As Jared paced slowly around the massive stone door, discovered the hair-thin charms hidden inside the seam. They matched the human race charms had noticed earlier in the corridor.
“Looks like the only way through is with charm arts,” said, glancing over his shoulder. “Your ancestor’s legacy, does it mention how to dismantle a demon ward?”
Flaxseed shut his eyes and sifted through the knowledge the stone stele had force-fed into his mind.
A heartbeat later, his lids snapped open, bright with sudden certainty. “Yes! Positive and negative energy charms! Light counters dark, dark tempers light, together they neutralize the demons’ corrupt aura.”
He pulled two blank talisman papers from his robe. Guiding spiritual energy through his fingertips, traced one radiant golden charm, then another of deepest black.
The gold one pulsed with blazing positive energy, while the black one whispered with negative energy.
“Jared, cover me while I work!” Flaxseed slapped the gold charm to the left side of the door and the black one to its right. His fingers wove seal after seal while his lips poured out an ancient incantation.
Gold and black flared at once, merging into a slowly turning Circle of Duality that sank into the stone like sunlight into water.
The demonic face carved on the door roared in fury. Scarlet light hammered against the swirling Circle of Duality, and the entire gateway trembled so violently that dust sifted from the ceiling.
Just then, the stone visage split wide, spewing a jet of inky mist straight at Flaxseed.
Jared’s eyes narrowed. In a blink, the Dragonslayer Sword sang free, its golden arc of energy forming a shield in front of Flaxseed, shredding the mist into ribbons. “Focus on that ward, I’ll hold the line!”
The shredded black mist regrouped into a swarm of miniature bats, each pitch-black with burning crimson eyes, born of a demonic aura. They dived at the two men.
Jared let out a cold huff. Pale-gold energy blossomed from him, wrapping both men in a translucent barrier. The bats struck, hissed, and dissolved to ash against the shield.
Flaxseed dared not spare even a glance. His hands blurred faster, the positive and negative energy charm blazing so bright they painted the corridor white.
Bit by bit, the demonic face dimmed, its red glow fading away, while the spinning Circle of Duality grew sharper. With a thunderous crack, the stone door parted and began to roll aside.
Beyond lay a cavernous chamber like an underground palace. At its heart rose a black altar, jagged as volcanic glass. A longsword thrust upright from the slab, its blade utterly black, its aura colder than moonlit steel.
Bleached bones littered the floor in uneven piles, some demons, some unmistakably human, grim testimony to a battle that had ended in slaughter for both sides.
“Is that the magical item Lunaria wants?” Flaxseed pointed at the longsword, voice hushed. “Looks every inch a demonic sword…”
Jared shook his head. “Too simple. Look at those charms circling the altar, this is a sealing array. That weapon’s purpose is to hold something at bay, not to be taken lightly.”
He stepped closer, reading the charms etched into the stone. They echoed those had seen on the stele, but here they were layered a dozen deep, a final seal by the Flaxseed ancestors.
“Whatever’s bound beneath this altar is no ordinary demon. My guess? A demon general sleeps down there…” Jared pointed to a thumb-sized hollow at the altar’s center. “Lunaria isn’t after the sword. She wants whatever rests in that niche.”
A tiny black bead nestled inside, thick with demonic aura yet strangled tight by the surrounding charms so the corruption could not spread.
“What on earth is that?” Flaxseed whispered, curiosity wrestling unease.
Jared studied the bead but had no clue what it was.
“That’s a demon core!” Vermilion Demon Lord’s voice rang out. “Not just any core, an ancient demon general’s. Gain it, and the monster still shackled beneath this altar obeys your every whim!”
“A demon general?” Jared blinked, struggling to process. “Mr. Vermilion, was this brute stronger than you?”
Vermilion Demon Lord let out a low, contemptuous laugh. “If were, wouldn’t be rotting under stone. He didn’t surpass me…”
