Episode-789
Chapter : 1577
"It made them hateful," Lloyd corrected. "It created a vendetta. The Seventh Circle isn't just attacking us because we are humans. They are attacking us because House Ferrum committed crimes against their kind that they have never forgotten. To them, we aren't just enemies. We are war criminals. We are the jailers who dared to bind the darkness."
Lloyd finally opened the grey book. The pages were filled with diagrams of intricate, cruel devices—clamps, siphons, and runic cages designed to hold non-human forms.
"Look at this," Lloyd pointed to a drawing of a sword with a screaming face embossed on the hilt. "The 'Screaming Blade.' Legend says it could cut through any armor. Do you know why it screamed? Because there was a soul trapped inside it. A Devil's soul. Forged into the metal, conscious, and in eternal pain."
He closed the book quickly, as if the evil might leak out.
"That is why the Seventh Circle targets us," Lloyd said. "That is why Beelzebub came to Ashworth personally. That is why they send Black Spirits specifically to hunt Ferrums. It's not just strategic. It's vengeance. They want to destroy the House that dared to make them into tools."
Lloyd leaned against the dusty shelves. "This is the secret history of our 'honor,' Jasmin. We call ourselves the Lions of the North. We talk about duty and protection. But our foundation is built on bones. Human bones from Tiamat. And demonic bones from the Abyss. We built our castle on a graveyard, and now the ghosts are knocking on the door."
He looked at his hands again. "My father knows this. That's why he fights so hard. He knows we are paying for the sins of the past. He knows that if the Devils win, they won't just kill us. They will do to us what we did to them. They will cage us. They will torture us. It will be an eternity of retribution."
"So we can never make peace with them either," Jasmin said, realizing the hopelessness of it.
"You can't make peace with a Devil," Lloyd said. "Especially not one you've tortured. The bridge was burned centuries ago. The only option left is to win. To be stronger. To be the monster that eats the other monsters."
He looked at Jasmin, his expression softening slightly. "I'm sorry, Jasmin. I know you wanted a reason that made sense. You wanted to hear that it was a misunderstanding. But it's not. It's a blood feud. It's a debt. And we are the ones who have to pay it."
He gestured to the archives around them. "This is why I study. This is why I build. Because the old ways—the hunting, the torture, the oppression—they created this mess. If we use the old ways to fight it, we just dig the hole deeper. I have to find a new way. A way to win that doesn't involve creating more ghosts."
"The Aegis," Jasmin realized. "The technology. The logic."
"Exactly," Lloyd said. "Science doesn't have a soul to torture. A machine doesn't create a blood feud. If I can build a power that doesn't rely on blood or spirits... maybe, just maybe, we can break the cycle. We can win the war without becoming the villains again."
He pushed off the shelf. "But until then... we are the bad guys, Jasmin. To the world south of the river, and to the world under the earth, House Ferrum is the villain of the story. And our job... our only job... is to survive long enough to rewrite the ending."
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Lloyd closed the final book, the thud of the cover echoing like a final judgment in the silent archive. The dust motes settled. The story was told. He looked at Jasmin. She sat in her chair, looking small and overwhelmed, her worldview fractured by the weight of a century of atrocities. She looked at him differently now. The hero worship was still there, but it was complicated by horror and pity.
"We are not the heroes of this story, Jasmin," Lloyd said, his voice quiet but firm. "I need you to understand that. In the fairy tales, the knight in shining armor kills the dragon because the dragon is evil. In our story... the knight poked the dragon, stole its eggs, and burned its nest first. And now the dragon is back, and it's angry."
He walked around the table and stood next to her.
Chapter : 1578
"We are the descendants of villains," Lloyd continued. "My great-grandfather was a tyrant. My grandfather was a traitor and a butcher, even if he did it for a good cause. My father is a warlord who has spent his life killing. And me? I am a man who lies, cheats, and builds weapons of mass destruction."
Jasmin looked up at him. "But you save people. You saved Risa. You saved Oakhaven. You saved the Qadir boy."
"I did," Lloyd acknowledged. "But I also killed the men in the warehouse. I tortured Jager. I manipulated Sumaiya. I am not a saint, Jasmin. I am a Ferrum. I do what is necessary. And right now, what is necessary is paying a debt we can never afford."
He looked at the map on the wall one last time.
"The war with Altamira. The war with the Devils. It's not a misunderstanding. It's a reckoning. The bill has come due. They want their pound of flesh. They want their justice. And by their logic... they are right. If I were an Altamiran, I would hate me too. If I were a Devil, I would want to burn this house down."
Lloyd’s face hardened. The cynicism of the veteran soldier, the KM Evan from Earth, blended with the determination of the young Lord.
"But here is the thing, Jasmin. Understanding them doesn't mean I will let them win. I accept the history. I accept the guilt. But I will not let my family be slaughtered for the sins of the dead. I will not let them kill my mother. I will not let them kill my sister. I will not let them kill you."
He clenched his fist, the knuckles turning white.
"They want a reckoning? Fine. I will give them one. But it won't be the one they expect. I won't apologize. I won't kneel. I won't offer my head in a basket to make them feel better. I will finish this war. Not with a treaty. Not with a truce. But with absolute victory."
"I will build a power so great that their hatred won't matter," Lloyd declared, his voice rising with a cold passion. "I will make House Ferrum so strong, so advanced, so untouchable that they will have no choice but to stop. I will force a peace. Not by asking for it, but by making the alternative impossible."
He looked at Jasmin, his eyes burning with the fire of the Engineer and the General.
"That is my burden, Jasmin. I have to be the monster that ends the age of monsters. I have to be the villain who saves the world. It's not fair. It's not pretty. And it's definitely not going to be easy. But it's the only way."
He reached out and gently took the book from her hands, placing it back on the stack.
"You asked why it's personal," Lloyd said softly. "It's personal because it's a family feud on a global scale. It's personal because ghosts don't forgive. But we aren't ghosts, Jasmin. We are the living. And the living have a duty to survive."
He offered her a hand to help her up.
"Come on. The sun will be up soon. We have a lot of work to do. We have a salt empire to run. We have a battle suit to build. And we have a lot of enemies to disappoint."
Jasmin took his hand. She stood up, her legs a little shaky but her grip firm. She looked at him—really looked at him. She saw the lord, yes. But she also saw the man beneath the title. A man carrying the weight of a hundred years of hatred on his shoulders, refusing to buckle.
"I'm with you, Master Lloyd," she said, her voice steady. "Villain or hero. I'm with you."
Lloyd smiled, a genuine, tired smile that reached his eyes.
"Thank you, Jasmin. That... that helps more than you know."
He turned and walked towards the heavy oak doors of the archive. He paused for a moment, looking back at the rows of silent books, the recorded history of blood and steel. He didn't bow. He didn't flinch. He just nodded, acknowledging the past, before turning his back on it and walking out into the uncertain light of the future.
The door clicked shut, leaving the ghosts alone in the dark.