"The Foundry?" Valeria asked, her hand going to her sword.

"Yes," Alvian said, turning toward the door. "He's barricaded himself in the thermal plant. He thinks heat will stop me."

"I'll gather the strike team," Valeria said.

"No," Alvian ordered. "Stay here. Hold the palace. If the Deep District makes a move, you stop them. I'll handle Ignis alone."

"Alone? Into a volcano?"

Alvian equipped the [Lance of the Void Winter].

"I have fire resistance," Alvian said. "And I'm in a bad mood."

He activated [Void Step], vanishing from the balcony, leaving only a wisp of black smoke drifting in the current.

The Industrial District was a hellscape even before the sabotage. It was a massive, enclosed dome located near the volcanic vents of the ocean floor, separated from the rest of the city by thick blast walls. The water here was superheated, shimmering with thermal distortion. Massive pipes pumped liquid magma through cooling exchanges, generating the steam and mana that powered the city's lights and engines.

Now, it was a fortress.

Alvian materialized at the main checkpoint leading into the district. The massive blast doors were sealed tight, glowing cherry-red from the heat building up on the other side.

[System Warning: Environmental Hazard - Extreme Heat.]

[Water Temperature: 150°C.]

[Passive [Thermal Nullification] Active.]

The [Vestments of the Void Monarch] rippled, the [Molten Star] essence woven into the fabric absorbing the heat. To Alvian, it felt like a warm summer day. To anyone else, it would be boiling alive.

Standing guard in front of the blast doors were fifty of Ignis's elite troops. The Magma Troopers.

[Target Identified: Magma Trooper]

[Level: 45]

[Status: Elite / fortified]

They were massive Genasi warriors, their bodies composed of living rock and fire, encased in heavy brass power armor. They wielded thermal lances that shot jets of concentrated steam and magma.

"Halt!" the lead trooper boomed, aiming his lance. "Governor Ignis has declared martial law! No entry!"

"I am the martial law," Alvian said, walking forward.

"Open fire!"

The troopers didn't hesitate. Fifty thermal lances fired at once. Streams of superheated magma and boiling water converged on Alvian.

"Inefficient," Alvian whispered.

He didn't dodge. He raised his left hand. The [Draconic Storm Bracers] flared, but he wasn't using lightning. He was using the [Void-Mirror Aegis].

"[Void-Mirror Aegis]."

A sphere of dark violet energy materialized around him. The torrent of fire and magma slammed into the barrier. The heat was immense, turning the water around the shield into a cloud of expanding steam, but the barrier didn't buckle. It drank the energy.

[Damage Absorbed: 50,000.]

[Mana Converted: +2,500.]

[Stored Kinetic/Thermal Potential: 200%.]

Alvian watched his mana bar fill up. The attacks of the troopers were just refueling him.

"Release."

He dropped the barrier and triggered the reflection. But he didn't fire it back as a wave. He focused it. He channeled the stored thermal energy into his [Lance of the Void Winter].

"[Glacial Void Pierce]: Thermal Inversion."

He thrust the lance forward. A beam of black ice shot out, but it was wrapped in a spiraling helix of the reflected fire. The two opposing elements screamed as they twisted together.

"BOOM!"

The beam hit the center of the trooper formation. The thermal shock was catastrophic. The extreme heat met the absolute zero cold. The troopers' armor shattered. Their rock skin cracked and exploded. The water in the area flashed into steam, creating a pressure wave that knocked the blast doors off their hinges.

[-60,000! Elemental Catastrophe!]

When the steam cleared, the fifty elites were gone. Only piles of cooling slag remained.

Alvian stepped over the wreckage and through the ruined doors.

The interior of the Foundry was worse. The pipes were groaning. Gauges were in the red. Ignis was overloading the system. If the central core breached, the explosion would crack the city's foundation.

"Intruder!"

More troopers dropped from the catwalks above. They swung heavy thermal hammers.

Alvian didn't slow down. He moved with the fluid grace of a reaper.

"Slash."

[Voidpiercer] appeared in his off-hand. He cut through the shaft of a hammer, then the trooper's neck.

"Stab."

The Lance pierced through the chest of a second attacker, freezing his magma core instantly.

Alvian moved deeper into the facility. He didn't fight every enemy. He used [Void Step] to blink past barricades, moving through walls and machinery. He was hunting the signal.

[Target Identified: Governor Ignis]

[Location: Central Thermal Core Control Room.]

