Inside a large, luxurious bar, a girl with long blonde hair was sitting, sipping an orange soda. "Hey, young lady, isn't this the sort of place you belong in?" asked the man sitting next to her. She didn't even spare him a glance—and this annoyed him because he'd been ignored.
Before he could vent his frustration, the bartender standing in front of them cleared his throat, prompting the man to immediately shift his attention to the bald man. "We don't allow fights in this bar—and I won't let anyone damage this place again," he said; although he was smiling, it was by no means a friendly smile.
"Huh?! Hey, baldy, it's obvious this girl's underage—this isn't a place she should be in!" The man with the thick beard slammed his fist down on the table, his face turning towards the girl, but in an instant—a potato was shoved into his mouth. He saw the girl holding a card between her fingers before a clap of applause rang out; it didn't take long for a security guard to arrive and drag the man out, who was still struggling to speak properly.
"Your card really can get you out of anything, can't it?" the man muttered, the sound of laughter and chatter filling the spacious bar—I let out a long sigh, having had to deal with such an annoying man just now, but the barman with the ridiculous name Humpty Dumpty placed another glass of orange soda beside me. "This one's on the house; just think of it as an apology for earlier."
I nodded and turned away before glancing round the bar once more. "I still can't believe your boss built this bar on the quiet," I said before placing my empty glass on the table; the interior really did feel luxurious and a world away from the modest bar where he'd worked before.
"I'm a lucky bloke—I was absolutely delighted when I heard that this bar, called 'Nursery Rhyme', was being opened by my boss!" He nearly jumped for joy just talking about it; he kept chattering on about how pleased he was, but I ignored him, focusing instead on the empty stage that was about to come to life.
Suddenly, everything went dark; two spotlights shone onto the stage as a woman stepped up—her long, pale pink hair swayed as she walked, and the moment her feet came to a stop, she turned immediately towards the microphone and gazed out at the entire audience. My mouth fell open; I couldn't believe what I was seeing—my heart was pounding just from looking at her; it was as if she radiated a light that instantly drew the attention of everyone nearby.
Her beauty cannot be described with just a single word; anyone, regardless of gender, would probably fall in love at first sight—her melodious voice was a true delight to my ears; I would never have imagined that such a perfect human being could exist in this world; all the customers were instantly captivated when they heard the melodies coming from her lips.
"You're so damn attractive but why only now you exist?" Her soft voice made some man put down their cue stick and let it soothe their body after playing for over an hour.
I jumped down from my chair and my feet moved of their own accord, as if the woman had already tempted my feet to draw closer. "My life would be so much better if we got to know one another"
"But it's all too late because you've already got someone you call 'babe'"—my heart ached just hearing her lyrics, as if I were experiencing something I'd never felt before.
More and more people were gathering round the stage, making the area around it busier than a market on a morning. "Would it make me a villain if I hoped you two never met again?"
"My jealousy goes beyond the vastness of fantasy"—the song continued, and I can't recall ever feeling so emotional simply from hearing the voice of someone I didn't even know singing.
Not a single soul failed to applaud when she finished singing; her sweet smile was the last thing she showed before stepping down from the stage. I still couldn't quite believe what I'd just witnessed. "Who… exactly is she?" I muttered to myself, but a voice answered my curiosity.
"Mirabelle." My head snapped to the left and I saw a heavyset man with not a single hair on his head except for his eyelashes and eyebrows. "She's a singer who's only just started her career." Hearing that left me speechless.
"…Just starting her career? She seems like a professional!" I turned round and spotted the woman called Mirabelle standing amidst a crowd of people eager to chat to her. I wanted to approach her too, but out of the corner of my eye—I spotted someone familiar. I turned my head to see a man in a smart suit with a striking golden crown on his head.
Her singing was so melodious that I even forgot my main objective; I handed my white baguette bag to Humpty, who was standing nearby. "Please get her to sign this bag! And if you dare try to open it—I've prepared a card that'll instantly burn your face beyond recognition." Hearing this, he swallowed hard before watching me walk out of the bar.
