Immortal Mythos Awakening-Chapter 65: Keys, Warnings, and Awakenings

The forge rumbled.

Faintly—like the echo of thunder from miles beneath the earth. The kingdom didn't quake, but every mythic being felt it in their bones.

Yuki's scythe shimmered as strange glyphs along the blade began to glow. Not red. Not blue. Something deeper. Ashir stepped forward, his face shadowed by the forge-light.

"It's begun," he whispered. "The lower sanctum is stirring."

Ren's eyes narrowed. "That pulse... it didn't come from here. That was him, wasn't it?"

Haru spun his glaive once, feeling the tension ripple across the air. "Nogitsune."

They all looked to Yuki.

Aiko stepped beside him, her aura shimmering faintly. "Yuki. Your bond with him... it just resonated. He's alive. Hurt—but he's still out there."

Yuki didn't speak. He just took a step forward.

Suddenly—Kairo placed a hand on his shoulder, unusually calm.

"Don't move yet."

Yuki looked back. Kairo's eyes weren't joking.

"Right now," he continued, "there's something stronger than panic keeping him from calling you. If he needs you, you'll know. But if you rush now—you'll just get in the way."

"...How do you know that?" Yuki asked.

Kairo cracked a grin. "Because it's what you would do if you were protecting someone like you."

Yuki chuckled lightly. "That made no sense."

"Exactly," Kairo said, walking off with his bowl of stew. "Now hurry up and find that sanctum door. I want to see if the Kingdom has vending machines."

Meanwhile... beyond time and dust...

Nogitsune's body floated in a dark pool of ancient memory—limbs cracked but repairing slowly. Seals flickered across his chest, still draining the aftershock of Velar's power. But his eyes...

His eyes opened.

His aura didn't blaze—it trembled, like the calm before lightning shatters the sky.

For the first time in days... he moved.

"...They're coming," he muttered, voice rough and cracked.

He raised his hand, palm glowing with unstable spiritual fire.

"Let them."

Back beneath the forge...

Ashir guided the group toward an enormous stone gate. Symbols only visible under the scythe's light crawled along its edges. The glyphs pulsed in sync with Yuki's heartbeat.

"You ready for this?" Aiko asked, hand gently brushing his arm.

Yuki nodded. "Let's see what's waiting under this kingdom."

Ren smirked, "Just don't fall behind. We've got your back."

Kai cracked his knuckles. "And I better find that mythical kitchen down there."

They all stepped forward—unaware that the moment they crossed the gate's threshold, they would awaken something sealed far longer than Velar. Something waiting beneath the kingdom's roots.

Beneath the Kingdom...

The great door groaned open, grinding against ancient stone with a sound like a thousand whispers escaping at once. Yuki led the way, his scythe glowing faintly with voidlight as if reacting to something... familiar.

The air was cooler here, more still. The walls were carved with spirals and angular sigils, and the deeper they walked, the more those symbols moved—not visibly, but as if their meaning rearranged itself in the mind.

"Yeah, no vending machines," Kai muttered, squinting into the dark. "This place is giving horror maze vibes. If a haunted soup pot jumps out, I'm not saving any of you."

Aiko chuckled quietly. "You're actually scared."

"Am not."

"You're sniffing the air like a worried raccoon," Himari pointed out.

Kai folded his arms. "I'm a wolf. Get it right."

Ren stepped ahead, his hand resting lightly on the hilt of Jinrai. The blade hummed once as if acknowledging the sanctum's presence.

"This place has layers," he muttered. "More than a dungeon. It's... alive."

Yuki suddenly paused.

There, standing before them, was a spiral staircase leading down—its entrance lit with blue-white fire that shouldn't have existed.

He tightened his grip on the scythe.

"This is where it starts," he whispered.

Above, in the Sky Garden...

Himari knelt in the open air, breeze rustling her hair. Her aura flickered gently, her senses cast far and wide.

She felt it—the same chill Yuki had. A tremor in the void. Not an attack. Not pain.

A ripple. Like something shifting in the dark, reaching toward a forgotten flame.

"...Nogitsune," she breathed.

Then her eyes widened. Not just him.

"Velar..."

Elsewhere, beyond the Sanctum...

Nogitsune stood again.

Every movement ached. Every breath felt heavier than the last. But he stood—back straight, eyes sharp, cloak dragging behind him like smoke.

Velar hovered a few feet away, staring at him through young eyes, a cruel smirk on his lips.

"You didn't destroy me," Velar said. "You just made me wait."

Nogitsune exhaled slowly. "You were never meant to be destroyed."

He raised his hand—and the seals of embalming burned to life. Velar's grin faded.

"You're sealing me again?"

"No," Nogitsune said.

"This time... I'm carving you into time itself."

Velar charged. Nogitsune met him halfway, their clash echoing like thunder trapped in stone.

Back in the Sanctum...

Yuki suddenly stumbled, pressing his hand against the wall. A vision—a flash—of Nogitsune's battle, brief but blazing, tore through his thoughts.

"Yuki?!" Aiko grabbed his shoulder.

"I saw him..." he gasped. "He's still fighting."

Kairo stepped forward. "Then we move faster."

Kai raised a brow. "What if whatever he's fighting is down here too?"

Ashir's voice echoed from ahead. "Then we forge weapons worthy of gods. Step lightly. The sanctum trials are just ahead."