Chapter 553: Step on the Gas to the End!

Chapter 553: Foot on the Gas, Floors it!

"How can this be!"

Luna stared in sheer disbelief at the headless corpse lying right beside her.

When the others turned their gazes upon the headless form, their faces first registered suspicion and alarm, followed quickly by a collective expression of agony, several of them collapsing to the ground clutching their heads in pain.

It was glaringly obvious that some outside force was violently arresting their minds, preventing them from pursuing this line of thought or logic.

In truth, this "lie" was rather crude, sustained entirely by an external power that forced a distortion upon their senses; otherwise, they would have long since deduced exactly who was missing.

Anguish twisted Luna's features as well, but just as Cullen had observed before, her resilience far exceeded that of the others—or perhaps, she was simply afforded a degree of preferential treatment.

By a simpler deduction, she was Torisa's wife, and it was natural that Torisa would treat his own spouse better than the rest of his subordinates; by a darker theory, could Luna have known everything all along, playing along with her husband to deceive the crew?

For now, however, the riddle that vexed Cullen was Torisa's ultimate objective.

Why choose to vanish, and why construct this elaborate illusion of his "presence" even as he disappeared?

The myriad theories he had formulated upon first descending into this cavern now had to be utterly discarded; there was no third party, no such entity as a "sand wraith"—or if there was, the wraith was not the ultimate catalyst for the squad's annihilation, having likely emerged only to be dealt with beforehand.

"He isn't... my husband? But I always believed he was, I talked to him, confided in him..."

Luna murmured to herself, her hand instinctively pressing against her forehead.

Cullen watched her with an unblinking, tranquil gaze; she was putting on a performance, yet at this late hour, what purpose did such theater even serve?

Cullen looked down at the elevated dune platform supporting Luna and the headless corpse, the earlier image of those ten individuals marching in endless, mechanical circles around this spot flashing across his mind.

There was a purpose here, a definitive reason for things, whether it lay in Captain Torisa's "concealment" or in the squad's prior clockwork behavior.

Cullen crouched low, reaching out to touch the flank of the structure; it was fashioned from sand, yet it felt remarkably rigid, sturdier than reinforced concrete.

But when it had risen just moments ago, it had clearly absorbed and condensed the surrounding drifts to assemble itself; it wasn't as though a rigid, preexisting monument had been hidden beneath and merely hoisted upward.

Did this mean something inside required protection, defense, and... concealment the moment it manifested?

Whatever the case, Torisa was hardly the sort to indulge in the petty vanity of playing absent while watching his crew spin helplessly around his wife and a dummy.

Cullen stood up, took a few measured steps back, and spoke, "I intend to shatter this platform. I believe something is inside."

"No, you must not!"

Luna suddenly shrieked.

"No! You must not!"

"No! You must not!"

Every soul present, whether bent double or crouching, barked out a defensive prohibition in unison, as if Cullen's words had once again struck a raw nerve in their collective consciousness.

This collective resistance only hardened Cullen's certainty; Torisa had placed numerous "untouchable" psychic seals upon his subordinates' minds, which meant Cullen could reverse-engineer the truth simply by deliberately stepping on those painful nerves.

Cullen did not rush to swing his greatsword against the structure, asking instead:

"You must know that what I am doing is right, and I doubt you wish to linger in this perpetual deception. You have been misled for nearly three centuries; do you truly have no desire to uncover the truth?

Now, I only ask you this: can you still master yourselves?"

Cullen had no desire to strike the monument only to be instantly set upon by everyone in the cavern.

Luna's face began to contort with effort, and for a fleeting moment, a trace of tears welled in her eyes, only to be swiftly brushed away by the swirling sands.

She gritted her teeth and forced the words out:

"I can... master myself... Smash it!"

As she spoke, her hands trembled violently,

As though it were not the platform Cullen was about to strike, but her very heart.

The others were locked in a similar internal warfare, fully aware of what was right, even as an intrusive voice in their heads fought to overthrow their reason.

Cullen waited in silence, understanding the sensation well; back in the day, Neo had gone so far as to flay his own face to craft a mask just to cope with a similar trial.

Kuzan, the sword-bearer, was the first to speak:

"Smash it..."

Then came Grey Wolf: "Smash it..."

Immediately followed by Angel: "Smash it..."

They were all wrestling with their inner demons, an struggle laced with immense resentment, for they now understood they had been duped for ages, living out three centuries within a grand charade.

Crucially, they were exceptional individuals, which was precisely why Cullen was willing to wait, confident that patience would yield the outcome he required.

The elite members of the Line of Order possessed extraordinary reserves of personal fortitude; as the current leader of a future elite squad, Cullen held unwavering faith in that truth.

"Smash it..."

"Smash it..."

Only when the final voice offered its grim confirmation did Cullen release a long, slow breath.

Since they had summoned the will to cry "Smash it," they had clearly braced themselves to hold their own impulses at bay.

Cullen swung his greatsword aloft and brought it crashing down against the side of the platform.

A heavy thud echoed.

Sand sprayed wildly.

