Upon exiting the basement, they saw all the other demons hurrying rapidly up the stairs evidently having heard Helen’s shrieks and rushing up to investigate.
Since Huey struggled to run quickly while managing his crinoline skirt, Xavier simply swept him up into a bridal carry, holding him against his forearm as he sprinted along with the rest.
They weren’t the only ones adopting this method; every female succubus wore a skirt so voluminous and elaborate that navigating the stairwells relied entirely on being carried by their companions.
“What’s going on?” Wrapping his arms around Xavier to steady himself, Huey turned to ask a group of demons running parallel to them.
“Not sure,” the succubus sister resting in her companion’s arms shook her head. “We just heard one of our sisters screaming for help upstairs, so we’re running up to take a look.”
The second floor remained devoid of any lingering figures, and they didn’t catch sight of Helen supported by two succubus sisters until they reached the third floor, where her companion lay sprawled unconscious and unresponsive nearby.
“Are you alright?” Hopping down from Xavier’s embrace, Huey hurried over to Helen, asking with deep concern.
Helen’s face was streaked with tears, and she couldn’t even stand steadily; if not for the two succubus sisters propping her up, she would likely have collapsed straight onto the floor. In response to Huey’s inquiry, she could only shake her head through her tears, utterly incapable of uttering a single word.
“We’ve already asked her,” the succubus sister on the left said with a helpless sigh. “But she can’t get anything out she’s been completely terrified out of her wits.”
Xavier’s expression grew solemn. The moment he stepped onto the third floor, he sensed the aura of the evil spirits once more, and this particular entity possessed an immensely powerful concentration of energy. Having heavily depleted his own magic just moments prior, confronting it head-on now meant he couldn’t guarantee an easy resolution.
“He isn’t dead yet, merely unconscious.”
Xavier frowned. His inherent energy was light-elemental; while channeling it into a succubus was relatively benign, directing it into ordinary demons would create a violent clash against the native energies within their bodies.
“They need to be evacuated outside for proper treatment.”
The demon sprawled upon the floor required purification of his soul utilizing pure energy, whereas the succubus…
Xavier’s gaze flickered toward the weeping Helen, and alarms began blaring wildly within his mind.
“Huey, come here.” He commanded in a deep voice.
Though puzzled, Huey obediently stepped over to Xavier’s side, completely unaware that at the exact instant he turned away, a swirling shroud of black mist welled up within Helen’s eyes, causing the heart-shaped patterns in her gaze to darken and fade completely.
The moment Huey reached Xavier’s side, he was pulled securely behind the man’s back. Before he could react, Xavier’s black feathered wings unfurled to block him from view entirely.
Simultaneously, the two succubus sisters supporting Helen cried out in unison.
“Black mist is pouring out of her body!”
“Get back!” Xavier shouted sharply, whipping out several black feathers that sliced through the air toward the three surrounding demons, instantly severing the seals restricting their magic.
“Channel your purest energy into that succubus to force the black mist out.”
Exchanging glances, the three demons recognized the urgency as the black mist threatened to spread from Helen to the other succubi. Unleashing their powers in unison, they kindled pure fire-elemental and ice-elemental energies, channeling them directly into Helen’s body.
Hit by the surge of energy, Helen shrieked as she collapsed to the floor, trembling violently. Red and blue currents crisscrossed and wove across her frame, clashing and flashing as they bit away at the encroaching black mist bit by bit.
After a prolonged struggle, Helen let out a final, mournful wail and passed out cold.
“What on earth is going on here?” A red-haired demon exhaled a plume of scorching hot breath, swinging his arm to incinerate the remaining wisps of floating black mist into nothingness with a burst of flame.
“A species… known as evil spirits,” Xavier stated calmly.
“How do you know about them?” The red-haired demon narrowed his eyes, pivoting to pin him with a suspicious glare. “I’ve never seen you before.”
Xavier let out a cold snort, releasing a crushing wave of oppressive intimidation that forced the red-haired demon straight down onto his knees. “I’ve been in slumber for far too long; it seems demons these days have forgotten all their manners.”
The Underworld operated strictly by the law of the jungle, where might made right. No matter how resentful the red-haired demon felt, he could only grit his teeth, bow his head, and apologize: “Forgive me, my lord.”
Sweeping an icy glance across the gathered demons, Xavier spoke flatly, “If I recall correctly, participants are permitted to forfeit and exit this event voluntarily.”
“Take them and get out of here. Use pure energy to cleanse that unconscious demon, and he will wake up.”
Now that the magic seals had dissolved, and facing a presence as formidable as Xavier, the remaining groups completely lost any competitive drive. More importantly, information regarding these so-called evil spirits was undeniably the paramount priority. Without hesitation, they all withdrew collectively. Three seconds later, only Xavier and Huey remained inside the ancient castle.
Meanwhile, the lingering evil spirit aura on the third floor completely dissipated having likely seized the chaos of the spatial distortion to flee.
Still…
On the crystal display embedded within Xavier’s storage ring, a single red dot blinked rapidly, its trajectory tracing a swift, elongated line across the interface.
The coordinates had already been relayed to Frank; tracking down the fugitive evil spirit was merely a matter of time.
Retracting his black wings, Huey who had been pressed flush against them lost his footing and pitched forward in a stumble. Fortunately, Xavier caught him reflexively, steadying him securely at his side.
“My lord, are we heading out now?” Righting himself, Huey smoothed down his skirt and blinked up at Xavier with wide, liquid eyes.
“No,” Xavier shook his head. “Now, I am going to take you to retrieve what is rightfully your treasure.”
“You’ve already figured out the riddle?!” Huey widened his eyes in astonishment. They had been side by side the entire time; how on earth had the man cracked the puzzle out of nowhere?
