NOVEL WEB Chapter 16: 16:The Gilded Tyrant
Fortunately he had survived, but even so, his body was in tatters.
If it weren't for the effects of 「A Valtier's Pride (S)」, which refused to let him be humiliated publicly, he would have collapsed right there on the training ground.
But even now, Licht was running on borrowed time.
He needed somewhere to pass out—somewhere he could collapse without his pride being wounded.
Normally, the dorms on campus would be a perfect place to do this, but there was no chance he was making it there in his current state.
They were simply too far.
Wait… what about the personal office?
Each year at Nexus Slayer Academy had its own head, and each head had a private office.
Normally, it was reserved for important meetings or special occasions, but no one would question it if he used it to rest.
He had to make it.
Licht moved. Every step he took felt like he was dragging a corpse, and after just a few minutes of walking, his vision was already beginning to blur.
By now, Licht didn't care who saw him.
He was ready to die right then and there, his hateful trait be damned, when he finally saw a heavenly sight. the office door,
barely registering it, fumbled with the lock, and stumbled inside. With one last shred of awareness, he shut the door behind him and collapsed face-first onto the nearest couch.
The moment Licht landed, He passed out cold.
...
After an unknown span of time, Licht's eyes shot open.
The first thing that came to him when he opened his eyes was Darkness. It was everywhere.
Licht exhaled sharply.
"Did I really sleep until nightfall...?"
But as his vision adjusted, the truth began to crawl into his thoughts like a cold snake.
This wasn't night.
No moon.
No stars.
No... world.
Now Licht realised it—
He wasn't outside in the dark— He was in the void.
With that realisation, it soon began.
A low, grating hum, like the resonance of dying stars, drilled into his skull. A frequency just beneath hearing, but not beyond feeling. It left him unsettled in a way nothing ever had.
After the sound came the voice.
Garbled. Shifting. Twisting— almost as if it were something trying to reach and claw hat him through impossible, inconceivable gaps between dimensions.
"m#y... ch'lxz--dr..."
"m¥... ch|ld..."
"Awaken... my... child..."
The moment Licht grasped those words, something in his mind shattered open.
Suddenly, a presence vast and merciless attempted to intrude upon his perception.
Licht resisted with every fiber of his being. Every shred of will and self-preservation instinct activated in that moment.
And then, sound rang in his mind.
Ding!
The trait 「A Valtier's Pride (S)」 has been activated.
But to Licht's horror, for the first time since he had arrived in this world... his trait…
It wasn't enough.
His trait—his pride—it still didn't shatter under pressure, but it didn't remain unflinching either.
For the first time, both his body and mind experienced the same emotion at the same time.
They experienced fear.
Like a cornered beast, Licht lashed out in desperation.
He tried to open his 「Infinite Copy Eyes (SSS)」, hoping their divine sight might have something to combat this terror.
But the truth was—this only made things worse.
Instantly, tears began to pour from his eyes—no, they weren't tears, but blood.
He had seen it.
He had seen a god.
The Gilded Tyrant.
For just a few moments, Licht managed to steel a glance at the Lord of Greed and dominion and its visage had been permanently seared into his mind.
The being sat upon a vast dark golden throne, one dulled and ancient, as if it had weathered the corrosion of entire civilizationsith age and power.
Around the throne, Heavy chains draped from the side like ceremonial robes as they hung onto its armrests, whilst their blackened links emitted a black smoke whispering and clinking under the weight of broken oaths.
The armrests the chains hung from eually as earire. they were carved into shape of silver wailing dragons, their jaws roaring frozen open in eternal agony as eyes of obsidian wept with a twisted black ichor.
Only the lower body of the Lord of Greed was visible—colossal, clad in blackened gold greaves etched with ever-burning script.
He did not move.
He did not need to.
The air itself seemed to ache, bending around Him as if reality strained to bear His weight.
As for the rest of His form?
You could not see above the knees—
And, truly, You should never try.
This was the Lord of Greed and Dominion.
Licht had gazed upon the essence of divine authority—
And nearly lost all that made him human.
In a way, he was fortunate, If such a word even had any meaning here, brcause the consequences could be far worse
Suddenly, without warning, the vision around licht thawed and cracked.
Soon the golden throne faded and the wailing chains fell silent and nd Licht suddenly shot awake, gasping as if surfacing from a black ocean of gold.
He was back—back from wherever that hellish realm was.
But just as licht relaxed, an ominous voice followed.
It was still echoing, still there.
Closer now and No longer divine.
Now... intimate, like A whisper buried just beneath his skin:
You will have everything...
Yet it will never be enough..
Licht tried to ignore these ominus whispers , and after n unknown amount of time , licht no longer heard anything
finnaly relaxing hios nerves , lciht toook a deep a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat that had accumulated on his brows
Ding!
Congratulations on Resisting the Lord of Greed and Dominion
300 EP rewarded.
Despite heraing the famailiar systeme notification, Licht wasn't in the mood to celebrate, Not even for Enlightenment Points.
Because now he knew the truth —
he was being watched.
Not just by the entity that had granted him the System, but by something else. Something far worse.
The outer gods, or at the very least—
The Lord of Greed.