Strongest Incubus System

Xue Lian remained silent for several seconds.

Damon waited.

This time, he did not try to fill the space with sarcasm. If she truly believed her own death was the only way out, he wanted to hear every part of the logic before he started dismantling it.

"My authority is not merely tied to my body," Xue Lian finally said. "It uses my existence as a reference."

"That’s still vague."

"If my heart stops, it doesn’t matter."

"Great."

"If my soul is destroyed, that doesn’t matter either."

Damon frowned.

"Less great."

"As long as some part of what the world recognizes as Xue Lian remains, the authority will continue searching for a center."

"Memory?"

"Counts."

"Name?"

"Sometimes."

"Root?"

"Especially."

Damon rested his chin on one hand.

"So killing your body isn’t enough."

"No."

"But you just asked me to kill you."

"After destroying everything that can sustain the reference."

"Then the real objective isn’t killing you."

Xue Lian watched him.

"It’s preventing the world from continuing to recognize you as the center."

She went silent.

Damon pointed at her.

"That is very different."

"In practice, the result would be the same."

"For you."

"Yes."

"Then it isn’t the same thing."

Xue Lian slowly exhaled.

"You keep searching for a difference that may not exist."

"You’ve spent centuries in here. I arrived less than an hour ago. Give me some time."

"That is not a very convincing argument."

"It worked with Jian Li."

That made her stop.

Damon continued.

"Everyone said the root had to be extracted or transferred. Both options would kill someone. We found a third because we stopped treating the problem as if the only possible solutions were the ones that had already failed."

"My situation is not the same."

"No situation is the same until someone finds the same mistake underneath."

Xue Lian tilted her head.

"And what mistake do you see?"

"You’re still thinking in terms of a center."

She became serious.

Damon stood.

"You said the authority needs a reference. When you exist, it uses you. When you die, it searches for continuity."

"Correct."

"Then why are we trying to destroy the reference?"

Xue Lian frowned.

"Because it is the only way to prevent propagation."

"Or we turn the reference into something incapable of governing."

She went still.

Damon realized he had struck something sensitive.

"You never tried that."

"No."

"Why?"

"Because an authority needs will."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"You just said it would continue searching for a center even after your death. That sounds like it works without will."

Xue Lian opened her mouth.

Stopped.

Damon smiled faintly.

"Then it doesn’t need will. It needs identity."

"Maybe."

"Better."

He began walking around the steps.

"A territorial root can respond to the environment. Heshan does."

"Because it was built for that."

"And your authority?"

"It wasn’t built."

"Then we learn."

Xue Lian followed him with her eyes.

"Damon."

"You’ve said my name like that several times. It never works."

"You’re talking about transforming an authority that reaches across continents into a structure without consciousness."

"Yes."

"Without knowing how it was born."

"Then we find out."

"Without your memories."

"That apparently also happens to be an advantage."

Xue Lian closed her eyes for a moment.

When she opened them again, she looked less tired.

More interested.

"You truly intend to investigate."

"Of course."

"Even knowing failure may cause the authority to enter you."

"I don’t intend to touch anything until I know where I’m putting my hand."

She raised an eyebrow.

Damon noticed.

"Don’t comment."

"I didn’t say anything."

"Your face did."

Xue Lian looked surprised.

Then laughed.

"Was that from Ester?"

"Unfortunately."

The laughter slowly disappeared.

"There is a place," she said.

Damon stopped.

"Naturally."

"At the center of the Tomb."

"This place already seems pretty central."

"It isn’t."

"Then where are we?"

"The upper layer."

Damon looked at the enormous fortress around them.

"You built all of this on top of something else."

"Yes."

"What?"

Xue Lian remained seated for a few more seconds before standing.

"Come."

Damon watched her walk past him.

"That usually ends badly."

"You can stay."

"Now you’re trying to provoke me."

"Is it working?"

"A little."

He followed her.

The corridor behind the steps was narrow compared with the size of the fortress.

The white walls had no decoration, only extremely thin lines crossing the stone like frozen cracks.

Damon noticed some of them pulsing.

"Are those connections?"

"Dead."

"They look very active."

"Dead does not mean motionless."

"You really like unpleasant sentences."

Xue Lian kept walking.

"Each line represents a region that was once connected to me."

Damon looked around.

There were hundreds.

Maybe thousands.

"You controlled all of this?"

"At different times."

"How many people lived in those places?"

Xue Lian did not answer.

Damon understood.

Many.

"You really had a problem."

"I know."

"That doesn’t sound sufficient."

"Spending centuries inside a prison helps develop perspective."

Damon did not answer.

They descended a long staircase.

The farther they went, the warmer the environment became.

Not by much.

But Damon noticed because he could now feel temperature normally.

"Why is it getting warmer?"

"Because we are leaving my authority."

"You built an area your own cold cannot reach."

"I had to."

At the bottom of the stairs stood a black door.

It was the first thing inside the Tomb that was not white.

Damon stopped.

"That looks suspicious."

"It’s ordinary stone."

"That’s exactly why."

Xue Lian placed a hand on the surface.

The door opened.

Behind it was a small chamber.

Too small.

Damon had expected some gigantic core, a monumental root, or a spiritual structure capable of explaining everything.

Instead, he found a tree.

It was a little over three meters tall.

White trunk.

Dry branches.

No leaves.

The roots disappeared through a crack in the floor.

Damon stood in the doorway.

"Is that your authority?"

"No."

"Your core?"

"Not that either."

"We’re off to a bad start."

