For the first ti since stepping into the Big World, Lucien felt truly helpless.
His drops were aningless here. His weapons might as well have been ornants. Even his authority was tolerated only because it amused beings far beyond him.
’So Vorren was right...’ Lucien let out a silent breath. ’There was danger indeed. This was the foreshadowing.’
The darkness pressed closer.
Lucien lifted his head.
"Seniors," he said calmly. His voice cut through the suffocating domain. "I am willing to go with you."
The Verdant Veil mbers froze. Marie’s eyes widened. Sahrin struggled. Khasari’s fists trembled.
None of them could speak.
"But," Lucien continued with an unwavering gaze, "release my companions."
The shadows stilled.
The Varkhaal Eternal turned slowly. His form distorted as if reality itself recoiled from his attention.
"Do you believe," he asked softly, "that you possess the standing to propose an exchange?"
Lucien smiled. It was small. It was sharp.
"If any of them die," he said evenly, "then you won’t get what you want from ."
The domain trembled.
"I am the only one who can lead you to the other Ancestors," Lucien continued. "The only one who can draw them out."
He paused then added lightly,
"And if you think torture will help... I’m afraid you misunderstand ."
The smile widened just a fraction.
"I fear pain, yes. But if I die, whatever is sealed with dies too. The others will never be seen again."
For the first ti—
The Varkhaal Eternal hissed in genuine fury.
Shadows erupted, forming countless blades aid not at Lucien...
...but at the others.
"Then let us make an example—"
"Enough."
The Fire Nephralis Eternal spoke without raising his voice.
The shadow blades froze.
"Our mission cos first," he said calmly. "Do not let impatience cost us purpose."
The Varkhaal inhaled once.
The domain stabilized.
Lucien exhaled quietly.
"Do not mistake this for rcy, human," the Nephralis said, turning his gaze to Lucien. "If you betray us—"
"They die," he finished simply. "Imdiately."
Lucien nodded.
"You will co with us."
Lucien hesitated.
"...I want them released first."
A slow, cruel grin curved across the Nephralis’s face.
"They may live," he said. "But they will remain here."
He tilted his head.
"How else do you think we would ensure your obedience?"
Lucien understood.
If he pressed further, he would truly die.
These were Eternals. Failure ant nothing to them. At most, it earned an excuse.
Lucien swallowed.
He looked back.
Marie was biting her lip so hard that blood traced down her chin.
Lucien smiled gently.
"Marie," he said quietly. "Take care of everyone for ."
Her eyes shook.
"I’ll go first," he added. "I’ll see you later."
Laughter answered him.
Not mocking, but amused.
"You will not see them again," the Nephralis Eternal said lazily. "We are not taking you anywhere within this world."
The Varkhaal Eternal lifted one shadowed hand and pointed outward...
"You will go to the void," he said. "To the vast universe."
The Fire Nephralis nodded.
"A planet my Nephralis Sect owned," he added. "Beyond observation and beyond interference."
"If you live," the Varkhaal continued, "it will be because you deserved to."
"If you die," the Nephralis said, smiling thinly, "then you were never worthy to begin with."
Dread swallowed the gathered survivors.
If Lucien were taken to a sect, there would be hope. If he were taken within the Big World, there would be pursuit.
But outside—
There would be nothing.
The Varkhaal Eternal looked at the others one last ti.
"You are fortunate," he said softly. "Few lives are worth a sacrifice."
His eyes glead.
"I look forward to the day you crawl back for vengeance. At least then, my eternity might beco entertaining."
The Nephralis raised his brush.
"As for now," he said, "co, human."
The darkness surged.
And Lucien—
Did not resist.
The Eternals did not linger too.
"Let us not waste ti," the Fire Nephralis Eternal said. "Those Celestial Race vermin may arrive at any mont."
The Varkhaal Eternal inclined his head slightly. Shadows folded tighter around the domain.
"I will ensure this human does not escape," he hissed. "Begin now."
The Nephralis Eternal reached into his Storage Ring.
A disc erged.
Its surface was layered with concentric formations engraved so deeply they seed etched into reality itself. Symbols rotated slowly, each one was a declaration of location, ownership, and authority.
A planet-bound teleportation disc.
In truth, this was not rare among the highest powers.
Any faction that claid a planet beyond the Big World possessed such a disc. Space was vast beyond reason. Even an Eternal, traveling unaided, would require years, decades, or even centuries to cross between stars.
Teleportation was not just convenience, it was necessity.
There were even neutral convergence worlds.
There was a massive planet maintained by the Celestial Race itself, used as an ergency assembly point. When the Black Mass monsters had once stirred beyond containnt, Celestial Realm and Eternal Realm experts from different factions had gathered there within monts, bypassing the cruelty of distance.
This disc was similar.
But this one—
Belonged to the Nephralis Sect.
The Nephralis Eternal placed the disc in the air.
Formations blood.
The symbols rotated faster as spatial coordinates locked in. Distance ceased to matter. Direction beca aningless. The disc began to hum with a deep resonance that vibrated through bone and soul alike.
The Varkhaal Eternal moved.
Shadows surged and wrapped around Lucien like chains forged from night itself. His limbs froze. His senses dulled. His very intent was crushed flat.
