[Two Minutes Before]
"Seems ancient," Nagumo muttered as his gaze fell upon the massive door, its surface framed by what appeared to be the corpses of two cyclopes.
Back when he had still been part of the Hero's party, he had scoured countless records within the royal library. Yet no matter how deeply he searched, not a single book mentioned a door like this.
Cautiously, he climbed the stairs leading toward it. Just as he was about to force the door open, the ground trembled beneath his feet.
Rumble
Nagumo immediately stepped back, channeling mana into his revolver as he waited for the door to respond. Seconds stretched into minutes. After two full minutes of silence, he finally decided to shove the door open himself and see what lay beyond.
The instant his hands touched the surface, the door swung open on its own—as if responding to a command, as though it had been programmed to unlock only after something had occurred.
…
Inside, glowing green vines illuminated the chamber. Multiple pairs of purple lights lined both sides of the room, forming a clear path forward as he stepped inside.
Near the end of the path, a massive, glowing yellow cube hovered in the air, slowly rotating a full one hundred and eighty degrees. But that wasn't what caught his attention.
What truly drew his gaze was the giant dead scorpion lying off to the side of the room.
His eyes shifted to what rested atop it. The moment he recognized it, a smile—one he hadn't realized he still possessed—spread across his face.
"Sylas," he called out.
***
[Present Time]
"Nagumo," Sylas called out from across the room. "Is that you?"
He raised one hand above his eyes, shielding them as he tried to see more clearly in the dim light.
Hearing Sylas's voice, Nagumo slowly stepped forward and entered the room. With each step he took, the scorpion's sheer size became more apparent.
"So you ate the monster meat after all. Good for you," Sylas said, still lying atop the scorpion's carapace.
Before Sylas could continue, Nagumo spoke first. He bowed his head slightly as he said, "Thank you for the gift you left me."
Nagumo was referring to the monster meat Sylas left him before he left the tunnel.
Sylas froze for a moment before replying, his voice calm. "Don't mention it. Just consider it my thanks for helping me find the Divinity Stone."
They were about to continue their conversation—catching up on everything each of them had experienced—when a small, feminine voice suddenly echoed from the altar at the far end of the chamber.
Embedded within the altar was a girl.
A pale, malnourished young girl with long blonde hair.
When she first heard the door open, her eyes fluttered open. After three hundred years of being sealed away, the sight of a tall young man standing before her ignited a faint flicker of hope within her crimson eyes.
She was about to beg him for help when he raised a hand, silently motioning for her to stay quiet. At first, fear gripped her heart. She thought he would ignore her—leave her here alone forever.
But as time passed, he began condensing an immense amount of energy into a crimson sphere hovering above his palm. She believed he intended to break her seal.
How wrong she was.
In an instant, he vanished.
She didn't understand what had happened until a thunderous explosion shook the chamber, the sound reverberating from above the ceiling.
Screeehh—!
A horrifying screech rang out as a massive creature revealed itself, emerging from the shadows clinging to the ceiling. Only then did she realize it had been watching all along.
She watched in stunned silence as the young man clashed with the monster, wielding a strange power she had never seen before—not in all the years she had lived.
The battle lasted a little over two minutes before it was over.
She held her breath, hope swelling in her chest. Now that the battle was finished, surely he would help her. She was just about to call out—
When another voice spoke first.
A second young man appeared. He had the same crimson eyes as the one who had slain the monster, but his hair was white, and one of his arms was missing.
She waited patiently as the two spoke. But when it became clear they were about to resume their conversation, panic set in. If she stayed silent, they might not even realize she was here.
Or worse—he might forget her entirely.
Nagumo turned to Sylas. "You know who that is," he said, gesturing toward the girl sealed within the altar.
Sylas shook his head. "No. She was already here when I entered. Honestly… I almost forgot about her. If she hadn't spoken up."
Seeing Sylas dismiss her so casually, she felt her heart sink.
"Wait," a weak voice called out from behind them. "Please… help me. I'll do anything."
Nagumo stopped walking.
"Why should we?" he replied coldly, standing beside Sylas. "You were sealed here for a reason. Only a couple of idiots would release you—and since we're not idiots, we'll pass."
Please," she begged one last time. "I was betrayed."
Nagumo froze.
The word echoed in his mind.
"Feeling sentimental?" Sylas asked lazily, still perched atop the scorpion's corpse.
Nagumo didn't answer. He simply turned and walked toward the altar.
"Nagumo and his sentimentality," Sylas muttered under his breath as he pulled out a bottle of holy water.
As Nagumo approached, the girl began explaining everything—how she had been sealed away, how she was a vampire princess who possessed immense power, and how her ministers and uncle had betrayed her out of fear.
They couldn't kill her.
So they sealed her instead.
"What do you mean by immense power?" Nagumo asked, frowning.
"My body regenerates extremely fast," she said softly. "And I can manipulate mana directly… without using a magic circle."
"…Those are incredible abilities," Nagumo murmured before turning to Sylas. "What do you think?"
Sylas paused briefly. "I'll leave it to you. You're the one who wants to help her, right?"
As the girl watched them talk, she noticed something. The way Nagumo spoke to Sylas—combined with the overwhelming life force radiating from him—made it clear.
Sylas's presence completely dwarfed Nagumo's, by an enormous margin.
I'm going to regret this, Nagumo thought as he placed his hand against the glowing stone, channeling his mana to destroy the seal.
Resistance surged back at him.
Gritting his teeth, he poured in more mana, pushing himself to the limit. "I'm not as weak as I used to be!"
Cracks began to spread across the glowing stone.
Light leaked through the fractures as his veins bulged and his teeth clenched tighter.
With a final surge—
Shatter
The seal collapsed.
The yellow crystal disintegrated into countless fragments of light, scattering through the air before fading completely.
"…I'm… free?" the girl whispered, as though afraid this was nothing more than a dream.
She sat there in silence, her body exposed, with only her long blonde hair draped over her form.
To Be Continued…