Chapter 539: A Way
The field had descended into chaos.
Thousands of military personnel stood frozen, cameras broadcasting to billions, reporters struggling to process what they’d just witnessed.
The Director of the Military Police declaring war on the Imperial Council.
Portal defenses across the world about to collapse.
A civil war ignited over the life of one seventeen-year-old boy.
But among the chaos, the three SS rank beings stood completely still for some time.
Then they began speaking at speeds that made the sound itself struggle to keep up.
To everyone watching, they appeared perfectly still, not even their lips moving.
"Sage."
The Chairman’s voice emerged, carrying weight that pressed against reality itself.
"I don’t understand any of this."
His hands clenched at his sides.
"Why didn’t you intervene? Why did you allow the situation to reach this point when you could have stopped it?"
His voice gained edges, frustration bleeding through the careful control.
"After everything we’ve been through together, after so many years of pain and suffering and sacrifice to keep this fragile peace intact..."
He paused, the words catching in his throat.
"Is humanity really going to be destroyed by its own hands? Is this truly how it ends after all we’ve done to prevent it?"
Silence fell between them, stretching for microseconds that felt like eternities.
The Sage remained perfectly still, his masked face showing nothing, offering no answer to the desperate questions.
The Chairman’s hair fell forward, obscuring his features, casting shadows that made his expression unreadable.
When he spoke again, his voice came out quieter but carrying conviction.
"All my life, I chose to be the balance between everything. The neutral ground that kept factions from tearing each other apart."
His hands opened slowly, palms turning upward like he was holding something invisible.
"I chose to carry the burden of everyone’s expectations, everyone’s demands, everyone’s impossible needs."
His fingers curled slightly, the gesture small but conveying enormous weight.
"I swallowed my pride when the Imperials overstepped. I made concessions when the extremists pushed too far." He paused. "I compromised again and again and again, always giving ground, always bending, always finding the middle path that would prevent bloodshed."
His voice became harder, edges appearing in the careful neutrality.
"But all of you took that for weakness, didn’t you?"
His head lifted, his face showing something that made even the Sage shift fractionally.
"You saw my restraint and called it cowardice. You saw my patience and called it submission. You saw my willingness to negotiate and thought it meant I could be pushed indefinitely without consequence."
Light flashed as his hand moved, reality warping around the gesture.
A scythe materialized in his grip, its blade gleaming with edges that looked sharp enough to cut through his existence itself.
"Then today, right here and now, I will show you exactly why he chose me to be the leader of humanity."
The weapon’s presence changed everything, the casual pleasant man vanishing completely, replaced by something that made the air itself feel dangerous.
"I will remind you why the position of Chairman exists, and what happens when the balance finally decides it’s tired of being pushed."
The Sage’s masked face remained still for one more microsecond.
Then his voice emerged, calm and carrying certainty that cut through the Chairman’s building rage.
"There is still a way left."
The Chairman’s hand froze mid-motion, the scythe hanging suspended in the air.
The Sage’s head turned, his gaze settling on where Damian knelt in the snow, still blank and motionless.
"All of this started because of him."
His voice remained level, stating fact rather than accusation.
"And he is the only one who can stop it."
The Chairman’s eyes narrowed, confusion replacing the rage.
"What do you mean? The war has already begu–"
The Sage’s head turned, his gaze settling on Lysander who’d remained silent throughout the exchange.
"Lysander."
His voice carried command wrapped in urgency.
"Time is running out. You must do it now."
Lysander said nothing for some time, his body perfectly still.
Then his voice emerged, carrying something complex underneath.
"Is there really no other choice? No alternative path that doesn’t require this?"
The Sage remained perfectly still, his masked face showing nothing.
"I told you already. This is the only way forward."
Silence fell between the three of them, heavy and suffocating.
Then Lysander’s boots began moving, carrying him toward where Damian knelt.
WHOOSH
The Chairman materialized directly in his path, his scythe rising to block the way.
His face showed coldness that made the temperature drop.
"Don’t tell me your so-called solution is to kill the boy."
His voice came out flat and dangerous.
"After everything that just happened, you want me to stand aside while you execute his grandson?"
The Sage’s masked face turned toward him.
"Chairman, you don’t trust me?"
His tone remained calm despite the accusation.
"If I wanted him dead, why would I have lied about his lineage in the first place? I could have confirmed his identity immediately and saved everyone the trouble."
The Chairman remained silent for a long moment, his grip on the scythe tightening until his knuckles went white.
When he spoke, his voice carried edges.
"I trust you enough to know you understand what a civil war would cost this world."
His eyes shifted, locking onto Lysander’s face.
"But my trust doesn’t extend to him."
The words landed like hammer blows.
"Give me one good reason why I should trust Lysander Eckhart with the life of Darius Bloodworth’s son."
His scythe remained raised, blocking the path completely.
"One reason why the man who hated that family more than anyone else alive should be allowed near their last surviving heir."
The Sage opened his mouth, his hand rising to respond.
