The secret room wasn't large—just a cramped space about ten square meters, walls lined with storage compartments stuffed with weird shit.
Famous paintings, preserved organs, glowing potions, even a couple of massive biological fossils.
Soren looked them over one by one.
After a full lap, his eyes caught on a rough, fist-sized stone.
It looked like some random rock someone had grabbed off the street to prop a door open.
He picked it up. The second his fingers touched it, a weird tingling shot through his palm.
Soren instinctively wrapped his hand in demonic energy, but the power pouring out of him got sucked straight into the stone.
Is there some energy-starved old grandpa squatting inside this thing?
"This is a meteorite I found at the crash site after a meteor fell last century," Marie Laveau said beside him.
"When I first brought it back, it was basically shattered into rubble."
"After I tossed it in here and left it alone for a while, the pieces started sticking back together on their own—like they had a mind of their own."
Marie Laveau paused, then kept going. "So I tried feeding it a little mana."
"It didn't fight me at all. The more mana it absorbed, the faster it repaired itself."
She shook her head like she'd already written the thing off.
"But that's all it does. Nothing else."
"The material's weird as hell—can't inscribe runes on it, won't melt in normal fire. For me, it's useless."
Absorbing energy to fix itself?
Soren's interest spiked.
This was perfect weapon material. No more worrying about his gear shattering mid-fight.
Even Devil Arms forged from demons could break if you pushed them past their limits.
Uncle Dante's Rebellion had been shattered by a demon king once. The one Soren carried now was just a replica Nico had made to honor the original.
Materials that could absorb energy and self-repair were priceless.
Even better, it synced perfectly with the new talent he'd unlocked after hitting twenty percent bloodline awakening.
Along with Demonization, he'd gained an exclusive ability.
It let him cram huge amounts of demonic power into a weapon for insane killing power.
But it came with a nasty downside—the weapon had a high chance of shattering during the fight.
Now, with this stone's self-repair ability, he could fuse it into his custom Devil Arm and stop worrying about breakage.
"I'll take this one."
Soren picked it up and stored it in the Silent Hill domain.
The deal was done. The two of them turned to leave.
That's when a little girl in a pink dress appeared out of nowhere.
Alessa pointed at a black, withered seed sitting in the corner. "I want that one."
The sudden appearance of the expressionless little girl made Marie Laveau jump. She grabbed the necklace at her chest.
Soren put a hand on her arm. "She's with me."
Marie Laveau stared hard at the girl. As the Voodoo Queen who dealt with corpses every day, she couldn't sense a single trace of life or spirit from her.
She took a deep breath and said without hesitation, "Since she's with Mr. Soren, consider it a welcome gift."
Soren glanced at her. According to their contract, he could only take one item.
But he understood—she was trying to get on his good side.
He picked up the seed and handed it to Alessa, then nodded to Marie Laveau. "Thanks."
"If you run into any problems you can't handle later, come find me."
Marie Laveau's face lit up.
After the deal, they returned to the front of the barbershop.
The brass bell on the door jingled.
Fiona pushed the door open and walked in with a cold expression.
The moment she saw Soren and Marie Laveau coming out of the back room one after the other, her face twisted.
"Soren?!"
Fiona glared at him, anger in her voice. "Didn't you leave New Orleans?!"
Before Soren could answer, Marie Laveau crossed her arms and let out a cold laugh.
"What's the matter? Mr. Soren isn't one of your students. Your reach is pretty long, Principal Fiona—trying to control everything?"
Anger flashed in Fiona's eyes. She opened her mouth to snap back.
But something seemed to occur to her. The usually domineering Supreme Witch actually swallowed her rage.
Soren watched her reaction and guessed why she was here.
By now she must have gotten the origin of the immortality potion from Madame LaLaurie.
And that potion had come from the Voodoo Queen standing right here.
To live forever, the proud Supreme was probably here to make peace and ask for the recipe.
But things probably weren't going to go her way.
Soren had no interest in getting between these two old women's grudges.
He ignored Fiona's ugly expression, walked past them, and left the barbershop.
He flagged down a taxi. With the principal away, he could swing by the witch academy, grab Zoe, and throw her into Silent Hill for some proper training.
The sound of bells echoed. There was no dome, no walls.
Only rows of silent pillars.
At the top of each pillar crouched a four-winged angel.
They wrapped themselves tightly in their wings, heads bowed, constantly guarding the figure bathed in eternal holy light not far away.
Gabriel descended from the sky, his face calm. "Still can't contact the Father?"
Michael stood with his back turned and shook his head slightly.
Ever since the Father had sensed the disturbance in the void, he had left Heaven.
Since then, no more divine will had come from him.
"There's a problem on Earth," Gabriel said, lowering his eyes slightly. "I'm going to check it out. While I'm at it, I should talk to those two about this."
Michael turned around, his golden pupils showing no emotion.
"Going in your true form?"
Gabriel nodded.
Michael stared at him in silence, remembering how much the Father valued Earth.
"Go."
Witch Academy.
Soren pushed open the villa door. The second he stepped into the living room, he stopped dead.
A figure was sprawled on the couch, casually studying the portraits of past Supremes on the wall.
Red coat, simple black tank top underneath, messy hair looking wild.
"Uncle Dante?"
Soren was stunned.
What the hell was he doing in New Orleans?
The thought had barely formed before Soren crushed it.
This was witch territory. Who knew if this was some trap set by the scheming Fiona?
His right arm demonized instantly. His body shot forward like lightning, fist aimed straight at the couch.