The Great Hall of the Bastion of Mourning felt less like a seat of power and more like a slaughterhouse waiting for its first victim. The air was thick with the scent of ozone and the metallic tang of unsheathed silver. Baron Vane stood at the center of the room, his black cloak draped over his shoulders like a shroud. In front of him, floating in the air, was a massive scroll made of human skin, inscribed with glowing crimson runes that pulsed like a dying heart.
This was the Crimson Covenant, a high-level magical artifact used by the Silverian Hegemony to ensure the absolute loyalty of its vassal houses. It wasn't just a piece of paper; it was a soul-binding contract. Anyone who signed it with their blood would find their mana circuitry linked to the Emperor. If they committed treason, or even harbored a thought of rebellion, the runes would constrict, turning their own mana into a localized explosion that would shred them from the inside out.
"The raid on the Blackwood camp was not the work of monsters," Vane said, his voice echoing with a cold, resonant authority that made the rafters tremble. "The efficiency of the strikes, the tactical precision of the movements, and the specific choice of targets all point to a disciplined military force. A force that, according to my records, should not exist on this border."
He turned his gaze toward Lord Alaric, who stood with his jaw set and his eyes hard. "You claim your men are weak and stagnant, Alaric. You claim House Valerius is a crumbling ruin. And yet, forty miles away, an elite unit wearing your colors wiped out a Blackwood escort in less than five minutes. I will not be played for a fool."
"I have already told you, Baron," Alaric replied, his voice strained. "We have no such unit. If there are 'Phantoms' in the Ironwood, they are ghosts of the Abyss, not my men. My guards were all present and accounted for at the midnight roll call."
"Then you will have no objection to this," Vane said, gesturing toward the floating scroll. "The Blood-Oath of the Hegemony. Every man in this Bastion, from the highest lord to the lowest stable boy, will offer a drop of blood to the Covenant. The runes do not lie. If anyone here has obtained forbidden power or served a secret master, the scroll will turn black. If they are loyal to the Empire, it will remain red."
Cian Valerius, standing in his usual place behind the Baron with his inkwell and parchment, felt a cold shiver of adrenaline. This was the moment he had feared. The Crimson Covenant was a masterpiece of magical engineering. It didn't just read intent; it analyzed the "Source Code" of a person's mana. If Kael or any of the First Ten touched that scroll, the Supreme-rank silver mana of the Primordial Heart-Core Breath would light up like a star in a dark room. The discrepancy between their reported "Mediocre" rank and their true density would be undeniable.
[Divine Talent: Akashic Scholar is Analyzing the 'Crimson Covenant'.] [Status: High Complexity Soul-Binding Logic.] [Detection: The scroll operates on a frequency of 750 Terahertz.] [Vulnerability: The 'Honesty Filter' relies on a binary check of the host's primary heart core.]
Cian's mind raced through thousands of calculations. He had exactly three minutes before the first guard was called forward. If he didn't intervene, his secret army would be exposed, and House Valerius would be burned to the ground before sunset.
The scroll reads the primary heart core, Cian analyzed, his eyes glowing with a faint, silver light that was hidden by the shadow of his hair. It doesn't account for a secondary core because, according to the Hegemony's logic, a human with two cores is a physical impossibility. I can use my Monster Class core to act as a 'Bridge' for my men.
"Cian Valerius," Vane barked, not even turning around. "You are the son of the house. You shall be the first. Let us see if the 'Prism' of House Valerius is as pure as his miracles suggest."
Cian stepped forward, his legs feeling heavy. He could feel the eyes of his father and the First Ten on his back. Kael, standing near the door, looked like he was ready to draw his sword and die fighting rather than touch the scroll.
Cian reached the floating Covenant. The crimson runes were writhing, sensing his proximity. He took a small silver needle from the pedestal and pricked his thumb. A single drop of blood, dark and rich, fell toward the parchment.
As the blood touched the skin of the scroll, Cian activated his talent at its maximum output.
[Sovereign Tutor: Initiating 'Network Override'.] [Action: Linking the Crimson Covenant's Logic to the Sovereign Link.]
In the spiritual plane, Cian's soul reached out. He didn't just sign the contract; he invaded it. Through the Akashic Scholar talent, he saw the "Source Code" of the Blood-Oath as a massive, intricate web of red threads. He found the specific "check-sum" that measured mana density and redirected it. He forced the scroll to read the "Dormant" status of his physical shell while diverting the massive energy of his two cores into a "Logic Loop."
The scroll pulsed. For a split second, it flickered toward black—the sign of high treason. Vane's hand twitched toward his sword.
Then, the gold-silver light of Cian's "Prism" fake-mana flared out. The scroll settled into a deep, vibrant crimson. It looked even purer than a standard oath.
