At one in the morning, Grave and Breya are almost reaching the village of the sinners while riding the gray wolf, returning from a trip to hunt man-eaters. At that moment, Bria is thinking about something and asks Grave in a tense tone:
"Grave, are you one of them?"
Grave replies lethargically:
"What do you mean?"
Breya:
"Are you one of the masters of disasters?"
Grave:
"Believe me, my lady, this is the first time in my life I've heard this."
Then he adds:
"But I'm interested in knowing more."
Breya:
"Our sorceress discovered in one of the ancient history books of magic something called the proof of the masters of disasters. The book mentioned in some of its pages that thousands of years ago, four incredibly powerful magical entities lived, named by historians as the masters of disasters... At one point in history, these entities decided to challenge each other in a wager for control of the world. Do you remember those werewolves? They are probably soldiers of one of them. I discovered while spying on them that they were on a reconnaissance mission..."
Grave, seriously astonished:
"A reconnaissance mission!"
Breya:
"Yes, the masters of disasters must have already begun their movements."
Grave, questioning:
"And you think I'm one of them?"
Breya:
"A control spell, that's what you used to control your soldiers, right?"
Then she adds:
"If I'm not mistaken, the control spell takes a random part of your body every time you use it, but it seems you've used it more than once without losing anything."
Grave:
"I know what you're implying, but there's no need for your concern. If I were really one of them, I would have boasted about it in front of everyone."
The gray wolf stops upon reaching the village of the wicked, allowing Breya to dismount and bid farewell to Grave as she returns to the capital. Grave then says seriously to Lazos, right after Breya has moved away:
"You are one of them, aren't you?"
Lazos remains silent for a moment and then replies:
"My partner is perceptive as usual."
Grave:
"Why didn't you tell me this before?"
Voice:
"Tell you what..."
And before he can finish his sentence, Grave interrupts him with an expression in an angry, threatening tone:
"Tell me everything or end the contract immediately."
Lazos:
"Alright, alright, why did you suddenly become serious?"
Then he starts the conversation saying:
"A thousand years ago, I was the prime minister of our king..."
Grave:
"Your king? I thought you were four masters!"
Lazos:
"Masters of disasters is just a title thrown at us by humans; in truth, we were humans too. At that time, our king was a powerful ruler with an army considered the strongest in the world back then. We were close to taking control of the world, my king and I along with the other ministers. But just as we were about to grasp the world in our hands, the armies of the world allied to overthrow us, and it was indeed accomplished... It took a powerful spell to bring us down, which trapped us inside a magical circle with a complex system. After several decades, we managed to free ourselves, but the price was turning us into what we are now. The king then suggested holding a challenge among us to take control of the world with a few rules in place. The first rule is to enter a slumber for a thousand years, the second is... no other rule."
Grave sarcastically:
"Hah, you didn't seem to be in slumber when we met."
Voice:
"Well, let's say I started the race a few years earlier than the appointed time."
Grave, laughing:
"Ha, you cheater, but..."
Grave's tone returns to seriousness as he continues:
"It's you again, you're the one who planted the idea of this bet in the king's mind, aren't you?"
Lazos suddenly laughs after Grave's revelation, a mischievous laugh, saying:
"Ha ha ha, you must be the smartest person on the planet."
Grave smiles back with a mischievous grin and says:
"The most cunning creature in the world contracts the smartest creature; it must be epic."
Grave heads towards the village while saying:
"I wonder how you managed to convince the king of this bet?"
Lazos:
"I managed to convince him with my genius and eloquence."
Grave, sarcastically:
"You mean with your flattery and free loyalty."
Grave descends from the back of the gray wolf in the middle of the village, where everyone is in a state of turmoil searching for the missing from the festival last night. He places his hand on the wolf's forehead, saying:
"Gray, why don't you rest?"
Lazos:
"Gray! Well, he looks good."
Grave:
"Yes, I chose him because he is close to my name."
Then he jumps onto one of the tall buildings, addressing everyone in a loud voice:
"O people of the village of the wicked ones."
At that moment, everyone turns to Grave, eagerly awaiting his words, and he begins his speech:
"Grave... Gravesoil, it is the name you gave me when I was born an orphan, merely to remind one of you that there are no graves for the village. I have lived my entire life humiliated, treated like a grave shovel; everyone has mistreated me, young and old... There is an ancient legend that says the reason this village is named as it is is because it was founded by a man manipulated by a devil, who instilled in him selfishness and self-love, to later sow that selfishness in every inch of this land..."
At that moment, the young man from the barber shop interrupted him, shouting provocatively:
"Did you hear? It's Grave who has grown hair. Is that why you stand like an idiot on one of the buildings, to show off your new hair?"
Grave then begins to whisper strange, incomprehensible words. Hair falls, skin melts, screams of agony — it is that young man, melting alive amidst the shock and terror of the others. Grave continues chanting his incantation, then looks at the rest with a horrified gaze as he resumes his speech:
"I spent the past four years of my life inside a magical labyrinth, during which I learned a few spells."
He then smiles a wild, excited smile and adds:
"I also made a pact with the Plague."
As he says this, Grave summons his staff from the ground, his eyes glowing with blue light. Clouds cover the sky like a lunar eclipse. The ground beneath the victims glows with a faint blue hue — hands of the festival's victims suddenly rise from the earth, grabbing at the feet of the new victims who desperately try to flee, screaming in anguish and terror.
As soon as it ends, Grave immediately begins destroying all the buildings in the village with his magical power. He then summons the children who have already joined his group. Grave points to the exact center of the village and commands:
"Right here. Let the construction of the palace of the new world's king... Graveswell, begin."
Lazos:
"Are you serious? You plan to take over the world!"
Grave, responding with a smile:
"Isn't that your bet?"
After a few months, the graves of the cursed inhabitants of the Village of Sinners were scattered everywhere among the ruins of buildings leveled to the ground. Above them hung a dark cloud that acted as a barrier to sunlight, completing the gloomy atmosphere of vengeance. At the very center of it all stood a massive gray palace, fully completed two months prior, now serving as the new heart of the town. Inside, seated alone on his new throne, resting his cheek on his hand with a provocative smile, was Graveswell, the ruler of the Army of the Sinful Dead.