Chương 289: Chapter 288 - Post Purchase

The edges of the spatial rift separated without sound until the opening was broad enough for them to enter side by side. There was no visible floor beyond it. Faint points of light moved far inside, too distant to identify. The warmth drained from the chamber. A dry chill entered through Lucid's clothes and reminded him of the white room where Mercyros had waited.

Lucid nearly laughed at the audacity of bringing people with him, but the sound died when a slow pulse crossed the darkness and pulled the surrounding air inward. He felt the pressure against his clothes, his skin, and the fog over his face. It vanished after a second. His grip closed around Ayame's hand. She answered with equal pressure. Lucid looked between them. Neither appeared ready, but neither stepped back.

"Together," he repeated. Arthur nodded. Ayame moved first. Lucid matched her pace. Arthur followed close enough for their shoulders to touch. Lucid placed one foot into the darkness. He saw no surface, yet something accepted his weight. Cold passed through his boot and climbed his leg. His body demanded that he pull away. He continued. Ayame crossed beside him without releasing his hand. Arthur entered on his other side while keeping hold of the vest. The slit closed behind them. The golden chamber vanished.

Lucid heard all three of them inhale at once. Darkness surrounded them before a dim gold radiance spread through the space. It did not come from a single source. It existed in the air, weak but constant, revealing objects suspended at different distances. Lucid stopped. Broken pillars floated ahead, surrounded by drifting stone. Farther away, platforms hung at sharp angles, their surfaces cracked and carved with old markings. There were people among the ruins. Lucid first mistook them for statues.

A man hung above the nearest platform with his head tilted aside. A woman floated beyond him with her knees bent beneath her. More bodies appeared as his eyes adjusted. Their limbs shifted with small, delayed motions, as though unseen strings tested their weight. Arthur stepped in front of Lucid.

"So this is the domain," he muttered.

"Or whatever remains of it." Ayame moved to Lucid's right. Her hand released his, but she remained close enough for their arms to touch. A sharp pressure struck the space around them. Arthur jerked and raised a hand to his temple. Ayame bent slightly, pressing two fingers against the side of her head. Her expression hardened as the pain passed through her. Lucid felt nothing. He reached towards Arthur.

"What happened?"

"It is a headache."

"You nearly folded in half."

"I have had worse." Ayame straightened.

"It entered my skull."

"That is not a comforting description." She looked at him.

"You felt nothing." Lucid shook his head. Arthur glanced over his shoulder.

"Of course you did not."

'Lucid.' Alice's voice entered with such clarity that the surrounding silence seemed to recede. She sounded composed, but he felt strain beneath her control. Her tone carried the formal weight of a sovereign addressing an inferior, yet her words held a careful precision.

'I sense a concentrated source of Fate Essence within this domain. It has been compressed beyond its natural state. Its structure resembles a reservoir, although the density approaches crystallisation.' Lucid kept his attention on the floating bodies.

'How strong?' A pause followed.

'Its presence approaches the full measure of my own reserve.' His steps stopped. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Alice rarely compared anything to herself. A direct comparison carried weight she did not waste.

'Remain vigilant,' she continued.

'Do not approach the source until we understand what contains it. Power gathered this tightly does not remain passive without cause.' Lucid nodded before remembering that Arthur and Ayame could not hear her. Ayame noticed.

"What?"

"Alice sensed something." Arthur faced him.

"Something useful, I hope."

"A large concentration of Fate Essence. She thinks it has been compressed into one place."

"How large?" Lucid hesitated.

'Tell them,' Alice instructed.

"Close to her full reserve." Arthur's casual expression disappeared. Ayame narrowed her eyes towards the ruins.

"Where?"

"She cannot tell yet." Arthur looked ahead.

"It is not behind us, so we continue forward."

"You recovered quickly."

"My head still feels as though someone pushed a blade through it. I am choosing not to make that your problem." Ayame stepped ahead of Lucid.

"Stay in the centre." Arthur moved to the front at the same time. Lucid looked between them. They had formed a loose barrier around him without discussing it. Arthur watched the path ahead while Ayame guarded the right side. Both kept close enough to reach him. He smiled despite himself.

'They are protecting me.' Alice caught the thought before he could withdraw it.

'They should.' Lucid scoffed under his breath. Arthur glanced back.

"Problem?"

"No." Alice continued with measured satisfaction.

'You are presently the most valuable and least reliable member of this group. Protection is reasonable.'

'Least reliable? I can protect myself.'

'You threw yourself into a black hole.'

'And survived.'

'That was not the part that concerned me.' Lucid stepped over a fragment of stone drifting near his knee. His foot met no ground, yet the space beneath him held firm. Each step produced a faint ripple of gold.

'You congratulate me when I run away,' he thought, 'but when I stand my ground, I become reckless.' He felt no real anger. The complaint was familiar, though the space between them had changed since their confrontation. Even their jokes now carried a pause neither addressed. Alice seemed to notice it as well.

