Percival gazed over at Alcmena before responding with a sly look on his face, "Oh, it is but in fact true, Alcmena."
"Caelen is the reincarnation of Ulfberht. And that's a fact you can't deny."
Alcmena retaliated, infuriated by the reveal. "You're nothing but a lying coward. Why the hell would I believe someone like yourself?"
"You don't need to," Percival said calmly. "Because he and his father, Adam, are already dead—by the hands of one of my generals."
"It doesn't really matter what you believe now, Alcmena."
Alcmena gritted his teeth in anger, still in disbelief over the revelation of Caelen being the reincarnation of the Father of Blades. Meanwhile, Percival turned his attention toward Xavier, clearly eager to see the boy's reaction.
Xavier gripped his fists tightly, his voice trembling. "You already took him from his family..."
"AND NOW YOU KILLED HIM AND HIS FATHER!?" he screamed, slamming his fist on the table. "ISN'T THAT ALREADY ENOUGH FOR YOU, YOU MONSTER!?"
Seeing Xavier's reaction, Percival looked startled—but not out of fear. Amusement glimmered in his eyes as he savored the boy's emotional turmoil.
"You see, Xavier," Percival replied, snapping his fingers. The scenery around them shifted, though the long, elegant dining table remained. "A boy like Caelen is too great a threat and power to be left in the hands of weak individuals—or kept alive after his purpose is fulfilled."
He stood up as the room around them transformed. It was massive—large enough to house a building. The walls and floor were lined with endless silver-gold metallic pipes, all connected to a massive cube-like orb that constantly changed shape. Steam hissed from the edges and corners, from channels leading into this bizarre, otherworldly machine.
"This," Percival murmured, eyes gleaming with pride, "is one of my greatest creations..."
"The Super E-Computer."
"A high-grade weapon comparable to an ethereal instrument. Capable of calculating probabilities and phenomena across present and future timelines."
Both Alcmena and Xavier stood speechless, baffled by the awe-inspiring machinery before them. The ominous hum and steamy breath of the machine sent chills through the room.
Percival continued. "The reason I took Caelen from his father was to use his mind and hands to help me finish building this revolutionary weapon."
"It has some faults—some incomplete data—but it's still my most prized possession. That boy Caelen is a genius beyond what most can comprehend."
"He may lack experience and the strength to forge a true ethereal instrument, but his talent betrays his nature."
"He is this era's Grand Forger. The spark of a new industrial age."
The two guests still stood in stunned silence, unable to fully process everything Percival had revealed.
"Why..." Xavier whispered. "Why would you create such a thing?"
"Oh, my dear Xavier," Percival grinned. "Because of you. Because of what will happen."
"W-what?"
"You are the reason I built this machine," Percival said. "It all started on that fateful day."
"The day I met a seer—someone gifted with glimpses into the threads of fate."
"She told me a little tale. A prophecy."
"She saw a child of human origin, born in the years to come, destined to wield the legendary Blade of Justice—Excalibur."
Both Xavier and Alcmena's expressions grew grim.
"That child would be born with the Eyes of God. The Eyes of New Genesis. A symbol of the new age of heroes. The final light who would stand against me. A boy destined to become the next Saint Sebastian."
Suddenly, Percival appeared before Xavier, kneeling to his eye level, his hand gently gripping the boy's chin.
"And what a coincidence," he whispered. "A commoner child born with celestial-blue eyes..."
"Who would've guessed? Oh wait—me!"
Xavier tried to slap Percival's hand away in panic, but the man vanished in an instant, reappearing in his seat like nothing had happened.
He burst into manic laughter, shaking the room with his unhinged joy.
"Fate has crowned me the new Emperor Julius!" he roared. "Creating a being whose only purpose is to stop me from ascending to Godhood."
"What nonsense are you spouting?" Alcmena growled. "Have you finally gone mad? You think a mere mortal like you can become a god?"
Percival met Alcmena's gaze—and in his right hand, the powerful cage that once held Alcmena shimmered into view.
"I've always been mad for my ambitions, oh great Dragon King," he sneered.
