“This is as far as I take you,” the Devourer said.

It took Noah a moment to find the words for a reply. The world was still spinning slightly around him. He wasn’t sure he would ever get used to the speed that the Devourer could move at. All the improved reaction timing and reflexes he’d gotten from the Fragment of Self were nothing before it.

He was pretty sure it was a good thing that the Devourer had stopped when it had. It had only been a matter of time before he lost his grip on the massive monster. Riding it was actually somewhat fun. It reminded him of being on a roller coaster.

A roller coaster that was going at the speed of a military jet and without so much as a seat belt to keep him fastened to it if he lost his hold on the creature’s scales.

Maybe I should invest in a saddle or something.

Noah shook his head. His thoughts were still scattered somewhere in the dark, winding halls of the Citadel behind them. It actually took him a moment to remember where they’d been going in the first place.

Even though his mind was functioning far closer to normal than it had in a while, it was still far from peak performance. It would probably be at least a few more applications of the Fragment of Renewal before he even got a chance to really take a look at the extent of the changes that he’d gone through.

But that was fine.

He could mostly think again — and that was more than enough to remember what his task was.

There was a key to the Heart Room waiting for him somewhere.

Noah slipped down from the Devourer’s back, landing on the stone floor with a thud. They stood in what should have been a respectably large hall but was made to look considerably smaller by the presence of the Devourer within it.

The huge beast filled the majority of the passageway with its bulk, not to mention the near-infinite number of chitinous black legs that dug into the stone in practically every direction.

Orange firelight danced across the ground from braziers suspended precariously to the ceiling. They swayed in the wind that the Devourer’s arrival had caused, the creak of their metal fastenings threatening to send them plummeting to the ground at any second.

The swaying light illuminated a human-sized passageway before Noah. It would have been large when compared with anything but the Devourer, easily big enough for two people to enter stacked on top of each other.

No light came from within the hall.

“This?” Noah asked, nodding into the darkness. Then his eyes flicked back up to the braziers overhead. “Also, what’s keeping those lit?”

“The Grid is still active in this segment of the Citadel,” the huge centipede monster replied. “Though its connection to the other segments appears severed. It is likely that minor magical functions will still be operational.”

“I see,” Noah said. He wasn’t actually sure if that was a good thing or not. When robbing a grave, it was generally preferrable for any potential magical defenses to not be working. “And the door is through here?”

“Just down the hall,” the Devourer confirmed. “I cannot fit. There is nothing more that is required of me today. I will take my leave.”

“I don’t suppose you’ll come back… say, tomorrow?” Noah asked, tilting his head to the side. “I’ll stay here until then, but I’d rather not have to find my way back on my own. It’ll probably make me rather irritable when I inevitably get lost.”

The Devourer let out something that definitely sounded like an exasperated sigh.

“I will return.”

“Pleasure doing business with you,” Noah said.

A thud behind Noah marked the smaller centipede dropping down from where it had still clung to the Devourer’s back, presumably too terrified to move up until it realized that it was about to get pulled right back to the Heart Room.

The Devourer didn’t say another word. It just blurred into motion. Wind howled past Noah’s face as the monster receded at such a speed that it created a vacuum in the hall. The force of the wind nearly pulled him right off his feet.

God. I don’t think the Devourer even realizes just how much of a menace it actually is. If that thing wasn’t such a coward, it would be ten times the opponent than it was. I don’t know if I’d be able to defeat it as I am now.

For that matter, I don’t think I’d be able to defeat many powerful existences in Obsidia. Being a Rank 5 isn’t as significant as it was back in Arbalest. Even with the quality of my combinations… I’m going to need to reach Rank 6 before I go pissing too many people off.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Prayer,” the smaller centipede muttered, clicking its mandibles and looking back in the direction of its far, far larger brother.

For once, Noah couldn’t help but agree with it.

“Come on,” Noah said.

He started into the dark hall. The centipede followed after him, its legs clicking against the stone as the two of them stepped into the shadows.

Noah’s eyes quickly became useless as the firelight from the main hall receded behind them. He could have created more, but he instead chose to utilize his domain to keep from bumping into walls. If there were any defenses on this room, he didn’t want to go throwing magic around until he absolutely needed to.

His centipede companion fortunately didn’t seem to have any difficulty walking in the darkness. The two of them were able to continue along for several minutes without any interruption.

