CHAPTER 381: GONE TOO FAR

A few minutes earlier.

Lucivar halted his steps as a figure manifested from light.

It appeared right before the entrance, blocking his way toward the staircase.

Even before the figure fully formed, he already knew who it was.

But Lucivar didn’t deny her immediately, he decided to stay and listen to what she had to say.

He had a gut feeling that he’d never see her again after confronting Master Tobias.

Unlike the last time he met with her in that void, there will be no hesitation this time—he’d make sure to follow through in killing her and letting go of Delilah. In order to survive the next ordeal waiting for him, a battle against the remaining avatars, he needs to get stronger as fast as possible.

Initially, he was thinking of hunting them one by one and getting stronger that way.

Compared to letting go of Delilah, that method was a lot better and easier to swallow.

But now, Lucivar understood that it was pure idealism.

A fantasy that could only happen in a world where everything went as planned.

He has to be realistic, and chances are the opposing avatars are a lot stronger than Caldaros.

Easily at the Paragon rank, something beyond what he could handle.

So, he had to forget Delilah; nothing should limit him from doing what was absolutely necessary.

Lucivar looked down, mildly amused that Seraphiel didn’t appear standing, but on her knees instead.

She was too weak to even materialize, but was desperate enough to try.

Slowly, weakly, Seraphiel raised her gaze and put on a smile, a helpless one at that.

"This is it." She muttered, voice whispering and weak. "This is the last time you’re going to see me."

"It appears so," Lucivar answered with no emotion.

Hearing how nonchalant he was, when the impact of his fall would ripple through even the realm of the Gods, Seraphiel bit her lower lip hard. She didn’t want this to be the end, "But it doesn’t have to be the last time. As long as you help me, listen to me..."

"Listen to you?" Lucivar scoffed, finding her being outrageous. "I listened last time. Never again."

"You don’t understand... This time is different! You have to belie—"

"Different? Is that the best you can do? Promising that this time will be differ—"

"You can still have a choice!"

Seraphiel’s astral voice rang loudly, echoing throughout the room, but only Lucivar could hear.

Desperation mixed with fear could be seen etched on her face.

Just one mistake, and Lucivar refused to believe her ever.

Her nails dug into her palm, breath sharp as if holding back words she couldn’t voice.

Composing herself, albeit extremely hard to do, Seraphiel gulped down her emotions and looked at the strayed and manipulated man in front of her, "If I’m gone, you will have no other choice, Lucivar. Can’t you see it? You are being forced to choose the dark path! You might think that this is your choice, but it’s not. All of this..."

Seraphiel gestured around her, pointing at everything.

"It’s a path tailored to make you choose the darkness!" She continued exasperatedly. "Your destiny was already written, and you’re going to be the upholder of good. If you could stray—even a little bit from their manipulation, you can reclaim your destiny!"

Upon hearing this, Lucivar remained silent.

He looked down on Seraphiel; his thoughts couldn’t be read.

Not giving up at all—believing that he can still be cured from the disease of evil, Seraphiel crawled and grasped his hand. She spent the last bit of her strength to actually grab his physical hand; the coldness from her touch felt weirdly rejuvenating.

"Please..." She choked. "Don’t go upstairs. Leave this place—and stay away from Tobias. Remember Delilah. She’s the good person who couldn’t help but coddle you whenever you wanted to do good. She is your guide, not Tobias."

Lucivar’s eyes narrowed.

He contemplated what she said and found it plausible.

If he were to be honest, he wasn’t expecting Seraphiel to shift his mind even a little bit.

But she made good points that Tobias might be the architect who led him to this point.

Despite not wanting to admit it, Tobias also played a role in helping him abandon his good nature.

Silence enveloped them as Seraphiel looked up at Lucivar with hopeful eyes.

She was choked by the tension that mounted with each passing second.

It wasn’t too late.

He could still go back, or at least avoid this confrontation, which would keep the door to good open.

All he needed to do was get out of this place and not meet with Master Tobias.

Just then, as Seraphiel waited for Lucivar’s answer, her gaze shifted to his behind, noticing gatherings of dark energy not too far away from them. There were three, to be exact, and soon enough, three figures appeared from thin air.

The Divine Beasts.

Gandr, Sha, and Sirrush appeared behind Lucivar, smiling maliciously at Seraphiel.

None of them said a single word.

Not even trying to coax Lucivar out of fear that he might be swayed by her words.

Almost as if they already knew what the answer was.

"I can’t deny that the Gods inside me and Tobias probably did things to ensure my descent to evil. And I also agree that confronting Tobias would change something in me, and erase you. I can also feel it in my guts."

Lucivar’s voice rang, pulling Seraphiel’s attention back to him.

Hearing this, her eyes widened with anticipation, hopeful that Lucivar would realize his wrongs.

