Chapter 443: The Third Party

Klatos tilted his head slightly. “Do you have any idea what the password could be?”

Xavier didn’t answer right away. He stayed where he was, thinking it through, then shook his head. “Guessing when there’s only one attempt left is stupid. If I touch this, I need to be sure.”

Arlen frowned. “And how are you supposed to be sure unless Bull told you the password outright. Because as far as I know, he didn’t.”

Xavier let out a slow breath, then stepped away from the vault entirely. He turned his back to it and raised his voice, not shouting, not dramatic, just loud enough to carry.

“Alright,” he said. “Whoever’s watching, you might as well stop pretending you’re nṣot.”

The room stayed silent.

Xavier continued anyway. “I know you’re there. I also know you didn’t bring us here because you felt generous. We already had coordinates for this place. We would’ve reached it eventually.”

He glanced sideways, not at the vault but at the walls, the ceiling, the seams where systems hid. “You rerouted us. You pulled Arlen and me in from a different entry point. Because of that, I was able to help Rin and Klatos clear their side and meet us here.”

Rin shifted uneasily but didn’t interrupt.

Xavier went on, voice steady. “If we’d taken the original path, it would’ve taken longer. More fighting. More damage. You saved us time.”

He paused, then added, “I also know you’ve been here before. You know the traps. You know the layout. And judging by the wear on that panel, you’ve tried to open the vault yourself.”

Arlen’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“You failed,” Xavier said. “And now you’re down to one attempt, just like us. You don’t want to risk it.”

Klatos inhaled slowly. “So you led us here hoping he would.”

“Hoping I would take the risk for you,” Xavier said. “Because you think I can open it.”

The silence stretched. Long enough to feel intentional.

Then the static returned.

It crackled through the chamber, rough and uneven, like the system was forcing a voice through channels that didn’t want to carry it. When the voice finally spoke, it was distorted, layered with interference, but calm.

“Yes,” it said.

A short pause, then more words spilled out, less controlled this time.

“You’re not wrong. I tried. More than once. Different inputs. Different interpretations. Bull didn’t make it simple, and he didn’t leave instructions. He expected the right person to understand him, not brute-force him.”

The static flared, then settled again.

“I led you here because you already broke what this place was designed to test. You didn’t force the paths. You didn’t rush the system. You adjusted when it pushed back.”

The voice hesitated. “I don’t want the vault locked forever. And I don’t want what’s inside to fall into the hands that are already moving.”

The connection crackled again, weaker now. “So yes. I need you to open it.”

Xavier lowered himself onto the floor without a word, stretched out flat on his back, arms and legs spread like he had given up on the problem entirely. No one stopped him. No one asked what he was doing. Arlen watched him for a few seconds, then glanced at Klatos and Rin, both of them assuming this was one of those things Xavier did when he was thinking too hard to explain it.

Five minutes passed.

Then ten.

Then a lot longer than that.

The only sound left in the chamber was Xavier’s breathing, slow and even, until it tipped over into an unmistakable snore.

Rin blinked. Klatos shifted his weight, feathers ruffling in irritation. Arlen’s jaw tightened. Even the unseen presence seemed to hesitate before the static crackled back to life.

“What are you doing,” the voice demanded. “This isn’t a joke.”

Arlen crouched and nudged Xavier with her boot. “Wake up.”

Xavier stirred, rolled his head to the side, and cracked one eye open. “Huh. Already?”

The voice sharpened. “Open the vault.”

Xavier sat up slowly, rubbing his face like he had just taken a nap he actually needed. “No.”

Silence followed, heavier this time.

“I’m not opening anything until we talk,” Xavier went on, calm, almost lazy. “Because while you’re pretending this is a partnership, your Graveward Corps is sitting just outside the perimeter waiting for me to crack it open so they can rush in and take everything.”

Klatos stiffened. Arlen’s eyes flicked to the shadows around the chamber.

Xavier added casually, “They won’t get past me, by the way. But it’ll be messy.”

The static flared. “You’re not in a position to negotiate,” the voice snapped. “I can seal this chamber. Trap you here and let you rot.”

Xavier laughed, short and sharp. “You should’ve done that already if you actually could. The fact that you’re still talking tells me you can’t.”

He got to his feet and walked toward the panel, slow enough that it felt deliberate. “You need me. I don’t need this vault.”

His fingers hovered over the buttons. “I can type random garbage right now. One attempt. Lock it forever. And you lose everything you’ve been circling for years.”

The static spiked, the voice bleeding through with tension it couldn’t hide. “Stop!”

Xavier glanced back over his shoulder. “See? Someone’s nervous.”

He faced the panel again. “And before you start convincing yourself I’ll regret it, don’t bother. This treasure was never mine. Losing it won’t keep me up at night.”

The silence dragged. When the voice returned, it was tighter, controlled by force.

“What do you want?”

Xavier smiled faintly. “Now we’re talking.”

He turned just enough for everyone to hear him clearly. “I take fifty percent since I’m the key and this vault won’t open without me. Rin gets twenty since he’s been with me since Earth and ran some of my erodes, so he earned it. Klatos gets ten since he is a member of my team. Arlen gets ten since he deserves it for her ’skills’. And… you get the remaining ten.”

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