The room they confined Kaen in after the tribunal was no ordinary cell.
It was a high-grade isolation chamber, reinforced with layers of suppression runes carved into cold stone, the air thick and heavy, and the silence so dense it felt like a living weight.
To most, it would have been maddening.
To Kaen, it was… peaceful.
He sat cross-legged on the floor, eyes closed, breathing deep and steady. The magical shackles around his wrists no longer pulsed with restraint—they merely hung there like forgotten chains.
Let them believe he was contained.
Let them relax their grip.
Inside, he was working.
His soul pulsed in quiet rhythm, tracing the remnant of Void energy he had absorbed from the creature back in the forest. It had fused more deeply into his core now, not just feeding him—but awakening something.
> Three more like that… and I can begin unlocking the first layer of the Vault.
The Vault Reaver.
His inner construct of sealed power—broken into seven interlocking layers.
One… already cracked.
---
Footsteps echoed outside the cell.
Four sets.
Sharp. Disciplined.
The door opened.
A woman entered—black coat, silver insignia, eyes like daggers. Her hair was bound tightly behind her head, every movement precise.
Behind her, two armed guards and a scribe.
> "Kaen Valcarys," she said. "I am Inquisitor Althea Nyx. I've been authorized by the High Council to conduct a deeper evaluation of your status."
Kaen opened his eyes, calm.
> "So they sent you to probe what they once buried."
Althea's expression didn't change.
> "They sent me to determine whether you're a threat… or an asset."
Kaen smirked faintly.
> "Smarter than the rest."
He stood slowly, chains rattling softly as he moved.
> "Ask your questions, Inquisitor."
---
The interrogation chamber was buried several levels beneath the Dominion compound. No windows. No comfort. Every surface pulsed with subtle enchantments. Floating eyes orbited the ceiling—magical recorders. In the center, a glowing crystal pulsed—a truth amplifier.
No table.
No barriers.
Just Kaen and Althea, seated in silence.
She broke it first.
> "The world believes you died thirteen years ago."
Kaen met her gaze evenly.
> "They made sure of that. Burned my body. Falsified records. Scrubbed my name from the Academy and royal registry. Only a few dared to remember."
> "But they forgot one thing."
> "I wasn't just flesh and blood."
She noted something on a floating crystal slate.
> "How did you survive?"
> "I didn't," Kaen said. "I reincarnated. Into the corpse of a young man who had just died in the ruins of a town called Trenya."
He leaned back slightly.
> "And by some fortune—or fate—his body was… compatible."
> "You merged with his soul?"
Kaen's smile faded slightly.
> "There was no soul left. I filled the void."
---
The interrogation lasted over two hours.
But there were no threats, no pain.
Just two sharp minds exchanging truths half-buried in shadows.
Kaen gave fragments. Just enough.
Althea read between lines like a scholar reading prophecy.
In the end, she stood—expression unchanged.
> "The Council wishes to weaponize you again."
> "They always did," Kaen replied. "But I'm not a weapon."
> "You're something they can't control," she finished for him.
She turned to leave, then paused.
> "Tonight, a representative from the Arcanist High Circle will evaluate you. If you pass, you'll be provisionally released… under surveillance."
Kaen nodded slowly.
> "That's all I need."
> "And after that?" she asked.
His eyes didn't waver.
> "I'll tear down their walls from the inside."
---
Later that night.
Kaen stood on a high balcony overlooking the inner fortress.
No more shackles.
He now wore a standard Dominion magus uniform—dark blue robes lined with thread-runes, the sigil of the Empire on one shoulder.
A symbol.
A cage.
But he accepted it… for now.
Althea joined him silently.
The wind blew soft, carrying whispers from the courtyards below.
> "They've begun scrubbing you from the public index," she said. "Only the highest clearance still holds your file."
> "But rumors are spreading anyway. About a man with no past who devoured a Voidspawn and survived."
Kaen stared into the distance, past the walls and into the night.
> "Let them talk."
> "The old bloodlines will hear."
> "Let them."
> "Why?" she asked.
He turned to her.
> "Because fear has a flavor. I want them to taste it before I come."
---
Elsewhere, deep within the lower city.
A young Dominion courier ran through dim corridors, heart pounding.
In his hand, a scroll sealed in deep crimson wax—priority one encryption.
He didn't notice the shadow tailing him.
Two figures moved between walls and silence.
One whispered in an ancient tongue.
Before the boy could scream, a blade of shadow slid across his neck.
He fell.
The scroll rolled from his hand.
One of the figures picked it up. Broke the seal.
Read.
Then grinned beneath his hood.
> "Valcarys… really lives."
---