Finn Cogsworth wiped sweat from his brow with the back of his hand, his gleaming eyes never leaving the complex device before him. "Done," he whispered triumphantly.
On the workbench, among coils of copper wire and cracked crystals, lay a palm-sized device. It was a mesh of precision brass gears and focused crystal lenses, all connected to a vibrating needle point. "The Nullifier Resonance," Finn said proudly.
"This won't destroy the rune seal on the archive door," he explained to Nihil, who stood motionless in the shadows. "That would create too much magical noise. Instead, this device will 'listen' to the magical frequency of the rune, then broadcast its perfect inverse frequency. A 'anti-sound' magic. For about ten seconds, the rune will be fooled into thinking it doesn't exist. It will sleep. Long enough for you to open the door."
He looked at Nihil seriously. "But the device is unstable. You might only have one chance before its focus crystal overloads and shatters. Don't fail."
Nihil nodded. Then he handed over his repaired Null-Capacity Condenser. "As agreed. Twenty-four hours."
Finn's eyes shone like a child seeing the most expensive toy in the world. He gently seized the artifact. "Oh, you won't see me for a full week."
Several hours later, a shadow silently glided across the moonlit academy grounds. Nihil moved from shadow to shadow, the patrol schedule he'd purchased from Silas etched in his mind. He arrived undetected at the Alchemy Wing.
The door to Master Corvus's Private Archives was made of reinforced black iron, adorned with ice-blue protective rune webs that pulsed faintly. Nihil could feel the cold defensive magic emanating from it.
He produced the Nullifier Resonance. With a steady hand, he attached the device's needle to the center of the rune web. He pressed the activation button.
The device emitted an extremely high-pitched hum, nearly inaudible. The crystals within began to glow brightly. On the door, the ice-blue runes flickered wildly, as if fighting something. Then, for several seconds that felt eternal, their light dimmed, pulsed faintly, and finally went out.
Nihil wasted no time. Ten seconds.
He pulled the heavy iron handle. The door creaked open. He slipped inside. The moment he closed the door behind him, he heard the device Finn had made let out a crack as its crystal shattered, followed by the return of the ice-blue light to the door's runes. He had made it in.
The Alchemical Archives were a strange place. The air felt cold and smelled of sharp chemicals and ancient dust. The shelves were filled not only with books but also with jars containing preserved odd organs, rare plant specimens, and countless rows of potion bottles.
Following information from Silas, Nihil walked to the private section of House Theron, a part that shouldn't exist here. There, hidden behind rows of remedy recipes, was an iron chest bearing the Theron family's eagle crest.
The lock was complex, but for Nihil, it was merely material.
[Using Void Grasp. Target: Internal Mechanism of Iron Key.]
[Capacity: 40/40 -> 39/40]
The inside of the key turned to dust. With a satisfying click, the chest opened.
Inside, there were no cursed artifacts. No weapons. What lay within was a stack of letters tied with a silk ribbon and a small leather-bound journal. The personal journal of Lord Theronius, ancestor of Professor Theron.
Nihil opened it, his crimson eyes swiftly scanning the ancient handwriting. The journal confirmed everything. The betrayal of Archon Zarthus Nocturne. Plans to sacrifice him to the Cult.
But then, he found an entry written in a panicky and remorseful tone. A truth far more terrible.
"...the accident... by the Light, the accident! I only wanted to take that 'Stabilizer'. The scholars said it could suppress and control Void power, turning it into an unlimited energy source. That object should have belonged to my family, not to the cursed Nocturnes! But when I tried to move it, the seal broke..."
Nihil stopped reading. Stabilizer?
"...the energy explosion didn't kill Zarthus. It did something worse. It destroyed the Stabilizer and made the Shackles within his soul... feral. No longer controllable. The healers say the curse has now become a hundred times more vicious, consuming the host's soul from within. Every subsequent generation of Nocturnes... they will die. They will all die because of my greed..."
Nihil closed the journal. His hands did not tremble, but an infinite coldness spread from his chest.
So, this was the truth. His family was not destined to suffer. Their curse should have been controllable. The deaths, the suffering across centuries, none of it was fate.
It was the fatal mistake made by the ancestor of the man who now sought to destroy him.
He had found his evidence. The weapon he sought. And this weapon was far sharper and more poisonous than he had ever imagined.
