Chapter 584: Loophole

Rael leaned against the wall, and all the while, Lucien was spread across the ground with his limbs in different directions.

He was pretty strong, but he was not even near Rael in terms of strength. Furthermore, it seemed like he was still hiding his power.

—Lucien, ??? [Grade 2 Apocalypse Class | Level 1] – Vitality: Tier 17 [52% / 100% HP]

He was level 1 when I checked back in the bar too. It’s definitely not because he’s not leveling up. He would probably get levels just from accidentally killing someone. I sure as shit know I did, Rael mused, though he was still slightly confused.

“Your lips are pretty tightly shut, but going into your mind isn’t really an option. Just who knows what you’ve got going in there.”

Lucien groaned, and with a burst of strength, he rotated all his limbs back into place and then stood up. After dusting himself off, he glared at Rael.

“Do you think you can kill me here?”

“That would be ideal, wouldn’t it?” Rael hummed, glancing up. “Though, I feel like if I try it, your mother is going to blow me up.”

After all, he felt her presence on him ever since he got here. Her presence grew even stronger when he began beating up Lucien.

He’s protected by everyone… Vatyra, Kareth, and even Anastasia. Could I kill him and get away with it?

Closing his eyes, Rael quickly ran a simulation inside the Prophetic Realm, and then he shook his head.

“I see you also have Vatyra’s feather on you,” Rael said. “A gift from the past, perhaps?”

Simply put, if he were to go in for the kill, Lucien would revive, and his mother would pop in and instantly kill Rael.

Fucking bullshit.

“I’ll give you one quick tip while we’re here,” Lucien spoke. “If you really want to leave this place with your life intact, then eliminate yourself. If you do that, then the one you care about will be fine.”

“The ones I care about are fine.” Rael scoffed. “Solenne might be powerful, but even she couldn’t freely waltz in and kill those I care about without suffering any injuries.”

“Hmm…” Lucien put a hand over his chin. “You’re still under the impression that we’re targeting your wives or your child?”

Hearing that, Rael froze. But before he could ask what Lucien was talking about, the ground began to shake.

A pillar suddenly shot out from below him, and then to the side, the walls of the maze narrowed, while on the other end, they widened. The maze was changing, as, after all, being the Maze of Beginnings, it always went through a complete remapping every three hours.

But even so, he wasn’t letting Lucien get away.

Appearing before Lucien, Rael smashed his head into the wall. Then, while half of Lucien’s head was inside the wall, Rael ran toward the wider part of the maze. He heard Lucien’s jaw break several times, and his neck twisted at least twice. Even then, he didn’t die.

Still, Rael continued dragging him into the new area, and when the earthquake subsided, he tossed Lucien into the air and then kicked him down like a football, causing a small crater to appear.

As the dust faded, he spotted Lucien lying in the small crater in an oddly familiar position.

Crouching down beside him, Rael got back to interrogating.

“Who are you talking about?” he asked coldly. “You seem to know far more than you let on… So tell me, or I’ll fry your brain without killing you.”

Lucien’s injuries began healing rapidly, and once he was fine again, he stood up, not paying any mind to Rael.

He was acting smug since he knew that there was no way Rael could kill him. As for scrambling his brain? There was a 95% chance Lucien’s mind capabilities were better than Rael’s, so it would never work.

It was infuriating, and what’s more, no matter how many outcomes he had played out inside the Prophetic Realm, Lucien never told him who he was talking about.

Not even when the fourth trial came up.

But who else is there…? Rael fell into thought. Zafira, Lilith, my son, Vatyra, maybe? Gaia too, but no matter how I look at it, it’s impossible for any of them to be captured so freely.

Gaia especially, because she was inside his Mind Realm.

So who—

“Wracking your brain around it won’t change the inevitable,” Lucien said nonchalantly. “Growing old, you realize that when it comes to trusting people, you are the person who you know best. What I’m trying to say is, simply focus on yourself.”

“What’s with the pep talk?” Rael crossed his arms.

Lucien shrugged innocently. “I am just trying to lighten up the mood.”

“You’re really batshit crazy, you know that?” Rael said. “What even goes on inside that head of yours aside from the thought of manipulating people?”

“I don’t manipulate people,” Lucien replied.

For some reason, that didn’t flag as a lie.

“However, there’s a seat waiting for me in the future, which would require my abilities. Whether or not I start manipulating people then is something I can only speculate,” Lucien added and turned around. “Now if you may excuse me, I shall go back to finding the—”

Before he could even finish his words, Rael sent a kick at his legs, destroying them in an instant and causing Lucien to fall like a doll to the ground. Right as he was about to heal up, Rael used his blood skill to create blood clots, making instant regeneration impossible.

“You’ll be sitting tight for the next couple of hours, so get comfy,” Rael said, once again leaning against the wall.

Lucien didn’t reply.

However, after the many interactions they had ever since Lucien arrived at this succession ceremony, as well as the few times they talked, Rael could easily tell that something was off.

The Lucien he remembered was detached, manipulative, arrogant, and very opportunistic. He saw everyone as puppets, and despite how it looked here… Rael knew the Lucien he had seen back in the Sathmir Continent and the prison wouldn’t take this kind of beating while lying down.

And as if discovering something, Rael’s eyes widened as he stepped forward, arriving before Lucien.

Lucien stared back at him emotionlessly, and right as he opened his mouth to mock him, Rael slammed his foot down on Lucien’s head, crushing it effortlessly.

<Lucien, ??? [Grade 2 Apocalypse Class | Level 1] Experience: +0>

<Gluttony cannot absorb this target.>

A second, two seconds, five seconds… No matter how much time had passed, Lucien wasn’t getting up, and Vatyra’s feather wasn’t triggering his revival.

Rael’s hands trembled as he quickly closed his eyes and checked the Prophetic Realm.

The future had changed, and instead of Anastasia killing him, he saw nothing. It was just him staring at a dead body for minutes on end until finally moving on.

“…”

He decided to check the past, and to his dismay, for the last three hours, he had been beating up… nothing.

He punched the air, spoke to the air, threatened the air, and even worse, stomped the air.

According to time, their conversation never happened. The kill never happened, and the kill notification he just received never even existed in the first place.

He rewound time to a few hours ago, and even in the prison, Lucien wasn’t present.

However, in the very first trial, Lucien was there, but only briefly.

And that brief moment was near the very end of the trial before they finally went their separate ways.

Seeing all of this unfold, Rael couldn’t help but be left speechless. Just how did Lucien manage to fool his Prophetic Realm? There were so many questions going through his mind, and yet, even with the ability to turn back time and see into the future, he didn’t have an answer.

Yet, when Rael opened his eyes, he saw something that made his mood sour further. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ noveⅼfire.net

<Lucien has successfully passed the Third Trial.>

<You have 69 hours remaining to finish the Third Trial, or you will fail the Hollow Succession test.>

“…”

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