Episode-803
Chapter : 1605
Lloyd and Ken descended. The air grew cooler. The sounds of the outside world—the wind, the sobbing of the servants—faded away. There was only the sound of their boots on the stone steps and the rhythmic breathing of two men carrying a tragedy.
They reached the bottom. The crypt was a vast, vaulted chamber lit by magical torches that burned with a silent, blue flame. Stone sarcophagi lined the walls, each bearing the carved effigy of a Ferrum ancestor. There were kings, generals, and conquerors down here. Men who had shaped history with blood and steel.
And now, there was a girl who liked honey cakes.
They walked to the center of the chamber, where a fresh grave had been prepared. It wasn't a hole in the dirt; it was a stone plinth, waiting for its occupant. They lowered the coffin gently onto the stone. The sound of wood meeting stone echoed in the silence.
Lloyd stood there, his hand still resting on the lid. He didn't want to let go. Letting go meant it was over. Letting go meant she was really gone.
Ken stepped back, giving his master space. He stood in the shadows, a silent sentinel guarding a girl who no longer needed protection.
Lloyd looked at the white wood. He imagined her inside. He imagined her sleeping. He tried to remember her laugh, but all he could hear was the sound of glass shattering.
"You were too good for this place," Lloyd whispered to the box. "You were too good for us. We are a family of wolves and monsters, Jasmin. We eat everything we touch. And you... you were just a light. And we snuffed you out."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the silver comb he had bought in the North. It was still wrapped in paper. He unwrapped it slowly. The silver glinted in the torchlight.
"I bought this for you," he said, his voice cracking. "I thought... I thought you'd like it. I thought I'd give it to you and you'd blush and say it was too much. I wanted to see you smile one more time."
He placed the comb gently on top of the coffin.
"I'm sorry I was late," Lloyd said. "I'm sorry I wasn't here. I'm sorry I built a world that needed you to die."
He stood there for a long time, the silence of the dead pressing against his ears. He waited for the tears to come. He waited for the release, the sobbing breakdown that everyone expected. But it didn't come. His eyes remained dry. The pain was too deep for tears. It was a cold, solid thing in his chest, a block of ice that wouldn't melt.
The grief wasn't flowing out of him. It was settling in. It was becoming a part of his architecture.
The ceremony was brief. A priest of the Light murmured some words about peace and the afterlife, but Lloyd wasn't listening. He didn't believe in peace anymore. He looked at the stone walls of the crypt, engraved with the deeds of his ancestors.
Malachi the Traitor. Roy the Lion. Ironheart the Tyrant.
They were all killers. They were all men who had solved problems with violence. And here lay Jasmin, who had solved a problem with love, and it had killed her.
The priest finished. He sprinkled some holy water on the casket and stepped back.
"It is time to seal the tomb, My Lord," the priest said softly.
Lloyd nodded. He signaled the stonemasons who were waiting in the shadows. They stepped forward with a heavy stone slab, carved with the Ferrum crest and a new inscription.
Jasmin. The Diamond Queen. The Shield of the House.
Lloyd watched as they maneuvered the slab into place. The grinding sound of stone on stone was hideous. It sounded like a prison door slamming shut.
As the slab slid over the coffin, hiding the white wood and the silver comb from view, something snapped inside Lloyd.
It wasn't a mental break. It was a realignment.
Chapter : 1606
For the last year, since waking up in this new life, Lloyd had been operating on a specific philosophy. He wanted to survive. He wanted to be comfortable. He wanted to use his knowledge from Earth to build a nice, profitable life. He wanted to make soap, sell salt, and maybe build a few cool machines. He viewed the threats of this world—the assassins, the politics, the monsters—as annoyances. They were obstacles to be managed, hurdles to be jumped over so he could get back to his comfortable life.
He had treated this world like a game. A strategy game where he could outsmart everyone because he had the cheat codes of modern knowledge and the System. He thought he could coexist with the dangers. He thought if he was smart enough, rich enough, and strong enough, he could build a bubble of safety for himself and his people.
He was wrong.
As the stone slab sealed Jasmin into the dark, that philosophy died with her.
Coexistence is a lie, Lloyd thought. The thought was cold and clear, like a bell ringing in a frozen valley.
You cannot coexist with a forest fire. You cannot negotiate with a plague. You cannot build a safe house next to a nest of vipers and expect not to get bitten.
The Devils—Lucifer, the Seventh Circle—they weren't just "enemies." Enemies were people you could treat with. Enemies were people who wanted land or gold. You could bargain with enemies. You could sign treaties.
The Devils didn't want gold. They didn't want land. They wanted to erase humanity. They were predators. They were a virus. And Jasmin was the proof. She hadn't died because of a political dispute. She died because a monster looked at her and saw an insect to be crushed.
Lloyd looked at his hands. They were trembling, not from sorrow, but from a sudden, overwhelming surge of adrenaline.
I have been playing defense, he realized. I have been reacting. I have been trying to build walls to keep them out. But walls don't work. Shields break. Diamonds shatter.
The only defense against a virus is sterilization.
The grief that had been choking him suddenly shifted. It didn't disappear, but it changed state. It hardened. It crystallized. It stopped being a weight that pulled him down and became a fuel that burned hot and smokeless.
He looked at the grave one last time.
"I won't let it be for nothing," Lloyd whispered. "I promise you. I won't just survive this. I'm going to fix it."
He turned away from the grave. He walked toward the stairs. His stride was different now. It was faster. More purposeful. He didn't look like a grieving boy anymore. He looked like a weapon that had just been armed.
Ken Park fell in step beside him as they ascended the stairs.
"Master?" Ken asked quietly. He sensed the change. He saw the look in Lloyd’s eyes. It was a look he hadn't seen since the days of the Major General on Earth, but infinitely colder.
"We are done mourning, Ken," Lloyd said. His voice was flat, devoid of the tremor that had been there before. "Mourning is for people who accept the loss. I don't accept it."
They emerged from the crypt into the daylight. The gray sky was still indifferent. The servants were still crying. Lloyd ignored them all. He didn't stop to comfort anyone. He didn't stop to rest.
He walked straight toward the main keep.
"Prepare a meeting," Lloyd said, not slowing down. "I want you in my study in one hour. No interruptions. No excuses."
"What is the agenda, sir?" Ken asked.
Lloyd stopped. He turned to look at the ruined gates of his home. He looked at the place where Lucifer had stood.
"The agenda," Lloyd said, "is a change of management. The Shadow War is over, Ken. We aren't playing spies anymore."
"Then what are we doing?"
Lloyd’s eyes were like chips of black ice.
"We are going to war," Lloyd said. "A real war. Total war. I am done building shields. It's time to build a sword big enough to kill the sky."
He turned and walked into the keep, leaving Ken standing in the courtyard. The stoic bodyguard shivered. He had followed Lloyd through two lifetimes. He had seen him angry. He had seen him determined. But he had never seen him like this.