Emperor Lawrence

Heaven’s Fortress City, the capital of the Heavenly Path Kingdom. Divine Plane.

Lawrence steps down from the carriage and takes a deep breath before closing the door. In front of him stands an incredibly beautiful white mansion with dozens of windows. A vast garden adorns the entrance, and a stone path leads to the main door.

But more than the three-meter-high metal gate that separates the street from paradise, what surprises him is its location. A very secluded place within the city, as if the owner didn’t want anyone to disturb them or discover what happens inside.

"I am Lawrence."

The servant immediately recognizes him and allows him entry. As soon as he steps inside, he frowns and looks around.

‘Something changed… A different space?’

Similar to the magic formations in the forest within his Path to Heaven Sect, the residence of Eminent Greed compresses space to increase its interior size. In the Inferior Plane this is understandable, since all hunters are below level 300, but not here. In the Divine Plane, it is extremely difficult to compress space, mainly because the higher the level of the hunters, the more likely they are to destroy the magic formation.

The amount of resources Eminent Greed must be employing in her mansion is substantial, even someone like Lawrence is surprised.

"Right this way."

The servant understands Lawrence’s reaction, but unexpectedly, he does not offer an explanation to the guest. With an expressionless face, he leads the way.

Once he opens the main door, he steps aside, indicating that this is as far as he can guide him. Lawrence enters the mansion and soon encounters its owner.

"Lawrence, I'm surprised by your visit."

A beautiful seven-tailed fox woman, her facial features can only be described as a work of art, and her mesmerizing figure would make men sin. Eminent Greed approaches him wearing a simplistic yet elegant dress.

"Eminent Greed, you look beautiful."

She nods with a smile on her face, then she extends her hand and invites Lawrence into a cool room, its windows open, allowing the breeze to sway the white curtains. A modernist style, somewhat unexpected coming from a woman of an ancient race.

When they sit opposite each other, she is the one who starts the conversation.

"I know why you have come, but let me make time. My servant will take a while to bring the magic artifacts that concentrate mana, you can blame your unexpected visit."

Her captivating smile makes one forget her last words, a veiled sermon.

"I've been busy, I couldn't attend the previous auction because of this."

"I noticed your absence…" She crosses her long legs, drawing her guest’s attention for a second. "Though many spoke of you behind your back, they were surprised after seeing the arrangements you had orchestrated for them."

Lawrence remembers the million gold he had to pay Demontre Sagul and wrinkles his nose.

"It wasn’t cheap."

"I imagined so."

For at least ten minutes they chat amiably, she always bringing up the topic and he continuing it, not until the conversation is about to come to a halt does she again steer it towards a topic that is not at all personal. From the beginning, she has shown no interest in Lawrence's life, rather…

The moment she adjusts her hair and casually directs attention to the neckline of her dress, Lawrence starts to feel that something strange is happening. He’s sure of it when she crosses her legs again, this time in the opposite direction.

‘What is her intention?’

His guard is up, he’s not overlooking anything, he thinks three times before taking a step. If this were a game of seduction, he would fall for her if that were all, but it's not.

‘…I must get out of here. I don’t know what her plans are, but if I stay in this place…’

As if predicting his thoughts, Eminent Greed stands up and walks towards Lawrence. Watching the movement of her long legs and her figure approaching him, he holds his breath.

"Don't be impatient."

She bends down in front of him, allowing him a full view of her neckline. The scent emanating from her body is intoxicating, he cannot resist the urge to inhale her body scent and see her immaculate white skin. If it were up to him, he would remain in this position forever.

Eminent Greed smiles captivatingly and gently moves her hand toward Lawrence's forehead. A second later she frowns.

‘My mind manipulation is not working?’ she is surprised.

For just an instant, for a fraction of a second, he has a bad feeling, but that is enough. It's not his first time dealing with a charm ability, even when he doesn't remember, his body does.

Lawrence clenches his fists until blood comes out and he gets up from his seat, brushing against her body in the process. For any other man, touching the body of Eminent Greed would be an irresistible temptation, but not for him. Not for his current self.

"What did you do to me?!"

Instead of answering, she smiles calmly. "Unexpected. All men below level 700 couldn't contain their breath… I must reevaluate my impression of you."

