Asta came to the pillar and placed his hand on it. Closing his eyes, he had a somber look on his face. The words on the pillar lit up once more without seemingly any input. A few minutes passed as Asta stood frozen against the obelisk.
Observing without interference, Lucas tried to think it through for himself. Eventually, the obelisk completely lit up, shining bright before Asta disappeared into the light. Stunned in place, Lucas checked his surroundings before concluding that Asta made it out.
Yaldor landed next to him not long after. For once, he displayed emotion openly, "Did you figure it out? I don't sense the Young Master anywhere."
"Yes. We did figure it out, but I don't fully understand how he did it. The answer is to turn around in a symbolic sense. You have to face your past. I assume you have to relive your sins in order to repent, or something in that sense."
"I see, so you finally figured it out," it wasn't a sense of relief that came from his voice, more an observant tone.
"Hearing you say that makes me think you knew it all along."
"Of course."
"What?", turning around in a shock, Yaldor simply had a neutral look on his face.
"I knew it from the beginning, to be honest."
"Then why not just say it and help us get out of here?", Lucas couldn't wrap his head around it. Making little to no sense, why not just come right out and say it?
"My orders were to come here and wait for someone else to join me. The moment someone else came, I had to accompany them until they figured it out."
"Who gave you those orders? Descartes wouldn't know it, and it wouldn't make sense to come from the Duke."
"You're not of a high enough Rank to know that. Now let's get out of this place," placing his hand on the pillar, it instantly lit up and took him away. Lucas now stood alone in the subspace, sighing loudly.
'Well, it's time we brought that merchant down anyways.'
Placing his hand on the obelisk, Lucas thought of his own possible sins. There were some that would fit the bill, but simply thinking about it didn't seem to change the color of the obelisk.
Dozens of situations popped up in his mind, ones where he extorted people, one where he killed others just to advance his own goal. He explored each situation and checked the obelisk for any change yet nothing happened.
'I don't understand, these are all sins in a sense, so why is it not working?'
'Is that piece of rock smart enough to know what sins are? Or does it use us as it's guide?'
'So you're saying we have to think of things that we believe are true sins?'
'I don't know, I'm just guessing.'
Changing his approach, Lucas tried to think of what he regretted or what he believed was something to repent for. Standing in his dome, both parts of Lucas just stared at the Scarlet Moon that was situated at the top.
The dome quickly turned bloody red as scenes from their past appeared. Not that they had gotten used to it, but they tried to keep their calm as they saw the monsters invade his town and home. The buildings quickly caught fire as the beasts feasted on the innocent villagers.
The fury made his heart speed up as he kept silent. Staring daggers at all the monsters, Lucas stood still as he let it happen, his emotions from when he was a mere child poured into him. Completely immersed in his mental sphere, the outside was forgotten. All attention went to the moon.
Reliving the scene, Lucas stood on the muddy road, the smell of their home burning, the iron from the blood that was spilled, his eyes started to itch from the burning wood. The horrifying cries for help, it all turned him slowly insane.
While extremely powerful, this was a memory, one he wasn't able to influence no matter how much he tried. He could only experience the helplessness again and again. Seeing it replay, Lucas always focussed on the same things, his own family trying to run away, fight back and ultimately fail.
Not a thought went through is mind as the memory kept playing.
At the end, Lucas was hiding under rubble, covered in wounds. Staring at his younger self, hoping that the boar wouldn't continue to hunt for him, made his heart race. Fear was the last thing in his heart, as all he felt was extreme black fury.
He didn't even have to think it, it became clear for him. Weakness was a sin, one he had to repent for. Or perhaps, it was the inability to protect. If he was stronger, he would've been able to save everyone, yet all he did was run away and hide away like a coward.
As his anger was flowing through him, his emotions as powerful as when he was a child, his head suddenly rang loudly, his connection to the material world vanished.
His dome tinted bloody red, his memories vanished as the scene changed to Lucas staring at the ground. Tears covered the ground as a booming voice made his eardrums burst. Raising his head, a man floated in the sky with a large beard. The man kept repeating the same sentence over and over. Perhaps forbidden knowledge or secrets tucked far away, Lucas' eyes shook as the revelation from the man's words shook his foundation.
The world seemed to freeze as his mind finally unlocked the dormant memories. A strange anger that was burried away seeped out of his heart as the obelisk started to shine brightly. His fury at his peak, it all vanished into darkness.
