As the last wave of Disciples fell, the group pushed onward.
Their bodies were bruised, cut, and exhausted—but they'd survived. The final hallway lay ahead, flanked by towering conduits and an ominous golden door pulsing with light.
Lenny limped slightly as he stepped beside Henry.
Lenny: "That core… it's more than power. It's broadcasting something. Almost like a… heartbeat."
Jack throws a disciple body away.
Jack: "So let's stop the heart."
Henry: "No. First we find out what it's connected to."
Emilia (coldly): "And then we stop it."
They stepped forward, toward the golden door—unaware that far above the tower, gravity had begun to shift.
The sky above the Neon District fractured, not from sound—but from weight.
A faint ripple passed through the city, and for a brief second, buildings leaned. Neon lights flickered and dripped downward, defying physics.
A man walked through the center of the city. Cloaked in midnight black, with flowing robes that dragged the ground behind him, and a dog-like tail that peeked from behind his cloak. He wore no visible armor. Only a thin black circlet floated above his head.
As he walked, cars crumpled inward. Light itself bent around him.
The golden door slid open with a quiet hiss, revealing a dark chamber pulsing with deep, rhythmic light—like a heartbeat.
Henry stepped forward slowly, the group behind him, weapons drawn, breaths sharp. The walls inside weren't steel—they were organic metal, pulsing with red veins that glowed faintly under the golden illumination.
In the center of the chamber stood a towering obsidian pillar, connected by hundreds of cables and gravitational rings. Inside the pillar, suspended in golden fluid, was something that made everyone freeze:
A cocoon—human in shape but far too large.
It pulsed with light. Not artificial. Not mechanical.
Living.
Emilia (whispering): "Is that… a person?"
Jack: "Or what's left of one."
Around the cocoon, dozens of glowing rings floated midair—each marked with aura fragments, flickering like broken memories. The energy being drawn in wasn't just from machines.
Ichiro: "They're building a soul construct."
Lenny (horrified): "It's a prototype. A vessel. To contain something divine."
Lenny backed away slowly.
Lenny: "This… This isn't a generator. This is a temple."
Jack: "And they're going to try to stuff something and create a god inside it."
At the base of the construct, glowing text in old imperial script flickered:
PHASE OMEGA – ASCENSION STAGE: UNSTABLE
INITIATOR TARGET:
Elion Vaydrin
Henry Dreherg
The group went still.
Lenny (coldly): "…They want you, Henry. Alive. For this."
Henry became speechless. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.
Why him? He thought.
Without hesitation, Jack formed a scale-blade, and Ichiro raised his katana—and both drove it into the base of the core.
The whole chamber screamed.
Veins snapped, rings shattered. The cocoon thrashed violently, then exploded into a mass of cracking light.
The construct was destroyed.
At the top of the tower, under a pulsing gravitational sky, Zorath Veil stood silently at the edge of the rooftop platform. Around him, the Neon District bent, windows rippling like water, and weight itself reordering.
His cloak floated behind him like a dark tide.
Ravenous Halo appeared beside him, kneeling without a word.
Zorath did not look at him.
Zorath Veil (calmly): "They reached the prototype."
Ravenous Halo: "They destroyed it. The cocoon collapsed."
Zorath closed his eyes.
Zorath: "That shell was imperfect."
He raised one hand.
The air crushed downward—an entire block of buildings folding in on itself like cardboard. No sound. Just impact.
Zorath (quietly): "Begin the real harvest. Activate the gravitational net."
Ravenous Halo: "Phase Omega?"
Zorath turned to him, eyes glowing faintly purple.
Zorath: "No. We no longer operate under Midas' designations. His ideas have never suited my beliefs. This is my phase now."
He raised his hand.
Across the city, hundreds of gravitational anchors lit up. And beneath the city, aura fragments began to rise.
The chamber was flooded in quiet gold. Thin streams of data projected from crystalline tablets, flickering with thousands of live feeds from Neoterra's inner systems.
King Midas stood alone before a visual, watching as dozens of gravitational anchors lit up across the city.
His golden teeth clenched slowly behind a cold smile.
Midas (to himself): "He's triggering the anchors… without me."
The visual shifted, displaying an aerial feed:
Zorath Veil, standing atop the Sector Twelve tower, arms extended like a prophet.
Midas' fingers twitched, and a data spike shot forward. Access: DENIED.
His access to the Grid Core… was locked.
Midas (darkly): "…He's severed my root command."
He turned slowly as a voice entered the room. A golden robotic droid.
Droid: "Sir, the soul draw rate is off the chart. At this pace, the city's net will collapse in under forty-eight hours."
Midas' voice dropped to a razor's edge.
Midas: "That wasn't the plan. My plan."
He slammed his fist into the table. Golden sparks erupted from the console.
Midas: "Zorath was meant to pave the way—hold the city down long enough for me to retrieve the boy. Not initiate Omega on his own."
Behind him, Harlekin stood leaning against the far wall, his usual grin more curious than mocking now.
Harlekin: "So… is this the part where you admit you've lost control of your little gravity pet?"
Midas spun on him, eyes flaring with fury.
Midas: "Zorath is a tool. And like all tools—he can be broken."
Harlekin twirled a knife lazily between his fingers.
Harlekin: "Mm. The problem is… tools don't usually lock the master out."
Midas quickly calmed down.
Midas: "The black halo…the ascendant project and phase omega all were just a silly little experiment."
Harlekin: "Calling a project which intended to create a literal god that serves under your command a silly little experiment…and I am called a clown?"
Midas becomes furious. He turns to Harlekin, punching him against the wall, but when the illusion dissolves, he sees his shattered golden droid."
A maniacal laugh echoed through the golden room.
Back in the lower chambers, Sector Twelve began to fall apart.
The gravitational anchors beneath the tower shuddered, tearing through the walls like invisible blades.
Henry shouted, pulling Lenny back from a collapsing platform.
Henry: "Move! The whole building's coming down!"
Metal screamed, twisting around them. Down the main corridor, an entire section of the ceiling folded downward, flattening the path like a fist from the sky.
Jack dug his claws into the wall and burst forward, smashing open an emergency escape shaft.
Jack: "In here! GO!"
Ichiro pushed Lenny in first, followed by Emilia—half-mist, shielding the group from flying debris.
Henry stayed back a moment, turning to look at the now-pulsing cocoon core behind them—no longer active, but still glowing faintly.
Henry (quietly): "You wanted me for this…"
The floor gave way.
Henry leapt into the shaft just as the entire chamber imploded, gravitational pressure crushing everything above.