The entrance was hidden well.
A false stone panel beneath a worn archway.
A hollow resonance beneath the ground that no ordinary person would notice.
But Constantine was not ordinary.
He stood still for a moment, listening.
Counting.
Breaths.
Footsteps.
Positions.
There were seven people below.
One older.
The rest younger.
Scholars.
No guards.
No defensive formations.
Confident.
Or foolish.
Constantine stepped forward and pressed lightly against the stone.
A mechanism clicked.
The panel shifted just enough for a person to slip through.
He entered without hesitation.
The air below was colder.
Damp.
Heavy with the scent of dust and old parchment.
Voices echoed faintly through the corridor ahead.
Constantine moved silently.
His footsteps made no sound against the stone floor.
As he approached the chamber, the voices became clearer.
"…we cannot delay any longer."
"The Eldoria incident proves it—"
"We do not even understand what was summoned!"
Constantine stopped just outside the chamber.
Then—
He moved.
A blur of motion.
A hand shot forward.
One of the scholars barely had time to react before Constantine seized him.
The man's mouth opened to scream—
But Constantine's grip tightened around his throat.
Cutting off sound.
The room froze.
Chairs scraped.
Someone knocked over a table.
"W-Who—?!"
Constantine dragged the captured scholar backward into the shadows near the corridor entrance.
His other hand pressed firmly over the man's mouth.
The remaining scholars hesitated.
Fear spread through the room.
But none of them advanced.
None of them attacked.
They were not fighters.
Constantine spoke calmly.
"If you follow, he dies."
Silence.
No one moved.
Good.
Constantine pulled the struggling man deeper into the corridor.
Far enough that their voices would not carry clearly into the chamber.
Then he released the man's mouth slightly.
"Make a sound," Constantine said quietly, "and your throat will collapse before it reaches your lungs."
The man froze.
His breathing turned shallow.
Controlled.
Terrified.
"…understood."
Constantine loosened his grip just enough for him to speak.
"What is your name?"
The man swallowed.
"…R-Relian."
Constantine nodded slightly.
"Relian."
His tone remained even.
"You will teach me rune magic."
Relian blinked.
Then—
To Constantine's surprise—
He laughed.
A short, disbelieving sound.
"…you people are all the same."
Constantine's grip tightened slightly.
Relian winced.
"You threaten me for something you don't even understand."
Constantine said nothing.
Relian continued, his voice trembling but carrying a strange edge of bitterness.
"Do you know what the king calls us?"
"Traitors."
"Criminals."
"Threats to national security."
He let out a quiet, bitter scoff.
"They execute entire families over this."
Constantine spoke calmly.
"Answer the question."
Relian turned his head slightly toward him.
"I will."
A pause.
"…but not the way you expect."
Constantine remained silent.
Relian took a slow breath.
"Rune magic…"
"…cannot be taught."
Constantine's expression did not change.
But his grip stilled.
Relian continued.
"It is not a human craft."
"It never was."
His voice grew steadier now.
Almost academic.
"It belongs to them."
"The beings of the Netherworld."
"Demons."
"Nobility like Veyrath."
Constantine listened carefully.
"A human cannot create rune magic."
"Cannot pass it on."
"Cannot even fully understand it."
Relian let out a dry laugh.
"And yet the kingdom burns people alive for practicing it."
"Fools."
Constantine spoke.
"Explain."
Relian nodded slightly.
"This is where the paradox lies."
He paused deliberately.
"As I said… rune magic cannot be taught by humans."
"It must be inherited."
"Given."
"Passed down by something inhuman."
Constantine processed the statement instantly.
"From a Netherworld entity."
"Exactly."
Relian's voice lowered.
"But here is the problem."
"To receive rune magic…"
"…you must first encounter such an entity."
A pause.
"And how do humans summon those entities?"
Silence.
Then Relian answered his own question.
"With rune magic."
The corridor fell completely still.
Constantine did not move.
Relian smiled faintly despite the fear in his eyes.
"A perfect paradox."
"You need rune magic to summon them…"
"…but you need them to gain rune magic."
Constantine's mind processed the loop instantly.
Closed system.
Self-contained.
Impossible entry point.
Unless—
"There is one exception," Relian said quietly.
Constantine spoke.
"State it."
Relian's voice dropped further.
"Someone who has already received rune magic from a summoned entity…"
"…can pass fragments of that knowledge forward."
Constantine understood immediately.
"A second-generation bearer."
Relian nodded.
"Yes."
"But they are rare."
"Extremely rare."
"Most die."
"Or are executed before they can pass anything on."
He swallowed.
"…which means there is only one real way for someone like you."
Constantine waited.
Relian finished.
"Find someone who has already been touched by the Netherworld."
"Someone who learned directly from them."
"Someone who survived it."
Silence settled between them.
Constantine slowly released some pressure from Relian's throat.
Not letting him go.
But no longer threatening immediate death.
The information was clear.
He could not force rune magic out of these scholars.
They did not possess it.
Not truly.
They were researchers.
Observers.
Not practitioners.
Constantine spoke quietly.
"Do you know such a person?"
Relian hesitated.
Then—
"…no."
A pause.
"…but I know where you might start looking."
Constantine's grip tightened slightly again.
"Speak."
Relian exhaled slowly.
"There are records."
"Old ones."
"Hidden even from most scholars."
"Accounts of people who survived contact with Nether entities."
He swallowed.
"…if anyone still carries rune magic…"
"…their traces would be there."
Constantine processed the statement.
Records.
Survivors.
Fragments of forbidden inheritance.
A path.
Not direct.
But viable.
Constantine released Relian completely.
The scholar stumbled slightly, gasping for air.
He didn't run.
Didn't scream.
He simply stood there, shaken.
Constantine turned away.
"You will forget this interaction."
Relian let out a weak laugh.
"…I don't think I can."
Constantine paused.
Then spoke one last time.
"Then ensure you survive long enough for it to matter."
And with that—
He disappeared into the shadows of the corridor.
Leaving behind a man who had just explained why the power Constantine sought…
Was never meant for humans to possess.