Chapter 212: Aftermath
Smoke still hung over the city like a second sky.
Lucen sat on the remains of a collapsed billboard, legs dangling, blood dripping from his sleeve onto the rubble below. Hunters rushed through the streets around him, hauling stretchers, shouting coordinates, trying to make order out of ruin. Sirens wailed. Drones cut low over the wreckage, floodlights sweeping broken towers.
He just...watched.
[Corruption Load: 92%]
[System Stability: Critical.]
His vision still flickered at the edges, red warnings ghosting behind every blink. His mantle had burned out like a dying star, leaving his veins thrumming with static and pain.
Selindra was barking orders at a squad of A-ranks across the plaza, her coat torn, braid matted with soot. Every few seconds her eyes flicked toward him, sharp and suspicious, before snapping back to the work.
Varik hadn’t moved. He stood near the fallen husk of a transport, blade planted in broken asphalt, watching Lucen with that same hammered-steel expression.
Hunters whispered as they passed.
"Did you see that?"
"Not normal. Not even SS-rank could do that."
"What is he?"
Lucen smirked faintly, leaning back on his hands. ’Guess I’m the entertainment now. City collapses, thousands displaced, and everyone’s biggest worry is the funny guy with the bad haircut.’
He flicked dried blood from his chin, then grimaced as another warning blinked.
[Recommendation: Immediate Recovery.]
[Available Protocols: Forced Sleep, Mana Purge, Abyssal Drain.]
’Sleep sounds boring. Purge sounds worse. Drain sounds...fun.’
He dismissed the screen with a thought. Later.
Bootsteps crunched on glass.
Selindra strode toward him, her staff clutched tight, jaw sharp enough to cut. She stopped three meters away, glare hard. "What the hell are you?"
Lucen tilted his head, lazy smile curling. "Charming, devastatingly handsome, occasionally useful in a crisis."
"Stop joking." Her voice was ice. "You unleashed something out there. I don’t know what it was, but it wasn’t registered spellcraft. You nearly killed us with it."
He shrugged. "Nearly. But not quite."
Her nostrils flared. "You think this is funny?"
Lucen leaned forward, eyes glinting through the blood and soot. "...Yeah. A little."
Selindra’s grip on her staff tightened. For a second, she looked like she might actually hit him with it.
Varik’s voice cut across before she could. "Enough."
The single word hit like a gavel. Selindra’s jaw locked, but she turned sharply, stalking back to the command cluster forming around the holo-map.
Lucen chuckled low. "...She likes me."
Varik’s boots crunched closer. He stopped at Lucen’s side, casting a shadow over him. His expression didn’t change. "You lost control."
Lucen looked up at him, still smiling, though his face was pale beneath the blood. "Nah. I let go."
Varik’s stare didn’t move.
For a moment, the two of them just sat in the ruin, one seated in blood and ash, the other standing unshaken. Then Varik turned, lifting his blade, resting it against his shoulder. "They’ll start asking questions. Soon."
Lucen leaned back again, smirk widening. "Let them. I like being a mystery."
Varik didn’t answer. He just walked away, leaving Lucen in the wreckage.
–
Hours blurred. The fires dimmed, replaced by the steady drone of reconstruction. Hunters set up barrier wards around the square. Drones cleared rubble. Survivors clustered under floodlights.
Lucen finally pushed himself off the billboard, joints creaking, and wandered into the crowd. Hunters moved aside without realizing it, glancing at him like prey glances at fire. He grinned at each of them in turn, enjoying the way their eyes dropped.
[System Update: EXP Logged.]
[Level: 50]
[Progress: 6%]
The screen pulsed faintly, another warning chasing across it.
[Corruption Load: 91%]
[Stability Status: Volatile.]
’Still dropping. Guess I’m tougher than the warnings thought.’
"Lucen Ivara."
The voice froze him. Smooth, calm, threaded with authority.
He turned.
Elira Veyra stood at the edge of the plaza, coat immaculate despite the ruin, red hair gleaming under drone-light. Her eyes were obsidian, steady, unblinking.
Hunters parted as she walked forward, silence trailing behind her like a shadow.
Lucen smirked, tilting his head. "...Director. You came all this way just to see me bleed?"
Her lips barely moved. "Walk with me."
It wasn’t a request.
He shoved his hands in his pockets, whistling low. "Sure. Why not. Nothing better to do than stroll through the apocalypse."
They moved through the ruined square, past bodies shrouded in sheets, past fires still hissing in gutters. Elira’s presence bent the air, hunters stiffened, civilians shrank back, even Selindra paused mid-order.
Lucen’s grin widened. "So. What’s the verdict? Do I get a medal, or a muzzle?"
Elira didn’t look at him. "Both."
He blinked, then barked a laugh. "That’s new."
Her eyes slid to him, cold and cutting. "You will tell no one what you unleashed here. Not your allies. Not your enemies. Not your shadow. Do you understand?"
Lucen’s grin faltered just a hair. "...And if I don’t?"
Her smile was razor-thin. "Then I decide which part of the city collapses next."
Silence stretched. The fires crackled.
Lucen chuckled again, softer this time, throat raw. "Gods, you’re terrifying. I think I like you."
