The sound of the heavy ballroom doors closing behind Lucian was the final note of a prelude. The moment the latch clicked, the atmosphere in the palace changed from festive tension to the cold, sharp air of a hunt.
"Master, we have four minutes," Seraphina whispered, her voice a mere vibration in the shadows. "The King is paralyzed by shock, but the Commander of the Royal Knights is already signaling the gatehouses. They are dropping the portcullis."
"Four minutes is a lifetime," Lucian replied, his hand gripping the velvet pouch containing the Eye of the Abyss. He could feel the fragment thrumming against his palm, a rhythmic pulse that synchronized with his own heartbeat.
They didn't head for the main entrance. Lucian knew the grand stairs would be a chokepoint. Instead, he turned toward the Royal Gardens—a sprawling labyrinth of bioluminescent flora and white marble statues.
As they rounded a corner near the Rose Fountain, a figure stepped from behind a weeping willow.
"Running so soon, Lord Thorne? And after such a spectacular performance."
Seraphina was out of the shadows in a heartbeat, her dagger pressed against the throat of the newcomer. But she froze when she saw the face.
Standing there was Princess Isabella. Unlike her brother Bastian, Isabella didn't glow. She was dressed in a gown of deep violet, her hair as black as a raven's wing. In the previous timeline, Isabella was known as the "Ice Sage"—the only member of the Royal Family who had opposed the alliance with the High Elves.
"Seraphina, stand down," Lucian commanded.
The Princess didn't flinch at the blade. She looked at Lucian, her eyes searching the Raven's Mask as if she could see the void rings beneath it. "My brother is a fool. He thinks power is a sun to be displayed. You understand that power is a secret to be kept."
"I don't have time for riddles, Princess," Lucian said. "Your father is about to declare me an enemy of the state."
"He already has. The bells will ring in thirty seconds," Isabella said, her voice urgent. She reached into her sleeve and pulled out a heavy, iron key engraved with the seal of the First Emperor. "The main gates are sealed, but the old aqueducts under the Rose Fountain lead directly to the outskirts of the city. They bypass the magical wards."
Lucian narrowed his eyes. "Why help me? I just turned your brother into a crater."
"Because Bastian is a puppet for the High Elves. If he had killed you tonight, the Kingdom would have fallen to them within the year," Isabella stepped closer, her voice a hushed whisper. "You are an anomaly, Lucian Thorne. You are the only variable the Elves haven't calculated. Take the key. Go to the Grave of the First Emperor. There is a seal there that only a 'Hollow' can open."
[System Notification]
[New Potential Ally Detected: Princess Isabella]
[Trust Level: 15% (Mutual Interest)]
[Item Received: Aqueduct Key (Quest Item)]
"I'll remember this, Princess," Lucian said, taking the key.
"Don't remember me. Just survive," she replied, disappearing back into the foliage just as the first Great Bell began to toll. BONG. BONG.
"The Lockdown has begun," Seraphina hissed.
"To the fountain," Lucian ordered.
They didn't make it to the fountain before the first wave hit.
From the balconies overlooking the garden, twelve Royal Knights in gleaming silver armor descended using levitation spells. These weren't the pampered nobles of the ballroom; these were the Inquisitor Guard, men trained to hunt mages and monsters.
"Lucian Thorne!" the lead Knight roared, his halberd glowing with holy fire. "By order of King Valerius, you are to be detained for the theft of a Royal Relic and the attempted murder of the Crown Prince! Drop to your knees!"
[Target: Inquisitor Guard (Tier-4 B-Rank)]
[Threat Level: Moderate]
[Current SP: 6,450]
"I'm done taking orders from men who fear the dark," Lucian said.
He didn't draw a sword. He didn't have one. Instead, he reached into his mind and grasped the newly evolved Gravity Well.
"Seraphina, clear the path. I'll handle the pressure."
The Knights charged. The lead Inquisitor swung his halberd, a wave of holy flame cutting through the air. Lucian simply raised his hand and closed his fist.
"Gravity Well: Reverse."
