Lucifer: Godless Reawakening-Chapter 268: Abandoned

Emma chewed on her lower lip, her gaze fixed on the vast window that revealed the island in sharp, unobstructed clarity.

Sunlight spilled faintly across the glass, illuminating the distant shoreline and the restless stretch of land beyond, but her focus was not on the scenery. It was on what might happen next.

Beside her stood Domella, composed yet faintly strained. Jeromy and Abaris lingered nearby, both remained quiet.

Off to the side, Erwin’s expression was unmistakable. His jaw was tight, his brows drawn together, as though he had been holding back his thoughts for far too long.

"Changing the team partner on such short notice... aren’t you putting too much faith in William?" Delimore asked, his tone edged with restrained doubt.

Domella exhaled slowly. The sigh carried more weight than words ever could. She had already answered this question more times than she cared to count. Repeating herself now would change nothing. So she remained silent.

Emma folded her arms across her chest, her posture firm. Her eyes scanned the island below, tracking every subtle shift, every flicker of movement.

She listened for the slightest disturbance, any unnatural sound that might rise from the distance. The air felt heavy with anticipation, and she refused to let even the smallest detail slip past her.

They were still positioned far from the island, the distance swallowing any chance of hearing what truly transpired there.

Even if there was a severe confrontation, the sound would never reach them. Still, Emma refused to look away. Not until he returned. Not until she saw him with her own eyes.

"Something is moving..." Abaris spoke abruptly, his voice cutting through the tense silence.

Every head turned in the direction he pointed.

At first, it was subtle. A faint ripple across the forest canopy. Then the movement grew clearer. Several trees trembled violently, leaves shaking as if something beneath them had forced its way upward.

Emma’s brows knitted together.

From within the forest, clumps of soil rose into the air. One after another, earthen pods broke free from the ground and ascended past the tree line, dirt cascading from their surfaces as they stabilized midair.

Three.

Then four.

Five.

Six. Seven. Eight.

Ten soil pods now hovered above the forest, aligned loosely before they began advancing toward the mainland.

The atmosphere shifted instantly.

Soldiers moved without waiting for orders, boots striking the deck as they rushed to their designated posts. Weapons were raised. Defensive formations snapped into place. To them, this looked like retaliation. A counterattack from the creatures inhabiting the island.

Emma did not speak. Her eyes narrowed, tracking the pods carefully, searching for one presence among them. The one controlling them.

Abaris did not share their patience.

His eyes had already discerned something different and ominous.

Without another word, he vaulted through the window. Glass panels slid aside as he leapt, descending with a heavy, controlled drop that ended in a ground-rumbling thud.

The impact cracked the surface beneath his boots, dust rising around him in a low cloud.

The soldiers held their ground. No one retreated. Weapons remained raised, formation intact, as the advancing soil pods gradually descended and hovered just above the surface.

"Stand back," Abaris ordered, his voice firm and heard.

He strode forward, sword gripped tightly in his right hand, blade angled downward but ready.

"Commander?" one soldier called out, unease slipping into his tone.

Abaris did not slow.

With a single decisive motion, he stepped in and brought his sword down in a powerful vertical slash.

The earthen pod split cleanly in two.

Dry soil crumbled apart, chunks falling heavily onto the ground. Dust and debris scattered as the cracked shell peeled away, revealing what had been hidden inside.

A figure.

Half of their body was submerged in a thick, sticky violet liquid that clung to their skin like resin. A dense vine had been forced into their mouth, disappearing past their lips, its surface pulsating faintly. Their eyes were closed, their face pale and unmoving.

For a brief second, everyone fell into stunned silence.

Abaris’s eyes widened.

Not at the grotesque sight of the vine or the violet fluid.

But at the face.

"Troy?!"

The name tore out of him.

He rushed forward without hesitation, dropping to one knee beside the split pod. His fingers gripped the thick vine and yanked it out in a sharp pull. The tendril resisted for a brief second before sliding free with a sickening, wet sound.

Troy’s head lolled to the side, neck limp, body slack like a puppet with its strings cut.

For a heartbeat, Abaris felt his chest tighten.

"Hey... hey!" He cupped his comrade’s face, patting his cheek with urgency. "Talk to me, Troy! Tell me you’re alive!"

No response.

Just stillness.

Abaris pressed two fingers against Troy’s neck.

There.

A pulse.

Faint but there was a sensation.

Relief struck him so hard it almost staggered him.

Without wasting another second, he hooked an arm around Troy’s torso and pulled him free. The viscous violet substance stretched stubbornly, clinging to its captive, but it could not withstand the commander’s brute strength. It snapped and tore away as he dragged Troy clear of the broken shell.