Elira didn’t answer. She turned back toward the skyline, where the rift had burned itself out. "The world just saw a Gigantic dungeon break. But what they will remember is that the Association contained it."
Her gaze slid back to him, obsidian burning. "Not you. Never you."
Lucen tilted his head, still smiling, though his hand twitched faintly in his pocket. "...Guess I’ll take the muzzle, then. But the medal? Keeping that one."
Elira didn’t blink. "We’ll see."
The wind shifted, carrying the smoke low through the broken streets.
Lucen’s system pulsed one more warning, red filling his vision.
[Corruption Load: 93%.]
[System Recovery: Required.]
He grinned into the blood and the smoke. ’Yeah. Sure. Recovery. Right after I get paid.’
—
The Association tower hadn’t slept.
Three days since the break and still the halls thrummed with the movement of boots, the murmur of clipped voices, the snap of mana screens flickering with casualty numbers. Every surface gleamed too bright, too clean, like they’d scrubbed the blood away but not the memory.
Lucen sat slouched in a chair outside the debrief chamber, one leg crossed over the other, head tipped back against the wall. His coat was scorched, his shirt torn, his gloves hanging loose from his belt.
[Corruption Load: 88%]
[System Stability: Unsteady]
It ticked down slower every hour. Too slow.
He tapped his fingers against the armrest, smirking faintly at the way two passing B-ranks glanced at him, then quickly looked away. Whispers trailed in their wake.
"—shouldn’t be sitting there—"
"—not even Association clearance—"
"—Elira herself ordered—"
Lucen yawned. "Gods, I love being the bogeyman."
The doors hissed open. Selindra stepped out, posture rigid, braid flawless despite the exhaustion that clung to her features. She stopped when she saw him, jaw tight.
"Why are you here?"
Lucen stretched, spine cracking. "Because apparently my charming presence is required. Director’s orders."
Her eyes narrowed. "You don’t belong in this briefing."
He grinned. "Neither do you. But here we are."
Her staff twitched in her grip, but before she could respond, another voice cut through.
"Both of you. Inside."
Varik’s shadow filled the doorway, blade strapped across his back. His tone carried no weight of debate, it simply was.
Selindra exhaled sharply through her nose and strode past him. Lucen pushed himself lazily to his feet, mock-bowing as he passed Varik. "After you, oh fearless executioner."
Varik didn’t blink.
The chamber inside was sharp and cold, glass walls, glowing data-constructs spinning above the central table. Holo-maps marked zones of destruction in jagged red rings.
At the head of the table, Elira Veyra waited. Perfect, as always.
Lucen took a seat and immediately threw his boots up on the table, earning Selindra’s glare and Elira’s flat, obsidian stare.
He winked at Elira. "Nice room. Very doomsday chic."
Her voice cut like glass. "Report."
Selindra stepped forward first, efficient as ever. "Casualty count at 4,312 confirmed dead. Seventy-two hunters. Civilian evacuation incomplete, projected missing count rising. Break zone collapsed into non-recoverable abyss pocket. Containment successful. Survivors...shaken."
Lucen whistled low. "Shaken. Nice word for it. Half the city’s skyline melted like candle wax."
Selindra shot him a glare sharp enough to split stone. "And why do you think they’re shaken, Lucen?"
He smirked. "...Because of me. Right?"
Silence.
Elira’s gaze lingered on him, unblinking, before turning to Varik. "And your assessment?"
Varik’s tone was flat. "Containment succeeded. At cost. Survivors owe it to Selindra’s coordination and Lucen’s...firepower."
Lucen grinned wider. "See? Even the Iron Executioner admits it. I’m useful."
Selindra’s knuckles whitened on her staff. "Useful? You unleashed something we couldn’t even categorize. You nearly erased half our line. You endangered everyone."
Lucen tilted his head, voice dropping low. "But I didn’t. That’s the funny part."
[System Warning: Corruption Spike Detected.]
[Load: 91%]
His grin twitched for a second, too sharp, too wide. He forced it back down, leaning into the chair.
Elira’s voice sliced through the tension. "Enough."
Both Selindra and Lucen fell silent, though for very different reasons.
Elira’s gaze swept the room, cold and deliberate. "The Association will release an official statement. Containment credited to Association joint effort. Losses regrettable, but necessary. The truth of what occurred will not leave this chamber."
Lucen chuckled low. "...There it is. The muzzle."
Her eyes cut back to him. "You will wear it."
He smirked, spreading his hands. "And if I don’t?"
For the first time, her lips curved, not into warmth, but something far more dangerous. "Then I let Selindra write the report. Do you think she’ll be merciful?"
Selindra’s eyes glinted with a cold satisfaction.
Lucen laughed outright. "Gods, you’re good. I’m almost scared."
Varik finally spoke again, his voice steady iron. "Containment’s over. Survivors need order. Hunters need leadership. We can’t fracture here."
Elira nodded once, eyes never leaving Lucen. "Exactly. Which is why he stays silent."
Lucen stretched again, smirk still curling even as his veins throbbed with unstable mana. "...Sure. Silent as the grave."
The system pulsed red in his vision.
[Corruption Load: 93%.]
[System Instability: Severe.]
He blinked hard, his smile fixed, his body humming too loud under his skin.
Selindra’s eyes narrowed. She saw something. She always did.
But she said nothing.