Episode-771
Chapter : 1541
"Your toy is broken, Prince," Lloyd said. His voice was calm, contrasting with the apocalypse happening around him. "You wanted to rule through fear? You wanted to be the monster in the dark?"
He stopped ten feet from the dais. The heat radiating from him was enough to singe the eyebrows of the elites guarding the Prince. They scrambled back, abandoning their master. Loyalty had a melting point, and they had just reached it.
"Well," Lloyd said, spreading his arms. "Here is a lesson for you. There is always a bigger monster."
He snapped his fingers.
Iffrit lunged. He didn't use his sword. He reached out with a massive, lava-encrusted hand and grabbed the Black Spirit by the throat. The demon lifted the shadow entity into the air. The Black Spirit thrashed, its form boiling away where Iffrit touched it.
"Finish it," Lloyd ordered.
Iffrit opened his maw and roared a stream of white fire directly into the Black Spirit's face. The shadow screamed one last time, a high, thin wail that cut off abruptly as it was completely incinerated.
Silence returned to the Throne Room. Or, as silent as it could be with a hole in the roof and the floor turning to magma.
Cassius stood alone. His spirit was gone. His guards were gone. His roof was gone.
He looked at Lloyd. He looked at the flaming demon.
"What are you?" Cassius whispered.
Lloyd let the fire fade. The white glow receded from his eyes, leaving them molten gold. He adjusted his cuff links, though one was melted.
"I told you," Lloyd said, a smirk playing on his lips. "I am a specialist. And I just cauterized the wound."
The heat in the room began to dissipate, carried away by the night breeze flowing through the shattered roof. But the tension remained, sharp and brittle as glass.
Prince Cassius stood on the dais, stripped of his power, his dignity, and his supernatural protection. He looked small. Without the fear he projected, he was just a man in a fancy coat.
Lloyd Ferrum stood before him. The fire was gone, but Iffrit remained, hovering behind Lloyd like a silent judge, the heat from his armor still distorting the air.
Lloyd looked at Cassius. The Major General in his head was calculating. Target is defenseless. Threat level: Zero. Tactical recommendation: Execution.
It would be so easy. One command to Iffrit. One swing of the sword. Cassius would be ash, and the problem would be solved. Risa was safe. The King was awake. It was the clean solution.
But it was the wrong solution.
If Lloyd killed the Crown Prince of Altamira, here, in front of the entire court, he wouldn't be a hero. He would be an assassin. A foreign usurper. It would trigger a war between Bethelham and Altamira that would kill thousands. It would delegitimize Seraphina’s claim to the throne. She would forever be the Queen who sat on a throne bought with her brother's murder by a foreign agent.
"No," Lloyd thought. "He doesn't get to die. Death is too easy. Death is an escape."
Lloyd dismissed Iffrit. The demon dissolved into motes of red light, vanishing back into the Soul Farm.
The crowd gasped again. The sudden absence of the monster was almost as terrifying as its presence.
Lloyd walked up the steps of the dais. He stopped in front of Cassius.
Cassius flinched. He raised his hands, expecting a blow.
"Do it," Cassius hissed, trying to find some scrap of bravado. "Kill me. Make me a martyr."
"I am not going to kill you," Lloyd said calmly. "I am a doctor, remember? First, do no harm."
He grabbed Cassius’s wrist. His grip was iron.
"But I am going to make sure you never hurt anyone again."
Lloyd activated his [All-Seeing Eye]. He looked into Cassius’s spiritual core. It was a dark, twisted knot of energy, tainted by his pact with the Devil Race. It was the source of his control over the Black Spirit. It was the source of his mana.
"You like binding people," Lloyd whispered. "You bound your sister. You bound the children. You like taking away power."
Lloyd’s eyes glowed. He didn't use fire. He used the precision of his Steel Blood. He visualized a needle. A tiny, microscopic needle of void energy.
He thrust it into Cassius’s core.
It wasn't a kill shot. It was a surgical strike. He targeted the mana channels. The connection points. The valves that allowed Cassius to draw on magic.
Snip. Snip. Snip.
He severed them. Systematically. Irreversibly.
