Chapter 180: The Descent

The Ashcrofts followed the glowing geometric markings deeper into Mensus, leaving the flooded corridor behind them. The fighting had grown quieter, but the facility was far from stable. Tremors continued to travel through the walls, and every few seconds, the markings brightened as if responding to the enormous concentration of Mana beneath them.

Reinhard kept Emily close while watching the passage ahead. "Let’s hope the people who built this place remembered to include a staircase that doesn’t collapse."

"They were conducting experiments on a hundred people," Emily replied. "I wouldn’t put much faith in their construction standards."

"Fair point. If we find a room full of explosives, I’m letting Maki inspect it first."

Maki glanced at him. "Why me?"

"Because you’re the smartest person here when it comes to research equipment."

"And if it explodes?"

"Then we’ll know the equipment was poorly designed."

Maki stared at him for a moment before continuing down the passage. "Your reasoning is impossible to argue with because you refuse to take responsibility."

"That’s one of my many talents."

Their brief exchange ended when the passage opened into a laboratory. Unlike the damaged rooms above, this one had been built around a series of sealed chambers. Thick cables connected the chambers to a bank of instruments along the wall, while several screens continued displaying readings despite the damage to the facility.

Maki approached the nearest console, carefully examining the symbols and numbers on its display. "These instruments are measuring Mana, but that’s only part of their function."

She pointed toward a second set of readings. Each chamber had separate measurements for physical activity, Mana fluctuations, and several other variables that changed whenever the figures on the first display shifted.

"Look at this. The equipment is tracking changes in the subjects alongside their Mana levels. Fear, pain, and resentment appear to be among the recorded variables."

Emily moved closer. The moment she recognized the arrangement of the instruments, her expression changed.

"I’ve seen something similar before."

Reinhard turned toward her. "During your investigation?"

She nodded. "The experiments involving the hundred people. The researchers weren’t simply observing their Mana or testing how much energy they could produce. They were recording the subjects’ emotional states and comparing them with the changes in the surrounding energy."

Maki examined the display again. "That would explain why the measurements are separated. They wanted to determine which changes occurred together, rather than treating every fluctuation as the same phenomenon."

"And if they found a connection?" Lily asked.

"They could try to reproduce it," Emily replied.

The answer left the group quiet for a moment. Emily had known that the experiments were connected to the Black Moon, but seeing the same approach preserved in Mensus made the connection more difficult to dismiss. Someone had devoted considerable resources to studying the relationship between human suffering and Mana.

Reinhard looked toward the sealed chambers. "Can you recover anything useful?"

Maki began copying the available records into her device. "Some of it. The system is damaged, but the measurements are still accessible. I should be able to recover the research categories and a portion of the recorded results."

"Take what you can quickly. We’re not staying here long enough to read their entire research history."

"I know."

A violent tremor shook the laboratory. One of the overhead supports cracked, and dust fell across the consoles. Maki quickly transferred the remaining files before the screen went dark.

"Done," she said, stepping away from the equipment. "I have enough to compare this research with Emily’s findings."

"Excellent. We can conduct the rest of our investigation somewhere that isn’t trying to bury us."

The family left the laboratory as another tremor shook the corridor. Behind them, one of the sealed chambers split along its outer casing, exposing a tangle of damaged cables.

Emily glanced back but did not stop. She had spent years trying to understand the incident that had changed her life.

Now she had evidence that the same kind of research had been conducted elsewhere, and she wanted answers more than ever. But whatever had happened here was still active, and Marvello was suffering because of it.

They needed to reach the source before they could afford to investigate the past properly.

The geometric markings guided them through another passage and into a smaller archive. Most of the storage cabinets had been overturned, and several data terminals were buried beneath fallen debris.

A damaged display near the entrance remained active, showing a list of records that had been accessed repeatedly before the system failed.

Maki stopped when she noticed two names among the surviving entries.

"The Black Sovereign Kingdom. The Everlasting Light Kingdom."

Emily looked over her shoulder. "Those records are here?"

"Apparently. There are several references to both kingdoms, although the files are incomplete."

Reinhard examined the surrounding cabinets. "Were they involved in the modern experiments?"

