Alvian stood in the silent, dark factory. The cannons were destroyed. The General was dead. The threat from the Storm Reef was neutralized.

"Seraphina," Alvian said into the comms. "Clear."

"You show off," Seraphina's voice came back, relieved. "The zombies are scattering. We've won."

"Not yet," Alvian said, looking at the [Thunder Stone] stockpile. "We need to loot this place before we leave. These stones will power our own defenses."

He walked over to the loot drop from Fulgur.

[Item: Storm-Eater's Core (Legendary)]

[Item: Blueprint: Arcane Cannon]

"Useful," Alvian noted.

He looked back toward the city. One threat down. But the Trench... the Trench was still silent.

"Valeria," Alvian switched channels. "Status?"

"Quiet," Valeria said. "Too quiet. They haven't attacked since the first wave."

"They're waiting," Alvian realized. "They're waiting for us to thin our numbers."

He clenched his fist.

"Pack up," Alvian ordered. "We're going back. The real fight is just starting."

He looked at the shattered remains of the General.

"And I'm running out of patience."

The water of the Azureus region was usually a vibrant, teeming ecosystem, but as Alvian approached the eastern sector known as the Singing Shoals, the atmosphere shifted. The current here was strangely still, thick with a cloying, sweet scent that permeated even the filtered water within his helmet. It was the scent of magic, heavy and suffocating.

This was the territory of the Siren Queen, Liora. In the political landscape of the ocean, the Sirens were the spies and the diplomats, wielding influence through charm and illusion. But now, the water tasted of something else. It tasted of the Void.

Alvian checked his status. He was Level 54. His mana was full, thanks to the [Tear of the Infinite]. His [Draconic Storm Bracers] hummed on his arms, eager to discharge.

"System. Analysis."

[Zone: The Singing Shoals]

[Environmental Hazard: [Siren's Call] - Persistent Mental Interference.]

[Hostile Density: High.]

[Note: Mana signatures indicate external corruption.]

"They got to her," Alvian whispered. "Inefficient. I expected the Sirens to be smart enough to run."

He signaled for his team to hold back. Valeria and Seraphina were exhausted from the siege at the Storm Reef. They needed to guard the perimeter. This required a scalpel, not a hammer.

Alvian engaged [Void Step].

He moved through the water, blinking past the outer patrols. The Siren guards were acting strangely. Their eyes, usually bright and intelligent, were glazed over with a milky red film. They swam in jagged, erratic patterns, their weapons dragging through the sand. They were sleepwalking.

As Alvian ventured deeper into the coral canyons, a sound began to bleed into his mind. It wasn't heard with ears; it was a vibration in the skull. A song. It was beautiful, haunting, and utterly wrong. It spoke of submission. It spoke of the glory of the Dragon.

[Warning! Mental Attack Detected.]

[Source: Draconic resonance.]

[Passive [Void Monarch] mitigating effect...]

"A broadcast," Alvian realized. "They are using the Queen as an amplifier."

He reached the central amphitheater of the Shoals. It was a natural bowl formed of iridescent shell and pink coral. In the center, floating above a dais of pearl, was Queen Liora. She was a creature of breathtaking beauty, her tail a shimmering rainbow of scales, her hair floating like a halo of kelp. But she was weeping. Tears of black ink streamed from her eyes, dissolving into the water.

Behind her, attached to the base of her skull like a parasite, was a creature. It looked like a dragon, but atrophied, small, consisting mostly of a massive, pulsing brain and spinal cord.

[Target Identified: Draconic Mind-Eater]

[Level: 58]

[Class: Psionic Parasite]

[Status: Controlling Host]

"Disgusting," Alvian muttered. The Draconic Legion wasn't just using brute force; they were using biological warfare. They had enslaved a Queen to enslave her people.

The Mind-Eater sensed him. The song abruptly changed pitch, turning into a screech of alarm.

"INTRUDER," the voice boomed in Alvian's head. "KNEEL."

A wave of psychic force slammed into Alvian. It was strong enough to liquefy a normal brain. But Alvian wasn't normal. His mind was a fortress of cold logic and void energy.

"I don't kneel," Alvian said, stepping out of the shadows. "And I don't like your singing."

The Queen, controlled by the parasite, raised her hand. The water around her boiled as thousands of corrupted Sirens emerged from the caves lining the amphitheater. They opened their mouths, screaming a sonic attack that shattered the coral around them.

"SCREEEEEE!"

The sound wave rushed toward Alvian, a physical wall of pressure.

"Physics Lesson Number Thirteen," Alvian whispered, equipping the [Lance of the Void Winter]. "Sound requires a medium to travel."

