“Ahem,” Lucas cleared his throat, trying to snap the girl out of her thoughts after her last words. It seemed to work because she turned to him, blushing. “I’m just wondering if there’s someone else we need to watch out for.”
“Ah, yes, that’s another issue with our plan. We need to defeat someone as powerful and influential as Axis, if not more so.”
Lucas's heart sank at her words. Was this floor designed to be unbeatable? Did he have to defeat two monsters to advance? Her next words, however, pulled him back from the brink of despair.
“It’s the promised child, someone whose powers are even more mysterious and hard to fight against than Axis himself. It’s the prophet of the Red Ones, the purple-eyed Halyk.”
Purple-eyed? Lucas wondered for a moment, his brow furrowing. Could she mean the mind mage he had met not long ago, the one whose eye he had made a necklace of?
Noticing Lucas’s peculiar expression, Flavya said, “Don’t go backing out now. I know the Red Church may hold even more influence than the Khorint Empire, but you said so yourself that you don’t care for politics. Besides, if you want to win this contest, he’ll have to die anyway,” she added with a pout.
“Is this Halyk a mind mage by any chance?”
“Yes… why?”
Lucas smiled. “Then you don’t have to worry. I already killed him.”
“You… you killed him?” The expression of utter shock on her face was priceless.
“Yes, I was caught in one of his illusions a while back, but I managed to escape and kill him,” Lucas shrugged. Seeing her expression hadn’t changed, he added, “I don’t know what to tell you. His power was impressive, but he underestimated me, and I was able to trick him in the end.”
The surprise in her eyes waned a little, but just a little. “I’ve heard Halyk was considered reckless by many, but to kill him one-on-one is no simple feat. But if you really did manage to kill him, then this means you are serious about not caring for politics, because the Red Church will probably hunt you down to the end of your days now.”
“Why?” Lucas asked, feeling a cold sensation. He knew he wouldn’t need to handle any of the consequences of whatever happened in this world, but hearing her say that still left him feeling a little guilty for the made-up family the system had created for his character.
“I already told you, he’s their prophet.” Seeing that Lucas still didn’t show any signs of understanding, she went on to explain. “A notable figure of the Red Church more than ten thousand years ago prophesied that a promised child would be born in one of the biggest eye bloodline families of the planet and that he would possess a variant eye, an eye that would topple all and sit at the top as King, leading the world and the church to a golden era.”
After hearing her story, Lucas finally began to understand the gravity of what he had done. Theoretically, now every follower of that religion would hunt him down the minute he stepped outside the contest, considering he had just killed their long-awaited prophet, not to mention the fact that he had removed his eye afterward.
“Damn…” Lucas couldn’t help but say. After a few seconds of silence, a frown covered his face. A part of him still found that story a little too unbelievable. He had fought the man, after all, and he was no king. He stated his beliefs by shaking his head.
“I knew his bloodline was quite good based on what he showed me, but to go from there to being a prophet whose bloodline would surpass all. I don’t know if I believe that. Maybe they made a mistake or something,” he argued.
She seemed to consider his answer for a few seconds before replying, “I admit I don’t know much about Halyk, and that’s because the Red Church keeps everything about him pretty tightly sealed. But based on a few rumors, his variant bloodline hadn’t fully awakened yet, and they were hoping that a life-or-death contest like this one could push him that extra mile. If those rumors were right, he should only possess the powers his family bloodline would give him, and based on what I know, it was illusion-based. This would be pretty much in line with what you said, and it would explain why he wasn’t as powerful as the prophecy predicted.”
Lucas nodded along after hearing that. If that were the case, then the story about the prophecy could still be true. After reaching that conclusion, he began to feel a deep sense of anxiety.
He felt like a man who had stolen a rock from some rich person’s house because he thought it looked pretty, only to find it was actually a very rare type of diamond worth billions of dollars. The very presence of such a thing on his ring now weighed a ton, and it came with a concerning thought: sure, he could probably keep a pretty rock, no one would care overly much about something like this, but could he, realistically, keep the rare diamond?
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“What do you mean exactly by variant bloodline?” Lucas asked, feeling his hands sweating.
“A variant bloodline is a bloodline that has deviated from its original source. This change can be big or small, but they tend to be rare. They are especially rare among eye bloodlines,” she explained. “Not because of some genetic reason, but simply because the four families that hold an eye bloodline made an agreement to kill a variant every time one appeared. Halyk almost met the same fate before the Red Church stepped in and saved him.”
“Why would they do that? Isn’t it a good thing to have different types of powers within the same family?”
