Lucid studied the dying Monolith's expression, searching for any hint of deception, any indication that this entire exchange represented some final, desperate manipulation.
He found none. Only exhaustion. Only genuine, aching weariness that had apparently accumulated across centuries beyond his comprehension.
'Alice,' he thought, reaching internally for her guidance despite her earlier silence. 'What do I do here?'
Her voice returned, quieter than her earlier urgency, something contemplative replacing her previous bloodlust.
"I don't know," she admitted. "This wasn't part of any calculation I made regarding this confrontation."
Lucid exhaled slowly, the weight of the decision settling heavily against his chest despite the continuing chaos surrounding them both.
"If I do this," he said finally, addressing Mercyros directly, "you need to guarantee that my friend gets to save his associate... please. I do not want any hidden costs."
"I already influnced the course of the grand weave," Mercyros confirmed.
Lucid glared.
'The Grand Weave?'
"I have caused enough chaos... so much so that.. she has no option but to answear."
"And, whatever happens next depends entirely on circumstances beyond my continued involvement. They will be alright."
Lucid nodded slowly, though uncertainty still gnawed at his conscience regarding this entire exchange.
He tightened his grip on the chain.
"This isn't mercy," he said quietly, more to himself than to Mercyros directly. "This is just ending something that's already broken beyond repair."
"Perhaps," Mercyros replied, his voice barely audible now. "Or perhaps mercy sometimes requires exactly this kind of ending."
The black holes finished their collapse simultaneously, the entire confined space beginning to stabilize now that the source generating such chaos had finally ceased to exist.
Lucid floated alone within the settling calm, his body battered and exhausted from the sustained confrontation, his mind still processing everything that had just transpired.
'Did I do the right thing,' he wondered, uncertainty lingering despite the apparent resolution.
Alice remained quiet within his mind, offering no immediate answer, perhaps equally uncertain about the implications of what had just occurred.
The space around him continued stabilizing, reality reasserting itself gradually as whatever remained of Mercyros's domain began settling into whatever new configuration would emerge from his absence.
Lucid staggered under the weight of his own thoughts. He had to fight back immediately. He understood the absolute consequences of failure.
If he could not kill the deity standing before him, the internal battle would end in his own defeat.
Mercyros looked directly into the eyes of the Lucid. The glowing golden light within the gaze of the deity flickered with a strange, melancholic warmth.
"Neptune is my sister in blood," Mercyros stated quietly. "She chose a beautiful vessel. You are a lively young man."
The deity stepped closer, his ruined body moving with unnatural grace.
"You are shrouded in a thick mist," Mercyros continued. "This dense fog makes every transaction unpredictable. Yet, beneath that chaotic energy, you are also a completely blank canvas."
Mercyros extended his dark arms toward Lucid. The supreme governor of commerce did not initiate a magical attack. He wrapped his heavy arms entirely around the shoulders of the boy in a solemn, restrictive embrace.
"You will soon learn the truth," Mercyros whispered into the ear of the boy. "You will learn true clarity regarding your own self."
"Bullshit," Lucid yelled loudly.
He refused the divine embrace. He pushed his latent physical power to its absolute maximum limit. He did not rely on standard levitation. He kicked his boots downward with devastating kinetic force. The raw power compressed the ambient air into a temporary solid surface. He used the condensed oxygen as a sturdy platform to support his massive physical weight. He braced his legs against the invisible floor and pushed outward.
He had already absorbed twenty distinct black holes into his body. His pierced spine functioned as a passive conduit for the extreme gravitational forces. The internal pressure pushed his physical limits entirely beyond human capacity.
[The Divine Wrath: Stabilization Achieved.] [Attribute Evolution: Moderate Pain Resistance, High Resolve Manifestation, Moderate Reinforcement.]
The system notifications flashed across his vision in rapid succession. Lucid ignored the glowing text completely.
He drove his right fist straight forward. His knuckles tore directly through the golden armor and shattered the side of the head of the deity.
He grabbed the remaining shoulder of the Monolith and tore the arm completely off the divine torso with one brutal pull.
Suddenly, the physical world collapsed on itself.
Lucid had absorbed everything conceivable in their immediate surroundings using the gravitational pull of the singularity.
Lucid looked upward. He watched the distant stars and the dark cosmic matter break apart. The universe dissolved into a pure, blank void.
"You broke the dark matter itself," Mercyros observed quietly, his voice echoing strangely in the empty space.
Lucid looked around the new environment. The sight was terrifyingly beautiful. Dark matter represented the absence of substance. It was the very thing that constituted nothingness. It was the absolute absence of light. He had destroyed the fundamental fabric of space and time. He had uncovered something else entirely beneath the universe. He stood inside a white void that resembled a sterile, endless room.
Mercyros dropped slowly to his knees. The deity looked around the white room with half-lidded eyes. The fight had completely left his broken body.
"You will learn very soon," Mercyros spoke softly toward Lucid. "You will understand that there are forces existing far beyond our current level. The divine barrier is locked in a constant, endless war."
Lucid stood completely still. He had observed the entirety of the violent altercation. He was now heavily pent up with absolute rage. A deep, burning wrath transcended even the concept of divine punishment within his chest.
He realized he possessed the raw power to erase absolutely anything right now. He could erase an object. He could erase a person. He could erase a fundamental belief or a universal concept. He could make anything he wanted completely gone. All he had to do was snap his fingers, and the remaining fragments of the domain would be permanently destroyed.
Mercyros looked up at the glowing anomaly.
"Do it," the deity instructed calmly.
Lucid stepped forward. He raised his right hand. A long shaft of pure, sickening red energy formed rapidly inside his circular grip. The physical manifestation of his wrath extended a hundred
Mercyros closed his golden eyes completely.
Lucid approached the kneeling god to deliver the final execution.
Suddenly, the sound of rapid footsteps echoed across the empty white floor. Someone was running desperately toward them.
Meters behind him and a hundred meters in front of him. The massive weapon radiated with a deeply dangerous aura.
"No, Mercyros, please get up," a high-pitched voice cried out.
It was the little girl. Lucid recognized her instantly. She was the guide who had previously revealed herself to be the central architect behind his recent suffering.
"It is alright," Mercyros told the crying girl. "Our specific age has long since faded away. This new age of humanity seems far more capable of governing itself."
The deity coughed heavily. Thick golden blood spilled from his ruined lips onto the pristine white floor.
Suddenly, an intrusive presence spoke directly inside the mind of Lucid. The entity probed aggressively at the edges of his consciousness before speaking to him clearly.