Episode-761
Chapter : 1521
"Is it?" Cassius stepped closer. He invaded Lloyd's personal space. "Logic tells me something is wrong. Logic tells me that my shy, sickly sister does not suddenly demand balls and dance with foreigners unless she has been... encouraged."
He placed a hand on Lloyd's shoulder. He squeezed. Hard.
"If I find out you are poisoning her mind against me," Cassius whispered, "I will have the telepaths strip your brain layer by layer. And then I will feed you to the hounds."
It was a death threat. Plain and simple.
Lloyd didn't flinch. He didn't pull away. He looked Cassius in the eye.
And he smiled. It was the greedy, amoral smile of Doctor Zayn.
"Highness," Lloyd whispered back. "You misunderstand. I am not poisoning her mind. I am... molding it."
Cassius frowned. "Molding?"
"She is pliable," Lloyd said, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial murmur. "She listens to me. She trusts me. A trusting Princess is a useful tool, is she not? Especially for a brother who needs... cooperation."
He let the implication hang there. I am manipulating her for you. I am on your payroll.
Cassius’s grip loosened. The suspicion in his eyes was replaced by arrogance. He thought he understood. He thought Lloyd was just earning his bribe.
"Pliable," Cassius repeated. He smiled. "Yes. I suppose she is."
He patted Lloyd's shoulder. It was patronizing. Dismissive.
"Keep her pliable, Doctor," Cassius said. "And your villa by the sea will be a palace."
"I live to serve," Lloyd bowed.
Cassius turned and walked away, satisfied. He thought he had the situation under control.
Lloyd watched him go. His smile vanished.
"You arrogant fool," Lloyd thought. "You just gave me the keys to the kingdom."
He returned Seraphina to her chair. She looked at him, confused by the exchange she hadn't heard.
"What did you say to him?" she whispered.
"I told him what he wanted to hear," Lloyd said. "That you are weak. And that I am his creature."
He checked his watch.
"Any minute now," he thought. "Light the fuse, Ken."
----
The ball continued. The wine flowed. The laughter grew louder and more frantic, fueled by the festival atmosphere. But Lloyd felt cold.
He moved to the balcony doors. He needed to see the signal.
The balcony overlooked the city and the distant northern mountains. The night was dark, cloudy. Perfect for a fire.
He leaned against the railing, pretending to admire the view. His eyes were fixed on the horizon.
"Come on," he whispered.
Nothing. Just darkness.
Minutes ticked by. The waltz inside ended. A new one began.
"Did they fail?" doubt crept into his mind. "Did Ken get caught? Is Jasmin dead?"
He gripped the stone railing until his knuckles turned white.
Then, he saw it.
A flash. A tiny, orange spark in the distance.
Then a bloom. A sudden, expanding flower of red and gold light against the black sky.
It grew. It wasn't a flicker. It was an inferno. The fuel depot had gone up.
A second later, a dull THUMP echoed across the valley. The ground beneath the palace trembled slightly.
The music inside faltered. People stopped dancing. They looked around, confused.
"What was that?" someone asked.
Lloyd turned back to the ballroom. He saw Cassius. The Prince had frozen, his wine glass halfway to his mouth. He was looking toward the windows.
A guard rushed in from the terrace. He ran straight to Cassius. He whispered something in the Prince's ear.
Cassius’s face changed. The boredom vanished. The arrogance vanished. It was replaced by a look of pure, icy rage.
He dropped his glass. It shattered on the marble floor. The red wine spilled like blood.
"Lock the doors!" Cassius roared.
The room erupted into chaos. Ladies screamed. Lords shouted. The guards slammed the massive doors shut and crossed their halberds.
"No one leaves!" Cassius commanded. "General Voren! Secure the perimeter! Captain of the Eye! To me!"
"It's started," Lloyd whispered to her.
"The fire?" she asked.
"The distraction," Lloyd said. "Cassius is leaving. He's going to the Orchid House. He has to. That explosion was big enough to be seen from space."
"What do we do?"
"We wait," Lloyd said. "And we hope my friends are faster than his horses."
He looked at the locked doors.
"And we survive the lockdown," he added.
Because Cassius knew this wasn't an accident. He knew he was under attack.
Lloyd adjusted his cuffs.