Another heavy thud.

And another.

Under the relentless cascade of blows, a vast network of fractures spiderwebbed across the surface; it was remarkably solid, to be sure, but it fell far short of being indestructible.

Finally, with Cullen's last, concentrated strike, a sharp, cascading shatter rang out, and the facade of the platform sloughed away in massive sheets, exposing the reality concealed within.

Resting inside was a massive, translucent amber cocoon, and within that chrysalis lay a man clad in the sacred robes of Order.

His features were stern and severe; even with his eyes closed in "slumber," he exuded a tangible, oppressive authority.

Resting upon the man's chest was a black sword, its blade etched with vivid crimson veins that spoke of slaughter and judgment.

Luna cried out, "Torisa..."

"Cap... tain..."

"Is it truly... the Captain?"

Judging by the reactions around him, the man inside was indeed Torisa, and the weapon could only be the Sword of Diamans, which Luna had claimed belonged to her husband.

A fine prize indeed...

Beholding the blade, Cullen suddenly felt the weapon currently in his grasp lose a good deal of its luster.

In any case, Torisa's wife had already promised to bestow the weapon upon him, provided he could find it.

Cullen shook his head briskly, wondering what was passing through his thoughts; he must have suffered a severe mental strain while questioning them one by one, leaving his focus somewhat fractured, or else how could he have succumbed to the same low, mercenary instincts that usually plagued Neo's mind?

"Why... would he be?"

"How is the Captain... inside?"

"Cap... tain?"

Cullen adjusted his emotions, raising the sword in his hand, prepared to pierce the cocoon.

But right at that moment, Thorisa, who was lying inside, abruptly snapped his eyes open, and in an instant, a terrifying psychic shockwave surged toward Cullen like a rising tide.

Cullen's body shuddered slightly, but he quickly anchored his sense of self once more amidst this dreadful mental assault.

He was well aware of his own eccentricity; his soul far surpassed his actual strength and realm, so this standard of measurement did not apply to him, though it was highly probable that it held true for others.

So, for someone possessing such formidable spiritual power, just how immense must his true strength be?

If compared to Dolfo, the sensation Thorisa gave Cullen at this moment was vastly more powerful than Dolfo ever was!

Yet, even as Cullen’s heart stirred with alarm, he suddenly realized that the spiritual offensive the other man had launched against him had abruptly withdrawn, retreating so rapidly it was as if everything prior had merely been an accidental step onto someone's shoe, drawing back the foot to apologize the instant it was realized.

Moreover, from the other man's expression and gaze, Cullen glimpsed a profound sense of wariness!

He is... wary of me?

Thorisa opened his mouth, as if chanting some incantation, and within moments, with Cullen's position as the epicenter, a cage of yellow sand abruptly manifested.

Naturally, Cullen could not remain in place waiting to be bound, but the very instant the cage appeared, the entire sand pool shuddered collectively, and Cullen felt as though a mountain of sand had been piled onto his back; his body was completely immobilized, leaving him to watch helplessly as he was imprisoned by this cage condensed from yellow sand!

The cage was not solid, even somewhat soft, but it was integrated as one with this sand pool; to break it with brute force meant Cullen would have to exhaust the entire reserve of power contained within the pool.

However, this cage did not seem to be soundproof, for he soon heard an unfamiliar voice, which undoubtedly belonged to Thorisa.

"Everyone, it has been a long time."

"Cap?? Captain??"

"Thorisa..."

"Captain??"

"All of you, be a little quiet."

The clamorous voices ceased.

Before Thorisa, his former team members were like a collection of toys to be trifled with at his whim.

What followed was a dialogue between a man and a woman; evidently, Thorisa had once again shown leniency toward his wife.

"My dear, I missed you so much; in truth, I have been accompanying you all this time."

"Why is it like this?? Why is it like this..."

"Because you died; because during that mission, you were ambushed and killed by that bastard from the Desert God Cult!

Although I personally tortured him to death, although I turned him into a puppet and stood him there to humiliate him, none of this can change the fact that you have gone far from me, left me forever.

I could not accept this reality; even if I spared no expense to forcibly awaken you, you would not have much time left. Therefore, I chose an extreme method."

"An extreme?? Method?"

"That Sand Evil Spirit wanted to take the opportunity to ambush us, but I discovered it and dealt with it; sometimes I truly find it laughable—what kind of courage do these fellows from the Desert God Cult have to dare provoke my Order God Cult?

But after this Sand Evil Spirit died, it formed a special region here, which can be understood as it contaminating this place, creating a special barrier.

If I borrowed the geographical advantages here, I could accomplish certain things that would be eternally impossible on the outside, such as preserving your bodies and souls.

Subsequently, inside Compasini's cranial bone...

I found its core essence; by utilizing it, I could keep your consciousnesses in a perpetually resuscitated state.

My dear, just as you see, through this method, I have preserved you for three hundred years; there is no other way in this world that could allow my deceased wife to accompany me for so long.

Everything I did was for you, Luna, my most beloved wife."

Cullen: Woman, he is lying to you.

