Chapter 52:Sanctuary of Lies
Vera's voice cut through the chaos like a blade forged in starlight, her Diamond-rank aura flaring as she danced between the golems' crushing fists. "Demon Lord Saul, the second-ranked among the Demon Lords. A ruler renowned not for raw power, but for his mastery of deceit. He is the shadow that walks within the Demon Gods' army, the one who turns allies into puppets and enemies into instruments of their own downfall."
Her gaze shifted, sharp and unyielding, toward the white haired youth who stood a short distance away. Liam casually tapped the side of his ear, as if clearing away some minor irritation, his posture relaxed amid the carnage.
"And then there is him," Vera continued, her tone laced with cold calculation. "A mere Silver rank who has unwittingly summoned a catastrophe upon himself. Saul's sub-body may lack the full might of the original, yet every sight, every sound, every drop of blood spilled here feeds directly back to his true body."
Liam's lips curved into a faint, almost boyish smile. He raised one hand, the ancient artifact Anki resting lightly in his palm, while the other formed a playful gun shape pointed at his own temple. He flicked his thumb as though pulling a trigger.
"Ta-ra-ra… You really did a number on me, didn't you?" Liam called out, his voice light, almost melodic, yet beneath the playfulness lay something colder, something that made the air itself feel heavier.
Saul's sub body child like face twisted with uncontainable rage. "Every second I lay eyes on him, my soul burns. Every breath he draw is an insult to existence itself." The Demon Lord's anger surged into something desperate, feral, as if the very sight of Liam eroded his legendary composure.
Liam chuckled softly, the sound deceptively gentle. "You want my life? How original." His empty, depthless eyes flicked toward Vera for the briefest moment. A cunning smile bloomed across his face, one that did not reach those vacant voids. "You will not be the first to crave it. Nor the last."
He let the words hang, then delivered the next with calculated reverence. "You are nothing compared to Zoran."
The name struck like thunder. Both Vera and Saul recoiled several steps. Saul's short knife ignited with thick, roiling demonic aura. "You fool! Why do you speak the names of the ancients?!"
Before Saul could advance, Vera moved. In a blur of diamond-rank power, she positioned herself protectively in front of Liam, her body a living shield. Liam's smile deepened, small, private, satisfied.
Perfect.
"Before I met you," Liam said softly, his voice now laced with a haunting sincerity that sent chills racing across Vera's skin, "I was restrained by an old geezer far beyond your understanding. We spoke of things older than empires… older than the bones of this world. Secrets that would make even the Demon Lords tremble in their thrones."
His tone carried genuine fear, subtle, buried, but enough to stir unease.
Yet woven through it was something else: a velvet lie, a deceitful hand reaching out. "I never asked for any of this. I only wished to survive… to find a place where the nightmares wouldn't swallow me whole. And yet here I stand, hunted again."
His voice dropped to a whisper that somehow carried perfectly to Vera's ears. "If I die here, the things I carry, the knowledge, the burden, will be lost. And the ones who sent me… they will come looking."
Vera's grip on him tightened instinctively, her diamond-rank strength locking him in place. A vortex of shattered energy began swirling around her, raw and terrifying.
"Demon Lord Saul," she declared, her voice ringing with absolute authority, "if you remain on my land in the next five seconds, I will unleash my full wrath upon you."
Saul's eyes, burned with icy fury. "Vera! You dare?!"
"Didn't you hear what he said?" Vera snapped, rage and something deeper, protective instinct, flaring through her entire being. "Have you ever stood before your own ancestors? Spoken with beings who remember the First Eras? If you do not leave, you will be marked as an enemy of Demon Blade Academy itself."
Saul's expression warped with disbelief. "Why? Why risk everything for a mere Silver rank?"
Vera's finger rose, pointing directly at Liam's head. Her next words landed like a death sentence wrapped in silk.
"For the same reason you so desperately want to claim his life. Because at the end of it all… even if I chose not to protect him, the House of Dreams would hunt you to the ends of existence."
The name struck Saul like a physical blow. He staggered backward through the sky, his demonic aura flickering with sudden, visceral fear. "Tsk… The people of the Dream. One of the unholy grounds of Fort Sterling."
Liam felt it then,the shiver. It started deep in his core, an involuntary tremor that raced up his spine and into his limbs. House of Dreams. The title echoed in his mind, carrying the weight of chains he had only begun to glimpse. Madam Helga. Aron Daveron.
The revelation settled over him like ice water, confirming what he had only suspected. He served directly under them. The shiver was not theatrical; it was real, a momentary crack in his carefully constructed mask. Power like that didn't protect. It owned.
Saul's voice trembled with caution even as rage boiled beneath it. "What are you insinuating? I have spilled no blood of theirs, and the people of Dreams do not shelter blind children whose eyes hold no power."
"They do when that child serves under Madam Helga, daughter of the current head, Aron Daveron."
The words had barely left Vera's lips before Saul exploded into motion, a streak of lightning, fleeing with desperate speed. "I must reach the main body before the information spreads. I must."
His voice echoed back, laced with venomous promise. "I will not forget you, Liam Heart. This I swear upon my Aura Heart!"
As the Demon Lord vanished, Liam's smile returned, soft, almost tender. He whispered into the wind, "Till we meet again, Demon Lord Saul."
Vera's hold on him remained ironclad. Several massive slabs of enchanted rock slammed into place around Liam, sealing him like a mummy in ancient wrappings. Only then did she release him, allowing the sealed figure to levitate gently at her side.
Whispers erupted across the academy grounds. Students and teachers alike, from outer to inner courtyards, had witnessed it: the birth of a monster.
"White Mythril, surround this incident with your strongest barriers," Dabara commanded. His form dissolved into smoke, drifting toward the forest where he settled into a watchful slumber. Yet strange sealing mists now cloaked the entire academy, visible only to outsiders, a silent ward against prying eyes.
Dabara gazed toward the distant setting sun, his voice low. "Demon Lord Saul will not let this go lightly." Then, with a mixture of pride and wary excitement, he laughed. "In one hand, we have gained a terrible enemy. In the other… a force so strange it defies explanation."
Far from the main conflict, where Garuda and Bobaros lay broken and bleeding, two of Liam's clones knelt beside the twins.
Bobaros's eyes widened as he clutched one clone's hand, tears carving paths through the blood and dirt on his face.
"Thank you… For a moment, I thought we brothers would never see each other again."
The clone said nothing. Instead, both clones pressed forward, merging into the twins' bodies with a sickening yet strangely harmonious flow, like roots claiming new soil.
Bobaros panicked, clawing desperately at the merging forms, but the clones were relentless. A calm, resonant voice filled both twins' minds as unconsciousness claimed them.
"Do not panic. You will join me in my ascent to power… in slaughter and in freedom."
The merging completed. Shattered organs, torn tissues, and broken bones knit themselves anew under Liam's influence, stronger, sharper, bound to a greater will.
"May Apocia be at hand," the clones whispered in unison before their essence fully dissolved into the twins.
Liam's influence spread, deep and irrevocable.