CHAPTER 94: | THE DESTRUCTION OF ATLANTIS | 14

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  ? Empire of Atlantis — Imperial Palace — Emperor Sanctity ?

  Hours before the battle began, the Imperial Palace of Atlantis was a testament to impossible luxury.

  Gilded walls bore intricate engravings, and at every corner, a single, magnificent pearl rested on a gilded stand.

  The sheer extravagance of it was almost audacious, a silent shout of opulence and rarity.

  The pearls glowed with a soft, ethereal light, illuminating the intricate hallways and chambers with a gentle, ambient radiance.

  “Lumicor… have you heard of the Abyss’s greatest god?”

  Amara's voice, brimming with breathless excitement, cut through the quiet grandeur.

  "The one who ruled the world in the first era before she vanished so mysteriously?"

  Step!

  Lumicor's footfalls stilled.

  He turned, his gaze a chilling silver that locked with the amethyst fire in Amara's eyes.

  His chiseled jaw tightened as he spoke, his voice low and soft, yet laced with an undeniable arrogance.

  "I have no idea who she was… nor do I care to know."

  He paused, a faint, almost delicate smile touching his lips before he turned and resumed his measured, deliberate steps.

  Step! Step! Step!

  Amara watched his back, her grin widening as his form grew smaller in the distance.

  With a flick of her hand, she called out.

  "I don't know if you'd be interested, but I heard that she was far stronger than him."

  She said the last word with a mischievous smirk, hoping the implied challenge would stop him in his tracks.

  But to her surprise, Lumicor didn't so much as falter.

  He simply continued his confident stride, pulling a notepad from his inventory.

  Then he began to meticulously sketch the palace’s layout, as a protective layer of mana could be seen shimmering around the paper.

  Like a master architect, he studied the walls in painstaking detail, recording the materials and the forgotten techniques used by the ancient craftsmen.

  “Astonishing.”

  He murmured to himself, his voice filled with genuine awe.

  "To think that primitives from thousands of years ago could create such art."

  A smile touched his lips.

  He infused mana into a single finger, transforming it into a glowing, scaly claw.

  With a smooth, precise motion, he pressed the claw deep into the wall, then waved his hand, tearing a clean, audible gash into the gilded surface.

  Rippp!

  "Hmm? I see. So they've used Xillan's most infamous methods for the interior and Lila's technique for the exterior."

  He tapped the pen gently against his notepad, lost in thought.

  'How could they have combined these two contradictory methods without compromising their unique properties?'

  He stared at the tear he had made, then at the smooth, unblemished section, as a sudden flash of insight illuminated in his expression.

  "Now that I think about it, it makes perfect sense…"

  He realized what he had been lacking

  It wasn't his brilliance, nor the sheer intellect that made him a genius, but his imagination.

  He had been limiting his own potential, shackled by a lack of creative freedom.

  A deadly, beautiful smile spread across his face, the kind that could melt even the coldest heart.

  His features were perfect, supple lips, a dashing figure, a handsome face framed by eyelashes as long as a maiden's, and hair as white as fresh snow.

  His eyes, chilling as the first frost of winter, now held a glint of pure, liberated genius.

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  "I see. That’s what's been holding me back… limiting myself to the constraints of singularity was my biggest mistake."

  Amara watched him, a blush beginning to rise in her cheeks at the sight of his smile.

  It was a mystifying, a dangerous drug that she found herself craving.

  Keum!

  A cough escaped her lips as she regained her composure.

  "Lumicor… as per our contract, we're here to clear this dungeon with you taking the final kill. In exchange, I will have the right to make decisions. Am I right?"

  Lumicor nodded, his gaze now fixed on her.

  He closed his notepad, storing it away with his pen.

  "Yes, you are right about that, Amara. But… don’t ever dream of commanding me. Or else."

  His tone was calm, but his words carried the weight of a silent threat.

  She knew him well enough to understand that 'or else' meant a cold, unforgiving death at his hands.

  She had known of his volatile, often hidden temper since he was young.

  She nodded, a soft, almost motherly smile on her face as she gestured down the staircase.

  "I know the pact, so don't worry. We're here now, at the domain of the Grand Overseer of this segment."

  A keen interest sparked in Lumicor's eyes.

  As if summoned by his focus, a small swarm of luminous moths rose from the ground, their wings emitting a dim radiance.

  They swirled and coalesced above his head, forming a miniature star that lit up the darkness, with a snap of his fingers.

  "Let us descend."

  Amara followed behind him, her steps measured and low.

  Lumicor’s gaze pierced the encroaching shadows of the hallways, a beacon of light in the gloom.

  "I’ve noticed you’ve been taking notes relentlessly on the castle’s layout, Lumicor. What's the reason?"

  She asked, her voice a low hum.

  He glanced at her, as a faint smile formed on his lips.

  He squatted down, with a knee resting on the cold floor, and flicked his hand.

  Mana swirled into a small vortex, coalescing into an astral projection that tapped a hidden contraption on the wall.

  Time seemed to slow.