He turned back to Xavier, eyes sharpened like a predator's. "I am the reason Xavier is who he is today."
"I gave him the chance to stay with a new family after being stolen from his own. I'm the reason he has the friends and loved ones he cherishes."
"Who do you think unleashed that varmint during the Forest Crown Hunt? Who do you think orchestrated that attack at your school?"
Percival raised his arms in theatrical pride.
"It was I—Percival Ashford!"
"I had cracked open a rift in space itself to awaken the beasts of the end just so I could test how strong my escaped test subject had gotten."
Xavier's heart sank. His face went pale as those words slithered out of Percival's mouth.
There's no way, he thought in pure and utter despair. There's no way he's the reason behind the sudden appearance of the varmint two years ago. There's just no way this can be true. I REFUSE TO BELIEVE IT!
Percival saw the anguish painted across Xavier's expression and grinned with venomous delight. "Do you really think that after thousands of years of absence, the varmint would suddenly show up—on the exact day of your academy's annual event? Out of nowhere?"
"Of course not. Even the higher-ups in your school and the Kingdom of America's government know something's off."
He leaned in slightly, his tone lower, more taunting. "But they have no idea that the man they worshipped as a genius—the man whose inventions advanced their cities and nations—was the one who orchestrated it all."
He chuckled darkly. "I ran countless simulations through my Super E-Computer. Month after month. Year after year. Burning through ethereal energy, I painstakingly refined myself through numerous human sacrifices. Searching for the hero born with the fate to challenge me."
"After endless failures... I finally achieved it. A perfect 100% probability. A child. Born in Annecy, France. To a commoner's household. And there you were. My little hero."
He took a step forward, arms behind his back.
"I never expected you to escape. And I certainly didn't expect you to end up under my brother's care."
"I was surprised when my decision to send a varmint after you triggered Excalibur itself to respond. It sensed its destined wielder was about to die. All for my amusement."
Percival paused, sighing almost nostalgically. "Disappointing, really. That Excalibur chose you so early... but then again, it made things more entertaining."
"The Hero's Awakening."
Still caged, Alcmena growled. Seizing a moment where Percival passed too close, he lunged and bit the man's hand with his razor-sharp feline teeth, flames erupting from his maw.
"You think you're a god?" Alcmena hissed, holding on with a clenched jaw. "You're just a man playing god. No matter how much you try... you'll never be one."
Percival didn't flinch. The burn left nothing more than faint red marks on his hand. He looked down at Alcmena with a cold, unreadable gaze. "Oh, but I do see myself as a god."
"I've watched every step Xavier took. I've been in the shadows, orchestrating everything, pulling strings like a puppeteer. Isn't that what gods do?"
He turned his hand, showing Alcmena the barely injured skin.
"If that doesn't make me one already... then it doesn't matter. Because I will become one."
He stepped back, eyes darkening until a terrifying black-gold light gleamed from their core.
"I haven't been playing god all this time. I've been playing human."
With a casual flick of his hand, he tossed Alcmena's cage aside. The scenery shifted once more, warping into a grand garden bathed in golden sunlight. Behind them, illusions danced—noble men and women in regal attire twirling to the tune of elegant violin music.
Xavier stood motionless. His head hung low. Shoulders trembling.
Percival watched him carefully.
The silence no longer amused him.
With a tone eerily gentle—mockingly familiar—he spoke his name.
"Xavier..."
His voice mimicked that of Jonathan's: soft, kind, concerned.
"Why do you look so sad?"
He placed a hand over his chest in false sincerity. "I care deeply for you. Like no one ever could. You're my only source of entertainment in this dull world as I watch my plans unfold."
Xavier said nothing. His lips pressed shut, his fists clenched. His entire body trembled.
"You must wonder... why I'm doing all this."
Still, Xavier refused to answer.
Alcmena watched helplessly, still chained, his muscles tensed as he pulled and writhed, trying to shatter the shackles that bound him.
And Percival... he smiled as if he were just getting started.
