Celestienne had a strange dream last night, a dream about the world before her reincarnation facing hell.
"Why did I have a dream like that? And why did my previous world face hell?" Celestienne was very confused.
She had already promised to save this world, but instead, she was visited by a dream connected to her previous one.
"Ahh, I'm so tired. I'd better just go home."
Celestienne prepared to run as fast as she could. Her feet began to emit a light like blazing lightning.
"Technique Step Lightning Full speed!!"
Suddenly, the ground, which had been smooth, shattered when Celestienne stepped on it. Rocks flew everywhere, and Celestienne shot off with incredible speed.
SWOOSH!!
Celestienne's run left behind scorched marks and lightning on the ground. All the roads were destroyed by her footsteps.
"Damn, if I run too fast, the roads will be destroyed. But if I don't use this technique, I'll be slow, and I'm already so hungry."
Confusion showed on Celestienne's face. Her heart felt guilty for destroying the mountain roads.
"Ahh, I'll just pretend I didn't see it. Heheheh," she muttered, chuckling and smiling.
Calacirya, which had been a beautiful sight, had now turned into a hellish mountain. The mountain was now a lightning mountain.
---
Arriving at the Elf Gate
Celestienne finally arrived at the gate of the elf forest. Even though the mountains she had passed through had turned into lightning mountains, she didn't feel too guilty.
"Finally arrived. But I feel guilty about the mountains I passed through. But what's the point of caring about mountains," she thought.
When the barrier was opened by Celestienne, her face lit up with joy and happiness. However, when she saw the elf village burned to the ground, her smile vanished.
"What is this? Why were all the elves killed? Oh friends, where are Rion? Luna? I hope they weren't hurt," she muttered in a panic.
Celestienne searched the entire destroyed village. In the middle of it, she found a horrifying sight.
"Why... why was the elf village destroyed again? Ahhhhhh!" she shouted, unleashing an aura that destroyed the surrounding houses.
As Celestienne wept, Syris was awakened by Celestienne's aura of anger.
"Celestienne. You must want to know why the elf village was destroyed, right? Come with me," Syris said with a serious expression.
"Oh, Syris, why should I follow you?" Celestienne asked, confused.
Syris just smiled mysteriously. Celestienne grew more curious and decided to follow Syris.
Celestienne continued to follow Syris until they arrived at a very large leaf door. A large cave was hidden behind it.
"What is this, Syris?"
"Open it. Your friends are there, Celestienne. Rion, Luna, all your friends are inside."
Celestienne didn't fully believe it, but she decided to open the leaves. Inside, she saw her friends, her younger sibling, and Rion and Luna praying.
"Friends, my sibling, Rion, Luna! I thought you were dead... hiks... hiks," Celestienne cried with emotion.
Celestienne immediately hugged them all, tears soaking their clothes.
"Celestienne, you're finally back. Why were you so late?" Selene scolded Celestienne with a relieved tone.
"I'm sorry. I fell asleep in the middle of the road last night. I should have been able to get home sooner. But I want to ask, why were the elf villages burned to the ground?"
Selene, Eryndor, Velissandra, Seraphina, and Rion and Luna exchanged glances with cold and fearful eyes.
"Why are you all silent? Answer me!" Celestienne urged.
"Are you sure you want to know?" Velissandra asked with a worried tone.
"Yes," Celestienne answered briefly but firmly.
"When you left... for 6 days, at that time..."
---
6 Days Earlier
The elves lived peacefully, laughing, joking, and playing. However, they all missed Celestienne, who wasn't playing with them.
"Hey, Selene, even though we're laughing, does Celestienne feel lonely on her way to Mount Calacirya?" Eryndor asked with curiosity.
"Maybe yes, maybe no. I don't know. When Celestienne comes home, we'll laugh again, right?" Selene smiled sadly.
As Selene, Eryndor, Velissandra, and Seraphina were playing with the elf children, suddenly a dimensional rift appeared in the sky.
"What is that? A dimensional rift in the elf territory?" Seraphina panicked.
"Everyone, run!" Selene shouted, warning the elves.
All the elves ran as fast as they could, even the small children ran, although some were injured. From the rift, someone came out with a wicked smile.
"Yo, since the real Celestienne isn't here, I'll destroy everything that the real Celestienne cares about. Hahahahah," the person chuckled with a terrifying smile.
"Who are you? Why do you look so much like Celestienne?" Eryndor asked in panic and curiosity.
"That is... Celestienne from a parallel world. So, that's the evil version of Celestienne," Selene answered in panic.
As Velissandra, Seraphina, and Eryndor prepared to fight, Selene ran towards Rion and Luna to save them.
"Run quickly! We can't fight the evil version of Celestienne. Only the real Celestienne can defeat her," Selene said with a panicked face.
All the elves ran as fast as they could. The evil version of Celestienne laughed loudly. "Hahahahah, run away, you losers! It's useless, you can't escape!"
Evil Celestienne unleashed lightning attacks towards the elf villages, causing massive fires.
BOOM!!
"Hahahahah. Where do you think you're going? Die!"
Selene and the others felt hopeless because they couldn't avoid evil Celestienne's attacks. However, just as the attack was about to reach them, Syris appeared and protected them.
"Go! Rion, Luna, you must know your hiding place, right?" Syris said with cold and serious eyes.
"Yes, we know, the god tree. Come on, everyone, follow me!"
