Strongest Incubus System

Damon remained in front of the map for several more minutes, watching the blue passage cross the black mountain while everyone around him waited for his next decision. The plate appeared silent, but he could feel constant pressure against his consciousness, as though the path drawn there demanded to be followed immediately. Before, that kind of sensation probably would have been enough to make him advance without preparation. Now he understood that urgency was merely another form of control, even when it came from something left behind by Xue Lian instead of Seraphine.

"Place the frame inside a stone box and take it to a room without windows," Damon ordered. "I want still water in all four corners, mineral powder around the box, and no exposed metal. The passage will only be observed when we decide to observe it."

Aria closed her notebook and looked at him with some surprise.

"You are treating an ancient map like a prisoner."

"It is trying to enter my head. That already qualifies as problematic prisoner behavior."

Ester approved the order with a small nod, although she showed no satisfaction. Ingrivid called four knights and explained exactly how the plate should be transported. Damon watched every step. The frame was first covered with thick cloth, then placed inside an improvised box made from stone slabs removed from an old table. No one touched the white surface directly. Even while hidden, the map remained present in Damon’s senses, but the pressure diminished until it became only a distant memory.

Iris remained seated, still weak after the removal of the mark. She watched Damon with an expression difficult to interpret. Part of her appeared irritated to still be alive. Another part seemed unable to understand why he had not yet tried to force her to reveal everything she knew.

Damon pulled over a chair and sat in front of her. His body needed rest, but he chose not to display it as weakness. He merely rested his arms over his legs and maintained a firm posture.

"Seraphine will believe you died when the mark was activated," he said. "That means your information will be more valuable than any document for some time."

Iris gave a small smile.

"And you think I will give you everything because you saved my life."

"No. I think you will give me some things because you realized Seraphine was willing to kill you without confirming whether the mission had been completed."

"She trusted me to complete it."

"She trusted the mark."

The girl’s expression closed. Damon did not press immediately. He had learned something by watching Elizabeth and Morgana. Not every silence needed to be filled with a threat. Sometimes it was better to allow the conclusion itself to work inside the person.

"What was your complete order?" he asked after several seconds.

"Make you touch the map."

"After that?"

"Observe."

"Observe what?"

"The plate’s reaction, the pattern of the cold, and any image that appeared. If possible, I was supposed to memorize the route. If not, I was supposed to break the second vial and die before being captured."

Damon looked toward the frozen buckle where the second vial remained attached.

"Seraphine never planned to extract you from here."

Iris did not answer.

"Even if you obtained the map, there was no escape route prepared," he continued. "You entered alone, stayed behind after the delegation, and received an execution mark. Seraphine expected you to die inside this room."

The agent tightened her hands over her knees.

"Some missions require sacrifices."

"Funny how the sacrifice always belongs to someone else."

The answer bothered her, but Damon did not need her to admit it. He only needed to create the first real crack in the loyalty Vorn and Seraphine had built.

Elizabeth approached with the broken coin still protected by a cloth.

"We need the other half. Do you know who carries it?"

Iris looked at the coin and then turned her face away.

"A man named Orven Tal."

Aria opened her notebook again.

"Position?"

"Cargo administrator on the western road. He controls wagons registered as grain and medicine transport."

Morgana became serious.

"How many agents are still in Arven?"

"I do not know."

Damon recognized that she was telling the truth this time. The answer came without defensive preparation, accompanied by slight frustration. Seraphine compartmentalized the network. Each agent knew only enough to perform their own function.

"How many did you meet personally?" Damon asked.

"Five. Elias, Orven, a woman named Sella, a Council scribe, and Vorn."

"The scribe’s name."

Iris hesitated. Damon maintained his gaze.

"Halder Mays."

Elizabeth recognized it immediately.

"One of the two scribes who accompanied Lord Mael."

Morgana slowly exhaled.

"He sat inside the meeting room, copying every document we presented."

"Then Seraphine left with a complete list of what we know," Ingrivid said.

Damon shook his head.

"Of what we allowed her to see. Aria separated the internal files."

