If you guys get confused by some of the terms used and shit, know that you are not alone. I initially wrote the chapter and due to not being being knowledgeable on commands and these types of things I had to run it through chat gbt to make it professional in some sense. I did clean it up though but I still got confused.
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A few minutes earlier—
Deep underground, far from the noise of battle, was the Sanctum.
It wasn't a throne room or anything fancy—just a dark, cramped chamber carved out of stone.
The only light came from clusters of green crystals. They flickered weakly, casting sick shadows across the walls.
Floating in the air were maps of Knossos, tunnels lit up with red marks showing where Loki Familia had pushed through.
Other crystals showed broken feeds of the fighting—Riveria freezing hybrids, Finn's spear flashing through the dark, and the wreckage of a collapsed regeneration node, bodies buried under stone and dust.
This was Evilus's command room.
The crystals hummed quietly, the air heavy and tense.
The only real noise was the click of control runes and Dix Perdix's ragged breathing.
Dix slammed his fist on the obsidian table, the crack echoing through the chamber.
"Gamma-7 is gone! That damned Riveria!" he shouted, spit flying as he glared at the projection of the ruined node.
Data scrolled across the display—decay spreading through Sector Theta, resonance fields breaking down.
His goggles whirred as he zoomed in on the fractures.
"Months of work, and it's all collapsing! Sector Theta's dropping fast—they're ripping my labyrinth apart!"
Knossos was supposed to be his masterpiece, his inheritance from Daedalus.
Every breach felt like someone tearing pieces out of him.
Vados sat back, running a cloth over his jagged dagger. The scars on his face and his flat tone said enough—he wasn't here for speeches.
"Your masterpiece is under siege, Perdix," he said without looking up.
"Screaming at the wall won't stop Deimne's spear or that elf's magic. My people are dying out there on your defenses. They're buying you minutes, not miracles."
The crystals flickered, showing Loki Familia pushing forward, Evilus fighters dropping one after another. To Vados, it was simple: bodies spent to slow the enemy down.
"So," he asked, voice cold and steady, "what's your real plan?"
"Fix it? Countermove?" Dix snapped, spinning on Vados with wild gestures at the projection.
"The harmonics are wrecked! The feedback's tearing into the Dungeon itself! I need resources—now!"
He jabbed at the console, barking rapid orders. "Wake up the Carnelian Golems in Sector Epsilon! Pump corrosive mist into Beta-12—full blast! Push the Loki rats into the Bonegrinder Gauntlet and let that chew them up!"
His hands shook as he pointed at another display. "Cut power from Kappa and Lambda's lights. Reroute it into Theta's reinforcement fields. Prioritize Junction Twelve!"
The junior tech at the station nearly jumped out of their skin, scrambling to obey.
Enyo sat at the head of the table, motionless in his dark robes.
When he finally spoke, his voice cut clean through Dix's ranting and Vados's sharp remarks.
"Diverting soldiers and energy to a node that's already gone is a waste," he said calmly. "Loki Familia's advance is following Scenario Gamma exactly as expected."
Everyone turned toward the robed figure at the head of the table.
Even Vados, who normally didn't flinch at anything, sat up a little straighter.
Enyo was the one who had kept Evilus alive in the shadows—the planner, the one who made Knossos work.
He lifted a hand and the scry-crystal zoomed out, showing more of the battlefield.
Loki Familia was still pushing forward, but they looked rough. Gareth's shield was scarred from acid, Finn's arm was wrapped, Riveria looked a little drained from casting too much.
"Stop staring at the hole in the wall," Enyo said calmly.
"They're burning through energy. Every fight shows us how they move, how they react. And every win makes them think they're in control."
The projection lit up with a few branching tunnels.
They looked open, but it was clear they'd been set up on purpose.
"We don't need to stop them here. Just steer them. Let them keep going until they walk straight into Sector Omicron — the Crucible. That's where we'll crush them."
Vados nodded slowly, catching on. "So we just bait them. Let them waste energy breaking the outer layers, thinking they're getting to the core, while we shore up the real center and get our reserves ready. Makes sense. But Pallum's smart — he's going to see the funnel coming."
"He might," Enyo said smoothly, totally calm.
"Competent leaders notice things. Doesn't matter. They want to mess with our core, they'll keep pushing, keep taking hits. Their own momentum does the work for us. Their path ends up exactly where we want them — deep in our traps and exposed."
Dix scowled at the ruined node on the map. "The damage from Gamma-7? It's already cracking the nearby walls in Theta Sublevel Four! If it keeps going—"
"Enough," Enyo said, calm and cutting him off.
"Start emergency protocols for Theta and Iota. Seal Gamma-Twelve through Fifteen. Collapse the tunnels we don't need in Tango-Seven and Whiskey-Three. Redirect the energy where it won't hurt us."
He leaned back slightly.
"That instability? Don't fight it. Use it. Knock rocks onto their flanks, open chasms under their rear. Let the dungeon work for us. Turn the mess into an advantage."
A new alert blinked on a secondary console, casting a sharp blue glow.
A communications officer looked up, pale under the light.
"Director, we've got a high-priority scry-feed from Crossroads Junction. Unplanned incursion. Source… leftover mana from the earlier fight briefly bypassed the dampening fields."
On a nearby projection, a low quality, flickering image appeared.
It was distorted by distance and magic, but the scene was clear enough to be alarming.
Lefiya Viridis, the rookie mage, stumbled into the ruined chamber Finn's team had left.
