LIGHTNOVELONLINE 156 – The Mystery of the Flame’s Collapse Hexkey
After a few seconds of focus and unsettling undulations going down the cable, he disconnected himself and popped the memslates out, handing one over: "The appraisal readings. I would strongly suggest that you report the case to the Grafting Church - besides being properly rewarded for resolving it, you would be able to easily levy support, such as access to restricted information relevant to the case."
"Yeah, I know, I know..." Krahe snapped offhandedly as she popped the memslate into her eyebox. Logically, she knew she would likely only benefit from reporting the case, but she didn't want to. The same part of her that fundamentally distrusted large organizations also made her overthink the consequences of involving the church. Would the church ride her ass for killing Sorayah? What would they confiscate besides just the human charcoal? Krahe figured she could keep the house untouched for some time under the guise of investigating the scene, but that wouldn't last forever. Her eyebox took a moment to project the appraisal readout. It was garbled and barely legible, an issue fixed by replacing the DD battery.
While she looked over the record, she got started on placing the voidkey into storage, not wanting to have it sitting out and about where it could be seen or Zavesh-forbid scried for. As far as she was concerned, it was safer inside her Kenoma Sack, shrouded by the Deathsmoke Blessing.
The characteristics of Sorayah's voidkey explained why she didn't wield thaumaturgy in self-defense: It wasn't for thaumaturgy. The "Flame's Collapse Hexkey" was a cursed relic that, upon implantation, would grant the user the "Collapsing Flame" Boon. This boon would make it easier for the user to carry out Thaumic Fusion while severely worsening their ability to burn thauma normally. The curse part came into play in two ways:
Firstly, the boon wouldn't go away even if the key was removed, but it would degenerate into "Collapsed Flame", a version without the positive effect, until the key was reimplanted.
Secondly, it contained a unique theurgic pattern. By applying this pattern, the user could brand others with a cursed mark that would confer a version of the Collapsing Flame boon, tying it back to the curse-layer, so at any point the user could pull out the key to cripple everyone they had cursed in exchange for also crippling themselves. The Hexbrand Curse made the victim constantly aware of these facts, but it also concealed another: That it artificially induced the beginning stages of adustocorpus, starting from the spot where the curse mark was branded onto the victim. The key specified that the curse mark would vanish and remain invisible unless in the near vicinity of the curse-layer, and that removing the flesh it was on would just cause it to move.
Moreover, it granted a second boon, this one exclusive to the user: “Pyremaster." This boon would enable the user to easily carry out the rites that would initiate and accelerate a victim's adustocorpus, as well as the rites to finish the full transmutation into human charcoal.
It had the usual features as a normal voidkey, sure, but despite being classed as Fourth-order it was barely better than Shiva's Warding Chain in attribute reinforcement. As a Ward and Barrier catalyst, it was basic, with only low-level hardening. Its best feature was how it affected the user's powers as a theurge, granting three additional Lesser Eidolon Vaults and strengthening all theurgies. This was obviously intended to make its features usable even for someone without their own natural eidolon vaults.
Despite everything, despite the Hexkey’s foreboding nature and the implications of its creation, the most alarming was the last line in the [Details] section:
"This voidkey’s characteristics will evolve when Anthrocite Transmutation reaches 100%.”
The [Anthrocite Transmutation] gauge was right below, sitting at 63.71%.
“An evolving voidkey, huh?”
“I have never heard of such a thing, but I can see how it would explain its classification - it must be in relation to its potential. I would guess that key’s fulfilled potential would likely be on the higher end of Fourth-order, else I cannot see how it would be worthwhile. The question is-”
Krahe interrupted him: “-how does the transmutation progress? My first guess would be feeding it human charcoal, perhaps through a ritual or a specialized tool. I did not find any such thing in Sorayah’s home, but she may have had it in personal storage… Speaking of, what happens to the contents-”
This time, Casus interrupted: “-of someone’s Kenoma storage after death? It drifts away, just like their True Soul. Sometimes the items return naturally, and sometimes the Wheel catches them, outfitting its Banishers with them or using them as rewards. They might get caught by an Archon Flash and return as archonforged versions of themselves. Your bracelet was likely one of those. There are rites for detecting and summoning a Kenoma storage stash, but it must be very soon after someone’s death. The church-”
For the third and final time, Krahe interrupted: “-can help me with it, I get it, you want me to report the case. Fine. I needed to look something up in the Temple of Records anyway.”
With that, she took the Hexkey and left. Why did she feel so irritated? She genuinely couldn't tell.
She had also not told him the whole truth; before heading to the Temple of Records, she went to her second home on Gashward Road 94. At this point, she had managed to outfit it with some ultra-basic furniture on top of the exercise equipment, but it wasn’t much. Frankly, if it was an option, she would be willing to take Sorayah’s home for herself. That was assuming someone else didn’t lay a claim to the property, but even then, Krahe was sure she could take most of the furniture as “evidence” to furnish Gashward Road 94.
After secreting herself away in the basement gym, she brought out the locked book to inspect it in detail. Immediately, she noticed a detail: The twitching hand clasped an additional piece of anthracite-like stone, worked into the shape of a narrow rectangle.
