NOCTHARIS CASTLE
Morning had finally arrived over Noctharis.
The storm from the previous night had disappeared, but the castle still carried the feeling of what had happened.
The stone corridors were cold.
Pale morning light entered through the enormous windows, stretching across the floors in long, quiet shadows.
Most of the people were already awake.
Servants moved through the halls.
Guards stood at their posts.
Voices echoed faintly from distant rooms.
But inside the Devil Horns' chamber...
Michael and Ikiro slowly moved toward the door.
Neither of them spoke for a few seconds.
Michael finally broke the silence.
"Hey, Sanim... what is even the plan here?"
Ikiro stopped.
"There ain't no way we can get the code from the inside."
Michael looked at him.
Ikiro turned slightly.
"There is a way."
He started walking again.
"Follow me."
Michael followed.
They moved through the castle corridors.
Slowly.
Carefully.
The morning had made the castle look almost peaceful.
Almost normal.
But the two of them knew what was happening beneath their feet.
Junyu was still imprisoned somewhere below them.
Mil was injured.
Salim and Ton were already searching for the underground prison.
And they had very little time.
They continued walking until Ikiro suddenly stopped.
Michael nearly walked into him.
They were standing in front of a completely ordinary stone wall.
Michael looked at it.
"This?"
Ikiro nodded.
"This is the wall where the code works."
Michael looked around.
Nobody was nearby.
Ikiro reached into his equipment.
"And now I will put this speaker and camera and set it here to find if someone comes here and opens the gate."
He carefully placed the equipment against the wall.
The tiny camera pointed toward the corridor.
The speaker remained hidden.
Ikiro stepped backward.
"That's it."
Michael stared at the wall.
"This was easier than I thought."
He paused.
"But how will someone go inside?"
Ikiro looked toward him.
"We will force them using false information."
Michael listened carefully.
"And our plan isn't just to go in the prison."
Ikiro lowered his voice.
"It is to guard and help the others."
Michael nodded.
"What is the false information?"
Ikiro answered simply.
"Lacod Junyu has escaped the prison."
Michael's eyes widened slightly.
"Interesting."
He looked down the hallway.
"Let's put that into the test."
THE DISTRACTION
Michael suddenly sprinted into the main hall.
His footsteps echoed through the enormous castle.
People turned their heads.
Guards looked toward him.
Michael shouted at the top of his voice:
"You framed him for a murder he didn't do, and now he is out of the prison!"
He pointed toward the surrounding guards.
"Just better be ready when he comes and kicks your ass!"
The hallway erupted into confusion.
People began whispering.
"Junyu escaped?"
"When?"
"Is that even possible?"
Far away...
Morgan heard the shouting.
His expression changed.
He immediately looked toward the direction Michael had disappeared.
Then he saw Michael running back toward the Devil Horns' chambers.
Morgan narrowed his eyes.
THE DEVIL HORNS' CHAMBER
Ikiro was already waiting.
Michael entered.
Ikiro looked at him.
"Good job."
He walked toward the wall.
"Now they will come in the chamber."
He looked at the window.
"And just for that thing... we will put a hole in the wall."
Ikiro raised his hand.
"Lemme do it."
CRACK.
The window broke.
Cold morning air entered the room.
Ikiro stepped back.
Now they waited.
One minute.
Then another.
The room became strangely quiet.
Michael stood near the window.
Ikiro watched the corridor.
Then—
Footsteps.
Slow.
Heavy.
Getting closer.
A guard appeared.
Behind him...
Morgan.
The masked man entered the chamber.
His eyes immediately moved around the room.
Michael casually picked up some food.
Then—
He threw it out the window.
Morgan looked at him.
The guard looked horrified.
"HEY!"
Michael turned.
"WHY DID YOU THROW THE FOOD?!"
Michael shrugged.
"It was bad and gross."
Ikiro quietly gave a thumbs-up toward someone outside the window.
Morgan noticed.
His eyes narrowed.
He immediately walked outside.
He pulled out a walkie-talkie.
"Check if Junyu is in the prison."
The voice on the other side responded.
Morgan continued.
"Even if they are joking, we can't take a risk."
His eyes remained fixed on the castle.
"If Junyu gets out, then there might be some problem to us."
THE WALL
Someone from Organization X approached the strange wall.
He stood directly in front of it.
He raised his hands.
His voice became low.
He began chanting.
The air around the wall started vibrating.
Ancient symbols appeared across the stone.
The corridor became silent.
Then—
The wall opened.
A hidden gate revealed itself.
The man entered.
Michael watched carefully from a distance.
Ikiro remained completely still.
Inside the prison...
Junyu was sleeping.
The fake room had worked.
The stone body lay beneath the blanket.
The cameras showed exactly what they needed to show.
The guard looked at the sleeping figure.
He waited.
Nothing happened.
He turned around.
The gate closed behind him.
He returned to Morgan.
"He is sleeping."
Morgan remained silent.
For several seconds.
Then his shoulders relaxed.
He had believed the report.
The tension slowly disappeared from the hallway.
Michael looked toward Morgan.
A small smirk appeared on his face.
Morgan noticed.
But he didn't understand why.
Minutes passed.
Nobody moved.
Michael and Ikiro waited.
Five minutes.
Ten.
The castle slowly returned to normal.
Only then did Ikiro quietly speak.
"Now."
They moved toward the wall.
Ikiro carefully retrieved the speaker and camera.
Michael looked at him.
"Did we get it?"
Ikiro checked the recording.
His eyes slowly widened.
A sequence of words had been captured.
He read them.
"DWI COMP MRI MON."
Michael stared.
Ikiro stared.
Neither spoke.
The corridor became completely silent.
Then—
The symbols on the wall suddenly began glowing.
A deep vibration travelled through the stone.
CRACK.
The walls around them began to fracture.
Michael stepped backward.
"What...?"
The entire structure shook.
The stone shattered outward.
A hidden mechanism awakened beneath the castle.
The ancient gate slowly began opening.
A darkness deeper than the castle itself appeared beyond it.
Ikiro looked toward the opening.
Michael's expression changed.
They had found it.
THE PRISON GATE OPENS.