King Felix II had defeated the psychic weapon of Arch-Scribe Selene, but the greatest danger remained: Knight-Captain Rhea was suspended in chains of dark energy, which were rapidly converting her into a massive, unpainted Chadgardian Anti-Statue—a permanent monument of Cringe that would forever drain the Flow.
Felix, now low on internal DF reserves after the Ritual of Targeted Focus, knew he had only one immediate, high-impact option left. He had to reverse the conversion before Rhea's Aesthetic Integrity (AI) was completely negated.
He focused his remaining energy, targeting the rough, dull surface of the forming Anti-Statue.
Kingly Skill Activated: The Ironic Inversion (Final Reserve)
Felix poured the remaining 90% of his internal DF into the skill. The gray, oppressive energy surrounding Rhea shrieked again, not with hatred, but with profound aesthetic shock.
The transmutation was instantaneous and spectacular.
The massive, ugly Anti-Statue did not become a Flow-compliant sculpture; it became a brilliant, Hyper-Shimmer Rescue Sculpture—a gigantic, intricately detailed diamond shell encasing Rhea. The chains of anti-aesthetic energy were instantly inverted into Clout Crystal filaments, which, instead of crushing Rhea, held her gently in place.
The statue itself was a thing of impossible beauty and complexity, reflecting the light from the Prism of Unfettered Desire in a thousand fractured beams.
[SYSTEM ALERT: RHEA'S AI RESTORED. AESTHETIC INTEGRITY: 100%. CONTEMPT ENERGY: NEUTRALIZED.]
The diamond shell gently lowered Rhea to the ground. Felix rushed to her side, quickly breaking the shimmering crystal filaments.
"Rhea, are you alright?"
Rhea stirred, rubbing her temples. "Your Majesty... I feel like my entire wardrobe tried to commit suicide simultaneously. Did we... did we win?"
Felix ignored Rhea's question and turned his focused gaze on Selene, who lay defeated on the ground, still wrapped in the remnants of her hyper-aesthetic poncho.
"The war ends now, Selene," Felix stated, using the Prism of Unfettered Desire to channel a stabilizing wave of energy. "You are an agent of the past, defeated by the future. Why were you at the court of Lunio?"
Selene, weakened but fueled by ideological hatred, could only rasp out fragments of the truth.
"The Holy Kingdom... they are rigid... but they are stable," Selene struggled. "The Light... protects against the madness... of too much focus! You... you are the final madness! I used Lunio's doctrine... to hide my True Focus... from the agents of the Light."
"Lunio itself is not the enemy," Felix deduced. "You are the anomaly. You used their stability to mask your destructive obsession."
"We are coming," Selene whispered, her eyes rolling back as the Contempt finally drained from her body. "The Aesthetic Void... consumes all... the Flow is too fast... too much Cringe will break it..." She went limp, passing out from magical exhaustion.
[SYSTEM ANALYSIS: SELENE (EGO-CULTIVATOR) IS NEUTRALIZED. INTEL GAINED: LUNIO IS IDEOLOGICALLY OPPOSITE BUT NOT ACTIVELY HOSTILE. PRIMARY THREAT IS THE SHADOW WHO MANIPULATED HER.]
Felix quickly secured Selene and lifted Rhea onto his shoulder. They needed to get out of the Void of Lost Focus immediately.
Back on the Royal Airship, flying high above the psychic dampening field, Felix contacted his Command Center. Chief Evelyn (RC) answered immediately, her voice filled with concern.
"Your Majesty! We were terrified! The signal went dark! What happened? Is Knight-Captain Rhea safe?" Evelyn was truly concerned.
"We are safe, Evelyn," Felix confirmed, maintaining a careful distance from her feigned panic. "We encountered a radical, rogue agent from the past life of the Ego-Cultivators. They were trying to destabilize the Flow, but the immediate threat is neutralized."
Felix then laid out the diplomatic dilemma based on Selene's vague clues. "Evelyn, the Holy Kingdom of Lunio might not be hostile, but their doctrine is dangerous. We have captured their Arch-Scribe, which will be viewed as an act of war regardless of her true allegiance."
Evelyn, immediately offered the subtle advice:
"Your Majesty, that captured Arch-Scribe is a massive liability. We must use this to our advantage. Send a highly visible, aggressively aesthetic delegation to Lunio immediately. This demonstrates our power and demands they acknowledge her actions, forcing them to either negotiate from weakness or respond to our power play. Weakness will only invite an invasion."
Felix nodded, believing this was the necessary, aggressive diplomatic maneuver of a new Imperium.
"Prepare the diplomatic convoy. We will meet the Holy Kingdom on our terms." Felix accepted the advice.