The claw froze, just inches from Lucian's face. The death-laced wind it carried ruffled his hair, but the chitinous blade never struck. What crawled down his spine was colder than fear—it was the ruinous weight of recognition.
He was no longer staring at one of Cadogan's bio-engineered monstrosities. He was staring at a tomb. A prison of flesh and bone, caging the soul of a hero—his uncle, long believed dead.
"No…" Lucian whispered, voice cracking. The breath caught in his throat.
From the balcony, Cadogan's cruel laughter echoed, hollow and theatrical. He saw no hesitation in the monster—only dramatic flair before the slaughter. He raised his goblet once more.
"Savor your final breath, broken heir. Let despair be the only legacy your bloodline leaves behind."
But Lucian barely heard him. His entire world had shrunk to a pair of silver eyes trapped in that nightmare face. The eyes of General Cassian Aurelius.
The Warden tilted its head—an oddly human gesture for such a beast. A low, guttural growl rumbled from its throat. Not a mindless roar, but something laced with pain. As if the soul buried inside was struggling to break free from its biological cage.
Lucian felt it. A faint echo of consciousness, clawing its way toward the surface.
"Uncle… Cassian?" he called, barely audible.
At the sound of his name, the Warden convulsed violently. Its raised claw trembled, and its entire frame seized as though struck by lightning. The silver eyes widened—flaring with a flash of painful recognition.
Inside Lucian's mind, Gem hissed, her voice sharp with hungry alertness. "Something's shifting. His soul is stirring. He's resisting the master's control. This is our moment, my sweet."
"Quiet," Lucian shot back, mentally silencing her. His focus locked on the creature before him.
Above, Cadogan's smile faltered into a scowl. He sensed the resistance—a flaw in his perfect creation.
"Obey me, Warden! Kill that insect now! Forget those useless scraps of memory!" he roared, his voice echoing across the courtyard, laced with amplified energy.
The command hit like a lash. The Warden screamed—not in rage, but pain. The recognition in his eyes faded, smothered by a cold, brutal emptiness. The claw descended.
Instinct took over. Lucian rolled to the side, narrowly dodging the strike that shattered the ground where he'd lain moments before. Stone and soil exploded around him.
He gasped for air, heart pounding. The sliver of hope had vanished. What stood before him now was nothing more than a puppet, bound to a tyrant's will.
"You see?" Cadogan gloated. "Emotion, memory, loyalty—they're just flaws waiting to be erased. I gave him purpose. Absolute strength. I saved him from failure."
"You didn't save him!" Lucian shouted, rage lending him strength. "You defiled him! You turned a hero into your monstrous slave!"
He surged forward—not recklessly, but with clarity. If even the faintest flicker of Cassian remained, then there had to be a way to reach him.
Warning: Abyssal Energy below 5%. Vessel integrity critical. Stamina reserves near depletion.
The system alert blinked in his vision, a sobering reminder of his state. He didn't have the strength for a prolonged fight.
"Let me in, Lucian," Gem coaxed, voice like poisoned silk. "Let me shred that shell from the inside. Mercy lies in a swift death."
"Never," Lucian growled. "I won't kill the only family I might have left."
He dodged a sweeping tail that smashed what remained of a marble fountain. Every movement drained what little energy he had left. He needed something different. Something insane.
He stopped running. He stood tall amidst the ruins, locking eyes with the Warden—and dropped his guard.
The Warden halted, confused by the sudden vulnerability. Its compound eyes shifted, processing the anomaly.
"What are you doing, fool?" Cadogan sneered. "Given up already? How pathetic."
Lucian ignored him. He gathered the last of his Abyssal energy—not to form claws or weapons, but to let it wrap around him like a thin veil of shadow. A whisper from the void.
He wasn't attacking. He was reaching.
"Uncle Cassian, I know you're still in there," Lucian said, calm and resonant with strange power. "Fight him. Remember who you are. Remember… Aurelius."
The Warden jolted again. Its head twitched violently. Its claws dug into the earth, shredding the stone beneath. The roar that followed was not just beast—it was half scream, half cry of a tortured man.
"Enough of this drivel, cursed child!" Cadogan shouted, a tremor of panic in his voice.
He snapped his fingers. The runes etched on the garden's pillars pulsed brighter. The containment field flared, sending waves of searing blue energy at the Warden.
The creature howled in agony. Its limbs convulsed. Smoke rose from its joints.
Lucian watched in horror. Cadogan wasn't just controlling him—he was torturing him into obedience. Disgust burned hot in his chest. He had to end this. Not with death—but with liberation.
"You wanted a show, Cadogan?" Lucian whispered. "Then watch."
He closed his eyes. Ignored the sirens screaming in his mind. Ignored his uncle's cries. He reached deeper—into a part of himself he'd never dared to touch.
This was the real Trial of Strength. Not against a monster. Against his limits.
"Gem," he said, no longer pleading—commanding. "I need more power. Not to kill. To break his chains."
Silence. Then laughter—shards of glass sliding across stone. "At last, you understand. Asking is better than resisting. But power like that… has a price."
