of relief. Not a second after they looked at the girl with pity. They told her it was going to be ok, and she needed to just stay relevant. Desyra took out a scroll of parchment, with its contents quickly scribbled; it held information about the servant-master contract and the protection Julie would receive. Handing the paper and a quill dipped in ink to Julie, Desyra began to tap her chin pondering what to do with her newfound plaything. After the contract was signed, it erupted into flames and disappeared.

“The classic burning contract,” Menor observed, “Not bad.”

“She should have done something more… flamboyant,” said Sors.

“You make your contracts explode,” Igno commented.

“Exactly,” Sors nodded.

Hearing her companions bicker, Desyra decided to send Julie off somewhere. The location she sent her wasn’t important, what she needed to do was to make sure that Menor did not screw her over. Who knew how many tricks and falsehoods he planted into the memories. Desyra was nice enough to provide her new servant with traveling supplies, in the end.

“Did you get information out of her?” Menor asked.

“Ah!” Desyra realized, “I forgot.”

“Doesn’t matter anyway, we’ll never see her again.”

“What?”

“One of my offspring are going to kill her.”

“WHAT!”

“It was over a piece of bread or something. Not too sure.”

“DAMN IT MENOR!”

Hearing such things, Desyra cursed paradoxes and rushed towards her servant. Such a pure soul would be taken from her if she was not careful.

“You’re lying, correct?” Igno asked.

“No, it’s just that… my offspring somehow are constantly killing her servants in both direct and indirect manners. It wouldn’t be wrong to guess it would happen again.”

“The bread part?”

“Infinite possibilities,” Sors answered instead, “You know how it works.”

Continuing their chatter the three headed off down one of the three roads. A simple game of ro sham bo was needed to decide where to head off first. They did not know where they were going nor how long it would take, but the road should eventually lead to a village, town or city. If it didn’t they could just turn around and head in another direction. They had the time in the first place.

After a while, Desyra rejoined them with an expression full of delight. One could guess what had happened between her and her servant.

“Stop with the smile,” Sors spoke annoyed, “Your original body had already become something that can’t be touched by mortals.”

“I didn’t do that!” Desyra rejected.

“You shouldn’t give her your blessing anyhow,” said Sors.

“Ah?” Desyra tilted her head, before understanding the implications, “You bastards! Manipulating words to get what you-“

“You do that too,” Menor interrupted.

Running headfirst into the truth, she could not deny his words. Throwing a few words of provocation an argument began to flare up.