"Thorisa."

"Hmm?"

"You are lying to you."

"My dear??"

"If you only did it to preserve me, then what about them, those companions who once braved dangers with us? Why did you have to keep them here as well?

Do not tell me they all died back then and you deliberately arranged this place just to keep everyone; I will not believe it—there are absolutely no fatal wounds on them."

"Because I could not allow this place to be leaked, not even to the God Cult; because once the God Cult found out, it would be impossible for me to retain the right to use this place.

This cocoon, this essence of Compasini, everything here, the God Cult would take it away; it would no longer belong to me.

Therefore, I could only..."

"Enough!" Luna rebuked, "Thorisa, why is it that even now, you still want to lie to me?"

"Alas." Thorisa sighed, "Because, you are my wife."

"Just what kind of filthy purpose do you have, that you would personally destroy the team you painstakingly built, destroy these partners who always firmly believed in you and followed you, you..."

Luna's voice cut off.

"Tsk, you talk too much; you should be like before, always believing what I say, rejoicing for our reunion."

There was a hint of helplessness in Thorisa's tone, and then, Cullen heard footsteps; Thorisa had come before him, with presumably only a wall of sand separating the two of them.

"Lord Cullen, you should be able to hear my

voice now; I think you must have seen through my

purpose long ago, correct?"

No, what on earth is with this title?

The other matter was, what exactly was his purpose; what on earth was the point of binding everyone in his squad around him like this?

"My Lord, your age should not be greater than mine, but your current position must be far higher than mine was back then. Heh, I do not believe Your Lordship is merely the captain of the York City Region's Operations Brigade."

Is being the captain of the Operations Brigade that embarrassing?

"My Lord, it matters not if you do not answer me; your identity and affairs have already been told to me by your slave."

My?? Slave?

"Furthermore, I unfortunately have to inform you that your slave is already prepared to betray you; the moment I trap you, that slave of yours will deploy a formation to break the curse here.

He wishes to gain freedom—that is the ultimate dream of every slave, is it not?"

What exactly... are you talking about.

"Of course, besides freedom, I also promised him that once I emerge, I will follow him into the Remnants of Light organization, and I will help him attain a higher status within that loosely fractured organization of the Remnants of Light.

He truly displays a great greed for things like power—a person completely submerged in the vortex of greed.

The reason Your Lordship chose him to be your slave must also be because he is easy to control, right?"

It's Neo!

The Remnants of Light could be set aside for now; what allowed Cullen to confirm the "slave" identity was still that word, "greed."

Cullen finally understood; it was whatever Neo had said to him that caused his misunderstanding of Cullen to run so remarkably deep.

His own slave... Director Neo?

And Neo had actually gone ahead and actively admitted to it.

Since it was Neo, it made perfect sense that Tolisa would view and perceive himself in such a manner.

Neo possessed this uncanny knack for improvisation, veering the natural course of events into an utterly bewildering trajectory.

"You must feel quite helpless right now, but please rest assured—as a devout believer in Order, how could I ever willingly mingle with the remnants of Light?

I wish to return to the Holy See, I wish to return home, I wish to return to the embrace of the God of Order.

I know not how long this confinement can hold you; I imagine it cannot hold you for long, and yet, I dare not truly raise a hand against you, for the current me is certainly no match for you."

So, am I truly that powerful now?

"Therefore, My Lord, I harbor not the slightest intent to offend you.

I reveal this to you because I wish to become your puppet, I wish to obtain your protection; please become my 'warden,' and please believe me, I am bound to be a far more fitting and capable slave for you than that remnant of Light!"

Become my slave?

"Please enter into a Shahai Covenant with me."

A Shahai Covenant?

Karen was familiar with this contract; when Purr had proposed entering into a Symbiotic Covenant with him, he had deliberately leafed through the relevant literature, and the Shahai Covenant was, in essence, a variation of a symbiotic bond.

Both parties to the contract swore an oath before the God of the Desert, decreeing that upon the death of one party, the soul of the other would be buried beneath the desert sands.

This was the exact nature of the relationship currently shared between Karen and Purr, which was why, back on Fire Island when Karen stayed behind to cover the retreat against that hunchbacked youth, Purr had not evacuated with the others; if Karen died, it would perish as well, rendering any escape entirely meaningless.

"My Lord, you still have some time to consider, but please be somewhat swift; between you and that slave of yours, I can only choose one—if you do not sign the covenant with me, you will also fail to obtain what you desire."

At the very least, shouldn't you tell me what it is I actually desire?

...

Neo returned to the platform.

Alfred immediately inquired, "Director, shall I begin setting up the containment array now to attempt to stall the operation of the sand pool?"

Neo shook his head, commanding:

"No, set up an array with a propulsion effect to boost the operation of the sand pool; make the amplification effect as massive as you possibly can."

Alfred froze for a moment, hastily asking:

"An amplification array?? Are you certain?"

The glorious Director Neo, fully prepared to betray his master, nodded and said:

"Rip out the brakes, and slam the accelerator all the way down for him."