"GRIND-SCREECH!"

The sound of the mana-saw hitting the [Void-Mirror Aegis] was excruciating. Sparks flew like a fountain of fireworks. The saw, capable of cutting through star-metal, bit into the violet sphere—and stopped. It didn't stop because it lost power. It stopped because it hit an object of infinite density.

Alvian stood inside the bubble, his eyes locked on the confused eyestalks of the Golden Crab General.

[Damage Absorbed: 15,000]

[Mana Converted: +750]

The barrier held. It didn't even flicker. The [Tidal Barrier +2] absorbed the kinetic energy of the saw, drinking it in. The violet light of the shield grew brighter, pulsing with the stored force.

"Impossible!" Aurelius roared. "Die! Die! Die!"

He slammed his other claw—the hydraulic pincer—onto the barrier.

"CLANG!"

[Damage Absorbed: 20,000]

[Mana Converted: +1,000]

[Stored Kinetic Potential: 175%]

The floor beneath Alvian cracked under the pressure, but the sphere remained perfectly round. Alvian felt the drain on his mana, but with the [Mana Conversion] effect and his [Tear of the Infinite], his mana bar wasn't going down. It was staying full.

He was a perpetual motion machine of defense.

"Is that it?" Alvian asked, his voice calm amidst the deafening noise of the saw trying to chew through his magic. "You call that a siege breaker? I've seen rain that hit harder."

"INSOLENT WORM!" Aurelius went berserk. He activated his own buffs. His gold shell glowed. He unleashed a barrage of attacks—stabs, crushes, saw-strikes.

"BAM! BAM! BAM!"

Each hit fed the barrier. The violet light turned almost white. The air around Alvian began to distort from the sheer density of the stored energy.

Magnus watched, his jaw slack. "He... he's not just blocking. He's harvesting. He turned the Tidal Barrier into a capacitor. It's... madness. If he loses focus for a microsecond, that energy will vaporize him."

"Alvian doesn't lose focus," Valeria said, lowering her shield. She knew what was coming. She had seen it in the arena. But this was on a different scale.

Inside the sphere, Alvian checked the readout.

[Stored Kinetic Potential: 400%]

[Warning: Barrier Saturation Imminent. Release Recommended.]

"You like your saw?" Alvian whispered. "You can have it back."

Aurelius wound up for a massive, two-handed crush. He brought both the saw and the pincer down simultaneously, putting his entire body weight behind the blow.

"Release."

Alvian dropped the barrier. But he didn't just let it fade. He triggered the [Tidal Reflection].

"BOOM!"

The stored energy didn't radiate outward in a sphere. Alvian shaped it. He focused the entire blast—millions of points of kinetic damage stored from a minute of constant bombardment—into a single, directed cone. Right in front of him.

The shockwave hit Aurelius.

It wasn't a push. It was an erasure.

The saw-claw was blown backward with such force that it tore off the General's body. The hydraulic pincer crumpled like tin foil. The golden armor on his chest shattered, the adamantite plating turning into shrapnel that fired backward into his own internal organs.

Aurelius was launched across the room. He smashed through three support pillars, a concrete wall, and finally embedded himself deep into the far side of the chamber.

[-150,000! Kinetic Catastrophe!]

Silence returned to the sewer. Dust and debris rained down.

Alvian stood there, dusting off his [Vestments]. He looked at Magnus.

"The barrier held," Alvian said.

Magnus walked over to the wreckage of the General. Aurelius was still alive, barely. His shell was gone. His limbs were gone. He was a twitching mess of crab meat and gold dust.

"Mercy..." Aurelius gurgled.

Magnus looked at the traitor, then raised his foot. He stomped.

[Target Eliminated.]

Magnus turned to Alvian. The old Guardian's eyes were wide with a mix of terror and absolute respect.

"That," Magnus said, pointing at the spot where Alvian had stood, "was not the Tidal Barrier. That was a mirror of death."

"It's efficient," Alvian said. He walked to the hole in the floor. The bio-cable was still pulsing, feeding the monster below.

"The General is dead. The path is open." Alvian looked down into the dark. "Now, let's go wake the Sleeper."

Valeria walked up beside him. "You know," she said, looking at the devastation. "Next time, maybe just stab him? My heart can't take watching you stand still while a giant saw tries to eat your face."

"Stabbing is for offense," Alvian said, equipping his [Lance]. "Shields are for sending a message."

He looked at Seraphina. "Scout the hole. Make sure there are no more surprises."

"On it," Seraphina said, jumping into the abyss without hesitation.

Alvian turned to Magnus. "Are you coming, Guardian? Or is the water too deep for the Iron Shell?"

Magnus laughed, a deep, booming sound that shook the pipes. "After seeing that? Boy, I wouldn't miss this for all the pearls in the sea. Lead on, Monster."

They jumped into the dark. The final battle for Azureus had begun.

The silence in the sewers was heavy, broken only by the dripping of toxic sludge and the settling of dust where General Aurelius had been obliterated. The Golden Crab General, a traitor to his kin and a mercenary for the Syndicate, was nothing more than scrap metal and organic paste smeared across the far wall.

Alvian stood amidst the wreckage, his [Vestments of the Void Monarch] rippling as if caught in an ethereal breeze. He didn't look tired. He looked bored. He flicked his wrist, dismissing the [Void-Mirror Aegis] that had absorbed and reflected the kinetic fury of the General.

"Inefficient," Alvian muttered, looking at the loot drop.

[Item: Gilded Pincer (Epic Material)]

[Item: Hydraulic Core (Rare)]

[Experience Gained: 400,000!]