"Yes, that’s right, it’s still not too la—"

"However," Lucivar intervened, cutting Seraphiel’s sentence short. "I knew what Tobias did. I knew all of them. He’s behind everything, and I understand that. So, what’s there to be scared of? I’ve decided to kill him, and listening to you would only be a coward’s move."

Serapheil’s breath was caught in her throat.

It was going so well earlier, so she didn’t expect Lucivar to still be this stubborn.

"Besides," Lucivar smirked devilishly. "I’ve gone too far already. Going back would be a waste, no?"

Not even waiting for her to respond, Lucivar shoved her to the side and headed for the staircase.

Seraphiel collapsed to the floor, stunned—yet the mocking laughter of the watching Divine Beasts tore her from her daze, their jeers ridiculing her for daring to sway Lucivar, who had long since embraced the darkness as his own.

Gritting her teeth, she turned toward Lucivar again.

"No, Lucivar! Lucivar, wait! You don’t know everything! Don’t go upstairs!" she screamed, scrambling forward on hands and knees like a cornered animal, desperation cracking her voice. Shadows lashed out, coiling tight around her limbs, yanking her to the floor before she could reach him. "It’s not too late! You can still turn back! Everything you’ve gained—none of it will be wasted if you choose the light!"

Despite her squeal, Lucivar didn’t stop ascending the staircase.

He completely ignored her as the darkness pulled her down into the earth, dragging her back to Hell.

Unlike before, however, there was a guillotine waiting for her return.

...

Back to the present.

Leandra coughed blood several times, still regulating her ether to scramble whatever ability Master Tobias used to make her bleed like this. She now has no remorse for him. All of her fondness for him evaporated in an instant.

For him to manipulate them for years upon years with a smile, it was sickening.

She couldn’t possibly maintain a relationship with someone like that.

Gritting her teeth, she reached out her hand, eyes glowing purple as she prepared to attack the man.

But before she could, a cold breeze brushed against her body.

Leandra glanced sideways and caught sight of Lucivar staggering back, his gaze fixed on the floor—as wisps of ether hissed from his body like rising steam, curling toward the ceiling. However, unlike his usual golden glow, threads of emerald, bronze, and violet shimmered within, twisting through the haze.

And upon closer inspection, she realized these colorful energies weren’t ether.

It was something else.

Divine energies.

’I blurted it out without thinking.’ Leandra’s face paled when she realized what she said.

She told Lucivar about the phone call, not considering what it would do to his head.

Realizing that everything he heard from the supposed ’Delilah’ was none other than Master Tobias in disguise must have been a devastating blow to his mind. ’I thought he already knew Master Tobias was also behind Delilah, but I was wrong!’

Swoosh!

Leandra raised her arms to shield herself when Lucivar’s body burst with a subtle wave of energy.

She peeked at him and saw his wings were already crawling out.

But it wasn’t like normal; this time, it was bloodier, almost as if it were his first time.

At that exact same time, Leandra heard a voice.

It came from the earpiece she was wearing, and the voice belonged to Elira.

"Leandra, it’s me. I got the appraisal results for the gem. My experts couldn’t determine its purpose—there’s nothing else like it—but they did discover it has ties to the Primordials. Where did you even find something like this? It’s a rarity."

Almost instantly, Leandra’s heart skipped a beat.

She choked on his own blood.

Both her eyes widened completely as she couldn’t believe what she heard.

’P-Primordials...?’

Upon hearing what Elira said, instinctively, she turned to look at Lucivar.

A surge of energy swelled inside her as she quickly stood up and tried to reach Lucivar.

But another blast exploded from him, throwing her backward.

As she fell backward, eyes still fixated on Lucivar, a sense of dread drowned her, ’This is bad...’

Just then, Lucivar stopped and raised his gaze, fixating on Master Tobias.

"You used Delilah’s death..." Lucivar rasped—eyes glowing with power. "You used your wife’s death to manipulate me? Aren’t you supposed to be marrying someone you love? Aren’t you supposed to be loving your wife? Does her death not hurt you?"

"Anything in my disposal is a tool." Master Tobias answered as if it were not a big deal.

It was then, Lucivar blinked as his heart clenched.

A thought came to mind, one that caused his entire body to tense and turn stiff.

"Don’t tell me..." He mumbled—eyes fixated on Master Tobias. "Delilah’s death... Is it your doing?"

Master Tobias stayed silent, hands behind him in grace.

Then, for the first time through the whole ordeal, his expression shifted to an evident smirk.

"Yes." He answered firmly.

Almost instantly, a maniacal laughter exploded from Lucivar’s mouth as he grasped his face with a hand, looking at the ceiling and laughing so hard that tears streamed down his face, "You must think that I’m an idiot all this time, huh?!"

Then, Lucivar’s laughter faded into silence as his gaze dropped, fixing coldly on Master Tobias.

His face emptied of all expression.

"I’m going to kill you," he said, voice flat and absolute.