Chapter 145: His Impossible Negotiation

The massive sinkhole in the center of the East Basement exhaled a cloud of gray dust.

Raziel stood at the edge of the abyss and looked down into Level -5.

The colossal stone construct named Lithos remained trapped in the dark below, but the guardian didn’t try to climb back up.

It had already initiated the final defensive measure.

St. Celeste prepared to detonate its own foundation to deny Elector Mordecai access to the ancient magic.

“We need to evacuate the dormitories right now!” Lucian shouted from the bottom of the stairs.

He just returned from waking the first-year novices.

“Evacuation changes nothing,” Caius stated and crossed his arms.

“If the node self-destructs, the kinetic blast will level the entire town. We cannot outrun the blast radius.”

Raziel stared at the trembling floor. He had two mastered Gifts.

He knew how to write the structural language of the building using Architectural Inscription, and he knew how to connect with a consciousness using Soul Resonance.

He needed to use both weapons at the exact same time.

He channeled his Umbral Paragon core.

He bypassed the standard defensive wards and searched for the fragmented consciousness of the Academy.

He hit a massive wall of existential panic.

The building operated on absolute survival instinct.

It felt the encroaching threat of the Inquisition and the boiling consecrated lead.

It felt Lithos waking up to execute the purge. The ancient magic prepared to die.

Raziel pushed his dark energy into the stone and drew a geometric sequence to write a direct message in the ancient syntax of the Primordial Pantheon.

YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

He didn’t just write the words.

He activated Soul Resonance and forced his own mental state into the building. He projected the raw concept of companionship and shared presence.

VMMMM!

A shockwave of energy traveled up his arms.

The Academy answered with a heavy pulse of total confusion because the ancient stones did not understand why a human tried to comfort them.

Raziel gritted his teeth and pushed more mana into the floor to draw a second sequence.

I AM PANTHEON. NOT ENEMY.

He projected the sensation of shared origins.

He forced the building to feel the ancient silver runes vibrating in his own memories from the East Basement lessons.

The Academy answered with a sharp pulse of doubt.

The building recognized the ancient language, but it also recognized the human flesh delivering the message.

Raziel felt the heavy vibration of the suicide protocol accelerating in the bricks.

He ran out of time, so he needed to make the structure believe him right now.

He drew a third geometric sequence.

PROTECT IS MY FUNCTION TOO.

He opened his mental barriers completely and let the Academy feel his absolute desperation to keep his friends alive.

He shared the crushing weight of the ticking clock and the incoming war.

He showed the building his willingness to bleed for the stones.

A tiny response echoed back through the foundation.

It was a minuscule pulse of hope, feeling incredibly fragile against the massive storm of panic.

Raziel needed to anchor that hope and override the self-destruct command with pure emotional force.

He pushed Soul Resonance to its absolute maximum capacity.

He fed the connection with his own humanity, and the Shadow Parasite inside his chest woke up to devour the offered emotion to generate the required power output.

The blue interface exploded in his vision.

[SKILL OVERDRIVE: SOUL RESONANCE]

[EMPATHY LEVEL: 73% -> 70%]

The cold numbness rushed into his chest and froze another piece of his soul.

The loss felt permanent and heavy, but he ignored the internal damage and shoved the amplified emotional connection straight down into Level -5.

He forced the intention of protection and defiant survival into the core of the node.

The low hum vibrating through the bricks stuttered.

The sound dropped in pitch and slowed down, while the violent shaking of the floor settled into a mild tremor.

Down in the dark abyss, Lithos stopped moving.

The massive stone guardian powered down and entered a standby state.

Raziel broke the connection and pulled his hands away from the floor.

He collapsed backward onto the dusty tiles and gasped for air.

He stopped the immediate detonation, but he didn’t cancel the protocol.

He just paused the countdown.

The Academy gave him a temporary window of time, so they had weeks instead of minutes now.

Zorya knelt on the floor next to him and kept her hands clasped together tight.

“Is it working?” Zorya asked.

Raziel kept his eyes closed and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

“She is scared. The Academy is terrified. She doesn’t fear Mordecai. She fears being completely alone when he comes.”

Raziel took a deep breath and opened his eyes. His irises glowed solid gold with thick black veins.

“I told her she will not be alone.”

Zorya stared at his corrupted eyes. “Did you promise?”

“I promised.”

Zorya swallowed hard. “Can you keep that promise?”

A long silence filled the ruined workshop.

Raziel thought about the Inquisition army and the Elector’s censored identity.

“I don’t know,” Raziel answered. “But a broken promise is better than a cowardly silence.”

The East Basement responded to his words.

The silver runes on the intact brick walls flared with blinding light.

The ancient magic ignored the broken floor and focused entirely on the solid vertical surfaces, but the geometric shapes didn’t form a written message or a warning this time.

The Academy drew a massive blueprint across the entire wall.

Raziel pushed himself up from the floor and walked closer to the glowing bricks, while Zorya and Caius followed right behind him.

The blueprint displayed the underground architecture of St. Celeste, but it went far deeper than the main catacombs.

It bypassed the six sealed chambers and went past Level -5 where Lithos currently rested.

The map revealed a brand new section of the foundation. It showed Level -6.

Caius stepped up to the wall and his pale gray eyes widened.

He studied the ancient records of the Primordial Pantheon his entire life, and he never read a single mention of a sixth basement level.

A single geometric symbol rested in the exact center of the new map.

None of them recognized the shape because it defied standard ecclesiastical magic and ancient runic syntax.

A line of text formed below the unknown symbol. Zorya read the silver letters and translated them aloud.

“The Founder’s room.”

She moved her eyes to the next glowing sentence.

“What he left here is no Gift. It is a choice.”

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