I studied the eleven black rods for a long moment before turning my attention back to Gerald.
"So..." I said.
"What exactly do these things do?"
Gerald smiled faintly, as though he had been waiting for that question all along.
"They don’t kill Verilux."
I frowned.
"Then why call them the Verilux Slayer Rods?"
"Because they create the only situation where Verilux can be killed."
He slowly walked toward the floating rods and rested his palm against one of them. The countless crimson runes covering its surface brightened instantly, flowing beneath his hand like living veins before gradually dimming once more.
"You already understand why Verilux is feared," Gerald began.
"It isn’t merely because he’s powerful. There are Saints who possess terrifying destructive abilities. There are others with overwhelming physical strength or impossible regeneration. Yet none of them inspire the same hopelessness."
"Because of his connection to the Soul Sea."
Gerald nodded.
"Exactly."
He removed his hand from the rod and looked at me.
"Every Saint draws strength from the Soul Sea, but for most of us, that connection is temporary. We pull Soul Force when we need it, then the connection weakens again. Verilux is different. Thousands of years ago, he permanently rooted his soul into the Soul Sea itself. He no longer draws power from it."
"He exists as part of it."
"Precisely."
"That explained why every description of Verilux made him sound impossible to defeat. It wasn’t simply that he possessed an endless supply of Soul Force. His existence itself had become intertwined with the greatest source of spiritual energy in the Null Realm."
Gerald continued.
"I spent centuries searching for a way to sever that connection. Eventually I realized something."
He pointed toward the floor beneath us.
"The Soul Sea flows beneath every realm in the Null Realm through enormous spiritual currents. There are countless small currents, but only eleven primary ones. Those eleven currents converge beneath every domain and together form the foundation of his connection."
My eyes drifted back toward the rods.
"One rod for each current."
Gerald smiled.
"Exactly."
He gently tapped the nearest rod.
"Each Slayer Rod is an anchor. Individually, they accomplish almost nothing. They simply interfere with one current. Verilux would barely notice the disturbance."
"But together..."
"They become a formation."
The eleven rods suddenly shifted in unison, rotating around one another before settling back into perfect alignment.
"When every rod is successfully placed around Verilux’s, they resonate with one another and create a suppression domain. That domain doesn’t attack Verilux himself. It attacks the connection. It convinces the Soul Sea that Verilux no longer belongs to it."
I remained silent as I processed the idea.
"So for a short time...He loses everything the Soul Sea gives him. No endless Soul Force. No instant recovery. No impossible regeneration."
"He becomes an ordinary Saint."
Gerald slowly shook his head.
"No."
His eyes narrowed.
"He becomes killable."
A smile slowly spread across my face.
"Now that..."
I looked back at the rods.
"...is brilliant."
"It took me almost 100 years to perfect."
"I can see why."
My excitement quickly faded as another question appeared.
"There has to be a catch."
"There are several."
I folded my arms.
"Let’s hear them."
Gerald sighed.
"The first is time."
He pointed toward the formation.
"The Soul Sea is not an object. It is a living existence with its own instincts. The moment the rods sever Verilux’s connection, the Soul Sea immediately begins restoring it."
"So the suppression isn’t permanent."
"No."
"How long?"
"Five minutes."
I blinked.
"That’s all?"
"Five minutes is the absolute limit."
He looked directly into my eyes.
"After that, the Soul Sea repairs the damaged connection and Verilux returns to his full strength as though nothing happened."
Five minutes. It wasn’t much. Then again... Against someone like Verilux, even five seconds could decide everything.
"And the second catch?"
Gerald’s expression became noticeably more serious.
"The moment the first rod is placed... He’ll know. There is no hiding it."
Gerald walked toward one of the walls where a detailed map of the Soul Sea had been engraved.
"The rods don’t quietly suppress the currents. They forcefully interrupt them. To someone permanently connected to the Soul Sea..." He lightly tapped the engraved currents.
"...that disturbance is as obvious as someone striking a bell beside your ear."
I could already picture it. The first rod landed. Verilux immediately sensed it. Then everything became a race.
"He’ll come after whoever is placing them."
"If that’s the fastest solution."
"And if it isn’t..."
"He’ll destroy the rods that have already been deployed before the formation can be completed."
I slowly nodded.
"So activating the formation is actually harder than fighting Verilux."Gerald smiled.
"Exactly."
"The battle doesn’t begin after all eleven rods are placed."
"It begins with the very first one."
Silence settled over the laboratory as I looked at the eleven floating rods once more. The plan was elegant. It exploited the only weakness Verilux possessed. It gave us exactly five minutes to finish everything. And yet those five minutes suddenly felt like the easiest part of the entire operation.
The real challenge...would be earning those five minutes. I let out a slow breath before turning toward Gerald.
"You’ve had centuries to think about this. Surely you’ve come up with something."
Gerald gave a helpless smile and shook his head.
"Honestly?"
"I haven’t."
That answer caught me by surprise.
"I found the weapon," he continued,"but I never found a reliable way to use it."
He walked over to the engraved map once more, his fingers tracing the eleven spiritual currents surrounding Verilux territory.
"The ideal solution would be to hide the deployment of the rods until all eleven are in position."
He paused before shaking his head.
"Unfortunately, that’s impossible. The moment a rod anchors itself to a Soul Current, its resonance spreads throughout the Soul Sea. To anyone else, it’s barely noticeable. To Verilux..." Gerald looked up at me.
"...it’s as obvious as a bonfire in the middle of the night."
"So stealth is out of the question."
"It always has been."
I nodded slowly."Which means the only remaining option is to stop Verilux from interfering."
Gerald folded his hands behind his back.
"Someone has to keep him occupied while the rods are being deployed. Not for a few seconds, but long enough to place every single one."
I frowned.
"And who exactly is capable of keeping Verilux busy for that long?"
Gerald didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he looked me straight in the eyes.
"Everyone."
I blinked.
"Everyone?"
"Every Prime Territory Saint."
Gerald continued in a calm voice.
"I don’t mean one or two Saints. I mean every Saint willing to stand against him. Every force they command. Every army they can gather. And, of course..." His gaze settled on me."...you and everything under your command."
I understood where he was going. It wasn’t a battle. It was a distraction. Every Saint would be risking their life simply to buy enough time for the formation to activate.
"The casualties..." I muttered."...would be enormous."
Gerald gave a slow nod.
"There would be permanent deaths."