On the shore, despite the large number of people gathered together in this particular place, the entire area had now fallen into a deathly silence, leaving behind only the sound of waves crashing heavily against the reefs, along with the dromas's uneasy and restless snorting.
All the soldiers were completely petrified where they stood, their eyes wide open and their faces filled with utter shock, disbelief, and absurdity.
It couldn't be helped.
Right before their very eyes, the ever-victorious Imperator, the tyrant who had personally brought the long and bloody Chrysos War to an end and who had still been shouting arrogantly just moments ago, was grabbed and lifted into the air like a helpless chick in the very next second, firmly restrained within the enemy's hand!
Faced with such a ridiculous scene, how were they supposed to continue fighting like this?
One moment, the Imperator had just finished throwing out ruthless threats toward her enemies with overwhelming confidence, and the very next moment, she had already been captured as easily as one would capture a defenseless chick.
Needless to say, although not literally, the slap to the face resounded loudly and clearly across the area, causing everyone's morale to plummet straight into the abyss in an instant.
Aglaea blinked her eyes slightly, her beautiful face filled with disbelief and astonishment.
Even though she had clearly been staring at Lucian the entire time just now, meticulously observing every single one of his movements without letting her guard down in the slightest, the moment she blinked her eyes, the Imperator was already in his hand—the entire process had happened so quickly that she had not even managed to react at all.
Tribbie, on the other hand, stared blankly at Lucian as waves of confusion continuously surged within her heart.
Because she could clearly sense that not only was there no Titan power coming from his body at all, but there was also no Titan Coreflame within him whatsoever.
In other words, this famous Ocean King was actually neither a Titan nor a demigod.
But if that was truly the case, then how could he possibly possess such terrifying and divine-like abilities?
No matter how hard she tried to think about it, the holy maiden of Janusopolis simply could not understand it, because in her understanding, only Titans should have been capable of possessing such divine and incomprehensible power.
If even her two most dependable subordinates were stunned speechless, then Cerydra herself was naturally even more stunned, her entire mind going completely blank on the spot.
Just now, she had only felt her vision suddenly darken and her body being forcefully dragged away, and before she could even react to what had happened, she had already been captured by the enemy in the very next second.
Upon finally coming back to her senses, her expression instantly shifted from red to pale, then from pale to green, changing several times in rapid succession.
Humiliation!
An overwhelming humiliation!
For someone like her, this was something even harder to accept than death itself!
"AAAAAAHHH—!!!"
Cerydra let out a furious roar pushed to its absolute limit, her voice practically shaking the surrounding air.
"LET ME GO! YOU INSOLENT BASTARD!"
As she screamed in rage, Cerydra immediately began to struggle and resist with all her strength, wildly flailing all her limbs without the slightest restraint while completely disregarding her own safety.
Lucian lowered his head and glanced at her, quickly noticing that the blue flames burning on the crown atop her head had already changed color and become even more violent and unstable than before.
Honestly, the sight was actually rather amusing to watch.
Just then, Hysilens, who had remained silent from the very beginning and had practically been ignored by everyone present the entire time, slowly walked over to Lucian's side and curiously observed the furious Cerydra from up close.
"So small, but such a bad temper..."
Hysilens muttered with a slight frown before casually reaching out and gently patting Cerydra on the head as though treating her like a misbehaving little girl.
"Be good, okay? Big sister will buy you some candy later."
And that instantly did it—Cerydra completely snapped and thoroughly lost control on the spot.
"FIRE! FIRE ON ME!"
"DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME!"
"I'M TAKING THE OCEAN KING DOWN WITH ME!"
Cerydra screamed hysterically, her sharp voice even cracking from sheer rage, humiliation, and disbelief.
Captured and then humiliated like this in front of her own army, she would rather die than endure such disgrace!
Hearing the order from their supreme commander, all the soldiers of the Flame-Chase Army exchanged hesitant and complicated looks with one another, yet even after several tense seconds passed, not a single one of them fired.
It was only natural.
From beginning to end, the Ocean King had merely captured their supreme commander alive without actually harming her or threatening her life in any way at all, so why would they recklessly charge toward suicidal mutual destruction for no reason?
Lucian, meanwhile, acted as though he had not heard Cerydra's furious screams whatsoever.
Holding her up effortlessly with one hand, his calm and indifferent gaze slowly swept across the Flame-Chase Army standing before him.
In that instant, the soldiers, who had already fallen into complete disorder after witnessing their supreme commander being captured alive, all stiffened the moment their eyes met his. It felt as though they were suddenly being stared down by a terrifying, ferocious beast from the top of the food chain.