Opening his eyes, Lucas stood outside the pyramid. His mind was infected with anger, and wasn't going to easily dissipate. Last time he felt so angry, he destroyed an entire temple in the Underground, letting the elements carry him. Now, the fury radiating was more than noticeable. Yaldor's instinct instantly let him release his aura, pressuring Lucas to the ground.
"Calm down!", raising his hand towards Lucas, Yaldor increased his aura to force Lucas into the ground.
"Tch, you shouldn't have done that," Asta spoke up as he dusted his clothes in advance. "If I'm correct, I know what his sin is from inspecting his aura. You'll have to go all out to hold him down."
Speaking matter-of-factly, it looked like they had been out here long enough to calm down themselves.
Under the pressure, Lucas' face was forced into the ground. Staring at Yaldor, the amount of madness contained within his eyes frightened him. Letting go of his own aura, Lucas tinted the environment dark red. The black bricks of the temple started to vibrate in response, seemingly supporting him.
Slowly pushing himself off the ground, the visible hatred made Yaldor increase his output, putting his all into forcing Lucas down. As a Rank 4, dealing with Lucas should've been extremely easy, yet he started to feel like it wouldn't have mattered how much he tried, Lucas would keep standing back up.
Hearing his bones break and fracture, Lucas' face didn't change in the slightest. The ground cracked beneath him as the weight continued to increase. Even Asta joined in, using his own powers to push him down.
Lucas' aura retreated for a moment as it ate away at theirs. Slowly, Lucas raised himself up again, with each movement, the sound of his body breaking down sounded loudly. Yaldor had a concerned look on his face, but Asta was composed.
"Lucas! Whatever you're doing, do you think you're going to change anything? If you want to solve whatever is haunting you, is fighting us going to achieve that?"
Yet it seemed that Asta's words couldn't reach him as he gained more and more momentum, Lucas stood up not long after, his body visibly tearing apart. His skin stretched to its absolute limit, if it wasn't for his sturdy body, his limbs would've been torn from his body.
Asta snapped his fingers as weights of pure mana appeared around Lucas, chaining him to the ground. Instantly collapsing, he wasn't able to get up any longer. Waiting until the dark red aura vanished, almost an hour had to go by before Lucas finally came back to his senses.
His body in tatters, Yaldor felt that leaving Lucas in such a state would've hindered his own objective. Yaldor pulled a potion out of his dimensional ring and threw it towards Lucas. "Use it, it's the last gift I'll be able to give you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have duties elsewhere, and I'm quite late."
Asta thanked him and patched up Lucas with the potion. After some time regaining their balance, Lucas tried to suppress the splitting headache after abusing his aura so much to reveal something.
"There are no treasures in this temple, that obelisk was the final part of the temple. We won't get Descartes' coin."
Despite his mind going completely berserk, the rational part was still working as intended, even if his heart hadn't fully calmed down.
Standing there with his hand reaching out to pull Lucas back up, Asta took a moment to think. "No, I'll visit him shortly. I have an idea to get it."
"Alright. I'll go to Augustinus, it's time we deploy it."
"Hurry, will you, we need to get back to Agatha as soon as possible. Worst case, she is already dead."
Hearing Asta speak so serious, knowing how much he cared for her, he lifted his broken body up and nodded. "I'll get it done as fast as I can," while rational, the feelings in his heart didn't have the time to be fully processed, there was no outlet, letting it slowly infect his mind.
---
Augustinus had been living the perfect life he had aspired to achieve. Having the entire black market under his thumb, he enjoyed his lifestyle to the fullest.
After beating out the competitors by framing them for many different crimes and killing a few of their men, they went out of business or moved shop to a far away city. Only Augustinus ruled the underground now. Of course, each establishment had its own front and owner, but they reported to him, they just didn't know.
Lying on a comfortable bed surrounded by beautiful demon women, they caressed his body as he was fed a few grapes.
A demon girl entered his room with a shy look. "Master, I.. you called me?", looking more at the ground than her master, the girl didn't seem to know what to do with her hands.
"Yes, I heard you're making a lot of customers win big at poker," spoken with an underlying anger, the girl twitched in place.
"I-I, you said I had to let them win!"
"Yes, in the beginning to get them hooked, then you need to pull the rug under their feet. You're just constantly handing them money from my pockets. If you don't stick to my teachings, I'm setting you up as an escort, with your shy temperament, there'll be plenty of perverts lusting for you."
The girl looked down at her feet, her face turning pale enough to drain the red from her skin, Augustinus frowned. "Look, what was your name again? Laxia? You just have to follow my instructions, then nobody will bother you."
Staring at her head and posture, she didn't dare lift her head. Annoyance was growing, but Augustinus was used to this kind of interaction. "Do you feel bad that they are losing money?"
