Lewd System: Every Scream and Moan is EXP Chapter 323 : The Empire is Done For [7]

Both pairs of eyes fell upon Isadora, standing there in a state of complete shock. Through her sobs, she cried out, "I didn’t do anything! Your Majesty, he is lying!"

She stumbled towards Oberon, grasping his hands with the fervor of someone losing their final sliver of hope. "Tell me, Your Highness. Please, tell me this is all an act. Tell me this is a cruel test or a prank meant to gauge my reaction. Tell me this is your plan to awaken me from this terrible nightmare. Because I can bear this no longer."

Damian's voice, laced with the finality of a judge pronouncing a predetermined sentence, sliced through the chamber. "Enough."

Both Isadora and Oberon froze.

Damian walked between them. But before he could utter a word, Oberon spoke, his voice now thick with pleading.

"Damian, listen to me. Do not fall for her venomous deceit! You know precisely what you mean to me. You are aware of the bond we've cemented in blood over the past twenty years. I implore you, remember who your true family is."

His eyes pleaded. "So look me in the eye and tell me now. Whose words do you choose? Your brother... or this wretched woman?"

Damian gazed at Oberon, at the man he had considered a brother for two decades, the man beside whom he had built an empire. The tears that had been welling in his eyes finally spilled over.

His face was shattered as he spoke. "I understand exactly how much you mean to me now."

A spear materialized in his hand – a god-tier artifact, a weapon that seemed to have witnessed oceans of bloodshed and brought countless wars to their conclusion. It appeared with a low hum that raised every hair on end in the room.

He raised it high. And with a swing, he declared, "I will not forget what you have done for me."

The spear plunged through Isadora’s chest.

Blood gushed from her body. She looked down at the weapon protruding from between her ribs, disbelief etched on her face, as if the world couldn't possibly be this cruel to her a second time in one night.

As death claimed her, blood and tears mingled, spilling onto the floor beneath her. Yet, before the light faded entirely from her eyes, she mustered her remaining strength and spoke.

Each word dripped with blood and malice. "I curse you both. I curse the thrones you occupy and the crowns you wear. May your gold tarnish and rot upon your heads."

She coughed, a spray of blood escaping her lips. "I curse every generation to come. Every single man of your bloodlines, or any man who dares to claim the throne, will meet a miserable and agonizing demise."

Her gaze locked onto both of them one final time. "And as for the two of you, I curse you to lose your minds. You will perish like rabid, diseased curs in the dirt, tearing ferociously at each other's throats until nothing remains."

Her body succumbed. She slid off the spear and crumpled to the floor.

Meanwhile, Jax observed the brutal scene he had orchestrated from behind a nearby corner. Knights and mages were converging rapidly from all directions, drawn by the sounds of collapsing structures, screams, and the flare of imperial-level mana signatures.

Echidna's voice seethed within his mind. "You wicked wretch. Look at the devastation you've wrought. You took an innocent woman's life tonight."

Jax attempted to suppress the rising guilt. "Innocent? She was betraying her own fiancé. I was merely an instrument dispatched by the heavens to test the fidelity of her heart. It appears she failed. And failure always carries a price. I didn't anticipate it would be this steep, but what can be done? Life has never been equitable."

He glanced downwards at his lower half, adding, "By the way, why is my erection so intense right now? What exactly did you do while you were inhabiting my body—"

Echidna snapped back, "Don't you dare attempt to shift the subject!"

After a brief pause, her tone grew more serious. "However, contemplating this, I recall that Delphine girl mentioning something earlier about the past. About how a woman was the cause of the rift between two close friends. An internal conflict that cleaved the empire into two separate nations and ignited centuries of animosity between them. I suspect you were the architect behind it all. You played a pivotal role in this historical event."

Jax began to connect the dots, a sickening sensation churning in his stomach. "Now I comprehend. Isadora's curse truly worked wonders. I finally understand why the kingdoms of Meridax and Veldora have such a grim history with their monarchs. Sylvie remains the sole queen of her realm, while Adelina governs hers. It makes perfect sense now why the populace wasn't taken aback at Adelina's husband's funeral. They knew it was an inevitable outcome."

His jaw clenched. "That scoundrel would have seized the throne upon his mother's passing. And his greed led to his demise, just as the curse foretold. To think my Adelina was destined for a political marriage with a man effectively dead. She was about to surrender her future to someone with an expiration date stamped on him."

His hand clenched into a fist. "Go to hell, Seris's father, wherever you are."

Inside the destroyed chamber, Oberon pulled Damian into a fierce embrace. Relief saturated his voice, causing it to tremble. "You gave me such a fright, brother. For a moment, I genuinely believed you would choose her over me. But I always knew nothing in this world could ever truly separate us. Thank you, Damian. Thank you for putting your faith in me."

They broke apart. Damian spoke again, his tone still flat. Yet, beneath the surface, something new stirred, something Oberon, in his overwhelming relief, failed to detect.

"You know, brother, your words to Isadora earlier truly shattered something deep within me. The pain was far greater than anything I've ever experienced."

Oberon opened his mouth to reply. "What do—"

Damian cut him off, not allowing him to finish. "You claim you were drugged. But isn't it true that when a person is under the influence of drugs, when their consciousness is clouded and their defenses crumble, their words spring directly from the heart? Unfiltered, without pretense or performance?"

A chill spread through Oberon's veins. "Damian, what are you—"

He never completed that sentence. Not only were his words silenced, but his hand was severed as well.

Damian's spear had been launched from his grasp. This time, it wasn't aimed at the chest. It rocketed through Oberon's shoulder, tearing his entire arm from his body. The severed limb flew backward, while the spear continued its deadly trajectory, obliterating three walls behind them before finally embedding itself deep within the stone.

Oberon cried out in agony, collapsing onto his knees. His remaining hand clutched the empty space where his arm had been, blood gushing between his fingers like a relentless river.

Outside the chamber, the watching warriors had witnessed the entire brutal event through the gaping hole that had once been a wall. Seeing the ferocity of the attack, they finally reacted.

The gathered warriors instantly divided. Half surged towards Damian, while the other half surrounded Oberon, weapons drawn and pointed. Steel was now directed at former comrades, friends who had served side-by-side for decades, now standing on opposing sides of a newly drawn line of blood.

Through his pain and seething rage, Oberon looked up at Damian, the twenty years of brotherhood bleeding out of him as rapidly as the blood from his shoulder.

"How could you do this to me?"

Damian gazed down at him—at the man who had been his other half since childhood. His voice, carrying the death knell of all they had built together, spoke.

"This is insignificant compared to the agony you inflicted upon me tonight. And you know me well, brother. I always return favors tenfold."

His eyes turned dark. "So brace yourself to receive precisely what you gave me."

-x-X-x-

A/N: Ordici_T, Christopher_May_9486, B_Marsh, Casey_Jones_4303, eric_rowse, Xander_Sterling, Eboni_Philip and Mario_1359 thank you for the golden tickets, means a lot every single time 🙏🔥