PART III: AFTER THE UNSEALING OF THE BLACK MAGE

Chapter 13: The Lion King’s Castle

• An Alliance member was called to the Lion King’s Castle by the Resistance agent J, who had been dispatched to investigate Von Leon. After breaking through the castle towers, the Alliance member and J encountered the ghosts of Luden, Von Leon’s chief knight. As J was unable to see Luden, he tasked the Alliance member with interrogating Luden while he investigated the rest of the castle.

• The Alliance member learned from Luden that Von Leon had once been a good king, for which he asked the Alliance member to help him return Von Leon to the right side. He asked them to speak with the ghost of his beloved wife, Ifia, believing that only she could reach the king’s heart.

• The Alliance member met with Ifia, who believed that Von Leon had forgotten about her, as he had ignored her cries for centuries. In order to help reunite them, the Alliance member met with Von Leon, who refused to believe that Ifia’s spirit dwelled in the castle, claiming that he would have known if she still lingered.

• Nevertheless, the Alliance member continued presenting him with evidence that only Ifia had known about, forcing him to believe that they were telling the truth. When the Alliance member brought Ifia’s ghost before him, Von Leon was unable to see her and believed that it was his punishment for having sold his soul to the Black Mage. Defeated, he gave them a pendant containing Ifia’s face, claiming that he didn’t deserve her memory.

• Wondering how Von Leon had fallen so far, the Alliance member spoke with Luden and learned that when the Anti-Black Mage Coalition from centuries ago had asked him to stand with them, Von Leon had refused, believing that it would needlessly paint a target on his kingdom when they had nothing worth taking. Mistakenly taking his lack of action as proof that he had sided with the Black Mage, the coalition had destroyed his castle and killed his wife. Driven to despair, Von Leon had sworn loyalty to the Black Mage in order to get his revenge on the ones who had taken everything from him.

• The Alliance member reported their findings to J, who revealed that the strangely aggressive actions of the coalition didn’t make sense, as attacking Von Leon’s castle had completely wiped out their already-small numbers. He revealed that his investigation had allowed him to discover several strange totems with the power to drive one to insanity, causing him to believe that someone had used the totems to magically brainwash the coalition into mindlessly attacking the castle.

• (A/N: It’s heavily implied that Hilla is the one responsible for driving the coalition mad, as we’re told in the Azwan storyline that Hilla’s illusions are strong enough to drive people to insanity. We also see Hilla being the one to recruit Von Leon in the Winter Bard.)