The Morningstar mansion, which is usually seen as a symbol of peace, justice, and security, was now a scene of utter destruction.
Its front walls were caved in multiple spots, while other spots were cracked beyond repair.
The front garden, once a place of lush beauty, bore deep craters, fissures, and unsightly cracks, marring the landscape.
The once majestic trees had been reduced to charred or shattered remnants by fire and frost.
Fountains and pools now lay shattered, their tranquil waters spilling and spurting out in disarray.
Several wisps of smoke rose, but the most attention-grabbing was an enormous black mushroom cloud which was a result of one of Lucas' explosions.
And, like a menacing vengeful demon, Lucas stood at the heart of a deep crater, firmly gripping a silver-haired half-elf by the throat.
Beneath his right foot, Adel's defeated body lay sprawled, his oncegleaming golden hair now muddied and disheveled, his clothes reduced to tatters.
Lucas himself stood topless, his lean upper body exposed to the world. At some point during the intense battle, he had shed his armor in favor of Embrace Discard.
Despite the destruction around him, not a single scratch marred his flawless skin.
His unyielding grip on Yelena's throat caused her to squirm and writhe in a desperate attempt to break free. But the more she struggled, the tighter his grip became.
At one point, he lifted her off the ground as she clawed at his arm, digging her nails into his skin and drawing blood in futile efforts.
Yes, it was indeed futile. Fighting him was futile. No matter what they did â every spell that they cast, every tactic that they employed, even their techniques were rendered useless in front of him.
Fighting him felt like fighting an opponent who could look into the future. How could you ever defeat someone who knows what you're going to do in advance?!
Well, there was a way â imposing strength.
Yes, the only path to defeat such an opponent lies in overpowering them with sheer strength.
That should've been easy since Adel was at the same rank as Lucas while Yelena was a rank above them both â she was currently on Diamond 1.
With both of their strengths combined and with the aid of Adel's Gift, they should've been able to suppress Lucas.
But the moment the Young Wolf shed his armor, their hopes were crushed. They had no choice but to submit to his superior power and flawless technique.
Even Yelena's Zero Point wasn't able to slow down Lucas after he removed his armor.
Adel lasted exactly three minutes, and that was only because Lucas was sadistically toying with him, like a prey playing with his food.
After her youngest brother was defeated, Yelena canceled her Zero Point spell and recited the Ice Golem magic chant.
As soon as she completed her incantation, several giant humanoid golems made of ice rose from under the frozen ground and attacked Lucas.
Lucas, in response, spammed his Flame Lance spell and rained down countless fiery javelins on the Ice Golems like a barrage of destructive missiles.
Using that chance, Yelena rushed in and tried to contest him in close combat again with her ice sword.
Lucas, meanwhile, picked up Adel's silver spear and utterly obliterated his elder sister. They exchanged precisely forty-five clashes before she was defeated.
The funny thing was that, by the end, Yelena tried to use Morningstar's secret weapon art, the Dawnbreaker, to defeat Lucas.
But before she could do that, Lucas ended her with Scarlet Demon Deveroing Art, shattering her sword again and bringing her down to her knees.
"G...Get off!"
Right now, Yelena was struggling to escape Lucas' grip of death. She feared he would actually kill her.
Looking up at her, Lucas spoke in a dangerously low voice, "You enjoy looking down on me, don't you? How does it feel now? Are you enjoying the look from above?"
Yelena paddled her feet, trying to touch the ground but her attempts to struggle grew weak with each passing second.
Meanwhile, beneath his foot, Adel grunted and tried to rise up only to have his face bashed into the ground as Lucas stomped down on him one more time.
"Stay down," he said, looking down at him before moving his eyes to gaze back into the deep crimson eyes belonging to Yelena.
Usually, all he would find was arrogance and condensation there.
But right now, hidden deep behind the facade of cold animosity in her eyes was primal, instinctive fear.
Kach-!!
"Eiik!" Yelena let out a shrill haul of agony as Lucas drove a thin stiletto knife into her uninjured shoulder.
A twisted grin contorted his face as Lucas uttered, "Don't heal the scar that'll be left by this wound. Let it serve as a reminder of your inferiority to me, Snow Wolf."