It was decent loot, but not what he was here for. He turned to Guardian Magnus. The massive Iron Shell was staring at the spot where Aurelius had died, his granite-like face unreadable, though the tension in his shoulders spoke volumes. Magnus had ruled this district with an iron fist, believing his walls and his will were enough to protect his people. Today, he had learned that the rot was inside the walls.

"The way is clear," Alvian stated, his voice cutting through the gloom. "The Siphon Chamber is just ahead. But before we proceed, we need to talk about the Whale Shark King."

Magnus flinched. He turned his heavy gaze toward Alvian. "Megalos? He is the brute of the East. What does he have to do with this?"

"Everything," Alvian said. "The Syndicate isn't just using local resources. They are weaponizing the factions. They bought Aurelius. They corrupted Ursula. They trapped Kaelen. And Megalos... he's holding something of yours."

Seraphina stepped forward, checking her datapad. "Intel from the fishing boat logs. The Syndicate has been transporting high-value prisoners to the Abyss Prison. It's a maximum-security facility located in the Whale Shark territory. One of the names on the transfer list... was Rhett."

The sound of metal groaning filled the chamber. Magnus had gripped his tower shield so hard the steel handle was bending. His eyes, usually cold flint, burned with a sudden, raw emotion.

"Rhett..." Magnus whispered, the name sounding foreign on his tongue. "He's alive?"

"Who is Rhett?" Valeria asked, stepping up beside Alvian, her armor still humming with residual golden light.

"He was my partner," Magnus said, his voice low and dangerous. "Years ago. Before I became the Guardian. I was the Shield. He was the Scout. We were inseparable. Then... he vanished during a patrol near the Abyss. I thought the pressure crushed him. I thought he was dead."

"He's not dead," Alvian corrected. "He's leverage. The Syndicate—and Megalos—have been keeping him on ice. Likely extracting information on your defensive grids. Why do you think they could bypass your walls so easily to kidnap your citizens?"

Magnus roared. It was a sound of pure, unadulterated fury that shook the sewage pipes above them. He slammed his shield into the ground, cracking the concrete.

"They used him," Magnus growled. "They used my brother against me."

"Inefficient emotional response," Alvian noted calmly, though he didn't stop the Guardian. "Anger is fuel, Magnus. But rage is a blindfold. If you want him back, we don't just storm the Siphon. We hit the Abyss Prison next."

"We go now," Magnus stated, turning toward the exit tunnel. "To hell with the Siphon. I'm getting Rhett."

"No," Alvian stepped in his path. He was half the size of the Iron Guardian, but his presence was infinitely heavier. "We finish the job here. We secure the Siphon Chamber, cut the power to the Leviathan beneath us, and then we go. If we leave now, the Syndicate accelerates their plans, and this district becomes a crater. Rhett has survived years. He can survive another hour."

Magnus glared at Alvian, his chest heaving. It was a clash of wills—the immovable object against the unstoppable force. Finally, the Guardian exhaled, a long hiss of steam escaping his armor's vents.

"You are cold, Godslayer," Magnus said.

"I am efficient," Alvian replied. "Let's move."

They pushed forward into the Siphon Chamber. It was exactly as Slish had described—a massive underground facility built around a throbbing, biomechanical heart that pumped red fluid deep into the earth. Technicians in Syndicate hazmat suits scurried around, guarded by more Elite mercenaries.

Alvian didn't give a speech. He didn't offer terms.

"Clear the room," Alvian ordered.

Valeria charged, a golden comet. Seraphina vanished into the shadows. Magnus, fueled by a new, personal vendetta, became a bulldozer of steel, smashing through barricades and crushing mercenaries like bugs.

Alvian walked through the center, his [Lance of the Void Winter] reaping lives with surgical precision.

[Slash. Pierce. Sever.]

In five minutes, the room was silent. Alvian walked to the main console. He didn't hack it; he destroyed it. He drove his lance into the control mechanism, freezing the pumps solid. The red pulse stopped. The heartbeat beneath the floor slowed, then faded.

"The Sleeper is back to sleep," Alvian said. "For now."

He turned to Magnus. The Guardian was standing over a dead mercenary, his breathing heavy.

"Now," Alvian said, equipping his [Voidpiercer]. "We go to the Abyss."

They left the sewers, taking a high-speed transport tube toward the Eastern District. The water grew darker, colder. The architecture changed from the blocky bunkers of the Iron Shell to the jagged, organic bone-structures of the Whale Shark territory.

The Abyss Prison wasn't a building. It was a pit. A massive, circular depression in the ocean floor, lined with cells carved directly into the rock. It was guarded by the elite of the Whale Shark army—hulking brutes with skin like sandpaper and teeth like serrated knives.

They stood on the ridge overlooking the prison.

"That's a lot of guards," Seraphina noted, peering through her scope. "Two hundred Elites. Perimeter patrols. Mana sensors. And the Warden... General Kevin."

"Kevin?" Valeria blinked. "That's... a name."

"Don't let the name fool you," Magnus warned. "Kevin the Bone-Crusher. He's Megalos's right hand. He doesn't use weapons. He rips people apart with his bare hands."

"He's in my way," Alvian said.

"How do we do this?" Valeria asked. "Stealth? Distraction?"

Alvian looked at the prison. He looked at the hundreds of guards. He looked at his mana bar. Full.

"Stealth is slow," Alvian said. "We're knocking on the front door."

"You want to fight the whole prison?" Seraphina hissed.

"I want to send a message to Megalos," Alvian said. "He thinks he's the Tank of the ocean? I'm going to show him what happens when a tank meets an armor-piercing round."

He stepped off the ridge.

"Physics Lesson Number Seven," Alvian whispered as he plummeted toward the prison gate. "Terminal Velocity."

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