VRRR-ZAP!

The Pantheon Sword screamed in Damien's hand. It wasn't a metallic ring; it was the shrieking of raw, uncontained energy tearing at the fabric of reality.

The blade, currently a jagged shard of shifting prismatic light, was drinking Damien's mana at a terrifying rate.

[Mana: 40%... 35%... 30%]

"I can't hold this for long!" Damien grit his teeth, veins bulging on his neck as the Golden Dragon Aura fought to keep his arm from shattering under the strain.

If something didn't happen soon, then both he and Hephaestus would loose their lives here today

Across the room, Warden Krog raised his massive arm cannon. The Void Core in his chest spun, gathering a ball of black antimatter.

"Then perish," Krog droned.

BOOM!

He fired. A sphere of Void energy the size of a carriage shot toward them.

"Shadow Step!"

Damien didn't try to block. He grabbed Hephaestus by the collar of his leather apron and teleported.

They reappeared in mid-air, five meters above Krog.

The Void sphere slammed into the anvil where they had just been standing, obliterating it instantly.

"Hephaestus!" Damien shouted, swinging the unstable sword to deflect a mechanical spider leg that stabbed at them. "Fix it! Now!"

"I can't!" Hephaestus screamed, clinging to Damien's back like a backpack, his goggles rattling. "I need a workbench! I need a stabilizer rune! I need time!"

"You have none of those!" Damien roared.

He landed on Krog's massive metallic back. The Warden bucked like a wild horse, his spider legs thrashing to skewer the pests on his spine.

Damien danced between the metal limbs, his movements a blur of gold and shadow.

"I will be the workbench!" Damien yelled, stabbing the Pantheon Sword into Krog's armor to anchor himself.

The sword drank the Void energy from Krog's plating, glowing a blinding, painful violet.

"You are the Artificer Prince! Improvise!"

Hephaestus looked at the sword vibrating in Damien's hand. He looked at the chaotic sparks flying from the hilt where the circuit was open.

He looked at Damien, who was burning his own life force to keep them alive.

Something snapped in the Prince's eyes. The fear vanished, replaced by the manic focus of a master craftsman.

"Hold it steady!" Hephaestus roared.

He didn't pull out a regular hammer. He pulled out a Runecarver's Chisel and a portable mana-welder.

"I need to close the mana loop on the hilt! Don't let go, or the feedback will kill us both!"

"Just do it!"

CLANG!

Krog's mechanical claw swept across his back. Damien ducked, the claw shearing off a lock of his silver hair.

Hephaestus didn't flinch. He jammed the chisel into the hilt of the sword, right next to Damien's hand.

SPARK!

"Circuit one, bypass!" Hephaestus shouted, channeling his own mana into the tool. "I'm rerouting the overflow into the blade edge!"

Damien felt the drain on his mana slow down slightly. The sword stopped screaming and started humming.

"It's working!" Damien laughed, a savage sound.

"Get off me!" Krog roared.

The Warden activated his thrusters. He launched himself into the air, aiming to smash his back, and them into the ceiling of the vault.

"He's trying to crush us!" Hephaestus yelled, welding a gold filament onto the blade guard with shaky hands.

"Hang on!"

Damien ripped the sword free.

"Gravity… Anchor!"

He didn't cast it; he used the Contract Gem to pull the spell from Isabelle (wherever she was).

His weight multiplied by ten. Krog's ascent stalled. The sudden change in momentum threw the Warden off balance, crashing him back down to the floor.

CRASH.

Damien rolled off, landing on his feet, sliding across the floor. Hephaestus tumbled next to him but scrambled up instantly, chasing the sword in Damien's hand.

"I'm not done!" Hephaestus shouted, running alongside Damien as they dodged a Void Beam.

"The stabilizer rune! I need to etch it on the blade itself!"

"Do it while I move!" Damien ordered.

He charged Krog.

It was a dance of madness.

Damien attacked, swinging the unfinished sword. Every time the blade clashed with Krog's armor, it absorbed energy.

And in the split second of impact, when the sword was held still by the resistance, Hephaestus would jump in.

CLANG! (Sword hits Krog's leg). TINK-TINK! (Hephaestus hammers a rune).

WHOOSH! (Damien dodges a claw). HISS! (Hephaestus welds a joint).

"Left side!" Hephaestus called out. "Got it!" Damien spun to the left, parrying a blow.

They were a single unit. The Warrior creating the windows of opportunity, the Smith filling them with genius.

Krog was getting furious. "Stop… moving!"

The Warden opened his chest plates. The Void Core shined with blinding intensity.

"Void Nova."

"He's overloading!" Damien shouted. "Hephaestus!"

"Last stroke!" Hephaestus screamed.

He didn't use a tool. He bit his thumb. He slammed his bloody hand onto the flat of the glowing blade.

"Blood Rune: Royal Seal!"

He poured his royal lineage, his authority as the heir to the Ironclan, into the weapon.

FLASH.

The chaotic, shifting colors of the Pantheon Sword suddenly stopped.

The jagged crystal edges smoothed out. The screeching silence died.

The blade turned a pure, translucent white. It hummed with a perfect, harmonious frequency that resonated with Damien's Dual-Core.

[System Alert!] [Weapon Stabilized.] [Item Name: Pantheon, The Prism of Kings.] [Grade: Growth-Type Artifact (Currently Tier 5).] [Effect: Absolute Energy Absorption & Reflection.]

Damien felt the drain stop. Instead, the sword felt like an extension of his arm. It was hungry, but it was no longer eating him.

It was waiting to eat his enemy.

"It's finished," Hephaestus gasped, collapsing to his knees, his mana exhausted.

Krog's chest exploded with power. A shockwave of pure Void energy, a dome of erasure, expanded outward to vaporize the entire room.

"Die!" Krog screamed.

Damien stepped in front of Hephaestus.

He didn't dodge. He didn't run.

He held the Pantheon Sword up with both hands. The blade glowed white.

Damien smiled.

"Now," Damien whispered. "Let's see how much you can eat."

He swung the sword directly into the expanding Void Nova.

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