Chapter – 37 – Princess Silael
"Wh... wh... what?" she gasped, her voice trembling with an underlying current of primitive terror. She pointed a shaking hand toward the spectral figure floating behind the battered man. "How can you summon her? How is this possible?"
Lucien didn't answer. He couldn't. Every single fiber of his being was focused on channeling his remaining astral energy into the manifestation. He raised his functional arm, clutching the World Root Executioner Halberd, and as he moved, the fifty-meter-tall celestial monarch mirrored the action flawlessly. Her white robes flowed as she raised a spectral hand, and a massive, glowing phantom of the halberd materialized within her grasp.
Zarah watched, completely paralyzed. Her jaw was open, her eyes wide with a deep-seated horror she hadn't felt in millennia. She had been sure Lucien had exhausted his arsenal, that he was merely delaying the inevitable. But this... she wasn't shocked by the raw destructive power emanating from the divine figure; she was shocked because she recognized the entity.
Before Zarah could even form another thought, Lucien committed his most devastating move. "World Cleaver!" he roared, pouring his life force into the strike.
He swung his halberd, and the celestial monarch swung her phantom weapon simultaneously. At that exact microsecond, Valgos, the Beast Sovereign, reacted to the command imprinted on its mind. It coiled its massive, muscular body and leaped from the upper floors, channeling all of its ancient energy into a final, suicidal assault on the tower’s structure, utilizing its natural-born ability using it's skill Nine Sky Cleaver.
The combined forces were apocalyptic. Lucien's World Cleaver tore through the cylindrical structure, cutting every centimeter of space into thousands of micro-pieces, thousands of floors deep. Simultaneously, Valgos’ attack sliced the tower into nine different, crashing sections.
The tower was collapsing, folding in on itself. But all the other realm masters—Gwenra’s group at the bottom and Rosra’s at the top—had prioritized escape. They were already outside the main structure, sprinting across the desert of the pocket dimension to a safe distance, watching the heart of the Death Pit fall.
As soon as the physical tower was destroyed, the core of the dungeon collapsed. The Warden outside the reality barrier froze. The entity’s form, no longer anchored by the heart, simply dissolved into black nothingness. The massive cracks in reality that it had been creating solidified and sealed instantly.
When the dust and smoke of the collapsing structure finally cleared, the battlefield was silent. Lucien Vale was on his knees, his face pale, his eyes unfocused. He had spent everything. With a shallow gasp, his eyes closed, and he collapsed, unconscious.
The moment Lucien lost consciousness, Valgos, the Beast Sovereign, roared one last time before dissolving into shadows and returning to Lucien's shadow world dimension.
But every surviving realm master watching from the distance knew this wasn't over. One of the biggest threats—the Warden—was gone, and the dungeon's central core was destroyed. But they were still trapped. Just as the relief began to set in, a massive spatial fluctuation occurred around the debris of the collapsed tower.
Lucien opened his eyes, the sensation of heavy exhaustion pressing down on his eyelids. The first thing he saw was the rough, irregular stone ceiling of a giant cave. It was lit by a dancing orange glow in the center of the chamber—a fire, freshly lit by someone.
He tried to sit up and immediately gasped as pain, hot and intense, bloomed through his chest and limbs. He woke up... this was the first time in his life he truly felt tired. He was physically and mentally shattered, closer to death than he had ever been. His astral energy pool was empty, non-existent. He realized with a cold chill that he was completely vulnerable; even a common mortal could come and killed him easily right now.
With a groan of pure determination, he forced himself to sit up and shuffle toward the fire, huddling against the cold rock to seek the warmth.
Suddenly, a woman emerged from the deep shadows of the cave. "So you woke up," Zarah said. Her voice was uncharacteristically quiet. She walked over and sat down opposite him, her eyes tracking his movements.
Lucien stared at her. He was tired, and he knew that she could easily kill him now. When they were fighting, he was not able to truly hurt her not even once. She had been restricted by the dungeon's heavenly laws to used only Peak Spirit Forge Realm master’s power, but it was still a fight that was unwinnable. If the fight would have gone for longer time, no doubt she would have won easily. Her power was restricted, but her astral energy mana pool carried a volume of energy much bigger than Lucien's because she was truly a fifth realm cultivator.