"The reason I do this, Xavier, is because growing up as a child, I was born a gifted—just like you. But what set me apart from the rest was my unmatched intellect and natural-born genius. Even adults paled in comparison."
"I was everything people wished they could be. And though I came from a low-income family, my brilliance outshone everyone around me. I was a gifted, after all. A being far beyond those who couldn't even touch the potential of their own ethereal cores—the ungifted."
He paused as a butler stepped in, presenting an ornate bottle of wine and pouring it into his glass. Percival stared into the crimson liquid, his reflection dark and distorted, as if haunted by someone else's eyes.
"And yet," he continued, voice turning bitter, "I was somehow inferior... to my own twin brother. He was the opposite of everything I embodied."
"He lacked wisdom, strength, vision, talent... he wasn't even a born gifted. He was nothing. A speck of dust beneath my feet. An ant groveling for scraps in a world not built for him. And yet—he was the one they loved the most."
Percival's grip on the wine glass tightened.
"My parents adored him. People praised him. All because he had a 'pure heart.' Because he stood up for the weak, defended the worthless. He lived by one ridiculous concept—'love.'"
He rose from his chair, wind brushing through his hair as though the world responded to his fury.
"I refuse to be overshadowed by inferiors. I believe in power, order, and purpose. Not foolish ideals. That's when I swore—never again. Never again would the world ignore true greatness in favor of mediocrity."
"If they wouldn't submit to my brilliance alone... then I would obtain power no one could ignore. Power so absolute, not even the Supreme Beings or the Herrschers of old could rival me."
"I will become more than what created this universe. I will bring order where chaos reigns."
He raised his hand toward the heavens, his voice growing more fervent.
"Wars, hatred, and senseless division will cease to exist under my rule. Not because I am a god with omnipotence... but because I will ascend beyond even that."
"I will achieve True Omnipotence—and I will rewrite reality in my image. My throne shall eclipse all who call themselves kings or gods—even Origin."
"A world where the ungifted will no longer exist. Only the powerful, the worthy—those molded by my law. My Grand Percivalian Empire will stretch across all creation. All races, all realms—none shall escape its reach."
"Those who resist? They will be erased. Eradicated from existence before my rise even begins."
"I will not merely be an emperor like Julius. I will be a God Emperor, sovereign of all four realms."
As his voice echoed, silence followed. Alcmena's jaw hung open—not in shock, but in terror.
He had seen madmen across countless epochs, through eons spanning hundreds of millions of years. But never one like this.
A human—born of one of the most persistent, ever-evolving, and dangerous species, yet still the weakest among the Four Great Races—dreaming of dethroning the divine itself.
He's worse than my brother, Alcmena thought as sweat rolled down his furred brow. He must be stopped. No matter the cost.
Across from them, Xavier trembled violently, his hands balled into white-knuckled fists.
Then—
"So this... this is your reason for all the suffering?!" Xavier shouted, his voice cracking as tears welled up. "This is why you killed my father?!"
His voice broke with anguish. "All because you were jealous of your brother?!"
"You destroyed lives—my life—because you couldn't accept being unloved?!"
He slammed his fists on the table, rage boiling over. "You're EVIL! The worst kind!"
He sobbed, thinking of his father's smile, his laugh. His warmth.
"That's why he was loved more than you'll ever be."
The air turned cold.
Both Alcmena and Percival stiffened. No one had expected those words from someone like Xavier.
And for the first time—Percival's smug expression shattered.
His face twisted. Eyes twitching. A quiet rage boiled beneath the surface. His pride—his ego—had been struck.
"This brat..." he muttered, teeth clenched. The fury in his eyes drowned out the stars. "Who the hell does he think he is?! Jealous? Me?! Of that worthless insect?!"
He trembled. Not from fear—but from insult. A wound to his godhood.
But before Percival could move—
Xavier stood, a golden radiance flaring around him.
"Come forth... Blade of Sovereignier—Calibourne!"
With a flash of celestial light, Excalibur materialized in his hand.
With one clean swing, he sliced the table in half.
"I'll make you pay for what you've done, PERCIVAL!"