Almost instantly, the soldiers shuddered involuntarily, and many of them subconsciously took several steps backward while gripping their weapons tightly, not even daring to meet Lucian's eyes for long.
It couldn't be helped.
They had originally only been an allied army temporarily gathered together without any true shared spirit or unwavering loyalty to one another to begin with, and now that even their supreme commander had been captured alive in front of everyone, whatever fighting spirit they still possessed had already nearly collapsed completely.
Labienus and the others, however, were still glaring fiercely at Lucian with tense and ugly expressions.
"Ocean King! Please release the Imperator! We can talk this through!"
Aglaea hurriedly stepped forward and pleaded anxiously, her tone filled with panic and tension.
"No negotiations! Dux Goldweaver, no negotiations! I order you to fire on me! Otherwise, I will consider you a traitor!"
Cerydra struggled violently within Lucian's grasp while yelling furiously, her entire body twisting desperately in an attempt to break free, yet no matter how hard she struggled, his hand remained completely unmoving, firmly restraining her in place.
"Tch, so noisy."
Lucian raised his hand and directly pinched Cerydra's upper and lower lips between his thumb and forefinger, instantly rendering her completely unable to speak and able only to let out muffled "mmph-mmph-mmph" sounds.
In that instant, Cerydra's face turned bright red at a speed visible to the naked eye, looking like a boiling lobster.
In all her life, she had never suffered such humiliation before!
Her eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at Lucian, her entire body trembling slightly from anger and embarrassment, yet no matter how hard she struggled, she could not break free from his fingers.
"I know your purpose, and I can also tell you this: Flame-Chase is acceptable, but Era Nova is not. It's a scam."
Lucian's tone remained calm and indifferent as he briefly explained the truth about Flame-Chase, about Era Nova, and about Amphoreus's endless cycles.
Everyone listened in utter confusion at first, unable to fully comprehend the meaning behind his words, but soon, word by word, as those terrifying truths were uttered by him, their worldview began to collapse bit by bit.
How could it not, when it was revealed that the divine prophecy initiated by the Titans, the sacred Flame-Chase journey worshipped by countless people, was in truth the very process leading toward the destruction of their world?
As a result, the expressions of the surrounding soldiers gradually stiffened, while the atmosphere itself became incomparably heavy.
"...How can we be sure that you are not lying to us?"
After a brief silence, Tribbie stepped forward and asked with a solemn expression, her gaze fixed firmly on Lucian.
Lucian glanced at her, his expression softening noticeably before a faint smile slowly emerged on his face.
"Because I have never lied to you... Besides..."
Before his words had even fully fallen, he casually threw Cerydra back into the army formation as though tossing aside a troublesome object, then immediately released the overwhelming energy pressure of an Emanator.
*BOOM!*
In an instant, a terrifying pressure descended upon the entire area like a collapsing heaven, causing countless expressions to change drastically as the surrounding atmosphere itself seemed to freeze under that overwhelming force.
Except for Tribbie and Hysilens, everyone in the army, including the powerful Chrysos Heirs like Labienus, Verginia, Aglaea, Seneca, and Apollonius, felt their bodies suddenly sink as though an invisible mountain had violently crashed down upon them with crushing force.
At this moment, they were completely unable to move and could not even lift a single finger, as if the power within their bodies had been entirely sealed away—their bodies stiffened uncontrollably, leaving them standing there like motionless statues under the terrifying pressure.
"Pffft!"
Suddenly, one of the soldiers spat out a mouthful of blood as his legs gave way beneath him, causing him to collapse heavily to his knees with a loud thud.
"Ugh!"
"Ahh..."
"I... can't..."
One after another, those who were merely ordinary mortals and not Chrysos Heirs also began coughing up blood before collapsing to their knees, one after another, their faces filled with pain and despair.
Some struggled desperately to resist, while others trembled violently as they tried to force their bodies to remain standing, but under that overwhelming pressure, all resistance seemed meaningless.
"Damn it... Don't kneel!"
Cerydra gritted her teeth and struggled desperately, trying her utmost to remain standing even as her entire body trembled violently under the pressure.
However, the outcome was obvious from the very beginning, and only a moment later, she too ended up kneeling like the others.
Her determination was strong, but unfortunately, her body simply couldn't endure that terrifying pressure any longer.
Seeing this, Lucian immediately went a step further by activating River God, directly treating the entire Flame-Chase Army as 'dropped items' before casting them into the 'river of time.'
