Chapter 267: Taking hostage

"You don't have all day to decide. Think fast," Lucifer reminded Ayn, who seemed to be lost in deep thought as she thought about what to do. 

She glanced at Veracity, who shrugged as if she couldn't help her. 

Ayn glanced down at the plate before her, which had some of the food still left. There was a spoon on the plate as well. 

She took a deep breath as she realized something she could do. She reacted fast as she placed her arm around the shoulder of Veracity, and she pulled her closer. 

At the same time, she also picked up the spoon and placed the opposite end of the spoon on Veracity's neck like a needle. 

"I'll stab this in her neck if you come closer. She's a part of your team; you can't watch her die, can you?" Ayn threatened Lucifer, who seemed emotionless. 

Lucifer rubbed his chin as she shook his head in disappointment. 

He wanted to tell her to kill Veracity because he knew Ayn couldn't do it. But he didn't say that. 

If he said that, he knew Veracity would think that he didn't care even a little for her life. She could even start hating him and lose whatever shred of loyalty she had to the cause.

"Free her. I don't want her hurt," Lucifer said calmly. "You don't know what you are doing."

"Hah, as expected! You care for her! Good. Very good. If you don't want to lose her, let me leave!" Ayn told Lucifer. 

"Let you leave?" Lucifer inquired. 

"Yes. If you want to see her live!" Ayn repeated. 

"You can't blame me in that case," Lucifer replied, shaking his head. "At least you finished dinner, so you won't die of hunger even if you sleep for a little longer."

"What do you mean?" Ayn asked, frowning. " Do you want her to die?"

Lucifer opened his lips, seemingly annoyed as he said, "Activate."

As soon as he finished speaking, a red light blinked in the Limiter of Ayn for a brief moment. 

"Arghh!"

Ayn's scream filled the entire room as she was electrocuted again. She couldn't even move her hand as she felt an electric current coursing through her body.

Her eyes closed as she dropped to the bed. The spoon in her hand also dropped. 

"Are you alright?" Lucifer asked Veracity as he wore his gloves again while approaching her. 

He wanted to tell her that he was sorry that he didn't see it coming. And he was sad about what she had to go through. 

He wanted to say that just to get close to Veracity and show her that he was concerned. But he didn't do it as he realized that she could recognize lies. 

He couldn't lie to her, and even if he did, it wasn't going to work. So he needed to be real with her when speaking or not speak at all.

" I'm fine. It was nothing," Veracity replied as she touched her neck gently. "She wasn't actually going to hurt me. I could see she was lying about that."

"I know she wasn't," Lucifer replied. "But I can't let anyone kill you. You're important to me."

As the words he spoke were true, Veracity was surprised. She didn't know that Lucifer would care for her. 

She didn't realize that she was important to him for a reason. And that's why what he told her wasn't a lie. 

"She won't wake up anytime soon. You both can leave and rest. We'll try again tonight," Lucifer told Veracity and Cassius, telling them to leave. 

"I'll continue my practice outside. Tell me if you need me later," Cassius said as he left to practice. 

Veracity also left after taking one last glance at Ayn.

After the two of them left, Lucifer also stood up. He approached the bed, getting closer to Ayn. 

"Keeping hostages won't work either. You're trapped from all sides. All you can do is give me what I want," he muttered as he glanced at Ayn's unconscious face. 

He picked up the spoon and kept it on the plate before putting both of them on the empty table. 

As he was finished, he walked back to the bed and picked up the box of chocolates. Placing a piece of chocolate in his mouth, he kept the box on the shelf for later. 

He walked inside the bathroom and turned on the water to wash his face. 

Splashing the water on his face, he wiped his face with the towel before glancing at himself in the mirror.

As he observed carefully, he was able to notice the violet in his eyes. 

"What is the mystery of this eye? Why do I have it? How am I related to the man behind the portal? He didn't even step into this world. So how can he be related to me?"

"The story of his can't be as simple as the others know. There's something that even lesser people know. And Varant should be one of those," he muttered as he frowned. 

"What am I missing? It should be something that happened after the Great War."

He grabbed the pendant in his neck, which had a key. "This key should be the key of everything. Something that no one knew except my parents."

"Wait, where are the patterns that were on the key?" he abruptly exclaimed, frowning. 

When he first saw the key, he had noticed that there were a few strange characters on the key that seemed to be moving as well. But now, the key seemed entirely normal. There was nothing on the key like that anymore. 

He didn't realize that the strange characters were on his body now, instead of being on the key. They were creating what seemed like a strange formation on his back.

Since they were on his back, he couldn't see them either.

"Strange..."

"This key is really strange," he muttered as he shook his head.

Turning back, he stepped out of the bathroom.

After taking a glance around the room, he again left

He didn't forget to lock the room behind him before keeping the room key in his pocket. 

Instead of going outside to practice like Cassius, he went upstairs to the roof.

The roof of the mansion was huge. There was enough space for him to even play soccer if he wanted. But he wanted to practice here. 

He had decided to learn the skill of his father so that he could become more powerful. He believed if he learned that skill, his strength was going to be multiplied. He could kill hundreds of enemies at once. 

"Now, where to start from? That's the main question," he thought as he sat on the roof.