"I'll pay it," Lucian said without hesitation.
"Delicious," Gem purred. "Then open the gate. Let me feel the world through you. Let me touch that tortured soul."
Lucian didn't hesitate. He tore down the mental walls he'd built around Gem.
For a moment, he fell into freezing emptiness. Darkness wrapped around his consciousness like an ocean with no surface.
When he opened his eyes, the world had changed.
Colors were sharper. Sounds more vivid. He could feel the fear of the palace guards, the pride and panic tangled within Cadogan's aura—and most of all, the flickering flame of Cassian's soul, trapped within the Warden's broken shell.
Shadow now cloaked Lucian's body in thick, swirling tendrils. No longer a veil—now a vortex. Abyssal energy no longer leaked from him—it flooded through him.
System Alert: Unknown energy spike detected.Forbidden Evolution triggered.Warning: Vessel integrity critical. Destruction risk at 80%.
"What is this?!" Cadogan shouted, staggering back. "This power—it's beyond any data I had!"
Lucian didn't answer. He raised a hand—not at the Warden, but toward one of the rune pillars powering the containment field. A tendril of shadow shot forward—not as a weapon, but a living coil of darkness.
It touched the glowing rune. No explosion. No sound. The blue light simply vanished—swallowed whole.
The pillar crumbled into dust.
The containment field flickered—then weakened.
"No… No, that's impossible!" Cadogan sputtered. "That rune was powered by a secondary core! Nothing should disable it like that!"
Lucian turned to the Warden. The torment had stopped. The silver eyes now looked at him—not with confusion, but with fragile hope.
"I'll free you, Uncle," Lucian vowed. His voice was layered—part his, part Gem's—creating an eerie resonance.
He stepped closer. With each footfall, the earth beneath him blackened, grass wilting under his shadow.
"Stay back, Warden! Kill him!" Cadogan shrieked. "That's an order!"
The Warden growled, frozen in tension. The tyrant's command warred against Lucian's presence. The claws rose—then wavered.
Lucian didn't stop. He walked right up to the beast, close enough to touch the armor plating on its chest.
"His orders no longer define you," Lucian whispered. "You are an Aurelius. Your fate is yours."
He placed his palm on the Warden's chest.
Darkness exploded—not to destroy, but to connect. Tendrils of shadow slithered across the creature's frame, seeping into every gap, hunting down the roots of Cadogan's control.
The Warden roared—not in pain—but in release. The tormenting blue energy was pulled from his body, consumed by shadow.
In Lucian's mind, Gem purred with delight. "So rich… soaked in anguish and raw power. Cadogan left so much behind. Wasteful, really."
"Take the control energy. Not the soul," Lucian commanded.
"But of course, dear. For now," she replied slyly.
Above, Cadogan watched in horror as his grasp on his masterpiece unraveled. The indicators on his wrist blinked red, then died.
"No… NO! I created you! You're mine!" he screamed.
The Warden stopped screaming. Its massive form relaxed. Slowly, it lowered its claws. Its silver eyes met Lucian's—and for the first time, the monster was gone. Only exhaustion and gratitude remained.
A ragged voice, unused for years, rumbled from its broken throat.
"Lu… cian…"
Time froze.
Lucian had done it. He had reached his uncle.
But the triumph was short-lived.
With Cadogan's control severed, something else rushed in to fill the void. The unleashed Abyssal energy didn't stop. It began to consume the Warden's life force instead.
Cassian's eyes widened in horror as he felt his strength drain away.
"Lucian… what… what's happening?" he rasped, trembling.
Lucian's face went pale. He tried to pull the power back—but it was too late. The gate had opened, and Gem had no intention of letting go.
"Gem, stop! Stop it!" Lucian shouted, panicked.
"I can't, sweetheart," she answered, far too calmly. "You asked for power. And power is always hungry. His soul is the cost of your freedom."
Black smoke billowed from the Warden's body as its essence was torn away. Cracks spiderwebbed across its armor—not from damage, but from unraveling energy.
On the balcony, Cadogan's panic gave way to manic laughter. "So that's it! Your forbidden power is a parasite! You didn't free him, you fool—you're devouring him alive!"
Lucian yanked his hand back, but the shadows clung like starving leeches. He watched in horror as his uncle—his hero—was consumed not by an enemy, but by the very force meant to save him.
"No… I didn't want this…" he whispered, drowning in despair.
Cassian looked at him—pain fading into tragic understanding. He raised one trembling claw—not to strike, but to touch Lucian's shoulder.
"It's alright… kid… This… is better… than slavery…" he murmured. "Be… strong…"
And with that, the silver light in his eyes faded. The Warden collapsed—dissolving not into blood and bone, but dust and shadows, swallowed by the abyss Lucian had summoned.
In the ruined garden, Lucian stood alone—surrounded by the drifting remains of his uncle.
He had won. He had defeated the Warden.
He had killed General Cassian Aurelius.
And in the deafening silence that followed, Cadogan's mad laughter echoed—a twisted celebration of the psychological ruin of House Aurelius's last heir.