Esdeath, or more precisely, Fable, had made a plan for her own death a long time ago. But the question was when and why?
The simple answer was: from the very start.
She remembered it clearly, the moment she first opened her eyes inside Esdeath's body and found out she had been transmigrated into the very game she used to play. And not just any character, but an extra character, a shut-in weakling at that. To make things worse, she also had a contract with an unknown star constellation. She had no idea what her constellation's motive was, or if it was even good or evil, simply using her for its own purpose.
So, she decided to die. Her knowledge of the game was enough for her to make a deal with one of the four lords of hell and be resurrected with much more power. And even if she couldn't be resurrected, Hell wasn't such a bad place. She could stay there and grow her power over time. She had no desire to follow the main storyline.
But there was a catch: her Constellation. What if it was actually a good one and had brought Fable here for a noble purpose? Or even if it was evil, she couldn't just kill herself. A star constellation is incredibly powerful. Who knows? It might notice something is wrong and not let her die. Who knows? She might get punished for trying instead.
But thankfully, there was a good chance of dying. According to her knowledge of the game, Lortell was going to massacre her village the very next day. That's why she didn't try very hard to run away and decided to give up instead. She soon fell asleep, thinking this would be her end, that the next moment she would wake up in Hell.
But no! Nothing like that happened at all. Lortell never attacked. Instead, she had a very weird dream of a girl being completely obsessed with her.
That's why she decided to hang on a little longer. And when she looked back at her initial plan, she found it to be very rushed and full of loopholes. So, she decided to have backup plans, just in case anything went wrong. And more importantly, she needed companions that she could trust. That was where she thought of having an insurance—Selene. But of course, there would be a time for that later.
While still standing on the balcony of her parents' mansion, she decided to plant the first seed of her own destruction.
With that, she shouted, "Fuck you, Constellation!"
"Constellation" was the first title given to those who transcended to godhood. It was an ancient title, barely anyone knew about it anymore. In today's world, everyone knew them as deities. By shouting it, she was actually trying to attract their attention. And why wouldn't it work? A random black-haired girl with no great background shouting "Constellation" was definitely weird.
If the other Constellations decided to take Esdeath as a threat and decided to eliminate her, they would do it in a way that even her own Constellation wouldn't realize. But of course, it was never written down that shouting "Constellation" would attract their attention. It was the only thing she could try.
In that time, she decided to probe deeper and find the motives of her own star Constellation. Along the way, she grew her strength, interacted with the main characters, and played along just like her Constellation wanted. She also found her insurance—Selene.
But of course, everything was not according to her plan. Like meeting the predictor who was now Maruti. Or realizing the real Esdeath was obsessed with Lortell. Many more unexpected things happened.
As Fable and Esdeath's soul merged, the thought of dying grew weaker and weaker. The amount of love for Lortell was just too much. She felt like she never wanted to lie to her, wanted to agree to whatever she said, and wanted to submit her everything to her. She could barely hold on. The thought of dying and leaving Lortell was like a needle constantly poking her heart. But somehow, she held on.
What was even more frustrating was that she had no idea if any of this was even working. She took her chances, acting like she was angry and shouting, "Damn you, star Constellation!" or "Fuck you, Constellation," only hoping they would set their eyes on her.
Days, weeks, and even months passed. But then, one day, Cassandra invited her to join her team for exposing Lortell. Although her skin itched and she felt like ripping this puppet-faced bitch apart and chewing her bones, she held on. Because it felt like a very good way to die, she agreed to help.
Soon, Cassandra found out that Corin was enslaved, and soon after, she found many secrets about Esdeath. Of course, Esdeath knew all about this. Corin's behavior had been very, very different these days. He unconsciously asked questions about her plans for no reason.
But why would a slave be asking such questions? He was only meant to be obeyed. Esdeath and Maruti both realized Cassandra had found out about Esdeath. But they didn't expose it.
By this time, Esdeath had a general idea about the situation. She got to see her Constellation, and she was female and had black hair. Esdeath could only predict that she was related to the demon king. And without a doubt, her Constellation was making use of her and didn't want Esdeath to die at any cost.
This made the situation even more rough. But Esdeath wasn't in a hurry. With her willpower and enhanced soul, she could hold on for at least a year.
But everything changed on that one day, when she finally realized a shocking truth. In the night, she and Maruti were hunting an Electro Hypostasis and ended up meeting a human Hypostasis, but thankfully, they were saved by the Penetrator.
That night, when the conversation went towards the Astra World, and Esdeath said that she knew nothing about such things, Maruti narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
"Are you sure you played this game properly? Or is this just some cheap rip-off movie that got stuck in your head?" Maruti asked, her voice sharp with doubt.
Esdeath's sharp glare clashed with her accusing stare. The two of them locked eyes in a silent battle that dragged on for two whole minutes, until finally, Maruti looked away and muttered, "...Okay, sorry."
