Lyte turned into a small alley by the roadside.
It was called a small alley, but it wasn’t actually that narrow.
It was an important passage connecting two main roads, so both sides had been widened considerably.
Getting more familiar with how to use the phone, Lyte sent Noi a message: [On the way].
In his previous life, he had used a phone, but most of the time it was only for calls, and he rarely used the internet.
On one hand, he felt that the dazzling and seductive world online had little to do with him.
On the other, his status at the time allowed him to easily obtain many things others could only dream of, so his interest naturally faded.
Halfway down the alley, Lyte sensed something and looked up, seeing the crisscrossing wires overhead caging the sky like a spider’s web.
The Base Station drew magic power from the Magic Net Node, then transmitted it throughout the town via these things called ‘wires’.
Nowadays, on Tria Planet, you could see more and more things that didn’t exist before.
Lyte stopped walking, put his phone in his pocket, and zipped it up to avoid dropping it while moving.
He already knew what the problem was.
“Lyte, long time no see.”
On the rooftop of an old house at the edge of the alley, a woman in a black robe with only half her face visible spoke.
Her voice was processed, making it impossible to discern her tone, and her hair was hidden under the hood—clearly, she cared a lot about her privacy.
“What do you… want?”
Even though he knew danger was coming, Lyte didn’t rush to break out.
Because he had already sensed that this alley was surrounded by a barrier—a type he was very familiar with.
Sin Domain often used this kind of restrictive barrier to delay powerful enemies that were hard to handle, or to assassinate geniuses who could be killed alone.
The way to break the barrier was to find the Array Eye, though brute force was also possible, but only if the trapped person was strong enough.
With Lyte’s current strength, it would take some time to break out by force.
“What do we want? That’s a good question.”
The high heels stepping on the edge of the wall spun around, grinding some silver dust that fluttered down.
“Aren’t you curious about what’s happening to your little girlfriend right now?”
“…Curious. Can you tell me what’s going on with her?”
Without showing any emotion, Lyte placed his hand on the sword hilt and stepped toward the edge of the barrier.
Ever since Nightmare appeared, he’d been quietly gathering Brave’s Power, focusing his mind to sharpen his sword intent, all to break the barrier unexpectedly and escape.
If his opponent was someone dumb like Shang, he’d probably have a good chance of succeeding.
Unfortunately, Nightmare was quite clever, and Lyte’s attempt to stall for time by asking questions didn’t work on her.
“Shang! Stop him!”
A shadowy black sword fell from above.
Lyte had no choice but to draw his sword and counter in advance.
A soaring sword light, infused with Brave’s Power, surged up, and the black shadow burned to ashes like paper held to a flame.
“Tch, what exactly do you want?”
His escape plan interrupted, Lyte’s gaze gradually turned dangerous.
After more than half a month, Nightmare and Shang had appeared together, set up a barrier, and trapped him here.
But they didn’t seem in a hurry to kill him, which puzzled Lyte.
“I haven’t even finished speaking and you’re already trying to run? So impatient.”
Nightmare adjusted her half-mask, and Shang withdrew his black sword into the shadows.
“If nothing unexpected happened, your little girlfriend should’ve already drunk the ‘Abyss’ poison.”
“‘Abyss’… You really think highly of Noi, don’t you.”
Hearing that poison had been used, Lyte was a bit tense, but after hearing it was Abyss Poison, he relaxed a little.
Abyss Poison was concocted by the Domain Lord of Sin Domain, Shen Yu, using a rare kind of Void Energy, similar to Chaos Energy but even more special.
As far as he knew, only four doses had appeared so far, and three had been used on A-rank or higher powerhouses, all to no effect.
The fourth dose was used on the current Cathedral Saintess, Leanna, who absorbed it without any harm, so people believed Abyss Poison was ineffective against the Saintess.
In his previous life, ‘Abyss’ had only appeared five times, but because he suddenly appeared in Wagner Town, causing a Butterfly Effect, the course of the world began to change subtly.
The Four Captains of the Sin Domain attacked the Imperial Capital, Wagner Town had two Variant Captains, the Witch’s other identity was the Saintess, and… the Domain Lord even prepared an extra dose of Abyss Poison for her.
But it makes no sense…
How did they know Noi was the Saintess?
Only the four of us present at the time knew!
As Lyte realized the suspicious points, Nightmare revealed the truth herself.
