"It seems like I have no use of you here," the Man said with a disappointed sigh. "All this time, you were trying to collect the Maidens to gain the power of an Absolute. How long has it been since?"

"Ten years," DuDu replied. "Ten years I waited. I waited for a lie."

"Exactly," the Man chuckled. He placed his finger on DuDu\'s forehead. "You shall not give Malice a chance to get away with this won\'t you? When she comes, kill her with your own hands. Don\'t let her get away with this."

The Man had injected dark powers into DuDu. In a distance, Licht watched him perform the ritual. "Stop!"

DuDu\'s eyes already rolled to the back of his head as the black aura flowed inside him. An immense yet very dark power was being poured inside him, flourishing like a flower in the spring. This made his pupils turn pitch black.

"Kill Malice," the Man whispered before vanishing into nothingness.

"DuDu!" Licht yelled and ran towards his friend. When he was a couple of meters away from DuDu, a black thorn rose from the ground and pierced Licht\'s stomach. He stopped in his tracks as he felt the blood flow out of him. "Du… Du…"

His friend, the Jade Emperor, watched him without any expression. As Licht fell to the ground and the blood flowed out of him, DuDu only stood there. "I must kill Malice. Kill. Malice."

A pair of gigantic bat wings growed from DuDu\'s back. He stretched his body before leaping into the air and booming away like a sonic wave. Licht watched the shadow of his friend slowly fade from the horizon as a voice called out to him.

"Licht!" the young man\'s voice yelled. "Iris, heal him."

"But he\'s an enemy," a soft yet high pitched female voice argued. "What if he attacks us after we heal him?"

They argued more, and Licht only listened. He was at the frontier of both consciousness and unconsciousness. He could hear and feel everything around him, but he couldn\'t do anything about it.

He just laid there.

"Licht!"

Licht woke up inside a carriage. He looked around and saw that it was the carriage from years ago, back when he hadn\'t made contact with Malice or the magic of darkness. They were going to the conference where his carriage was going to be ambushed.

"Stop the carriage," Licht whispered. "Father, stop the carriage!"

"What are you saying now?" his father growled. "Why would we stop this carriage?"

Licht pushed everyone out before he tried to climb out of the carriage. "Something horrible is going to–"

The young prince wasn\'t able to finish when the vehicle was lifted off of the ground. His father\'s men tried to pull it down, but it was too late. The carriage was being blown by a strong wind and it was too far from where they are.

"Licht!" his father yelled, crying. "My child! My dear child, come back!"

A gush of hair hit the vehicle in the air, causing Licht to slam his head on the side of the carriage. This made him lose consciousness until the vehicle was placed gently on a forest clearing.

It was already night time when he woke up in front of another carriage, he knew that this one carried DuDu. Licht immediately stood and ran towards his friend, not wasting any time and took the younger prince out.

"Who are you?" DuDu managed to ask, but Licht did not answer. He didn\'t know why he was back in time and he didn\'t know what he should do, but for now he just want to do what he did all those years ago.

"I\'m from another kingdom," Licht replied. "You should stay here and not follow me."

Licht had some experience with magic. He was able to lift DuDu and let him rest in a high tree branch where the beasts wouldn\'t be able to reach him. "Let\'s stay here for the night and whatever happens, don\'t go down."

DuDu did not understand but he simply nodded. "Okay, big brother."

Licht felt guilty for he know what was going to happen in this forest. If he try to search for help, DuDu would be attacked by a beast and then would die. The black well would then appear and Licht would make a wish there.

He would wish for power to revive DuDu and DuDu would gain an immense strength, altering his very own personality in the process. After knowing all of this, Licht couldn\'t bare to stand on the side and let it happen.

Hiss.

Licht\'s eyes widened in shock after he saw a giant snake in the tree. He conjured a bright flame to drive it away, shielding DuDu who was crying behind him.

"Don\'t worry," Licht said. "I\'ll protect you, don\'t– no!"

The tail of the snake was also a head. This one climbed on the other side of the tree and bit DuDu. The venom was potent and powerful and it killed DuDu instantly.

The black well appeared as the younger prince\'s body fell to the ground. Licht managed to catch DuDu but the latter was already dead. "Oh, no."

"Little child," a voice from the black well spoke. "Do you want power? A power to revive your friend?"

Although living the life of ulterior darkness, Licht didn\'t find his life miserable. DuDu was beside him as they conquered the continent and made themselves rulers. He was with his brother. He didn\'t have any regrets.

"Yes," Licht replied. And then walked to the black well. "I want to revive him."

"Alright."

A flash of black light erupted from the well. This blinded Licht for a couple of seconds before he regained his vision. It was a rocking motion and he realized that he was back in the carriage.

"What?" Licht asked himself. "Why?"

Licht made his father stop the carriage. This time, he was the first one to get off, but the wind still able to lift him off of the ground. He had more control of his movements this way, so he tried to fight back but they were all in vain.

He landed on the carriage beside DuDu\'s. This time, he tried to make things differently. He grabbed DuDu since it was still daytime. They ran to the part where the road was but they encountered a bunch of rebels.

"What–"

Slash.

It all happened so fast. DuDu was dead yet again and Licht found the black well. He tried again and again, multiple times he tried different methods, but the ending would still be the same.

DuDu would die and the black well would appear. Licht wanted it all to stop until the thirty-fourth time he stood in front of the black well and held it. "Listen to me. I don\'t want to do this anymore. I just want to live and let things happen. Why are you doing this to me? I know. DuDu is already dead. I know. I know!"

"Good," the well replied. But this time, it wasn\'t the voice of a woman. It was a voice of a man.

Irus appeared in front of Licht and sat on the well. "You need to accept that your friend had died and that thing that\'s controlling him is not him. That\'s just a demon disguised as him."

"What?" Licht asked.

Irus shrugged, "DuDu died a long time ago.. That thing is a demon called Paragon."