Days later, Lusian once again walked the streets of Acropolis.
And the city had changed.
Not for him.
For everyone else.
As he passed by, a merchant stopped speaking in the middle of a sentence.
A woman took her child by the hand and pulled him away from the street.
An old man walking toward him stopped, lowered his head, and changed direction.
No one insulted him.
No one dared.
They simply moved aside.
Lusian kept walking.
Behind him marched Albert and thirty Douglas soldiers. Their black armor moved in perfect unison, while the house banner billowed above their heads.
But even thirty soldiers were not enough to break that silence.
A window closed.
Then another.
A child playing with a wooden sword dropped his toy.
His mother picked it up and hurried him inside without taking her eyes off Lusian.
He kept walking.
"What kind of monster do they say I am?" he murmured.
Albert heard him.
"The one who destroys the future."
Lusian let out a quiet laugh.
"How convenient."
They passed a temple.
A line of people was entering.
Some crossed themselves when they saw him.
Others whispered prayers.
One of them looked up.
His eyes met Lusian's.
The man went pale and immediately lowered his head.
Lusian did not stop either.
The Heralds' words had done their work.
They did not need to convince people that Lusian was a monster.
They only needed to make them afraid to find out whether it was true.
Albert walked several steps in silence before speaking.
"My lord."
"What?"
"Would you like us to increase the escort?"
Lusian looked at the empty streets around them.
"No."
"But..."
"If they want to see me as a monster, thirty soldiers won't change anything."
He continued walking.
People kept moving aside.
Lusian looked at the city he had protected so many times.
Now they were afraid of him.
Not because he had changed.
But because someone had decided what they should think of him.
When they reached the northern square, he stopped.
A group of children ran out in front of him.
One of them tripped.
His mother desperately picked him up and pulled him against her chest.
Lusian stared at them.
For the first time since the Heralds had pronounced their judgment, he did not feel anger.
He felt something worse.
Helplessness.
He had fought monsters.
He had faced armies.
He had watched soldiers die before his eyes.
But this was different.
He could not cut a lie apart with Dainslein.
He could not kill fear with magic.
And the harder he tried to defend himself...
the more reason he would give them to believe the gods were right.
Lusian closed his eyes.
The Heralds had started a war that needed no soldiers.
It only needed fear.
And for the first time, he understood what he would have to fight.
Not the gods.
But what they had done to his name.
The order came at dawn.
In the temples of the Celestial Dogma, the bells began to toll.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Then all of them rang at once.
The priests emerged into the squares, their faces covered by white veils, their voices raised toward the heavens.
"The Oracle has spoken!"
The news swept through Acropolis within hours.
Lusian Douglas was an enemy of humanity.
It did not matter how many cities he had saved.
It did not matter how many monsters he had slain.
The gods had spoken.
And to the priests, that was enough.
But there was a problem.
The nobles were unwilling to surrender their armies.
Neither was the king.
Not even the Empress of the Empire had offered troops.
No one wanted to start a war against one of the most powerful men on the continent based solely on a prophecy.
So the churches changed their strategy.
If the kings would not march...
the faithful would.
The priests began traveling through cities and villages.
"An enemy has risen against the gods!"
"A monster walks among us!"
"His existence threatens our families!"
The words were repeated again and again.
Banners appeared in the squares.
Weapons began to be stockpiled in the temples.
Peasants, mercenaries, knights without masters, and fanatics answered the calls.
It was not a real army.
Not yet.
It was something far more difficult to control.
A crusade.
Thousands of men began gathering beneath the symbols of their gods.
And at the center of that storm stood the heroes.
Emily remained silent as she listened to the order.
"Are we supposed to kill him?" she finally asked.
The priest nodded.
"It is the will of the gods."
Emily lowered her gaze.
She remembered Lusian protecting her.
She remembered the battles.
The blood.
The times he had appeared before her when she was on the verge of death.
"I cannot believe he is the enemy."
Kara did not answer either.
Her arms were crossed, her expression hardened.
"Then we will find another solution."
The priest looked at her.
"Will you disobey the gods?"
Kara held his gaze.
"I said we will find another solution."
Emily glanced at her.
Neither of them wanted to face Lusian.
But neither of them knew how to stop what had just begun.
Far away, in Imperial territory, two young men received the same news.
Leonardo read the message twice.
Then he smiled.
Alejandro let out a laugh.
"Finally?"
Leonardo looked up.
"Finally."
The second prince clenched his fists.
For far too long, they had been forced to endure Lusian Douglas.
His victories.
His influence.
The way he always seemed to be one step ahead.
And now...
the gods themselves had singled him out.
Alejandro took up his sword.
"Justice has finally arrived."
Leonardo smiled.
"This time, we won't have to look for him."
He gazed toward the horizon.
"Everyone will come after him."
And for the first time since they had met Lusian Douglas...
the two of them were eager for the hunt to begin.