The Binding Vow of Lazarus

Chapter 91

Satoru cast a glance toward Nanami, then gave a slight shake of his head. “The portal’s still here, but it’s beneath us. I can feel it.” His gaze shifted forward, eyes narrowing, the glow of the Six Eyes sharpening. “I don’t know why, but… she’s still moving.”

“Is it still just Tamamo, or…?” Suguru asked quietly, already beginning to sweep the room with purpose, searching the floor for stairs, a hatch— anything. Boe and Rin picked up on it instantly, splitting off to search the edges of the temple as well.

Satoru didn’t take his eyes off the floor for long. “Hard to say,” he muttered, squinting downward, trying to pinpoint what exactly was stirring. His posture never wavered — he kept himself stationed between the others and the barricaded doors, just in case the chanting outside stopped and the sorcerers decided to come in.

“Found it,” Rin called out, brushing aside a tangle of broken wood and a woven rug to reveal a hatch embedded in the floor.

Boe hurried to her side, crouching to help lift the heavy wooden cover. It creaked open slowly, revealing a narrow set of stairs descending into shadow.

“I’ll go with them,” Nanami said, already stepping forward. He gave Suguru and Satoru a quick nod, which they returned without hesitation.

As Rin, Boe, and Nanami disappeared down the staircase, the hatch closing quietly behind them, Suguru and Satoru remained near the altar keeping their voices low as they slipped into strategy.

“We’ll need to distract them somehow,” Suguru murmured, eyeing the sealed doors.

“Without blowing our cover, yeah,” Satoru added, already calculating ten different worst-case scenarios.

"Perhaps we can distract them with one of my curses?" Suguru suggested, "Although I imagine that you've already sensed the issue outside?"

Satoru chuckled and grinned at Suguru. "Well, yeah, if that's a six-eyes out there too like I think it is we're already outed."

"I was thinking the same," Suguru sighed, "If they think they captured her here then it makes sense that they'd bring in the Gojo clan."

"Actually," Satoru said, tilting his head with a smug sort of grin, "This dude probably isn't a Gojo clan member since Sugawara is still alive! So they must have married in or something or he's got a secret love child."

"Oh? I suppose you would know," Suguru said with a shrug.

"I looked up the whole family lineage when Rin was trying to convince me to dye my hair," Satoru said with a smirk.

"Right," Suguru chuckled, then took a few steps forward towards the door.

"Gojo!" Nanami suddenly called up the stairs, "Come quickly!"

Satoru turned on his heel as Suguru gave him a silent nod, and he took off down the stairs without hesitation. The wooden steps groaned beneath his weight, and the air grew colder with each descent — stale and heavy like it hadn't been disturbed in centuries.

Then he saw why they’d sounded urgent.

“Sarah?”

Rin and Boe had her at a cautious distance — not hostile, but visibly careful. Her hands were up, her expression calm, almost eerily so. She wasn’t resisting. If anything, she looked… willing, but the way Rin kept her body between Sarah and the hatch said everything.

Satoru’s heart kicked up, panic and instinct lurching through him as his Six Eyes swept over her. It was her. He could see that and yet he hadn’t sensed her at all until he laid eyes on her. Her positive energy was scrambled, strange. Almost like it was buried under something much older.