Chapter 540 — You Were The Only One

[Before Everything Happened]

Marshal Lysander Eckhart stood in front of the massive screen mounted on the war room’s wall, his hands clasped behind his back.

The broadcast showed Damian’s armored form walking through falling snow.

’He survived.’

The thought came with relief that settled in his chest like stone.

’Against a Young Chief and an entire army, he actually survived and won.’

His eyes tracked Damian’s retreating form.

’Just like–’

WHOOSH

Air displaced violently beside him as the Sage materialized, his masked face facing the same screen.

"Sage."

Lysander’s voice came out flat and controlled.

"What are you doing here?"

The Sage said nothing for three heartbeats, his attention focused entirely on the broadcast.

Then his voice emerged, quiet but carrying weight.

"After seventeen years, another genius with more potential than you has finally appeared."

Lysander’s expression remained carefully neutral, his eyes never leaving the screen.

The Sage continued without waiting for response, his masked face still tracking Damian’s form.

"Hope against the calamities threatening our world is born again."

He paused, his head tilting slightly.

"But where there is hope, despair naturally follows close behind, doesn’t it? They two are inseparable, bound together like light and shadow."

Lysander’s head turned fully now, his eyes finding the Sage’s masked face.

"What are you talking about?"

The question came out harder than intended, edges bleeding through the professional tone.

The Sage’s masked face turned, his gaze settling on Lysander directly.

"There is a curse that follows every Bloodworth."

His voice remained level, stating fact rather than speculation.

"The price they must pay for the immense power they gain from their bloodline."

He paused, letting that sink in.

"Their protective instincts become their greatest weakness, their inability to abandon those they care about becomes the blade that cuts them down."

He looked back at the screen, at Damian’s retreating form.

"How can the grandson of my Big Brother be an exception to this?"

’He–’

The thought crashed through Lysander’s awareness like thunder.

’How could he possibly know?’

"You–"

His voice started, shock breaking through the control.

But the Sage continued without pause, his words cutting through Lysander’s attempt.

"As a result of that curse, his identity will be revealed today."

Silence crashed down for one heartbeat.

"And the Director of the Military Police will wage war against the Imperial Council to protect him."

Lysander’s breath stopped completely, his body going rigid.

’What?’

"What are you–"

"After all..."

The Sage’s interruption came soft but absolute.

"How can Ignis Bloodworth just stand there and watch her only reason to live die a painful death?"

The name landed like a hammer blow.

Lysander’s breathing became audible, his chest heaving despite his attempts at control.

The Sage turned away from the screen, his attention shifting fully to Lysander’s face.

"But unlike Felix Onyx, who understands the nature of human beings as well as Kinsley does..."

He paused, his tone gaining something approaching disappointment.

"Ignis remains delusional."

His hand rose, fingers spreading.

"She believes that just like her, everyone who was personally groomed by my Big Brother will abandon their posts to come save his last surviving heir."

The words carried bitter truth underneath.

"She thinks loyalty to Desiderius Bloodworth still burns in the hearts of those he saved, that gratitude and honor will overcome fear and self-preservation."

Silence fell for three heartbeats.

Then Lysander opened his mouth, words forming.

But before sound could emerge, the Sage’s hand moved faster than his eyes could track.

SHLK

A finger pressed against Lysander’s temple, the contact sending cold spreading through his skull.

The Sage’s whisper cut through the shock.

"Let me show you what truly happened."

And Lysander’s eyes closed without his permission as darkness swallowed everything.

****

Images flooded his mind, visions, perfect and terrible.

He saw the field outside Military Police Headquarters, saw Damian kneeling in blood with Brian’s severed body scattered across his form.

Saw the Blood Sovereign state activate, crimson marks blazing across skin.

Saw Kinsley’s triumphant declaration broadcast to billions.

’No...’

The thought came weak and distant.

Then the vision shifted, time accelerating forward.

Ignis appeared, her declaration of war echoing across the world.

Felix stepping between the Patriarchs and his grandson.

The void battles beginning.

Ignis fell first, her body torn apart by three Patriarchs working in coordination.

Felix died screaming, his sacrifice buying nothing except more time for Damian to suffer.

The Northern Demigods arrived.

And they were slaughtered wholesale, their loyalty rewarded with death so complete that nothing remained to bury.

Through it all, Damian knelt in the snow, his expression blank as everyone who’d come to save him died around him.

Then the vision shifted, showing a single figure arriving too late.

Lysander himself, his face showing horror as he materialized on the field.

Kinsley held Damian in one hand, the boy’s broken body barely conscious.

Vision-Lysander’s mouth opened, power gathering around his frame.

But before the skill could activate, before Time Reversal could take effect–

SPLAT

Damian’s body exploded, reduced to red mist that painted white snow crimson.

And vision-Lysander collapsed to his knees, his scream tearing across the field as the one person he’d come to save died in front of him.

****

CRACK

Lysander’s knees hit the floor, his hands slamming against cold tile as reality snapped back.

Pant... pant... pant...

His entire body shook violently, sweat pouring down his face, his breathing coming in ragged gasps that tore at his throat.

"This..."

The word emerged broken and wet.

"This..."

His hair fell forward, obscuring his features, hiding eyes that had seen too much.

The Sage’s voice came from above him, calm and unbothered despite the horror he’d just shared.

"It is quite ironic, isn’t it?"

His tone carried something that might have been bitter amusement.

"The original eight Marshals including the Supreme Marshal, the commoners personally saved by Desiderius Bloodworth, the ones who owe him their very lives..."

He paused, letting the implication build.

"Not one of them answered the call. Not a single one showed up to save his grandson."

His masked face turned, tracking toward where Lysander knelt.

"But you, the Imperial Marshal who wasn’t even a Marshal when Desiderius died, who received no personal help from him whatsoever..."

The words landed like hammer blows.

"You were the only one who came, aside from the Demigods of the northern noble families who still remember their oaths."

Lysander’s hands pressed harder against the floor, his fingers going white from pressure.

His mouth opened, closed, opened again without sound emerging.

The Sage crouched down, bringing himself level with Lysander’s bowed form.

"Sadly, in that timeline, you arrived too late."

His voice remained clinical, like discussing weather patterns.

"And with Kinsley holding him, you couldn’t use your skill in time to save him."

Lysander’s throat worked, words trying to form through the shock.

"I... I..."

Nothing else emerged, just those two syllables repeating uselessly.

The Sage’s head tilted, studying him.

"Let me guess what kept you."

His voice gained edges despite the calm tone.

"You were too conflicted between family bonds and whatever drove you to come in the first place, weren’t you?"

He paused, letting Lysander process.

"After all, once Damian gains enough power, he will slaughter everyone involved in his family’s massacre without hesitation or mercy."

The statement came out matter-of-fact, stating the inevitable truth.

"And saving him today means becoming an accomplice to your own father’s death tomorrow."

Silence crashed down between them, absolute and suffocating.