Deep in the dungeon of the royal palace in the Kingdom of Malakarsh, Princess Luna stood before Luce, whose body was frail and exhausted after two weeks of torture. Rigby stood in front of Luce, feeling deep sorrow for him. His eyes welled with tears at the sight. He whispered mournfully, "Lawrence, I won't give up on you! Please, don't lose hope, my teacher!"
Luce whispered in a voice barely audible, "A man with hope can never surrender... Iron may bend, the body may fall, but the soul that carries hope remains steady and unshaken."
Luna looked at Luce, thinking to herself, "It is impossible for him to be human. Only the Feathers could endure this much."
Luna’s voice cut in, "It is time to leave, Rigby."
Rigby bowed and whispered, "I will get you out, one way or another."
After Rigby’s departure, Luna stepped forward, standing before Luce with pride. "Do you know the history of this kingdom, you wretch? How my ancestors built it after our war with the humans... and those like you, the Feathers? My ancestors realized that peace could have value if they submitted to humans. So, here we are; our kingdom is the primary source of safety for humans in the Jinn world. But cursed ones like you have no value except in death. However, even our peace with humans will not last. Once I take the throne, I shall invade... the human world!"
A sound emerged from Luce, like suppressed laughter. He said, "How pathetic you are... and truly shameful. Most people lose before the battle even begins. Their hearts tremble, their thoughts rot, and their will collapses before they ever face each other."
Luce’s voice grew deeper. "Cowards call hesitation 'wisdom.' But I tell you: the value of any goal is measured only by the price you are willing to pay. A hesitant mind is a mind that lives in fear of losing something it hasn't even owned yet. This makes it incapable of decision."
"In this world, true loyalty is only to the goal. Nothing is given for free. Strength is not in being the strongest today, but in being the most prepared to leave everything behind for what you want. If you are not prepared to sacrifice an entire 'kingdom,' then you never possessed ambition."
Luna laughed. "My God! Now I see how my father and brother fell into your traps. You are dangerous! I wonder, what are your ambitions?"
Luna drew a fire sword quickly and placed it on his forehead. The fiery energy began to press on a point in his head, targeting the core of his consciousness. The pain was no longer in his body; it became a fire burning his memory. After long moments of silence, Luce’s steady smile began to widen, becoming eerily frozen. His head jerked, and his eyes shifted from coldness to a glassy stare, as if he were looking at something terrifying that wasn't in the room. The torture had finally pierced the wall of control.
"What? Do you want to talk?" Luna asked, shocked by his change in appearance.
Luce muttered in a hesitant whisper, not directed at Luna, his eyes closed, "No... no Lawrence! You and Julian, please. Just talk to them!"
Luna watched him in wonder, then smiled. "So you’ll talk this way?"
Luce snapped back to his senses, looking at Luna in despair, whispering in his depths, So, I won't be able to get out of here. This is the end.
Suddenly... time froze. Behind Luna, who thought she had won, a dominant presence emerged that she did not feel, but which pierced Luce’s shattered perception. A man in a pitch-black suit, holding a wooden cane, his features drowned in the void. That person spoke in an extremely deep voice that echoed in the folds of Luce’s soul: "I feel pity for you, Luce. Will you surrender this quickly?"
Luce looked at him, his eyes widening, unable to believe what he was seeing. The person said, "Have you forgotten your goal? ... Have you forgotten our goal?"
Luce's eyes dilated; this voice was the "Source of Light" that had always guided his life. The mysterious person continued with words like thunderbolts: "Luce... you are a man. Stand tall and raise your head. The world does not bow to weakness; it bows to the one who refuses to break... let your fire consume every doubt within you, and let your will cut through fear like iron."
The voice roared in his head with anger: "Have you forgotten who you are, Luce? Do you accept your end in this place? Remember what we’ve been through! Remember who you are!"
Luce quickly lowered his head to the ground and laughed a deep laugh. Luna looked at him. "Have you gone mad? I knew you were too weak to handle this torture!"
Luna looked at the two guards behind her and said, "Execute him!"
Luce burst into hysterical laughter. Before Luna could blink, shadows swallowed her body, and she felt a coldness pierce her bones and paralyze her. When the light returned, she tried to turn, only to hear the sound of chains... she found herself shackled in Luce's place!