Chapter : 1542
Cassius screamed. It was a scream of pure loss. He felt his magic draining away like water from a broken cup. He felt the cold, empty silence rushing in to fill the void.
"My power!" Cassius shrieked. "What did you do?!"
"I turned it off," Lloyd said, releasing him.
Cassius fell to his knees. He tried to summon a spell. A spark. Anything. Nothing happened. He was hollow. He was mundane.
"You are just a man now, Cassius," Lloyd said, looking down at him. "No magic. No monsters. Just a man who has to answer for his crimes."
Cassius looked up. His eyes were bloodshot, filled with a hate that transcended the current moment. He looked at Lloyd, and he didn't just see a spy anymore. He saw the ancient enemy of his bloodline.
"Ferrum..." Cassius hissed, his voice trembling with venom.
He grabbed the hem of Lloyd's trousers, his grip weak but desperate.
"Damn you, Ferrum," Cassius spat. "You were nothing but a leech 100 years ago, and you are still a leech now."
Lloyd didn't blink. He didn't ask about the history. He didn't ask about the 100 years. He just looked down at the fallen Prince with cold indifference.
"And you," Lloyd replied, pulling his leg away, "are history."
Lloyd turned to the court.
"The threat is neutralized," Lloyd announced. "The rest... is a matter for the Crown."
He stepped aside. He looked at King Aurelius.
The King was still standing, leaning on his sword. But he was fading. The stimulant was wearing off. His skin was gray, his breathing shallow. The burst of energy that had allowed him to fight was gone, leaving only the wreckage of a dying body.
"Father!" Seraphina cried, rushing to him.
She caught him as he fell. She lowered him gently to the steps of the throne.
"I... I am here," Aurelius whispered. His voice was a dry rattle.
Lloyd knelt beside them. He checked the King's pulse. It was thready. Erratic. The heart was failing. The price of the final stand was coming due.
"Doctor," the King wheezed, grabbing Lloyd's sleeve. "Did we... did we win?"
"We won, Majesty," Lloyd said softly. "The monster is broken."
"Good," Aurelius smiled. It was a weak, trembling smile. "Good."
He turned his eyes to Seraphina. She was weeping, her tears falling onto his armor.
"Don't cry, little bird," Aurelius whispered. He reached up with a shaking hand to touch her face. "I... I was a coward. For so long. I hid in the fog. I let him hurt you."
"You fought for me," Seraphina sobbed. "You saved me."
"I tried," Aurelius said. "At the end. I tried."
He fumbled with his right hand. He pulled off his heavy gold signet ring. The Ring of the Lion. The symbol of absolute authority in Altamira.
He pressed it into Seraphina’s hand.
"Take it," he commanded. His voice gained a flicker of its old strength. "It is heavy. It is cold. But you... you are strong enough to carry it."
"Father, no," she whispered.
"Be the Queen I could not be," Aurelius said. "Be the light. Burn away the shadows."
He looked at the nobles gathering timidly around the dais. He looked at the Generals.
"Witness!" Aurelius gasped, raising his voice one last time. "I... Aurelius... King of Altamira... name Seraphina... my heir. My successor. My... Queen."
He slumped back. The effort had taken the last of him.
Seraphina clutched the ring. She looked at her father. She looked at Lloyd.
Lloyd nodded. Do it.
Seraphina took a breath. She wiped her eyes. She stood up.
She slid the heavy ring onto her finger. It was too big, but she clenched her fist around it.
She turned to the room. She turned to the guards who were standing uncertainly, looking between the crippled Prince and the dying King.
"Royal Guard!" Seraphina’s voice rang out. It wasn't the voice of a scared girl. It was the voice of the Lioness.
The Captain of the Guard snapped to attention. "Highness?"
She pointed at Cassius, who was huddled on the floor, weeping over his lost magic.
"Arrest him," Queen Seraphina commanded. "For high treason. For attempted regicide. And for crimes against the people of Altamira."
The Captain looked at Cassius. He looked at the Queen. He looked at the ring on her finger.
He slammed his fist to his chest.
"By your command, Your Majesty."
Four guards marched up the steps. They grabbed Cassius by the arms. He didn't fight. He just stared blankly at the floor, broken.