[Chapter Size: 2000 Words.]
Third Person POV
Redania.
...
...
It was easy to find the hideout of the group of bandits under the leadership of Olgierd von Everec. It was a two-story house in the middle of nowhere.
Madara arrived at the place and kept watch for the rest of the night, taking only a small nap while sitting on a tree branch, leaning against the trunk, observing the movement of the house. He did not enter the place, since it was almost empty with only a few people inside.
The sound of horses and wagons came early in the morning. Madara calmly opened his eyes as he saw the wagons and horses approaching the house along the road in the middle of the forest.
"Haha, today we managed to get a large amount of valuable things from that fool!", exclaimed one of the men, shouting as he moved forward with the wagon and stopped it in front of the house. The door of the house opened, and 2 women and one man who were inside came out, looking curiously at the horses and the wagon.
"Did you get anything?", said one of the women.
"Did we get anything?", the other replied, laughing. "You have no idea."
On the wagon was none other than Olgierd. He looked quite cheerful. "We brought that noble family to their knees and stole all the gold from that safe. It's all in the wagons. We'll live like kings for a good long time, my companions!", he said, while the group reacted excitedly to his words.
Madara did not know exactly what they had just done, but it was clear that they had looted the house of some poor unfortunate soul.
Olgierd von Everec was a bandit. A man who had lost his emotions. He felt no fear, anger, love, or hatred. Odin had been quite perceptive and treacherous with him, like a demon should be, and Madara could tell that Olgierd was a fool for thinking he could also benefit from the contract and deceive the creature. After all, he had granted his wish: to make him immortal, but at the cost of removing all his emotions. Olgierd was doomed to live forever without feeling anything.
The contract stated that the only way to end it would be to fulfill three tasks on behalf of a third party. After they were completed, Olgierd still had another condition: that he and the mirror merchant should step on the moon, thus ending the pact.
The demon accepted this agreement knowing that, in the normal timeline, at some point, Geralt would accomplish the three tasks for Olgierd and then be taken to a place where there would be a drawing of the moon, with Olgierd stepping on the drawing alongside Gaunter, thus ending the contract. Geralt could challenge him to a game and, if he won, he would have saved Olgierd's soul, restoring his emotions.
Madara watched Olgierd laughing with his companions while talking about the robbery, about his men, and about how they had humiliated and raped the noble's daughter in front of her own parents.
He did not believe that someone living as a bandit, already involved with black magic, could have redemption as one of the choices. It was worth it because Gaunter would be harmed, but Madara did not need to choose one over the other... he would choose to destroy both.
Therefore, Madara would take his soul to use against the demon, without thinking twice.
For Madara, that man did not deserve second chances. He was just a bandit who spread death and violence, trying to feel some emotion when his heart was already stone.
He watched as the men began to distribute the gold among themselves, also opening the chests and sacks they had brought. Madara watched them for a little longer, until he finally decided to act.
The men who were spread across the area, drinking the beverages they had brought and what was already there to celebrate... while talking and laughing.
They did not even notice the movement above them.
It was only when, suddenly, a kunai fell in front of a group, with a seal on its handle, that they finally noticed something strange. They looked curiously at that unusual dagger.
"What is this? Who threw this?", said one of them, before seeing the paper on the handle begin to catch fire.
BOOOM!!!
They had no time to react. In the next instant, it exploded, sending their mutilated bodies flying in all directions. Everyone in the clearing stared in shock at the explosion.
"What is this?", said one of them, before feeling his neck being cut, as someone appeared beside him with a sword in hand.
"Who are you?", shouted another, seeing that stranger killing his comrade, faster than the wind.
And immediately, all the other people there looked at Madara, standing beside the body that had just fallen.
"Kill him!", someone shouted, grabbing an axe. There was no more talk, they just wanted to kill Madara for what he had done.
Madara acted before he could get close. He rushed forward, cutting them down, and not just him. Madara began to cut down everyone around him, plunging the place into complete chaos. He would spare no one there.
Olgierd advanced with his sword upon seeing his companions being killed, but he did not even have time to get close before receiving a kick to the stomach from Madara that sent him flying away. At the same time, Madara continued massacring his men, even when some began to flee, desperate in the face of so much death.
Madara moved without stopping until he exterminated the last of them.
"You... who are you?", asked Olgierd, still dazed.
He looked around and saw his entire group fallen, dead. Olgierd was immortal, but even so he recognized how powerful that man was, to the point of leaving him for last while exterminating all the others.
"Olgierd von Everec, well, it's a pleasure to meet you", Madara began. "My name does not matter. What matters is that I need you."
Olgierd formed a smile. He did not care about the death of his companions. He felt nothing, neither hatred nor sadness.
"Then let's finish this", he said, preparing to fight as he advanced with his sword.