Her robes were torn, her face streaked with dirt and sweat, and her eyes wide with shock and exhaustion.
In front of her, Zamasu stood perfectly still, green-skinned and imposing.
Over his shoulder, limp and bloodied, was the unconscious Filvis Challia.
The Sanctum went quiet, heavier than the stone around it.
The crystals' hum seemed to drop lower, almost menacing.
Vados hissed, sharp and tense. "Filvis… captured? By who? And what the hell is that green-skinned thing? Scry feed—enhance the signature!"
He leaned forward, forgetting his dagger, all business and panic now.
Dix pushed his goggles tighter, lenses spinning. "I've never seen this guy before. I don't even know what this is. It's screwing with all our scrying tools!"
For a moment, his panic over Gamma-7 faded, replaced by shocked fascination and technical confusion.
Enyo didn't move. Just a tiny tilt of his head toward the feed showed he'd noticed.
"The anomaly," he murmured, curiosity creeping into his calm voice. "That vortex on the 25th floor… yeah, we've got visual confirmation."
Reports about a sudden vortex and some unknown figure appearing during the Filvis-Lefiya fight had been logged before but mostly ignored as battlefield chaos.
Seeing Zamasu now, and the power that had completely overpowered Filvis, changed everything.
This wasn't some random quirk—it was a real threat.
"Filvis knows the secondary ritual sites, the hidden supply caches, the escape routes through the unstable tunnels!" Dix shouted, panic creeping in.
His anger from before vanished, replaced by dread. "If the Pallum gets her and makes her talk…"
"She's compromised," Vados said flatly, already running calculations in his head.
His icy focus snapped back into place. "She's high-level, critical… a huge risk. The Pallum's team pushing toward the core is bad enough. Now this… unknown power linked to her? We can't measure it. Can't take the chance. Protocol's clear—contain it."
His hand shot over the obsidian table, hovering above a rune-engraved panel glowing faint red.
"Flatten the Crossroads. Collapse Sector Sigma. Seal it under five hundred meters of stone. Bury the liability and the anomaly together. Now."
"No."
Enyo's single word cut through the room like a snap, sharp enough to make Vados freeze mid-motion.
"Filvis still has value," he said calmly, leaving no room for argument.
"If we can recover her, do that. If not… a precise, targeted termination is fine. Wiping the whole sector? Overkill. We'd lose intel on the anomaly."
His gaze lingered on the image of Zamasu. "But the bigger problem is him. This… green-skinned guy. Something off about him. Could be extremely useful."
The room went quiet.
Everyone understood: destroying him outright would waste something potentially more valuable than just taking him out.
Enyo turned slowly toward a dark alcove at the back of the room.
A massive crystal cylinder glowed deep crimson. Inside, suspended in a thick, nutrient-rich fluid and hooked up to pulsing cables, was Revis.
The details were hazy through the scry-feed, but the sheer, dangerous power radiating from the eoman was obvious.
"Priority override," Enyo said, his calm voice making the crystal arrays flicker. "Juggernaut Unit. Deploy. Now. Crossroads Junction, Sector Sigma."
The pod hummed, a low, heavy vibration that made the whole room tense.
Lights blinked rapidly on the console.
The crimson fluid swirled. And then Revis's eyes snapped open, glowing amber and cold, empty of thought or feeling, but ready to strike.
Hydraulic locks disengaged with heavy thunks.
"Listen carefully," Enyo said, his voice calm but firm.
"First, get Filvis out. Bring her back 'safe' if you can. Kill her only if there's no other option or she's about to be lost."
"Second, grab that green-skinned guy, Zamasu. Use only what force you need to take him down. Kill him only if there's no way to capture him safely. Keep him intact if possible—we need to study him."
"Third, clean up any Loki Familia around. No witnesses."
The hum grew louder as the cables detached with sharp hisses.
The cylinder's front iris opened, spilling red light across the floor.
Revis climbed out, water and fluid sliding off her black gear.
She landed lightly on the stone, taking a quick breath, scanning the alcove as if checking her bearings.
She straightened, muttering under her breath, "Alright… 20 minutes. Let's not waste them."
Without hesitation, she sprinted toward the launch chute, moving fast The chute hissed shut behind her.
"Deployment confirmed," the comms officer said, voice tight. "Juggernaut Unit's on the way. ETA Crossroads Junction: 20 minutes."
Vados nodded, a faint spark of satisfaction in his eyes. Practical. Efficient. Maximum impact, minimal waste.
Dix grumbled under his breath about "reckless moves" and "collateral damage," but even he went quiet, eyes fixed on the sealed chute.
Revis was precise and unstoppable—a perfect response to both Loki's push and the wildcard that was Zamasu.
The cost? Worth it.
Enyo leaned back, unreadable as ever.
On the main projection, Finn's group cautiously navigated the unstable corridor deeper into Sector Omicron, heading toward the Crucible, unaware of what was coming.
On a secondary feed, Lefiya pointed toward a tunnel exit on the far side of the ruined Crossroads chamber.
Zamasu stood still beside her, silent and imposing, Filvis slung limply over his shoulder.
"The Crucible's ready," Enyo muttered, almost to himself. "Let's see what it's made of."
The lights dimmed a little, drawing attention to the empty alcove and the sealed chute.
Revis's departure played on the screens—a blur of precision moving toward the Crossroads.
Everyone knew how high the stakes were for Evilus.
Chapter 47 end