The Lightning Emperor listened to Shang's description and his troubles.
"And you're sure this mystical Concept of yours exists?" the Lightning Emperor asked. "I've never heard of a Concept like this, and I am also unsure what that could even be."
"It exists," Shang said. "The God confirmed it over 3,000 years ago."
Silence.
"The God confirmed it?" the Lightning Emperor asked.
"Yes," Shang said. "Back then, I was searching for a way to combine my four styles into one, and I wanted to know if it was possible to combine Fire, Ice, Light, and Darkness. That was when the God said that the Concept existed and that it needed the Concepts of Temperature, Twilight, Addition, and Subtraction."
"And all four of them lead into one Concept?" the Lightning Emperor asked.
"Yes," Shang answered.
"A Concept that needs four other Concepts on a similar level to be comprehended. These kinds of Concepts exist, but they are very rare. Additionally, these kinds of Concepts are usually just very advanced fusions of two Affinities."
"I've never heard of a Concept that needs four Concepts from four Affinities."
Silence.
"However, I can also see why I've never heard of something like this," the Lightning Emperor said. ""Comprehending something like that requires you to learn several Concepts that are not even that useful to you, and you would need to blindly try without any assurance for success."
"I'm pretty sure that there are many, many more Concepts out there that still remain hidden since trying to comprehend them essentially requires you to bet your life on comprehending them."
"Fire, Ice, Light, and Darkness," the Lightning Emperor mused. "Lucius knew a lot about these Affinities."
"Shang, I might not know about this Concept, but Lucius might," the Lightning Emperor said.
"Lucius is dead," Shang said.
The Lightning Emperor sighed. "I know, but part of him still exists, but in a very different form."
"Could you elaborate?" Shang asked.
"The Trial of Want," the Lightning Emperor said.
"The Trial of Want?" Shang asked. "Didn't you create it?"
"No, I just supply it with Mana," the Lightning Emperor said. "Lucius gave all of us something before he left. The thing he left me was the Trial of Want, which was surprisingly quite different from what he had given the others."
"He gave the others things that helped them in furthering their own powers, but I was the only one that got something that would help weaker Mages."
"Now that I think about it, he said that the Trial of Want is very important and might save the world one day. He was quite adamant that I didn't inspect it or destroy it."
"Ironically, the Trial of Want isn't actually as useful to the Lightning Manor as you might think. Yes, it helps everyone grow stronger by guiding them on the right path, but a Mage's path to power is long and arduous. They might get the right direction once, but there will be tens of crossroads before and after the one they are currently on."
"Fire, Ice, Light, Darkness..."
"A Concept that combines all four..."
"An important trial for newcomers..."
"Something that might save the world..."
"Lucius had a sixfold Spirit Sense..."
"You have a sixfold Spirit Sense..."
"You seem to be quite connected to Lucius, Shang," the Lightning Emperor said. "Is there something you haven't told me?"
Silence.
Shang was naturally quite conflicted about this conversation.
He had just learned that there was something that could potentially solve his problem.
Maybe, the Trial of Want was actually left behind by Lucius for his eventual successor. After all, Lucius had also left behind Humanity and his letter.
From what Shang had heard of him, Lucius seemed to have been very confident in his power.
And yet, he had prepared so many things in case he failed.
Did he maybe know that he would fail?
And what of the Lightning Emperor?
The Lightning Emperor proved again and again that he was very different from how Shang believed him to be.
The Lightning Emperor seemed to have been very close friends with Lucius, to the degree that he was willing to basically do anything for him.
Nevertheless, the secret of the Child of Calamity was beyond heavy.
Shang could imagine the Lightning Emperor being fine with killing the Emperors and some Mage Kings, but Shang couldn't imagine the Lightning Emperor being fine with destroying the entire world.
Supporting the Child of Calamity meant supporting the end of days.
Additionally, just the mere title of Child of Calamity induced caution and fear in someone.
What if, after destroying the world, Shang destroyed the Lightning Emperor?
After all, he was the Child of Calamity.
He was an Abomination, and Abominations destroyed everything that existed.
They were the manifestation of evil.
And yet, Lucius had also been the Child of Calamity, and he had actually wanted to stop the Abominations.
Even more, Lucius had essentially achieved the goal of the Child of Calamity.
He had become the strongest person in the world, and by all intents and purposes, the world should have been destroyed.
But he didn't destroy it.
However, did that mean that he didn't want to destroy it?
What if he actually wanted to destroy the world, but the God actually saved it by killing Lucius?
Shang was pretty sure that he knew the answers to all of these questions, but that didn't mean much.
After all, his words wouldn't mean anything.
It wasn't important what he thought but what the Lightning Emperor thought after finding out about Shang's secret.
In the end, Shang could only take a deep breath.
The Lightning Emperor had already asked if Shang and Lucius were connected, and Shang couldn't possibly lie to the Lightning Emperor.
However, he could still decide how much of his secret he wanted to be seen.
"Yes, there is something I haven't told you," Shang said.
"It concerns one of my powers."
"Look."
WHOOOM!
And then, Shang activated his Domain of Entropy.
The Lightning Emperor watched with shock as everything around Shang turned to Neutral Mana, and he observed with even more shock how Shang's body started to turn into dust.
"Anti- Magic!"
