Episode-769
Chapter : 1537
Seraphina ran. She didn't use magic. She ran like a frightened girl.
"Don't hurt me!" she screamed, running toward the dais. "Cassius! Save me! They are crazy!"
Cassius saw her coming. He saw her terror. He smirked.
"Let her through!" Cassius ordered the guards. "Come to me, sister. Come to safety."
He thought she was defecting. He thought she was breaking.
Seraphina ran up the steps of the dais. She threw herself at Cassius's feet, clutching his legs.
"Please!" she sobbed. "Make it stop!"
"Hush now," Cassius said, patting her head condescendingly. "It will be over soon. Once the traitors are dead."
Seraphina looked up. Her eyes weren't teary. They were dry. And cold.
"Yes," she whispered. "It will."
She lunged. Not at him. At the throne.
Her hand slammed onto the large, ruby crystal embedded in the armrest. The Royal Amplification Array.
She poured her mana into it. Not a trickle. A flood. The flood Lloyd had taught her to control.
HUMMMMMMM.
The crystal flared with blinding light. The air in the room vibrated.
The system was active. Her voice would now be heard not just in the room, but in every square, every speaker, every magical receiver in the entire city of Saber.
Cassius realized too late what she had done. He grabbed her hair and yanked her back.
"You little bitch!" he screamed.
But she held onto the crystal.
"People of Altamira!" Seraphina shouted. Her amplified voice boomed like the voice of a goddess, echoing over the rooftops of the capital. "Listen to me!"
The fighting in the room faltered. The elites looked up, stunned by the volume.
"I am Princess Seraphina!" she cried. "And I bring you the truth!"
----
"My brother, Prince Cassius, is a traitor!" Seraphina’s voice thundered across the city. In the market squares, the festival crowds stopped dancing. In the barracks, soldiers looked up from their cards. In the slums, the poor opened their windows.
"He has poisoned the King!" Seraphina continued, her voice gaining strength. "He has kept our father drugged and prisoner in his own home! He has lied to you! He has lied to the army!"
Cassius struck her. A brutal backhand that sent her sprawling across the dais. Blood welled on her lip.
"Silence her!" Cassius screamed at his guards. "Destroy the crystal!"
But Seraphina scrambled back. She pointed down at the floor, where the children—Risa and the others—were huddled behind Jasmin.
"Look!" Seraphina shouted, her voice breaking with emotion. "Look at what he does in our name! The Orchid House! He kidnaps children! He tortures them! He turns them into weapons! These are the survivors! Look at them!"
The elites in the room looked. They saw the emaciated children. They saw the scars on their necks from the collars.
Doubt rippled through the room. These were the King's elites. They were ruthless, yes. But they thought they were protecting the kingdom. They didn't sign up to torture children.
"Lies!" Cassius roared. He drew his sword. He advanced on his sister. "She is mad! She is spellbound!"
"I am awake!" Seraphina shouted. "For the first time in my life, I am awake! And I command you... stand down!"
She looked at the elites.
"I am the Princess Royal! My father stands there, sword in hand! Will you kill your King? Will you kill these children? Or will you do your duty?"
The elites hesitated. They lowered their weapons slightly. They looked at Cassius, then at the King, then at the children.
Cassius saw his control slipping. The narrative was broken. The city was listening. He had lost the court of public opinion.
He had only one option left. Brute force.
Lloyd had moved. He stood between the Prince and the Princess, holding a simple steel dagger that had caught Cassius's blade on the crossguard.
Cassius stared at Lloyd. He didn't look shocked. Instead, a twisted, arrogant grin spread across his face.
"Finally," Cassius sneered, stepping back. "The mask drops."
"You don't seem surprised," Lloyd said calmly, tossing the dagger aside.
"Surprised?" Cassius laughed. It was a cold, mocking sound. "I knew the moment you walked into my palace. I knew you were a rat from the North."
Seraphina looked up from the floor, confusion clouding her tear-filled eyes. "A... rat?"
Cassius ignored her, his eyes fixed on Lloyd. "I just didn't care. I thought you were trash. A low-level deserter looking for gold. A useful idiot I could use to poison my father and then dispose of in a ditch."
