Chapter 957: You’re In My House
Chapter 957 – You’re In My House
Lux’s jaw tightened. "No."
The word cracked through the room.
Not loud.
Commanding.
"You’re in my house."
His Telekinesis intensified, layered with Greed authority, precise and heavy like a vault door closing.
[Authority Pressure Applied]
[Telekinetic Suppression: Active]
[Containment Integrity: 76%]
Ely held her bleeding finger over the page, face pale but steady.
Lux glanced at her. "Still with me?"
She nodded, though her breath trembled. "Yes."
"Drop it."
The blood fell.
One drop.
Tiny.
Red.
It landed on the page.
For one terrible second, everything went worse.
The book snapped shut.
The wind exploded outward.
The ground inside the ring cracked in a circle around them.
Sira cursed.
Mira stepped forward, but the barrier stopped her.
Rava shouted, "Lux!"
Lux slammed his other hand out, catching the shockwave before it reached Ely. His eyes glowed.
[Warning: Memory Rejection Event]
[Containment Integrity: 61%]
Yue’s chant became sharper, stronger.
Gula gritted her teeth. "It’s biting the blood."
Lux growled, "Bite me instead."
[Greed Authority Interference Initiated]
The pressure shifted.
The book’s fury turned toward Lux.
Good.
Better him than Ely.
He smiled coldly. "That’s better."
But just when everyone thought it was a failure, the impact stopped.
All at once.
The wind vanished.
The pressure lifted.
The cracked dominion floor grew still.
Silence returned so suddenly that Ely’s breathing sounded loud.
The book opened.
Not violently this time.
Gently.
The blood drop on the page spread into thin lines, forming roots.
The roots became a circle.
The circle became a figure.
Light rose from the book.
Soft green.
Silver.
Gold.
A woman appeared.
Not fully solid.
A hologram.
An illusion.
A memory given shape.
The first elf.
She stood above the open book as if standing beneath the first forest, tall and graceful, hair flowing around her like living leaves. Her eyes were pale gold. Beautiful. Empty. Not cruel. Not kind. Just distant, like emotion was a language she had learned from books and never quite spoken aloud.
Ely stopped breathing.
Mira whispered, "So that’s..."
Yue’s gaze sharpened.
Lux lowered his hands slightly but did not drop the suppression.
The first elf looked forward.
Not at Lux.
Not at Ely.
At someone long gone.
When she spoke, the voice was not ancient melody anymore.
It sounded almost present.
As if she had stood there in person.
"My kin," she said, voice soft as leaves over stone, "if this memory wakes, then the debt has reached the hour of witness."
Ely’s eyes shone.
The first elf’s gaze remained far away.
"I leave this record not to invite rescue. Nor to stain the roots with regret. We survived because darkness stood between us and fire. We endured because the demon bloodline answered when the world burned."
Lux’s eyes narrowed.
The hologram continued.
"I promised repayment. I understood debt. I did not understand longing. I did not understand fear. I did not understand that gratitude spoken before ancient blood became more than words."
Sira exhaled softly.
The first elf lifted one hand to her chest.
"Still, I do not revoke it."
Ely flinched.
Lux went completely still.
"I go willingly," the first elf said. "To preserve the remaining roots. To pay what was owed. To keep the children of the forest from being claimed in my place."
The air grew colder.
"I will give my power to the demon’s son."
The room froze.
Lux’s mind sharpened around the phrase.
Demon’s son.
The first elf’s expression did not change.
But her voice softened by one impossible degree. "If I do not return, remember this. A debt can save people. A debt can also bury its mother."
Ely’s hand trembled.
The first elf turned her head slightly, as if hearing something behind her.
Then she spoke the final words like a farewell.
"Do not let the roots forget me."
The hologram flickered.
The image broke into silver-green light.
A voice came from it.
Softer than before.
Farther.
"If you need to find me..."
Everyone froze.
Lux’s eyes sharpened instantly.
The voice continued.
"You may seek the root beneath the Ashen Viridian Grove, where the first forest burned and the last root still drinks from old fire."
Ely’s lips parted.
Yue’s gaze darkened with recognition.
The book glowed brighter for one heartbeat.
"Beneath the hollow mountain. Past the sealed spring. At the shrine where the First Song sleeps."
Lux’s system reacted immediately.
[Location Fragment Acquired]
[Possible Landmark: Ashen Viridian Grove]
[Secondary Landmark: Hollow Mountain]
[Tertiary Landmark: Sealed Spring]
[Restricted Site: Shrine of the First Song]
[Access Requirement: Elven Bloodline Probability (High)]
The voice weakened.
"But I will only answer if the elven race faces danger."
The room seemed to tighten.
"Other than that..."
A pause.
A small one.
But somehow, inside that pause, there was centuries of loneliness.
"Let me pay the debt we owe."
The silver glow flickered.
"Until he says it is enough."
The final light dimmed.
The book went still.
[Archive Response Ended]
[Memory Layer Closed]
[Containment Pressure: Dissipating]
[Threat Level: Reduced]
Lux reached forward instinctively.
"Wait—"
The book slammed shut.
The sound cracked through the contained space like a verdict.
The hologram vanished. The silver-green light collapsed back into the old cover. The air stopped vibrating. The cracked lines inside Lux’s localized dominion dimmed, and the mansion beyond the ring looked painfully normal again.
Then silence returned.
Real silence.
Lux slowly lowered his hand.
The ring’s dominion field hummed around them, still active but no longer under attack. Ely stood in front of the book, pale, one hand held close to her chest. The cut on her finger was tiny, almost laughably small compared to the weight of what had answered it.
But Lux saw the tremble in her hand.
He saw it before anyone else.
Sira spoke first. "Okay..." Her voice was flat in a way that meant she was not joking. "That’s not a good statement."
Mira crossed her arms, expression severe. "That’s bad."
Fiera, standing outside the inner ward with her nine tails stiff behind her, swallowed and looked at the closed book. "Wow." Her voice came smaller than usual. "This is my first time seeing something like this."
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