Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons

Chapter 744 - Taming the Fifth Year - Stars of the Past - 10

Sirius inserted the Platinum core into the central indentation with hands that trembled slightly from exhaustion and anticipation. It fit perfectly, ancient engineering tolerances maintained despite centuries of disuse, and began glowing with light that pulsed in a constant rhythm like a heartbeat.

Thirteen pedestals emerged from the floor with the sound of old stone grinding against ancient stone, mechanisms engaging that hadnʼt moved since its builders had sealed this place. Two lateral pedestals rose empty. Ten frontal pedestals contained potions filled with liquid that glowed with an internal luminescence.

Double potions like the one Sirius had taken. Each bottle represented power, advancement, the kind of resources nobles would fight commercial wars to obtain.

On the elevated central pedestal rested an egg black as the void between stars, pulsing with latent life that hadnʼt yet been born. Power contained in this potential form, looking exactly as any black random egg but Sirius somehow knew it had the promise of a beast that would eclipse anything currently living if it ever hatched.

But the door didnʼt open despite the core being inserted correctly. It remained sealed, ancient mechanisms waiting for something more before revealing their final secrets.

Sirius examined the other two lateral indentations with growing dread as understanding dawned. Empty and waiting. Expecting two more cores he didnʼt have, probably couldnʼt obtain without accessing other ruins that might be equally dangerous or impossible to reach.

ʼI need two more. Probably from different ruins...ʼ

The realization hit like a physical blow, hope transforming into despair as he understood what this meant. All the fighting, all the death, all the wear on Lykeaʼs crystallized heart... and he still couldnʼt reach whatever lay beyond this final door…

Not now.

He knelt on the cold stone, feeling defeatʼs weight crushing him with a force more devastating than any spiritʼs attack. Physical exhaustion was nothing compared to the emotional devastation of coming this far only to fail at what seemed to be the final barrier.

Around him the chamber waited in silence, ancient secrets protected by requirements he couldnʼt meet, offering treasures he couldnʼt claim no matter how desperately he needed them.

And somewhere above, Orion was unconscious, unaware that his brother had left him behind to pursue a hope that turned out to be an illusion.

The pedestals with their potions and egg mocked him with their accessibility, like consolation prizes when what he needed was behind the door that wouldnʼt open. Power offered freely, but useless while salvation remained locked away.

Sirius pressed his forehead against the sealed door, one hand clutching Lykeaʼs crystallized heart while the other touched the stone that wouldnʼt yield.

”Iʼm sorry,” he whispered to the crystal, to his wifeʼs essence trapped inside, to the daughter waiting above who would never understand why her father couldnʼt save her mother. ”Iʼm so sorry… I tried.”

But trying wasnʼt enough when ancient builders had designed security that couldnʼt be bypassed through determination alone.

The door remained closed.

And Sirius remained broken, kneeling before a barrier he couldnʼt cross with grief he couldnʼt process and a future he couldnʼt imagine without the woman heʼd lost…

But then his eyes landed on the two empty lateral pedestals, details finally registering through exhaustion and grief. They had a specific shape carved into their surfaces, contours he recognized immediately with a shock that cut through his despair.

The crystallized hearts fit those depressions perfectly.

With hands that trembled slightly from exhaustion and something deeper, Sirius lifted Lykeaʼs white heart and placed it with reverent care on the left pedestal. It fit perfectly as if it had been made specifically for this purpose. The light barrier activated immediately, extending to cover a bit more than the chamberʼs left half with its radiant protection that felt warm against his skin.

Terrified by the possibility that the energy would be spent even more by this activation, that using the heart this way would add more wear lines to a crystal already marked by previous combat, he removed the artifact quickly from its place.

Sirius examined the heart with obsessive attention, counting wear lines heʼd memorized, searching for new damage with desperate focus.

But there were no new lines of wear visible on the crystalʼs surface.

The barrierʼs activation from the pedestal hadnʼt cost anything, as if it was destined to be there. As if this was where the heart belonged, where it could function without consuming itself. Protection without price, power without sacrifice for the first time since theyʼd discovered what the crystallized hearts could do.

Maybe a clue…

So he ran back to the ninth chamber where Orion stayed unconscious, his body sprawled where the explosion had thrown him. Sirius verified quickly that his brother was stable before searching the surroundings with cold efficiency until finding the black heart near Orionʼs right hand, dropped when consciousness had fled him.

He took it without hesitation or guilt and returned to the tenth chamber at record speed, feet pounding against the ancient stone with urgency born from a hope he barely dared acknowledge.

The black heart was placed on the right pedestal with almost the same care heʼd given Lykeaʼs crystal. They were good friends in life.

The darkness barrier activated, covering the chamberʼs right half with a protection that felt different from light but equally absolute. Two barriers protecting each other mutually but only in a section in the center.

But nothing else happened beyond the barriersʼ manifestation. The door remained as closed as before, ancient mechanism unmoved by hearts being placed in their designated positions.

Sirius couldnʼt cross the black barrier despite trying, but the white one yielded to him like recognizing its master or family connection. The black egg that rested in the middle seemed within reach being right between two barriers, like a neutral zone of combined color where both protections met but neither dominated.

He looked at everything heʼd won through suffering, everything that still felt like inadequate payment. Potions worth fortunes sitting on their pedestals like consolation prizes. The black egg throbbing with unknown potential, promise of power that still couldnʼt compensate for what had been lost. At least the hearts of his wife and sister-in-law were finally in a place where they could protect themselves without being consumed by use.

Sirius then took the black egg to examine it closely, and unexpectedly the pedestal sank into the floor to disappear without leaving a trace inside a hole that closed perfectly behind it, exactly like the statues had descended in the chamber above.

The egg... Orion hadnʼt seen it yet, nor its pedestal disappearing into the floor that sealed seamlessly.

For all intents and purposes it might not exist in his brotherʼs knowledge, a treasure that only Sirius knew about.