Chapter 410 The Trap Finally Closed
Owen knew he had miscalculated after all.
His younger brother really was more capable than he had given him credit for. He had actually managed to find Lucian.
Which meant they had been laying this trap for more than twenty years.
Valerius's ambition ran even deeper than Owen had imagined.
It seemed Owen had left Zara with a ticking time bomb.
Even after learning the truth, Owen did not show much alarm. He merely said slowly, "If none of our predecessors could accomplish it, I doubt you can either. You simply don't have what it takes, Valerius. Otherwise, the Holy Sovereign's inherited bloodline would have chosen you instead of me."
The Holy Sovereign's inherited memories manifested in whichever child was chosen. The eldest was not automatically the heir.
There had to be a reason Valerius had never awakened the Holy Sovereign's bloodline.
Valerius gave a cold snort.
That had always been his deepest wound. Even the position he held now had only fallen to him after his older brother left.
"That's exactly why I'll succeed!" he declared. "I'll accomplish the miracle our ancestors never could!"
His eyes burned with naked ambition as he stared at Owen. "Why do you think this world waited until now to reveal its true face to us? Because it was guiding us. The time has come!"
"I'll take the Divine World, and I'll take Earth too!" He gave another contemptuous snort.
At that exact moment, a server arrived with his order.
"Sir, here's your extra-sweet cappuccino and strawberry cake. That's everything you ordered. Since there are two of you and the order is fairly small, would you like anything else?"
Valerius accepted the cappuccino and cake. "No. He doesn't deserve any."
Owen fell silent.
So did the server.
She glanced at Owen with a stiff smile, then gave an awkward little laugh and walked away.
What a strange customer.
Owen watched Valerius hold the strawberry cake, and his eyelid twitched. "No matter where we are, whenever I'm in the same room with you, you're always the more embarrassing one."
"Quit looking down on me," Valerius snapped. "What's wrong with liking strawberry cake? It's still better than your daughter being obsessed with money."
Owen fell silent again. Then he said, "Your taste in dessert doesn't exactly match your ambition to conquer two worlds."
Valerius took a bite of the cake and decided it tasted pretty good. "Spare me the sarcasm. This is nothing more than your last desperate struggle."
Valerius continued, "The timing is almost right now.
You should already know the power is growing more unstable.
That doesn't mean Zara is about to take control of it.
Leaving it inside someone else's body only turned it into a disaster waiting to happen.
Those two will turn against each other eventually. "
Owen gave a dry laugh. "Aren't you afraid your plan will blow up in your face? What do you think the sacred treasure is? Something you can use however you please?"
"Whatever it is, you already left it to Zara. It's useless to you now." Valerius smiled coldly. "Just wait. Before long, this world will know my name."
"When that day comes, I will become the one and only supreme Holy Sovereign of both worlds, the most exalted ruler who has ever lived." Valerius chuckled. "And then I'll lock you away and make you watch as I ascend to the throne."
Owen looked at him. "You know, I've watched plenty of TV dramas on Earth. Characters who make grand declarations like that usually don't end well."
"Right back at you," Valerius replied.
Owen fell silent.
What the hell was wrong with him?
Their conversation ended on bad terms, and Valerius left looking thoroughly pleased with himself, as though victory were already his.
Owen, however, remained deeply worried about Lucian. He had never imagined that the danger he had planted all those years ago could be exploited, much less that it had gone unnoticed for so long.
He immediately called Zara.
"Zara."
She was somewhat surprised to hear from him. "What's wrong?"
Owen's voice was grave. "I need to tell you something."
A bad feeling immediately came over her. "Go ahead. I'm listening."
"Back then, I..." Owen paused. "Never mind. The problem is that half of your power is inside Lucian. I only considered the possibility that it would awaken and try to return to you. I overlooked something else."
Zara raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"Your power may have been altered into something that could be used against you. My brother, Valerius, and his people discovered Lucian a long time ago. I suspect they tampered with him when he was still a child and have been waiting for this moment ever since. You need to keep a close eye on him."
Zara fell silent.
Her sudden silence gave Owen an ominous feeling. "Don't tell me..."
"This is exactly why I can't stand people who only tell half the story," Zara said. "See? Now it's come back to bite us. Lucian has disappeared. Allen hasn't found any trace of him, so I'm guessing someone took him to the Divine World."
"And now you call to tell me something may be wrong with the power inside him. That warning came a little late." She sighed. "My life really is one endless soap opera."
Owen was silent for a moment before sighing as well. "It's too late to dwell on that now. Half of your power is still inside him. He may not be able to use it on his own, but if someone from the Divine World has tampered with it, the situation could be very different."
"Valerius is extremely ambitious. It seems he intends to use that power to seize control of the entire Divine World.
Once he brings that world under his control, Earth will be next.
" He added, "You know how terrifying your power is.
If he gains access to half of it, I don't know whether you'll be able to defeat him. "
"Now isn't the time to hype him up and undermine me," Zara said. "Relax. Nothing is going to happen. Even with my power, he's still an idiot."
Owen paused. "Well... You sound very confident."
"I am. Whenever I make a bold prediction, I'm always right."
Owen fell silent.
For one unsettling moment, that baffling confidence sounded remarkably similar to Valerius's.
"Besides, you're overthinking this," Zara continued. "Cyranth and the other rulers of the forbidden zones are still in the Divine World. Valerius can't start causing trouble unless they're willing to let him."
"Not necessarily," Owen said with a frown. "Aside from Cyranth, none of the forbidden zones has reacted to any war in the past several centuries, no matter how large it became."
He added. "If Valerius merely controls the mystic beasts from behind the scenes and suppresses their forces without resorting to mass slaughter, the rulers of the forbidden zones may genuinely choose not to interfere. If that happens, his plan could actually succeed."
Zara sighed. "In that case, I suppose we'll just have to let Lucian die."
The sudden coldness in her voice made Owen's heart skip. "You could really do that? Isn't he your fiancé?"
"Of course I could. He'd be sacrificing himself for the greater good. Lucian would forgive me." She added, "Besides, he's not really my fiancé. We were going to break up sooner or later anyway."
Owen fell silent.
For the first time, he felt a little sorry for Lucian.