She found Luce standing before her, laughing. He placed his hand over his eye, speaking in a deep voice layered with two tones: "Ah.... so I ended up here? Not bad, myself."
In fear, Luna looked at Luce, as darkness flowed from his body. With the flow of darkness, his wounds began to heal at a frantic speed, and his joints snapped back into place with a horrific cracking sound. Luna shrieked in terror, "Guards!"
The guards rushed with their blades toward Luce. In a calm voice, Luce said, "Kneel."
The guards fell to their knees before Luce, trembling. Then, darkness.
Luce laughed, igniting a fire around the guards. Luna was terrified. Every guard was cut into eight pieces, which Luce had mounted on flaming spears as a display. Luce began to clap slowly. "This applause is for your beautiful story about your kingdom and your goals."
Suddenly, Luce was behind her, playing with strands of her hair. "But now, it is the turn of my story."
Luna stared at him in horror. Luce muttered in a playful, layered voice, "Did you ever ask yourself what existed before humans? No, you didn't. I will answer: it was the Jinn and creatures like the Feathers. What about before that? Didn't you wonder?"
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Fire began to ignite before her. "Before there were humans or Jinn, the earth was inhabited by creatures called the Al-Hinn and Al-Binn. They are the first Jinn of the lineage, and those who possess pure blood belong to them. In those days, they could live their lives with ease, but greed took hold of their hearts. They possessed the same things, but those possessed by greed wanted to own more than others. So, they were forced to kill one another, spreading corruption across the earth. And then, humans were created to make two worlds: a world for humans and a world for Jinn."
Luna looked at him, her eyes clouded with fear. She pleaded brokenly, "Please don't kill me, I don't want to die."
Luce laughed deeply. "The matter of life and death is but a game in the hand of fate. And look what fate has done to you! You were supposed to be outside the kingdom for a longer time, but it made you present here to meet your end."
Luce was reflected in Luna’s terror-stricken eyes. He shouted as he laughed, "Death is but a justice found to equalize all creatures, and to make this world reach its perfection, it must meet its end and its justice!"
Luna pleaded, "Please, Mr, Lawrence, please!"
Luce laughed. "Lawrence? ... I am the one whose name you are forbidden to speak, you wretches! I am the one who transcended power! I am the one who was erased from history! I am the one who overcame the Devil himself! I... am The End!"
Luna looked at Luce in terror. He was a person with a beautiful face embodying pure evil. Her tears flowed as she looked at this entity that transcended her understanding. Luce approached the collapsed Luna and, with a movement of strange tenderness, wiped her tears with his stained fingers. He then tasted her tears and said, "Little one... nothing awaits you but torment... and death for your people and everyone you love."
Luce manifested the shape of the kingdom with his fire, his voice shaking the dungeon walls: "I stand before you today, swearing that they shall taste the meaning of true pain!"
Luna's screams rose in a heart-wrenching plea, "Please, kill only me and leave them! I am the one who deserves to die!"
But Luce replied calmly, "And would you have forgiven me a moment ago?"
With a lightning-fast movement, he severed her leg, then placed his flaming sword to cauterize the wound instantly to prevent bleeding. She shrieked. Luce then approached her and placed his finger on her mouth, signaling for silence: "Shhh... I haven't even started. You will be the last to die here, little one, so that you may see your loved ones suffer."
Luce raised his head to the ceiling, closed his eyes, and whispered with a terrifying coldness, "Manifestation of the Fallen."
He began to transform into the form of the Fallen before Luna, who began to see Luce's strange wings in fear. "Those are not Feathers wings!"
Luce took a deep breath and laughed. The fire above his head began to move rapidly. "Did you miss me, my children? Don't worry, Papa is here. You will taste the void soon."
Luce turned toward the shackled Luna and pointed to her hands with a cold voice: "I don't think you need these." With a sword of blue fire mixed with purple flames, Luce severed Luna's extremities, cauterizing them as she shrieked.
Luce shouted, "Silence!"
Luna went silent, unable to speak as if her mouth were sealed. In terror, she looked at Luce, whose shadow was reflected on the wall. His shadow stretched gigantically, taking the form of a terrifying monster. Upon its head was a thorny black crown like the Crown of Manifestation, and its face was that of a demon smiling a wicked smile.
Luce picked up Luna and placed her on his shoulder, her face facing backward. "This way, the show will be more exciting. You won't see who dies until after they are dead. Are you ready, little princess?"
