"Surrender the artifact, Magus, and we might spare your life."
"You have nowhere to run. We've sealed this entire area."
"Hahaha! Who would have thought? The mighty Magus Valerius, reduced to such a miserable state!"
"The greatest genius of the universe? Hah! What a load of bullshit! Look at you now."
The remnants of Magus Valerius's black armor hung from his frame in shattered plates. His body was a canvas of ghastly wounds, and one arm was gone completely. Blood streamed from the raw stump and his countless other injuries, forming a dark pool at his feet.
Hundreds of corpses lay strewn in a circle around him, their blood staining the once-green plain a deep scarlet. He returned the cold stares of the thousands of Archons who remained, an unbroken ring of enemies. There was no way out.
His end was a foregone conclusion.
The universe's top powerhouses had him surrounded. They hurled taunts and curses, but for all their numbers, not one of them dared to step closer. Fear was plain in their eyes as they held their ground, wary of what a dying man like him could still do.
Suddenly, Valerius raised his remaining arm. A ripple of alarm went through the encircling Archons. In his palm, a Celestial Lily materialized from thin air, and thousands of pairs of eyes instantly flashed with unmasked greed.
Valerius gazed at the pristine Celestial Lily, a bitter smile twisting his lips. The weight of this artifact is too much for one man to bear, he thought. Perhaps this was never my destiny…
In the next moment, the bitterness in his eyes hardened into pure resolve. He lifted his head, his gaze sweeping over the thousands of Archons.
"All my life, I have pursued the peak of magic," he declared, his voice ringing with surprising strength. "And though I will perish here today, I have no regrets. One day, another will inherit my will and carry on my dream."
Valerius's lips curled into a cold, chilling smile. "But since you've all come this far… you might as well accompany me to the afterlife."
A deep sense of foreboding seized the hearts of the Archons. Before any could react, a terrifying, otherworldly pressure descended, so immense it made them tremble in raw horror.
The source of the pressure was the Celestial Lily.
As its petals began to unfurl, space itself froze for thousands of miles. With a solemn expression, Valerius poured the last of his energy into the artifact.
A terrifying energy vortex swirled into existence, with the blooming Lily at its epicenter. Tiny, hairline cracks spiderwebbed through the fabric of the frozen space around them.
The divine might of the Lily was causing the very void to collapse.
The thousands of Archons scrambled to escape, but it was futile. One by one, the light in their eyes went out, their expressions turning listless as their souls were violently sundered from their bodies and drawn into the Lily.
Valerius gritted his teeth, his own consciousness fading under the strain. Within moments, the surrounding Archons were dead, their powerful bodies left as empty husks.
Finally, unable to endure any longer, his own soul was annihilated, absorbed by the Celestial Lily along with all the others.
The greatest genius of the Aetherium Cosmos had perished.
His victims, each a powerhouse capable of ruling entire planets and commanding the awe of trillions, were now just lifeless statues on a field of blood. In front of the Celestial Lily, they had been nothing more than ants.
Not a single one of their bodies bore a new wound. The artifact's attack had bypassed the physical entirely, destroying and devouring only the soul.
Having consumed thousands of souls, the Celestial Lily hung suspended in the silent air, glowing with an inner light. After a moment, it drifted toward one of the shimmering cracks in the void and vanished without a sound.
The legendary artifact was once again adrift, travelling silently through the boundless universe, waiting to be inherited by the one with a great enough destiny.