The descent into the lowest strata of Odis was like entering the digestive tract of a cosmic god. As Yun, Shara, and Meilin moved deeper, the neon lights of the upper city faded, replaced by the bioluminescent glow of "Ghost Qi" moss that grew on the colossal, petrified ribs of the colossus. The air was thick, tasting of rust, sulfur, and a strange, ancient vibration that made Yun's chaos bones hum in recognition.
They reached a district known as the "Abyssal Marrow." Here, the elite of the lawless didn't trade in gold, but in parts—remnants of spiritual beasts, fragments of fallen stars, and the marrow of dead sovereigns. In the center of this graveyard of power stood a workshop unlike any other, carved into a massive spinal vertebrae that hummed with a low, dissonant frequency.
Inside, there was no fire. Instead, the room was filled with oscillating glass tubes and silver wires that channeled raw resonance. The man standing at the center was Silas, the Bone Smith. He was a wiry figure, his own spine replaced by a complex mechanical rig with six additional metallic arms, each holding a different precision tool. He didn't work with hammers; he worked with the "Sighs of the Void."
"Haku's Heir," Silas whispered, his multiple hands freezing mid-air. He didn't look at Yun's face, but at his neck, where the thorn-crown mark pulsed with a violet intensity. He approached, his mechanical eyes clicking and whirring as they scanned Yun's skeletal structure. "I have waited four hundred years for a canvas like you. A boy whose body is a bridge to nowhere."
Shara stepped forward, her hand resting on her jade sword, her protective instincts heightened by the eerie atmosphere. "Haku said you owed him a life, Silas. We need a weapon for Yun, something that won't be devoured by his own power."
Silas let out a dry, rattling laugh. "A weapon? You don't understand. Yun is the weapon. What he needs is a focusing lens, an extension of his will that can survive the absolute zero of the Void. But I cannot forge it from ordinary matter. If I use earthly steel, his bones will eat the blade the moment he draws it."
He pointed toward a massive, flickering hologram at the back of the shop—the advertisement for the Grand Arena of Odis. "There is a creature captured in the Star-Sealed Wastes. They call it the Star-Eater Beast. It is a biological paradox, a creature that feeds on the light of suns to maintain its physical form while its heart remains anchored in the Void. I need its Ethereal Heart."
Meilin crossed her arms, her crimson eyes reflecting the sparks of the resonance tubes. "The Grand Arena? That's the heart of Odis's corruption. If Yun fights there, the Empire's spies will find us in a heartbeat. You're asking us to walk into a furnace."
"I am asking you to prove that the Void is more than just a hungry mouth," Silas retorted, his mechanical arms gesturing wildly. "Without that heart, any tool I make will be a toy. With it, I can forge the Void Reaver—a blade that doesn't cut flesh, but severs the connection between a soul and its destiny."
Yun walked closer to the hologram, his violet eyes reflecting the image of the beast—a terrifying entity of shadow and starlight. He felt a strange pull, a resonance that echoed the vision he had at the Hermit's hut. The beast wasn't his enemy; it was his missing piece.
"We go to the Arena," Yun said, his voice carrying a new, chilling authority. He turned to Shara and Meilin, seeing the flicker of fear in their eyes—not fear of the beast, but fear for him. He reached out, his translucent fingers grazing Shara's hand and Meilin's shoulder. "You both have given me your Qi and your fire to keep me anchored. Now, I need you to help me claim what is mine. We won't just participate. We will dominate."
Silas smiled, a terrifying expression of metallic teeth. "Then go. Register as the 'Trinity of the End.' If you survive the first night, I will prepare the forge. Odis is about to learn that the Heir of the Titan doesn't follow the laws of the world—he replaces them."