With a final wave of his wand to check his results, Junichiro addressed Mittelt, "If we came here even a hundred years ago, the enchantments on this thing would force us to go through the trials before we could unlock the altar and claim the sword. Now though...?"
Junichiro summoned up his preferred rune carving tool and began carving a runic array into the top of the altar. Mittelt watched curiously and asked, "What's that going to do?"
"The person who enchanted the altar might not have been the most faithful. Either that or they just thought having a back door only they knew about was a good idea, for whatever reason.
Whoever did the actual spellwork left a password hidden in the enchantments that, when spoken, would disable everything protecting the sword. Now, obviously, we have no idea what that password is, what language it's in, or anything like that. I also can't just magically get the protections to tell me what it is. What I can do though is what a hacker might call a code injection attack.
These runes will send a strong pulse directly into the section meant to hear the password. Due to the degradation of the enchantment, this will overwhelm it and force it to think that password was correctly given."
Mittelt blinked at the explanation and then started laughing, "Y-you're hacking the enchantments left by the church?!"
Junichiro grinned while nodding, "Yup. There are other ways I could crack this altar open, but the injection attack is the fastest and easiest. Whoever did the work did some seriously good work and clearly knew a lot about enchanting. Most avenues of attack are counted for.
You'd be shocked how many people don't think to protect against things like simply dispelling the magic of the enchantments. This person did, yet whether pride, ego, or nefarious purposes, their password back door made all their other great work moot."
As he finished speaking, he slapped his hand into the center of the runic circle he'd carved into the altar and channeled his magical power into it. There was a bright flash of light from the runes signifying that they had started their work.
The pair watched in silence for a moment and nearly jumped when the sound of stone grinding on stone echoed through the empty church. The top of the altar was slowly sliding open on a hidden pivot point and they could both feel the holy aura of Excalibur Ruler as it opened.
They could both feel the difference between Ruler and Avalon instantly. While Ruler was no slouch of a weapon and could even be considered powerful on its aura alone, it was utterly dwarfed by the power of Avalon. The sheer difference in the auras the two holy items gave off was unbelievable.
Feeling the difference between them, Junichiro could understand why the church would be so obsessed with the original Excalibur to the point of forging its broken pieces into the vastly inferior blades that the fragments became.
Mittelt looked at the sword laying in the open altar and frowned, "You know, before yesterday Excalibur Ruler here would have been the single most powerful Holy Sword I've ever personally come in contact with. After Avalon though? This thing is trash! No wonder you're so willing to trade it!"
Junichiro could only nod in agreement while pulling out his scanning wand and other tools once again. Neither of them were stupid enough to just reach inside and grab the sword. With the protections it had, it wouldn't surprise either of them if there was one final trick or trap left.
It was good to be cautious because traps in a place containing such a powerful treasure would never be something as simple as a giant boulder rolling toward them. Either of them could easily destroy a rock.
Their caution, while prudent, wasn't necessary in this case. Neither the sword nor the still pristine velvet cushion it sat on contained any final traps.
Junichiro put his stuff away before retrieving the sword. As he gripped the handle, he could feel the blade reaching out to judge him as all powerful swords were capable of. The moment the sword touched his core, it began vibrating at a high speed filling the air with a metallic whine like a tuning fork.
Junichiro smirked as he could plainly feel the sword's excitement, let alone hear it as the sword practically danced and celebrated its joy in his hand. Mittelt arched an eyebrow at that and spoke rather sarcastically, "Gee, I guess it likes you."
Junichiro snorted at that, "Maybe a little, but I think it likes being back with Avalon more."
The pair snickered at the excited sword as it continued to celebrate in his grip. Once it calmed down they would resume their examination of the hidden site and see if there was anything else worth taking with them. Until then, they would have to listen to Excalibur Ruler celebrating.