"So what do you want?" Lucien asked, his voice weak but his tone steady. He was calm, even though injured and near-death; a fundamental dignity and defiance could be seen in his dark eyes.
"Why do you think I want something from you, boy?" Zarah asked, a small, genuine smile playing on her lips.
"Well, I fucked up your plan which you had been working on for hundreds of years. I know that," Lucien said, coughing slightly. "Yet I'm still alive when I was simply just unconscious and completely vulnerable. That means you want something from me. So what is it?"
"Quite perceptive for a Spirit Forge Master," Zarah murmured.
Lucien ignored the patronizing tone. He activated his dimensional pocket, his hand moving automatically. He took out a bottle of rare, expensive wine that he had bought from his system and materialized two crystal glasses. He poured them both, his movements precise despite the weakness, and pushed one glass toward her across the stone floor.
"So where are we?" Lucien asked calmly while pouring a drink for himself, taking a long sip to soothe his parched throat. "And how did we even get here?"
"Well, thanks to you, we are here," Zarah said, her expression shifting slightly as she took the glass. He could tell she blamed him, yet she was controlled. "When you destroyed the heart of the Death Pit, I think you forgot one crucial detail: there was an abyss inside that tower, in the middle of it all. When the structure collapsed, all the debris of the tower got sucked in. You were closer to it and unconscious, so you got sucked in too. And since I was foolish enough to try to save you, I got sucked in as well. Now we are here, in that abyss."
"What about others?" Lucien asked, his hand tightening around the wine glass.
"I don't know," Zarah said, leaning back against the rock. "They might be somewhere in this pocket dimension. This is an abyss; what do you expect? If only you wouldn't have got between my plans..."
"Did I hear it right?" Lucien asked, his eyes widening in surprise. "You tried to save me? Why?"
"Don't sound so shocked," she said, looking into the fire.
"And before you blame me for messing with your plans," Lucien said, leaning forward slightly, "you messed with my plans first. I was just on a simple quest. I wanted the Abyssal Body Core Physique, and that was it. But no... there are some people in this ancient breach who prefer just to destroy things for absolutely no reason." He matched her tone, blaming her.
They had fought a lot, traded devastating blows, and pushed each other to their limits. Somewhere deep inside, beneath the layered rage and plots, they had forged a mutual respect and a dangerous understanding of each other.
"Ohhh," Zarah said, a genuine smile returning to her face, a dangerous glint in her crimson eyes. "That's why you were killing people from different factions... even your own teammates. Just to get that Abyssal Body Core Physique. I believe that was carried by that weakling boy Halfred... Wow. You are evil." She laughed softly. "I thought you were fighting so hard because you want to save your race or your world or something. For friendship and all that other nonsense."
"I don't give a single fuck about anyone," Lucien said, drinking his wine, his voice flat and brutally honest. "Because of that Warden, I was forced to use so many of my hidden cards. And now, thanks to you, my Abyssal Body Core Physique is missing as well... So tell me, Zarah , why did you save me?"
Zarah didn't answer immediately. She leaned forward, the shadows dancing across her face, making her expression unreadable.
"How did you get that Celestial Monarch manifestation?" she asked, her voice low and intense. "And where did you get it from? Do you know who she is... that spirit which you used?"
"I completed a dungeon to get this Celestial Monarch," Lucien said, watching her carefully. "And as for who she is... I have no idea. So, who she is?"
"She is Princess Silael of the Heavenly Realm," Zarah said, her eyes flashing with pain as she named her. "35,000 years ago, she blessed the Celestial Monarch inheritance to a human realm master, creating this unique skill. This skill is an inheritance; you cannot win it, you cannot create it, you cannot take it. It needs to be passed down through the bloodline or the soul. So whoever gave you this inheritance dungeon, they passed it on to you. Directly."
"You are right," Lucien said, his heart beating slightly faster. "That's how I got this skill. It was passed down to me. So, if she is a princess... where is Princess Silael now?"
"Almost 20,000 years ago," Zarah said, her voice dropping to a near whisper, "Princess Silael was cast out from the Heavenly Realm by her own family. She secluded herself somewhere to escape them. I tried everything to find her. I dedicated millennia to it. But I failed. So I decided that if I could not find her, I would destroy the Heavenly Realm that cast her out, taking revenge on them for her. I tried to find the original Celestial Monarch skill that she had blessed to a human realm master 35,000 years ago, thinking it would help me find her. But I failed. So I just wanted to destroy Heavenly Realm, using this dungeon. But when I saw you have the Celestial Monarch..." Zarah looked across the fire, her eyes locking with his. "I saved you, Lucien. Only for Princess Silael."
