Sirius's White Tiger launched itself with everything it had, light claws slashing toward the fused spirit with force that should have torn it apart.

Yet, the claws bounced off harmlessly, barely leaving a superficial mark before the spirit reformed as if nothing had happened. Defenses that made Gold-rank attacks feel like child's play.

On the other side, Orion's Tiger attempted attacking from the back, its fangs finding ethereal flesh but without causing real damage either. Different approach, same result, frustration building as conventional tactics proved worthless.

Sirius's serpent coiled around the second spirit, applying pressure sufficient to crush rocks into powder. The spirit's form simply flowed between the scales like water, reforming instantly on the other side without apparent effort or concern.

"Useless," Sirius growled as his serpent returned, having accomplished nothing beyond wasting energy they couldn't afford to waste.

The tigers couldn't contain them. Normal attacks were useless against defenses this dense, this perfectly balanced. And they didn't have mana left for more powerful abilities.

The fused spirit on the right struck his tiger hard enough to send it stumbling, then rotated toward Sirius with clear killing intent.

It launched into direct attack, moving faster than something that size should move.

Sirius raised his arms instinctively, knowing it wouldn't be enough but unable to do anything else, and then…

The white heart in his pocket exploded into activity without him invoking it.

A barrier of pure light manifested in the air between him and death, perfect and impenetrable, the type of defense only someone with perfect control at Gold 3 could create.

The spirit's attack bounced off without leaving a mark, power that should have killed him dispersed harmlessly against a protection he hadn't consciously summoned.

Orion saw what happened and understood immediately.

When the second fused spirit rotated toward him with clear intention of killing, Orion clutched the black heart he carried and concentrated darkness shot out like lightning.

The attack pierced through the spirit's defenses like they were wet paper, tearing through the fused form by overloading it and breaking its synergy in ways normal attacks couldn't.

It left an open wound that the tigers exploited immediately, finally finding vulnerability where none had existed before.

The battle continued with this level of brutal intensity, both brothers forced to use the crystallized hearts repeatedly when conventional methods failed.

When the second spirit finally fell, both brothers stood among the dissolved forms of their enemies, breathing with difficulty that went beyond simple physical exhaustion.

Sirius lowered his gaze to the white heart in his hand and went completely still, all motion ceasing as realization hit him with the force of a physical blow.

There was a line across the crystal's surface. Thin, almost imperceptible if you didn't know where to look, but definitely there. A mark that absolutely hadn't existed before combat started.

Sirius would know if it was about his wife…

Wear.

The word carried the weight of understanding that using the hearts came with a price they couldn't afford to pay indefinitely.

"Don't use your wife anymore," he said toward Orion without looking at him, voice abrupt and tense with implications he was still processing. "The crystals are wearing down. If we exhaust them completely, maybe we can't put them back in the statues when we find them."

Orion examined his own black heart, finding with difficulty a similar line marking the dark crystal. He nodded once, gesturing short and dry, an acknowledgment that carried no emotion beyond grim acceptance.

"Then we're leaving," Orion said with a tone that suggested this was an obvious conclusion rather than a suggestion open for debate. "We already gained enough knowledge... But without soldiers, without reinforcements coming..."

"No." Sirius cut the sentence off while looking at stairs continuing to descend into darkness that seemed deeper somehow, more final. "I'm continuing."

The declaration was absolute, brooking no argument. Not a suggestion but a statement of fact that would happen regardless of Orion's opinion.

"You're being irrational," Orion said, anger breaking through exhaustion because sometimes fury was easier than fear. "We're alone. Depleted…"

"I'm aware." Sirius's voice was cold.

"You're going completely insane. We barely managed with these two and..."

"I'M GOING! Like when YOU opened the door without listening to me," Sirius interrupted with a voice so cold it could have frozen fire. "Now it's my turn to ignore you…"

He advanced toward the stairs without waiting for a response, without caring whether Orion followed or stayed or threw himself off a cliff in frustration. The parallel was deliberate, the reminder uttered to wound because if Sirius had to suffer consequences of Orion's recklessness, then Orion could suffer the consequences of Sirius's desperation.

Orion gritted his teeth with enough force that the sound was audible, fury crossing his face for a second before the expression went neutral again. Years of noble training reasserting control when emotion threatened to overwhelm.

But he couldn't stay behind, couldn't let Sirius descend alone even when staying would be smarter.

Maybe it was concern for his brother despite everything that had broken between them. Or maybe he couldn't allow Sirius to find whatever waited below without being present to claim it as well, to ensure the rewards of this nightmare were divided fairly rather than monopolized.

He followed, hating Sirius with each step but following anyway because some bonds couldn't be severed even when you desperately wanted them gone.

TENTH CHAMBER

Sirius reached the door at the stairs' end and pushed it open without hesitation, without taking precautions that experience should have taught him were necessary when facing ancient security systems.

A beam of combined light and darkness exploded from inside before he could react, more powerful than any attack they'd faced before.

The white heart reacted automatically, manifesting its protective barrier without conscious command. The black heart responded a moment later with defensive darkness from Orion's pocket, barely in time to reinforce the light barrier before it shattered because the power behind the attack was too concentrated, too brutal for a single defense to withstand.

They were thrown backward like rag dolls, bodies treated as insignificant obstacles by force that didn't care about Gold-rank durability or noble status. Sirius hit all the way back to the ninth chamber's wall with sufficient force to drive air from his lungs in an explosive gasp. Orion rolled across the floor leaving a trail of blood that marked his path.

Something emerged from the tunnel leading to the tenth chamber, presence announced by pressure that made the air itself feel heavier.

A spirit, but larger than the previous ones, denser in ways that went beyond simple size. Light and darkness compressed into almost-solid form that seemed to occupy too much space despite its dimensions, reality bending around it in ways that hurt to perceive directly.

Platinum rank power radiating from every movement.

The monster roared with sound that shouldn't be possible for something without real mouth, vibration that resonated in bones and made ears bleed from frequencies that human bodies weren't designed to process.

It launched itself forward with speed that defied its mass.

Sirius's Celestial White Tiger interposed itself, trying to protect its master with a loyalty that transcended self-preservation. The spirit destroyed it in seconds, the tiger's form demanifesting in an explosion of fragmented light that scattered like dying stars.

Orion's Tiger attacked from the shadows, attempting to exploit the moment of distraction with tactics that had worked against lesser enemies. Five seconds later it no longer existed, darkness consumed by greater darkness until nothing remained but memory of what had been.

Sirius's serpent coiled around the Platinum spirit with all its strength. It was disintegrated before it could even begin to squeeze, its high Silver form dissolved by power that treated Gold-rank beasts as nuisances to be eliminated rather than threats to be respected.

All their beasts were eliminated within seconds and the spirit continued advancing toward them with inexorable momentum that suggested nothing would stop it short of their deaths.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.