Freezing in place, she didn't need to answer for Augustinus to realize where the problem was. "Look, Laxia, we are simply providing a service. Do we force people into our establishments? Do we force them to play or bet their inheritance away? No! We do not force our customers to do anything except pay us for our services. If you cannot see it in this way, I will simply send you back to my good partner, and you can sit in a cage for eternity."
Augustinus had made many friends and enemies in the few months he had been here. But due to his ability to manipulate others, he gained a ton of wealth. At a certain point, his best friend was the slave merchant, who started to buy beautiful but weak slaves from other merchants to deal with him.
Together, they quickly gained a ton of riches, things most mages cared little for, but they only formed a small percentage of the entire population. There were more non mages than mages, who all had different ideas on how to handle their finances, something Augustinus took complete advantage off.
Some of the girls fawning over him agreed, while others felt she deserved a second chance. Standing there, scantily clad, Augustinus felt joy from the position he was in. Time ticked forward, with both parties in silence, the only sounds were from people making a ruckus downstairs or from the smacking of someone eating a grape.
Suddenly, a demon butler appeared at the doors. "Excuse me, master, you have a visitor."
"Who?", Augustinus was still busy with Laxia, he didn't want to be disturbed right away.
"He called himself the Starborn, sir."
"Oh, bring him here, it's been some time since that baby fox said hi."
Bringing in a human with blond hair, many of the demons frowned as they stared daggers at him, yet the man in question found no fault with them.
"Augustinus, looks like you enjoyed this trip more than I anticipated."
"Hah, you wouldn't understand, Lucas. Maintaining an empire is fun and all, but starting from the bottom and working my way up to an underground emporium was always a dream of mine."
Moving next to the frail-looking girl, a chair was brought over for him to sit on. Relaxing his posture, he got serious. "How safe is this space?"
"No worries," lifting his hand, "everyone here will forget the conversation between me and my good friend."
The slaves all nodded in response, only Laxia shuddered slightly.
"Convenient. Then I'll get right to it. Around 3 months have passed, how big is your reach?"
"I have connections to every big city in this Duke's country and a few sparse friends outside of that."
"That will be plenty, I'll start an epidemic in the most southern county, it will start with a cold but will eventually evolve to kill anyone that becomes infected until the second Rank."
"Oh? Assuming you made it, you also have the antidote?"
"Yes, but to create it, I'll need a lot of rare herbs. I've gathered enough to create a few pills, but not nearly enough to save everyone. I'll use Agatha's county for exactly that reason."
"I see now, which pockets do you want me to drain?"
Lucas smiled, happy that Augustinus was so quick to catch on.
"I will focus the source in the biggest city in Protaris' county. This will make people avoid the place like the plague since they could get sick. It should deter merchants and travelers."
"While I sell the antidote on the black markets, and spread rumors of the potential source of the affliction."
"Yes, I'll create an official channel as well, but we won't have enough of the antidote, even if we technically do."
"Hahaha, why of course, a market overflowing with produce will only hurt the price. Do you want me to start buying up houses here? I can easily attract the big merchants and bring them here, the capital is always seen as taking a step forward for many."
"I'll let you do what you wish. Just know that Agatha's county will be the only one who will be able to provide the antidote for a couple of months. You should focus your efforts on breaking down Protaris' county, that's all."
"Consider it done, by the way, you're still a virgin, right? Want to have some fun with one of my girls?", spreading his arms wide, many of the demon girls didn't exactly feel happy knowing they might have to mate with a human.
"Even the girl next to you is available."
Looking to his side, he stared at the shy Laxia, their eyes met. Laxia felt that she should be scared of the possibility, yet when she saw the absolutely uninterested look in his eyes, she almost felt insulted.
"No thanks. I'm in a hurry to get back. When we ship the antidotes.."
"Yes, yes, highly important, maximum security," waving him off, Augustinus laughed him away, "this isn't my first game, boy."
"Don't get yourself killed while I'm out there."
"In all my years in the Empire, not once was I in danger, even when you visited," the cocky smile on his face said it all, but Lucas could only shake his head in response.
"Oh, and while I'm at it, there's a plan I have in mind that I might implement. If things go successfully... well, let's just say it might be time to hoard food and general medicine."
Augustinus suddenly lost his smile as he raised his head from his cushions. The hands all over him suddenly retreated when he straightened his back, staring daggers towards Lucas, his aura grew tremendously.
"Lucas, I knew you would play with lives, but I suggest you don't step to such a scale."
