“Merely a precaution. What is that behind you?”

“A hidden doorway that was spell warded against detection, ”

Modred said.

“Is it safe to go through?”

“I’m not sure, ” Modred replied. “We were about to find that out

when you interrupted us.”

The Yakuza man frowned, then spoke quickly to the men behind

him. They hesitated and he angrily repeated his order again. They

glanced at him, uneasily, then came over to Fugisawa and beckoned

him through the door with their machine pistols. Fugisawa glanced

at Modred, then walked up to the glowing doorway and stepped

through. He disappeared from sight.

The two Yakuza men hesitated nervously, then at a barked order

from their leader followed Fugisawa through the portal. A moment

later one of them came back through, his eyes wide, and beckoned

the others to follow.

Herded by the gunmen, Wyrdrune, Kira, Billy, and Modred

stepped through the portal and found themselves on a crumbling

stone stairway. Fugisawa and the two gunmen who had gone

through first stood waiting at the bottom of the stairs.

They descended into the large underground chamber, with its

ceiling of interlacing steel girders shrouded in spiderwebs and dust.

They came down into a pentagonal-shaped plaza, with a large pool

in the center filled with a bubbling liquid that gave off a

phosphorescent glow. In the center of the pool, upon a pedestal, was

an altar that appeared to be made of solid gold. It was covered with

dried and crusted blood. There were braziers placed around the

plaza, burning some sort of incense that gave off a cloying, sickly

sweet odor, and there were torches mounted on the walls.

“Remind you of something?” Kira said softly.

Wyrdrune nodded. “The catacombs, in Paris”

“What is this place?” asked the leader of the Yakuza team.

“It was a shopping mall, ” said Fugisawa. “constructed below

street level. They must have built over it during one of the

renovations.”