Chapter 237
Theo stood like a judge's pillar at the center of the silent arena, his two arms still stretched straight out, forming a horizon of fate that divided two possibilities.
His voice, no longer carrying the cadence of a dance, transformed into something flat and explicit, delivering two choices, each laden with terrifying consequences.
The first choice was presented with clarity that left no room for misinterpretation.
Ilux could choose to stay, to continue fighting with what remained of his broken savagery.
However, Theo stated without hesitation that he would not shy away from doing something far beyond ordinary physical violence.
He would violate him.
The word hung in the air, heavy and trembling with threat.
Violate him, just as the depraved act Ilux had intended to commit against Aldraya.
Theo deliberately dragged that horrific parallel into the open, forcing Ilux to confront his own vile intent toward his personal mentor, a woman who lay dying and helpless after her defeat against "The Nameless," only to be exploited to satisfy dark desire.
Theo's threat was not merely to kill, but to turn the blade of violation back upon Ilux himself, creating a brutal, humiliating form of poetic justice.
As an alternative, there was a second choice.
An exit that seemed to offer a chance to breathe.
Ilux was permitted to leave, to flee from this cave and from Theo's presence.
But the word "if" that followed became an equally heavy trial.
That freedom was conditional.
He had to be capable of avoiding something Theo referred to as the "momentum" he would generate from the "Luminous Fan Technique."
'When all four flow into the Luminous Fan, it is no longer merely a technique.
It becomes a statement.'
At its core, the Luminous Fan Technique was not a complicated or secretive art.
In the world of Flo Viva Mythology, its fundamental principle could be understood by many samurai who studied sword disciplines.
It was a method for releasing a burst of accumulated energy.
The process was straightforward: absorb the abundant Lu Core energy from the surrounding environment, compress it into a single focal point, then release it as a controlled explosion that struck only the target, like an atomic bomb with a personal radius of destruction.
The simplicity of its concept was precisely what made it so dangerously elegant.
Yet the true impact of the technique was never exactly the same.
It depended on the aura and character of the absorbed Lu Core.
Drawing from an ancient forest would produce an explosion that rotted and spread like roots.
Drawing from the peak of a volcanic mountain would give birth to a raging outpour of molten lava.
Each environment imparted a different color and poison to what otherwise appeared to be the same explosion.
This variation made the technique unpredictable, a weapon whose final form was determined by the land upon which it was unleashed.
For Theo Vkytor, this technique went beyond mere manipulation of environmental energy.
He was the hidden inspiration of this world, an indirect architect whose imagination flowed through the horror novel Last Prayer and fused with the DNA of Flo Viva Mythology.
Therefore, the four pillars that formed the essence of his creativity—Unwavering Resolve, Will that shaped reality, Intent that purified purpose, and Ambition that transcended limits—never faded.
These four pillars, abstract yet more real than steel, always existed, accompanying him like a second soul.
And within the Luminous Fan Technique, it was these four pillars that he channeled, becoming the core of the explosion he gathered.
Thus, the blast he produced was no longer merely a personal atomic bomb fueled by natural energy.
It became a manifestation of the essence of creation itself, a compressed narrative gravity.
Its power could be equated to a "Sa," the highest unit of authority possessed by—and the true identity of—the Administrator, the guardian entity that controlled every scenario, code, and law within the game Flo Viva Mythology.
'Of course you run.
From the beginning, you always chose distance when words could no longer protect you.'
Tsuuuuf!!
'Twelve percent is enough.
Anything more would only be a waste of intent.'
Fhooooh!!
'Enjoy the afterlife, pitiful protagonist!'
"—AAAAAAARGHHHHH—!!!"
Ilux did not respond.
There were no words, no cries of rejection or acceptance.
There was only an action born from the most basic and desperate survival instinct.
His severely injured body, like a rocket fired by final panic, shot instinctively toward the mouth of the cave.
He chose to flee, taking the second option without pausing to consider the horrifying condition attached to it.
It was the first step in avoiding the promised momentum, a blind escape toward a faint possibility of survival.
Behind him, Theo watched the retreat with a thin smile curling at the corner of his lips.
A cold grin, filled with anticipated certainty.
He already knew—or rather, had predicted with algorithmic precision—that Ilux would choose to run even before any measured deliberation could form.
And that prediction became reality.
As Ilux's back turned and distance began to stretch between them, Theo moved.
His motion was minimalist yet heavy with meaning.
His right hand shifted to the hilt of the sword at his waist.
He drew it, but not with a dramatic flourish.
The blade rose only about twelve percent from its sheath, a narrow gap almost imperceptible.
Yet from that slender opening, a devastating process began.
Theo did not exert ordinary physical force.
From within himself, he channeled and compressed his four existential pillars as the Writer of Inspiration.
Resolve hardened like diamond.
Will capable of bending narrative.
Intent that purified all action into a single purpose.
And an Ambition that surpassed even the cavern's ceiling.
All four merged into an invisible mental force more real than any sword.
That personified creativity he then intertwined—or more precisely, stitched together—with the surging Lu Core energy of the surrounding cave.
He did not absorb it passively, but forced it to submit and fuse with his four pillars.
In an instant, a massive chain reaction was triggered.
A cataclysmic burst was born not from his blade, but from a point in the air where Ilux was fleeing, as if space itself exploded under Theo's command.
The explosion made no thunderous sound at its origin, yet its impact struck the target directly.
Inside the cave, both Theo and Aldraya, who still lay weak, heard a sound that pierced through layers of stone and distance.
It was Ilux's scream.
But it was unlike any ordinary cry of pain.
The sound seemed torn apart, shattered, and distorted by unimaginable suffering, as if every cell in his body were struck and destroyed not once, but repeatedly in a single moment, becoming the target of more than one hundred and twenty thousand atomic explosions detonating in succession within himself.
'As long as my name is still spoken, as long as my will still stands, I will not betray our agreement.
Thank you… for this silence.'
After Ilux's final scream faded, swallowed by layers of earth and stone, a dense and meaningful silence descended upon the cave.
This stillness was not empty quiet, but a space cleansed of violent clamor and vile intent.
Within the chamber left only for himself and Aldraya, who still lay weak, Theo stood like a monument that had completed its duty.
Even the wind entering from the cave's mouth seemed to blow more gently, as if paying respect to the calm that had been obtained through such brutal means.
To be continued…