"Act scared," he told Seraphina. "Act confused. We are just innocent bystanders caught in a tragedy."
"I am scared," she admitted.
Chapter : 1522
"Good," Lloyd said. "Fear keeps you sharp."
He looked back at the shattered wine glass on the floor.
"The game has changed," Lloyd thought. "No more dancing. Now we fight."
Back in the Orchid House, the battle was a chaotic storm of violence.
Ken Park stood in the center of the holding room, breathing hard. His shirt was shredded, revealing the massive muscles of his back. Blood streamed down his arm from where the Chimera had gripped him.
The Chimera prototype—the boy with the dead eyes and the mechanical claw—was relentless. It didn't tire. It didn't slow down. It just kept coming.
"Target biological integrity: 70%," the boy droned. "Continuing assault."
He charged again, the green fire flaring in his hand.
"Jia!" Ken shouted. "The Jammer! Now!"
Jasmin was crouched behind a crate, holding Risa. She fumbled for the device Lloyd had given her. The big one. The one that screamed at magic.
She slammed her hand onto the activation rune.
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
The sound wasn't audible, but it was felt. A wave of chaotic, dissonant energy exploded from the device. It washed over the room.
The lights flickered and died, plunging the room into darkness.
The red lights on the collars of the other children winked out.
And the Chimera stopped.
The runes on his skin sputtered. The green fire in his hand vanished. He stumbled, his mechanical arm locking up with a grinding noise.
"System... error," the boy said, his voice distorting. "Mana... connection... lost."
He fell to one knee. The magic that powered his augmentation, that fueled his unnatural speed, was being jammed. He was just a boy with a heavy metal arm now.
"Go!" Ken roared.
He didn't wait. He grabbed a heavy metal table and hurled it at the kneeling Chimera. It crashed into him, pinning him to the floor.
Ken ran to Jasmin. He scooped up Risa with one arm.
"Can you run?" he asked Jasmin.
"Yes," she gasped.
"The door!" Ken pointed. The electronic lock had disengaged when the power died.
He kicked the door open. They burst into the hallway.
It was chaos. The jamming signal had affected the whole sector. Alarms were blaring, but they were distorted, dying wails. Emergency lights pulsed a dull red. Guards were shouting, confused, their magical comms dead.
"This way!" Ken led them toward the drainage tunnel.
They ran. They didn't stop for stealth. They ran like demons.
They reached the utility room. Ken ripped the grate open.
"Down!" he ordered.
Jasmin slid into the tunnel. Ken handed Risa down to her. Then he dropped in, pulling the grate shut above them.
They splashed through the sludge. It was foul, hot, and dark. But it was freedom.
They crawled until their lungs burned. Finally, they saw the exit. The night air rushed in, smelling of rain and mud.
They scrambled out into the quarry.
"We're out," Jasmin sobbed, clutching Risa. "We're out."
"Not yet," Ken said. He looked up at the facility.
Lights were coming back on. The jamming signal was fading. The guards were rallying.
"We need to cover our tracks," Ken said. "And we need to send the signal."
He pointed to the fuel depot, a large tank near the north wall.
He pulled his rifle from his back. He assembled it in seconds. He loaded a special round—an incendiary bullet Lloyd had crafted.
He aimed. The distance was three hundred yards. In the rain. In the dark.
He took a breath. He held it.
Crack.
The shot was a whisper in the storm.
The bullet struck the valve of the fuel tank. A spark.
WHOOOSH!
The tank didn't just explode. It bloomed. A massive fireball erupted, engulfing the north wing of the facility. The shockwave knocked them flat.
"Move!" Ken yelled, hauling Jasmin up.
They ran into the forest as the sirens began to wail, a sound of pure panic.
Behind them, the Orchid House burned.
----
They ran until they couldn't breathe. They didn't stop until they reached the edge of the city, miles away. They blended into the festival crowds entering the gates, just three more muddy travelers in a sea of masks.
Ken led them to a secondary safe house—a small apartment in the slums Lloyd had rented as a backup.
They burst in, locking the door.
Jasmin collapsed onto the floor, still holding Risa. The girl was awake now, staring around with wide, terrified eyes.
"It's okay," Jasmin whispered, rocking her. "You're safe. Pia sent us. You're safe."
Risa looked at her. She reached up and touched Jasmin's face.
"Pia?" she whispered.