Chapter 495 – Dominion Through Ownership
Sohow, Zavros managed to get himself fully dressed and ready faster than Lux ever wanted to think about.
Lux didn’t question it. Didn’t want to know what enchantnt or post-coital adrenaline made that possible. He just noted the lipstick smudges and claw marks streaking his father’s neck and jaw, and nodded like soone who had long accepted that his parents were still very active.
He was used to it. Grew up around it. If anything, it was almost comforting in a psychologically scarring, definitely-in-need-of-therapy kind of way.
Lux rolled his shoulders. "Let’s go."
Zavros gave him a wide grin and tapped the ornate ring on his hand. The ring of the Lord of Greed shimred faintly with deep red and gold runes, etched so tightly they looked like they had grown into his skin. When Zavros activated it, the air around them rippled. The floor beneath their feet glimred with light like liquified coins lting into the stone. Then, with a pulse that buzzed through Lux’s teeth, they vanished.
[Teleportation Sync: Ring of Greed Authorized.]
[Destination: Sealed Tower Entry, Depth Layer: Obsidian Root]
No smart remarks. No sassy add-on.
Just system readouts.
That alone made Lux stiffen.
When they reappeared, the world had changed.
Gone was the gleaming modern vault district of Nexus Pri with its clean-cut obsidian walls, gold-inlaid contracts, and demonic accountants bickering about asset tiers. Gone was the ambient hum of economy-driven magic and incense-laced prestige.
This place was... ancient.
The air was thicker. Dryer. It reeked of iron, lted crystal, and long-dead mana. The kind of scent that didn’t just sit on your tongue—it clung to your soul.
They stood on a stone platform in front of a massive sealed archway. Black stone walls stretched up around them, half-collapsed in so places, still intact in others. Everything looked scorched, broken, unstable. But not forgotten.
Even the earth here was different. It wasn’t soil. It was hardened greed residue, like the raw crust of avarice that had calcified over millennia.
Lux’s system humd in his ear, quiet, stiff. All sarcasm suppressed.
[Warning: Tower of Greed entry. Proceed with caution. Historical corruption detected.]
[System override functions paused. Observation mode enabled.]
He looked at Zavros. His father wasn’t grinning now.
Zavros was staring at the archway with an expression Lux rarely saw on him.
Sothing like guilt.
Regret.
Maybe a little grief.
"Stay close to ," Zavros said, voice low.
Lux didn’t answer.
The tower before them wasn’t a tower anymore. Not really. Half of it had crumbled. The central spire was split open like a ruined cathedral, jagged teeth of stone curling upward around a sky that shimred with locked spell layers. Chains of ancient gold ran between broken battlents, and runes flickered and hissed like they were still in pain.
Lux stopped at the edge of a blackened staircase.
The feeling in the air was heavy. Too heavy.
Even for Hell.
He glanced around, letting his senses stretch. The mana here wasn’t moving right. It circled, curled, and doubled back on itself like it didn’t want to be found. Like it was hiding sothing.
Lux crouched near the floor. Dragged his fingers across the surface.
Stone.
But not just stone.
Slick with sothing that wasn’t visible.
The echo of blood magic.
He stood slowly and looked over his shoulder. "So. Why did you destroy this place? You can just kick him out from the Greed throne."
Zavros was quiet for a mont. Then he stepped forward, tracing a clawed hand along the cracked arch.
"Because he took it from us."
Lux turned to face him fully.
Zavros’ eyes were distant. "This tower used to be the heart of Greed’s oldest seat of power. Before the vault districts. Before the bureaucratic expansion. We were raised here. and..."
He trailed off.
"Zoltarin," Lux finished.
Zavros nodded.
"He was brilliant. Charismatic. Older than by five minutes, and he never let forget it. He believed Greed should be more than just the realm’s bank. He believed we were ant to rule. Not from behind. From the front."
Lux raised a brow. "Sounds familiar."
Zavros gave a rueful smile. "It started with ideas. Then it turned into theories. Then into manifestos. And then?"
He gestured around them.
"This. He overthrew our guardians. Subverted every lock. Enslaved the ancient vault familiars. Made this place his personal fortress. He wanted to launch a full-scale rebellion."
Lux exhaled through his nose. "And you stopped him."
"We had to," Zavros said. "We couldn’t leave this place standing. Not when it had been corrupted."
Lux scanned the wreckage again. Burned walls. lted stairwells. Pieces of gold fused to stone like they’d been flash-cooked in a magical explosion.
"So you nuked your childhood," he said quietly.
Zavros nodded. "Yeah."
Lux didn’t speak for a bit.
His gaze fell on a rusted plaque half-buried in rubble.
It had once read "Dominion Through Balance". Now it was scratched out. Under it, soone had etched "Dominion Through Ownership".
Lux squinted. "Is that blood?"
Zavros stepped beside him. "It used to bleed. Every day. Part of the pact he carved into the tower’s foundation. It demanded sacrifices to fuel the new vault core."
Lux muttered, "Hardcore."
Zavros rubbed his temple. "He was a visionary. But... insane."
They moved deeper.
Every step forward stirred the silence. It wasn’t just quiet. It was listening.
The deeper they went, the colder it got—not physically, but spiritually. Lux felt it in his bones. In the way his own greed aura seed to recede like it didn’t want to be noticed.
[Passive Signature Suppression Detected.]
[Warning: Environntal artifact dampening all Greed-based detection. Proceed carefully.]
’Even the system’s scared,’ Lux thought.
They passed through a broken hall, mural fragnts still clinging to the walls.
One showed a younger Zavros.
Another showed soone with identical eyes.
Lux stopped.
"That him?"
Zavros nodded once.
The figure in the mural smiled with lips like daggers and held out a crown made of coins.
"Is it weird that I feel like I’ve seen him before?" Lux asked.
User Comments
0 comments from readers