Suddenly, the gravitational constant in a ten-meter radius flipped. The Knights, caught mid-charge, didn't fall forward—they were violently jerked toward the sky. Their heavy plate armor, designed for ground stability, became a cage.
"What is this magic?!" one screamed as he plummeted upward, crashing into the stone overhang of the balcony twenty feet above.
While the Knights were disoriented and pinned to the ceiling by the inverted force, Seraphina moved. She was a blur of silver and shadow. She didn't kill—Lucian had whispered save the mana—but she disabled. Her daggers found the gaps in their joints, severing tendons and mana-circuits with surgical precision.
[Soul Points Extracted (Passive): +1,200]
"The fountain! Go!" Lucian shouted.
He released the gravity, and the Knights crashed back to the garden floor with a chorus of groans and breaking metal. He didn't look back. He plunged his hand into the fountain's basin, feeling for the keyhole Isabella had described.
Click.
The stone base of the fountain groaned, sliding back to reveal a dark, moss-covered staircase leading into the bowels of the earth.
"Into the dark," Lucian said.
The aqueducts were a nightmare of damp stone and the echoing sounds of the city's panic above. They ran for miles, Lucian's Void Veins acting as a compass, guiding them toward the edge of the city's mana-shield.
When they finally emerged, they were three miles outside the capital's walls, in the middle of the Weeping Woods. The air here was thick with the scent of pine and old magic.
"The Grave should be another two miles North," Seraphina said, wiping a splash of blood from her cheek. "But Master... we aren't the only ones who know about it."
Lucian looked toward the horizon. Nestled in the cleft of a jagged mountain was a structure that shouldn't exist—a pyramid made of white bone and black iron, partially swallowed by the earth.
And at its entrance, the air was shimmering with a familiar, sickly-sweet mana.
"High Elves," Lucian spat.
Standing before the sealed doors of the Grave was a small detachment of Elven warriors, their slender armor etched with runes of moonlight. At their head stood a man with long, silver hair and eyes that glowed with a predatory, emerald light.
[Target: High Executioner Valen (A-Rank)]
[Objective: Enter the Grave.]
[Warning: The target is currently attempting to break the seal using a Blood Ritual.]
"They're early," Lucian muttered. "In the last life, they didn't find this place for another year."
"Perhaps your 'awakening' changed the timeline more than we thought," Seraphina suggested, her daggers humming with anticipation.
Lucian watched as Valen, the Elven Executioner, held a shivering human captive over a sacrificial bowl. The High Elves weren't there for the gold; they were there for the Emperor's Soul-Blade, the only weapon capable of cutting through the High Elves' ancestral wards.
"They want the blade," Lucian said, his violet rings beginning to swirl behind his mask. "But that blade has a very specific appetite. It won't accept Elven blood."
"Whose blood will it accept?"
Lucian stepped out of the treeline, his presence no longer suppressed. He let the Hollow Monarch aura flare, a cold, suffocating wave of darkness that caused the forest birds to fall dead from the trees.
The High Elves spun around, their bows drawn in a single, fluid motion. Executioner Valen narrowed his eyes, dropping the captive.
"A human?" Valen sneered, his voice like silk. "And a broken one at that. You smell of the void, boy. A dangerous scent for a species so... fragile."
"I'm not here to talk, Elf," Lucian said, walking toward them with a terrifying lack of fear. "I'm here for my inheritance. And you're standing on my doorstep."
[Current SP: 7,650]
[New Skill Unlocked: 'Monarch's Command' — Force those with lower Soul Strength to kneel.]
"Kill him," Valen commanded.
A dozen enchanted arrows, tipped with sunlight, flew toward Lucian.
Lucian didn't dodge. He opened his mouth and breathed in.
[Skill Activated: Soul Feast (Variation: Atmospheric Devour)]
The arrows didn't hit. The mana powering them was sucked directly into Lucian's lungs, leaving the wooden shafts to clatter harmlessly against his chest. He exhaled a cloud of gray mist, his eyes glowing like dying stars.
"My turn," Lucian whispered. "KNEEL."