Chapter 103 The Messiah Of North

Chapter 103: Chapter 103: The Messiah Of North

This was neither the Imperial Castle nor the Drakenfell Castle, yet it did not lose to either of them in size or majesty.

"Just where am I?" Xavier murmured to himself.

"My liege, you are in the Axis Bracelet," a rough, old voice answered from right in front of him.

Xavier looked down. A man knelt on one knee, head bowed. Slicked-back hair, white beard, a sculpted and muscular face—and three heads. Xavier had not sensed him at all, not because the man was hiding his presence, but because that presence was completely subservient to him.

A fresh cut ran diagonally from the forehead of the middle head down toward its right eye.

"Are you Cerberus?" Xavier asked.

"That is indeed my title, my liege. My true name is Hadeon," the man replied, still facing the ground.

"Why are you calling me your liege?"

"Because you are my liege. My previous master left me bound to the Axis Bracelet with a single order: protect it. After so many centuries of isolation in those forbidden hallways I began to lose my mind. When you appeared—a descendant of my previous liege—I could not identify you and attacked. My liege, please forgive me."

"Wait. Hold on." That was a lot to take in, and it raised more questions than answers.

"Who was your previous liege?"

"Jane Evander. From the blood inside the Axis Bracelet, I can feel that you are his descendant."

That did not surprise Xavier as much as it should have. His mother had been an Evander, after all, though he had never considered himself as a descendant of the founder—the first emperor.

"And he left you bound to the Axis Bracelet," Xavier said. "How? Aren’t magical bonds supposed to be between humans and beasts themselves?"

"A blood contract is between a magical beast and the blood. My previous liege left a drop of his blood inside the Axis Bracelet and left me," Hadeon answered without the slightest hint of resentment. Even after being left behind for centuries, he held no contempt for the man who had done it.

"And what is this place?" Xavier asked, looking around.

"A pocket dimension within the Axis Bracelet. When the goddesses bestowed the sacred artifacts upon the heroes, each artifact carried a special ability to help them defeat the Demon King. Only the bracelet came with an additional personal space—the place we stand in now."

"And you? Is this your true form?"

"No, my liege. This is my humanoid form. My true form is the hellhound you saw and fought in the hallways."

Everything was beginning to line up. The seven goddesses had given seven sacred artifacts to the heroes. Jane Evander had united the continent against the Demon King, founded the Evander Empire, and hidden the seven treasures inside the academy.

One question still troubled Xavier.

"Why did the founder hide the treasures in the academy? He could have kept them in the imperial vault."

"While leaving me in those forbidden hallways, my liege told me he believed the Demon King would one day break his seal and destroy the continent. He was certain the artifacts would become mere showpieces, never used by the imperial family when the time came. So, he hid them throughout the academy. He said that someday a person would appear—someone unbound by the constraints of this world—and that person would be the one to claim them."

Unbound by the constraints of the world. Xavier could get hard for any beautiful girl, but he doubted that was what the founder had meant.

"Should I put it back?" he asked.

"No, my liege. The Axis Bracelet belongs to you now. And so do I."

"You’re not bound to me. You’re bound to the bracelet."

"And the bracelet is bound to you. It is the same thing. This way I simply will not be able to return to the beast realm—but that feels like a fitting punishment for attacking my liege."

"You were stuck in those hallways for ten thousand years and never returned to your realm in all that time."

"I was duty-bound, my liege. I could not leave even if I had wanted to."

"What do I need to do to free you from the bracelet?"

"My liege, why would you do that?"

"I don’t feel you deserve that punishment. You were out of your mind. I don’t blame you."

"You are so magnanimous, my liege. Since the bracelet is already bound to you, my contract can be transferred through blood. You need only make a blood contract with me."

"I see." Xavier drew the magical-beast summoning sigil on the ground.

"And now I need to feed it a drop of my blood."

"No, my liege. That is unnecessary. We are inside the Axis Bracelet—this entire area is your domain." Hadeon pricked a finger on his jaw and let a drop of blood fall onto the sigil. The mark flared with bright light and vanished.

"With this, you are my bound beast."

"Thank you, my liege. I will never forget your kindness." Hadeon bowed his head as Xavier sent him back to the beast realm. His body dissolved into motes of mana dust and disappeared.

There was no way for Xavier to know that this simple act of kindness would one day bring catastrophic consequences.

Alone in the garden, he decided to explore the pocket dimension. He could feel its boundaries stretching for tens of kilometers. He entered the castle; it was preserved as if it had been built yesterday.

He made his way to the throne room. On the seat of the throne lay a single piece of paper—an envelope sealed with a lion’s crest.

Addressed to the next owner of the Axis Bracelet.

Xavier broke the seal and drew out the letter.

"In case I die in the Great Demonic War,

if you are reading this letter, then Jane must have made certain you are the one who deserves to inherit everything I possess.

The bracelet you are wearing is called the Axis Bracelet. Its primary ability is to raise the wearer’s mana-control level by two complete stages. Beyond the seventh level it functions as additional mana reserves, nearly doubling those of an expert at the seventh level.

It also contains a pocket dimension—the castle, the garden, and the surrounding grounds—in which you now stand. Consider it your private domain.

Within the castle is my treasury.

You will find countless swords and weapons I collected throughout my life, along with magical artifacts, rare treasures, and everything else I deemed worth keeping.

You will also find all of my accumulated wealth—gold coins, precious stones, valuables, and the money I earned during my travels.

Everything inside now belongs to you.

Use it well.

— Michael Giowald, the Messiah of the North"