The dust flowed throughout the town.
Broken buildings.
Broken streets.
Nobody in the crowd dared to move.
Lucien broke the silence and said, "Your sword has accepted you as its true wielder."
Michael replied, "I don't know what you are talking about."
Lucien said, "Do you know why that sword exists in the world?"
"What are you talking about?"
"You know nothing, Michael."
"Regicide belongs to a special bloodline that people believed went extinct. But there are still two people in the whole world alive from that bloodline."
Lucien continued,
"For many years, people tried to conquer that blade. They slaughtered kingdoms, wiped out civilizations, but nothing happened."
"But you... were accepted as its true wielder."
Michael looked down at Regicide and tightened his grip.
"Regicide is a blade that was passed down through the Valric Clan."
Michael shook in fear.
"Does... that mean..."
"I am a--"
"Yes, Michael."
"You are a VALRIC."
The name echoed through his mind.
He saw a burning town...
People running...
People wearing black clothes...
And blood everywhere.
Michael asked, "How do you know this, and what do you know?"
Lucien replied,
"I know everything, Michael Valric."
Lucien slowly raised his sword.
"Michael Valric..."
"It's time to end you here before you become a nuisance to the whole world."
Michael looked around.
Everyone was whispering.
Olivia asked,
"Mike... who are you?"
Michael couldn't answer.
Because he didn't know who he was.
Lucien smiled.
"Look at yourself."
"You spent your entire life trying to find a purpose... an ideology..."
"But you don't even know your own name."
Michael clenched his fists.
"I don't care who I was."
"I choose to become who I want."
Lucien laughed.
"That same old weakness of yours makes you look just like everyone else in this crowd, Michael."
"You always choose people..."
"...and they leave."
Michael's face darkened.
Lucien continued,
"The person you let die..."
Michael froze.
His heartbeat stopped.
"You chose the mission over the person..."
"...and they died."
"You chose Olivia over your mission."
"When will you learn?"
"People die..."
"...but missions survive."
Michael lowered his head.
Slowly, Regicide began flowing with energy faster than ever before.
Lucien said,
"You think you fight because you are righteous."
"But you fight to forgive yourself."
Michael remembered Elena's last words...
And her gentle smile.
He slowly opened his eyes.
"NO."
Lucien's eyes widened.
Michael raised Regicide.
"I fought for kingdoms..."
"For revenge..."
"For missions..."
"But today..."
"I will fight to protect someone else."
He pointed Regicide toward the injured...
The children...
Everyone in the crowd...
And finally...
Olivia.
Lucien spoke.
"So you've chosen the weak again."
Michael answered,
"No."
"I have chosen humanity."
Lucien's face froze.
For the first time...
A tiny crack appeared in his way of thinking.
"You really believe they're worth dying for?"
Michael answered immediately.
"I don't need them to remember my name."
"I only need them to keep living."
SILENCE.
The wind blew gently throughout the town as both of them stood there, staring at each other.
Lucien looked at the terrified crowd.
Then...
At Michael.
Then...
At Regicide.
For the first time in years...
He questioned himself.
Only for a second.
Then...
He smiled again.
"...Very well."
"If your world deserves to exist..."
"Prove it."
Dark energy flowed through Lucien's body.
The ground shattered beneath his feet.
The sky turned black.
His true power had finally awakened.
Michael tightened his grip on Regicide.
The sword shone brighter than the sun.
Two philosophies.
Two bloodlines.
Two worlds.
Were about to decide the future of Crimson Reach.