After Damien had finally settled down, the house returning to a quiet stillness after all the commotion, he sat alone in the living room. The faint sound of footsteps from upstairs faded Uncle Bernard, Jessica, and Deborah had gone to the rooms he had offered them.For a long moment, Damien just sat there, leaning back on the couch, his elbows resting on his knees, eyes lowered to his hand.In his palm lay the ring, The same hooded-looking ring he had taken from old master Ramos earlier that day.He turned it slowly between his fingers, the dull gleam catching faint reflections from the warm lights overhead. From the outside, it looked ordinary, simple, even plain. But Damien could feel it; there was something else. A strange pulse, almost like a heartbeat, faint and buried deep within the metal.At that moment his thoughts drifted briefly to Uncle Bernard and his family upstairs. He wasn’t naive he knew why they had come running to him. Their sudden flight from their home, the fear w

At that moment, The Brain did not stop. His tone grew firmer, carrying a quiet urgency that only someone who had seen too much could hold.“Master Damien,” he said, voice low but deliberate, “this is something you must look into carefully. The presence of the Shadow Knight… it’s no coincidence. Something is stirring beneath the surface, and the Royal Family is at the center of it.”Then he paused briefly, as if choosing his words with precision. “This isn’t just another meeting. It’s bait. It’s a test. They want to see you… and more importantly, they want to see what you’ll do.”The Brain’s voice tightened further. “If I may speak freely, Master, if you truly intend to appear at this meeting… don’t show your face. Not now. Not when their intentions are unclear. Let them wonder. Keep them guessing. That’s the only advantage we still hold.”Upon hearing what the Brain was saying, Damien leaned back in his chair, eyes fixed on the faint glow of the hooded ring resting beside him. He list

At that moment, hearing what Damien had just said, The Brain finally understood there was no changing the outcome. He had seen Damien angry before, seen him cautious, even calculating. But this wasn’t any of those moods, this was resolve. Unshakable decision Nothing he said, no amount of logic or warnings, would ever make Damien retreat from the path he had already chosen.For a brief moment, The Brain opened his mouth to speak again, to offer one last cautionary word. But the words died before they even left his lips. Silence hung heavy on the line as the realization settled in: there was no stopping what was coming.Finally, with a tone weighed down by acceptance, he said, “Okay, Master. No problem. I will do as you say. The meeting is going to continue. The meeting is going to take place. No postponement, just like you requested.”At that moment There was the faintest pause on Damien’s end, no hesitation, no second thoughts just a simple reply, it was calm and final.“Good.”The li

At that moment, seeing that the ring didn’t work, Damien’s anger exploded silently inside him.Immediately his fist clenched so tightly that his knuckles trembled and turned white, the tendons in his hand straining against his skin. His jaw locked, the muscles in his face twitching as his teeth ground together.He couldn’t believe it, years generations, his family had guarded this ring, sacrificing everything to protect it. It had been passed down as their most sacred treasure, a burden as much as it was a legacy, keeping it for it true master, they had died for it. His parents had died for it.And now, standing here, wearing it himself, Damien felt nothing. No surge of power. No whisper of destiny. No ancient force awakening to claim him.Just… nothing, the weight of that realization burned hotter than any fire inside him.“So this is what they died for?”His chest tightened, a hollow ache deepening into fury. Without being told, he knew, knew deep in his gut that this worthless thin

Hearing what Damien had just said, Uncle Bernard didn’t move away from the door like the others seemed ready to. Instead, he kept his hand firmly pressed against the wood, his brows furrowed in quiet suspicion. Deep down, he knew Damien’s words didn’t match his tone. There was something there something buried beneath the calm reply Damien had given.He’s hiding something, Bernard thought to himself. I know that boy’s voice. Something’s wrong in there.Even as the thought settled in his chest, Deborah stood beside him, her hands tightly clasped together in prayer. Her lips moved without pause, a whisper barely audible over the faint creak of the house settling after the earlier tremors.“Please, God… let nothing happen to him,” she muttered, her eyes shut tightly. “He’s the only one left who can protect us. If he falls, we have nothing. We have no one.”She didn’t say it aloud, but the fear clawing at her chest was simple: without Damien, their survival in this spiraling chaos was impo