Chapter 411 You Are Too Late
No one had heard a thing about Lucian's disappearance.
Zara reached out to her ever-reliable fixer, Winfred, as well as Damien, whom she had not seen in quite some time.
Winfred responded with nothing but a string of exclamation points.
Damien was far more cooperative: I'll ask around for you!
Now that was initiative. That was the right attitude.
Valerius could stand to learn a thing or two from his own son. Why couldn't he show the same exemplary sense of duty?
Still, if this was as serious as Zara suspected, Lucian was probably the key to their final move and the ultimate trump card in their plan.
There was no way ordinary people would be told about something that important.
Those two idiots, Winfred and Damien, probably would not be much help.
When had things first started going wrong?
Zara genuinely had not noticed anything unusual about Lucian. The only anomaly she had ever discovered was the Fleshwraith, and she had dealt with that a long time ago.
Lucian had still been Lucian all along.
The Divine World's original plan had simply been different from what she had assumed.
Zara had to admit that those people were not entirely brainless.
Still, that would not stop her. Someone was bound to know something.
At that moment, Vivian called her. "Are you still in the country? Enoch is missing."
Her voice was filled with panic. "He's been saying he hasn't felt well lately, and today he suddenly disappeared."
Zara abruptly remembered Enoch.
Right.
Hadn't the original plan been to cultivate Enoch as a weapon against her?
Why had they suddenly switched to Lucian?
Those idiots from the Divine World had actually planted a decoy?
But Enoch was probably connected to this somehow. Otherwise, Joseph and the others would never have spent so much time cultivating him.
Two important names came to Zara's mind.
Joseph and Spencer.
Joseph had always seemed mentally unstable, but Spencer had personally handled everything involving Enoch. He had to know something.
After thinking it over, Zara decided to confront Joseph directly.
Joseph did not seem surprised to see her.
He merely smiled. "You're too late."
Zara nodded, then grabbed him by the throat without the slightest warning and lifted him off the ground.
"I didn't come here to negotiate. Where's Lucian? Where did you take him?"
Caught completely off guard, Joseph struggled to breathe, yet an infuriating laugh still escaped his throat.
"If he's not here, there's only one other place he could be. Do you want to go after him?"
His smile deepened. "He may not be the Lucian you remember anymore."
Zara slammed him to the floor.
Usually so mild-mannered and composed, Joseph looked distinctly disheveled now.
Zara clicked her tongue. "Was Lucian always the real plan? You intended to use the half of my power inside him against me?"
Still smiling, Joseph rubbed his throat and rose to his feet. "Not necessarily against you. If you stay out of this, there's no reason we can't coexist peacefully."
He added, "You have no desire to rule this world. Why not simply stand aside and watch? We could easily be on the same side."
"There is no same side." Zara suddenly smiled, revealing a row of gleaming white teeth. "I told you a long time ago. What's mine is mine. If I don't want to give it away, none of you can take it."
"The power inside Lucian belongs to me. I'm willing to let him have it, but I'm not willing to give it to any of you." She asked, "You want to use it?"
"Sure."
"All you have to do is die first."
Joseph's smile vanished instantly.
After a long silence, the corners of his mouth slowly lifted again. "So you're willing to destroy each other."
"Oh, wow. You nearly scared me."
Joseph's meaning could not have been clearer.
The people of the Divine World really did intend to use Lucian against Zara.
Each of them possessed half of the same power. If they fought, they could wear each other down, or at the very least, Lucian could keep Zara occupied long enough for the rest of the plan to unfold.
Even if they failed to conquer the mystic beasts, they could still take Earth.
One world or the other was bound to fall.
What a beautiful fantasy they had built for themselves.
Zara gave two dry laughs. "Well, I hope everything goes exactly the way you planned. Your delusions are practically reaching the stratosphere."
Joseph fell silent.
Even at a time like this, she was remarkably optimistic.
Then Zara's expression abruptly changed. "I don't know whether you've ever truly considered him your friend, or whether you only took over Joseph's body recently. But let me ask you something. After using Lucian like this, do you feel even the slightest bit guilty?"
"He has always treated you like his closest friend!" She added, "You're not just a terrible friend. You're the lowest of the low!"
Joseph said nothing.
"None of that matters," he replied. "No one can stop the Upper Realm from achieving its goal."
He knew exactly where his loyalties lay, and the smile never left his lips. "We each serve our own side."
"Fine," Zara said. "Good thing I knew from the start that you were a piece of trash. Honestly, though, you people are pathetic. Beating you wouldn't even feel satisfying."
Joseph's mouth twitched.
Had she come here solely to humiliate him?
"He's in the Divine World now," Joseph said. "Once you cross over, you should be able to sense him. Your powers come from the same source."
He paused, curiosity entering his voice. "What interests me is how an ordinary human from Earth managed to wield power belonging to the Imperial Clan's sacred treasure."
Zara's ears practically perked up. "What do you mean?"
It was her power. She could give it to whomever she wanted. Why would she need some ridiculous explanation?
Joseph studied her. "It means the sacred treasure hasn't fully accepted you either."
Zara fell silent.
Something about that felt very revealing.
Did these people know Lucian carried the treasure's power without realizing that Zara herself was the treasure?
Or had they assumed all along that Zara's abilities came from possessing it?
Of course.
Only a Holy Sovereign could perceive the sacred treasure's true existence. Without one, they naturally had no way of knowing.
Discovering the power inside Lucian had probably been the limit of what they could uncover.
Zara showed none of this on her face. Instead, she put on an angry expression.
"Just wait until I take my power back. Then you'll understand why! Lucian only benefited from being close to me in the first place. Using him won't change anything."
She added, "He's just an ordinary human from Earth. You really think he can stand against me?"
She lifted her chin and strode away with supreme arrogance.
Joseph merely watched her retreating figure, slowly sinking into thought.