Once outside, I immediately ran after him—he wasn't far away—and from both my hands, I produced a card in each; I threw one behind me, whilst the other shot far ahead, flying past the man in front of me. Instantly, thorny roots sprang up, forming a spiked barrier in front of him and behind me. The man slowly turned round and, upon seeing me, a smile immediately spread across his face.
"Oh? Who else but Alice the troublemaker—" I'm not one for meaningless small talk; I'd already darted forward and was right in front of him before placing two cards on the ground—a burst of fire and wind erupted from the cards, sending him soaring into the air.
With the help of the cards already stuck to the soles of my shoes, I soared into the air as well—and before I could play another card, his smart suit vanished, leaving him naked and clearly revealing his underpants—I was so shocked by the sight I didn't notice that both his hands had already shot out towards me and struck the road.
Blood spurted from my mouth; my eyes were fixed on that burly man as his massive feet slammed into the ground, making the road tremble. I got up from the tarmac and wiped the blood from near my lips; I was breathing heavily, and to my surprise, a smile appeared on my face.
"Let me guess—what you sacrificed when you became a Fable was your sense of shame?" I asked, because surely no one could go around in just their underpants without feeling embarrassed… Ah, perhaps not—there's Admetus.
"I don't know, and I don't care either—because even if something is forcibly torn from me, I'll still be perfect," he said before hurtling towards me; I threw my cards at him before planting my feet firmly on the hard ground and leaping to the side to avoid the collision.
Flames shot out from the cards and immediately engulfed his body, causing Caesar to scream. I'd noticed this from the moment we met—if he really did have invisible armour, he'd feel the heat when hit by fire.
However, he was quick enough to escape the cards. "Pah! You bastard!" he shouted, but now he couldn't move his arms or legs—when he glanced down, he saw that both his arms and legs were chained to four cards I'd secretly placed on the road. "You think this will stop me?!" With all his might, he snapped the chains and charged at me.
Being smaller than him, I was able to dodge him more nimbly. "Can't lie, I thought it would work..." I replied, my eyes widening slightly as an idea flashed through my mind. "And maybe it still will," I said, flashing him that sly smile again.
I tossed the card again, right beneath him; he glanced down and, in a flash, both his hands slammed into the ground, pounding it repeatedly—trying to shatter the card as hard as he could, sending dust flying everywhere. But that was the moment I'd been waiting for: from above, two iron chains bound his hands and swiftly lifted his body into the sky, along with the dust carried by the wind.
He looked up and saw two cards extending chains and two more cards attached to them, propelling him into the sky. "Look this way," my voice made me turn round to face forwards again; he saw me flying after him.
"You haven't learnt from your mistakes, have you?" he replied in a very condescending tone, but I'm not the sort of person to do the same thing twice—he didn't try to break free because he knew he'd be able to do it easily later on anyway.
"I always learn from my mistakes," I said, resting my hands on my hips; my blue eyes met her dark ones, and we didn't break eye contact for a single moment. "But it's you who ought to start learning now."
Hearing this, he looked around and realised that cards were already flying all around him—on both the left and right sides, above and below. He quickly tried to free himself from the chain, but the cards had already begun to release stones which slowly started to form a sphere—gradually, Caesar's entire massive body was covered by the stones until, finally, he was completely trapped inside the stone sphere.
I then tossed four more cards right beneath the stone sphere, which instantly unleashed such a powerful gust of wind that it sent it flying far out of sight. "Heh—" I couldn't hold back my laughter any longer, witnessing that arrogance smashed to smithereens—but it wasn't merely destroyed, for I'd already placed several secret cards inside the stone sphere that would activate in a moment.
When had I placed them there? Of course, when the rocks had formed the sphere trapping Caesar; I'd thrown them into a spot where his eyes couldn't reach. I descended back onto the road and, for a moment, nearly toppled onto the tarmac—fortunately, I'd already blocked the road so no vehicles could pass.
I was breathing heavily from the immense energy I had expended; sweat dripped onto the road, and slowly I gazed up at the night sky, adorned with beautiful stars. 'He'll be reduced to ash in a moment,' I thought. I'd never released such a large amount of searing heat from my cards before.
The stone ball would shatter, leaving Caesar's charred body to crash into the earth like an asteroid falling from space. If everything went according to my plan, two members of The Seven Sins should be dead by now.
"Everything's according to plan."