Chapter 1143: Emergency Report

Chapter 1143 – Emergency Report

By the time Lux returned to his mansion in the Mortal Realm, evening had already settled over the gardens.

Which made sense.

He had spent considerably longer in Lilith’s personal dimension than originally planned.

A rescue mission had somehow turned into a diplomatic agreement, an ancient alliance, and a very thorough exploration of the advantages of equal partnership.

His shirt was immaculate again.

His hair was not.

And the faint smile on his face was the sort that would make his mother demand an explanation and his father demand a financial statement.

Fortunately, Lilith had remained in her dimension to prepare a mortal-compatible form.

Unfortunately, Lux had returned to a much less entertaining problem.

[Welcome back.]

"Give me a report on what happened in Greed House and Envy House while I was gone."

[Would you prefer the concise version or the version that accurately conveys the severity of his situation?]

Lux stopped walking.

Oh.

That was never a good opening.

"The accurate version."

[Very well.]

[Emergency Report: Royal Authority Escalation]

[King Kaelmor has issued an extraordinary audit order against all Seven Sin Houses.]

Lux stared.

All seven?

Not just Greed.

Not just Envy.

All seven.

He slowly closed his eyes. "Of course he did."

Lilith had visited Prime Nexus Tower before finding him at Cyrinne’s mansion. She had concealed her trail afterward, but Kaelmor had been left wounded, humiliated, and deprived of an ancient power source.

A rational king would have investigated quietly.

Kaelmor, apparently, had chosen to set the entire kingdom on fire and call it an administrative procedure.

[Royal auditors have been ordered to examine House finances, military inventories, inter-house agreements, dimensional transit records, and restricted artifact holdings.]

[Royal investigators have requested access to private correspondence and security formations.]

[Several houses have formally challenged the scope of the order.]

[Royal enforcement units are mobilizing.]

Lux’s smile vanished. "Status of Greed House?"

[Lord Zavros has rejected unrestricted access to proprietary financial records.]

[Lady Seraphyne has rejected the investigators’ request to question household members without representation.]

[The royal delegation has been informed that any unauthorized entry will be treated as trespassing.]

Lux exhaled.

Father had gone with the legal defense.

Mother had gone with the threat.

Excellent division of labor.

"Envy?"

[House Envy has provided limited records while denying access to its private mirror network.]

[Cyrinne’s residence has been included in a secondary investigation.]

Lux’s jaw tightened.

Cyrinne had helped him. He had promised not to leave her holding the consequences alone.

And Kaelmor was already knocking on her door.

[Additional finding: The audit order applies to Pride, Lust, Sloth, Wrath, and Gluttony Houses.]

[Assessment: The royal response has expanded beyond the original incident.]

Lux stared at the report.

Then laughed once.

A short, humorless sound.

"Well, congratulations, Kaelmor. You’ve managed to make everyone equally miserable."

"Seems like the big war is coming." Sira’s voice reached him from the doorway.

Lux turned.

She stood with her arms folded, her expression unusually serious. Her usual teasing smile was absent, and the Pride in her eyes had sharpened into something colder.

From upstairs came Gula’s voice. "The king’s really mad."

She descended the staircase, followed by Lullaby, who looked as though she had been dragged out of a perfectly respectable nap by the collapse of civilization.

Gula studied Lux. "I assume you managed to get the demoness out."

"I did."

"And in return," Lullaby murmured, rubbing one eye, "he wants to destroy all the Sin Houses."

Lux glanced at the report hovering before him. "Apparently, he’s conducting a hostile takeover with paperwork."

Sira snorted.

Nobody else laughed.

Fair enough.

Lux dismissed the display. "Actually, I have bad news too."

Gula stopped halfway down the stairs. "Worse than this?"

Lux exhaled.

He looked at them.

"The king... is immortal."

Silence.

The kind of silence that made even the mansion’s background magic seem to stop humming.

Gula blinked.

Once.

Then twice.

"Okay," she said slowly. "That’s a big problem." Yue appeared beside the staircase in a ripple of draconic power. "Well," she murmured, "that explains all his overconfidence."

Aela, who had been sitting quietly on the sofa, lowered her cup. "And his obsession with power."

Lux nodded. "Lilith fought him. She nearly tore into his core. But Kaelmor bound his core and soul to nothingness. He removed the paths through which she could kill him."

Sira’s expression hardened. "Lilith? You mean the demoness? Even she couldn’t do it?"

"No."

Lullaby’s sleepy eyes were fully open now. That alone was an alarming development. "Then how do we win?"

"Tell me you have a plan for this." Naomi entered from the adjoining hall.

Lux turned toward her. "I do." He paused. "It’s a big plan."

Naomi approached him, her gaze searching his face. She took his hand, briefly brushing her thumb over his knuckles.

The contract mark beneath his skin glimmered.

She noticed.

Her eyebrows rose.

Lux gave her a small smile. "Long story."

"Later," she said.

Oh.

That was not a suggestion.

That was a scheduled interrogation.

He would need coffee.

Possibly legal counsel.

Lux gently squeezed her hand before facing the others. "We can’t kill Kaelmor. At least, not through any method we currently know."

He walked toward the center of the room.

"So no matter how high I climb, no matter how powerful I become, simply fighting him until he dies won’t work."

Gula folded her arms. "Then we imprison him?"

"Eventually, perhaps. But first, we take away everything that makes him dangerous."

Lux raised one finger. "His hostages."

A second.

"His power sources."

A third.

"And the mechanisms that let him control both."

Yue’s eyes narrowed. "You mean the ancient beings he’s bound."

"Exactly."

Lux thought.

How many others were there?

How many prisons?

How many forgotten chambers had Kaelmor hidden beneath his kingdom?

"We’ve been treating each rescue as a separate operation," Lux continued. "Find a prisoner. Infiltrate. Break the binding. Escape."

"And it worked," Sira said.

"Until the king realized someone was dismantling his collection."

Lux’s smile turned thin. "Now he’s mobilizing against every house. That means we can’t keep approaching this one target at a time."