Slumber
That seemingly creepy smile gave him chills as it made him extremely uncomfortable. And as he continued to stare at him for a while, suddenly his eyes perked up, "Wait… Where is his dagger?"
He was so focused on that creepy smile of Lucius that he didn't even realise the disappearance of the dagger which Lucius was thrusting towards him a moment ago. Immediately upon noticing the disappearance of the dagger, his eyes darted towards the floor as he desperately searched for the dagger.
'It's not here…'
Unable to find the dagger around him, he became extremely panicked.
An unsettling feeling started gnawing on him as he started having a very bad premonition. The once seemingly haughty smile on his face was nowhere to be seen and instead the smile on his face was replaced by a frown.
With great difficulty, he then turned around only to find the missing dagger he had been painstakingly searching for a while on his son's head.
While his eyes had already lost the vitality contained in it, blood was constantly flowing down from his temple towards his nose-bridge. And from there on the blood was flowing down his nose, cheeks which in turn was dyeing his whole face into blood red.
The dagger was stuck right in the middle of his temple and Ellias had already turned lifeless. Even the high-ranking major artifact which helped in regaining vitality was of no use right now since vitality had already seeped out of Ellias's miserable body.
Witnessing this heart-wrenching scene of his son's death, Magnus became enraged with anger. Veins popped out of his forehead as his whole face turned red with anger. His face contorted with fury as his whole body started to shudder while his emotions spiralled out of control.
Then he snapped.
He turned around to vent his anger at Lucius, "Arghhhhhhhhhhh... Lucius… you piece of shit, I'll tear you into pieces"
As he roared furiously, he raised his leg and kicked Lucius while at the same time he pulled back his sword, which in turn sent the charred figure of Lucius out of his sword. It was like he was forcefully pulling his sword out a prey he had stabbed.
Inhumanely, he then started to vent his pent-up anger on Lucius's lifeless charred body by stabbing him maniacally.
Slash! Stab! Slash!
"Die…. You piece of shit… Die…. You fucker!!"
"I… won't let you rest in peace…."
Shouting furiously, he slashed and stabbed multiple times, venting his anger on Lucius's dead body.
**** ****
As Lucius's life force faded away, his essence separated from the confines of the physical realm, leaving behind a lifeless shell.
So, am I dead? Is, this what death feels like? Did I complete the ritual? Maybe I failed!
In an ethereal and transcendent state where he could only perceive his consciousness, detached from the physical sensations and limitations he once knew, he thought to himself.
In this ethereal state, surrounded by a swirling tapestry of vibrant colours and waves of shimmering energy, Lucius existed only as a form of pure thought and introspection.
As his consciousness continued to float in this seemingly empty space, fragments of several memories flashed in the form of thoughts.
The memory of his childhood, the moment when he broke through the fifth circle and became a professor at the Royal Academy just at the age of 20; the youngest magician to break through the fifth circle and become a high-mage, the war with the creatures of underworld, teaming alongside his childhood friends Magnus, Eveline and a total stranger who became a part of their team Sophia Rosenthall, the moment he found the only divine artifact Phoenix feather amulet.
Thinking back about the moment, I shouldn't have revealed the information regarding the divine artifact. How could be I so foolish? Haha… well I was young at that time and also if not for my affection towards Eveline perhaps I wouldn't have revealed the information, but who knew Eveline was already in love with Magnus… sigh!!
As he delved further into his past, he couldn't help but laugh at his foolish self who was so madly in love with a girl that he revealed the secret of his most precious treasure. If it were other people's they would have probably kept such information hidden.
And in time if he had kept that information hidden, maybe he would have even become the supreme-magus himself. But no, he had to flaunt his power to win over the heart of a girl.
However, it's funny how Magnus didn't use the artifact for himself and instead decided to give it to his son. Fool why would you do that? Maybe it was because of Eveline, who knows? Come to think of it, my death and the birth of Ellias, those two things overlap with each other in some way.
As he was contemplating, a sudden realisation dawned on him, "Ahh!! That's right, maybe she was already pregnant when they staged my death so that's why Magnus didn't use that artifact on himself"
"Sigh!! But at the end, his son couldn't make full use of that artifact either"
I get it why Magnus and Eveline wanted to kill me but why did Sophia agree to it?
Till today after 18 or 19 years, Lucius still couldn't figure out the motive behind Sophia colluding with Magnus and Eveline.
But whatever, since I've killed your only daughter, we're even now. A tooth for a tooth and a life for a life, yes, it's a fair trade. However, it's a pity that I couldn't kill you all.
If only I didn't lose my core while getting revived, I would have come after all of your neck. However, even so I wouldn't have left any of your families alive either after all you all took everything from me so why would I be merciful to spare your lineage?
Sigh!!
But what use contemplating about it now when I'm already dying?
If only Magnus wouldn't have intervened with the ritual, I would have gone back in time…. I even took that gamble to kill Ellias so that I could complete the ritual but who knew that it took some time even after the sacrifice to complete the ritual...
Although Lucius was somewhat satisfied with at least robbing his killers off the lives of the people they held dear the most, he was still full of regrets for not being able to achieve his true motive.