Aria gave a small smile.

"Finally, someone appreciates my paranoia."

"I still find it irritating. It also happens to be useful."

Damon stood carefully. His leg still hurt where Iris had struck him, and the arm that absorbed the discharge remained stiff. Ester noticed, but he made a discreet gesture indicating that he was still fine.

"Orven is the next target," Damon said. "Not because he is important, but because he believes Iris is dead and will probably try to send confirmation to Seraphine. The other half of the coin should open the message or record the result."

Elizabeth examined the piece.

"We can use it to send false confirmation."

"Exactly. Iris died. The map did not respond. Damon refused direct contact, and the plate was destroyed during the confrontation."

Iris raised her eyes.

"She will not believe the plate was destroyed."

"Then we will say it disappeared when the mark activated. Something connected to Xue Lian’s consciousness may have returned to memory."

Nera, still accompanied by the guards, approached as closely as they allowed.

"That is plausible. The records describe sealed objects that dissolve after their first activation."

Damon looked at Iris.

"Would Orven accept that information?"

She thought for several seconds.

"If the message contained the correct code."

"Do you know it?"

"Part of it."

"Good. Aria understands codes. Together, you will produce something convincing."

Aria smiled with satisfaction. Iris did not share the enthusiasm.

"You are forcing me to betray Seraphine."

Damon held her gaze.

"You were betrayed first. You simply have not realized it because you survived ahead of schedule."

The sentence remained between them while Morgana began organizing the operation. Orven would be observed, not captured immediately. They needed to discover who he spoke with, which warehouses he used, and how many routes remained under Valcair control. The false confirmation would be sent only after they identified as much of the network as possible.

Damon took control without needing to announce it. He asked about wagon schedules, the locations of guard posts, the distance to the western road, and which of Ingrivid’s men could operate without wearing Arven’s colors. Morgana answered as the duchess, adjusting resources and limits, but the general direction came from him.

For the first time, Damon was not merely entering combat or reacting to danger.

He was building the situation in which the enemy would be forced to move.

"Do not arrest Orven when he receives the coin," Damon said. "Follow him. If he is only an intermediary, he will carry the message to someone above him. I want the entire chain before we cut it."

Ingrivid nodded.

"I can place four knights in civilian clothing."

"Two. Four increases the chance of being seen. The others remain at the city exits."

"Two may not be enough if there is resistance."

"I do not want resistance. I want him to believe no one noticed."

Ingrivid accepted, although she clearly preferred a more direct approach. Damon understood. He also preferred breaking down the door and ending things quickly, but Seraphine had built a network that survived precisely because every piece could be discarded.

To defeat her, they needed to observe before cutting.

After organizing the operation, Damon turned his attention toward the mines. A map of Arven was placed on the table, and Morgana marked the known entrances, old tunnels, and areas where the Heart’s beats were strongest.

"I want every entrance sealed except one," Damon said.

Morgana frowned.

"One open entrance allows infiltration."

"One apparently vulnerable entrance allows control. If we seal everything, the agents will search for unknown tunnels. If we leave one passage with discreet security, they will choose the path we offer."

Elizabeth examined the drawing.

"A trap."

"A door that appears forgotten."

Nera pointed toward an old ventilation corridor on the eastern slope.

"This section connects to the upper galleries, but does not come near the main chamber. Seraphine knows the tunnel because Vara used it."

"Even better," Damon said. "She will believe we are continuing to make the same mistake."

Morgana marked the location.

"We can reinforce the inner galleries and leave signs suggesting the external entrance was only partially blocked."

"And place false bells inside a nearby room," Damon added. "If anyone tries to recover them, we will know they are still following the old instructions."

Ester had been observing the conversation in silence, but her expression became increasingly serious. When Damon finished explaining the trap, she closed her medical case with enough force to draw attention.

"Now you are going to stop."

Damon looked at her.

"We still need to decide where Nera will stay."

"Elizabeth already decided. What remains is preventing you from falling to the floor."

"I am sitting."

"You know exactly what I mean."