"I can’t establish that from these records alone," Maki replied. "But some of the surviving entries describe investigations into phenomena associated with unusual Mana fluctuations. The terminology isn’t identical to what we found in the laboratory, but the methods have similarities."

She brought up two damaged diagrams.

One showed an arrangement of instruments around a central point, while the other contained measurements that appeared to compare Mana fluctuations with changes in the surrounding environment.

Maki studied them side by side. "The equipment is different, but the purpose may have been similar. They were trying to observe a phenomenon and identify the conditions under which it appeared."

Emily looked at the old records, then at the diagrams from the modern laboratory.

"How far back does this go?"

"I don’t know," Maki answered. "The dates are missing from most of the surviving entries. I can’t even confirm whether these investigations were conducted during the same period."

The uncertainty bothered Emily more than a simple lack of information.

The Black Sovereign Kingdom and the Everlasting Light Kingdom belonged to a much older part of history, yet their names had appeared in records connected to the same kind of research she had investigated years ago.

Her own experience might not have been an isolated incident. Whatever she had encountered could have been studied long before she ever came into contact with it.

"Could these kingdoms have encountered the Black Moon?" Emily asked.

"It’s possible," Maki said, "but we don’t have enough evidence to prove that. The records establish a connection to similar research, not what the researchers ultimately discovered."

Reinhard stepped beside Emily and looked at the damaged display. "Then we keep the records and find out the rest later. Right now, whatever they were studying is still affecting this city."

Emily nodded. She didn’t like leaving questions unanswered, especially questions connected to her past, but she understood his point. The family had already seen what the phenomenon could do. They couldn’t afford to lose the present while trying to reconstruct the past.

Maki saved the remaining files she could access, then joined the others. They continued deeper into Mensus, following the markings as the concentration of Mana grew stronger.

The passage eventually ended at a massive sealed door. Its surface was made from a dark metal that showed no obvious signs of damage, despite the tremors shaking the surrounding structure. Geometric markings covered its frame, converging around a line of engraved text.

MENSUS — BLACK MOON CORE

Reinhard stopped in front of it.

"Well," he said, "at least they labeled the important room."

Maki stepped closer to examine the markings. "This isn’t an ordinary security door. The symbols appear to be part of the Mana network itself."

"Can you open it?"

"Probably, but I’d rather understand what I’m touching before I start interfering with an unknown system."

"Take your time."

Maki gave him a flat look as another tremor shook the floor.

"Within reason," he added.

She began examining the markings while Reinhard focused on the Mana beyond the door. The concentration was enormous.

It did not resemble the presence of a powerful Awakener, nor did it feel like the energy released by a particularly strong relic.

The Mana seemed to occupy the entire space beyond the barrier, pressing against his senses with a weight that grew stronger the longer he concentrated on it.

Whatever waited inside, it was unlike anything they had encountered on the way down.

Emily stood beside him, staring at the sealed entrance. She could feel it too.

"This is familiar," she said quietly.

Reinhard turned toward her. "From your first contact with the Black Moon?"

"Yes. Not exactly the same, but close enough that I can’t mistake it." Emily pressed a hand against her chest as the sensation grew stronger. "Back then, everything seemed to stop for a moment. I couldn’t understand what I was experiencing, but I felt as though something was on the other side of the phenomenon."

She looked at the door.

"I feel that same presence now."

Reinhard tightened his grip on her hand. "Then we’ll find out what it is. Together."

Maki finally stepped away from the markings. "I’ve found the mechanism. I can’t tell what the door was designed to contain, but I can open it without disrupting the surrounding Mana network."

"Go ahead," Reinhard said.

Maki activated the mechanism.

The geometric markings spread across the door, glowing brighter as a deep rumble echoed through the passage. The massive barrier slowly began to separate from its frame, releasing a wave of Mana that swept across the family.

Beyond it lay a vast chamber, so large that the far walls disappeared into darkness.

At its center floated an enormous black sphere.

Countless strands of Mana extended from the sphere, spreading across the chamber and disappearing into the walls. Some stretched upward through openings in the distant ceiling, reaching toward the sky above Mensus. Others descended into the depths beneath the platform, forming a network that seemed to connect the entire facility to the sphere.

The Ashcrofts stood at the entrance, staring at the sight before them.