But before sound could emerge–
SHLK
Lysander’s hand moved, his fingers digging into his own abdomen with brutal efficiency.
His face twisted with pain that he didn’t bother hiding, blood seeping between his fingers as they pushed deeper.
CRACK
Something inside him broke, Aura escaping in waves.
Then his hand emerged, fingers wrapped around something that pulsed with light.
His Aura core sat in his palm, glowing with power that made the air around it shimmer.
The source of his strength, the foundation of everything he’d become, the very essence of his existence as an awakener.
He extended it toward the Chairman, his arm steady despite the blood running down his wrist.
Tap Tap Tap
Then he walked past, his boots carrying him toward where Damian knelt, leaving the offering hanging in the air between them.
’He–’
The Chairman stared at the core, his expression becoming impossibly complex.
His hand moved automatically, fingers closing around the pulsing energy.
His voice emerged as barely a whisper, rough with emotion he couldn’t quite hide.
"Why?"
The question hung in the cold air, incomplete but carrying everything.
"Why put your life in my hands just to make me trust you? Why risk your everything for him?"
His fingers tightened on the core, feeling its warmth.
"What could possibly–"
Lysander’s voice cut through the question, his tone carrying finality.
"No amount of words can make you understand."
He stopped beside Damian, his boots settling into snow.
"And I don’t have much time to waste on explanations."
His hands reached down, cupping Damian’s face with surprising gentleness.
The boy’s crimson eyes stared at nothing, his expression completely blank, blood covering him from head to toe.
Lysander looked at that face for a long moment, his own expression shifting through emotions too complex to name.
Then his whisper emerged, soft but carrying clearly.
"Damian."
The empty eyes shifted fractionally, focusing with difficulty.
Lysander waited until awareness returned completely before continuing.
"You have many enemies in this universe."
His thumbs brushed across Damian’s cheeks, clearing some of the blood away.
"Everyone wants to kill you. The Imperials, the extremists, half the Federation’s leadership, all of them would sleep better knowing you were dead."
His grip tightened slightly.
"But you also have allies. People who would do anything for you, who would burn the world down to keep you alive."
His eyes tracked across Damian’s face, searching for understanding.
"You saw what happened after you activated Blood Sovereign, didn’t you?"
Damian’s head moved fractionally, a weak nod that showed he’s been aware despite the blank state.
Lysander’s voice became harder, carrying truth that cut like blades.
"Everyone who came to save you today will die."
The statement landed with finality.
"Ignis will fall fighting the Patriarchs. Felix will be torn apart defending your escape. Every Demigod who answers her call will be slaughtered when the Imperial forces arrive."
His hands remained steady despite his words.
"And everyone you care about will be made to suffer fates worse than death as examples to others who might support the Bloodworth name."
Damian’s eyes widened, focus sharpening.
His mouth opened, words forming with difficulty.
"You... what..."
Lysander’s body began radiating energy, transparent and strange, unlike normal Aura.
It spread outward from his chest, flowing across both their forms and wrapping around something deeper than flesh.
Their souls became visible for an instant, outlined in that strange light, connected by threads that pulsed with each heartbeat.
"And you..."
His voice dropped to barely a whisper.
"You will die as well. Slowly and painfully, your death broadcast across every screen in the Federation as a warning."
The transparent energy intensified, beginning to pulse with rhythm.
"And I can’t let that happen! I... I made a promise to someone!"
His eyes closed briefly, some old pain crossing his features.
"A promise that I would not let you die! That I would protect you even if it cost me everything!"
His eyes opened again, locking onto Damian’s with absolute conviction.
"So you need to fix your mistake! You need to change what happens next!"
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH
Space began tearing around the field, dimensional rifts opening as more figures materialized.
Demigods, dozens of them, appearing in formations that surrounded the center completely.
Some wore Imperial colors, their faces showing fanatic certainty.
Others wore commoner insignias, their expressions caught between duty and horror.
All of them saw Lysander kneeling beside Damian, saw the transparent energy wrapping both figures.
Understanding crashed through the assembled Demigods simultaneously.
"LYSANDER HAS TURNED TRAITOR!"
The shout came from three throats at once, overlapping and building.
"HE’S PROTECTING THE SPAWN!"
"KILL THEM BOTH!"
"STOP WHATEVER HE’S DOING!"
Hands rose, power gathering as dozens of attacks prepared to launch.
The Chairman’s scythe blurred, his body moving to intercept.
But there were too many, too spread out, too coordinated.
Lysander’s mouth continued forming words, his voice never rising despite the chaos.
"Time–"
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH
Attacks descended from every direction simultaneously.
Fire, ice, lightning, compressed air, spatial tears, all of them targeting the two figures at the center.
The Chairman’s scythe carved through reality, creating barriers that stopped most of the incoming strikes.
But two slipped through, their trajectories perfect, aimed directly at Damian’s head.
Lysander’s eyes tracked them without concern, his final word emerging with certainty.
"–Reversal."