When they were finally alone, Derek’s voice was the first to break the silence. "You always refused to use any relic below Apex rank... so, you went and took an Imperial relic?" His gaze never left his son.
At first, his tone almost sounded like praise, but a low chuckle followed as he shook his head. "But it seems not everything bends to your will."
He narrowed his eyes, curiosity edging into his voice. "With how rare parasitic and Imperial relics are, how did you manage to find one combining both?"
He appeared genuinely curious, but Noel only shook his head. His calm voice cut through the air. "Instead of speaking about that, let’s talk about solutions."
"Do you have any?"
"No. I don’t." Derek’s answer was blunt.
"I can’t remove the relic from you without killing you. And don’t think of alone — even the leaders of the four main factions wouldn’t be able to do it."
Noel listened without so much as a flicker crossing his eyes. Instead, he gave a small, dry chuckle. "Then what? Do you suggest I’m dood to die no matter what I do?"
Derek t his gaze evenly. "That is the reality of your situation."
Noel stayed silent at his father’s words, and seed to sink back into his situation, weighing the reality of it once again. He drew a slow breath and forced his scattered thoughts into order.
What was his current problem exactly?
He posed this question to himself with clinical precision.
And the answer ca easily.
Lack of Soul Power.
The relic would devour a massive amount of Soul Power, far more than he could provide.
Then, what else?
Strength.
Noel’s soul was not strong enough to forcefully take control over the relic.
What else?
The relic itself.
His inability to extract it... to sever its parasitic connection with his soul. It had rooted itself so deeply that removing it would be like tearing out his own heart.
Noel pondered if there was any other problem, thodically cataloging each obstacle, and in the end, he found the last one... ti.
Noel didn’t have much ti to deliberate over his condition after all. The relic’s hunger was growing stronger with each passing mont. He needed a solution imdiately.
But for the Soul Power problem, he would need considerable ti to prepare, even if he sought external help. Ti he simply didn’t have.
For strengthening his soul, that was even more impossible. Raising the rank of his soul, with the relic actively feeding on him from within, was literally impossible.
Then, extracting the relic... that was the biggest problem of all.
Because, theoretically it was possible, but Noel knew the theory spinning in his head was practically impossible to apply.
So, instead of treating the core problem directly, he realized he needed to focus on managing the symptoms, to buy himself precious ti. That ant solving the fourth problem first — the ti constraint — before he could even think of tackling the first three.
Arriving at this grim conclusion, Noel’s thoughts circled back to the special stone resting inside his storage ring. Once again, he wondered if it was the only true solution he had left... and if this mont, standing at death’s door, was finally the ti to swallow his pride and use it.
But he couldn’t bring himself to an answer. The internal struggle was interrupted when he suddenly noticed his father standing before a gate to so pocket dinsion, silently gesturing for him to follow.
What was this about?
The question hung in Noel’s mind like a weight as he nodded and stepped after his father, his movents careful and controlled despite the chaos raging within.
The mont he crossed the threshold, his eyes widened ever so slightly. He didn’t need an explanation. The massive ritual circle spread out before him, with two radiant cores pulsing at its center like twin hearts, was enough for him to understand the full scope of what awaited him. He took a steadying breath, before voicing the question that rose to his lips.
"Since when have you been preparing this ritual, Father?"
"Since your sister was born."
At that answer—expected, yet still carrying the weight of years of calculation—Noel’s lips curved into sothing that might have been a smile. "Is that so?"
He didn’t linger on the implications, nor was he asking for confirmation. His gaze sharpened like a blade, and another question imdiately followed, cutting straight to the heart of matters.
"Had I not been possessed by a parasitic relic, what would you have done then?"
Derek looked at his son with a calm, aningful expression, before replying. "Then you would have died all the sa."
"You wouldn’t simply offer your soul to your sister, no matter how much you treasure her... would you?"
At his father’s words, so bare and without any attempt at sugarcoating the harsh reality, Noel gave a low chuckle and shook his head slowly. "No. If the circumstances hadn’t pressed like this, then I wouldn’t."
"Well, all of that is pointless speculation at this point, so instead of dying in vain... how about you do sothing useful before that?"
Noel seed to have not heard his father’s words this ti. He stayed silent, his gaze fixed and unblinking as he kept staring at the massive ritual circle, where its purpose was to strip everything out of him. His Law affinity, his accumulated soul power, his Cross bloodline — everything that made him who he was would be torn away and redistributed.
He wasn’t able to examine the intricate details, as he was already barely holding himself together, the relic’s influence clawing at his consciousness. But then he suddenly turned his head from the ritual to face his father directly, his eyes that had seed to lose all color suddenly blazing with intense light as he spoke, "But, Father... do you really think you could have killed ? With the relic out of the picture?"
’Do you think you had already grown that much?’
Derek seed to transmit these words to his son through his penetrating gaze alone, eting his son’s arrogant challenge with the weight of experience.
And Noel, seemingly receiving the unspoken ssage without any words being exchanged, chuckled softly and said, "Father, you may think that I would never compromise, that I hold my pride higher than anything else in this world."
"But, while you are right about my nature... you are at the sa ti fundantally wrong about my thods."
"It’s not that I never compromise... it’s that I always try not to put myself in a situation where I would need to compromise."
"But then, Selena entered the picture."
His voice grew quieter, more reflective. "Clarissa was staunchly against giving her daughter, and while you didn’t voice your opposition directly, knowing my personality as you do, you were also against the idea in reality."
"And that’s when I realized sothing crucial. I needed so form of backup, so insurance against the unknown."
"I can’t always rely on my father’s protection..."
Derek’s eyebrows rose slightly, genuine curiosity flickering across his usually impassive features. "And?"
"Well..." Noel began, and then suddenly reached into his storage ring, withdrawing a gray stone that seed to absorb the light around it, showing it to his father with deliberate ceremony. Only then did he continue, his voice carrying quiet satisfaction, "This was my answer."
"To take the hand of soone far stronger than either of us."
"I just need to break this stone, and Edith would appear instantly... so tell , Father, do you still think you could have taken my life?"
Derek’s eyes narrowed dangerously, and power began to gather around him like a gathering storm, the very air growing heavy with his presence as he asked, "Why didn’t you call her then? You could have solved your situation outside the Trial Dinsion with her intervention."
In a voice as serene as a calm lake, untouched by ripples of doubt or fear, Noel replied, "Because my pride wouldn’t allow it."
His words were spoken in such a low and controlled tone that casual observers might not think much of them, but to Derek, seeing the burning intensity in his son’s gaze standing in stark contrast to his deceptively calm voice, the aning was crystal clear.
That contrast revealed everything. He could see the imnse tyranny lurking beneath that composed exterior, the absolute refusal to bow that defined his son’s very essence.
Derek found himself rembering Elaine’s passionate words from earlier, and he couldn’t help but agree with her assessnt — his son was indeed not soone the Cross house could ever hope to contain or control.
But all of that was aningless at this point. Derek had already made his choice, and just like always, it was the Cross house that took priority... not his son.
The silence stretched between them, heavy with unspoken finality, until Noel’s voice cut through it like a blade.
"I will do it, as you wish... this ritual, I will do it." His words carried no trace of defeat, only cold acceptance of the path laid before him.
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