{Present, Ancient Leviathan Estate}
Teleportation circles were the key to traveling in the underworld—that I had figured out a while back.
What I hadn't realized was that they could appear on walls as well as the ground.
"There are too many!" Hearing Serafall complain about the golems was funny. If she wanted to, she could erase them all with a single attack.
Unfortunately, the foundation of the building wouldn't survive that, so we were stuck dealing with these stone golems individually, even as they walked out of the teleportation circles like anyone walking through a door.
One by one they appeared, never all at once. They were curated carefully, designed not to collapse the place, even as traps. Thoughtful, in an annoying way.
For most intruders, it would be a death sentence.
[Race: Stone Golems (Inanimate)]
[Rank: Middle-Class]
Middle-class traps. Far too many.
"Their strength isn't the problem," Serafall complained. "They just keep appearing after one is destroyed."
None of us knew if there was an end to them. Serafall had destroyed almost a dozen in a few minutes, yet the number didn't seem to diminish.
"Try to stop them without breaking them!" I shouted, pulling Sona out of the way and punching a golem's head clean off.
Serafall destroyed one more, and as the next emerged from the circle, she used ice magic.
I hadn't known she could do that, but ice was a form of water, so it made sense.
The golem froze in its tracks, still as stone. The flow of golems stopped for a moment, making us think the wave had ended.
Making us think.
"Its eyes…" Sona noted. "They're dimming."
The golems, which looked like stone ogres, had no visible cores—maybe they didn't even have cores—but their eyes were red gemstones. Every time a golem was destroyed, the gemstones lost their glow. And this time, even without destroying them, the glow was fading.
The ice couldn't stop them permanently without killing them, which meant—
"Dodge!" I shouted, jumping forward and smashing a new golem with pure demonic power. The class difference made them easy to destroy, though it was tedious.
And, as expected, another golem spawned.
This was bad.
"The place!" Sona yelled. "It's starting to collapse!"
No matter how carefully the trap maker planned, they hadn't considered that the building would weaken and begin crumbling—even with just one or two golems at a time.
The pathway toward the front was giving way, and it didn't look like it would hold for long.
"We have to get out of here," I said. "Otherwise, we'll never find her."
"It's risky to let you two go alone," Serafall bit her lips, destroying golems one after another. She was clearly frustrated at being unable to fully release her demonic power.
"But we can't let them keep pouring out either," Sona countered. We couldn't just stay here.
There had to be a way.
If we couldn't stop the golems, we had to stop their entry point.
"Can that magic circle be erased?" I asked, unsure how to get rid of it. Using force would likely break the wall, which wasn't smart.
"We would normally destroy it with demonic power," Serafall sighed, slicing a golem in half with a jet of water. "But we clearly can't use force here."
That was true. So what else could we do?
"Magic circles…" Sona stepped closer, careful as Serafall warned her. "If they can't be destroyed, they have to be erased."
"How?" I asked.
"The circle," Sona said, dangerously close now. "We have to deconstruct it. Figure out how it was made, then reverse it. That should erase it and stop the golems from appearing."
Serafall wasn't fond of the idea. It was clear who would have to do the deconstruction, and she didn't want her sister anywhere near the golems.
"I don't know about circles," I said. I wasn't going to do that for her. "One of us has to go ahead."
"I will do it."
"It's dangerous," Serafall countered. "You can get hurt, Sona."
Not Sona-Chan, but Sona. She wasn't playing around anymore.
"But he's right," Sona said. Unsurprisingly, she didn't want to give up. "I'm better than anyone here at studying magic circles. I should be able to erase it. And he needs to move ahead if he wants to reach whoever he's searching for before this place collapses."
"You're a Satan, Serafall," I added. "Can't you defend her while they make a move?"
Clearly, she had the strength and demonic power for that. If anyone could keep killing golems without fainting, it was her.
"I can do it," Sona pressed. "You know I can."
She was adamant to prove herself. And Serafall, powerful as she was, was powerless against her sister's determination.
"If I say move, you move," Serafall finally said. "I will cover you, but if it gets dangerous, you have to promise me you'll get out of there."
"I promise." Sona nodded and immediately moved to the corner of the circle, getting to work.
"Go!" Serafall shouted. "Find her, and get out immediately once you do. Even if you fail, make sure you escape unharmed!"
That was the cue I'd been waiting for. With a nod, I didn't waste a second.
I moved forward, carefully checking for suspicious planks or spots with probable traps, leaving the two sisters behind to deal with the golems.
Serafall might have told me to escape even if I didn't find Ingvild—but that wasn't going to happen.