“It was actually quite simple.” Leading Huey downstairs, Xavier offered his hand, and Huey instinctively slipped his palm into the man’s grasp.
“This dress is too massive; I keep tripping over myself,” Huey offered a sweet, coquettish smile by way of complaint.
Nodding, Xavier tightened his grip around the small hand. “Watch your step.”
Every corner of the ground-floor lobby was cluttered with various styles of clocks. True to Huey’s earlier deduction regarding “the bottom of the river of time,” the treasure was indeed concealed beneath a clock.
However, rather than a grandfather clock, it turned out to be a suspended seashell clock. The pristine white seashell radiated a soft, gentle luminescence a muted glow that possessed a surprisingly piercing quality, easily triggering physical discomfort if stared at too long.
“Look.” Xavier gestured for Huey to gaze forward.
Leaning in with a puzzled tilt of his head, Huey failed to spot anything out of the ordinary. “Is the treasure hidden inside this clock?”
Noting that the seashell clock sported a hue nearly identical to his own tail, Huey murmured thoughtfully, “Indeed, if you use a clock of this color, most demons wouldn’t even think to touch it, let alone suspect it hides a treasure.”
“Half right.” Pulling Huey slightly closer, Xavier murmured, “Close your eyes, and tell me what you perceive.”
Lowering his head, Xavier let the warm breath from his lips brush softly against Huey’s ear, guiding the young succubus into an attuned state of perception.
Obediently closing his eyes, Huey surrendered his visual sense, allowing his other sensory faculties to magnify in compensation.
Following Xavier’s subtle guidance, a faint, cool dampness drifted past his nostrils. Simultaneously, a hazy vapor seemed to wash over his face, leaving a slight, refreshing mist upon his skin.
“What do you feel?” Xavier’s gentle voice resonated beside his ear.
Twitching his delicate nose twice, Huey tested the waters with a tentative guess: “Water…”
At his utterance, the faint, melodic murmur of flowing water instantly echoed in his ears, and the surrounding vapor grew progressively dense, as if a running river had suddenly materialized right before them.
As soon as Huey shut his eyes, Xavier concentrated a sphere of pure light-element energy in his palm, casting the glowing orb straight into the white seashell clock.
Saturated to the brim with light-element energy, the seashell clock began reflecting a rippling cascade of golden radiance. A ghostly projection cast downward from the shell materialized upon the floor rendering a miniature, exquisitely sculpted fountain that solidified from an ephemeral phantom into a tangible, physical entity resting squarely before the pair.
As Xavier withdrew his energy supply, the seashell clock instantly dimmed, returning to its inert state as if nothing had occurred except for the fountain, which continued faithfully bubbling away.
This mechanism could only be triggered by light-element energy; yet which demon in the entire Underworld possessed the capacity to command light elements? Furthermore, the intimidating color of the clock alone deterred anyone from tampering with it, let alone attempting to solve its puzzle. Consequently, this treasure had remained perpetually classified as the hardest one to unearth.
“Open your eyes, and claim the treasure that belongs to you.”
The fountain’s jets rose and fell, sending gentle ripples dancing across the water’s surface to reveal two intertwined rings resting quietly upon the pristine white jade floor of the basin, awaiting discovery.
Reaching out, Huey scooped them out from the water. They were a pair of matching couple rings boasting an understated, minimalist design: matte-black bands embellished solely with a single, brilliant red gemstone. Lacking any magical utility whatsoever, they were ordinary, purely ornamental bands.
“So ‘lingering love and romance’ referred to intertwined rings after all.”
Coincidentally, the rings came in a larger and smaller size. Slipping the smaller band onto his own right ring finger, Huey found it fit to perfection.
The red gemstone radiated a gentle, comforting warmth that traced a path straight from his ring finger all the way to his pounding heart.
The exact location of passionate love.
Flushing shyly, Huey secretly chastised himself for being an uninhibited little succubus; before the other party had even explicitly accepted his affections, he had gone ahead and donned a symbol of passionate romance all on his own.
“My lord.”
Approaching the towering man, the dainty little succubus lowered his gaze. From Xavier’s vantage point, all he could see was a soft, adorable hair-whorl accompanied by a restless, swaying little heart-shaped tail.
“Do you… think this looks nice?”
Holding up his right hand, the black band and red gemstone made his skin look even fairer and more delicate, radiating a soft, supple charm.
A low chuckle escaped Xavier’s lips as he offered praise, “It suits you wonderfully.”
Ah, Xavier drifted into abstract thought, the little succubus genuinely seems to suit these striking, vibrant gems. My private vault happens to contain quite a few idle gemstones gathering dust…
“Then…” Struggling slightly to voice the thought, Huey mustered his courage and ventured tentatively, “My lord, there is still one more ring left here. Since we discovered this treasure together, this ring ought to belong to you.”
In the Underworld, attaching profound romantic meanings to the exchange of rings was a convention exclusive to those pursuing romance and love.
As the most ascetic Grand Archangel in Heaven, Xavier possessed zero familiarity with the specific connotations of ring-gifting; he acted purely upon a baseline instinct he simply harbored no desire to disappoint the blushing little succubus standing before him, nor did he wish to let the dazzling sparkle fade from those starry, heart-shaped eyes.
“Then I shall have to trouble you.”
The tall man let out a soft laugh, dropping down smoothly onto one single knee. Tilting his head upward, his handsome, striking features focused with absolute devotion upon the seemingly startled little succubus. Extending a clean, slender right hand toward Huey, he offered it up freely, leaving himself entirely at the mercy of the young demon to fasten the shackle of passionate love around his ring finger.