Epic Of The Demonic Sage

Lucius kept on writing the letters and drawing the diagrams. Eventually, an hour passed and a complex spell construct was now written on the wall. It glowed with a yellow light the same as Lucius's fingers and seemed to have a strange power contained within.

'Hmm, they all seem to not suspect anything…' Lucius thought while talking a look from the corner of his eyes.

He couldn't wait to get to the other side of this wall but knew that he had to be patient. One wrong step and all of his efforts these past fifteen years would go to waste. While he was stronger individually compared to everyone here, he wouldn't be able to hold for long if everyone decided to attack him together.

Lucius knew better than to underestimate the True bloods and their powers. While he had obtained his by hard work and sheer dedication, theirs was simply bestowed upon them by their true name. His heart raced as he imagined the moment he would get hold of the Amulet of Barrom.

Nearly everyone in the Barrom clan from the servants to the leaders knew the legend behind the amulet. Whosoever became the owner of the amulet would instantly become the vessel for the power of the great demon king Barrom and would in turn become the owner of the entire Barrom clan.

This was his true aim and what he had been persevering for these past years.

'Now only the final trial remains.' Lucius thought as he took a glance at Mira.

Complex emotions stirred within his mind for a moment before immediately being suppressed by his fervor.

"Alright, everyone get back. There may still be some danger ahead." Lucius warned.

Hearing his words made Mira calm down, and she realized that she must have just been overthinking. The past week had been harsh for them being inside this ruin. Not to mention that the mana here was unstable, which they were not used to, pushing them to use their own mana to stabilize it.

The team stepped back and Lucius held out his palms. Then closing his eyes, he focused and poured his mana into the spell construct, activating it.

~DENG~

A loud sound was heard as the spell construct that was drawn on the wall started merging with it. Then the wall started morphing and transformed into a giant door.

~Keeeng~

Another loud sound was heard as the door opened slowly, bit by bit. This spell construct that Lucius had used was the amalgamation of a ton of research. He had actually found out the location of the ruins a long time ago before Mira even knew it. But there was still the 'key' that was missing.

He had tried to find the Key, but it was impossible to find now. The few traces of it that he found pointed it to being in one of the forbidden locations all the way across the world, right in the heart of the Tharian theocracy.

Tharian theocracy was the number one enemy of the Barrom clan, and they had been mortal enemies for millenniums now. Lucius would have actually attempted to go there if he had not known that the forbidden area was struck by a spatial disaster over a century ago.

Anything that was there would have either been utterly pulverized, or lost in the spatial rift.

"Its… its… opening…" Michal uttered with shock.

Once the door had opened wide enough to let them pass, they continued onward. But just as they stepped past the threshold, a blinding glow appeared.

"Dammit! What's that!" Luke cursed.

Luke was the muscular man and was a specialist in physical combat. He was also experienced in defensive techniques and thus stood at the front of the team to defend them from unexpected danger.

A few seconds later, when the light dimmed down, they could see countless spell constructs floating in the air, each one more complex than the last.

"What is this? This is not as how we expected…" Roy said, seeing the spell constructs.

Except Lucius, all of them felt apprehensive and knew that there was no chance so many spell constructs would be made without a reason.

"Michal, what are these can you tell? Did we activate a trap?" Mira questioned.

"No… no… no… this can't be… these spell constructs... they're all forbidden!" He yelled, fear showing in his eyes for the first time.

Upon hearing his revelation everyone's face turned pale before they looked at Lucius.

"YOU! This is nothing like what you told us! What kind of a researcher are you? Did you get it all wrong?" Roy yelled.

Mira was also looking at her lover and feared that what she had thought earlier may have been true.

"No, I am a hundred percent correct this is right," Lucius said in an almost nonchalant attitude.

"Then what the fuck are these spell constructs that look like they can eliminate an entire army?" Luke questioned, feeling incredibly angry.

The one rule of expeditions like this was to fully know about the location or ruin they were heading to. There were always traps in them and going without preparation was incredibly foolish. The duty of a researcher in a team was this, to ensure that everything was known.

But Lucius had violated this very basic duty.

Lucius lifted his right hand and drew a spell construct.

~Shing~

"Minyos!" He said out loud, which utterly shocked Luke.

"HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?" Luke yelled madly.

"What does he mean?" Roy asked, feeling confused before he remembered the meaning of the word.

"Is that…" he gasped.

"TELL ME WHY DO YOU KNOW MY TRUE NAME? Luke shouted before rushing towards Lucius, his body glowing in red and veins bulging all over.

It was evident that he had activated his magic, but alas… it was too late.

Lucius flicked his hand and ropes made out of mana materialized, binding Luke up in an instant, pulling him up into the air.

Roy and Michal realized that they had just been betrayed and readied their spells.

"Ivalos!" Lucius said, binding up Roy.

"Nikpodon!" He said next, binding Michal as well.

Meanwhile, Mira could only watch in horror as her beloved strung up their companions and fellow clansmen.

"Lucius… why?"