The four won blinked.
Then, as if struck by the sa thought at once, their expressions changed.
In the next instant, their bodies dissolved.
Stone stilled. Fla folded. Currents unraveled. Water dispersed.
They returned to their elental states almost reflexively.
Their storage rings had been left on the stone edge beforehand. Anything carrying energy would not have survived the Abyss, and so now, they had no imdiate way to retrieve clothing.
For a brief mont, only the quiet presence of their elents remained.
Then Marina’s voice flowed out.
"My Prince," she said gently, "it would be best... if you looked elsewhere first."
Lucien blinked.
Then the realization arrived.
"Oh."
The smile on his face vanished imdiately.
For the first ti since entering the Abyss—
Lucien looked slightly embarrassed.
The Abyss behind him remained still.
The four newly ascended Celestials were not.
...
To their credit—
If it had been any other man standing there, he would not have survived that long.
Lucien turned his back without another word.
Behind him, the four descended onto the stone platform and reford their bodies once more. They retrieved their storage rings and dressed themselves quickly.
Even the Empty Vessels were clothed again.
Only when everything had settled did footsteps approach.
Marie.
She slipped beside Lucien and casually draped an arm over his shoulder, as if the situation had never been awkward.
"Luc," she said with a smile that carried sothing mischievous beneath it, "your eyes had quite the feast earlier."
Lucien glanced at her.
"I’m not really angry," she continued, "but I think I deserve a few treasures."
Lucien stared at her for a mont.
Then he scoffed.
"What is there to see?" he said flatly. "There’s not much worth looking at anyway."
His gaze dropped slightly.
Marie froze.
"...Excuse ?"
Before she could retaliate, a cool presence slipped in.
Marina.
She flowed around Lucien briefly in her water form before reappearing behind him, resting lightly against his back.
"My Prince," she said softly, "what Marie ans is that we need better clothing."
Lucien turned slightly.
Marina continued with calm clarity.
"Our garnts cannot withstand our current elental resonance. They are destroyed the mont we assu our stronger forms. If this continues, it will beco... inconvenient."
Then she added in a whisper,
"If it’s only you... it wouldn’t be an inconvenience at all hehe."
Lucien fell silent. He ignored the last part.
Then he looked toward the other three.
Kaia crossed her arms and looked away. Her expression was composed but her posture was slightly stiff.
Sylra did not et his gaze either, though she gave a small nod.
The two of them looked as if they wanted to say sothing, but held it back.
Marie, on the other hand, was already nodding enthusiastically.
Lucien understood.
Their bodies had changed fundantally.
Their resonance was no longer sothing ordinary materials could endure.
"I’ll prepare sothing for each of you," he said.
That was enough.
All four pairs of eyes lit up at once.
If Lucien said it, then it would be done.
Marina smiled brightly.
"As expected of you, my Prince."
Then, without warning—
she leaned forward and placed a quick peck on his cheek.
And vanished.
The other three froze.
Marina had already retreated, dashing toward the exit in her water form as if nothing unusual had happened.
A beat passed.
Then—
Kaia moved.
Sylra followed.
Marie gave Lucien one last look before turning as well.
All three went after her.
...
Lucien remained standing where he was.
Then he slowly raised his hand and wiped his cheek.
"...A kiss from a girl is indeed better than Uncle Ed’s."
The mory surfaced uninvited.
He recalled how Edric had kissed him back at the Silvermine Estate, after he allowed him to touch the Essence of Purity.
A deeply unfortunate mont.
Lucien sighed.
So things truly should never be rembered.
...
With the chamber quiet once more, Lucien turned back toward the Abyssal Pool.
Now—
it was ti to understand what he had beco.
He closed his eyes.
And felt.
The difference was imdiate.
Before, his power had always been in motion. Energy circulated, radiated, pressed outward. Even when controlled, it existed as sothing that wanted to express itself.
Now—
everything was contained.
Perfectly.
His entire existence had beco sealed.
There was no leakage, no passive pressure, and no unintentional presence.
Every fragnt of his strength remained exactly where he willed it to be.
Lucien exhaled softly.
Then, with a thought—
He suppressed himself.
In an instant, his presence vanished.
If soone stood before him now, they would see a man—
But feel nothing.
He was like an ordinary mortal.
A blank existence.