Flavya shook her head. “You are thinking too simply about this. What if the variant goes on to create a new family that shares his variant bloodline? They would’ve just let competition rise within their own house. Of course, if they could control the variant somehow, it could be a great asset, but in the end, it isn’t worth the risk, and all four families agree on the matter. There have been cases like this before, in which the four families united to destroy the new one. In fact, there’s a theory that all four families originated from the same eye, but I can’t confirm that.”
“I see,” Lucas replied simply. He was still extremely new to this world’s politics, but everything she said made sense to him, so he just tackled the next thing that was making him curious. “Do you have any idea what this bloodline might be capable of doing if it had developed properly?”
“All I know is what the prophecy said,” she replied, and she was quiet for a while, as if searching through her memories. “It mentioned an eye that would be capable of creating things out of nothing, one that would have perfect control of its surroundings, turning the one in its possession into the true master of this world.”
“The correlation of this power with illusions didn’t go unnoticed by the Red Church,” she continued. “That’s how they were able to stop Halyk from being killed. They had eyes on his family for centuries; they were always the most likely family for the prophet to be born, since they are the only ones that use illusions to battle.”
Hearing her describe the prophecy made Lucas even more nervous and a little uncertain. Before, he had taken the eye because it seemed like a good opportunity to take a perfectly good bloodline for himself—if he could even pull it off. But now it just seemed like he had bitten off more than he could chew.
Him taking a regular eye bloodline from the tower, although impressive, was still within the realm of possibility. He had taken a skill from Faruk, after all. However, when that regular bloodline turned into a legendary one, prophesied for ten thousand years, that changed things.
It couldn’t be this simple, could it? Would the system really offer something so good? Or had he just gotten lucky to be able to kill the man in the first place? Based on Flavya’s reaction, that seemed to be the case, but Lucas still wasn’t convinced. The fight was definitely hard, and he had gotten lucky somewhat, but it was still not deserving of a legendary bloodline.
Thinking his odds of actually acquiring the bloodline weren’t great, Lucas visibly deflated a little, which Flavya took as a sign of him feeling dejected about his future outside the contest. The surprising part, however, was that the girl actually seemed sorry for him.
“Don’t worry about these things now. If we manage to kill Axis, my people—the witches of Gholdryc—will be more than happy to receive you among their midst.”
Witches? Lucas wondered, but didn’t ask. The lore about the eye he had stolen was already enough for the time being. His mind was caught up in another thing he had captured from their conversation, however, and he couldn’t help but ask.
“Aren’t you worried that this Red Church will consider your faction an enemy if they shelter me, and try to hunt them down?”
She received his question with a wicked smile. “They can definitely try. They did it once in the past; it didn’t turn out great for them.”
Lucas wasn’t satisfied with this response. “But this time, if we manage to kill Axis, it will be two of the most powerful factions in the world, according to what you’ve told me. Are you sure this won’t be a problem?”
Flavya shook her head. “My people are used to staying in the shadows. We never stay in the same place for too long, and move in small groups. Furthermore, we’ve been fighting the Khorint Empire for centuries now, and they still haven’t managed to wipe us all out. We’ll be fine. Besides, if you manage to remove two of the greatest threats to the future of our people, you’ll be received like a hero.”
Lucas only nodded. It seemed the history of this conflict went way back, and there were clearly things Flavya wasn’t willing to say, either for fear of him turning her down or for some other reason, but so far, Lucas saw no reason for doing so. He doubted Axis would be the same as Halyk and be foolish enough not to take him seriously.
“Thank you for the offer,” Lucas said after some time. “So, what’s the plan?”
“Well, before I knew you had killed Halyk, I was thinking about making the two fight somehow. Then we would only have to deal with whoever was left, but now…”
“Wait,” Lucas said, thinking about something. “You said that whoever kills Axis would have to face the consequences of the King, and the same was true about Halyk, but only one can get out of this…”
Understanding the point Lucas was trying to reach, Flavya explained.
“The fact that both the King and the Red Church sent their representatives to the Showdown this year is a clear sign of defiance. The victory of their chosen will be seen as the victory of their faction. The power scale will be tipped to one side, and it might well define the future of the planet.”
“So that’s why they sent them?”
“Well, that and because of the achievement, of course,” she replied simply.
Hearing the word "achievement" immediately raised Lucas's attention.
“What achievement?”
“The achievement that is awarded to the Showdown winner every fifty years. It can change a person’s entire life, even the prince’s.”
Hearing her words, Lucas's entire body felt full of life. There was only one question on his mind: Can I also receive this achievement?