The boys stood in front of the sealed double doors of the Evidence Room.

Not just a vault—but a myth.

Thick steel reinforced with spell-marked glyphs. The walls whispered curses beneath fluorescent lights. The air was still. Too still.

Danny exhaled, cracking his knuckles.

"Shall we get started?"

Samuel smirked. "Maya Revival Project, Phase One—initiate."

He placed his palm against the scanner. The Hell Order glyph flared briefly beneath his skin. Then—

Click—HISSSK.

The locks disengaged with a hydraulic groan. As the doors creaked open, darkness swept outward like a tide. A thick black aura surged up the corridor, spiraling around them.

For anyone else, it would've been suffocating.

But not for them.

Danny winced. "Damn. That's a lot of hate."

Samuel nodded slowly, eyes glowing faintly. "Hell Order, analysis. Why is this aura so thick… and yet nothing is leaking outside the room? No attacks. No demonic break-ins. If the memory fragments give demons power, why hasn't anyone tried stealing them?"

"Boundary seal detected," Hell Order responded, voice crisp and metallic.

"This room is bound by a high-grade entrapment spell. Negative energy cannot escape. Demons who enter will be trapped permanently. The remnants within have incomplete souls—unusable for absorption. Only qualified hosts may unlock memory resonance."

Samuel whistled softly. "So that's why Black and Rex haven't tried anything…"

He glanced sideways at Danny.

"Looks like X-Division's got a few monsters of its own."

Danny gave a low chuckle.

"Let's find those fragments."

They stepped in.

Immediately, the aura recoiled. Like wild animals backing away from fire. The darkness twisted, then peeled from their bodies like oil being forced off holy flame.

They weren't welcome here.

They were feared.

"Hell Order—scan and locate all Maya fragments," Samuel commanded.

"Scan complete.

Right wall shelf, second tier: Four fragments located inside black containment box. Third tier: A newfragment detected. Resonance matches the Trial of Fire matrix. Probably new evidence delivered today from Demon Zora base. Estimated recovery probability: increased to 85% with full remnant purge."*

"Sweet," Danny murmured. "What's the plan?"

"Enforcer Danny: Hold the crystal. Absorption will begin on contact.

Enforcer Samuel: Initiate banishment. Updated cleansing spells have been uploaded to your neural interface."

ZAAAP.

Samuel convulsed slightly as data surged into his memory. His muscles clenched. Veins lit like circuitry.

"Every time with the damn zap…" he grunted, flexing his fingers. "Alright. Let's clean house."

Danny approached the shelf.

He spotted the black containment box on the second tier. Its surface was lined with infernal symbols—half-burnt by time, half-sealed by magic.

He opened it.

Inside lay four white crystal shards, softly glowing like fireflies frozen in quartz.

"I think I found them," he whispered.

He reached in.

The moment his fingers wrapped around one—

FLASH.

A burst of white light surged from the shard, coiling upward like a halo—then plunged straight into his chest. The shard turned dull, hollow. Another. Then another. Four total. All absorbed.

Danny closed his eyes as the memories surged.

Somewhere in that storm— Hell Gate breaking and Demons escaping. Screams from a memory not his own.

Meanwhile—

Samuel raised his hand.

A ripple of darkness stirred.

"Hell's Gate," he whispered.

The floor cracked. A flaming rift opened beside him, and spirit chains erupted outward—snapping toward hidden remnants.

CRASH—

A demon's soul burst from inside a scorched kukri blade.

BANG—

Another was wrenched from an Annabelle-style doll that grinned with glassy eyes.

A third lunged from inside a cracked mask mounted on the wall. Samuel flicked his wrist—banishment circle activated. The soul screamed and vanished.

Twenty minutes.

Seventeen cleansed artifacts.

One final whisper drifted from inside a shattered crystal ball.

Samuel crushed it in his palm.

"No more secrets."

Then—the final step.

A glowing crimson circle unfurled beneath Samuel's feet.

His Hell Bracelet pulsed once.

Then bloomed open—casting out a new magic circle, shaped like a three-tiered sigil.

It hovered midair, spiraling.

The circle began to inhale.

WHOOM.

WHOOM.

WHOOOOOOOM.

Like a black hole drinking light, the entire room's negative energy was ripped from the walls, the shelves, the shadows themselves. Black dust streamed into the vacuum, curling like smoke into the circle's mouth.

In five minutes—it was clean.

The room fell utterly silent.

"Mission complete."

"Power upgrade available for both Enforcers."

"Warning: Due to the scale of demonic cleansing and memory assimilation, enhancement may cause extreme neural strain. Proceed with evolution protocol?"

Danny groaned, already slumped against the evidence room wall.

"Not now... please, not now," he muttered. "We'll let you know. Later. Promise."

Samuel waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah. Hit snooze on the power-up. Not while I still feel that last zap in my spine."

He shook out his arms and stood, brushing negative residue from his coat.

"How's Maya?" he asked quietly.

"Recovery proceeding at 47%. Memory stability improving.

To fully awaken her: banish 20 D-Class demons or 2 C-Class entities."

Danny blinked. "Twenty? That's like… hitting another full-blown demonic hideout like during the Trial of Fire."

Samuel shrugged. "Well, maybe one of Vick's 'surprise training routes' will deliver." He stepped toward the dusty command terminal in the corner. "But for now... We probably need to start organizing this dump."

He looked around at shelves overflowing with cursed relics, boxes with demon seals scorched halfway open, and hexed objects still glowing faintly.

"I have no idea how to catalog haunted snow globes and murderous dolls."

Danny squinted across the room, spotting an old office phone bolted to the wall—its receiver yellowed with age.

"Hey, there's a desk phone here. It's got Chief Vick's extension written on a sticky note next to it."

Samuel grinned. "Old school. Let's call the boss for a quick tutorial."

He picked up the receiver and punched in the digits.

Elsewhere – Chief Vick's Office

The sound of mission briefings faded as Vick addressed Agents Angela, Jones, Zack, and Michael—laying out scout movements and relocation plans.

Then—

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The office phone rang.

Everyone paused.

Agent Vick picked up. "Yes?"

A familiar voice crackled over the line:

"Agent Vick? It's Samuel. You free?"

Vick straightened. "Samuel? How did you even get this number?"

"It was taped to the phone in the evidence room," came the cheerful reply. "So I figured we'd call for help. Sir, we're down here, and... uh, we kind of finished our initial sweep. Agent Nick said we'd be working this room, but honestly? We've got no idea how to organize any of it."

Vick's expression changed.

"You're already in the evidence room?!" he snapped. "Why didn't you report before entering? That room is sealed for a reason. It's a Grade-A aura hazard!"

"Well…" Samuel hesitated. "It said we start duty after sparring, and since we knew where it was... we just got to work. Efficient, right?"

There was a long pause on the other end.

Agent Vick sighed deeply—he could feel the headache blooming.

"Get out of that room. Do not touch anything else. I'm coming down right now."

He slammed the receiver down and stood up.

"Change of plans. We're heading to the evidence room."

Angela's brows rose. "What happened?"

"They already went in. Without authorization. Without briefing. Without protection."

Vicks muttered, "They're gonna give me a heart attack by the end of the week."

Back in the Evidence Room

Samuel slowly set the phone down.

He sighed.

"Welp… that escalated."

Danny rubbed the back of his neck. "Maybe we should've knocked on his door first?"

"Probably," Samuel said with a shrug. "Let's wait outside like good soldiers before he bites our heads off."

They stepped past the threshold, the evidence room doors whispering shut behind them.

Inside, the demon remnants were gone. The air was light.

To Be Continued.