FATE: Target of Grand Master

Tap tap tap...

Maeve emerged from behind the stage, a haughty smile befitting a queen on her face.

"I am the Queen of Connaught, and my country is growing stronger under my rule. My people sing my praises every day. I live a life free from all worries."

The stage also began in a luxurious palace, where Maeve sang her most popular single.

As the song ended, the style suddenly shifted abruptly, becoming somewhat gloomy.

"Everything in the world should belong to me, but I cannot win the heart of that man from the neighboring country named Cú Chulainn."

The stage then shifted to the Queen's luxurious bedroom, with flashing lights simulating a thunderstorm.

"Every day I look in my magic mirror and ask, 'Magic mirror, magic mirror, who is the fairest of them all?'"

The magic mirror would answer: "The queen who embodies both beauty and wisdom is none other than you."

"Then why? Why won't that man named Cú Chulainn submit to me?"

Maeve picked up her treasured little doll, and, with a mix of heartache and anger, threw it to the ground.

"That's because that country isn't yet your territory, Your Majesty. Only by waging war against that country and demonstrating your strength will those foolish warriors submit to you."

The magic mirror's answer was like the whisper of a demon, constantly tempting the queen, while Shuten-dōji crawled out of the mirror at this moment and began to sing her extremely seductive single.

Ultimately, despite the opposition of her ministers, the Queen decided to launch a war against the neighboring country.

The war did not go as smoothly as she had anticipated. Warriors from neighboring countries launched a fierce resistance, and the queen's soldiers suffered heavy losses.

Upon personally visiting the front lines and witnessing the widespread casualties, the Queen began to waver.

"These people all died because of me, was I wrong?"

However, the evil spirit's allure continued to haunt her.

"You are the queen, and they are your people. Isn't it only natural for them to die for you? Put away your cheap sympathy. History is written by the victors. As long as you defeat your neighboring country, you will still be the beautiful, powerful, and unshakeable queen."

Shuten-dōji exhaled a breath towards Medb, and then the two performed a perfectly synchronized puppet dance on stage.

Just as Shuten-dōji reached out and grabbed Maeve's neck, preparing to possess her, an arrow struck her, and Euryale, radiating a holy light, fell from mid-air.

"Your Majesty, the gods have seen what you have done. It is not a just war, and it will never succeed. We know that you have been bewitched by evil spirits. If you sincerely repent, I will help you destroy them."

"Medve, don't listen to those empty platitudes. Those high and mighty gods won't understand your pain. Think of Cú Chulainn, think of the man you can't have. Are you content?"

At this moment, Maeve stands in the center of the stage, with the goddess Euryale on her left and the demon Shuten-dōji on her right. The lights flicker on Maeve, showing her struggle at this moment.

boom!

A loud sound echoed throughout the theater, and Maeve, who was in the center of the stage, was shrouded in white smoke, making her figure invisible.

At this moment, the first climax of the opera arrived, and the audience below the stage were all focused on the center of the stage.

When the white smoke cleared, the audience was surprised to find two Maeves standing in the middle of the stage.

One wears a pure white dress, symbolizing Maeve's girlishness and innocence, while the other wears a pure red warden's dress, symbolizing Maeve's desires and evil thoughts.

Maeve has been split into two: good and evil!

The audience below the stage was instantly intrigued.

On one hand, there's anticipation for how the story will unfold, and on the other hand, there's curiosity about how Maeve manages to split herself in two.

The answer is naturally magic. After all, with Morgan on Xia Yan's side, creating thought forms is not a difficult task. However, for thought forms of other Servants, due to the restrictions of the laws, not only can only one be created, but it also has no combat power. This basically eliminates the possibility that Morgan arranged thought forms for all of Xia Yan's other Servants. However, it is just right for this stage.

The subsequent plot will undoubtedly be a showdown between the good and evil Maeve.

At first, the evil Maeve defeated the righteous Maeve and seized control of the country, continuing her war of aggression. The defeated righteous Maeve, with the help of Euryale, met Cú Chulainn. Cú Chulainn, who originally harbored hatred for Maeve, chose to forgive her after the righteous Maeve's sincere repentance, and fought alongside her to defeat the evil Maeve.

In the final battle, Cú Chulainn sacrificed himself to protect the righteous Medb, thus creating the opportunity to defeat the evil Medb.

Despite being enemies, and despite both Cú Chulainn and Maeve knowing their love could never be happy, they went ahead without hesitation, and the audience was moved to tears by their love.

Standing backstage, Xia Yan watched the audience's reactions and a slight smile appeared on his lips.

Indeed, the decision to have Cú Chulainn make a cameo appearance and sacrifice himself at the end was the right one.

Actually, Xia Yan didn't initially intend for Cú Chulainn to appear when writing the story. However, in order to differentiate it from the classic plot of the Holy Great Soul Opera Troupe, Xia Yan incorporated heavy and dark elements. The more he wrote, the more he felt that there had to be a sacrifice at the end to elevate the story. Thus, this important task fell on Cú Chulainn.

To reiterate, Xia Yan truly did not intend to persecute Brother Gou! Absolutely not!

The entire opera ends with a narration following the final battle. Although Cú Chulainn is dead, Maeve is pregnant with his child and, concealing his true parentage, raises him to become the shared king of Maeve and two neighboring countries.

After the curtain call, enthusiastic applause erupted from the audience.

As for the quality of the plot, Xia Yan can't say whether his own plot design is better or the traditional shonen plot is better, but Xia Yan's main focus this time is innovation, and at least in this respect, the audience's reaction is enough to say everything.

In addition to Xia Yan's small design touches on the stage performance, such as Maeve splitting into two and the magic battle in the final showdown, Xia Yan believed that he had done his best within the limited week, and the rest was up to the results.

After the curtain call, it took a while before Kun Kun finally arrived.

This time, it wasn't that Kun Kun intentionally let GxQxG enjoy the applause from the audience; it's just that even he, the host, was so engrossed in watching that he became a little lost in the moment.

"Thank you so much to GxQxG idol group for the performance. This seems to be their first offline performance. I wonder how the audience felt?"

"good!!!"

The audience responded in perfect unison.

"Now, let's invite the Great Soul Opera Company back to witness the outcome of tonight's spectacular showdown."