The broken sword lay on a velvet cushion, its jagged edge catching the light in a way that seemed to swallow it.

The remaining half of the blade was a matte black, like a piece of the night sky had been chipped off and forged into metal.

The hilt was wrapped in leather so old it was almost gray.

Damon leaned closer, his golden eyes narrowing.

He didn’t activate his Incubus Celestial Eyes, not yet.

He just looked, and a cold, hollow feeling settled in his chest.

It called to him. Not with a voice, but with a pull, a deep, resonant hum that vibrated in his bones, not in the air.

’What are you?’

"A piece of junk." Mei said from beside him, her playful tone returning now that the Reventons were gone.

"Probably some failed Heaven-Grade artifact that shattered in a battle centuries ago. They always put a few curiosities in the here to lure the gullible."

Lumina hovered a step behind, her disguised face still pale from the confrontation.

"The description plate says it’s of unknown origin and material. No spiritual energy detected. Starting bid is five spirit stones."

"A waste of money." Mei concluded, folding her arms.

Damon didn’t answer. He reached out, his finger hovering just above the glass of the display case.

A notification bloomed in the corner of his vision, silent and urgent.

[Lost Artifact Detected: Fragment of the ’Chaos Devourer’.]

[Origin: Pre-Creation Era.]

[Grade: Artifact (Damaged).]

[Hidden Mission Available: ’Claim the Lost Artifact’.]

[Objective: Acquire the Chaos Devourer sword fragment.]

[Reward: 5,000,000 Lust Points and Fragment of Chaos Devourer.]

[Chaos Edge Technique, ???.]

His heart gave a single, hard thump against his ribs.

Pre-Cataclysmic. That meant older than any history in the library books. Older than the continents themselves.

He kept his face perfectly calm, a mask of mild curiosity.

"Maybe. But sometimes junk has interesting stories." he said, his voice even.

He finally let his Incubus Celestial Eyes activate, the golden patterns in his irises shifting subtly.

To everyone else, he was just staring.

To Damon, the world fell away, and the sword fragment became the only thing that existed.

He saw no aura, no spiritual light. Instead, he saw an void.

A tear in the fabric of reality around the blade, a tiny, hungry void that subtly warped the light and space near it.

He saw more. Faint, ghostly lines of fracture, not just on the blade, but deep within its structure.

The the status finally pop out.

[Chaos Devourer]

[Description: A sword that created along with creation. Have ability to control space and time. It can devour any item and absorb it function.]

[Artifact]

’Amazing... To think this is an artifact grade weapon.’ he thought to himself.

’And the ability to absorb any item... it meant it can absorb my wooden sword’s ability absorb qi and spiritual energy instantly.’

He deactivated the eyes and straightened up, turning away from the case as if he’d lost interest.

Mei raised an eyebrow. "See? Nothing but a conversation piece."

"Probably." Damon agreed, his mind already racing.

Five million lust points. A technique fragment from a pre-creation era.

The numbers echoed in Damon’s head, cold and absolute.

This wasn’t an opportunity, it was a mandate. He let his expression stay loose, indifferent, as he turned fully from the case.

"You’re right," he said to Mei, his tone light. "Just a story for rich fools with too many stones."

He glanced at the auction catalog still in his hand, flipping a page idly.

"The Heaven-Grade pill is item number forty-two. This broken thing is item number seventeen. They’re hoping someone gets bored and impulsive early."

Mei’s lips curled in a knowing smile. "Exactly. Let the pigeons waste their coin."

Lumina remained silent, her gaze flicking between Damon and the sword fragment as if she sensed his lie but couldn’t pinpoint it.

Internally, Damon was already calculating. He had over a million lust points, but spirit stones were the currency here.

The starting bid was a joke—five spirit stones. Even if some other fool bid it up to a hundred, it was nothing.

’Well, I still have at least few spirit stone, it should be enough.’

The real risk wasn’t the cost, it was drawing attention.

Bidding aggressively on a ’piece of junk’ would make him a curiosity. A target.

He needed a misdirection. A reason.

’Well lets think about it later, I can just bout it out of curiosity, if Mei ask.’

"We should see the rest." Lumina suggested softly, clearly wanting to move away from the spot where Silas had drawn his sword.

Damon nodded, falling into step beside them as they moved toward the displays of spiritual herbs and beast cores.

After cleaning the seeing the item, Damon and the rest move out the preview hall, where they move back to the VIP rooms, where the main auction will began.

When taken to this room, the steward appointed to him said: "Esteemed Guests, if you see something you wish to make an offer on, just say it out loud and your voice will be broadcasted into the auction room for everybody to hear."

"Additionally, your privacy when inside this room is a top priority, so your voice will be disguised and the glass wall can only be seen through from your end."

"If Esteemed Guests requires any assistance at any time during the auction, you can call for me, as I will be standing here by the door until the end of the auction."

It was at this moment the lights in the auction room dimmed, and a woman appeared on the stage, stunning the crowd with her bewitching beauty.

"Welcome to the Solaris Auction House’s 156th opening! Normally, one of the auction house’s servants would be doing the auction after my welcoming speech, but I have decided to change it up for this year by being the one to stand on the stage today."

She said with a bright smile on her face, causing the audience to scream from excitement.