Lucien could not move. He could not think of a path.
There was no opening. No escape.
The teleportation formation reached its final alignnt.
And that’s when—
Marie convulsed.
It was violent.
Her body arched against the ground as if struck by unseen lightning. Her fingers clawed into the earth. Her breath hitched sharply, once, twice, then stalled altogether.
"Marie!" Lucien stared with worry. He could only watch from the distance, helpless.
The Eternals did not even look at her.
"She is irrelevant," the Varkhaal Eternal said dismissively.
But Lucien felt it.
Sothing inside him stirred too as if it recognized sothing.
It had been there all along. A presence that had slept inside him.
Lucien’s eyes widened.
’The Will of the World.’
The fragnt that had entered them long ago.
Dormant. Silent. Untouched.
And now—
It was awakening.
Not his. But Marie’s.
In truth, the trials within the Ruins of Stillness had revealed sothing to her.
They granted her a deeper understanding of herself.
She had confronted contradiction, accepted it, and endured... without deceiving herself and without escaping into denial.
And now, in recognizing her own powerlessness, sothing ignited from within.
The Will had recognized her.
Marie’s body went still.
Then—
She stood.
The pressure of the Varkhaal’s domain shattered around her like glass.
Everyone felt it.
A presence unfolded.
Not oppressive. Not violent. But vast.
Marie’s eyes opened.
They were gold. As if the world itself was looking out through her gaze.
The ground beneath her feet did not tremble.
It acknowledged her.
The darkness recoiled.
For the first ti since they appeared—
The Eternals turned fully toward soone other than Lucien.
The Fire Nephralis Eternal’s brush paused mid-configuration.
"...Interesting," he murmured as genuine surprise seeped into his voice.
The Varkhaal Eternal hissed sharply, shadows twisting in agitation.
"That presence..." he growled.
Marie lifted her head slowly.
She did not know what she had beco.
But the world did.
And for the first ti since the domain fell—
She was no longer suppressed.
She stood within the darkness—
And the darkness bent away from her.
Marie did not hesitate.
She launched herself forward. Her form cut through the darkness like a descending judgnt. There was no playfulness left in her expression. No teasing smile. No casual confidence.
She looked like a Valkyrie torn from myth.
As she leapt, the ground below her responded.
Earth surged upward, not as crude stone but as intent made solid. Plates of hardened terrain tore free, reshaping mid-flight into spears, blades, and layered shields that rotated around her in perfect orbit.
The domain shifted.
For the first ti since it had ford—
The Varkhaal Eternal was no longer in full control.
The Fire Nephralis Eternal’s expression darkened.
"Stop her."
Then, after a heartbeat of calculation—
"...No. Kill her."
The words carried finality.
"She will beco a threat to us."
The Varkhaal Eternal hesitated just for an instant.
The Nephralis noticed.
"Do not concern yourself with the human," he added coldly. "He cannot escape. The disc will activate montarily."
The teleportation formation behind him pulsed brighter, symbols locking into alignnt.
"I will extract him personally," the Nephralis continued. "You deal with the erging variable."
Lucien’s heart sank.
Marie was moving too fast. Too recklessly.
And yet—
His gaze sharpened.
Even as fear tightened his chest, Lucien’s mind was already moving. Perfect Loop spun again.
anwhile, the domain continued to fracture.
The ground surged at Marie’s will, rising in vast arcs as if the world itself were reaching for Lucien. The earth tried to wrap around him, to pull him free, to tear him away from shadow and fate alike.
For a mont—
It almost worked.
Then the shadows reacted.
They thickened, layering over one another, forming an impenetrable barrier around the Fire Nephralis Eternal and Lucien. Every strike of earth was intercepted, swallowed, nullified before it could touch its target.
The Varkhaal Eternal moved.
He appeared in Marie’s path like a living eclipse.
Shadows erupted, spearing upward to halt her advance. The collision was violent. Earth and darkness scread against one another as opposing authorities clashed.
Marie twisted midair, pivoting with inhuman grace.
The weapons orbiting her shattered and reford instantly, slamming into the Varkhaal’s domain from impossible angles. The ground beneath him buckled.
For the first ti—
The Varkhaal Eternal was forced back a step.
The Fire Nephralis Eternal did not watch idly.
He lifted his brush and slashed it through the air.
Lines of law carved across space itself, aiming not to kill but to sever Marie’s connection to the ground.
Marie felt it and adjusted instantly.
She abandoned the attack.
Instead, she leapt.
Straight toward Lucien.
She was close.
So close.
Lucien could see it in her eyes, panic now bleeding through divinity. She reached for him, earth surging beneath her feet, ready to tear him free no matter the cost.
Her fingers were a breath away.
Then—
A soft click echoed.
The teleportation disc completed its cycle.
The symbols flared.
The Fire Nephralis Eternal smiled.
Space folded.
Lucien felt the pull. The world loosened its grip on him all at once.
The Nephralis Eternal vanished.
Lucien vanished with him.
Marie’s hand closed on nothing.
Her montum carried her forward, and she crashed to her knees as the ground beneath her went still.
Her breath hitched.
Then—
"NO!!!"
Lucien was gone.
Taken beyond the world.
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