All the elves followed Rion and Luna to their hiding place. Meanwhile, Syris was still fighting evil Celestienne.
---
In Front of the Cave
"This is it. Hurry up and go inside, everyone! Let the god tree take care of it," Rion said.
All the elves entered the cave. They hugged each other, praying to survive.
They heard sounds of explosions everywhere. Even Selene, who was usually fearless, felt chills of fear.
"We'll hold on until Sister Celestienne comes. Okay, Sister?" Luna said with a scared tone.
"Yes, that's right. If Sister Celestienne comes, she'll definitely defeat her," Selene tried to reassure Luna.
Even though Selene herself was scared, she had to make Luna feel less afraid. They all prayed together while hugging, waiting until the explosions stopped.
---
Back to the Present (7 Days Later)
"That's the story," Selene said with a still-frightened tone.
Celestienne was shocked to hear the story. Usually, she received messages from the system, but this time she didn't receive any messages.
"Why didn't the system tell me? Oh yeah, I almost forgot that I've never seen the system," she thought.
"Yes, that's right, Princess Celestienne. You've never seen your system," the sword spirit, who already knew everything, said respectfully.
Celestienne stood up and prepared to leave the cave. She wanted to check her system because she hadn't received any missions or warnings.
"I'm going out for a bit, okay?" she said with a reassuring smile.
Selene represented all her friends, "Okay. But be careful, Celestienne," she said with worried eyes.
"Don't worry, I'll only be out for a bit."
Celestienne walked out of the cave with a curious expression. Selene was confused to see Celestienne's expression.
"Why is Celestienne making a curious face? What happened inside the cave?" Selene followed Celestienne secretly.
---
Outside the Cave
Celestienne looked up at the cloudy sky. There was no light at all, but her eyes showed worry.
"Could it be that the me from the parallel world came here to finish the fight from before?"
Selene, who was already behind Celestienne, heard Celestienne's muttering.
"What? Celestienne from the parallel world already came here and fought?" she whispered.
Celestienne sighed and enjoyed the cloudy wind. She called her system.
"System? Where are you, system? Don't tell me you're really broken?" Her eyes suddenly showed panic.
As Celestienne panicked, a blue screen appeared in front of her, which she hadn't seen in a long time.
"Master, what's wrong? Why did you call me?" the system asked with a curious tone.
"Why didn't you give me a warning about me from the parallel world, or give me a mission to fight me?"
The system suddenly fell silent, leaving only the strong wind.
"Master, I already gave you a mission. When you were in the very hot desert, remember?"
"Huh? Wait a minute, I'll check that mission."
Celestienne opened the mission acceptance screen. Even though there were too many missions, she didn't give up.
"Where? That mission?"
She kept scrolling down to the bottom. However, she didn't find that mission. She started to get annoyed.
"Where, system? You said you gave me a mission, where is it?"
"Oh, yeah, Master, I already deleted it. Heheheh."
"Idiot!" Celestienne shouted with an annoyed tone.
She punched her system screen. Celestienne was very angry at the system.
"Alright, give me the mission you deleted earlier, quickly!"
"Yes, Master."
[Ding! Deleted Mission: Mission: Kill Your Evil Self | Reward: 1 x God Sword | Your Strength Will Be Multiplied 50x | Time Until Expiration: 30 Hours. If You Fail, You Will Die and Be Trapped In An Eternal Time Loop.]
Celestienne was shocked. The penalty for failing was too terrible, but she was also sick of the 50x strength reward again.
"Please, don't give me strength rewards anymore. Please, system," her eyes pleaded.
"Sorry, Master, I can't delete the rewards I give."
Celestienne gave up and sat down with a pensive face. However, she immediately looked up at the cloudy sky.
"Alright, let's go find my evil self from the parallel world."
Selene, who had heard the conversation, approached Celestienne with a fearful face.
"Celestienne, do you want to fight your evil self from the parallel world? I know the location of your evil self."
"What? Where? Tell me quickly!" Her eyes were eagerly awaiting the location of her evil self.
"She said, evil Celestienne said: 'Tell the good version of me, if you want to meet me, come to the forest of death.' That's what your evil self said."
Celestienne's expression turned cold and menacing. Selene was scared.
"Are you sure you want to fight your evil self?"
"Yes, because I've already promised to protect this world until I can live a carefree life," Celestienne smiled, imagining her carefree life.
Celestienne's eyes lit up with joy. She prepared to fly into the sky towards the forest of death.
---
Epilogue.
Celestienne took a deep breath, feeling the cold wind of the forest of death sweep across her face. "This forest... feels like a mirror of my darkest heart," she murmured, her voice barely audible among the rustling of the trees.
Selene gripped her hand tightly. "Celestienne, we will always be with you. Don't forget that."
Celestienne smiled sincerely, a smile rarely seen since the nightmares had haunted her. "I know. And I promise, after all this is over, we will truly enjoy the peace we have long dreamed of."
She released Selene's grip, her eyes now radiating a burning determination. "I have to face this alone. This is my fight, my own shadow."
Celestienne stepped forward, entering the darkness of the forest of death. Each step was firm, each breath was preparation. In the distance, lightning flashed, as if welcoming her arrival. "I'm coming, my other self. Let's settle this once and for all.
"Is Celestienne strong enough to defeat herself?"
---
Chapter 17 Completed.