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Why the hell was that freak cult worshipping something like that? And calling it Dark Spirit, as if it had a spirit at all.

But it certainly had a mind, even before taking a form. And it was using that mind to control Aaron.

At that thought, something occurred to Evan. “It has Reth. Will it use the relic to become more powerful?”

Zeev spoke up at that. “Reth cannot be used by anyone but his Lord. It’s his and his alone.”

“Then why did that thing make Aaron steal it?” Evan’s eyes travelled to Xen, the only person who could be blackmailed using Reth.

Did the Dark Spirit have personal business with Xen?

After contemplating for a moment, Evan cautiously broached the topic. “Do you somehow happen to know this Dark Spirit thing?”

Xen’s eyes shifted to him, not a sign of his earlier playfulness remaining. “Yes.”

But how could he know the creature before it was born?

Then it dawned on Evan.

The Great Sacrifice hadalmostawakened that thing in the past. And apparently, it had happened a “long time” ago. If Xen was around that time, perhaps he’d come across that thing before whatever had disrupted the ritual and sent it back into the depths of its origin.

Evan wanted to pry, but that familiar frigid look on Xen’s face made him drop the topic for now. The priority was saving Celie’sfriends and the rest of the kidnapped individuals. He could deal with Aaron afterwards and retrieve Reth. He’d knock him unconscious if he had to.

“Just a few more meters,” Zeev urged the rocks to work harder, digging through the earth and paving the way for them.

Yet, unexpectedly, Zeev came to an abrupt halt ahead of them. So did Xen, his grip on Evan’s hand making him stumble to a stop too.

“What? What happened?” Evan looked between them.

A faint reverberation shook the earth all around them, and the rolling rocks froze, trembling with the vibrations.

Xen and Zeev looked up at the earth ceiling together, ears twitching. Then Xen grabbed Evan’s hand and spun around, heading back the way they’d come—

Clang!

Something shot forth from the earthen ceiling. Swift like lightning, a flare blinded the underground burrow and drove deep into the hard floor, blocking their way back. When the dust from the sudden crack in the earth settled, Evan’s eyes widened as he took in the thing that had penetrated the ground above them.

A long, golden spear shone in the light shedding from the flame in Zeev’s palm. Small, coarse threads wrapped around the shaft, tightly knitted knots undoubtedly cast with spells. An all too familiar scent wafted from the knots, gentle and soothing amidst the dust and heavy murderous intent hanging in the air.

Evan instantly recognized that smell.

The water of sacred Del.

Xen pushed Evan behind him, his eyes trained on the spear that still trembled from the force of the strike.

It only took Evan a moment to realize that the saturated, murderous aura wasn’t seeping from the weapon.

It was coming from Xen.

Before he could reach up and place a hand over his tensed shoulder, something shuffled overhead. Following the sound, Evan turned around, only to be met with Zeev’s ghastly white masked face, shining ever more eerily in the light of the flame. He was so unnaturally still that—if not for the faint sound of his heartbeat—Evan would’ve feared he was not there at all.

But that heartbeat didn’t last long.

Another golden shaft crashed through the ceiling, the forked ends running right through Zeev’s body. One dug into his right shoulder, the other his left. The aim of the hit was so precise that for a moment, even Zeev didn’t realize he was stabbed. He only slightly gasped when the fork was yanked out of the earth, taking him along with it.

Rubble rained down on the place where Zeev once stood, now lit only with the moonlight streaming in through the hole above. With no flame to light the burrow, darkness descended, stifling and heavy. Evan spun around, his heart in his mouth. He clutched Xen’s arm, who hadn’t even turned when Zeev was skewered out like barbecue. “Xe—”

“Run…”