"What happened?" Reize asked from behind him.
Damian himself had no idea what exactly had transpired. Leaving the oddity of the red knight aside, the reason for the sun temple to come for Reize so aggressively was also mysterious.
"The man just exploded," Damian replied.
The firestorm finally lost its power, leaving behind a few burning trees, a scorched giant crater, and hot, suffocating air. Damian opened a waygate back to Toph in his runic lab and then used dozens of water spells to douse the fire burning the trees.
Damian turned around to find the three staring at the water sources.
"What are you waiting for? Let’s go," he said, jolting them awake from their trance.
The two sisters exchanged glances. Reize nodded slightly. The girl stepped towards the blue portal alongside Reize; the boy was right behind them as well. Noticing him, Reize turned back,
"We are far away from here. To the Sanctuary. Are you sure you want to come? You won’t be able to come back here."
She didn’t want him to come. But the guy looked once towards the esper girl and nodded with determination. Damian did not miss the smile on the girl’s face or the sigh Reize let out afterwards.
Damian couldn’t help but smile.
They all entered the waygate. Damian was the last - he glanced at the sky one last time. There was no mana signature as far as he could sense. Could it be some weird dungeon relic?
Back in his runic lab, the first thing Damian noticed after entering the portal was Toph slamming himself into the arms of Reize. The force almost toppled Reize, but she managed to remain standing somehow.
Damian took them all to his office. Toph was still in Reize’s arms.
He asked for the details, and after everything he heard, there was still no explanation as to why the red knights were after her. Damian let the thing go for now.
"Agatha will show you the guest room," Damian said, looking at his assistant, "You can ask her if you need anything else. Take a bath, have some food, and rest for a while."
The three got up, but Damian gestured for Reize to remain in the room. Agatha took the other two to show their rooms.
"It’s been a month and more since you found your sister," Damian said.
He didn’t ask why she didn’t come back; it wasn’t his right to force people to stay in Sanctuary. If she wanted to stay in a quiet village like Sariel and Amy - he would respect he wishes.
"Yes," Reize replied, looking at him, and then her eyes lowered, her head slightly turning to look away. "My mother was a human, but I am not so sure about my father. Everyone now knows about my origins. You are the head of a whole country now. I didn’t want to make things difficult for you."
Now that.. was a lie. Damian could clearly see it, but he did not press it. If she wanted to tell him, he had already given her a chance to do so.
"Anyway, now that you are here. I have many projects you can help me with, if you wish to stay. I do wish that you would, we are even opening an academy - along with kids, there will also be night classes teaching adults how to read and write, and other subjects as well. Your sister would benefit from it if she attends. Rest for now and think about it before replying."
Damian said with a smile. Even criminals get a second chance, Reize, meanwhile, was the reason Lumi and Elias were still alive today. Her history with him did not diminish the importance of what she had done for the two kids. Read full story at novel⚑fire.net
Besides, her sister was innocent. She had done nothing to anyone. After living one third of her life in captivity, mistreated by men and demons equally. She was the one who needed a stable home the most. If Damian could not open the doors of Sanctuary for someone like her, all his fancy runic inventions for Sanctuary were useless.
"Thank you," Reize said, her eyes full of untold emotions.
"There is no need for thanks. You are a friend."
"Maybe you shouldn’t tell people about me," Reize said hesitatingly while getting up.
"If Sanctuary rejects people in need, I will reject the Sanctuary itself." Damian replied firmly, "I am also half-Demon. Even if you were a full Shadowborn, Sanctuary will always offer shelter to people in need. I don’t know what those fanatics want from you, but it will be better to stay here for a while. For both you and Yomi."
Damian walked with her till the door, giving the order to the guard to help Reize find Agatha. He recalled his other four assistants to his office. Their discussion was interrupted last time.
Damian resumed his work in the runic lab after the small meeting he had with his assistants regarding the dungeon opening event planning.
Last night, after some late-night action with Lucian, he had some unique ideas for the runic engine. Damian was excited to see if they would work as he imagined.
Together with Jacob, Damian created two cylinders. The material used was pure Sacrium. Removing the spell would take some effort, but it was possible; that’s why Damian could use it in experiments. Damian welded them with a simple Blazur alloy angular craft. The space inside could only fit one or at most two people.
The thought behind it was simple: Damian had placed a heat spell at the end of the Sancrium cylinder, and each burst of heat shoved the piston forward while a cooling spell pulled it back, creating a fast, repeating push-pull cycle. To control the engine, he added a series of gears that could change the piston’s speed, giving multiple levels of power—low gears for steady, precise motion, high gears for rapid, explosive force. A flywheel smoothed out the jerky strokes, spreading the energy evenly, while the spell trigger synced perfectly with the piston’s position, keeping everything stable and under his complete control.