Crossing his arms and slightly lifting his head, Lucas answered in tone, "You don't intimidate me anymore, Augustinus. And don't worry, you're situated in the capital, you won't suffer that much in the first place."
The sharpness in his eyes cut through the air, Augustinus wasn't playing around. Laxia shook heavily under the pressure, grasping her own arm and squeezing it as hard as she could.
Lucas didn't understand why Augustinus would make such a strange distinction. He was going to kill plenty with a plague, and Augustinus laughed, but when he wanted to take it a step further, it suddenly became unacceptable?
"Why are you behaving like this? I'll keep you informed, so stop your childishness. This empire you're building is a tool we need to use, but can just as easily be discarded. Remember where you came from, old man."
Closing his eyes, Augustinus heaved a slow, heavy sigh. "You're playing with fire, boy. I know what you're planning, and the consequences of it. Do I need to remind you you're behaving like the mages that ruled the Underground?"
Lucas didn't think he would ever think about his actions from such a perspective, but the mages of the Underground played with kingdoms for their own entertainment. From their amoral acts, they created a blood feud between countries that lasted for hundreds of years, bloodshed and wars were only the beginning.
If he walked a similar path, it would only lead to more of the same. Augustinus was well versed in war, not because he wished, but because it was forced on him. It was one of the few things he wanted to avoid at all times. 'To cause war only to further his own plans, he's becoming more like them.'
"Augustinus, I understand your worries, but if I were to proceed all I would do is stoke the flames, nothing more."
"Stop it. I've learned about this place in these months, things are already in a tight balance. If you tipped the scales in any way-", not given the time to finish his thoughts, Lucas cut him off.
"I would be able to achieve my goals, Augustinus. This isn't about you or the people here. I brought you here for a single reason. To aid me in my plans. If you're going to turn your back on me because you don't like my methods, I'll simply send you back."
Their joyous banter from mere moments ago turned into a staring match accompanied with pressure powerful enough to push Laxia to the ground and turn the grapes near Augustinus to mush.
"You can't send me back, that backwater county would never be able to provide you any revenue. You need me here."
"Then do as you're told."
Augustinus was prepared for a lot of things when hearing about the mission here. To venture to the demon world, he expected to use his abilities to the fullest to succeed. Never did he think the human who invited him would be worse than the most evil devil he could find. It was clear to him now, the Starborn who he once admired wasn't worth his respect.
"I will complete the mission, even increase my efforts, only if you promise to never return to the Underground after this is over."
Shocked, Lucas' eyes lost focus for a moment. Augustinus wasn't behaving like he normally would. It didn't make sense, why wouldn't he support his plans? They were both people who took advantage of others, using them as tools to further their own schemes.
He wasn't expecting such a demand. To accept this, he would be cutting off one of the few people he enjoyed the company off. Thurin was a friend, one he would be pushing away forever if he agreed.
Removing Thurin from his life to help Asta. A choice he didn't want to make, his heart became unruly. Part of his mind instantly started to think about the other posibilities, not wanting to lose the potential to see him again. Plans and schemes floated around, none all that appealing or required more time than he had to implement. He gripped his fist extremely tight as he sat in silence, staring at Augustinus.
Most plans he came up with had a low rate of success. In order to win over Protaris and Isale, the scheme he built was the fastest and most certain way. Lucas couldn't find a solution. Lucas realized long ago how important it was to have someone to care for. Family was his haven, once that was ripped from his hands, the best he achieved was a friend.
Losing that as well, Lucas' mind went chaotic until a certain part of Lucas tore it all down. None of it mattered anymore as emotion grasped his heart, the rational part broke apart, not finding stable ground to operate on. His fists clenched, blood was drawn, Lucas impulsively cut the strings around his heart.
"So be it. If that's what it takes for you, I'll agree to your condition."
Signing the contract, Lucas left the establishment with a look of death in his eyes. Once he left, Augustinus lost all his aura as he collapsed in the bed. The girls around him had worried looks on their face, each one still recovering from the pressure.
"Master, who was that just now?"
Augustinus wasn't sure how to answer, he held Lucas in high regard. 'To complete the third trial, one must have a heart of stone, but the goal of it was to show the importance of love. To throw even that away to achieve his desires, you've changed for the worse, Lucas.'
"A bastard. If you have any family that lives outside the capital, inform them to come here."
"What? Master?"
Getting out of his bed, Augustinus grabbed a drink and drank it in a single gulp. "You monster," muttering under his breath, the only thing Augustinus could be proud of would be the fact he severed Lucas from the Underground. It would be the last good thing he would achieve here.