Lucius looked up at the three men that were being held up in the air with ropes made out of pure mana. He wouldn’t have been able to do something like this had it not been for him knowing their True names. In fact, he had chosen these three men as his team members after a couple of years of selection.

The three of them had thought that it was a co-incidence that they had met during their first mission together four years ago… but it was not so. Everything was fully coordinated by Lucius and even Mira didn’t know. To make sure the plan went effortlessly Lucius had to make sure that even Mira was unaware.

After that, he had to make the three of them learn some things that would be needed for the mission that they were in right now. All these years he had been ever so slightly prodding them on a specific path little by little.

Lucius looked down upon hearing the voice of his lover.

“Please Lucius… don’t do this… the clan will not… let us live if they find out…” Mira said with difficulty.

For Mira, this was the harshest situation she had been in and the decision she had to make for it was even harsher. On one side was her lover who she had spent years with and was going the bear a child with, on the other side was her clan and these clansmen.

The loyalty to the Barrom Clan was one of the most basic things that were ingrained into the soul of every true blood member of the clan. This was mostly due to the True Name that they were bestowed with, which made them feel closer to the clan more than anything.

“Ahaha…” Lucius laughed after hearing Mira’s words as he couldn’t help but find them ridiculous.

“Mira, you’ve spent years with me and you still doubt my actions?” He asked while waving his left hand moving the three men.

In the hall, three pillars suddenly rose up. The three pillars were engraved with numerous runes most of which would have been illegible had it not been for the mana that was flowing through them. The runes glowed red with a faint black outline.

Mira didn’t look at the pillars as she couldn’t take off her eyes from the father of her unborn child.

“I… I know. But still, I thought we came here for the Amulet! Not this…” She said trembling.

She didn’t know why but the magic within her was stirring as if responding to something. Mira thought that it was just the unstable mana in the environment but then realized that she had unconsciously stopped suppressing her magic a couple of minutes ago.

‘Wait what… the mana here… ITS PURE DEMONIC ENERGY!’ Mira realized and her eyers went wide.

A knowing smile appeared on Lucius’s face as he tilted his head.

“So you finally realize,” Lucius said before turning around and looking at the three pillars.

He controlled the three bound men and floated them over to each of the pillars before placing them on it. The three of them were totally bound from head to toe with mana ropes with not an inch of their skin visible. They couldn’t speak nor could they see.

If the restrictive power of the ropes wasn’t so Strong, one would have been able to see that the three of them were trembling in sheer terror. While Mira was feeling the pure power of Demonic energy, the three men were feeling something completely different.

It was as if thousands of knives were placed against their bodies, ready to pierce them at any time.

“Now… witness the glory of true power!” Lucian proclaimed.

He waved his hands creating more runes in the air and the spell constructs started to activate one after the other.

“O’ keeper of fate! I Lucius Barrom offer you Minyos, Ivalos and Nikpodon. As has been decreed in the scriptures, I fulfill my end of the bargain and I ask you to do the same.” Lucius requested.

As soon as he finished speaking, the three bound men as if under a massive force were crushed. The ropes kept on tightening until a finely minced mix of blood and flash was squeezed out. This spilled onto the pillars and was quickly absorbed.

~Humm~

A humming sound was heard as the pillars started shaking. The red runes changed and fully turned black in color. Then on the other side of the hall, a five sided platform appeared from the ground. There was an inverted pentagram drawn on it with runes written at the vertices.

Mira couldn’t see what had exactly happened to the three men due to the pillars blocking her line of sight, but she was definitely able to hear the squelching sound.

~Blegh~

She quickly held her mouth suppressing the bile that was rising from her throat. While she had borne witness to much more gruesome sights, seeing her companions die like this without struggling was still a big blow to her. But her nausea wasn’t just because of that, but because of the menacing demonic energy that was now coming from the five sided pentagram.

After the five sided platform was raised, the three pillars glowed even brighter before a beam of light was shot out from each of them. The three beams collided at the five sided platform and created a loud sound.

~Boom~

“Wh-what! What is that! No… it can’t be, can it? A hell portal!” Mira said feeling utterly shocked.

“Yes, you got that right,” Lucius confirmed.

He then started walking towards the hell portal that was slowly being formed. Mira followed behind him, now fascinated by the hell portal. The faint wisps of demonic energy that were coming from the portal were incredibly comfortable to her.

While she had seen hell portals before, this one was something different.

“Do you now know why we needed to sacrifice them?” Lucius questioned.

“Yes… No wonder the clan could never find the Amulet of Barrom even after thousands of years. It was never in this world in the first place!” Mira said understanding it all.

“Now then my love, would you like to be the most powerful woman in the world?” Lucius whispered, his breath tickling Mira’s ear.