Madara did not change his relaxed posture, nor did he take a single step.
Olgierd's sword advanced against Madara's, but it was easily repelled when he used his superhuman strength to knock the enemy's blade aside, making him lose his balance, and Madara moved his sword before he could recover his stance, driving it into his chest.
Olgierd looked surprised as he stared at the sword in his chest, trying to stand up, but soon he smiled again.
"I admit it, you're good", said Olgierd, even with the sword embedded in his own chest, as if he felt no pain at all. He prepared himself to fight again. "Unfortunately, you'll have to do better than that to kill me", he mocked.
He raised his sword to attack Madara, but before he could do so, their eyes met. Madara's eyes turned red and, in the next moment, the genjutsu was unleashed.
"You may be immortal, but who said you can't be controlled in other ways?"
Madara watched the man trapped in his genjutsu, making him feel pain within an illusion. He took a step back and removed the sword from Olgierd's chest, while Olgierd finally dropped his own sword, his gaze empty.
In the next moment, Madara released the genjutsu, making Olgierd fall to the ground, panting. He looked at Madara, surprised and stunned. Olgierd knew he had entered an illusion, knew he had been controlled, and that that man had made him suffer.
That frightened him.
"It can't be...", he said, almost incredulous. "You... I've already heard about you. Those eyes..."
In the next instant, Olgierd understood very well who he was dealing with. Of all the people on the continent, surpassing even the mirror merchant, because with the contract the demon could do nothing against him, Madara was the last person he would want to meet. Now he understood why of the rumors that merchants spread to every corner.
A man who can destroy entire kingdoms.
"Don't be so surprised", said Madara. "I've had my eye on you for months. I've just kept in contact and followed your trail for the last four months, if you really want to know." That was all he answered.
"Is it that obvious?", mocked Olgierd, widening his eyes. "You know about my connection with him?"
"Yes. Because I am hunting that demon, if that satisfies you in any way", replied Madara.
"You're hunting him?", said Olgierd. "If it were anyone else saying that, it would be absurd. But..." He could not finish the sentence. Even so, he was stunned by the declaration. The man in front of him was truly hunting Gaunter.
"Yes. That demon tried to make a deal with me seven months ago. I destroyed his body, but I still know he is after me and my wife. And, unlike you, I do not intend to negotiate with demons", said Madara.
"Can you help me preserve my soul?", asked Olgierd, with a hint of hope.
Madara watched him in silence for a moment, with a different tone, before replying: "No. To hunt that demon, I need your soul."
Before Olgierd could say anything, Madara placed him under a genjutsu once again, leaving him paralyzed. He merely gave him the command to stand up. Madara approached calmly, touched the man's shoulder, and they disappeared.
They reappeared in an ancient mansion.
"For me to take your soul, I will need something that strongly binds you to this world. We can start with the flower you gave your wife...", said Madara, moving forward through the old residence where Olgierd and his wife had lived. Madara had already placed a seal on the location.
Olgierd followed him, his eyes trembling. There was still a remnant of consciousness while he was being controlled.
Madara knew that this was torment. Discovering that he had fallen into a struggle of powers where both wanted his soul was despairing. He could do nothing while he was being tortured, reliving that place, that old mansion where he had left his wife behind, and where she died in lament.
They moved through the garden until a thunderous creature appeared before them.
"So this must be the gardener", Madara commented, before simply charging forward.
When the creature tried to attack him, Madara grabbed it using the hand of Susanoo, creating an arm of bones around it. He squeezed without any effort, crushing it as if it were nothing. The creature shattered and vanished.
"You placed this thing to protect your wife? Too weak", Madara mocked, as the bones dissolved.
Next, he walked to her grave, where the flower lay, almost turning to dust. Madara restored it with the abilities of the wood nature.
Madara went to the entrance of the mansion and entered the place, heading straight for his wife's bedroom. When he entered with the rose in hand, the space suddenly changed.
A woman appeared, looking surprised at both of them, but especially at her husband.
"Olgierd...", she said immediately.
Realizing that he did not react, she looked suspicious. Her husband was being controlled.
"You must be her, Iris von Everec. Well, I brought him here only to do a few things, and I intend to destroy him to hunt the creature with whom he made a contract. For that reason, I will give you a chance to talk to him one last time", said Madara.
Then, he removed the genjutsu from Olgierd. The man fell to the ground, kneeling and panting, before lifting his gaze, filled with almost fear when facing Madara, but also with surprise upon seeing his wife's ghost there.
Madara left them and simply disappeared. He had left some wood clones in Olgierd's shadow, just as a guarantee that Olgierd would not flee, ready to act if necessary.
Madara teleported to Oxford because he knew that Geralt was there at that moment, going to the place where a man who knew Gaunter was being held.
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