He tried to answer, but a sharp pain crossed the arm that had absorbed the discharge. His fingers closed involuntarily, and a thin layer of ice appeared over the edge of the table. Ester noticed before anyone else.

"Damon."

"It was only a reaction."

"Raise your sleeve."

"It is not necessary."

She raised her gaze.

Damon obeyed.

Dark blue lines had climbed from his wrist to almost his elbow. They did not resemble the natural glow of glacial Qi. They were irregular, similar to the marks used by Vorn, but without forming a complete symbol.

Iris went pale.

"The discharge left a pattern."

Ester seized Damon’s arm and examined the lines.

"Part of the mark entered his body before the cut."

"Can you remove it?"

"Perhaps."

Damon released a tired breath.

"Another excellent word for funerals."

Ester did not find it amusing.

"This may be connected to the map or to the rupture mark itself. You are not leaving this room until I understand it."

He looked at his arm, then at Iris.

"Vorn uses these patterns to destroy memories."

"Yes," she replied. "But also to block specific memories."

Damon became still.

Xue Lian’s memory had seemed closed since the coma. He could recall what he had already seen, but he could not advance beyond the creature and the distant fortress. If Vorn’s discharge had entered his body, perhaps it was not merely residual poison.

It might be touching the exact part of his consciousness where the memory remained sealed.

Nera realized the same thing.

"Do not try to remove it immediately."

Ester turned toward her.

"Explain before I decide to ignore you."

"If the mark found the memory, tearing it out may damage the connection. First, we need to discover where it ended."

Damon closed his eyes and directed his perception inward. He felt the root resting quietly at the center of his chest, the flow of cold through his meridians, and, inside his arm, a foreign presence trying to follow a specific path.

It was not advancing toward the root.

It climbed toward his shoulder and then his neck, searching for the mind.

He did not try to block it.

He only listened.

For an instant, the room disappeared.

Snow covered his vision.

Damon saw the black mountains again, but this time he was not walking beside Xue Lian. He stood in front of the fortress gate. A figure remained on the other side, motionless, wearing white armor covered in blue cracks.

The vision lasted less than a second.

Damon opened his eyes.

Cold exploded through the room, covering part of the walls and forcing the guards to retreat. Ester immediately closed the meridians in his arm, interrupting the mark’s advance. Damon remained seated, breathing with difficulty, while the ice began cracking around them.

"I saw the guardian," he said.

Nera lost the color in her face.

"What did it look like?"

"White armor. Blue cracks. It was waiting in front of the gate."

Iris stared at Damon as though she had just confirmed something impossible.

"Vorn’s mark did not block the memory."

"No," Damon replied, looking at the lines on his arm. "It found the door."

Ester tightened the containment band around his wrist.

"You are not trying that again."

"Not now."

"Not today either."

Damon did not argue. He had already obtained enough information. Vorn’s discharge had created an unexpected connection to the memory. It was dangerous, but it also meant they would not need to depend entirely on the Heart to return to the fortress.

He looked at the covered map, at Iris, at Nera, and then at Morgana. The pieces were finally coming together. Seraphine believed the path depended on the mines. Vorn believed his marks destroyed consciousnesses. Iris was supposed to be dead. The map was supposed to remain closed.

All of them were wrong.

"Send the false message to Orven," Damon said. "Prepare the trap at the mine and remove the children before nightfall. Seraphine needs to believe she lost everything here."

Elizabeth understood the continuation of the strategy.

"While you use the mark to find the fortress without the Heart."

Damon looked at Ester before answering.

"When she says it is safe."

Ester appeared surprised that he included the condition without arguing.

"That was responsible," Aria commented.

"Do not get used to it."

Damon returned his attention to the blue lines on his arm. For the first time since the coma, Xue Lian’s memory did not feel like a sealed prison. There was a door, a guardian, and a path that could be reached without offering the Heart to Seraphine.

Before leaving, however, Damon would crush every remaining piece of the Valcair network in Arven.

Not because the story demanded it.

Because he had decided to finish it.