The hidden chamber was nothing like the rest of the Tower of Truth. The mont Max and Lucien stepped through the portal, the air thickened as though they had entered a place cut away from the world. It felt ancient, heavy and suffocating, as if ti itself avoided disturbing whatever lay within.
At the very center of the chamber floated a single, pulsing object.
A golden heart.
It expanded and contracted with a steady rhythm, each beat sending faint ripples of light across the chamber. The glow was not warm but cold, like sunlight filtered through ice. It pulsed with an authority that did not belong to any mortal body. This was not flesh. It was a soul-organ, forged from condensed essence that only a crowned being could possess.
Impaled straight through the golden heart was a sword.
A dark red blade vibrated subtly inside it, leaking thin streams of infernal light into the chamber. Its presence distorted the space around it. The veins of corruption spiraled outward from where the blade pierced the heart, like roots spreading through soil.
Lucien stared for a long mont. His voice ca out low and thoughtful. "So this is what they sealed. The second fragnt of his soul is lodged inside his heart. And they used another infernal blade to bind it."
Max stepped forward slowly, observing both the golden heart and the sword. What intrigued him was not only the thod of sealing but the weapon itself.
"It's the sa sword," Max said quietly. "Exactly the sa as the one I used to find this chamber."
He reached into his dinsional space and pulled out the infernal sword he had retrieved years ago—the one tied to Mark's first soul fragnt. Its presence imdiately changed the atmosphere. The mont the blade erged, the entire chamber reacted as though awakened from slumber.
Before Lucien could say anything, the sword impaled into the golden heart trembled violently.
A flash of red light erupted.
FOOSH!
The sword tore itself free from the heart and transford into a streak of bright crimson energy. It shot across the chamber with frightening speed, heading straight toward the blade in Max's hand.
Max didn't even flinch. He simply held the weapon firmly, letting the approaching light collide with it.
The mont the red streak touched Max's sword, the two blades resonated.
The chamber shook.
The infernal sword in Max's hand absorbed the streak completely, flas of blood-red energy surging across its surface before settling into a steady, sinister glow. The veins of corruption pulsed like a heartbeat, and the sword vibrated in Max's grip as though recognizing a part of itself that had long been missing.
The second sealing blade had returned to its counterpart.
Lucien watched closely, his expression tightening. "The two swords were always ant to be one," he said quietly. "One sealed his first soul fragnt. The other sealed the second. Both belonged to that otherworldly being."
Max nodded, still studying the weapon in his grip. "Which ans the remaining fragnt—the third—will likely be connected to sothing similar."
The golden heart floated in silence now, still beating but no longer bound by the infernal blade. Its glow had weakened, faint cracks spreading along its surface as the sealing chanism dissolved.
Lucien stepped closer, his gaze sharpening. "The seal is weakening. The soul fragnt will soon awaken."
The golden heart shuddered again. Thin cracks spread along its surface like veins of light about to burst, and Max imdiately understood what would happen if he allowed the second soul to awaken here.
The Tower of Truth was powerful, but Mark's soul was not sothing that could be released in a confined space without consequences. The chamber would collapse, the tower would respond, and the entire Lost Continent might react with catastrophic force.
Max lifted his hand without hesitation.
A deep hum resonated through the chamber as countless runes appeared in the air, forming luminous shackles that descended like chains of divine light. They wrapped around the golden heart one coil at a ti, suppressing its movents and covering its cracks. The pulsing light dimd. The trembling slowed. The awakening paused.
He waved his other hand, and a container forged of pure tower-authority materialized. It was a box shaped from spatial tal, covered in layered seals that only the Tower of Truth could create.
Max guided the shackled heart into the box with precise movents, and as soon as the lid closed, the rattling ceased entirely. The heart disappeared beneath layers of sealing energy.
"I have temporarily slowed down the unsealing of the soul," Max said calmly. "This should give us enough ti to act."
He placed the sealed box into the Dinsion of Spirit where the temporal clone, the green soul energy, and Blob's domain would prevent any form of leakage. As long as he kept the fragnt isolated, Mark's awareness would be delayed by several minutes.
It wasn't much ti.
But it was enough for their plan.
Max and Lucien suddenly turned toward the chamber's entrance at the sa mont. A dark oppressive pressure swept through the lower domain like a wave of storm clouds gathering in the sky.
Lucien's expression remained composed, though his eyes sharpened. "He sensed the disturbance."
Max smiled faintly, not the least bit surprised. "Then let's go and greet him."
With a casual sweep of his hand, Max tore open a stable portal leading back to the outside of the tower. Both of them stepped through without delay.
---
The shores of the Lost Continent shook as a terrifying presence descended from above. A black crack opened in the sky and from within stepped a man wrapped in an aura of absolute dominance. Space trembled under his feet. Even the ocean below bent unnaturally as he appeared.
Mark—the crownbearer of Acaris—had arrived.
His long dark hair flowed like shadow-stained smoke, and his eyes glowed with an intensity that pierced through the souls of everyone present. He stood towering above the group of assembled leaders, yet he refused to step into the Lost Continent's boundary.
Even Mark feared the tower's curse.
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