He’s not in the mood for her games, immediately he turns around and heads towards the sliding window, but as soon as he uses his mana to move away at greater speed, he trips over his own foot.

‘My mana… This damn bitch!’

Just seconds ago he felt confident about escaping without resorting to his Dimensional Rift, but everything changes after realizing that his control of mana was a deception. He doesn't know when, but now his mana is unusable.

"Hoh…"

He hears the voice of that woman approaching and looking down at him. "The poison took effect, but not your attraction to me? That offends me."

Lawrence reaches out to activate his innate ability Dimensional Rift, but then he notices the strangeness. Why did he extend his hand when just a thought is enough to do it? At that very moment, he sees his hand tremble frenetically, now it all makes sense.

Despite having his guard up, there are always phenomena that escape common sense. No one would have thought that this woman spent millions of gold just to overcome all his defenses without resorting to a fight.

Against an ant, she used all her power.

"Bitch…"

Everything goes black. He has lost consciousness.

+++

Lawrence regains consciousness before he regains his senses, like sleep paralysis. The biggest problem is that he can’t open his eyes, he can only rely on his sense of hearing, which is not yet fully recovered.

‘That sound… Is someone writing?’

Gradually his senses return, and he can feel his own body. Without opening his eyes, he tries to use his innate ability Dimensional Rift, and he can, but not fully.

‘Blocking of the innate ability? How the hell is that possible?’

That his innate ability has not been completely blocked shows the difficulty of achieving it, but this partial block is enough to completely nullify his innate ability.

‘If I create an unstable Dimensional Rift and those women cross it… Damn it!’

After discovering that all his attempts will be in vain, he opens his eyes.

He is currently crucified on a wooden cross, beneath this is a circular magic formation, with the cross at its center. Hundreds, if not thousands, of characters are written in the earth, despite being written on such a fluctuating surface, all the characters are immutable. Neither wind nor rain would be able to erase them.

And the one who is writing is none other than Eminent Greed, who wears a transparent garment that allows a vague glimpse of her naked body.

Like a priestess who does not wish to dirty her magic formation with impurities.

“Did the magic artifacts even exist?”

Eminent Greed stops writing and looks at Lawrence without changing her expression. “It's unfortunate, but they are highly sought-after magic artifacts. They don't last long in my possession.”

She rises from the ground proudly. Despite her light garment, she feels no shame that her body can be seen through this piece. As if from the start, Lawrence was not a man, but a lower-class race.

“As you might have deduced, the sale of magic artifacts is just a front. Here, in this place, my experts study the cause and effect of millions of reactions… Magical theory.”

Taking pity on the man who has been trapped or perhaps simply wanting to tell someone, she reveals her secrets. The events that have been taking place under this mansion for countless time.

“If we are lucky, we get results. If not, it's a failure.” She smiles mockingly at herself, having lost countless resources in her search. “Sometimes the magic artifacts cannot be replicated even when we replicate the procedure to the letter, without any errors. Something guides our hand, something mysterious that prevents their duplication.”

Some items are meant to be unique in this world, she knows this more than anyone.

Lawrence frowns, "And what does that--?"

Eminent Greed raises her hand, interrupting him. "Once, we managed to enhance a quasi-heavenly treasure, turning it into a real one. The phenomena that manifested were overwhelming, never seen before."

Those words alone were enough for him to voluntarily fall silent. Because a heavenly treasure can only be created by the world, never by human hands! What this woman is implying is that she’s distorting the laws of the world, stepping into territory that humans should not touch!

She sighs, recalling such events, but also shakes her head in disappointment.

"But we got rid of it... of all the items that could raise suspicion." Eminent Greed pauses for a few seconds before saying: "Perhaps... if I still had them... you would have increased my chances of success."

After being mentioned, Lawrence brings back his previous question.

"And what does that have to do with me?"

"I still hold a memory from my past life, one that I will never be able to forget." As she responds, she crouches down and resumes writing on the ground. "Thousands of eyes watching me from the sky, seeing my past, present, and future. An omniscient being, a Greater Will..."

Lawrence holds his breath, because this woman--!

"The Will of Heaven."

She’s trying to step into forbidden territory!