The Deimons made their way to the door. They listened as the door jiggled and someone tried to open it. It was locked and someone didn't know that.
"Ah, did someone forget the door's locked?" Deimon 1 asked Deimon 2. Deimon 1 reached for the door and that's when Lee Seng pounced.
"Binding Silence." Lee Seng flicked the rune. Invisible chains wrapped around the Deimons, leaving them in a panic. Their eyes widened as Lee Seng and Ritsuka stepped out of the shadows. "Thank god all of us can't react to energy, yet." The Deimons tried to scream, but nothing would come out.
"What're you going to do with them?" Ritsuka asked, peeking out the front window. He could see Calis looking at him.
'Open the door.' Calis told Ritsuka. Ritsuka put up a finger and looked at the Deimons. Lee Seng grabbed both Deimons' heads and focused.
"What're you doing?" Ritsuka whispered.
"Maybe I can save them." Lee Seng answered. Calis jiggled the door, knocking on it. The Deimons continued to struggle. They couldn't shake themselves out of their binds. Ritsuka sighed and unlocked the door, letting Calis inside. Lee Seng felt the purple energy surging from within their bodies. He dropped his hands and snatched the purple energy. The Deimons screamed in silence as Lee Seng ripped the energy out.
The Deimons dropped to the ground, unmoving. Lee Seng could feel the two energies stronger than the others. The energy dissipated as Lee Seng scrambled to try to grab them. He snatched the air, watching the energies float through the ceiling and disappear.
"Dammit." Lee Seng cursed. He turned his attention to the bodies, crouching to see if the victims were still alive. He checked one of their pulses and quickly checked the other. "They're dead."
"What?" Ritsuka asked in disbelief. "You looked like you knew what you were doing."
"I did." Lee Seng gulped. He stood up and sighed. "I can't devour the energies anymore and convert them to pure energy. I tried to do what I did to Number 1 but it didn't work… I think they succumbed to the Deimon before I could get to them."
"What did I miss?" Calis asked. "You tried to save them from the Deimons but couldn't?" Lee Seng nodded. He was too late.
"The window of opportunity only exists if the human fights it. It's a grueling battle, but…" Lee Seng turned and ran his fingers through his hair. He had killed two Biohumans in an attempt to save them. "My powers have been taken away. I can't devour anything even though I feel perfectly fine handling energy. Ahhh, [Cultivation] is so confusing!"
CREEEAK!
The three men looked up towards the back. A set of footsteps entered the house followed by a voice. "Did you find it? What's takin' so long?!?" Lee Seng, Ritsuka and Calis looked at each other before another set of footsteps came from the stairs.
'Evan!' Ritsuka looked at Lee Seng. 'He went upstairs! Evan, don't come down! Go back up!'
'What about the bodies?' Lee Seng pointed.
'I'll handle them.'
"Hey, where are ya?!? Are ya slackin' off again?!?" The voice grew louder. Ritsuka summoned Obsidian Glass and plunged the sword into the ground. The dead bodies fell in and the three quickly made their way up towards Evan.
'What's wrong?' Evan asked.
'Deimons.' Calis answered. The group of men moved up the stairs with Ritsuka coming up last.
"Where are you guys?!?" The voice asked. The purple-eyed Deimon entered the foyer and looked around. "These guys really wanna die to the Failed Ones, huh? Why do I have to do everything around here?" He grumbled and started up the stairs onto the landing and turned to look up at the rest of the stairway. It was dark and empty.
The Deimon climbed to the top and rounded the corner. The second floor was barely a second floor. He moved over to the end of the hall, running his fingers along the wall and opened the door at the end. It was an empty room with covered furniture. The Deimon grumbled and entered the room.
"Where are you? Why're you guys so quiet? Are you tryna scare me?" The Deimon asked. He stood in the middle of the room. The windows were wide open and a breeze danced into the room. The curtains blew, drawing the Deimon towards it. "Did they go up to the roof? There's nothing up the—"
Arms wrapped around the Deimon, squeezing hard. The Deimon gasped, trying to get out of the headlock.
"Shhh." Ritsuka hushed the Deimon to sleep. He lowered the Deimon onto the floor and looked behind him. Lee Seng and Evan exited the closet while Calis pushed the room's entrance door closed. Ritsuka dumped the other two Deimons and released his soul weapon. "That takes care of that."