In that very moment, he replicated the entire Flame-Chase Army, creating dazzling gold and silver versions of every soldier that instantly manifested out of thin air alongside the originals, causing the already massive army to triple in size in the blink of an eye as the shore became filled with countless shining figures.
However, these newly manifested gold and silver soldiers were not standing on the originals' side. Instead, they silently lined up behind Lucian before uniformly raising their weapons and pointing them directly at the Flame-Chase Army like ruthless reflections in a mirror.
In an instant, everyone present, having absolutely no idea what kind of terrifying power this was, was completely stunned senseless!
Cloning?
They could still somehow force themselves to accept the idea of cloning a single person, but cloning an entire army—especially cloning so many Chrysos Heirs at once so effortlessly—was simply far too absurd to comprehend!
Cerydra in particular stared at the unbelievable scene before her with her eyes wide open, her entire body going stiff as the fury that had previously filled her gaze was instantly replaced by an intense feeling of 'want.'
"As you can clearly see, if I wanted to, killing all of you would be as easy as breathing."
Lucian said calmly, his indifferent eyes slowly sweeping across the kneeling army before him—his tone remained relaxed and steady, yet it carried an overwhelming pressure that made nobody dare question his words.
"Just so you know, the only reason I'm still standing here patiently explaining the truth to you guys right now is because of Tribbie, so you better thank her properly—she's the one who saved your lives today."
As these words fell, Lucian finally withdrew the terrifying pressure blanketing the surroundings.
Everyone immediately felt as though they had just been granted amnesty after narrowly escaping execution, their bodies suddenly lightening as many of them staggered slightly in place while breathing heavily, cold sweat covering their backs without them even realizing it.
"I-I almost died..."
"He's way too damn strong... Just being near him is already enough to scare the hell outta people..."
"So this is the legendary Ocean King... No wonder he's stayed completely unfazed this whole time."
"So the unwritten rules from the Chrysos War really weren't made for no reason after all... We seriously got lucky that Lady Tribbie was with us this time."
Amid the noisy whispers spreading through the army, Tribbie continued looking at Lucian with an increasingly complicated expression before finally asking the question that had been bothering her ever since earlier.
"May I ask... Do we know each other?"
"Of course," Lucian replied directly with a gentle smile, his answer coming without the slightest hesitation. "It's just that you don't remember anymore."
"I see... sorry, we were scattered too much and lost too much..." Tribbie said bitterly, her delicate face filled with helplessness as her voice gradually softened. "Some of our memories may have gone missing somewhere along the way..."
Even though she did not remember Lucian at all, given the current situation, she had no room to refute him, especially considering that he had spared everyone purely for her sake.
Nevertheless, stabilizing the relationship came first, and everything else could be carefully thought through later.
"By the way, have all the living Little Tri come to find me together," Lucian said gently after noticing her somewhat helpless expression. "I can resurrect all those who have died and fix all of you completely."
"...Really?" Tribbie asked with a slightly hopeful expression, her eyes widening slightly as a faint trace of anticipation appeared across her face. "You can even do that?"
Before Lucian could respond, Hysilens suddenly cut in from the side.
"Lucian can even resurrect dead Titans, so there's no need to worry."
As she proudly explained his capabilities, she even placed her hands on her hips and slightly raised her chin, looking unusually smug.
"Hey, Ocean King!"
Still seething with anger, Cerydra suddenly called out with an irritated expression as she strode toward Lucian. However, because of her small stature, even after stopping right in front of him, she could only raise her head and glare up at him.
"I can let the matter of you humiliating me be written off, but I want your heart!"
Cerydra was someone who valued talent above all else.
Now that she knew Lucian possessed such terrifying strength and such immense value, she could completely set aside the humiliation she had just suffered, as long as he could ultimately be used by her.
In her eyes, if someone like him stood under her command, then conquering the world would only be a matter of time!
Her sudden declaration, however, not only shocked Hysilens on the spot but also instantly pissed her off to the extreme.
'What did she mean by that?'
'What exactly is this shorty trying to pull now?'
'She had just been screaming about mutual destruction a moment ago, yet now she was suddenly turning around and trying to steal someone else's man?'
'Just what kind of shameless switch was that?'
And so, the moment all these thoughts crossed her mind, Hysilens immediately stepped forward without the slightest hesitation and positioned herself directly in front of Lucian, firmly separating him from Cerydra as though drawing an invisible boundary between them.
Right after, while slightly narrowing her eyes, she stared coldly and warily at Cerydra, her posture making her intentions perfectly clear.
"I'm sorry, but his heart already belongs to me. You're not getting it."
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[A bonus chapter for every 300 Power Stones.]
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