Lynn finished speaking.
In the entire hall, only Ignis’s tail was making noise.
Vivian, Alicia, and Lilith were all silent.
Their expressions varied.
There was doubt, there was wavering, and a trace of… a yearning they themselves were unwilling to admit.
Because what Lynn described was precisely the repressed, most idealized desire deep within their hearts.
It was what they truly wanted, after casting aside all their obsessions and madness.
“So…”
Vivian finally spoke. Her voice was no longer so icy, but still full of suspicion.
“You saw these things, and then? Why did you… do that?”
She was referring to the kiss.
This was the most crucial question.
If Lynn’s hallucination was beautiful, why did he forcibly break it?
Lynn knew that success or failure hinged on this moment.
A pained expression appeared on his face.
“Because it was fake!”
He growled, his voice carrying a suppressed despair.
“Everything was too beautiful, so beautiful I couldn’t tell reality from illusion! I watched you all smile at me, watched us live happily together… I was afraid.”
“I was afraid I would sink forever into that dream and never wake up again!”
“I saw you all immersed in your own worlds too. I was afraid you wouldn’t come out either! I called to you, but you didn’t respond. I didn’t know what to do!”
“I could only…”
His gaze fell on Vivian’s lips again, and his voice dropped.
“…use the most direct method to slap all of us awake from that false dream.”
After speaking, he seemed to have used up all his strength, lowering his head, no longer looking at their reactions.
He was gambling.
Betting that they would believe this flimsy, hole-ridden explanation.
Betting that the possessiveness deep in their hearts would override rational judgment.
“Because we were all there, your hallucination was blissful…”
Alicia murmured to herself, as if chewing over the meaning of the words.
“Because you were afraid of losing it, you chose to shatter it with your own hands…”
This logic was twisted, but… it fit their way of thinking perfectly.
A man who loved them deeply, yet feared that this love would consume him.
This image was… perfect.
“Hmph.”
Vivian snorted coldly.
She withdrew her longsword, but still didn’t relax her guard.
“Consider yourself cleared for now.”
Lynn’s heart settled a little.
But Lilith hadn’t given her verdict yet.
Lynn secretly glanced up at Lilith.
The girl was tilting her head, looking at him with an inquisitive gaze.
In her pure eyes, there was neither belief nor disbelief.
Only a deep, unfathomable calm.
She slowly walked up to Lynn.
Reached out, gently touching Lynn’s cheek.
Her fingertips were cold.
“Brother.”
She spoke, her voice sickeningly sweet.
“Was I really… in your hallucination?”
Lynn’s body stiffened.
“Of course,” he answered without hesitation.
Lilith smiled, her eyes curving into crescents.
“That’s good.”
She withdrew her hand, skipped over to Ignis’s side, and began to tease the carefree dragon.
As if everything that had just happened was merely a small interlude.
But Lynn knew.
She didn’t believe it.
Not a single word.
She just didn’t want to expose him for now.
He had sown this lie.
Like a seed, buried in this soil called the “Shura Field.”
It wouldn’t sprout immediately.
But one day, it would break through the earth and grow into a towering tree capable of strangling him to death.
Lynn’s monstrous lie was like a thin layer of ice, temporarily covering the volcano about to erupt.
Vivian had sheathed her sword, but her hand still rested on the hilt.
Alicia picked up the Holy Scripture from the floor, clutching the book, her knuckles white.
Ignis was still out of the loop, rubbing her head against Lilith’s calf.
And Lilith, the sole see-through of the lie, was using her innocent gaze to scrutinize Lynn, inch by inch.
She didn’t speak, just smiled.
This silence made Lynn more terrified than any interrogation.
He’d rather they draw their blades right now than be slowly crushed by this invisible pressure.
Just as the dead silence was about to solidify the very air…
“Beep—”
A sharp, electronic tone that didn’t belong to this world sounded from the massive surgery table in the center of the hall.
The sound wasn’t loud, but it was like a needle, precisely puncturing the tense atmosphere.
Everyone’s gaze shot towards the source of the sound.
In the darkness above the surgery table, a red light flickered on.
Then a second, a third… countless red lights connected, illuminating a metallic construct curled up on the ceiling.
The thing slowly unfurled, like an inverted steel spider.
Its body was made of smooth, silver-white alloy, with complex hydraulic lines and cables exposed at the joints.
The ends of its four mechanical arms were gleaming cutters and energy cannons.
Its “head” was a single, massive red eye, now coldly scanning everyone below.
“Detecting high-concentration emotional pollution sources…”
An emotionless synthetic voice echoed through the hall.
“Analyzing… Jealousy, 91.3%… Possessiveness, 95.7%… Hostility, 88.4%…”
With each word the voice announced, Vivian’s and Alicia’s expressions grew uglier.
The smile on Lilith’s face also faded.
Lynn’s heart skipped a beat.
He knew what this was.
An old civilization’s ruin guardian, codename “Scavenger.”
According to his own mischievous setting back then, this thing’s activation energy wasn’t magic, wasn’t electricity, but… negative emotions.
The silent Shura Field these women had just enacted was practically a ten-course feast for it!
“Warning. Detecting multiple ‘World-Ending’ level disaster entities.”
“Threat level: Maximum.”
“Eradication protocol… initiated.”
As the final syllable fell, the Scavenger’s red eye glowed intensely.
BOOM!
A crimson energy beam shot out without any warning, straight towards Alicia, who was closest to it.
Alicia reacted extremely fast.
The Holy Scripture automatically opened before her, and a golden light shield instantly formed.
The beam collided with the shield, erupting in a blinding flash and a violent energy shockwave.
Alicia grunted, sliding back several steps, two deep grooves carved into the metal floor beneath her feet.
The light shield shattered.
“Purify this filthy thing!” Vivian roared angrily, drawing her sword and charging forward.
Her body transformed into a silver streak of lightning, the sword’s edge slicing through the air with a sharp whistle, aimed directly at the Scavenger’s single eye.
The Scavenger crossed two of its mechanical arms to block, precisely catching Vivian’s slash.
Metal clashed, sparks flying.
Vivian felt a tremendous force transmitted through the blade, her palms going numb, her entire body being forcefully repelled.
“Brother, get behind me!”
Lilith grabbed Lynn and pulled him behind a thick culture column.