Chapter 156: Sherry’s Past (3)
"Mother! Father!" Sherry screamed, trying to run forward, but a Legionnaire’s iron grip held her fast.
Her parents looked up. Their fine robes were torn and stained. Their faces were bruised, their bodies trembling with exhaustion and suppressed magic. But their eyes, when they saw Sherry, were filled with a love so fierce it was painful to watch.
"Sherry!" her mother, Sorina, cried out, her voice cracking. "Oh, my dear child. We are so sorry!"
"Silence, traitor," the Justicar snapped, his voice echoing in the vast hall.
The Emperor raised a single hand. The hall fell into absolute silence. His voice, when he spoke, was not a shout, but a whisper that seemed to creep into the very bones of all present.
"Kael and Sorina of the Obsidian Covenant," the Emperor began, his words slow and deliberate. "You were entrusted with the Genesis Project. You were given resources beyond measure. Your task was to unlock the secrets of primordial creation, to forge a power that would ensure the absolute dominance of this empire for millennia."
He leaned forward slightly, the two purple points of light that were his eyes fixing on the kneeling researchers.
"Instead, you failed. Your research yielded nothing but instability and chaos. Your last experiment created a resonance cascade that ended in a complete failure, destroying the reputation of this seat. You have wasted my time. You have wasted my resources. And you have failed your Emperor."
"My Lord," Kael pleaded, his head bowed. "We were so close! The theory was sound! We only needed more time!"