I was close. The map showed it. I wasn't leaving without her.
I was only a few meters away—maybe a room or two. But no one said those rooms would be easy to cross.
I found myself in a massive room, following the map, and realized the corridor hadn't been the only troublesome place.
"Huh?" I muttered, standing before four massive stone golems, far more dangerous than the ones before. "You guys sure know how to make my path hard."
As if sensing me, the four golems, previously still as statues, began to shake.
I wasn't out of the woods yet. This place was fragile, and four golems making that much noise could easily bury me.
[Race: Stone Golems (Inanimate)]
[Rank: High-Class]
If it had been Sona here, she wouldn't have made it out.
But for me?
High-class golems meant nothing.
I bound them in place, unable to move. I didn't destroy them—who knew if that would trigger more to appear? Binding them here was safer.
And yes, I could have bound the golems back in the corridor instead of letting Sona and Serafall deal with them.
Ice couldn't stop them—the golems conducted demonic energy, so ice alone wouldn't work. But my Valefar abilities? They couldn't even kill themselves. Their magic signatures were bound, preventing suicide.
The only reason I hadn't bound the golems earlier was that I didn't want Sona or Serafall with me. I needed Serafall as my ticket into the Leviathan estate—not as a guide. And Sona just happened to be around.
One hundred meters.
That was the distance between me and Ingvild. I entered another room and finally saw her figure.
A few meters ahead was an elevated surface of stone and marble. On top was a bier, and atop that, a casket-like structure.
As I walked closer, a figure became visible.
Purple, surrounded by a lavender haze. Strands of hair flowing to her waist, a haze that enveloped her. A soft, pale face with small lips, long sleepy lashes, a perfect nose, and a cold body.
She slept like Padmé on her deathbed, appearing just as perfect as she must have been a century ago.
[Race: Half-Blooded Devil]
[Rank: High-Class]
It was her.
Ingvild Leviathan, the true descendant of the Leviathan and possessor of a terrifying Longinus.
"High Class even without awakening her Gear," I muttered, amazed—maybe even a little jealous.
And I couldn't help but admire how pretty she was. She wasn't a seductive beauty, nor like Sona, whose charm was different.
She was… elegant. Like a flower. For a moment, I forgot why I had even come here, standing and staring at her sleeping face for a long time.
"You're going to have a difficult time adjusting," I said, though she couldn't hear me. "So did I, but you'll adjust—just as I did."
There was only one way to wake her up: by leaving a mark on her.
Looking at my magical bracelet, I sighed. With a thought, it transformed into a dagger.
"Sorry about this," I whispered instinctively as I touched her soft, cold but alive face. I gently pulled her chin and opened her mouth. "You are beautiful."
I hadn't meant to say it out loud—it just slipped out. And with that, I knew I had to wake her.
Slicing my palm, I let my blood drip. The droplets fell like red rain on her face, even covering her nose, until finally some seeped into her mouth.
I waited a minute, wondering if it would work. It should—the system said my blood cured any injury, disease, or condition.
But what if this was different? What if she stayed asleep? Could I get her out without letting the Baels or the Satans take her?
No. I couldn't let the Baels have her. They would hate her—she was a half-blood, and beyond that, a Leviathan—a threat to their uncontested power.
As my worry grew, a purple haze began to rise.
The sweet-smelling purple clouds around her turned violent, swirling and spreading, engulfing her and even me to some extent.
I held my breath, expecting smoke—but it wasn't.
It was soft, calming, sweet. It felt… good.
Then, through the haze, a light appeared. Purple—not as dark as my Barbatos signature, but lighter, calmer.
[Mark of Asura has been Registered]
The message rang in my ears. The light around me grew stronger, until everything had turned purple—even my vision.
* * *
{Minutes Ago, Unknown Location}
—Rizevim Livan Lucifer—
Rizevim had faced more failures in the past century than he could count. Losing his most prized treasure. A failed experiment, which then fell into the hands of the fraudulent Satans. And now, losing a trusted comrade—maybe even a friend—to some degree.
All because of a damned boy. All because he had chosen a faulty devil to carry a treasured heart fragment.
His demonic power leaked out, shaking the entire building violently.
He could no longer allow the boy to succeed.
He had to get involved—directly, more than ever before.
And he had to do it soon.
"The Asura Heart Fragment… I need it," he gritted his teeth. "To complete the Asura Heart, I need it back."
Unknown to him, the Asura Heart was already complete. Unfortunately for him, he was not the possessor.
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{A/N:A/N: Got a pat reon named RedLamp01 with 30+ chapters.}