As the black mark of the Empty Throne appeared on Carl's forehead, the golden light that had once filled the grand hall instantly vanished, replaced by thick, spreading black mist.
From within that dark fog, countless hands of shadow emerged, gripping the nineteen golden swords. In the next moment, the swords melted like ice meeting fire, dissolving into the mist until not a trace remained.
Everything unfolding before her had already shattered Lily's understanding of the world. She stood frozen in place, her wide eyes clouded with confusion and disbelief.
Carl let out a slow breath, raising his right hand. The cursed blade, Muramasa, flew into his grasp — and then transformed, flowing like liquid until it reshaped into a pitch-black staff.
With the dark staff in hand, Carl slowly rose from the Empty Throne. Outside, the once-surging sea had calmed again, but the clear skies had long been swallowed by shadows.
The people who had barely survived the previous cataclysm now showed faces of despair once more. They had no idea what new calamity might strike next.
But this time… aside from the creeping darkness, no other disaster seemed to come.
...
Within Pangaea Castle, Carl glanced at the black staff in his hand and murmured softly,
"Just a little while, and the outside world is already in chaos… So this is what it means to wield the power to rule the world..."
Lily snapped out of her daze and quickly spoke up,
"Carl, you—"
But Carl raised his hand and made a subtle pinching motion. Lily's face changed at once — her lips pressed tightly shut against her will, unable to make a single sound.
Her eyes went wide with terror. Inside, her heart was shaking violently.
She couldn't comprehend how Carl was doing this — controlling her body as if it were nothing. When she had sat upon the Empty Throne, even she had never possessed such power.
Compared to Carl, her eight centuries on the throne felt like she'd merely been given some crippled, incomplete version.
A bitter thought crossed Lily's mind: If Carl can even come and go freely from Pangaea Castle… I might just die of rage.
She didn't notice that while she was stewing in such thoughts, Carl was watching her with an amused, half-smiling gaze.
...
The next second, a cloud of black mist lifted Lily's body. Before she could react, she found herself standing outside Pangaea Castle — with Carl by her side.
All around her, the sea of flowers remained, just as before. Lily stared blankly at the sight, then suddenly turned toward Carl in shock.
"Mmm! Mmm mmm mmm! (You can hear my thoughts!?)"
Her mouth was still sealed shut, so all she could manage was a muffled hum — but that didn't stop Carl from understanding her perfectly. Because right now… he really could hear her heart.
Carl smiled and nodded, then hooked a finger under her chin.
"That's right. In my eyes, you have no more secrets."
The instant his finger touched her chin, the restriction on Lily's body melted away.
She gasped and cried out,
"This—this is impossible! Why is the Empty Throne you claimed so… perfect? What did you do!?"
At this point, Lily felt as though she was on the verge of tears, trapped between despair and disbelief.
Could it be… there was another way to 'activate' the Empty Throne all along?
If that were true, then the eight hundred years she had spent imprisoned between these flowers had been nothing but a cosmic joke.
The cruelest part? She had handed over this "perfect" throne with her own hands!
Carl's gaze softened slightly as he looked at her, almost with a hint of pity.
"Do you really want to know the reason? I'm afraid it'll only make you feel worse."
Lily, now on the brink of hysteria, grabbed fistfuls of Carl's clothing and shouted,
"Tell me!! Why are you free from the Throne's curse?!"
Carl's voice remained calm as he answered,
"It's simple. Back then, among the original twenty, you were the only one with the blood of the D Clan. Aside from my ancestor, Saint Cassilius, the other eighteen never fully trusted you."
"What… did you just say?!"
The words hit Lily like a lightning bolt. She let go of Carl and staggered back, trembling all over. The mighty ruler who once held dominion over the world now looked no more powerful than a wounded child.
Carl sighed and, in a rare gesture of gentleness, pulled the broken Lily into his arms.
She didn't resist. At this point, she was numb.
Carl's voice whispered softly by her ear,
"The other eighteen… they didn't undergo the Eternal Youth Operation. Knowing their days were numbered, they chose to fuse their souls into the Empty Throne. Lily, over these past eight hundred years, you weren't the sole master of the Throne. It belonged to you and those eighteen others — together."
Lily muttered, her face blank,
"So you're saying… all these centuries, I was trapped because of them? That they kept me imprisoned in this place? But I never once sensed their presence..."
"I already explained. Their souls fused with the Throne. Unlike you, they had no physical bodies. Their souls couldn't persist forever — the Throne's power gradually wore them away until only a single obsession remained. And that obsession… was to confine you within the Sea of Flowers, until the next heir to the Throne appeared."
Her voice trembled as she demanded,
"And if the next heir wasn't you? What if it was Joy Boy? Or another descendant of the D Clan? Didn't they consider that?!"
"Perhaps they did. But for souls clinging to their final shred of obsession… even leaving that much behind was already a miracle. They didn't have the strength to do more."
"...Heh… haha… HAHAHA!!"
Lily suddenly broke into wild, bitter laughter. As she laughed, tears began to stream silently down her cheeks.
"So in the end… this so-called curse was just about the D Clan? They feared me so much they'd rather destroy their own souls? This is beyond absurd!"
Carl gently stroked her back.
"It wasn't just because of your D bloodline. In truth, their motives weren't so petty. Those eighteen were idealists — they didn't want the world to ever fall under the rule of another tyrant, someone beyond all restraint… like Joy Boy once was. Their final dream was to build a world of equality."
At those words, Lily's lips curled into a sharp, mocking smile.
"Equality… Hah. So even in death, they clung to that naive fantasy? This world has never known equality! Human desire is endless — it drives conflict, and conflict produces victors. And victors will always trample the weak. This cycle will repeat forever. It will never end!"
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+140 chapters on p@treon/tambeerg