Chapter 81: Chapter 81
While Aspen, Arc, and Dei walked ahead, Xenos lingered behind and gave the clerk a lazy gesture with his hand.
"Where do I dump it?"
The clerk immediately bowed.
"Of course, Lord Xenos. This way, please."
He led him down and to the side, away from the main hall. Get full chapters from ⓝovelFire.net
Arc and the others blankly stared at Xenos as he left them and only gave a shrug back.
That was how he acted, and they’d better get used to it before all their hair turned gray.
Before the clerk, a narrow corridor opened up, lined with white marble and dark bronze sconces. The floor gleamed, smooth as a mirror, while etchings of Arcane ran across the walls.
"The market you saw earlier—the hall your friends entered—that is only the surface of this place. Our auction houses the more... acceptable wares. Artifacts, Runes, Divine Relics, and contracts."
He slowed a bit, glancing at Xenos.
"But there are... deeper chambers as well. Rooms where the Houses of Gods, and even their Hand, the Hieron, would rather turn a blind eye to. Red districts and the like. Experiments that are... extreme. Things that should not be made, but are. For those who can pay the price."
Xenos was unfazed, knowing worse.
"The ’fun’ part then."
The clerk coughed lightly, not sure how to reply.
"I-Indeed. Though not all would use that word."
"It depends on who you ask."
He didn’t say more after that, and the walk continued in silence.
Finally, they stopped before a single bronze door with no handle.
It had the same faint lines of Arcane glowing softly across it.
The clerk pressed his hand against the surface, and the door opened inward with a low hum.
Inside was a small, circular, and nearly empty chamber.
In the very center of the room stood a tall, oval mirror framed in dark silver.
It wasn’t polished like glass, but weirdly... deep, filled with enough Divinity to drown most mortals.
The clerk stepped aside and pointed towards it.
"That is the Vessel, a Divine Relic. Please transfer the Rune from your Soul into it."
Xenos walked up, eyeing the thing suspiciously.
He didn’t exactly trust what could touch a Soul.
Still, he stepped close and stood right before the mirror.
The surface reflected him faintly, focusing more on his tattoo.
He stared at his reflection for a few seconds before slowly exhaling.
"Alright, let’s get this over with."
Focusing up, he Willed his Soul forward.
Something cold shot from the mirror, and he accepted it.
They were chains of Divinity, and they wrapped around his chest.
After a moment or two, they stabbed through his body and into his Soul.
Every chain dug deep and yanked.
Xenos staggered slightly as the Rune tore free from within him, a flicker of crimson light being snatched into the mirror’s depths.
He blinked twice, rubbing his chest.
"The thing’s a bit violent, isn’t it?"
The clerk quickly bowed his head.
"It tends to be... overzealous with physical beings."
The clerk straightened, adjusting his sleeves.
"Your Rune will be auctioned. Should you choose to purchase anything, the value will be automatically deducted from your Rune’s sale. Otherwise, you will receive the profits, minus, of course, the transaction fee."
Xenos deadpanned, almost scoffing at the phrase "transaction fee."
Unbothered by his sarcasm, the clerk gestured for him to follow.
"The auction will begin shortly. I’ll escort you to your companions."
Instead of turning back toward the hallway, the man walked directly into the wall on their right.
"Right. Another wall."
Xenos followed, and the world melted again.
It gave way to a vast amphitheater where rows upon rows of marble seating curved downward toward a central stage illuminated by one incredibly bright light, which originated from the dome above, where gold rails, silver lamps, and intricate frescoes were placed.
This auction house was simply far above anything he’d seen in this realm.
Even the Pluto Academy paled in comparison to it.
He would’ve liked to admire it more, but the smell ruined it...
Nobles or not, they didn’t shower much, preferring to mask it with perfume.
So since he was standing up here where the air was wafting, he almost got dizzy.
’Some things never change, huh?’
Chuckling at that, he glanced to the right of the balcony they entered from.
There, huddled in the corner, sat a small ensemble, a band of four.
One played the psalterion, a harp of some kind; another played an epigonion, another kind of harp; the third had a qanun, a stringed keyboard instrument; and the last gently blew into a set of pan flutes.
They were playing something surprisingly modern and fun... almost jazzy.
It was a tune very far from the sacred hymns Xenos expected.
He found himself tapping his foot.
It had been ages since he’d actually listened to music.
He didn’t realize just how much he’d missed it until now.
’Coming here’s already worth it.’
The clerk pointed to the seats below.
"Your friends are there, second row from the bottom. Please, enjoy the auction."
Xenos waved him thanks and descended the marble stairs, slipping past murmuring nobles and hooded merchants until he spotted them: Arc, Aspen, and Dei.
Arc was leaning back with his legs crossed, almost too relaxed.
Aspen, meanwhile, sat straight as a spear to his right, incredibly alert.
Dei looked like Arc but worse, displaying her incredibly slothful self.
They had left him an empty chair between Arc and Aspen.
Aspen was the first to notice him.
Arc raised an eyebrow.
"You get lost, freak?"
"Welcome back, tall man!"
And there the sloth went...
Xenos chuckled, sitting down and stretching his legs.
"Nice to see the circus made it here safely."
Aspen leaned in slightly.
"Alright, since it’s your first time in one of these, listen up."
"Oh, I feel a lecture coming."
Ignoring that, the wolf-man continued:
"The auctions have three tiers. Third-tier items will be trash, low-grade Divine Relics, bad contracts, and weak Runes. Your Blood Rune will probably sell there, unless someone rich here happens to be of the Blood Element."
"You’d have to be really lucky."
Xenos gave him a flat look.
"Are you trying to be funny?"
Aspen ignored him once more.
"Tier two’s where we come in. That’s the highest level we can compete at. Tier one—the top tier—is full of Divine Relics we couldn’t even touch without getting vaporized."
"Sometimes tier-one items get bumped down because no one can use them, but that’s rare. You’d have to be very—"
Xenos elbowed the guy.
"Lucky, yeah, yeah. I get it; enough with the sarcasm."
Dei giggled beside them while Arc tried not to laugh but failed, covering it with a cough.
Xenos rolled his eyes and leaned back.
"Bunch of comedians."
After that, they went a little quiet.
Or rather, Xenos stopped listening to them.
And not only them, the noise of the crowd dimmed.
The music softened, and he held his hand against his chest.
Now that the Blood Rune was gone, he still had one task left.
One that couldn’t wait for too long.
He closed his eyes and focused.
Soon after, a sound came.
It drowned out everything.
Xenos could now only hear one thing.
And each beat of it was louder, echoing through his bones.
It reached a point where everything else, even sensation, melted away.
But eventually, that THUMP disappeared as well.
The world turned completely dark before suddenly...
He stood within his Soul for the first time.
It was incredibly vast, a silent expanse of shifting light.
Since his Will was after the Runes, he didn’t go to where Eris resided.
She was somewhere else, a place beneath his Runes.
He could sense Her presence, though, and it was heavy.
Much heavier than what was right before him.
’Before him’ were his Runes, floating up high.
The Luck Rune, shaped like golden scales.
The [Wise Fool,] marked by a jester’s cap.
And the [Fortune’s Wheel,] the sigil beneath his left eye.
They glowed a bright, pure white, edged in gold.
The one he’d come here for.
It was separate and lower, disconnected from the rest.
A crimson heart, twisted and pulsing faintly.
He nodded at Eris and reached out.
The Rune became smaller, and his hand wrapped around the crimson light, the warmth immediately burning against his palm before it quickly clenched into a fist.
And the Rune shattered.