The Forbidden Void: Rise of the Untouchable Son-in-Law

Chapter 3

In a high tower far above Jaxen’s cell, a room bathed in flickering emerald light hummed with forbidden machinery. Master Vor, the Valerius family’s High Inquisitor, leaned over a scrying basin. The water’s surface showed a grainy, heat-mapped image of Jaxen sitting in his cell.

"Impossible," Vor whispered, his fingers twitching. "The boy should be a puddle of melted organs after a session with the Lady Seraphina."

Vor was a Level 60 Seer. His job was to ensure no "trash" brought into the Spire carried hidden daggers or seditious thoughts. For two hours, he had watched Jaxen. He had seen the way the "waste-mana" entered the boy's body. It didn't burn him; it settled into him like water into a sponge.

"There is a ripple in his soul," Vor muttered, casting a deep-scan spell. "A void where a core should be. But voids don't grow. Voids don't... breathe."

Suddenly, on the surface of the water, the heat-mapped version of Jaxen turned his head. He looked directly into the "camera" of the scrying spell.

Jaxen smiled—a cold, knowing curve of the lips—and raised a hand. He pinched his thumb and forefinger together, as if extinguishing a candle.

The scrying basin exploded in a spray of boiling water. Master Vor screamed, clutching his eyes as a backlash of cold energy surged through the magical link.

---

Down in the sub-basement, Jaxen lowered his hand.

[Skill Activated: Void Backlash (Rank E).] [Enemy Scry Interrupted. Mana Siphoned from Link: +1% Void Storage.]

"Too easy," Jaxen murmured.

He didn't wait for the guards. According to the contract he had signed, he had "Library Access." It was time to use it. He walked to the door and tapped a specific sequence on the iron surface. The internal lock, powered by a simple mana-circuit, dissolved under his touch.

He navigated the Spire’s servant corridors with the precision of a ghost. Every guard he passed felt a sudden "chill," but by the time they turned around, Jaxen was gone.

The Great Archive of Valerius was a cathedral of knowledge, filled with floating scrolls and books bound in dragon-hide. Jaxen didn't go for the history books or the spell tomes. He went to the "Restricted Engineering" section.

"Looking for a way to escape?"

Jaxen didn't turn around. He knew that scent—expensive lilies and ozone. Seraphina.

She was standing in the shadows of a massive bookshelf, her Golden Eye glowing faintly. She had changed into a simple training robe, yet she still looked like a queen among peasants.

"I’m looking for the schematics of the Southern Stabilizers," Jaxen said, pulling a heavy scroll from a shelf. "As I told you, they’re failing."

"You’re a Null from the Sinks," Seraphina stepped closer, her voice tight. "You shouldn't be able to read a basic circuit, let alone detect a structural failure in a Class-A Spire. Who are you, Jaxen? And don't give me that 'top of the class' lie. No one is this good without a core."

Jaxen finally turned. He was inches from her. He could see the confusion and the buried fear in her eyes. "Why does it matter? I'm your 'battery.' Just use me until I break, right?"

"My Inquisitor is currently in the infirmary with burnt retinas," she hissed, pinning him against the bookshelf. "He was watching you. He says you’re a monster."

Jaxen leaned in, his face inches from hers. There was no romance in his eyes, only a terrifying, predatory stillness. "Your Inquisitor should learn not to peek through keyholes. As for what I am... stay curious, Seraphina. It’s the only thing making you interesting."

He shoved past her, but she grabbed his arm. Her touch sparked a violent reaction. The contract on their souls flared with golden light, trying to equalize their energy.

[Warning: Uncontrolled Mana Transfer!] [Siphoning Seraphina Valerius... +3%... +5%...]

Seraphina gasped, her knees buckling. She felt as if her very soul was being pulled through her skin. Jaxen realized the contract was forcing a "bond" because of their proximity. He violently jerked his arm away, breaking the connection.

"Stay away from me," he warned, his voice deep and distorted. "Unless you want to be empty before the hundred days are up."

He walked away, leaving the most powerful woman in the city trembling on the floor of her own library.

---

Jaxen reached the back of the Archive, where the most ancient scrolls were kept. He used his Void Vision. The world turned grey, and the mana-veins appeared. He ignored the gold lines of the Valerius family. Instead, he looked for the black lines—the ones the history books had erased.

He found it. A hidden lever disguised as a decorative gargoyle.

As he pulled it, the floor beneath the bookshelf hissed and slid open, revealing a spiral staircase that smelled of copper and old blood.

[System Notification: High-Tier Forbidden Zone Detected.] [Objective Located: The Blood-Core Chamber.]

Jaxen descended. The deeper he went, the louder the "thump-thump" of the city’s heart became. But as he reached the final step, he froze.

Standing in front of the massive, pulsating Red Core was not a guard. It was his father, Silas.

But Silas wasn't begging or crying. He was standing tall, his hands glowing with a forbidden, violet light that matched Jaxen’s own. He was feeding the Core with his own life-force.

"Father?" Jaxen whispered.

Silas turned. His face was pale, his eyes leaking black smoke. He looked at Jaxen not with love, but with a terrifying, ancient hunger.

"You're late, Jaxen," Silas said, his voice sounding like a thousand souls screaming at once. "The 100 days have already begun, and the Core is hungry."

Jaxen stepped back, his System screaming a warning he had never seen before.

[CRITICAL WARNING: PROXIMITY TO ORIGINAL VOID HOST DETECTED.] [TARGET IDENTITY: THE FORGOTTEN KING.]