Lucien opened his eyes slowly.
"This... is what it ans to be complete."
At the Celestial Realm, strength was no longer asured only by output.
It was asured by control over one’s existence.
His body was no longer rely physical. It had reached a state of perfect cohesion.
His bones, flesh, and structure were anchored to a higher stability. Damage was no longer just a matter of force, but of whether sothing could disrupt the law that now defined his body.
That was why Celestials could survive the void.
And now—
Lucien could feel sothing more.
A faint resonance.
He reached out.
And mimicked the presence of the Abyssal Pool.
In an instant, his existence shifted.
He beca quiet.
Like sothing the world had no reason to notice.
Lucien’s eyes sharpened slightly.
"This is useful."
His body was so refined that it no longer rely allowed him to survive the void. It might even enable him to endure the Abyss itself, should the need arise.
He had made the right choice.
•••
Soon, Lucien decided to test sothing new.
A privilege that had only beco possible after he stepped into the Celestial Realm.
Edict.
It is different from a Law Art in the usual sense.
It was closer to a statent made by an existence the world had already acknowledged.
At the Celestial Realm, one could finally speak from a place the higher structure of reality recognized. If the authority was accepted, then the world would answer.
And with Lucien’s Law of Creation...
That possibility was absurd.
He stood quietly at the edge of the Abyssal Pool and looked toward the empty air before him.
Then he spoke.
"Let there be form."
The sentence left his lips calmly.
For a brief mont, nothing happened.
Then the air before him changed.
Threads of pale geotry ford in midair.
A clear crystalline platform unfolded piece by piece.
Lucien’s eyes narrowed slightly.
The platform hovered quietly before him, like a thing that had always been ant to be there.
He stepped closer and touched it with one finger.
It was real.
Reality had made room for it.
Lucien watched it for several breaths, then dismissed the thought that upheld it. The platform dissolved back into formless stillness.
He exhaled softly.
"That is an Edict."
Soon, Lucien rembered sothing else.
The divine-rarity loot he had acquired from the Riftglass.
Covenant of Unspoken Law.
It grants the wielder the authority to impose a silent verdict upon reality, establishing a binding rule without declaration. The world does not hear the command, but it obeys it nonetheless.
Lucien’s gaze sharpened.
Normally, an Edict required declaration.
But this—
With the Covenant of Unspoken Law, an Edict no longer needed a voice.
It would simply descend.
Of course, the cost was imnse.
Like the other divine-rarity loots, it demanded a terrifying amount of energy.
But he only needed to charge it, just as he had done with the Void Disc.
More importantly, he did not need to hold the item in his hand.
As long as it remained inside his divine energy core, it was already considered part of his active authority.
Lucien smiled faintly.
"In a fight... this is disgusting."
He spent so ti afterward refining his control.
By the ti he finished, his understanding had grown much cleaner.
Only then did his gaze shift.
The four Empty Vessels still stood nearby in silence.
The fragnts of the won’s souls remained within them.
For now, he left them untouched.
He stored them in his core first.
•••
Soon, Lucien turned and walked out of the Palace of Stillness.
At the entrance, two figures were waiting.
Eirene and Lilith.
From a distance, they seed peaceful enough.
Standing together. Speaking quietly.
Lucien almost smiled.
Then he drew closer and understood the truth.
Lilith was wearing that familiar smirk again. Eirene’s brows were faintly furrowed, and though her posture remained graceful, there was a trace of irritation in the way she held her shoulders.
So.
They were "getting along" in their usual way.
It had not escalated into a fight, at least.
That was already an improvent.
Lucien stepped forward.
Then, in the next instant, he was already before them.
Eirene’s eyes widened first.
"Brother Luc—when did you get here?"
Lilith’s gaze sharpened a beat later.
"I didn’t feel you at all until you were standing in front of us."
Lucien only smiled.
That, too, was part of the change.
Lucien did not answer their question directly.
Instead, he looked from one to the other and asked,
"You two are not fighting, are you?"
Both won cleared their throats almost at the sa ti.
Eirene answered first.
"No. We were rely discussing sothing."
Lilith nodded imdiately after.
"That is correct. We only ca to congratulate you firsthand."
Lucien looked at them for a mont.
Then he smiled and gave a small nod, allowing the matter to rest.
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