"Looks like you also had a good haul."
"Indeed."
"You won’t believe what we saw in there."
"Tell about it."
The Sunlit Order mbers murmured as they reunited with each other, excitent and greed clearly displayed on their faces.
Indeed, they planned to depart to the Land of Aether after this, but they didn’t want to do so as paupers with nothing to their na.
No... They wished to be rich.
Rich and powerful immigrants, who would be respected and welco into the new world they ventured into.
Naturally, reuniting after an eventful haul were Rey, Serena, and Logan.
They all stared at one another.
The rowdy rendezvous point was the grand entrance hall, now serving as a staging area for their looted treasures.
Enchanted bags and crates were piled high, containing the fruits of their invasion.
Logan stood amid the chaos, his expression troubled. Around him, Sunlit Order mbers sorted through docunts and intelligence materials from Dreyfus’s study.
"The treasury was impressive," Rey said without preamble. "But not impressive enough. Where’s the rest?"
Logan and Serena exchanged aningful glances.
"You’re perceptive," Logan finally said. "There is more. Much more."
He pulled out a docunt recovered from the study—a floor plan of the manor with several sections marked in red ink. "Every major Noble House maintains two treasuries. The public one, which we just raided, contains wealth they can afford to lose in case of theft or disaster."
"And the second?" Rey asked, though he already suspected the answer.
"The Deep Vault," Serena said quietly. "Where the true treasures of the Desgarron Family are kept. The items so valuable, so powerful, that even their existence is kept secret from most family mbers."
She pointed to a location on the map, deep beneath the manor’s foundation. "It’s here. Protected by security asures that make the main treasury look like a child’s jewelry box."
Rey studied the location, his mind already calculating possibilities.
"And you were planning to access this when?"
"After securing the main haul," Logan admitted. "It’s dangerous. Most of our people aren’t equipped to handle what guards the Deep Vault. That’s why only the senior mbers were going to attempt it."
"But now we have you," Serena added, looking at Rey and his automatons. "And your chanical soldiers might just tip the odds in our favor."
Rey considered this.
The contract bound them to share information about threats and to work together during the looting phase.
This qualified as both.
"What’s the security like?"
Logan pulled out another docunt, this one covered in technical diagrams and arcane symbols.
"Multiple Chaos Art barriers, physical locks that require specific Artifacts to open, and at least one guardian construct that makes these automatons look like toys."
"Plus," Serena added grimly, "the vault requires a blood sacrifice to open. Desgarron blood specifically."
Rey raised an eyebrow. "That could be a problem, given that we’ve killed all the Desgarrons."
"Not all of them," Logan corrected. "Amara is still alive, sowhere in transit. But we don’t need her. We have the bodies."
He gestured toward where Dreyfus, Beatrice, and Augustus lay.
"Fresh blood should work just as well."
The casual way he said it made several Order mbers shift uncomfortably.
But desperation bred pragmatism.
"Here’s what I propose," Rey said after a mont. "We three go to the Deep Vault—you, Serena, and myself, plus two of my automatons. The rest of your people secure what we’ve already taken and sweep the manor’s rooms for any remaining valuables."
"Divide and conquer," Logan nodded. "Maximizes efficiency."
"And minimizes the number of people who know what’s in the Deep Vault," Serena added shrewdly.
Rey didn’t deny it.
The fewer people who knew about the ultimate treasures, the fewer potential complications later.
"Agreed?" he asked.
"Agreed," both leaders responded.
Orders were quickly distributed. Most of the Sunlit Order mbers dispersed throughout the manor, stripping rooms of artwork, jewelry, docunts—anything of value.
A small guard force remained with the main pile of loot.
Rey, Serena, Logan, and two automatons descended into the depths.
The path to the Deep Vault took them through levels of the manor Rey hadn’t known existed. Servants’ passages gave way to rough-hewn stone tunnels, which eventually opened into a vast underground chamber carved from solid bedrock.
At the far end stood a door unlike anything Rey had seen before.
It was massive—at least twenty feet tall and ten wide—composed of so dark tal that seed to absorb light rather than reflect it.
Symbols covered every inch of its surface, glowing faintly with deep Chaos Energy.
And in the center, surrounded by the most elaborate protective circle Rey had ever witnessed, was a small basin.
"The blood altar," Logan said quietly. "Once we activate it, there’s no going back. Every security system in the manor will know soone’s trying to access the Deep Vault."
"How long will it take to open?" Rey asked.
"The ritual takes approximately three minutes," Serena replied. "We’ll need to use nearly all our remaining Null Art Scrolls and a significant quantity of Ether Stones to power the opening sequence."
She began unpacking supplies—dozens of scrolls, each one covered in intricate Null Art formulas, and fist-sized crystals that glowed with concentrated Ether.
Logan retrieved a vial of blood from one of the Desgarron corpses.
"Fresh enough to work," he confird, examining the viscous liquid.
They arranged themselves according to Serena’s instructions.
The scrolls were placed at specific points around the door, forming a complex geotric pattern. The Ether Stones were embedded at the pattern’s vertices, their energy already beginning to flow along invisible channels carved into the stone floor.
"Ready?" Serena asked, holding the vial of blood.
Rey positioned his automatons defensively. "Ready."
Logan drew his weapons, eyes scanning the darkness beyond their illumination orbs.
"Do it."
Serena poured the blood into the basin.
The reaction was imdiate and dramatic.
The blood hissed and bubbled as it made contact with the altar, then suddenly ignited with purple flas that cast dancing shadows across the chamber.
The symbols on the door began to glow brighter, pulsing in rhythm with so invisible heartbeat.
The Null Art Scrolls activated one by one, their energy feeding into the door’s barrier systems, systematically dismantling protections that had been in place for centuries.
The Ether Stones blazed like miniature suns, pouring their accumulated power into the opening sequence.
The chamber filled with sound—a deep, resonant thrumming that Rey felt in his bones. The very air seed to vibrate with concentrated mystical energy.
Minutes passed, each one feeling like an eternity.
Then, slowly, the massive door began to move.
Ancient chanisms groaned to life.
Stone ground against stone as the door’s locking systems disengaged one by one. The purple flas in the basin leaped higher, casting everything in an eerie light.
"It’s working," Logan breathed.
The door continued its ponderous movent, revealing a gap that grew steadily wider.
Beyond it, Rey could see nothing—just absolute darkness that their illumination orbs couldn’t penetrate.
Finally, with a sound like a great beast exhaling its final breath, the door swung fully open.
The Deep Vault of the Desgarron Household stood revealed.
Rey, Serena, and Logan stood at the threshold, staring into the darkness beyond. The automatons’ sensors strained to penetrate the gloom but reported only interference.
"Well," Rey said quietly. "Shall we see what secrets the Desgarrons were willing to kill to protect?"
He took the first step forward.
And the darkness swallowed them whole.
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