After what happened previously, I kept going. It made me understand one thing: I'm better off relying on myself alone. If even Gaspard had succumbed to the madness, then there is no reason for any of the other soldiers to have survived.

  Around me, the same scene of devastation played itself. If you asked me what hell would look like, then I would answer by showing you this. So now I have to think; how was I supposed to restore the will of the Order? By killing everything in sight? Or simply wait for everyone to die? If so, then I'm in one hell of a mess...

  For now, I should simply follow the areas where Chaos was less present. I believed it might give me a hint in completing the scenario.

  And that brought me to where I was right now; surrounded by 7 frenzied hyenas, with dark red eyes glowing eerily and dull grey skin.

  Suddenly, they all crazily charged, to which I responded with unnatural calmness. I raised both hands forward, then using my telekinesis, I lifted two of them from the ground and used them as meat shields, putting one in front of me and one behind me, before making them spin rapidly around me.

  It didn't even take one second. The five other animals, who hadn't stopped in time, crashed one by one onto their own allies, which coupled with the centrifugal force launched them back on the hot ground.

  I was soon surrounded by 5 unconscious hyenas, and two unrecognizable masses of red— the crushed bodies of the meat shields.

  Since I hadn't much time to waste I was just about to leave, when I unexpectedly noticed a long somber yellow serpentine creature, hidden amidst the rocks.

  Without further thinking, I rushed toward it and grabbed it by its head. It tried to escape and made angry hissing sounds but I held it firmly in my grasp. And that is when I noticed an anomaly: its eyes weren't shining red, no, instead they were a profound black, reminiscent of the endless abyss.

  That snake wasn't possessed by the madness!

  As I was lost in thoughts, the reptile kept struggling in my grasp, but of course I did not falter on my grip. In fact, I even tightened it. Slowly, I increased the pressure, and then with a pop the head exploded into a black mist, then followed by the body that slowly faded away in a similar way. Feeling something behind me as well, I turned around to look. And what I saw truly gratified my eyes, a light red haze escaped from the unconscious bodies of the four-legged animals.

  My face lit up.

  'That was it!'

  ***

  "Shit, I hate this world..." Louis muttered, throat tight with irritation.

  I just wanted to break free from the Federation, and instead I got myself in an even bigger mess.

  I had goosebumps just by thinking of that dreadful figure...

  It threw me inside an unescapable illusion before leaving me in this freaking world of havoc.

  Fortunately, I managed to keep my head somewhat clear during the introduction. It also helped me grasp what this was all about. And...

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  _ _ _

  [Unique monster: The Shepherd of Order. Scenario started, Where Chaos reigns.]

  [At the beginning, there was nothing. Then the world was created, and Order governed it. However, the Order wasn't just, some were stronger than others and sought power, thus enveloping the world in an unending swirl of chaos.]

  [To survive, you will need to bring into completion the will of the Order before madness takes over your body]

  Sanity:

  100%—90%—— ——— ——— ———0%

  _ _ _

  ...this was concerning.

  Plus, when I tried asking for more, the system simply replied with: "Insufficient authority." But what in the world was authority?

  Nevertheless, that was a matter for another time, now I had to find a way to complete this scenario. And if I understood the beginning clearly, then I had to prevent the Devil from bringing sin to this place. But now I had to find out what it looked like and how I prevented it from establishing the madness upon here.

  Ugh… What a pain in the ass.

  Thus I proceeded to move stealthily through the forest; I was too weak to fight even the feeblest of the monsters.

  Unfortunately, the place was dead: trees deprived of any color and leaves, and the soil boiling because of the magma. If those hysterical animals weren't busy killing each other, I wouldn't have been alive either.

  I decided to begin by searching the places that were the calmer, because that should be where the Devil had yet to spread the madness or was in the process of, making them the most suitable place to find it.

  I skipped through dozens of trees and passed by multiple bloody scenes, before finally reaching one serene place. Being in the middle of the devastation, that anomaly was quite noticeable. A lake, the sole place that had clear water here, and of course I did not miss it. Fairy genes really were the best.

  Then, without further ado I took my clothes off and dove head first into the placid water. Now why would I dive in there for no apparent reason? Well that is simply because I had no other options, really. I would have thought it through, had I not had a time limit to finish this.

  But strangely, I had no trouble breathing and the water was so clear that my vision was almost better here than on the ground.

  Then I turned my head downwards, and what I saw was an endless abyss that sucked all light in it. The lake's depth was way deeper than I had thought...

  That made me remember something. When I was studying religion back on Earth, I once heard that "Deep water" symbolizes primordial chaos and something about the emergence of the universe, like the enormous forces from which it came to be.

  Then this was probably a clue to completing the scenario...

  So I proceeded to swim down, hoping this was going to help me obtain the key to leave this hellish place alive.

  ***

  "Huu... huu..."

  Panting, Ivan staggered across the burning ground.

  By his side, Alexei was sitting, eyes closed; it seemed that he had yet to wake up from the illusion.

  'I hope he won't go crazy after waking up...' Ivan thought.

  However, his mind was in shambles. He couldn't think properly and his body refused to move according to his will, but at least, he did not go mad and that is all that mattered.

  Then he thought of that woman, Rebecca.

  'I hope she is alright... but as an awakened, she'll surely have no trouble surviving. If I manage to find her then we could probably survive more easily, even though for now I should care more about myself.'

  The man stood up, still staggering from the after effects of the illusion, when a groan coming from behind him was heard.

  "Alexei! Are you alright?" Turning around, Ivan asked, voice filled with concern.

  The blond soldier's eyes were half-closed, However, a weak red glow could still be discerned in them. For a couple of seconds, the only sound were the screams of the maddened animals and the blood boiling when touching the lava; then finally Alexei answered, voice trembling and jerky. "Ivan... would you mind searching my left pocket and give me a couple of the pills that are inside the bottle..?"

  At his words, Ivan stared at him with a questioning gaze, but still complied to his demand.

  Then sliding his shaking hand inside Alexei's pocket, Ivan sensed something cylindrical and solid, taking it out he saw a small transparent bottle full of blue pills in his hands. Then he promptly opened the lid and fed his friend one pill.

  Making a weird whimpering sound, Alexei then heaved a relaxed sigh, "Haaa... now I feel much better. Thank you Ivan."

  Watching incredulously, Ivan asked, "Hum, you're welcome but.. how?"

  The reply came with an out of place calmness, "Those are quite powerful mind tranquilizers. I always keep them just in case."

  Mouth half opened, the redhead stayed silent for a moment, he couldn’t find any reason as to why Alexei would keep so much mind tranquilizer pills, but Ivan quickly regained his composure and then asked, "So what should we do now?"

  After a few seconds of silence, Alexei stood up, then closing his eyes before slowly reopening them he said softly, yet voice full of conviction,

  "...Survive."

  __ __ __