Kaelen slipped the black smartphone and the silver ring into his inner pocket. He didn't offer an explanation. He didn't need to.
The video had ended, but the echo of his father's voice still hung in the ruined laboratory. Shut it down.
"Your father..." Seraphina's voice was barely a whisper. She was staring at Kaelen, her eyes wide with a mix of fear and confusion. "He said he built the System. That it's a mistake. Kaelen, if the Church finds out about this... if the Academy finds out... you'll be branded a Heretic. We both will."
Kaelen turned to her. The blue light of the laboratory hummed against his skin, casting long shadows across his face.
"Who is going to tell them, Seraphina?"
He walked toward her. Seraphina shrank back against the dusty console, clutching her injured leg.
"I... I won't," she stammered. "I swear on House Lionheart."
"House Lionheart is a family of snakes," Kaelen said calmly. He stopped inches from her. "You saw the video. You know the truth. That makes you a liability."
He placed his hand on the wall behind her, boxing her in.
"But you're also a resource," he continued, his eyes scanning her trembling form. "So here is the new reality: You didn't see a video. You didn't see a laboratory. We found a cave, we killed a spider, and we climbed out. If you deviate from that script, even by a word..."
He let a wisp of the black [Sin Eater] mist curl around his fingers.
"...I will consume your soul before you can finish the sentence. Do we have an accord?"
Seraphina swallowed hard, nodding rapidly. "Yes. Yes, I understand."
"Good." Kaelen pulled away, his demeanor shifting instantly from menace to pragmatism. "Now, let's get out of this grave."
He turned to the far end of the room. Behind the throne, a massive cylindrical shaft stretched upward into the darkness. In the center sat a circular platform—a Maglev freight elevator. It was ancient technology, likely used to transport the 'Specimens' his father spoke of.
Kaelen hopped onto the platform. He checked the control panel. It was dead.
"It needs power," Kaelen muttered. He pulled the pulsating [Fungal Core] from his pocket.
He jammed the purple orb into the intake slot. The runes on the floor flared to life, grinding with the sound of awakening machinery.
[Energy Source Detected: Fungal Core (Rank E).]
[Power Level: 15%.]
[Lift Capacity: Limited. Ascent Initiated.]
The platform jerked, dust raining down on them. Slowly, agonizingly, it began to rise.
"We're moving," Seraphina breathed, limping onto the platform beside him. "We're actually going home."
"Don't get comfortable," Kaelen warned, drawing his father's Mithril sword. He looked up at the endless shaft of darkness above them. "The noise. It's going to attract everything between here and the surface."
As if on cue, a screech echoed from the shaft walls.
Skreee!
Kaelen's [Abyssal Sight] picked them out immediately. Heat signatures diving from the stalactites above. Small, fast, and swarm-like.
[Razor-Wing Bats (Rank F)]
Hundreds of them.
"Cover your head!" Kaelen barked.
The swarm descended like a black cloud.
Kaelen didn't panic. He swung the Mithril sword in a tight arc, relying on the [AGI] stats he had stolen from the Hyena and Seraphina.
Slash. Slash. Crunch.
Bats exploded into gore as they hit the enchanted blade. But there were too many. They clawed at his arms, his face, trying to find a gap in his defense.
"Kaelen!" Seraphina screamed as a bat latched onto her shoulder.
"Useless," Kaelen grunted. He kicked a bat away from his face and grabbed Seraphina's arm.
He didn't pull the bat off. He triggered the [Soul Bond].
"I need juice. Give it to me."
[Soul Bond Activated.]
[Draining Vassal Mana to restore Stamina.]
Seraphina cried out, her knees buckling as her remaining energy was siphoned away. But Kaelen felt his fatigue vanish. His movements sped up. The sword became a blur of steel.
He wasn't fighting like a swordsman; he was fighting like a machine. Every swing killed. Every step was calculated. He moved around Seraphina, using her as a bait to draw the aggro, then slaughtering the bats that came for her.
"Hold on!" Kaelen roared.
He saw the light above. A jagged crack of sunlight. The exit.
He thrust his hand forward, unleashing a wave of the black mist. It wasn't a skill he had fully unlocked, just raw, unshaped Sin energy.
It terrified the bats. They scattered, screeching in confusion.
The platform slammed into the rock ledge at the top of the shaft.
Kaelen grabbed Seraphina by the collar and threw her onto the grass. He vaulted over the edge just as the elevator lost power and plummeted back down into the darkness.
Crash.
Silence returned.
Kaelen lay on his back, staring up.
The sky was blue. Painfully, beautifully blue. The sun was setting, casting the world in a wash of orange and gold. The air smelled of pine needles and damp earth.
He was alive.
[Ding!]
[Achievement Unlocked: Escaped the Abyss.]
[Reward: +5 All Stats.]
[Map Update: Celestia Academy Grounds - Outer Forest.]
Kaelen sat up, his joints popping. He looked at Seraphina. She was unconscious, drained by the Soul Bond and the trauma.
He stood up and walked to the edge of the forest clearing. From here, he could see the spires of the Celestia Academy in the distance.
But something was wrong.
Banners were hanging from the white towers. Black banners.
And in the center of the Academy plaza, he could see a massive magical projection—a hologram visible for miles.
It showed two faces.
One was Kaelen's face. The other was Seraphina's face.
And underneath them, in bold, golden letters:
"IN MEMORIAM: The Fallen Heroes of the Fissure."
Kaelen narrowed his eyes. He heard the distant sound of trumpets. A ceremony.
"They aren't looking for us," Kaelen whispered, a cold smile spreading across his face. "They've already buried us."
He looked at the date on the projection.
[Date: Month of Harvest, Day 12.]
"Day 12?" Kaelen calculated. "I fell on Day 5. It's been a week."
A week was a long time in politics. Long enough to write a narrative. Long enough for Rian to play the grieving survivor and secure his position.
Kaelen looked down at his tattered, blood-stained clothes. Then he looked at the unconscious girl behind him.
He picked her up, slinging her over his shoulder like a sack of grain.
"Wake up, Princess," Kaelen muttered, starting the long walk toward the Academy gates. "We're about to crash our own funeral."