Abaris rose sharply and shouted, his voice carrying across the field.

"Liberate the others! It’s not a trap! There are people caged inside them!"

The hesitation vanished.

Soldiers surged forward immediately, blades flashing as they split open the remaining pods. Earth cracked. Soil collapsed. One by one, imprisoned figures were revealed within.

The air filled with urgency, steel, and the desperate race against time.

More pods continued to rise from the island.

One after another, they drifted across the water and descended toward the mainland. The soldiers no longer hesitated. Steel flashed, earth split, and captives were pulled free from their suffocating prisons. These were the missing ones. The scouts. The explorers who had set foot on that island and never returned.

They had not been killed.

They had been stored.

Abaris moved quickly, carrying Troy in his arms as though the man weighed nothing. Desperation burned in his eyes. He needed a medic. Immediately. Every second felt stolen.

He had barely taken several strides toward the building when a figure descended before him.

A soft thud.

Silver hair caught the light as she straightened.

"Let me take a look."

Emma’s voice was steady despite the situation.

Abaris paused. His eyes widened slightly at her sudden appearance. For a fraction of a second, instinct warred with trust.

Then he nodded.

Carefully, he lowered Troy onto the ground.

Emma stepped forward and drew in a slow breath. The air around her shifted as her aether expanded outward in a controlled surge. It spread like an invisible tide, wrapping around Troy’s body, slipping beneath his skin, tracing the pathways within.

She focused.

His life force flickered weakly. His body was drained to a dangerous extent. Worse, his aether circuits were fractured in multiple places, as if something had forcibly siphoned him dry and discarded the remains.

Emma slowly opened her eyes.

Her gaze lingered on his pale complexion, the unnatural stillness of his chest, the fragile thread that kept him tethered to life.

He was standing at the very edge.

She already knew.

Even if she stabilized him today, his body would not endure for long in this condition. The damage to his aether circuits was not something that could be fully restored in a single session. At best, she could pull him back from the cliff’s edge.

But William had gone out of his way to rescue them.

That alone was enough reason.

Emma closed her eyes briefly and guided her aether outward. A gentle green radiance blossomed around Troy’s body, wrapping him in a soft, luminous veil. The fractured circuits within him trembled as her energy seeped into the broken pathways, reinforcing what remained, knitting surface damage, easing the violent strain left behind.

The bruises across his skin began to fade. The tension in his features softened. His breathing, once shallow and irregular, steadied into something more natural.

Color slowly returned to his face.

Emma exhaled, the green light fading as she withdrew her aether.

"He is safe for now," she said calmly. "But he is extremely weak. Have the medic examine him thoroughly."

Abaris gave a firm nod and lifted Troy carefully into his arms once more. Before turning away, he paused and offered Emma a silent, grateful nod. There was no need for words.

Then he left.

Emma remained still for a moment before shifting her gaze toward the other rescued victims. Compared to Troy, their conditions were severe but far less critical. Their aether circuits were strained, not shattered.

She shook her head faintly, silver strands swaying with the motion.

"What a way you have chosen to keep me distracted," she murmured under her breath.

....

"Are we really going to continue like this?" Dennis asked, his voice trembling as his eyes swept across the forest.

They had already sent numerous pods back to the mainland. Logically, they should have retreated, explained, and resumed later. That was what anyone sensible would do.

But William did not slow.

Without a word, he gestured for Dennis to follow and continued forward, heading straight toward the island’s center.

Dennis swallowed.

His teleportation had no distance limit. He could escape from anywhere. But that did not mean he was invincible. If they stepped into a territory where the creatures attacked faster than he could react, he would not even get the chance to activate his skill.

And here, deep within this forest, everything felt wrong.

Then it came.

A faint rustle.

Behind them.

Dennis stiffened. His breath caught in his throat.

William turned slowly.

From the tangled shadows between the trees, something stepped forward.

It wore a splitting grin that stretched unnaturally wide across its face. Two round, button-like eyes stared without blinking. A single elongated horn curved from its forehead. Its skin burned crimson, as though lit from within by embers.

The creature was no taller than three feet. Its torso was bare, lean yet wiry, and a crude loincloth hung around its lower half.

Small.

Almost laughably small.

But the presence it radiated crushed the air itself.

Dennis felt his legs give out beneath him. He dropped onto the forest floor, horror flooding his expression as cold sweat poured down his back.

His instincts screamed.

This was not something they were meant to face.

His mind emptied. Training vanished. Loyalty vanished.

Survival remained.

In a flash of spatial distortion, Dennis teleported away.

And left William behind.