He did not stop his assault there. Everything he had endured, every ounce of torment and isolation he had suffered inside the black hole, unleashed itself directly upon her corpse. He leaned down and bit savagely into the side of her chin, tearing the pale flesh away from her jawbone.
He tasted stale blood and dirt on his tongue. He pulled his right arm back and drove his bare fist straight through her chest, punching a massive, gaping hole entirely through her abdomen. Blood sprayed across his face, warm and thick.
"Lucid," Alice gasped frantically within his mind, her voice trembling with shock. "Calm down right now."
Lucid ignored the internal warning and struck the pale body again and again. A frantic, manic laugh tore from his throat, echoing wildly across the dark void.
"That is right, you foolish fanatic," Lucid shouted loudly through his breathless laughter. "You get exactly what you deserve."
He manifested a thick red chain powered directly by the divine wrath. The crimson metal materialized from his glowing aura and wrapped tightly around her waist.
He grabbed her lower legs with his left hand and gripped her upper torso firmly with his right. He flexed his back muscles and pulled in opposite directions with absolute physical authority.
The red chain constricted aggressively, slicing through her remaining skin and bone. He split her body completely into two pieces. He let the severed remains fall away, allowing the dark void to consume the two halves forever.
'She deserved much worse than that,' Lucid thought, staring at his bloodied knuckles and the crimson energy fading from his skin.
Alice fell silent for a long moment. The frantic panic in her mental voice slowly faded into a cold, calculated tone.
"Well done," Alice said flatly. "You disposed of her properly." She sounded more... intruged now.
Lucid wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his forearm. He looked back toward the remaining two survivors.
Arthur and Ayame were falling helplessly through the dark space. Their internal energy reserves were completely drained from the previous battle against the Monolith.
They lacked the ability to manipulate the surrounding air to slow their rapid descent. Both of them were completely unconscious and highly vulnerable.
Lucid summoned his remaining strength.
The stored wrath he had absorbed from his time inside the singularity was still burning within his physical frame, leaving him with enough raw energy to spare for a rescue.
He extended his heavy ethereal chains from his crimson aura once again.
The sharp metal links whipped through the dark air, wrapping securely around the torsos of Arthur and Ayame. He fastened the chains tightly to anchor their weight against his own sturdy frame.
"Alice," Lucid commanded, his voice raspy and tight from the screaming. "Manifest a gateway right now."
Alice reacted instantly. She channeled her fate essence inside him and generated a small, circular gateway directly in front of them in the air. The portal shimmered with a pale green light, cutting through the absolute darkness of the collapsing domain.
After being trapped inside that vaccum with her, Alice had found away to open holes inside ones domains.
Now that it was collpasing, it was much easier to manifest a gateway now.
Lucid gritted his teeth and pulled the chains with all his strength. He hauled Arthur and Ayame through the open air and pulled them straight inside the glowing green light before the void could consume them.
The transition was violent and disorienting. They fell out of the portal in a heavy, tangled heap. Lucid hit the ground first, absorbing the hard impact as Arthur and Ayame rolled safely onto the surface next to him.
Lucid found himself breathing the familiar air of the mortal realm. The atmosphere smelled of damp stone but carried a sharp metallic undertone of fresh rain.
They had landed on a wide street paved with gray cobbled stones. The gravity here was normal, grounding him firmly after the weightless chaos of the collapsed domain.
Lucid pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. He checked on Arthur and Ayame immediately.
Both the veteran paladin and the stern woman remained entirely unconscious, their chests rising and falling in slow, steady rhythms.
They were battered and exhausted, but they were safe.
Lucid stood up slowly, his muscles aching from the extreme exertion. He looked around to assess his immediate surroundings.
There were no townsmen and no ordinary people in sight. The buildings lining the street were tall and tightly packed, casting long shadows across the empty cobblestones. The architecture featured steep roofs and narrow windows, characteristic of the northern territories.
'Valen,' Lucid realized internally. He recognized the specific layout of the streets and the design of the stone masonry. They had returned to the city of Valen.
He did not have to look any further down the street to find a sign of life. A solitary figure stood directly in front of him, leaning casually against a stone lamppost. The person was smoking a single cigarette, the glowing red cherry illuminating his face in the dim evening light.
"Valen!" Lucid yelled out, mistakenly calling the person by the name of the man he fully expected to see in this specific city.
The figure turned around slowly. He took a long drag from his cigarette and exhaled a thick cloud of gray smoke into the damp air.
He looked at Lucid up and down, his eyes lingering heavily on the fresh crimson blood soaking the shirt of the young man.
"My name is Pilt," the man spoke, his voice carrying a dry, raspy edge. "The generous scoundrel."
Lucid stopped moving entirely. He stood completely still as his exhausted brain processed the introduction.
He recalled that specific name immediately. He had heard stories about Pilt during his difficult time in Port Evxis. He had also seen that exact name printed boldly on a faded wanted poster pinned to a tavern wall.
Furthermore, he remembered seeing a holographic projection of this very man inside a moving train carriage weeks ago.
"You are him," Lucid said slowly, gripping his heavy chains just in case a fight broke out. "You have a massive bounty on your head."
Pilt stood awkwardly still. He did not even bother replying to the accusation regarding his criminal status or the bounty.
He dropped his cigarette onto the wet cobbled stones and crushed it beneath the heel of his heavy leather boot.
He fixed his gaze firmly on Lucid, his eyes locking onto the bloodied face of the young warrior.
Lucid felt deeply uncomfortable under the intense scrutiny. This man was supposed to be the snarky little guy who always cracked jokes or suggested something odd to lighten the mood. The stories painted him as a charismatic rogue.
However, there was absolutely no humor in his eyes right now. His posture was rigid, and his expression was completely devoid of warmth or friendliness.
Pilt took one deliberate step forward, leaving the shadow of the tall lamppost.
"Lucid," Pilt said, his tone devoid of any playful sarcasm.
Lucid stood there watching the young man he ha dcome to know during hsi time in port vexis.
"Where is she..." pilt asked
Lucid looked around the desolate cobblestone street. The towering stone buildings of Valen cast long, dark shadows over the damp alleyways.
The architecture of the northern territory was rigid and unyielding. The high walls offered no warmth. The sky above them hung heavy with bruised, swollen clouds.
The air smelled strongly of damp earth and the sharp metallic tang of approaching rain. Gravity had finally returned to normal, grounding his feet firmly against the uneven stone surface.
"Who?" Lucid asked.
Pilt immediately glared. His eyes narrowed with sharp, piercing intensity. T
he casual, snarky demeanor previously associated with the generous scoundrel vanished entirely. His posture became rigid. His jaw locked tightly.
He did not look like a man ready to crack a joke or negotiate a bounty. He looked like a man standing on the very edge of a high cliff.
"Mira," Pilt stated.
Lucid maintained a completely deadpan expression. The lingering fog of his crimson aura continued to cloud most of his facial features. The red mist drifted lazily around his shoulders, masking any underlying emotion.
His physical body felt entirely numb. The massive surge of adrenaline from the recent divine battle had faded rapidly, leaving behind a profound, hollow exhaustion deep within his muscles.
The passive trait of his wrath had deactivated, leaving him cold and drained. He did not have the energy to humor riddles or play memory games with a rogue.
"Who is that?" Lucid inquired flatly.
"A woman wearing a dark coat and dark hair," Pilt clarified. His voice carried a tight, unnatural strain.
He stared at Lucid, desperately searching for a specific answer hidden behind the blank expression of the young warrior.
Lucid nodded hesitantly as a brief visual memory surfaced in his exhausted mind. He pictured the hollow human vessel floating high above the collapsing dark domain.