Although the conversation felt like a small argument between two friends, they were actually smashing their brains to figure something out themselves, especially Esdeath.
Because, now that she thought about it, the memories of her last years of life felt very weird. She was playing a random game with no popularity, a game with so many characters while having a main storyline for the main character, Ethan. And why was she so into doing many bad endings, to the point where she reached more than 300 bad endings and got to know so many things about the game? To compare this, Fable only cleared the good endings three times, and even in two of them, She just sealed the demon king and that was all. She didn't get to kill the demon king.
But why was she playing it so much in the first place? It was a trash game that the predictor literally broke his own tablet over. She didn't like the main characters. She didn't like the side characters. Not only that, she died by her own trap. Although it was a setup made by herself a few years ago, but c'mon, she was the greatest hitman, a professional. There's no way she could do such an idiotic mistake.
This made her have an identity crisis.
Were the last moments of her life fabricated?
What if there was no Fable in the first place?
What if she is just another soul with an amalgamation of someone's memories?
But thankfully, the only reason that made her hold on was the predictor's presence. If her past was fabricated, then the predictor would not be here as well, although her being here was also a mystery.
"Am I overthinking? Or am I actually getting manipulated by my constellation?" With those thoughts, the urge to die clearly got bigger.
She literally started saying the real names of many Constellations while looking at the sky, posing as if she was simply giving knowledge to Maruti and the penetrator. She even casually talked about causing a genocide, saying that the Constellations might not give them much thought even if they did it, hoping all this could attract their attention.
And her work finally paid off. The Constellations finally recognized her as a threat. Esdeath also realized it. By seeing this sudden growth of Sylvania, Violet, and Emma, she was kind of sure about it.
But this also raised concerns about her resurrection. She couldn't just rely on herself. What if something unexpected happens?
She could take help from Maruti, but the problem was, they couldn't have a verbal conversation. Her Constellation could hear and see their conversation and knowledge about their plan. They would get exposed without a doubt.
There were only two things they could do. One was to hope that her Constellation was not keeping an eye on them for that particular time, precisely depending on luck.
While the other was to use telepathy. But Maruti was just eye-catching. She was currently regarded as a prophet, and many people were keeping an eye on her. Constellations might be too. And especially Kailith and Alice, who were basically stalkers. If she went to collect materials for the resurrection and hold a ritual, it would definitely be known by Kailith, Alice, and especially the Constellations. She might get struck by lightning, causing the ritual to fail.
This was where her insurance came in—Selene.
By that time, just like Kailith, Selene also started hearing the thoughts of others. When Esdeath got to know about this, it made her situation even easier. There was no need for telepathy. She talked via thoughts with her and taught her everything about the resurrection ritual and the materials needed, without letting anyone know at all. Of course, she made Selene prepare a female body to not cause any suspicion.
If she were to say to resurrect her in a male body, it would definitely sting something in Selene's sharp mind.
At this point, Esdeath's plan was finally done. She would make Cassandra expose Lortell, revealing all her trump cards. But then Esdeath would end up exposing them instead and cause a civil war inside the kingdom. In the hustle of things, she would make sure to purposely get killed by Cassandra or Ethan and die. While in the end, Maruti would be the eventual winner and gain the kingdom's treasury.
As for her, only two things would happen. First, they would split apart but she and Esdeath would both go to hell. Or second, they would split apart. Esdeath, who never did anything bad other than self-harm, would go to heaven, while she would be in hell. Whatever the case was, either she would make herself be resurrected, or Selene would reincarnate her.
And she would finally be free from Esdeath and her Constellation as well, gaining a new body.
As for Esdeath, who cares? She would manipulate Lortell as long as she could. But by the time she would find out, it would be too late. She might already be escaped by now. If then Lortell decided to resurrect the real Esdeath, then so be it. Who cares?
But in all of this, a bit of an unexpected thing happened.
Cassandra actually played dirty and decided to attack Esdeath firsthand. This was a bit unexpected, and why wouldn't it be? The star constellations had taken charge of the situation and were messing with her mind, making her not think much about the details. She ended up dying successfully, while making her own Constellation believe that it was all the doing of other star Constellations.
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Looking at the outskirts of heaven with her eyes, she couldn't help but rub her chin and grin wickedly.
"Although many things were slightly out of my expectations, the difference is that I need to resurrect as soon as possible!"
"I'm finally free! I am Fable, the greatest hitman who never bows down to love or anything!" she added with great satisfaction, a feeling of triumph washing over her. She finally took a step forward to enter heaven and explore the surroundings.
"Although I don't know why I am in heaven, I can clearly say, 'Everything was according to my plan' hahaha..." Esdeath chuckled to herself, a smug laugh that echoed in the peaceful air.
But then, her own—Esdeath's—voice came inside her mind, making her freeze solid.
"Would you please shut up? Nothing was according to your plan!"