Xavier's POV
I'm sure the fight has already begun on the other side. Their lives are on the line. If Nara and the priest are risking everything, then I can't afford to slack off either. It's time I take my responsibility seriously.
I carefully pushed open the museum's back door. The grand hallway stretched out in front of me, hauntingly quiet, drenched in the pale blue of the pre-dawn hour. At the far end stood a figure—a demon with long, ashen gray hair flowing like silk in the wind, some strands even brushing the floor. A double-sided axe rested across her shoulders, almost lazily. Her presence alone distorted the air.
I slipped behind the staircase, my breath held as I watched her pace near the tall arched windows. Her aura… it was dense, heavy, and terrifying. Since I healed Nara yesterday, I've started to feel people's energy better, and this one—this was unlike anything I had sensed before. Not Nara. Not Priest. Not even the Upper Knights. No… she was something else entirely.
I crouched, waiting for the perfect moment to sneak through. When her back turned, I bolted up the stairs and into the hallway. The same corridor where I first met Nara.
My eyes scanned the rows of statues and ancient relics. Somewhere among them was Teresina's seal. The priest had said her pendant was embedded in a statue, and I had to break it before the sun hit. We didn't have the luxury of time—if I failed, we'd have to wait another year for the summer solstice to return.
But there were too many statues. Dozens. I couldn't inspect them one by one.
"Think, Xavier. What would Typhon do?" I murmured, crouching in the center of the hall with my head bowed.
"Teresina," I whispered, "I know you're here. Your lord is calling. Just once—send me a sign."
Suddenly, the patterns on my arm began to glow. I felt it—a pull in my chest, like a heartbeat aligning with another. A unique aura radiated from behind me. Not demonic. Not human. It was fierce, elegant, pure—Teresina.
I spun around, my eyes locking onto a small fairy-like statue nestled in a shadowed corner. My heart pounded. I could feel it—this was it. Teresina was here. I ran toward the statue, raising my hand to break it—
WHAM!
A force slammed into my stomach, throwing me back with such intensity that I crashed into a nearby pillar. The pain exploded through me as I gasped.
"Pretty late, humph."
That voice.
I looked up, and my blood froze. The demon from the hall—she was no stranger. It was Clara.
"Wh-What are you doing here?!" I stammered.
Her smile widened.
"So Priest and Nara were right… something was always off about her," I thought. "They must have sensed her aura back then."
"Don't bother lying," she said, stepping closer, her axe still resting on her shoulder like it weighed nothing. "Tell me where Teresina is, and I might let you go. I'm not really in the mood to kill a powerless lord."
"Powerless, huh? And yet here you are, blocking me. Scared I'll break a statue? You were the one who betrayed us. You joined the Shadow Lord—the one who tricked me, who used conspiracy, not power, to win."
Her face twitched.
"Siding? you were the one who banished me. The Shadow Lord took me in when no one else did!"
She lunged at me, her massive axe arcing toward my chest. I barely rolled aside, scrambling to my feet, but she was fast—too fast. The flat of her weapon slammed into me, sending me tumbling again.
Odd. Why didn't she use the blade?
"You could've killed me. Why didn't you and why did i banish you?" she didn't answer me. first not stabbed me and now she didn't know why i banished her if she didn't remember why i banished her, she must be brainwashed
I stood slowly, blood trickling from my lip.
"If you're not going to stab me, then I'm not going to hold back."
She lifted the axe again. "Let's see if the dragon king can still roar."