"What were they looking for?" Calis asked.
"Something for the backyard, I guess…" Lee Seng shrugged, not fully sure of it. Evan snapped his fingers.
"That's right. I came to tell you guys I found something strange in the closet." Evan turned and moved into it. All four men somehow made their way into the closet. "Close the door."
"Why? It's cramped in here." Ritsuka complained.
"Just do it." Evan insisted. Ritsuka grabbed the closet door and shut it. It grew completely dark.
"Where is it?" Lee Seng asked, scanning the closet. There were knickknacks left on the shelves. It was an empty closet. Evan stood at the back-end of the closet.
"Look." Evan touched the back wall. A strange light started to glow.
"What in the Reef is that?" Calis asked. Lee Seng cocked his head at the strange symbol. He didn't remember anything like this being in the closet.
"What is it?" Ritsuka asked.
"It looks like… a strange rune to me. I can't read it. Can you?" Evan asked. Ritsuka squeezed himself past Lee Seng and Calis and took a look at the glowing rune.
"I don't know what this is." Ritsuka shook his head.
"It can't be…" Lee Seng took a step backwards. His friends turned and looked at him.
"What? Does that look familiar to you?" Calis asked.
"He couldn't have done this…" Lee Seng whispered. He shook his head. "He never came over. It couldn't be… Why is this here?"
"What?" Calis asked again. Lee Seng stumbled backwards, hitting the door and making a loud thump noise.
"Uncle Nikolai couldn't have done this… Is this what they were looking for?" Lee Seng whispered to himself.
"It gets even cooler." Evan continued. Ritsuka and Calis turned and watched Evan push his arm into the glowing rune. "It's a gateway."
"Veria Conet." Lee Seng whispered. The rune flared, growing larger at Lee Seng's words.
"What's happening?" Ritsuka asked. Evan felt a tug, flying into the rune. "Evan!" Ritsuka moved forward, catching into the rune's powerful pull.
"Ritsuka!" Calis grabbed the large man, only to be forced inwards. The entire closet shook, revealing more runes.
"Helio. Crom. Neau. Ata. Veria Conet." Lee Seng identified the runes. It pulled him forward as he took one last look behind him. "Neros. Yuk? What is the meaning of all of this? These are all runes for portal travel… Where could it le-"" Veria Conet sucked him in, spitting him out. He rolled and landed on the dusty ground. Lee Seng coughed as the dust settled around him.
"Where are we?" Evan asked.
"I can't see a thing." Ritsuka replied.
"It looks… old." Calis answered. Lee Seng turned to look behind him, noticing the portal was closing.
"No!" Lee Seng jumped for the portal, only to bring up more dust. Lights began to flick on one by one. They were all in a row, slowly turning on and making an annoying buzzing noise.
"This feels… ancient." Evan whispered. "Something out of a textbook."
"A bunker?" Ritsuka guessed. The metal walls illuminated under the horrible yellow lights. "It looks like a disaster bunker."
"A what?" Calis asked, completely out of the loop. Calis, Evan, and Ritsuka pushed themselves onto their feet while Lee Seng stared at what was behind them.
"It looks like an old bunker from the early nineteen hundreds." Evan observed. "Why would that thing lead us here?"
"Guys." Lee Seng's voice shook. The three turned and noticed what Lee Seng was looking at. A strange lanky mechanical robot was sitting on a metal throne. Lee Seng slowly stood up, watching the illuminated eyes stare at him with an uncanny valley smile plastered on its face.
"Scanning." An old robotic voice spoke. It sounded like a human had actually said this. A strange red thread of light moved across the four men, eventually landing on Lee Seng. "Identification has been correctly identified. Welcome Young Master Chang…" The bunker fully kicked on. A generator roared to life as more lights illuminated from the small light sconces on the back wall behind the uncanny valley robot.
"It seems… my time has finally come." The robot spoke like a human. It slowly straighten itself out. Its fragile body cracked and moaned as the robot's smile continued to become creepier. "Hello, Lee Seng Chang. If you're here, then that means something has happened."
"How do you know my name?" Lee Seng asked.
"I know all about you. Your father and Number 2 put me here in case things went south. Is it safe to say your father is dead and the Failed Ones have been broken free?" The robot asked. Lee Seng's blood ran cold.
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