“Of course! After all, she’s the Saintess who hasn’t been discovered yet!”
“…So? Don’t you know that Abyss Poison is ineffective against the Saintess?”
‘If you know she’s the Saintess, why poison her? Unless…’
Thinking of some shocking possibilities, Lyte’s hand shook on the sword, his heart leaping into his throat.
Seeing that he was already on the verge of the truth, Nightmare decided to lay it out—she simply wanted to witness the rare look of terror on the Chosen One’s face.
“Haven’t you watched the news? With your intelligence, think about it: is the current Saintess from the Traditionalist Faction or the Chancellor’s Faction? Of the three who went to the moon, only she was unharmed. Isn’t that suspicious in itself?”
After hearing Nightmare’s explanation, Lyte’s sense of crisis soared.
From her words, it was clear that Bishop Pria’s plan of two Saintesses coexisting might not actually exist.
At the very least, Lyte had personally witnessed Noi being recognized by the statue of Goddess Afiya—her identity as the Saintess was beyond doubt.
So if the Saintess wasn’t immune to Abyss Poison, how did Leanna absorb it without any side effects?
Countless doubts surfaced in his mind, and Lyte realized that only he, who knew Noi was the Saintess, could understand Nightmare’s words.
This also meant she was acting with impunity.
“You’re wrong. Clearly, only Leanna was harmed.”
Recalling the news, Lyte probed further, searching his Space Ring for anything useful—he was already prepared.
“Oh… Sorry, blame Shang for passing his idiot virus to me. I actually let that slip.”
‘Sin Domain and the Cathedral’s Chancellor’s Faction have colluded to this extent? In my previous life, I never noticed any signs—how careless.’
Hating his past self for only knowing how to fight like a fool, Lyte wished he could go back and take over that version of himself, using unrivaled strength to uncover just how many secrets the Cathedral was hiding.
“Anyway, what I want to tell you is, right now, only you can save Noi. You should know how fast Abyss Poison acts, right?”
“Only… me?”
Lyte controlled his breathing, suppressing his anxious expression.
Before the battle even began, his morale was already at rock bottom.
If he were the one poisoning, he’d never make an antidote and openly tell the enemy: “Look! I made an antidote! As long as you beat me, you can save your wife!”
So, thinking about it…
Shang, who drank the fifth dose of poison to kill himself in the previous life, wasn’t wrong—’Abyss’ could only be manipulated by his own Brave’s Power, and no one else could cure it.
Piecing together the clues, Lyte sensed a certain connection, and Nightmare’s true purpose, but he still didn’t understand why they had to imprison him here.
“If you poisoned Noi just to draw me out, why go to all this trouble? Why waste my time?”
Power surged within him.
Taking advantage of the conversation, Lyte pulled himself into the right state, channeling Brave’s Power through every muscle, mixing it with his magic.
After the battle at the abandoned warehouse, he’d accelerated his growth.
With experience from his previous life, his attributes had soared, and in just a month he’d returned to A-rank in all stats.
But what troubled him wasn’t the enemies in front of him, but what would happen to Noi.
‘Are they telling the truth? If not, why use poison as a lie to trick me? What’s their aim?’
In any case, the priority was to break out of here.
“Go to all this trouble? Maybe.” Nightmare, the master of riddles, left it at that.
Then she clapped her hands, and from the corner of the alley, hidden by Shang’s Chaos Energy, the Three Brothers: Hui, Ahei, and Abai, emerged.
Ahei scratched his head dumbly, Hui rubbed his fists together, eager to try his water ball, and Abai looked absent-mindedly at Lyte.
The three brothers each had different expressions.
Perhaps Lyte hadn’t yet figured out Nightmare’s true reason for keeping him here, but Abai had more or less guessed it.
It was to use Lyte’s hand to kill the three brothers.
Everyone involved with the secret of Abyss Poison had to be dealt with.
That was the only reason that she allowed them to overhear the news that Noi was the Saintess—sooner or later they’d die, whether they knew or not, it made no difference to Sin Domain.
Lutos was probably kept in the dark.
Once Lyte left the barrier, Nightmare would likely tell Lutos that Lyte killed the Three Brothers.
“Big bro, let’s go!”
‘Go where? To die?’
No matter how unwilling he was, with Nightmare and Shang staring him down, Abai could only force a bitter smile and, together with the thick-headed Ahei and Hui, attack Lyte, who was gripping the Holy Sword and ready for battle.