Xue Lian entered.

"It is where everything began."

That was enough.

Damon entered after her.

Immediately, one of the branches moved.

Xue Lian froze.

Not with ice.

With surprise.

Damon stopped as well.

"Did you do that?"

"No."

"Does it usually move?"

"No."

"How long has it been like that?"

"Since before I entered this place."

Damon looked at the tree.

"So it waited until I showed up."

"Yes."

"Great."

The branch continued lowering.

A small transparent droplet formed at the tip.

Damon took a step back.

"I’m not touching that."

"Good."

The droplet fell.

It did not reach the floor.

It stopped in midair.

Then opened.

An image appeared before them.

Damon did not recognize the place.

It was a simple house.

Dark wood.

Snow outside.

A kneeling woman held a baby.

Xue Lian stopped breathing.

Damon looked at her.

"That’s you."

"Yes."

"Who is the woman?"

"My mother."

The image continued.

The woman carried the baby toward a small tree.

The same tree.

Damon looked back at the trunk in front of them.

In the memory, Xue Lian’s mother was crying.

She placed the child near the roots.

Then someone else appeared.

A man wearing light-colored clothes.

His face could not be seen.

He touched the baby’s forehead.

The tree reacted.

White light traveled through the roots.

The child began to cry.

Xue Lian took a step back.

"I don’t remember this."

Damon kept watching.

The woman said something.

The sound was distorted.

The man answered.

One word came through.

"Vessel."

Damon became serious.

The image changed.

Xue Lian’s mother held the child tightly.

Tried to retreat.

The man raised one hand.

The tree opened a root.

It pierced the woman’s chest.

Xue Lian went still.

Damon did not look away.

The root did not kill the woman.

It removed something.

A white light left her body and entered the baby.

The mother collapsed.

The man took the child.

The final sentence came through clearly.

"Now the authority has continuity."

The image disappeared.

The droplet struck the floor.

Silence.

Damon looked at Xue Lian.

She did not move.

"You said your mother died when you were little."

"That is what I was told."

"By whom?"

"My master."

"That man?"

"I don’t know."

Damon looked back at the tree.

"Then your authority wasn’t born with you."

Xue Lian breathed slowly.

"No."

"It was transferred."

"Yes."

"From your mother."

"Maybe."

"No. The image showed something leaving her."

"We don’t know what it was."

"But we know it was put into you."

Xue Lian closed her eyes.

Damon realized something he had not expected to feel.

Anger.

Not his.

Hers.

Four hundred years or more believing her own existence was the problem.

Centuries imprisoned because she thought she had created something impossible to separate.

And now there was evidence that someone had turned her into a vessel before she had ever been able to choose.

Damon approached the tree.

"Don’t touch it."

"I won’t."

He crouched near the roots.

He felt nothing.

No Heavenly Body.

No root.

No mixed memories.

Maybe that was exactly why he could observe without interference.

"Is this tree bound to your authority?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"It always responded whenever my authority grew."

"But it isn’t responding to you now."

Xue Lian realized it.

The tree remained completely still in front of her.

It had reacted only when Damon entered.

"Why?" she asked.

"Maybe because I left everything outside."

"Or because it does not recognize you as continuity."

Damon looked at her.

"Even better."

A thin root emerged from the crack.

Xue Lian tensed.

"Damon."

"I’m not doing anything."

The root crawled across the floor.

Toward him.

Another emerged.

Then two more.

Damon stood.

"Now might be a good time to leave."

The roots accelerated.

Xue Lian raised one hand.

Nothing happened.

She tried to use authority.

The tree did not respond.

Damon noticed.

"It’s ignoring you."

"That has never happened."

One root reached Damon’s boot.

He stepped back.

Another blocked the path to the door.

Xue Lian finally showed something close to fear.

"Do not let it touch you."

"I had already decided that part."

The entire tree trembled.

A fissure opened in the trunk.

White light appeared inside.

Damon looked.

It did not feel like cold.

It looked exactly like the energy he had seen being removed from Xue Lian’s mother.

Continuity.

The word returned.

Damon understood before she did.

"The tree isn’t trying to attack me."

Xue Lian looked at him.

"It’s trying to choose."

"No."

"You said the authority searches for continuity."

"Damon, no."

He stepped away from another root.

"It doesn’t recognize you because you already carry the authority."

Xue Lian went still.

"But I came in empty."

Another root lunged.

Damon dodged.

"So to this thing, I’m an available vessel."

Xue Lian’s expression changed completely.

"Get out."

"I’m trying."

"NOW."

The tree exploded with light.

Every root lunged at once.

Damon threw himself backward.

Xue Lian stepped between him and the tree.

The first root pierced her shoulder.

Blood appeared.

Red.

Normal.

Damon froze for an instant.

Xue Lian grabbed the root with one hand.

"Run."

He looked toward the blocked door.

"There’s a small problem with that."

She turned her face.

Damon pointed.

The roots had already sealed the exit.

Xue Lian muttered a word he had not expected to hear from her.

"Shit."

Damon smiled despite the situation.

"Finally talking like a normal person."

The tree pulsed again.

Damon drew his ordinary sword.

Xue Lian looked at him.

"You can’t cut that."

"Probably not."

"Then why did you draw the sword?"

Damon took a stance.

"Because standing still seems worse."

The light inside the trunk intensified.

And for the first time since Damon had entered the Tomb, Xue Lian looked as though she had no idea what to do.

Damon found that strangely reassuring.

If even she did not know, then at least any mistake from this point onward would truly be new.

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