Noah passed by several doors of stone. He didn’t stop by any of them. There wasn’t a scrap of magic within them. They’d all broken and collapsed into piles of rubble that continued into the rooms behind them. His domain didn’t pick up on anything magical inside them, and that meant they weren’t the room he was searching for.

I wonder what happened to this place. This damage wasn’t all the Devourer. It couldn’t have even fit into this hallway. So there was some other kind of attack, or something else went wrong. The Devourer only came after.

Noah’s brow furrowed in thought. There were so many questions rattling around in his mind about the Citadel. With any luck, the answers to all of them would be found once he located —

A prickle of magic brushed against Noah’s domain.

He ground to a halt.

The hall ended up ahead, running right up against a wall. But, even without any light to see by, Noah could feel that it was no ordinary wall.

It was completely covered with imbuements. Powerful ones.

He approached it slowly, keeping his magic at the ready as he took one careful step after the other, but nothing happened. Noah soon found himself standing right at the end of the hall. There wasn’t any clear separation in the stone that marked this as a door, but there was no doubt in his mind.

This was the room that the Devourer had spoken of. The amount of magic swirling before him made that absolutely clear. There was so much of it. Enough to blow a city block into kingdom come.

Noah’s hair stood on end and he swallowed, letting his domain brush across the Imbuements in attempt to figure out how they functioned.

It was pointless.

He couldn’t make out the slightest bit of information about them. It was like trying to read a book written in cursive by the hand of a rushed doctor. An illiterate one.

The imbuements themselves had magic cloaking them from prying eyes. But even if he’d been able to read them… Noah got the feeling it wouldn’t have changed much at all. These researchers had been so advanced with their imbuing techniques that he was probably the equivalent of a curious monkey trying to drive a train.

Noah studied the wall for about ten more seconds.

Then he shrugged.

Whelp. I tried.

Noah drew deeply on his magic. His hands crackled with energy as Unraveling Disruption’s power sliced into the air around his fingertips in angry currents of red lightning.

The centipede flinched back. “Prayer!”

Noah ignored it. He just thrust his hands forward, driving them into the wall.

His magic surged out in a tidal wave —

And nothing happened.

It broke against the stone like a wave lapping against the wall of a castle, splashing harmlessly before slipping away.

Noah stared in disbelief at the stone.

Then he drew on his magic again, gathering even more than he had the previous time, and unleashed it once more. A torrent of thick red magic slammed into the wall, slicing at the stone as he threw his intent behind the runic power.

Absolutely nothing happened.

His spell splashed away once more. It didn’t even leave so much as a scratch upon the stone.

“What?” Noah blinked, then squinted at the rock. It was completely undamaged. He may as well have done nothing. That was new. He’d never seen Unraveling Disruption completely fail to do anything at all.

“Prayer,” the centipede whispered. Perhaps it was in awe, or perhaps it was a suggestion. It seemed the monster had forgotten how to string together proper sentences. But, for some reason, it felt like the right word.

“Prayer,” Noah agreed. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and cocked his head to the side as he examined the wall. This was unexpected.

I may only be using a Rank 5 Rune, but I refuse to believe I can get completely stonewalled — pun unintended — by some ancient imbuements. That’s just disrespectful. I’m not that weak.

Somewhere in the back of Noah’s mind, the words of a certain demon echoed through his mind. Og had told him he wasn’t using his magic right.

And the infuriating servant of the True Herald — whoever the hell that was — had been right.

Noah had still yet to fully fix his understanding of his own magic. His lips pursed. It looked like that had finally come back to bite him in the ass. Disrupting and destroying some imbuements should have been the perfect job for Unraveling Disruption. The fact he couldn’t do it meant he was using the rune wrong.

Maybe I can use Sunder to—

No.

Noah’s jaw set. There was a good chance that Sunder could cut through the wall. But he understood Sunder well. Using it here would solve the problem, but not the issue causing it.

He wasn’t going to be able to advance to Rank 6 if he couldn’t use his Keystone rune properly. This door wall wasn’t just some obstacle in his way.

It was an opportunity. And if he wasted it, he’d be nothing but a fool.

Noah’s lips split into an eager smile. Then he drew on Unraveling Disruption once more.

The centipede stepped back.

He barely even noticed. His attention was fully on the wall before him.

These imbuements might be meant to act as some kind of impenetrable barrier… but I’m going to make them into the perfect teacher.