VWWOOOM!

The sound was absolute. It swallowed the roar of the magma vents and the screams of the falling Legionnaires.

A beam of pure, concentrated Void Energy, thick as a tree trunk and dark as a starless night, erupted from Warden Krog's arm cannon.

"HOLD!" General Thorgar roared.

He didn't try to dodge. On a suspension bridge, there is nowhere to dodge.

He slammed the Bulwark of the Mountain into the floor plates, crouching behind the massive slab of Adamantite.

BOOM!

The beam collided with the shield.

The impact was terrifying. Thorgar's boots dug furrows into the metal deck as he was pushed back inch by inch. The Adamantite groaned, glowing red-hot from the friction of the Void energy trying to erase it.

"He's… heavy!" Thorgar gritted out, veins bulging on his neck. Even with the mana-stimulants, his emaciated body was screaming.

"Keep it steady, you old rock!" Brokk shouted, taking cover behind Thorgar.

Brokk leaned out and fired his Magitech Rifle.

BANG! BANG!

The high-explosive shells hit Krog's Void Shield and dissipated like smoke.

"It's useless!" Master Orin yelled, his triple-barrel cannon spinning down to cool. "He has a Void Core! He has infinite mana shielding! We can't scratch him with standard munitions!"

Krog walked forward while firing. His spider legs clicked methodically on the metal. He wasn't running; he was advancing like an inevitable death.

"Resistance is… inefficient," Krog gurgled.

He increased the output. The beam widened.

"Argh!" Thorgar fell to one knee. The heat was scorching his skin. "I can't… hold it forever!"

"We don't need forever," Mistress Kida stepped forward, her eyes glowing azure.

She slammed her staff onto the bridge deck.

"Rune of Isolation: Sever."

CRACK.

She didn't attack Krog. She attacked the bridge itself.

Ten meters in front of Thorgar, the metal floor plates suddenly sheared clean off. The bridge snapped in half.

The section Krog was standing on swung downward, plummeting toward the magma.

"Gravity… Push!" Isabelle added, slamming her hands down to accelerate Krog's fall.

Krog's beam cut off as he fell into the abyss.

"Did we get him?" Leona asked, peering over the edge of the broken bridge.

CLANK.

A massive, mechanical claw shot up from the darkness, grabbing the jagged edge of the bridge where Team B stood.

Then another leg. Then another.

Krog hauled himself up from the vertical drop, his spider legs piercing the steel like parchment. He hung off the edge of the bridge, staring up at them with glowing purple eyes.

"Annoying… insects."

"Run!" Brokk shouted. "Fall back to the Central Junction! We just need to buy the Kid time!"

…....….

[The Royal Vault]

While the battle raged above, Damien and Hephaestus stood before the massive, ornate doors of the Royal Vault.

The air here was blistering. They were deep, right next to the planet's core. The lavafall roared behind them, a curtain of liquid fire.

"This is it," Hephaestus whispered, holding the rusted keycard. "My father's sanctuary."

He slotted the card.

HISS—CLUNK.

The gears turned. The doors, made of a metal Damien didn't recognize, slowly swung inward.

They stepped inside.

It wasn't a treasure room filled with gold like the Dragon's Tomb. It was a workshop.

Tools of unimaginable quality lay scattered on tables. Blueprints covered the walls. And in the center of the room, suspended above a pit of pure, white-hot magical fire, was an anvil.

And stuck in the anvil was It.

"The Pantheon," Damien breathed.

It didn't look like a regular sword,. It looked like a mistake.

It was a jagged shard of translucent crystal, roughly shaped like a blade. It shifted colors constantly, red, blue, green, black, vomiting sparks of chaotic energy into the air.

It looked unstable. Dangerous. Like a bomb waiting to go off.

"It's… broken," Damien said, walking closer. The heat radiating from it was intense enough to burn his skin even through the Thermal Regulator.

"Not broken," Hephaestus corrected, walking to a console and frantically typing in commands. "Unfinished."

The Prince looked at the weapon with a mix of awe and fear.

"My father wanted to create a weapon that could channel any energy. Mana. Aura. Void. Life. He wanted a Universal Conductor."

"But?"

"But he couldn't create a filter," Hephaestus explained, pointing to the chaotic sparks.

"The blade has zero resistance. It drinks energy instantly, but it can't regulate the output. If you pour fire into it, it releases all of it in a millisecond explosion. If you pour aura, it shatters your arm."

"It's a parasite," Hephaestus grimaced. "It sucks the user dry and then detonates. That's why he locked it away. He couldn't solve the Stabilization Circuit."

Damien looked at the sword.

A weapon that drinks everything. A weapon with zero resistance.

In the hands of a normal mage, it was suicide.

But Damien wasn't normal. He was a Dual-Core. He had two infinite oceans of opposing power fighting inside him constantly.

Unlike others, he didn't need a regulator, he needed a vent.

"It's perfect," Damien whispered.

"Damien, don't!" Hephaestus warned. "If you touch that without the stabilization rune, it will eat your soul!"

"We don't have time to be safe, Prince," Damien said.

BOOM!

The ceiling of the vault shook. Dust fell.

"Warning," the automated voice of the facility blared. "Warden Krog has breached the Perimeter. Arrival in 30 seconds."

"He's coming," Damien said. He stepped onto the walkway leading to the anvil.

"Hephaestus. Get your tools ready."

"What? Why?"

"Because when I grab this thing," Damien looked back, his eyes flashing Gold and Black. "I'm going to need you to fix it while I'm using it."

"Are you insane?!" Hephaestus screamed. "Field-smithing a divine weapon during combat? That's impossible!"

"You're the genius who built a Gundam out of scrap," Damien smirked. "Improvise."

Damien reached out.

His hand closed around the hilt of the Pantheon Sword.

ZAP!

"ARGHHHHH!"

Damien screamed.

A sudden feeling of emptiness overhwhelmed his very being..

In an instant, the sword drained 50% of his mana. Then 80%. Then it started eating his Aura. Then his blood.

The blade turned a violent, screaming purple.

[System Alert!] [Foreign Object Detected. Energy Drain Critical.] [The Weapon is rejecting the host.]

"Reject me?" Damien gritted his teeth, forcing his Will into the blade.

"Although I might not be othe orginal protagonist! But I am someone destined to surpass him!"

"How dare a mere sword not mentioned in the orginal plot reject me!

He pulled.

SCRAPE.

The sword slid an inch out of the anvil. The entire room shook.

CRASH!

The blast doors of the Vault exploded inward.

Debris flew everywhere. Hephaestus dove behind a workbench.

Through the smoke, a massive, mechanical spider leg slammed onto the floor.

Warden Krog.

He dragged his massive bulk into the room. He was damaged, scorch marks from Orin's cannon, dents from Leona's fists, but his Void Core was pulsing stronger than ever.

He ignored Hephaestus. He ignored the anvil.

His glowing purple eyes locked onto Damien.

"Found you," Krog gurgled.

He raised his arm cannon. The Void energy began to charge.

Damien stood there, one hand on the sword that was trying to kill him, facing a 5th-Order monster.

"Hey, Ugly," Damien wheezed, blood dripping from his nose.

He ripped the Pantheon Sword free from the anvil.

It was just a jagged shard of glass, leaking chaotic energy.

"Do you want to dance?"

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