  A gust of cold wind swept past his eyes as ten arrows, each a king’s artifact, shot from the walls, their tips glowing with malevolent energy.

  In the next instant, they crashed into the marble floor below, the strained thud echoing through the palace as the stone cracked from the impact.

  "Like this."

  He answered flatly, seeing no reason to elaborate further on his methods or goals

  Amara smiled, knowing his personality well.

  She nodded, and in the next moment, thousands of disembodied eyeballs popped into existence, floating in the still currents.

  They slowly moved above her head, joining together to form a single, massive, grotesque eyeball.

  "Ascension V: Eye of the Motherless God."

  She announced, her voice lively and full of a dark, twisted mirth.

  Her smile then widened.

  As she pointed a single index finger down the empty hallways, and the entire imperial palace began to shake.

  Unknown, writhing masses of tentacles, filled with odd mutations, grotesquely pulsed like hearts.

  Covered in shells, exoskeletons, veins, and eyeballs, they latched onto the walls and floor like an overgrown infestation, seemingly covering the entire empty imperial palace.

  "We've found her."

  Meanwhile, in the heart of the empire, perhaps the imperial palace itself, a figure stood at the Emperor's Sacrifice, a private chamber where the emperor conducted her experiments in utter silence.

  "Two rats have entered the room… so why not show yourselves?"

  Ashin Sae Acoustine spoke with a cold, piercing tone, her gaze fixed on the ornate ceiling where an archangel wielding a spear was carved into the alabaster.

  She watched as two figures descended from above, their forms slowly materializing.

  "To think that a mere figure from the past could discover us."

  Lumicor said calmly as his feet touched the cold ground.

  He then walked forward, stopping just in front of Ashin Sae Acoustine, looking down at her.

  He scanned Ashin Sae Acoustine from top to bottom with his cold, silver eyes, but soon shook his head, seeing nothing special about her

  He took another step forward, aiming for the altar at the room's center.

  But as he tried to walk past her, Ashin Sae Acoustine extended a hand and blocked his path.

  "Stop right there, young Leviathan."

  The temperature in the room plummeted to zero degrees, her voice chilling as she stared at him, who was flabbergasted.

  Lumicor's gaze turned cold.

  He opened his mouth and said in a voice as sharp as ice.

  "Move."

  Amara shivered with excitement behind him, her heart thumping wildly.

  She felt a special kind of wetness today, all thanks to his domineering attitude, an attitude that ignored even a legend, an idol to the world.

  Ashin Sae Acoustine was impressed by the pair, especially the woman in the background.

  She was a being on par with herself, but with a palpable, insane scent of lustful desire screaming wildly from her.

  Shaking her head, she then shifted her gaze back to the man in front of her, as she licked her lips as her eyes met his.

  "You have such a nasty attitude, but your face doesn't lie... since it's enough for me to be wet."

  Samantha, hearing her master's words, tilted her head in embarrassment.

  "Master...!"

  She was about to continue when only now did she notice the two new individuals in the room.

  She sighed, glaring at her master.

  "Master, please have some decency and follow the imperial etiquette!"

  Ashin Sae Acoustine frowned at her disciple's words.

  "Why must I follow the decorum of a lady when I'm the Emperor of the Abyss?!"

  Samantha's expression twisted, as if something inside her had snapped.

  Her gaze turned deathly cold, glaring at her master with a look colder than any winter in history.

  "Are you questioning me, Master? I only agreed to be your disciple and inheritor because you said it would make me beautiful! So why must I deal with your nonsense?! Did your mother not teach you to not speak such nonsense to an adult?!"

  Samantha was a graceful, meek woman, but when it came to etiquette, she became a devil.

  Etiquette was her entire world, she'd been obsessed with it since she was five years old and had mastered it within a single year.

  So who would dare to question her on the matter?

  It was only in these moments that she didn't care who she faced, be it a god, a devil, or her own master, who was worse than both.

  She would bite back... or, more accurately, she'd berate them without a second thought.

  "So tell me? Are you challenging my authority?!"

  The room turned even colder.

  Ashin Sae Acoustine swallowed the saliva stuck in her throat and smiled meekly.

  "No… I am not."

  Samantha smiled brightly, realizing she had lost her temper for the first time in a while

  She chuckled with an air of elegance.

  "Fufufu… no worries, Master, as long as you're not challenging my authority, that is."

  Her words were cut short, as she glared at her master.

  Ashin Sae Acoustine swallowed again, knowing how truly terrifying her disciple could become when her authority was challenged.

  "Hahaha… my lovely disciple sure loves to joke…"

  Ashin Sae Acoustine quickly covered her mouth, her gaze on her disciple, but to her bewilderment, Samantha wasn't mad in the slightest.

  She was merely gazing at the ceiling.

  "The fall of the empire is imminent even now… I find it uncomfortable knowing that the empire has already fallen from the attacks of the five gods."

  Ashin Sae Acoustine listened to her disciple’s rambling, then closed her eyes and smirked.

  Placing her palm on Lumicor's chest, she then muttered coldly.

  "Atlantic Seal."

  Maybe give it a try? ??