Chapter 311: The Real Stranger

Words : 1101 Updated : Oct 3rd, 2025

Chapter 311: The Real Stranger *** {Inside The Projection} Malik’s eyes finally moved, though only slightly. "You want revenge, that’s obvious, and, in all honesty, quite fair. Especially considering the fact that we made plans to Corrupt them... Plans that you ruined, somehow predicting our every move, ending everything before it started. And for whatever reason, doing the assassins’ job for them after killing them... but that’s beside the point." The Chancellor pointed at himself. "You want revenge, but so do I. For different reasons, of course, ones I’m not willing to share. But let’s just say... my ambitions don’t align with the current royalty. Help me get what I want, and I’ll help you burn this place to the ground." There was a long silence. A wind whistled outside the window. Then Malik gave the faintest nod, and the Chancellor’s smile widened. "Excellent. You’ll be a professor here. A modest one. Not too public, just enough to watch and move." He turned back to his desk. Clicked a... button, and a drawer opened. "Your students, for now, are few." He took out a scroll and handed it over to Malik. "First, Noor. A girl from the royal line. Smart. Talented. Arrogant." Malik didn’t blink. "Then there’s Zafar. A noble boy... and he’s a bit unique. The boy’s not a Devil’s Maw native. He came from one of the other nine Ancient Clans that I’m sure the Sultan told you about. Last Wish. Or Sar Phalaki in their Old Tongue. I don’t really know how to pronounce that one. In any case, he’s of the Fortune’s Wheel. Blessed by its luck like the rest of them. Likely abandoned. Somehow ending up on our doorstep, probably a trial of theirs. Don’t ask how or why I know; I won’t answer. He’s a foreigner adopted by a barren mother, unable to sire children, with too much wealth and not enough love. Oh, and don’t tell him that either; he doesn’t know." *** {In A Bright World} Under the paused projection, Zafar was still sitting. Sand in his robes. Wind brushing past his cloak. He was stiff. Frozen. On edge. Simply unable to breathe. And then... "W-What?" He stood. The weight had dropped. It had just punched him in the gut and set him up right. Zafar didn’t say much of anything. Didn’t need to. The look on his face was loud enough. His eyes were wide, his mouth half open like he was going to say something but forgot what language was. He couldn’t dare believe this, but there was no denying it. It was the truth. The way the Chancellor revealed it only made it more so. Zafar was a foreigner. He wasn’t from Al-Nadir. He wasn’t from Devil’s Maw. He wasn’t even from this star system. Zafar had come from a different Ancient Clan. He was no Eternal Star or Najmat Al-Khulud. A Blackeye... No, he wasn’t. "Sar Phalaki...?" He muttered. "Last Wish...?" The words tasted bitter. Foreign in his mouth. But they were his home. And this home... Last Wish... It was one of the nine Clans that attacked their own. They were the enemy. Zafar had come from them. The enemy. And the worst part of this all? Malik knew. From the start. From the moment they met. Yet he never revealed it. Not even when Zafar stood on his doorstep, shouting for his head. The Sultan could have dismantled their coalition at any time he wanted, without even lifting a finger... just one word would have had them warring against each other. "...Why?" Zafar couldn’t help but ask a question he already knew the answer to. Learning from his goodbye to Layla and his breaking point with Huda, whose one hope since the beginning of this viewing was that she’d never be that breaking point, Malik decided to be what one would call a villain. It was not that he stopped caring for public opinion, but that he wanted that public opinion to be absolutely abysmal. For what exactly, Zafar didn’t know... no one did. Well, no one except Sinbad, but Zafar and the rest didn’t know that, or they simply knew that they couldn’t get anything out of him unless he was willing to share. In any case, even back then, Malik barely spoke to them, and though he already knew of Zafar’s biggest secret, never once did he mention it or even allude to it. Like it didn’t matter. Like he didn’t matter. Like Zafar was just some domino piece already placed on the table before the game even started. And his luck... was it all by design? His own fucking Specialization? His path? That little golden sparkle in his chest that made doors open and people smile and swords swing an inch too far? Zafar couldn’t believe it... But again, he knew he should. The projection wouldn’t lie. It was all inherited. Everything that made him what he was came not from him. It had all come from Last Wish... The Fortune’s Wheel. A Blessing bestowed upon his people since birth. This had shaken him to his core. And worse yet, his being here was likely a result of that luck. The Chancellor’s word might be true. Perhaps he truly was abandoned to the cosmos as some trial. Or perhaps his parents just didn’t want him anymore. Either way, at the end of it all... he wasn’t supposed to be here. "So what now? I’m just..." His fingers twitched. "An enemy?" Clenched. "...What?" Opened again. What the Hell was he supposed to do with that? He’d spent his whole life thinking he was Devil Maw’s Hero. The noble with grit, with determination, the one who would rise despite the odds. But now? Now he knew the truth. Even in a world without the misunderstood villain, he was never once the hero. He was the foreigner... the Stranger. Not Malik. Him. An adopted Stranger in a nice, vibrant fabric. A well-fed domino. One that had finally fallen. And the whole world just watched it happen. They realized it before he did. He could feel it even way out here, wherever ’here’ was. The coalition was under threat. No... not even that. This was the straw that broke the steed’s back. The world was now completely disillusioned with their "heroic" coalition. His time in Malik’s story had just begun, and he was already drop-kicked in the face. At that moment, Zafar was almost glad he wasn’t alongside the others in the hall. Because right now, he was sure of one thing. The Holy Palace was in incredible chaos.

Chapter 311: The Real Stranger

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