CHAPTER 108: THE DUAL ENVOYS

The heavy, obsidian-bound gates of House Vel'drin groaned as they were forced open, revealing the grand courtyard lit by eerie, flickering purple torches.

Outside the perimeter, the cavern air buzzed with a tense, suffocating pressure. Two distinct cohorts stood side by side on the subterranean causeway, their presence chilling the stone floors underfoot.

To the left stood the emissaries of the Absolute Sun, clad in brilliant, gold-trimmed white armor that radiated intense, scorching arcane light. They were the enforcers of the noble Nyx'ari clans, arrogant and unyielding. To the right stood the shadows of the Absolute Moon—slender, cloaked figures draped in midnight-blue robes, their faces hidden behind seamless silver masks. They moved without a whisper, carrying the silent, terrifying authority of the Underworld and the assassins' court.

In this deep subterranean realm where every Nyx'ari clan chamber maintained its own isolated microclimate and artificial weather system—from Vel'drin’s cold, static-charged mists to rival clans' endless shadow-rains—the sudden eruption of dark purple thunder had shattered the domain's balance.

Patriarch Vane walked down the grand entrance steps, flanked by Orven and Old Bones. Caius stood half a step behind them, his expression completely blank, his pale eyes calm and unbothered despite the overwhelming aura washing over the gates.

An elder solar mage stepped forward from the Sun cohort, his golden staff striking the flagstones with a blinding flash.

"Patriarch Vane," the solar mage proclaimed, his voice echoing like thunder across the subterranean valley. "The Dual Sovereigns felt the atmospheric rupture across the entire under-realm. A dark purple lightning tribulation struck within your clan chamber—a phenomenon reserved only for forbidden arts or illegal realm-transcending awakenings. Explain this anomaly at once."

A veiled figure from the Moon Palace glided forward, her voice a cold, raspy whisper that cut through the solar mage's booming tone. "The Absolute Moon demands to know if House Vel'drin is harboring an unregistered threat... or if your human Ward has broken his pact before his sixteenth year."

Vane did not flinch. He stepped down onto the bottom flagstone, placing his hands behind his back, his cold crimson eyes sweeping over both parties with quiet disdain.

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"The Dual Sovereigns concern themselves with a minor climate shift?" Vane asked, his voice laced with smooth, aristocratic indifference. "There are no forbidden arts here, Envoy. Only a fifteen-year-old boy whose spatial affinity unexpectedly resonated with a volatile beast bead, briefly overloading our chamber's weather array."

The solar mage narrowed his glowing eyes, shifting his gaze past Vane to land directly on Caius. "Overloading your weather array? A standard beast bead does not summon dark purple tribulation lightning from the cavern vault!"

"It was an elder Sabre Lightning Tiger bead," Old Bones piped up smoothly from behind Vane, scratching his chin with an unbothered, lazy smirk. "A wild apex beast from the surface peaks. The kid tried to refine it during his fifteen-birthday breakthrough, hit a spatial resonance wall, and the excess energy discharged upward into the ceiling mana veins. Disagreeable weather, nothing more."

The Moon envoy stepped closer, her silver mask reflecting the dim torchlight as her sharp gaze pierced toward Caius.

"Step forward, human child," she commanded softly.

Caius didn't hesitate. He stepped out from behind Patriarch Vane, standing tall in the center of the entrance. His posture was perfectly composed, his Crown Core pulled deep into his soul sea, displaying only the thin, stable traces of standard spatial mana on his skin.

The Moon envoy raised a slender, pale hand, sending a subtle, probing wave of mental detection mana toward Caius's chest to inspect his core.

The moment the hidden probe touched Caius, his Eye of the Loom flared invisibly. Using the newly refined Obsidian Lattice structure deep within his body, Caius didn't fight the probe—he swallowed its kinetic feedback, letting the envoy's detection wave bounce harmlessly off a manufactured, superficial layer of standard spatial energy.

The Moon envoy lowered her hand, her silver mask tilting slightly.

"His core is stable," she conceded, though suspicion lingered in her cold tone. "No forbidden bloodline corruption detected. Only refined spatial mana... and residual lightning traces."

The solar mage scoffed, though the tension in his posture loosened slightly. "You play a dangerous game, House Vel'drin. The Absolute Sun remembers the pact. The boy has one year remaining until his sixteenth birthday. If he survives the Trial of Fate against a Shadowblade, the Great Hunt will begin instantly."

"He will be ready," Patriarch Vane replied coldly. "Now, if the court has finished inspecting my clan's sky, leave my gates."

The two cohorts exchanged a long, tense look before stepping back. With a flash of golden light and a ripple of folding shadows, the envoys vanished back into the subterranean darkness, leaving behind a heavy, silent courtyard.

Vane didn't turn around, but his voice carried clearly to Caius.

"They are watching you now, Caius," Vane said softly. "One year remains. Make sure that core of yours is ready for what comes next."