He reached the heart of the facility. It was a massive chamber dominated by a pillar of white-hot magma rising from the floor to the ceiling—the Thermal Core.

Standing on the control platform suspended above the magma was Governor Ignis. He was larger than before, having drawn power from the core. He was fifteen feet of burning rage.

"You!" Ignis roared, seeing Alvian emerge from the shadows. "You surface rat! You think you can take my city?"

Ignis grabbed a massive lever on the console.

"I will melt this city to slag before I let you rule it!"

He pulled the lever.

"Warning," the facility's AI announced. "Thermal containment fields disengaging. Core breach in 60 seconds."

The magma pillar flared. The heat in the room spiked.

"You're insane," Alvian said, his voice calm.

"I am a patriot!" Ignis screamed. He jumped from the platform, landing in front of Alvian. The floor melted beneath his feet. "Burn with me!"

[Boss Detected: Lord Ignis (The Magma Sovereign)]

[Level: 55]

[Status: Overcharged / Unstable]

Alvian looked at the timer. 58 seconds.

"I don't have time to burn," Alvian said. He equipped the [Lance of the Void Winter]. "I have a city to run."

--

The heat in the Central Control Room was absolute. It wasn't just hot; it was a physical pressure that sought to cook the blood in Alvian's veins. Even with the [Thermal Nullification] of his armor, Alvian could feel his skin tightening, his stamina draining slowly.

Ignis charged. He didn't use a weapon. He was the weapon. He threw a punch that looked like a slow-motion meteor.

"MAGMA FIST!"

Alvian activated [Void Step], blinking five meters to the right. Ignis's fist hit the air where Alvian had been. The kinetic force traveled through the superheated water, creating a shockwave that buckled the metal walls.

"Coward!" Ignis roared, spinning around. He opened his mouth and spewed a cone of liquid fire.

Alvian raised his lance. He didn't block. He stabbed the stream of fire.

"[Frost Descent +2]: Absolute Zero Point."

The tip of the lance met the fire. The void energy devoured the heat. The fire turned into obsidian dust mid-stream, falling harmlessly to the floor.

"You are trying to fight entropy with energy," Alvian stated, closing the distance. "Inefficient."

He was inside Ignis's guard. He drove the lance into Ignis's knee.

"TING!"

The lance chipped the obsidian skin, but didn't penetrate deep. Ignis laughed.

"I am made of the earth's blood! You cannot freeze me! I am too hot!"

Ignis grabbed the lance shaft. The heat from his hand was so intense the metal of the lance began to glow red.

"Let go, or lose your weapon!"

Alvian smirked. "You want it? Keep it."

Alvian let go of the lance. Ignis stumbled back, surprised by the sudden release.

Alvian activated his [Draconic Storm Bracers]. He wasn't holding the weapon, but he was still connected to it by mana.

"System. Channel [Lightning Strike] through weapon link. Max Voltage."

"ZZZZZT!"

A bolt of blue lightning shot from Alvian's hand, arching through the water and striking the metal shaft of the lance that Ignis was holding.

"ARGH!" Ignis screamed. Magma conducts electricity. The bolt surged through his body, bypassing his heat resistance. His muscles locked up. He dropped to one knee, dropping the lance.

[Paralysis Effect Applied.]

Alvian reclaimed his lance. He looked at the timer.

[Core Breach in: 30 seconds.]

"Time to cool off," Alvian said.

He didn't attack Ignis. He turned and looked at the massive pillar of magma—the Thermal Core. It was bubbling, expanding, threatening to shatter the containment glass.

"No!" Ignis shouted, struggling against the paralysis. "Don't touch the core! You'll destabilize it faster!"

"I'm not going to break it," Alvian said. "I'm going to cap it."

He used [Void Step] to teleport onto the maintenance walkway surrounding the top of the core. He looked down into the swirling vortex of white-hot lava.

"System. Dump all mana."

He raised both hands. The air around him turned black.

"[Frost Descent +2]: Glacial Age."

This wasn't a tactical freeze. This was a weather event. Alvian unleashed everything. A storm of snow and ice exploded from his hands, pouring down into the open top of the core.

"HSSSSSSSSSS!"

The sound was like a thousand dragons screaming. The white-hot magma met the absolute zero mana. The surface of the lava flash-froze. A crust of black obsidian formed instantly, thick and heavy. The ice continued to pile up, creating a plug, a cap of frozen mana that pressed down on the rising pressure.

[Core Temperature Dropping...]

[Core Temperature Stabilized.]

[Breach Averted.]

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