The deeper they went, the hotter it got. The damp cold of the sewers was replaced by a dry, suffocating heat radiating from the earth itself. The tunnels widened, changing from crumbling brick to smooth, obsidian stonework.
"Put me down," Kael gritted out. His face was slick with sweat, his eyes glazed with pain.
"Not a chance," Aarav said, shifting Kael's weight on his shoulder. "We carry you, or we don't go."
"I am a liability," Kael argued, though his voice lacked its usual bite.
"You're the tactical mind," Mara wheezed from the other side. "I just shoot things. Aarav just punches things. Liora just grows things. We need someone to tell us what to shoot, punch, and grow."
They reached the end of the corridor. It didn't end in a hole or a pipe, but a massive, circular door made of white gold, identical to the material of the Spire's entrance. But this door was sealed shut, covered in layers of dust and time.
There was no handle. No keyhole. Only a single indentation in the center—the shape of a hand.
"The Warden's Vault," Liora whispered, reading the faded runes etched into the archway. "This is where the ancient guardians of the Core armed themselves before their watch."
"Armed?" Mara perked up. "I like the sound of that."
Aarav stepped forward. He placed his hand—the one with the Blade Sigil—into the indentation.
CLICK.
The Sigil didn't just glow; it locked into the mechanism. Aarav felt needles prick his palm, drawing a drop of blood. It was a DNA lock, ancient and binding.
"Identity Unrecognized," a mechanical voice echoed from the walls. "Access Denied."
The door began to glow red. A hum of energy built up—a defense mechanism preparing to incinerate the intruder.
"Aarav, pull back!" Kael yelled.
"No," Aarav said calmly. He didn't pull back. He pushed forward.
He closed his eyes. He felt the mechanism of the lock—the intricate Aether circuits determining if he was worthy. He didn't have the blood of the ancients. But he had something else.
He remembered the Stag. He remembered Elara's broken arm. He remembered the feeling of structure.
"I am not a Warden," Aarav whispered to the door. "I am a Breaker."
He sent a pulse of golden Aether directly into the lock's core logic. He rewrote the requirement.
"Override Accepted," the voice glitched. "Welcome... Breaker."
With a heavy, grinding groan that shook dust from the ceiling, the massive circular door rolled aside.
They stepped inside.
The room was vast, lit by torches that flared to life with blue flames as they entered. Racks of weapons and armor lined the walls. But these weren't rusted swords or steam-guns.
They were weapons of the Ancients. Made of white steel and crystal, they hummed with a dormant power.
"Jackpot," Mara breathed.
She limped over to a rack. She picked up a heavy, handheld cannon made of brass and glass. It had a rotating chamber filled with liquid Aether. "A Magma-Caster. I haven't seen one of these since the history books."
Liora wandered to a section of robes. She touched a garment woven from silver thread. "Aether-weave," she murmured. "It amplifies magical absorption. With this... I won't run out of energy as quickly."
Aarav helped Kael sit on a bench. Kael looked at the rack of swords, but he shook his head. He couldn't dance with a blade on a broken leg.
His eyes fell on a weapon in the corner. A long, double-ended glaive (spear) with curved blades on both ends.
"Reach," Kael said softly. "If I cannot move to them, I will make them come to me."
Aarav brought him the glaive. Kael tested the weight. He spun it from his seated position, the blades singing a deadly song. Even crippled, he was lethal.
Aarav walked to the center of the room. There was no sword for him. He didn't want one. He had realized that a sword was just a tool, and tools could break.
He saw a pedestal. On it lay a pair of gauntlets. They were dark grey metal, etched with gold lines that matched the pattern of his Blade Sigil.
He picked them up. They were heavy, but when he slid his hands into them, they clamped down, fitting perfectly, feeling light as air.
The gauntlets hummed. They connected to his Sigil. He clenched his fist, and the gold lines flared. These weren't just armor; they were amplifiers. They would turn his punches into siege weapons.
"We look like a real army now," Mara said, strapping the heavy cannon to her back. She looked dangerous again.
Liora walked over to Aarav. She was wearing the silver robe, which hugged her figure and shimmered in the torchlight. She looked ethereal, like a warrior-priestess.
"Let me check the straps," she said softly, stepping close to him.
She tightened the buckles on his gauntlets. Her fingers lingered on his forearms. The heat between them flared instantly, a sharp contrast to the cold metal of the armory.
"You look..." Aarav started, his voice low.
"Don't say 'beautiful'," Liora warned with a small smile, looking up through her lashes. "Say 'lethal'."
"Terrifying," Aarav corrected, sliding his gauntleted hands around her waist. The metal was cool, but his touch was possessive.
Liora leaned into him, pressing a soft kiss to his jaw. "Elara is down there, Aarav. She's feeding."
"I know," Aarav said, resting his forehead against hers. "Are you ready to kill a goddess?"
"With you?" Liora pulled back, her eyes fierce. "Always."
A tremor shook the room. Stronger this time. Dust fell from the ceiling.
"ENOUGH!"
A scream echoed from deep below—a psychic blast that made them all clutch their heads. It wasn't Elara. It was the Ancient One.
"She's breaching the containment," Kael said, using his glaive to pull himself upright. "We're out of time."
They gathered at the far end of the armory, where a dark tunnel led downward. The heat coming from it was intense.
"Mara, take point," Aarav ordered. "Clear the path. Liora, stay center. Kael, guard the rear. I take the big threats."
"Aye, Captain," Mara grinned, revving the rotating chamber of her Magma-Caster.
They moved out.
The tunnel spiraled down for what felt like miles. Finally, they reached a balcony overlooking the Core Chamber.
They stopped. The sight stole the breath from their lungs.
The chamber was the size of a city. In the center, suspended over a pit of magma, was a massive sphere of crystal. Inside the sphere swirled a being of pure, blinding white light—the Ancient One. It thrashed and screamed, pounding against the glass.
And latching onto the sphere like a parasite was Elara.
She was monstrous now. She had grown to the size of a house. Her body was a mass of writhing shadow-tentacles and violet bone. She had wrapped herself around the crystal sphere and was hammering on it with massive shadow-fists.
CRACK.
A hairline fracture appeared on the sphere. White light leaked out. Elara inhaled it, her form growing even larger, more unstable.
"MORE!" she roared, her voice shaking the foundations of the world. "FEED ME!"
"If that sphere breaks," Kael whispered, "the release of energy will vaporize the island."
"Then we don't let it break," Aarav said. He clenched his fists, the gauntlets glowing with golden fury.
He looked at the path leading down to the sphere—a narrow stone bridge suspended over the magma.
"Mara," Aarav said. "Can you hit her from here?"
Mara raised her cannon. "It's a long shot. But I never miss."
"Liora," Aarav turned to her. "We need to get to the sphere. Can you bridge the gap if the walkway breaks?"
"I'll carry us on the wind," she promised.
"Kael," Aarav looked at the crippled warrior. "Guard Liora with your life."
"It is already hers," Kael nodded.
Aarav took a deep breath. He looked at the monster destroying the world. He looked at the woman he loved. He looked at the friends who had bled for him.
He stepped onto the bridge.
"HEY! UGLY!" Aarav roared, his voice amplified by the acoustics of the cavern.
The monster stopped hammering. It slowly turned its massive, ruined head towards the tiny figures on the balcony. A giant violet eye focused on Aarav.
"YOU..."
"Yeah, me," Aarav grinned, raising his gauntleted fists. "Round two."