'How admirable. My mortal has cultivated a trace of divine courage.'

'That sounded insulting.'

'It was affectionate.'

'That sounded worse.' Her answer came more quietly.

'I preferred you frightened.' Lucid's smile faded. Alice allowed the silence to remain before she continued.

'Fear made you deliberate. Now you have begun to mistake endurance for permission.' He wanted to dismiss her, but the argument weakened. She was reminding him that surviving repeated disasters did not make him untouchable.

'You worry too much.'

'I have excellent reason.' The reply was formal, but the emotion beneath it was not. Lucid brushed her murmurs aside before he answered too honestly. They continued through the suspended ruins. The gold radiance strengthened as they advanced. Chains ran between broken pillars, though many ended in empty space. Some were thick enough to restrain buildings; others carried markings that shifted whenever Lucid looked away. One body drifted close enough for him to see open eyes beneath loose hair.

The pupils did not follow him, and the chest did not rise. He looked forward. Arthur slowed when the path narrowed between two shattered columns. Ayame adjusted her position and moved closer to Lucid. Then a light appeared in the distance. It was small at first, no larger than a coin. Its colour was deeper than the surrounding glow, and it pulsed at a steady interval. Lucid stopped. Something beneath his clothes tightened. The Chain of Heart reacted before he was aware of it.

A cold pressure closed around his chest, followed by a firm pull towards the distant light. It did not hurt, but the sensation was too deliberate to dismiss. Alice became silent. That frightened him more than another warning would have. They walked further along the unseen surface. The golden mist thinned near a shattered archway, revealing a figure hovering suspended in the air. Her skin was cracked like porcelain. Thin lines ran across her arms and cheeks, showing cracks of gold beneath.

Her pale skin seemed vibrant, amplified against the dim ruins. She hung motionless with her head pulled back. Loose hair strands covered her forehead as if she were suspended in the air, crucified on some invisible cross. Lucid stepped forward.

"She is..." he said, his voice dropping. Arthur noticed his shift in posture.

"You know her?" Lucid nodded slowly. Arthur observed the suspended figure, his casual posture tightening.

"I have seen her before. She was buying up the courthouses inside the lower district. Coming in with heavy assets when I tried to sign myself up for the patrol watch." Ayame chimed in from the side.

"I have seen her bluntly distributing wealth. She dumped crates of silver directly into the poor wards." The revelation settled between them. Lucid kept his eyes on the floating woman. Alice spoke within his mind, her formal tone carrying a cold certainty.

'She was the catalyst that made the economy function. It was not that pearl fish after all. Her very existence regulated the flow of value within your city.' Lucid took a step closer. He stood directly in front of her now. He realized with a grim certainty that whatever vault they had opened, whatever wealth they had redistributed down to the lower levels of Port Evxis, was for naught. Because as long as Mother Fate existed, as long as these fate threads remained active, another vessel would have to take its place.

Then he thought about Neptune. What about... He realized the truth. She was not dead. She was trapped in a state of eternal function. Alice nudged his thoughts like a protective barrier, soothing the sudden spike in his pulse.

'What is it, Lucid?' she asked. He shook his head and cleared his throat. He regarded the woman. Her dark coat hung open beside her, leaving only a white buttoned shirt that was unbuttoned at her collar. Her arms remained spread wide against the unseen restraint. He sighed deeply. He finally understood what Pilt had meant during their brief, hostile encounter. Why that man spoke in sarcastic, flamboyant riddles, quirky yet terrifying, dropping half-worded threats that lingered like poison.

Pilt was an eccentric scoundrel, but his fury had been genuine. This woman was someone who meant dearly to Pilt. And Lucid had indirectly condemned her into a fate far worse than death. It was just like that merchant girl from the market. Another life traded away to maintain a balance he barely understood. Lucid shut his eyes and made a silent prayer. He stood motionless for several seconds, offering a quiet gesture to the suspended vessel.

Arthur stepped beside him, his gaze shifting from the cracked porcelain skin to Lucid's lowered head.

"Is this... a friend of yours?" Lucid did not answer immediately. He looked at the woman's unmoving face one last time.

"A friend of a friend," Lucid said. He turned back toward the path they had traveled.

"And I owe a debt to that friend of a friend." He walked toward the shimmering gateway that led out of the domain. Realizing that this person had sacrificed everything, realizing what he had narrowly avoided himself, weighed heavily on his shoulders. But he could still feel Mercyros's will echoing in the back of his mind. Why did the god speak in strange idioms, using formal yet fragmented words to construct complete sentences?

"Trade is exchange. Value remains. Hope requires cost." Lucid pushed the fragmented memory away. What was so different about this? This was just like the Void Rail incident. His thoughts spiraled out of control within his mind, twisting through guilt and resentment until his chest tightened. He stopped, closed his eyes, and took a slow, deep breath. He forced the panic down and centered his focus. He stepped through the portal. Ayame and Arthur followed closely behind him.