Luce broke the prison gate. He found guards before him. In harmony with the music playing in his mind, Luce snapped his fingers, and a guards ignited. Luce swirled in the middle of a dance, and from his shadow, tall, faceless, flaming creatures emerged. Luce signaled, and the creatures advanced, burning everything in their path.
Luna watched as every guard was slaughtered and every servant was horrifyingly burned, utterly unable to scream. The guards cried out, 'There is an att—' before one of the fiery creatures cut him clean in half. Death was the ultimate fate of anyone who dared to stand in his way.
Luce stopped before a painting of a woman and whispered with a terrifying tenderness, "What a beautiful piece! Don't you dare touch it, my little ones, or Papa will be angry."
Luce continued his way, dancing amidst the remains of the guards as destruction followed him like a shadow, until he reached the throne room doors. He shifted the shattered Luna on his shoulder and said, "You must see this... the main show has begun."
Inside the throne room, the King and Prince Rigby were talking, surrounded by many guards. Luce smashed the throne room gate, entering with a mocking voice, "Wheee-hoo! Is anyone here?"
He looked at the King and the Prince. "Oh, it's good you're here."
King Osmos jumped up, not recognizing Luce. He shouted, "Who are you, you wretch?" Then he saw his daughter and what had happened to her, his eyes unable to believe the horror. He shrieked in panic, "Luna! What have you done to her? Guards!!"
In the blink of an eye, a swarm of fire monsters swept the hall, turning the guards into charred corpses in seconds. The King retreated. "What is this?"
But Prince Rigby, despite the paralyzing terror, recognized the features of the one standing before him. He spoke in a hesitant voice, "Lawrence? Is that you?"
Luce laughed and bowed to them with biting sarcasm. "My God, so many names... Lawrence, Luce... I don't care for any of them."
The King shouted hesitantly, "Who are you, you bastard?"
Luce smiled. "Do you mean Lawrence? Or Luce? Or who I truly am, Your Majesty?"
"Who are you?" the King asked.
Luce smiled. "I have possessed many names and forms over the years, but this is the furthest I have reached." The air behind Luce began to crack and break, until his clothes transformed into a pitch-black formal suit and his luxury cane. The Faceless stood revealed.
Luce raised his hands in the air. "Ta-da! Do you know my name now?"
Rigby looked at the King and found him terrified. The King shouted, "Run! Run from here quickly, Rigby!"
The King tried to draw his sword, but Luce’s speed transcended time itself; Luce severed the King's head and said mockingly, "My God, I’m touched. You fear for your dear son’s death." He then turned to the silently weeping Luna, smiled, and asked, "Did you see that?"
Rigby burst out shouting, "Why did you do this, my teacher?! I was ready to betray my father and sister; I would have sold the kingdom just to get you out of prison!"
Luce stopped and looked at Rigby, laughing deeply. "Ah, you’ve made me remember my teacher's words. I remember him saying: Never trust a person who betrays others, even if they betray them for you. Betrayal is not disguised loyalty, it is a habit... the one who sells one master will sell another, and the one who carries no faithfulness in his heart will see a day when he finds no one to trust at all."
Rigby froze at the horror of what he saw. He realized what kind of demon stood before him: a person ready to sacrifice anything just to reach what he seeks.
Luce looked at Rigby, who was completely unable to move. Luce approached him, bringing his face inches from Rigby’s terror-stricken face, and tilted his head mockingly, "You look just like a statue!" Then, he turned his head right and left, feigning confusion, "Where is little Rigby? Where is he?" He then stared deeply into his eyes and whispered, "Ah... there he is!" And in the blink of an eye, flames erupted, consuming Rigby’s body right before Luna’s eyes.
Luce muttered quietly, "The palace has fallen... and now, it is the turn of the subjects."
He headed toward the window as Luna screamed and wept in silence. He smashed the glass and began to fly over the kingdom. A sword of fire formed, and he said, "So, my little ones, it is time for your fun." With a wicked smile, he said, "Annihilate everyone here. Do not cut; burn. I want them to taste the flavor of pain!"
Fire creatures began to fall from his sword like rain over the city. Luce laughed with a madness that filled the horizons, while the great Kingdom of Malakarsh turned into fire beneath his feet. Luce went silent and muttered quietly:
" I do not favor this way... but I swore. This is for what you did to Little Luce."