Chapter 16: The Truth Trap and the Tyrant's Laugh
"There's no greater poison than truth wielded by the wrong man."
— Kael Draven
Tribunal High Sky Citadel – War Conclave Chamber
Silence ruled.
Thirteen Immortal Overseers knelt before the Grand Elder.
"He has taken the Iron Vein Sect," one whispered.
"Without killing. Without force."
"With ideas."
The Grand Elder's fingers trembled.
"Ideas are harder to kill than gods."
A woman in obsidian robes stepped forward—Vessel Empress Xilaya.
"Send me."
"No more chess."
"No more spies."
"I will descend with the Black Jade Army. We will crucify him with law and flame."
The Grand Elder did not answer her.
He only stared into the burning mirror… where Kael's face smirked, as if watching.
"You still don't get it," Kael's image said.
"I want you to send her."
"In fact, I already know what she'll wear."
The mirror shattered.
Lower Realms – Chaos Temple Inner Sanctum
Kael stood with Yue Lin, Moss-Faced Girl, and Fodder. The Celestial Cleanser meditated behind them, pale and quiet.
"They'll send someone soon," Yue Lin said.
Kael didn't respond at first.
He was folding paper.
"Master?"
Kael folded once more. The paper became a black lotus.
"I want them to send a sword," he murmured. "So I can snap it in front of a mirror and make them watch."
He placed the lotus in a bowl of ink and walked away.
"Prepare the script."
"We'll feed them truth like poison wine."
System Notification
[New Quest: Trap the Tyrant Vessel Xilaya]
[Reward: Access to Tribunal Library Backdoor, +200 Chaos Points]
[Optional Objective: Break her conviction. Install doubt through false enlightenment.]
Kael cracked his knuckles.
"They send tyrants, but I… write tragedies."
Arrival of the Vessel
Vessel Empress Xilaya descended on a chariot of obsidian flame.
One hundred black-armored knights marched behind her.
She landed at the edge of Hollow Bone Sect.
"Bring me the heretic," she said.
Kael didn't come out.
Instead, he invited her in.
A red carpet of lotus petals rolled through the gates. A palace rose overnight—built by illusion and manipulated stone.
Inside waited Kael.
Tea. Incense. Polite music.
"Welcome, Empress," Kael said, sipping calmly.
"To the house of heretics, built on borrowed breath."
Xilaya frowned.
"You seek diplomacy?"
"No."
"I seek to watch your convictions die in slow motion."
Kael stood and paced in front of her.
"Tell me," he said, "do you truly believe in justice? Or just in power cloaked in robes?"
"I follow heavenly law," she said.
"Then answer this—when the law makes monsters, who judges it?"
"The Tribunal guides fate."
Kael paused, leaned in, and said:
"Fate is a broken clock."
"And I? I rewound it until the gears snapped."
She drew her blade.
He didn't flinch.
"You think I fear death?"
"No," he said. "I orchestrate it. One soul at a time."
He raised one hand.
A mirror of soullight shimmered.
"Here," he said, "are the Tribunal's hidden sins."
He displayed:
A massacre buried under divine silence.
A sealed record of immortal child sacrifices.
Proof that Xilaya's mother was executed not for treason—but for knowing too much.
She stumbled back.
"You forge illusions!"
"No," Kael whispered. "I forge revelations."
Mind Fracture Protocol Initiated
The Chaos System's shadow threads wound around Xilaya's soul.
"Let her see her gods rot from within," Kael murmured.
[Mind Fracture Level: 31% → 57% → 81%]
"I believed…" she whispered. "I fought for…"
"A lie," Kael finished.
"And now you'll bleed truth on their altar."
Her Defeat
Xilaya knelt.
"Kill me."
Kael turned away.
"Death is mercy."
"Live… and watch it all collapse."
He walked past her.
"And when you're ready to scream my name… do it with reverence."
Tribunal Reaction
They watched through celestial mirrors.
And saw her kneel.
"She broke…"
"Then he's not a heretic…"
"He's a doctrine."
Final Scene
Kael sat at the top of the Chaos Temple.
He looked up at the stars.
"Send more," he said to the wind.
"Send better."
"Or kneel now… and save us all the drama."