Tears welled up in Yelena's eyes as she gazed down at Lucas. In an instant, a river of memories flooded her mind.
She remembered the joy she felt on the day Lucas and Adel were born. Though her memories were blurred since she was only two at the time, the happiness of getting not one but two brothers remained vivid in her mind even until now.
Adel was always slow, so Lucas was the first to learn to speak. She could still recall the giddy feeling she had when he called her "Big Sis" for the first time.
She could remember how Lucas used to pluck lilies and roses from the mansion's garden using his small hands and bring them to her.
Almost every day, they played together. They shared laughter and tears during storytime, and the fierce competitiveness when she taught him chess for the first time. All their warm moments echoed in her memory.
But then, slowly but surely, everything changed. Lucas was hailed as an angelic prodigy who was destined to lead the West one day.
His parents showered him with attention, relegating her and her youngest brother to the background. Even Lucas himself began to change slowly.
He started growing distant. His focus was always elsewhere as if he bore the weight of the world on his shoulders.
She understood the reasons behind it, of course. He was the heir, so he had to go through grueling training and deal with other matters as their father mentored him.
But the growing disconnection in their conversations left Yelena and Adel feeling isolated. He never had any time to talk to them, and it wasn't like they had many things to talk to him about.
Yelena was the big sister, but she always felt so little in front of him.
She knew he did not mean it, but it felt like he was intentionally flaunting his golden child status, a constant reminder of his superiority, into their faces.
It felt like... He alone was the chosen one.
As she remembered all of this, Yelena's efforts to hold back her emotions crumbled. Tears fell and streamed down her flushed cheeks. She released her grip on Lucas' arm, allowing her hands to fall freely.
With a swirling mix of emotions ranging from sorrow, regret, resignation, contempt, and seething fury present in her eyes, she fixed her gaze upon her younger brother and uttered:
"I may have abandoned you... but you left me first."
The moment those words escaped her lips, Yelena dissolved into a mess of sobs, gasps, and hiccups, breaking down and letting go of her overwhelming emotions.
As he witnessed her breakdown, the smirk that had adorned Lucas'
face slowly faded, replaced by a somber expression.
He took in a deep breath, loosening his grip on Yelena and allowing her to fall to the ground, her tears still flowing freely as she coughed and gasped violently.
"That's why I told you to settle this over a cup of tea... idiot," Lucas murmured, his gaze dark and his words laced with irony, devoid of any humor.
He then stepped away from Adel, eliciting another pained grunt from him.
"Lucas," a pleasant, almost soothing voice called out to him from behind, jolting him from his daze.
Finally snapping out of it, he turned to look at Amelia who had come to stand at his side, holding the crimson spear that he had thrown at Yelena earlier during the fight.
But along with her, he also noticed the approaching guards. They rushed toward him and formed a circle, their weapons drawn from their sheaths as they quickly surrounded Lucas.
"Get away from the Young Lord and Young Lady! This is your first and final warning!" one of the guards barked.
Lucas couldn't help but scoff inwardly. These guards were nowhere to be seen when he was on the receiving end of his siblings' assault.
They only decided to intervene after their Young Lord and Young Lady were defeated and in danger.
He shook his head and was about to comply with the guard's warning. But just at that moment, a bright streak of crimson light flashed in the air, forming a spiderweb-like pattern.
Thwaam, Bwaaam, Clang-!!
In an instant, as if a vortex of invisible blades had swept through the area, every weapon wielded by the guards â whether it be a spear, sword, or shield â was sliced into tiny shards, leaving them with only hilts and handles in their grasp.
â"What the...?!"
â"We're under attack! We're under attack!"
â"Nonsense! None of the security alarms went off!"
â"What's happening?!"
Panic quickly spread among their ranks, but out of all the bewildered guards, a few appeared even paler than their comrades.
They were the ones who knew what had just happened.
And though Lucas himself knew it, he could hardly believe what he had just witnessed.
That technique... it was unmistakably the work of hisâ
"How dare you all direct your blades at my disciple? Do you not fear death?! Do you fear no god?! Do you not bleed?! If not, then prepare to now."
His master.
