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Beneath the fractured surface of Arkaris, far below the cobbled streets and abandoned crypts, there lay a place forgotten by time.
The Ash Vaults—an ancient prison sealed by runes long eroded, where the condemned and the cursed were once cast, never to see the light again. Magic twisted the very air here, thick and suffocating, laced with agony and madness.
Lucian Vale descended into it willingly.
Why?
Because power hid in forgotten places.
And he was here to claim one of the most dangerous secrets buried by the old world: an Infernal Pactbeast, bound in the Vault's deepest chamber—a creature of pure wrath, imprisoned by the Circle's predecessors centuries ago.
If Lucian could tame it, he wouldn't just gain a weapon.
He'd send a message to every remaining faction in Arkaris: he was not bound by the rules of this world.
---
Into the Vault
Each step echoed like a drumbeat of war. The passage sloped downward, shifting from carved stone to scorched obsidian, with walls marked by claw gouges and melted sigils. Lucian's boots scraped across ground once bathed in blood and fire.
He walked without hesitation.
His cloak shifted behind him like a shadow given form, enchanted with layers of resistance and concealment. But even it struggled under the pressure of the Vault's corrupted mana.
Flames flickered unnaturally in the sconces—green and blue, dancing to a rhythm only the damned could hear.
He paused at the final gate.
It was a towering seal of blacksteel, bound by twelve suppression runes, each representing an element, a sin, or a commandment of ancient order.
Lucian reached out, his palm pressing to the center.
Knowledge Comprehension activated, and pain lanced through his skull as the magic fought back, snarling like a cornered beast.
But Lucian had expected resistance.
He poured raw Creation Energy into the seal, rewriting its conditions, bypassing its obedience triggers, syncing it instead to one thing:
His will.
The runes sputtered… then broke, one by one.
The door creaked open with the sound of the world exhaling its dread.
And inside…
The Infernal waited.
---
The Beast Below
It was bound in a circle of cracked obsidian, its form hunched, chained by what remained of divine shackles. Flames coiled around it like serpents—black, hungry, ancient.
The Pactbeast's body was humanoid in shape, but grotesquely large—nearly three meters tall, wrapped in armor-like scales that shimmered with ember veins. A mouthless face, crowned by horn-like spires, turned toward Lucian as he stepped into the chamber.
And it spoke—not in words, but in thought, projected directly into his mind like knives through silk.
"Another mortal come to die…? Or worse—bargain?"
Lucian did not flinch.
"I'm not here to beg," he replied, his voice calm, resolute. "I'm here to bind you anew. Not as a slave. Not as a prisoner."
He stepped forward, holding out a sigil etched into metal—a rune of Arcane Equilibrium, one of his own design.
"But as a weapon. A purpose."
The Infernal snarled, the chains rattling. "You dare speak of purpose to me? I devoured cities while your kind still feared fire."
Lucian's gaze hardened.
"And now you rot beneath them. Forgotten. Power unused is no better than death."
That struck something.
The flames surged violently, and the Pactbeast's roar shook the Vault. The air turned molten, but Lucian remained still—protected by a bubble of layered spells and sheer will.
"You want vengeance," he continued, his voice rising. "I want ascension. Help me reshape the world—and I will set you free when it's done."
"And if you fail?"
Lucian smiled darkly.
"Then you return to slumber with no one left to remember your name."
A long pause followed. The creature's eyes—burning pits of endless rage—bored into his.
Then, slowly, it lowered its head.
Acceptance.
Lucian stepped forward and placed the sigil on its chest.
The Pact ignited.
Flames surged in every direction, and Lucian was consumed—pain wracking his body as their essences intertwined. His vision blurred as alien memories flooded his mind: wars, conquests, betrayals, a time when gods still walked the skies.
And in return, the Infernal received Lucian's truth—his ambition, his loss, his defiance.
When the flames cleared, the Pactbeast knelt before him.
Bound not by chains.
But by choice.
---
A New Force
The Ascension Rune on Lucian's back glowed faintly, reacting to the integration. His power had shifted—deeper, more volatile. The Pact wasn't just a contract.
It was a fusion.
Lucian could now summon the Infernal as an extension of himself—channeling its power through his own frame, or manifesting it beside him in battle.
More than that, he had access to Infernal Thaumaturgy—a lost branch of magic that blended destruction, fear, and manipulation.
The world would never see it coming.
But Lucian wasn't done.
Not yet.
---
A Visit from the Old Guard
When he emerged from the Vault, cloaked in smoke and fire, he found a figure waiting for him at the stairwell's edge.
An old man—robes of deep navy trimmed with starlight thread. His eyes were cold, ancient, calculating.
"Lucian Vale," he said, his voice like distant thunder.
Lucian's eyes narrowed. "And you are?"
"I am Archwarden Halrix, last of the Obsidian Sentinels."
Lucian had heard the name before. A group that once policed the use of higher magics. Thought extinct.
Halrix didn't wait for pleasantries.
"You've broken seals not meant to be touched," he said. "You've awoken a threat buried for the good of all realms."
Lucian stepped forward, unafraid. "That's your perspective. I see opportunity."
"And I see a boy playing with blades he doesn't understand."
Lucian's tone sharpened. "Then teach me. Or get out of my way."
Halrix stared at him for a long moment. Then, slowly, he bowed his head.
"I once believed the world could be preserved," he said quietly. "But perhaps you're right. Perhaps it must be broken first."
He straightened.
"We will watch. We may help. Or we may stop you."
Lucian's expression remained unreadable.
"Do as you must," he replied. "So will I."
And with that, he vanished into the rising ash—leaving behind only heat, shadow, and the echo of a new beginning.
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End of Chapter 12