Chapter 77: Absorbing the Crystal
"Why?" Lucas asked, his voice edged with ice and fury. "Why did you find joy in this chaos? In the screams inside these walls? You and whoever you’re working with....what could you possibly gain from this destruction?"
The man’s expression didn’t change. His aged features were calm, his bearing regal.
"I have no business exchanging words with insects," the old man replied coolly, his voice deeper than stone, smooth as polished steel. "You are a lesser being. A child flailing in waters too deep. I do not converse with ants, and you..." his lip curled with the barest hint of disdain "....do not deserve to speak to me. You do not deserve to stand in my presence, much less interrupt the unfolding of something greater than your entire existence."
The words struck Lucas harder than a physical blow might have. His chest tightened, his jaw clenched, and the indignation within him surged. He took a step forward, even as the weight of the man’s spiritual pressure fought to force him down to his knees.
"I may be weak now," Lucas growled, his voice low but resonating with fury, "but do not mistake weakness for worthlessness."
He lifted the crystal, letting its eerie glow reflect off the temple walls. "This. This is what you want, isn’t it?" he said, voice rising slightly. "This is what matters to you. This is what you used to lure those beasts here. You’re using this as a medium...twisting it...to turn their hunger, their instincts, into a weapon. You want to bring this kingdom to its knees."
A smirk, faint and humorless, appeared on the old man’s face. He raised a single hand, the gesture graceful and slow, as though he had all the time in the world.
"Give it to me," he said, his voice now brimming with authority. "Or I will reduce you to nothing more than a memory that never existed. I will erase your presence from this world with a single strike so complete, even the gods will not remember your name."
Lucas could hear his own heartbeat pounding in his ears like a war drum, the cold sweat on his back soaking through his clothes as the overwhelming presence before him pressed down harder with each passing second.
He knew what this confrontation meant. He knew the outcome would likely not favor him. Yet something in his spirit refused to yield, If he was going to die here, if this moment would be his end, then he would not go quietly. He would not go powerlessly.
His fingers closed tightly around the crystal, and a reckless thought sparked within him, one that most would consider lunacy.