CHAPTER 257: FATED TO BE... [1]

As Lucien entered the void, reaching the dark depths, the void assimilation started to encroach on him. At first, it was too slow to be noticeable; the void assimilation would affect one less and less if they remained unmoving and adapted their mind to the eternal silence of the void.

But Lucien could naturally not remain still. A thin, thread-like silver light emanated from the sky of the false void world he had broken through; it stretched far into the distance, beyond his eyes’ ability to see.

Lucien saw as the cracked sky of the void closed up extremely fast in just a few minutes. He activated his primary Draconic aspect completely, his eyes turned to reptilian slits, his red eyes became more prominent, threateningly dangerous, and draconic scales covered some parts of his body. Two small golden horns protruded from his forehead.

The length of his hair grew slightly, and it turned more silken and golden; his presence became much more concentrated, filled with the raw power of a dragon. Two large and majestic golden wings grew on his back. All of his teeth grew sharp and large, and so did his claws. At this moment, he looked more like a dragon in the form of a human. Flapping his wings powerfully as a golden draconic aura spread from his figure, expelling the influence of the encroaching void.

Since the crack in the void’s dark sky had closed, only his golden light was illuminating the surrounding area, attracting the attention of countless void abominations. But most of them did not dare go closer to him, as the golden aura of the dragon blood was like a nemesis against the void.

***

Meanwhile, back in the special room where Lucien was watching over Lumina just a while ago, the area now remains a bloody circle, with the black-colored energy dome covering the figure of Lumina. One hour passed there, and Professor Regina came back to the room to check up on the prince. And what she saw made her petrified. The Prince was nowhere to be seen. Despite using various inspection spells on the black dome, she couldn’t make sense of it in the slightest.

Just as she was about to reach out with her hands, Professor Alfred shouted from behind with all of his might, "DON’T TOUCH IT."

Regina immediately pulled her hand backwards. Professor Alfred found a letter on the bench, left by Lucien, which included instructions and basic explanations. The letter emphasized that the dome must remain unharmed and untouched. That he knew of a special ritual through which he could enter into the imitated void and follow the link between Lumina’s body and consciousness, and that he would bring her back.

Both of the 4th phase professors’ expressions became utterly grave and baffled. Regina remained there on guard, while Alfred went to inform the principal and vice-principal about this; the entire matter was far beyond their authority at this moment. Some nurses came and went from the place. Of course, the female professor warned them strictly so the word about this would not spread anywhere else.

But alas! Word did spread through the entire academy about it, though by the time it reached the ears of all the students, the facts of it had transformed into something more believable. So, the story that spread was like this: Lumina and Lucien had both gone to the beast forest together to hunt, and they went dangerously deep. Since Ken was involved in this issue, they both wanted to figure out what exactly happened back then, or find the creature responsible.

But they were unable to find any clues of it, rather some strange and powerful poisonous creature afflicted them both with potent poison that put them both in a coma, and since this story was entirely false, the professors did not bother making any clarification about it. The step-siblings of both Lumina and Lucien laughed in mockery when they heard and hoped for their death, since Lucien by now had become dangerously powerful, so they had no chance to kill him themselves.

However, many allies and friends who were close to Lucien and Lumina were both sad to hear about it and wanted to visit them, but they were strictly rejected on that notion. Yet, everyone within the academy remained oblivious to the perpetrator of both incidents that had happened recently, and the reason why he had caused these two moves.

Though some things in it were out of his control, the overall situation turned out to be just what he needed, and yet there was a deep and sad fear overflowing in his heart. Axel was afraid to confront the one truth that perhaps all this time, had been right in front of his eyes. As he approached a specialized training facility, he reflected on everything that had happened so far. Before purging the influence of the original ’Axel Nomrad’, he was an uneven mix of three personalities, nothing like his authentic self.

He could now easily identify the previous abnormalities in his behavior, the various mood swings that made him feel like a different character in different situations. The overly emotional instability, and he realized why he was ignoring the obvious, why he was desperately denying it, because the entire existence of Tyler is and always was anchored to that one girl that mattered to him more than anything else in this world, for whom he would do anything and everything.

But now, Tyler Cross has become the dominant personality in Axel Nomrad. First, Ken was mainly taken care of for now. Then he created the perfect opportunity. Lumina was unconscious, and Lucien was likely too busy making sure his sister was okay, since Axel knew that if either Lucien’s mother or sister was in danger. Lucien, in that situation, would forget about everything else and first make sure that his sister or mother was completely normal, and only then would he move his attention to other matters.

With each step he took closer to the training hall, his heart beat more and more loudly, his hands and feet trembled as he felt his steps faltering. He was so anxious at this moment that almost all of his conscious mind was protesting against it. Something was whispering in his ears,

Maybe she is not her.

Maybe another day,

Maybe another time,

Maybe she won’t come today,

Maybe something will go wrong,

Maybe she would not be in her right mind today,

Maybe she has gone to do something about Lumina,

Maybe she wouldn’t recognize him,

Maybe she doesn’t remember him correctly,

Maybe she moved on from him,

Maybe she didn’t care,

Maybe this, maybe that, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe......too many dark probabilities, none of which he wanted, started to flash through his head, and his steps grew slower with each foot closer. Without him even realizing he had reached in front of the large door of the training room, where she always trained at a specific period of the day. Everyone knew of it, so no one ever came in here at that time, at least for those 3-4 hours when the valkyrie always trained here daily without exception.

He gritted his teeth and opened the door, and it was as if he had unclogged a mental barrier that was withholding himself from seeing things in a clear picture. All the negative probabilities vanished from his mind, one by one. The voices all disappeared. But his heartbeat continued to quicken, even more, and grew louder as well, noticing the current heavyweight silence on his mind.

It was the first time he had entered this particular training room, as he usually spent his time forging, engraving, or hunting creatures at the beast forest, which he considered a better alternative to training alone. However, he could easily see why she preferred training alone instead of hunting beasts, because all the 2nd-tier beasts, even the strongest ones, were just too weak for her. And she wasn’t allowed to venture any deeper, despite her being overwhelmingly stronger.

He sighed and looked around, his runic eyes shimmering brightly as they analyzed all rune formations engraved all over the large special training hall, which seemed to be twice as large as a professional basketball field. Filled with various advanced equipment, all made of Archon Grade Tier 3 materials without exception. Even then, there were signs of damage in multiple places on the floor and the magical equipment. The entire place was empty. She hadn’t come yet, well, of course she hadn’t.

He had come 30 minutes earlier than the time she would usually arrive to train. He internally heaved a sigh of relief, and stated to himself,

’Why does this situation feel dangerously similar to a boy going to propose to his crush in front of the whole school?’

He cracked a joke in his mind to lighten the tension in his chest. But right at that moment, the door on the other side of the hall creaked loudly, and the sound of it echoed everywhere. The revered summoned heroine, aka the divine beauty named Sophia Evercrest, walked inside, her undeniable charming grace and presence spreading through the entire training hall. Her overpowering might bare open for him to see for the umpteenth time.