Lucian tilted his head. "I told you before my power was negation, but that was a mistake on my own part." His hand moved, fingers tracing patterns in the air. "In truth, my power is dispersing anything I consider wrong."

Vlad trembled even more as his crimson eyes went wide, pupils dilating to maximum, and then he whispered. "Charles... Is that you?"

The Saint held out his hand before a black and golden spear appeared from nothing. The patterns of X wrapped all around the weapon's length and interlocked in a complex configuration. The spear gleamed with light that seemed to absorb surrounding illumination rather than reflect it.

The moment Vlad saw that weapon, he trembled harder, and his legs nearly gave out as his knees trembled. "I... I always felt odd when I saw you..." His voice cracked. "Your powers worked similarly to Charles, but you could negate far more things than he could."

Charles nodded slowly. "I thought I could only negate attacks, but I learned later that when I went on the final mission, I could negate even beings."

Vlad's hands clenched around his crimson stakes until the weapons showed cracks. His voice exploded into a shout that carried three centuries of suppressed grief and rage. "Why didn't you come back!? Do you even know how we felt when we found those people you rescued and got told you were dragged away by the roots-"

"I know," Charles interjected, voice remaining calm despite Vlad's fury. "I know you guys launched an all-or-nothing attack on the forest to try and find me..." His tone softened further. "It's because of that I was able to wake up and crawl away, because the forest was spending more of its attention and effort on you."

Vlad's glare intensified impossibly. "Then why didn't you come back!?"

Charles sighed softly. "It's because I thought it would be better if a new approach was taken. When I led the Seekers, we focused more on saving people back then instead of working to destroy the Dark Silence... All because of me and my inability to see the bigger picture." His hand moved unconsciously to the black mask covering his face. "I learned that when I was rescued by two people who helped stitch my body back up."

Brunhilde's brow raised. "Stitched your body back up? Did the roots tear you apart?"

Charles nodded as he gently rubbed the black mask. "I don't keep this thing on because I want to. I keep it on because it's melded into my face."

Silence fell as everyone's expressions shifted simultaneously, horror and terror replacing anger and confusion. The implications registered slowly, each person processing at their own pace but arriving at identical conclusions.

Vlad took a shaky step forward, and his entire frame trembled. "How... How did all of that happen-"

"It doesn't matter." Charles interjected, voice carrying finality that brooked no argument. "What mattered was that I thought, after I was gone, you guys would finally focus on the Dark Silence. Even use my death as a way to finally come together and push forward to ask others for help… I knew some of the Ancestors felt we were stagnating as well, and wanted more focus on the threat itself."

His fist clenched around the spear shaft. "But none of you did that! Not a single one of you tried. All of you simply continued focusing on the wrong things."

Charles' voice gained a tone of poorly concealed bitterness. "I convinced myself to give you guys more time, so that you all would wise up... But as the Ancestors went from nine to five and then to only one, I simply gave up hope."

Vlad fell silent with his gaze dropping to the ground, unable to meet Charles's eyes or where eyes should be behind the mask. The crimson stakes in his hands flickered and dimmed while an exhausted look appeared on his face.

Brunhilde furrowed her brows, mind working through revelations. "So that's why you didn't do anything for the last centuries? You wanted to see if the Seekers and Precursors would change?"

Charles nodded. "That's a big part, but the other reason is my vision wasn't helping me find the Star Jewel... Until recently, when it was close to these years, I found that you all had it."

Veryn trembled among the Luminous Knights. Her voice emerged as a mutter barely carrying across the distance. "No wonder Honor called us guiding stars."

Charles nodded again while Janus asked. "Then that was the plan? To show the Seekers that gaining outside help was the right thing and that they were foolish to not have tried?"

Charles shook his head. "No. Because I know the Precursor people will still cling to the past, even after the Dark Silence got destroyed... So I-"

Vlad finished with a grim look appearing on his face. "You want to use the crimson-black tide to destroy every building, city, and area related to the Forerunners."

Charles nodded without hesitation or shame. "Then I will use the Star Jewel to send the tide away before giving the land a new start. Then I will use the Star Jewel to wipe away their memories of the Golden Age. After this, all of you would be more focused on making a new home in the present and finally move on."

Marie's slight frown appeared."That's insane... Can't you trust that they will-"

"No." Charles's voice cut like a blade. "I am sick of trusting them and being disappointed by the result."

"Then talking is useless."

Brunhilde's statement emerged flat and carried finality. Before the final words finished, she moved.

Her body became blurred, and instantly she crossed the distance between them. The spear blasted toward Charles's chest with force capable of piercing through a mountain and an entire Island easily.

A terrifying shock wave swept, pushing back those around, and the air screamed as if it was being torn apart.

Charles didn't evade, and his body remained perfectly still as the sigil behind him, which was previously unseen. The sigil suddenly shone with brilliant light, and Brunhilde's eyes widened.

Blue flames burst from her own body without warning. The fire erupted from her chest, her arms, her legs, and burst out from her form in an explosion.

Just as a familiar spear appeared next to her, simultaneously.

Black and golden weapons somehow appeared from her side, but were forced to clash with the blue flames.

Her attack deflected back at herself through impossible redirection by Charles.

The sound of something being deflected echoed across the area. Metal screaming against flames, force meeting force in a collision that created shockwaves rippling outward.

"Sorry, but I can't stay now." Charles's voice rang out from somewhere else, and he no longer stood where he'd been moments before. "It's time for everything to start anew."

Brunhilde's frown deepened as flames dissipated. Her gaze swept across the area, searching for a target that had vanished.

She muttered through gritted teeth. "He used grafting to shift my attack to me. What an annoying ability."

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