The Third Prince stood before the suspended black crystal, hands behind his back, calm as if he were observing a training formation instead of something ancient and unstable.
"You already knew this was here," Kael said.
"Yes," the prince replied without turning. "But we didn't know how fast the seal was degrading."
Another tremor passed through the chamber.
This one stronger.
The formation lines beneath their feet flickered.
The crack on the crystal widened slightly.
Dark mist leaked again — thicker this time.
Aric narrowed his eyes. "It's responding to us."
"Yes," the prince said. "Or to something among you."
Silence followed.
Kael did not react outwardly.
But he felt it.
A faint pull from the crystal.
Not toward his blood technique.
Toward his core structure.
Toward the layered chaos within it.
Interesting.
Suddenly, the crystal pulsed violently.
A shard of black energy shot outward.
It struck one of the Foundation Peak nobles before anyone reacted.
The noble screamed as dark lines spread across his arm.
Corruption.
Aric moved instantly and struck the infected limb with a precise blade of Qi, cutting away the spreading energy before it reached the chest.
The noble collapsed but remained alive.
The chamber shook again.
The crack in the crystal deepened.
From within, something shifted visibly.
A large outline pressed against the inner surface.
A shape with too many angles.
Too many limbs.
Not fully formed.
But aware.
"It's breaking faster," the Montrell cultivator said.
The prince's expression hardened slightly.
"We reinforce again."
Kael stepped forward.
"No."
Everyone looked at him.
"If we keep feeding the formation raw Core energy, we accelerate internal pressure imbalance."
Aric frowned. "Then what?"
"We stabilize from inside," Kael replied calmly.
The prince's gaze sharpened. "Explain."
Kael looked at the fractured lines.
"The formation isn't just breaking. It's misaligned. The inner ring is rotating against the outer seal."
Aric studied the floor more closely.
"He's right."
The prince remained silent.
Kael continued, "Someone needs to enter the inner formation layer and realign it manually."
"That means stepping closer to the crystal," Montrell said.
"Yes."
"And exposing yourself to that thing."
"Yes."
Silence.
"I'll do it," Aric said.
Kael shook his head.
"No."
Aric frowned. "Why not?"
"Your energy is too rigid. If it reacts to you, it will escalate."
"And yours won't?" Aric challenged.
Kael met his gaze evenly.
"It already is."
The prince's eyes narrowed slightly.
"You feel resonance?"
"Partial."
The prince studied him for a long moment.
"Do it," he said finally.
Kael stepped toward the crystal.
The pressure increased with each step.
Dark whispers brushed against his thoughts.
Fragments of memory.
Ancient battlefield screams.
Broken oaths.
He suppressed them easily.
His chaotic circulation remained stable.
As he reached the inner formation ring, he could see clearly now—
The core of the seal was rotating slightly off-axis.
Time had eroded its alignment.
He placed one hand on the formation node.
The moment he touched it, the crystal flared violently.
The shadow inside surged forward, pressing against the crack.
Images flashed across Kael's mind.
War.
Massacre.
A being bound unwillingly.
Anger.
Not mindless.
Conscious.
"You carry something different," a voice echoed faintly in his head.
Kael did not respond verbally.
He adjusted the formation ring instead.
He pushed his Qi carefully into the misaligned channel and twisted it half a degree clockwise.
The entire chamber vibrated.
Aric stepped forward instinctively.
"Hold," Kael said calmly.
He adjusted again.
Another half degree.
The fracture in the crystal slowed.
The dark mist retreated slightly.
But the pressure inside intensified.
The entity was not pleased.
"You are not of this era," the voice echoed again faintly inside his mind.
Kael's expression did not change.
He completed the final alignment.
The formation lines stabilized.
The crack stopped expanding.
The pulse slowed to its earlier rhythm.
Not sealed fully.
But no longer breaking.
He stepped back.
The pressure lifted gradually.
The prince exhaled slowly.
"Interesting."
Aric looked at Kael carefully.
"You heard it too," Aric said quietly.
"No," Kael replied.
Half truth.
He would not share mental contact.
The prince studied both of them.
"This confirms it," he said. "The battlefield is not a relic site. It is a prison."
"For what?" Montrell asked.
The prince looked at the crystal.
"For something that once nearly ended the eastern provinces."
Silence filled the chamber.
Kael felt it clearly now.
The resonance had not vanished.
It had quieted.
Watching.
Waiting.
And it had noticed him.
Not Aric.
Not the prince.
Him.
"This expedition will end early," the prince said. "We withdraw tomorrow."
"But the relics—" Montrell began.
"Are irrelevant," the prince cut him off.
This was no longer competition.
It was containment.
As they exited the chamber, Kael glanced back once.
The black crystal remained suspended.
Silent.
But no longer passive.
The entity inside had tested the seal.
And tested him.
Back at camp that night, Aric approached him again.
"You didn't tell the prince everything," Aric said.
Kael looked at the distant ridge.
"No."
"What did it say to you?"
Kael remained silent for a moment.
"Nothing useful."
Aric did not press further.
But his suspicion deepened.
The battlefield was sealed again.
For now.
But something ancient had stirred.
And it had recognized Kael.