Chapter : 1538
Cassius raised his left hand, clenching his fist. The purple mark on Lloyd's wrist burned hot.
"Kneel, spy," Cassius commanded. "Or I will detonate the Curse right now."
Lloyd looked at his wrist. He looked at the purple light pulsing under his skin. He smiled.
"You are right about one thing, Highness," Lloyd said. "I am from the North."
Lloyd grabbed his own wrist. He didn't use a spell. He just squeezed.
CRACK.
The sound was like breaking glass. The purple light of the Trace shattered into harmless sparks.
Cassius’s jaw dropped. "Impossible..."
"It was glass," Lloyd said, dusting off his hands. "I could have broken it anytime I wanted."
Lloyd took off his glasses and threw them on the floor. He pulled off his turban, letting his silver hair fall free.
He stepped closer to Cassius. He invaded the Prince's personal space, leaning in until they were inches apart. The air began to heat up, the floor stones smoking, creating a wall of heat and noise that separated them from the rest of the room.
Lloyd lowered his voice to a whisper, meant for Cassius’s ears alone.
"You were wrong about the 'trash' part," Lloyd murmured, his eyes glowing gold. "And I'm not just a deserter."
He leaned closer, his voice a lethal secret.
"I am Lloyd Ferrum," he whispered. "And you just tried to leash a dragon."
Cassius’s eyes widened in absolute horror as the name registered. The Heir of Ferrum.
Before Cassius could scream the name out loud, Lloyd stepped back and raised his voice to a roar that shook the walls.
"Iffrit," Lloyd whispered. "Come out and play."
The air in the Throne Room vanished. It was replaced by a vacuum of pure, searing heat.
Behind Lloyd, space tore open. A vertical slit of crimson light appeared, floor to ceiling.
A massive, armored hand reached out. It gripped the edge of the tear.
ROAR.
The sound wasn't a noise. It was a physical impact.
Iffrit pulled himself into reality. Nine feet tall. Magma armor. A sword of fire that dripped liquid rock onto the pristine marble floor.
The elites screamed. They scrambled back.
The Throne Room was silent, save for the heavy, ragged breathing of the elite guards and the crackle of magical energy lingering in the air. The truth hung heavy over the court. Princess Seraphina’s voice, amplified by the royal array, had stripped Prince Cassius naked before his subjects. There were no more shadows for him to hide in, no more lies to shield his ambition. The children, the survivors of his monstrous factory, stood as living, breathing testaments to his crimes.
Cassius stood alone on the dais. His face was a mask of frozen porcelain, cracking under the pressure of absolute humiliation. He looked at the nobles, who were backing away from him. He looked at the Royal Guards, whose sword points were wavering, no longer sure who the enemy was. He looked at his sister, who stood tall and defiant, a queen in the making.
And then he looked at the man who had orchestrated his downfall. The doctor. The spy. The variable he had failed to account for.
"You," Cassius whispered. The word carried more venom than a viper’s strike. "You ruined everything."
Lloyd Ferrum, no longer hunched or bespectacled, stood in the center of the room. He didn't look like a doctor anymore. He looked bored. He picked a speck of lint off his velvet sleeve.
"I prefer the term 'redecorated'," Lloyd said dryly. "Your administration was a bit... messy. I just tidied up."
Cassius began to laugh. It was a low, wet sound that bubbled up from his chest, devoid of humor or sanity. It grew louder, a jagged, hysterical cackle that echoed off the high vaulted ceiling.
"Tidied up?" Cassius choked out. "You think this is over? You think you can just... walk in here, expose my work, and walk out? You think because the people know, I will stop?"
He reached into his tunic. He didn't pull out a weapon. He pulled out a rough, black stone. It wasn't a Lilith Stone. It was a jagged shard of pure obsidian, pulsating with a sickly, purple light. It looked like a piece of the night sky that had rotted.
"The Devil Race gave me more than just advice," Cassius said, his eyes gleaming with madness. "They gave me insurance."
"Put it down, Cassius," King Aurelius commanded, leaning heavily on his sword. "It is over."
"It is over when I say it is over!" Cassius screamed. He crushed the stone in his hand.