Chapter 115
When Skadi opened the heavy doors, her breath caught at the sight of Mr. Cox—one of the Martial Arts Association’s grandmasters—lying lifeless on the threshold.
“Mr. Cox…” Skadi whispered, tears slipping down her cheeks. She could not linger over her grief. “Colonel! Please come inside!” she cried.
Stellar shook his head, voice firm. “No—I must guard the perimeter.”
Henderson tugged at Stellar’s arm. “Colonel, we are no match for them. Please, retreat to safety.”
“I made a promise to Nash,” Stellar replied fiercely. “Unless I die, no one breaches this room.”
With a swift motion born of her fourth-division inner energy, Skadi struck Stellar’s neck with the side of her palm. He went limp and Henderson and Joseph hauled him back inside.
Grant dashed in after them to secure his phone. He issued orders to the family’s network: no one was to enter or leave the estate without explicit permission.
Skadi pressed her forehead against the door, anxiety prickling her skin. Out in the courtyard, forty to fifty figures clashed in the rain. Her heart pounded as she realized she had not seen her grandfather. She slammed the doors just as a masked assailant sprinted toward her.
A combat knife whistled through the air and pierced the sandalwood, aiming straight for Skadi’s throat. She recoiled, the blade grazing her nose by millimeters.
Inside, Nash finished his final sketch. With a cold precision, he flung his brush through the shattered door. It embedded itself in the attacker’s throat, and the man collapsed in a crimson pool at the threshold.
Nash turned to Brian. “Place one parchment in each offering bowl.”
Brian hesitated. “Should we burn them?”
“No,” Nash replied. “Make sure they sink fully in the oil.”
As Brian dutifully immersed each talisman, Nash produced strings of copper coins from his tote. The longer cords bore four coins and measured just over four feet; the shorter held two coins on a two-foot strand. He draped them around every bowl, then wove the red strings into a perfect circle at their base.
He uncorked a flask of wine, took a measured sip, and sprayed its contents onto the copper-blade sword that glowed like molten iron.
“Oh, boundless heaven and earth, lend me your powers!
Heavenly spirit seal spell—reverse the world of the living and the dead!”