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Chapter 258 Second Rise of the Elwood Family [VII] {The Stars Seek Compensation}

"Champion or not, working above the means of your Rena is a crime. A toll must be paid," the... thing in front of Lucius boomed, its voice identical to his as well.

To say the least, Lucius was completely caught in a daze, unable to process what was going on.

"The punishment for this crime would normally be your life. But yours is one of greater destiny. As my champion, I cannot snuff you out before you carry out my will," the thing continued.

"God... you\'re a god?" Lucius stuttered, more to himself than to the entity in front of him.

"No gods exist," the thing replied dismissively before walking around Lucius, assessing his body with great scrutiny.

It felt uncanny to have something so eerily similar to him inspect him. However, their mannerisms and presence couldn\'t be worlds apart, so the illusion was somewhat incomplete.

"The others will not let your crimes pass without adequate punishment. And I cannot sully my seat by giving favour. As such, for the punishment of working past your means, I mark you with the brand of the thief," the thing said, its voice holding no emotion.

It raised a finger towards Lucius, and with that, Lucius felt streaks of searing hot pain wrap around his body. This pain did not subside and instead grew stronger by the second, until eventually, he was on the ground wailing.

This was a pain beyond anything he had ever experienced, and if not for this strange entity keeping him conscious, he was certain he would\'ve passed out.

"As repayment for the Rena you have stolen, I take your left eye, so that I may peer through it as I see fit, and ensure you do not steal again," the thing continued. And with that, the vision from Lucius\'s left eye dimmed, and with it any connection he had.

The thing then turned back to look at the other stars, "Is this not enough? I have crippled my champion, are you not satisfied?"

The stars twinkled in response, before one by one, they grew dim and disappeared.

"You—you\'re a god, you are. Tell me, wh-why am I here? You-you called me your champion, wh-what am I supposed to do?" Lucius struggled to say, as the pain that had been consuming his body slowly alleviated.

"This is not an audience but an adjudication. If you seek to speak with me, venture to one of my temples, and give offering. If it suffices, I shall hear your query," the thing replied, before morphing back into a star.

"W-wait, where is your temple," Lucius shouted, his body now completely recovered from the pain. Though his left eye was still lost.

"I shall tell you this, dear champion of mine. Time is ticking, the enemies gather their forces. It is time you stopped fighting your brethren. In the end, your forces will have to unite," the thing said, before Lucius felt the ground beneath him disappear.

With this, he fell back to the ground, and the strange sky returned to normal.

*

"Lighted One!" Lucius heard Pagan shout as he slowly opened his eye.

When his vision finally adjusted, he found Pagan and all the other members of the commune staring at him with worried expressions.

~What was that?~ Lucius wondered himself, at first believing his strange interaction to have been some sort of dream.

However, the fact that he could not see through his left eye made him aware that it was no work of fiction.

"What—what happened?" Pagan asked, his voice tainted with concern as his gaze swept over Lucius\'s body in disbelief.

The black robe Lucius had been wearing had been reduced to charred tatters, exposing his skin. Obsidian marks now plagued his entire body and made it look as if he were wearing a green and brown tiger\'s pelt.

After some time in shock, Pagan tried to cast 『Solar cleanse』; however, it did not work. These were not marks that could be healed away.

~The brand of the thief,~ Lucius thought to himself, caressing one of the marks on his arm.

"And your eyes, Lighted One," Pagan whispered, staring deeply at it. "Did something happen?" he asked, now looking at Lucius\'s good eye.

Lucius stopped to think about it for a moment. The god thing had mentioned that this was a punishment. That he had worked above his means... that he had used more Rena than he had.

This wasn\'t the first time he had heard the word Rena; the necromancer had used it as well. It seemed that it was a sort of energy tied to the use of magic.

~I definitely need to find out more about this,~ he thought to himself. And it was highly likely that Pagan might know something since he was so ancient... however.

"I\'ll explain to you later," he decided after some thought. There was nothing he could really say at this point without scaring everyone anyway.

Besides, if the commune heard that their previous saviour had been branded as a thief by the gods, then what would happen?

~I just hope this mark doesn\'t attract unwanted attention,~ he thought to himself. After all, branding a thief served a purpose. It was to let others know of his crimes. And there was no doubt that anyone who recognized these marks would be a creature of considerable power.

"Shall I tell everyone to get back into the camp?" the bear-man leader asked, earning him a dirty look from Pagan who was still doting over his Lighted One.

"No, let\'s try to finish this," Lucius replied, realizing that he didn\'t at all feel exhausted.

~Did it replenish my energy?~ he thought to himself. However, after thinking about it for a bit, he realized that this was very likely. After all, the thing had called him their champion. So it was a benefactor of sorts, even though it had disgraced him.

~Still, it was worth it. I wasn\'t going to let her die,~ he thought to himself, eyeing Asclepius\'s egg, which was right beside him.

A few shrooms were gathered around the egg-shaped pod, which was about the size of a large boar. Way larger than any other pod Lucius had ever seen.

It was primarily purple, with streaks of bright green and yellow. And unlike all the previous pods, instead of roots, it had dozens of small mushrooms growing around its base.

He moved to place his hand on it, to see how she was doing inside. And after a quick solar pulse, he got back a positive result.

"She\'s finally ascended," Lucius whispered to himself, a wave of relief washing over him.