"See, my Lord?" Cian whispered, his voice trembling with a fake, exhausted breath. "The light... it is always there."
Vane grunted, his eyes narrowing. "A perfect resonance. Very well. Next! Kael of the First Company!"
Kael stepped forward. He looked like a man walking toward the gallows. As he passed Cian, their eyes met for a fraction of a second.
[Sovereign Link: Active.] [Broadcasting 'Veil of the Void' Patch to Kael.] [Action: Overriding Kael's blood signature with a 'Mediocre' mana-logic.]
Cian stood by the table, ostensibly to record the results, but in reality, he was acting as a proxy server for his guards. When Kael's blood touched the scroll, Cian intercepted the signal. He "re-coded" Kael's silver mana into the dull, grey frequency of the standard Sentinel Breath.
The scroll remained red.
One by one, the First Ten stepped forward. One by one, they touched the Crimson Covenant. And one by one, the most advanced soul-detection tool in the Hegemony failed to detect the legendary warriors standing right in front of it.
[Student Progression: The First Ten have successfully 'Infiltrated' the Imperial Records.] [Teacher's Tax: 100 Knowledge Points gained for 'Academic Sabotage'.]
By the time the last guard had signed, the Great Hall was filled with a palpable sense of relief from the Valerius men and a mounting frustration from Baron Vane. The Baron paced the length of the hall, his boots clicking like a ticking clock. He had been so sure. He had felt the "Monster" mana in the woods. He knew Garreth was a Master-rank fighter who wouldn't have been killed by a ghost. And yet, the Blood-Oath—the absolute truth of the Hegemony—said that every man in this room was exactly what they appeared to be.
"Impossible," Vane muttered, stopping in front of the purified crystal Cian had created the day before. He looked at the crystal, then back at the scroll. "Unless... the entire Bastion has been saturated by this 'Prism' energy. If the air itself is pure, it might be masking the corruption."
"Or perhaps, Baron," Lord Alaric said, his voice regaining its strength, "you are simply hunting shadows that do not exist. My house is loyal. My men are as they have always been. If you are finished with your 'Blood-Oath,' I suggest we return to the actual audit of our grain and defenses."
Vane turned to look at Alaric, and for the first time, Cian saw a flash of genuine, unbridled hatred in the Saint's eyes. It was the look of a predator that had been outsmarted by its prey.
"The audit continues," Vane said, his voice like grinding stones. "Tomorrow, we inspect the lower dungeons and the ancestral crypts. I have heard that House Valerius keeps 'Legacy Relics' that have not been inventoried in a century. We shall see what secrets are buried in the dark."
As Vane marched out of the hall, the Imperial Overseer began to roll up the Crimson Covenant, his hands shaking. "A magnificent display of loyalty! I shall write to the Capital at once! A house that passes the Blood-Oath with such purity is a jewel of the Empire!"
Cian slumped against a pillar, his face pale and covered in a thin sheen of sweat.
[Warning: Soul cores are at 5% capacity.] [System: Mental fatigue is critical. Recommendation: 8 hours of deep meditation.]
He had done it. He had hacked the Blood-Oath and protected the Grey Phantoms. But the cost was immense. His mana channels felt as if they had been scraped with glass, and the strain of maintaining the Sovereign Link with ten men simultaneously during a high-rank ritual had nearly collapsed his secondary core.
Kael lingered in the hall for a moment after the others had left. He approached Cian, his eyes full of a fierce, silent gratitude.
"We almost died today, didn't we?" Kael whispered.
"We are already dead to the Hegemony, Kael," Cian replied, his voice a ghost of itself. "We are just waiting for the right moment to tell them."
"The Baron mentioned the crypts," Kael said, his hand tightening on his sword. "My Lord, the lower dungeons... that is where the secret tunnel to the Grey Weald is hidden. If he finds it..."
"He won't find it," Cian said, straightening his back despite the bone-deep weariness. "Because tonight, we are going to move the entrance. And while we are at it, we are going to wake up something in those crypts that Vane isn't prepared to handle."
Cian walked out of the hall, the humble scholar once more. He had successfully manipulated the "Source Code" of an Imperial contract, but the real challenge was just beginning. The ancestral crypts of House Valerius were not just a graveyard; they were a site of ancient, forgotten mana. And in his first life, Cian remembered a legend about a "Sentinel King" who had been buried with a Divine-rank core.
If I can't kill Vane with my current strength, Cian thought as he reached his room and collapsed into a meditative stance, I will kill him with the ghosts of my ancestors.
The fifth day of the audit was approaching. The Baron was desperate. The Phantoms were ready. And the Divine Architect was about to turn the Bastion's graveyard into a battlefield.