"Seems like you are really close with Princess Silael," Lucien said, analyzing the new dynamic. He understood people’s obsessive motivations; he possessed many of his own. "And how can possesing the Celestial Monarch skill help you to locate her? Why would having a skill change everything?"
Zarah smiled, and for the first time, it was a warm, melancholic expression. "She is my Master," she said. "And Celestial Monarch is not a skill. It is not an attack. It is a little spirit of my Master. A small part of her soul, manifested into an inheritance. So by using Celestial Monarch, I can find her. Because they are connected; they attract each other, even across realms."
Lucien was genuinely surprised. He didn't knew that Celestial Monarch was actually a physical, manifested part of her soul.
The original realm master who she had blessed with the Celestial Monarch was the legendary Royal Void King, Lucien thought, a grim satisfaction blooming in his chest. The only reason I was able to find that hidden inheritance dungeon is simply because I possess the Lost Atlas artifact. And I did use treachery. I deceived the Royal Void King's spirit, which was guarding the dungeon, into believing that I am his long-lost son. He passed it down to me easily because of my deception... And after that, I killed his spirit in the pretense of a final, emotional hug... I never thought that this skill, which I acquired through such treacherous means, would save my life someday by just possessing it.
"So..." Lucien said, sitting back and drinking the rest of his wine. "You want me to help you to find Princess Silael?"
"Yeah," Zarah said, her patronizing tone returning slightly. "But right now, your body is really weak. It is too fragile and unable to handle the strain of Celestial Monarch. If you try to use it to locate her now, it will simply kill you. And you can't find her by being stuck in the Spirit Forge Realm; that realm is too low for the locations she would be. So you need to increase your cultivation immediately."
"Well, if only someone would not have gotten in my way," Lucien said, gesturing towards her with his glass, "I would already have my Abyssal Body Core Physique, and I would have been stronger. So, if I'm getting it straight... I need to help you if I want to be alive?"
"Yeah," Zarah smiled dangerously. "You don't have any choice, do you, boy?"
She was right. Lucien knew he did not have any choice. He was currently completely vulnerable, and no one in this entire world can save him from her. If he refused, she would kill him, take his skill, and try to find a way to extract the soul-inheritance from his corpse, no matter how difficult.
"Well then," Lucien said, his expression hardening. "I understand the deal. But I need Abyssal Body Core Physique first. Because my body cannot handle the strain of breaking through to the next realm, the Abyss Core Realm, without it. I will simply explode. If I help you, I need you to understand that I need time to prepare."
"I understand," Zarah said, tilting her head. She looked at him for a long, quiet moment. "I know you need time. But judging by your talents, Lucien... I don't think you'll have to wait much. I have never seen an 18-year-old boy in the Peak Spirit Forge Realm. And not just peak, but a true, peak... unlike those cheap imitations I'm talking about, those who were around you in that tower. They were so incredibly weak."
Zarah suddenly moved across the fire in a blur, gripping Lucien's cheeks between her dark-nailed thumb and forefinger. She looked into his eyes, her expression intense and beautiful, and terrifying.
"I hope you won't disappoint me, my new Disciple."
Lucien looked back at her, feeling the cool touch of her fingers. He gritted his teeth, his anger warring with pragmatism. He knew this deal—becoming her disciple and helping her find her princess—is better than being dead. Survival was everything.
"I won't disappoint you, Master," he murmured, matching her dangerous calm.
Satisfied, Zarah released his face and returned to her spot near the fire. Lucien, needing space, stood up. He used the cave wall as a crutch, ignoring the agony in his chest, and stumbled to the entrance of the cave, wanting to see where this abyss was.
He came outside the cave entrance and stopped. It was silent. An impossible, heavy silence. He looked up at the sky, but there was no blue, no clouds, no normal horizon. He saw a massive, cyclopean eye in the sky—a terrifying entity that seemed to fill the heavens. It was wide open and looking down, observing everything in this pocket dimension.
"What the fuck is going here..." Lucien whispered, feeling a new, profound dread.
Author Note:
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