Chapter 137

Chapter 137

But that wasn't what caught Damien's attention.

His eyes were locked on the figure standing on the round platform — someone wearing a mask, both hands raised toward the sky. The figure held a scepter in the left hand and gripped a piece of jade in the right.

That jade looked exactly like the Celestial Stone he had seen before. And it kept showing up in other murals too, with the word "Celestial" faintly visible in some of the strange inscriptions nearby.

A strong feeling suddenly hit him — maybe this time, he could finally find out how to activate the Celestial Stone.

So Damien walked over and helped build the campfire. When no one was looking, he slipped away with someone's communicator and sent a message to Ironclaw, telling him to stay out of sight and just keep watch from the shadows.

The group spent the night in the ruined church. Bryce and the others were too excited to sleep.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Judy went to meet Bavich.

"See? Wasn't so hard to be cooperative, was it?" Bavich stepped forward to give Judy a hug, but she stepped aside without a word.

His expression darkened instantly. "If you tell me how Crescent City is laid out so I can lead my men in, I'll put in a good word for you with White. Maybe he'll spare your mother."

"I'm not helping you go after Crescent City." Judy refused, cold and flat.

She was desperate to save her mother, but Domingo had saved her life. She wasn't about to turn her back on that.

"Then I'll just have to kill you." Bavich's eyes went hard. He cracked his knuckles, clearly ready to make a move.

"I have the Blood-Tear Manuscript!" Judy said quickly.

"Hand it over — now!" Bavich lunged forward and grabbed Judy by the throat.

"When I see my mother... I'll give it to White myself... but not to you." Judy forced the words out through the pressure on her neck.

Bavich tightened his grip, glaring at her through clenched teeth.

"Damien went into the nearby mountains with people from Dragon Society!" one of his men suddenly reported.

Bavich let go of Judy. "He's still alive? Sneaking around like that — something's definitely off."

Judy gasped for air. Hearing that Damien was somewhere near Crescent City, she couldn't help but feel a small flicker of relief.

Bavich caught her expression and let out a cold laugh. "What, waiting for Damien to ride in and save you? Dream on. He doesn't care whether you live or die."

"Bring Judy along!" he called out.

Several men rushed in and dragged her toward the door.

Bavich watched her go, thinking: let her lose all hope this time. After that, she'll do whatever Celestial Temple needs.

Bavich followed the trail his men had been tracking and caught up with Damien's group before long.

On the other side, Damien had been moving through the mountains with Bryce and Pax, stopping often along the way. They kept finding traces of legends tied to the Celestial Stone.

Most of them were murals — the stone depicted as a sacred ritual object, with people kneeling before it in worship. Some murals showed it floating above a crowd, surrounded by swirling black mist.

Damien could only make out pieces of what the murals meant, but he could feel he was getting closer to the truth.

Bavich, tracking them the whole way, spotted the same Celestial Stone imagery in the murals. He immediately figured Damien was there to find the stone and reported it to White right away.

"Keep your eyes on them! Get me that Celestial Stone back! Fail again and don't bother coming back alive!" White's voice came through the phone, cold and flat. Bavich promised on the spot that he would bring the Celestial Stone back to the Celestial Temple.

After two days of hard travel, Damien's group reached a sheer cliff face.

The Dragon Society members pulled out their gear and got ready to descend.

"You go first!" Bryce ordered Damien.

Damien raised an eyebrow and reached for the rope — then Pax stepped in front of him.

"I'll go first."

Damien said nothing. He just gave Bryce a sideways look, dripping with contempt. Idiot. Whoever goes down first gets to the treasure first. That much was obvious.

Halfway down the cliff, they spotted a cave hidden behind thick overgrowth. They cleared the brush and crawled inside, where the path split into three directions.

Pax sent scouts down two of the tunnels. Screams came back almost immediately.

"This way!" Pax led the group down the right-hand path until they reached a stone door.

Bryce's face lit up with excitement.

They pushed the door open together, only to find another stone door behind it — this one covered in carved patterns. Clearly a trap mechanism.

No one from Dragon Society had any idea how to handle it. Bryce, too impatient to wait, just started pressing things at random before Damien could stop him.

The mechanism clicked. A second later, arrows flew from every direction.

Everyone scrambled in a panic. The ones who ran got hit. Half of Dragon Society dropped in an instant.

"Nobody move!" Damien shouted.

He had just noticed — the people who stayed still were untouched. It was the ones who ran that got struck. But several had already left their spots, and moving now would only draw more arrows.

Damien stared at the door, thinking fast. He pressed the panels in the right order.

The stone door slowly opened. The arrows stopped.

Bryce had been standing closest to the door — too scared to run when it all started — but the moment it opened, he bolted through first.

Pax followed right behind. Damien went third.

Strangely, there were no more traps inside. Gold coins, jade, and jewels were scattered across the floor, with a pile of ornate boxes stacked in the center.

Bryce and Pax went straight for the gold. Damien's attention was pulled to a mural on the wall.

It showed a darkened Celestial Stone being brought to this place to be purified, then placed with great care in the deepest part of the cave. Time passed. When the stone began to glow again, it was carried out with the same reverence — and then the mural just stopped.

Damien frowned. He had no idea what to make of it.

He was still staring at it when Pax told his men to come in and start hauling out the gold and jewels.

Then a gunshot rang out.

The Dragon Society guard at the entrance dropped, shot in the head.

Damien moved fast, found cover, and looked toward the door. Bavich was standing there with his men, blocking the way out.

"Hand over the Celestial Stone and I'll let you walk out of here!" Bavich called out.

"Who do you think you are, threatening us? Everything in here belongs to Dragon Society—"

The bullet hit Bryce between the eyes before he could finish. His face was still frozen in shock.

"Bryce!" Pax exploded with rage and threw himself at Bavich.

The rest of Dragon Society, seeing Bryce fall, charged in with throwing knives and tore into Bavich's men.

But they were outmatched. One by one they went down, until only Pax was left fighting.

He was already running on empty. Bavich put a bullet through his head.

"Damien! Come out now or I blow this whole place!" Bavich stood at the entrance, gun raised, shouting into the cave.

Damien knew Bavich meant it. He stepped out slowly.