He slammed the butt of his lance into the ground.

"[Frost Descent +2]: Vacuum Sphere."

He didn't freeze the water. He froze the space around him, pushing the matter away to create a localized vacuum bubble. The sonic wave hit the vacuum and died instantly. Sound cannot travel through nothingness.

The Sirens looked confused. Their most powerful weapon had just been nullified by physics.

"My turn," Alvian said.

He vanished.

[Void Step].

He reappeared in the middle of the Siren horde. He didn't kill them. They were mind-controlled victims, resources for the future kingdom of Azureus. Killing them was wasteful. He needed to break the control.

He switched his grip on the lance to non-lethal. He spun.

"Shockwave."

He released a pulse of kinetic energy from the [Runic Aegis] runes stored in his armor. The blast knocked the Sirens back, slamming them against the canyon walls, knocking them unconscious.

"Effective," Alvian noted.

He looked up at the dais. The Mind-Eater hissed, its tentacles tightening around the Queen's neck. It was using her as a shield.

"Cowardice is efficient for survival," Alvian admitted, walking up the steps toward the throne. "But it only works if your shield is stronger than my spear."

The Mind-Eater shrieked, firing a bolt of purple psionic lightning from its exposed brain.

"DIE, ANOMALY!"

Alvian raised his left hand. The [Draconic Storm Bracers] flared.

"Absorption."

The psionic lightning hit his hand. It burned, a cold fire that tried to eat his nerves, but the bracers, forged from the scale of a Phantom Dragon, drank the energy.

[Mana Absorbed: +2,000]

"Thanks," Alvian said. "Now, get off her."

He threw [Voidpiercer].

The dagger didn't fly in a straight line. It curved, bending through space, bypassing the Queen's body entirely. It appeared directly behind her, striking the parasite attached to her spine.

"SQUELCH."

The dagger struck true, but the Mind-Eater was not a biological creature in the traditional sense. It was a construct of pure psychic energy encased in a shell of dragon bone. The physical blade cracked the shell, but the entity inside shrieked, abandoning its host.

The parasite detached from Queen Liora's neck, a mass of writhing, purple energy tentacles and a central, glowing brain. It floated in the water, pulsating with rage.

Queen Liora collapsed, unconscious, her connection to the hive mind severed.

[Target Phase Change: Psionic Form]

[Physical Immunity: 100%]

[Magic Resistance: 50%]

"PHYSICAL WEAPONS CANNOT TOUCH THE MIND!" the Mind-Eater screamed into Alvian's thoughts. "I WILL FLAY YOUR SOUL!"

The water in the amphitheater darkened. The environment shifted. Alvian wasn't in the ocean anymore. He was standing in a void of swirling purple clouds. The ground was made of screaming faces. It was a mental domain, an illusion cast by the monster to trap his consciousness.

"Welcome to my world," the Mind-Eater laughed, its voice coming from everywhere. "Here, I am God. Your stats mean nothing. Your armor means nothing. Only your will matters."

Alvian looked around. He checked his interface. It was glitching, static obscuring the numbers.

"A Domain Expansion," Alvian noted, unimpressed. "Inefficient. You spend too much mana maintaining the illusion."

"You are arrogant!" The Mind-Eater roared. Giant tentacles of purple energy erupted from the ground of faces, lashing at Alvian.

Alvian didn't move. The tentacles passed through him.

"This isn't real," Alvian stated. "If it's not real, it can't hurt me."

"Pain is real if the mind believes it!"

The tentacles turned solid, slamming into Alvian. He felt the impact. He felt his ribs crack. He spat blood.

[-5,000 HP (Mental Damage)]

"Interesting," Alvian wiped his mouth. "Psychosomatic feedback loop. My brain convinces my body it's damaged. Clever."

He closed his eyes.

"But you made a mistake," Alvian whispered. "You brought me into a realm of pure mind. A realm of pure mana."

He opened his eyes. They were no longer violet. They were white, burning with the light of the [Tear of the Infinite].

"In the physical world, I am limited by my body. My muscles can only move so fast. My mana channels can only output so much."

The ground of faces began to freeze. White frost spread rapidly across the illusionary landscape.

"But in the mind?" Alvian smiled, a terrifying, predatory expression. "I am infinite."

"What... what are you doing?" The Mind-Eater's voice wavered.

"Overloading the server," Alvian said.

He unleashed his mana. Not a spell. Just raw, unadulterated power. The [Tear of the Infinite] within his soul spun at maximum velocity. A tsunami of white mana exploded from Alvian, crashing against the purple clouds of the domain.

"CRACK!"

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