As Nihil uncovered the cold truth within the silent archives, Velka Nocturne stepped into a nightmare frozen in time.
She stood at the gateway to the Dead District. Behind her, the bustle of The Undercroft felt like another world. Before her lay only silence. A heavy, oppressive silence like a shroud. The dusty streets were lined with collapsed buildings, their blackened facades staring at her like empty skulls.
Velka took a deep breath, suppressing the fear that threatened to paralyze her. She remembered her brother's face, the resolve in her own eyes when she accepted the task from The Weaver. She stepped through the invisible gateway.
The air inside immediately felt ten degrees colder. Every sound—the wind whistling through broken windows, gravel shifting under her boots—echoed a hundred times louder in the absolute silence.
She walked down the deserted main road, her hand gripping the small blade she hid beneath her robe. She felt watched. From the dark windows, from the collapsed rooftops.
Suddenly, in the middle of the road, she saw it. A translucent shadow in the shape of a human, hovering. A Phantom Beast, an echo of one of the plague victims trapped here. The creature turned toward her, sensing the warmth of her emotions, her fear. It began to float closer.
Velka froze. She had no magic. She could not fight. She recalled the tedious etiquette lessons from her childhood, lessons on controlling emotions and maintaining a blank face before other nobles.
She forced herself to calm down. She emptied her mind of fear. She began to recite silently, not a prayer, but her family's complex genealogy. "Valerius, son of Remus, who married Cordelia of House Virell..." She transformed her mind into a dry, boring archive.
The Phantom Beast stopped. Its "delicious" treat suddenly became bland. Losing interest, the creature turned and vanished into the wall.
Velka exhaled shakily, then continued on her way. She had passed her first test.
She finally arrived at the Defiled Cathedral. The building was more terrifying up close. The front door was shattered, and she could see evidence of a great battle inside the main hall—cracked pillars, scorched floors, and gaping holes in the roof. This was where her brother had fought.
Ignoring her fear, she entered. She searched the acolytes' quarters as instructed by The Weaver. She found a corridor leading to the dormitories. The rooms were small, containing only a stone bed and a small table. In one of them, she noticed a strange sign: faint scratches beneath a loose floorboard.
Heart pounding, she pried the board open. Wrapped in an old cloth inside was a silver music box. She had found it.
As she was about to take it, her eyes caught something else hidden there. A small leather-bound journal. Driven by irresistible curiosity, she opened it.
It was the journal of a young female acolyte. The early entries were filled with false hope about the "True Silence." But the later entries were written with an increasingly fearful and confused tone.
"...High Priestess Ravenna speaks of the 'Chosen Vessel'. Someone who will become the new container for the Will of the Master. She says the current Avatar (Nihil) is merely a catalyst, a key to open the door..."
Velka continued reading, her hands beginning to shake.
"...the ritual is not a transference to Ravenna. It is a calling. Ravenna says, according to ancient prophecy, the true Vessel is a woman from a strong ancient bloodline, marked by the 'Silent Crow'. Only she can contain the full power without being destroyed..."
Velka dropped the journal.
Crow. The symbol of House Nocturne.
And her mother... her nickname in her youth, before she married Valerius, was "The Silent Crow of Snow Valley" for her black hair and quiet nature.
The horrifying truth hit her. This was not about Nihil. Never was. Nihil was just bait. The Cult... they wanted her.
KRRKKK...
A loud noise came from behind her. Velka quickly turned around. The stone door of the cell where she was standing was slowly sliding shut, pushed by a hidden mechanism.
She ran, but it was too late. The door closed with a final DENTUM, trapping her in total darkness.
"Clever child," a cold and melodious voice echoed from a dark corner of the room, a voice that hadn't been there seconds ago. "You've discovered the truth sooner than we anticipated."
From the shadows, a woman stepped forward. She was one of Ravenna's lieutenants, whom Velka recognized from descriptions in The Undercroft.
"The Weaver is indeed a reliable informant," the woman continued with a cruel smile. "It was quite easy to pay her to send a little crow straight into our cage."
Velka backed up until her spine hit the cold stone wall. Her mission was not a test. It was a trap.
"Welcome home, Miss Nocturne," said the lieutenant. "The High Priestess will be delighted to meet you. Preparations for your ritual will begin shortly."