Chapter 15 – Steel Below the Skin
Kael'var was burning slowly—from the inside.
Smoke didn't rise from rooftops but from sewers, factories, and tunnels where Bastion Rix's iron empire spread like infection. He didn't wear robes or rings like the others in the Crimson Circle. No, Bastion wore metal—greaves, gauntlets, and a voice that sounded like steel grinding against stone.
And he was next.
Rayan stood above the rusted ruins of Ironhall's eastern mill. The sky was dark, even in daylight. The smell of oil, sweat, and powdered explosives hung in the air.
Behind him, Kara adjusted her stolen uniform. Torren sat cross-legged, sharpening a hooked blade.
> "We're walking into a warzone," Kara muttered.
> "No," Rayan said, eyes fixed ahead. "We're walking into the heart of the machine."
Commander Elrik's maps had revealed it clearly: Bastion Rix's weapon factories were more than factories—they were fortresses, crawling with armed guards, flame turrets, and silent watchers called the "Black Fangs."
> "They don't speak," Elrik had warned. "They don't sleep. And they never ask questions."
Their goal was buried below Ironhall's central forge: The Core Vault, where Rix's private contracts, weapons plans, and name ledgers were stored—proof of his hand in the Crimson Circle.
> "We get the ledgers," Rayan told his team, "and we name every man he armed in blood."
---
Dressed as merchant engineers, the trio passed the outer gate without trouble. The guards were used to filth-covered workers.
Inside, it was chaos: sparks flying, wheels turning, giant pistons slamming into anvils. Men worked with hollow faces and soot in their eyes.
Kara leaned in. "See those elevator shafts?"
Torren nodded. "Vault's six floors down."
> "Good," Rayan said. "We go quiet from here."
They slipped past the security hatches, moving like ghosts through the arteries of the forge.
At the third floor, they heard it—a deep clang, followed by rhythmic metal footsteps.
> Black Fangs.
Torren whispered, "I'll distract."
Rayan caught his shoulder. "No. You've done enough burning bridges."
Kara slipped a copper spike into the elevator control, rerouting its track. "Let the machinery guide us. It's what Rix trusts."
---
The sixth floor was nothing like the rest.
No heat.
No sound.
Just cold stone walls, reinforced steel, and a single black door marked with a red sun inside an iron ring.
Rayan drew his blade. Kara picked the lock with fingers trembling.
Torren held a smoke pellet ready.
The door opened into darkness.
Inside, vaults stretched across the walls like coffins. Each bore a code. Kara found the ledger chest—C-01.
Torren cracked it open.
Inside: three thick ledgers. Names, shipments, payments, contracts—proof of Bastion Rix's crimes.
> "We have it," Rayan whispered.
Then came the voice.
> "That was your first mistake."
Chapter 16 – Molten Truth
Bastion Rix stood behind them, surrounded by two Black Fangs.
He was taller than Rayan imagined—almost unnatural. One eye was mechanical. His arms were wrapped in steel mesh, and his fists bore burn scars like claw marks.
> "You should've stayed a myth, Ghost," he growled.
Rayan stepped forward, raising his sword.
> "You sell death like bread."
> "I sell what your people are too weak to take. Strength."
> "Strength built on fear dies fast."
Rix grinned. "Let's test that."
With a growl, he lunged—not like a man but like a war machine. His gauntlet slammed into the floor, cracking stone. Sparks flew.
Rayan met him head-on. Steel clashed against steel. His lighter blade danced around Rix's heavy strikes, but the force behind each punch was monstrous.
Kara tossed Rayan a second blade—twin daggers now flashed like lightning in the dark.
Torren handled the Black Fangs, spinning low with his hook blade, slicing tendons and joints.
One Fang dropped.
Rix roared and unleashed a knee strike that sent Rayan skidding.
> "I killed your father!" he spat.
Rayan froze.
> "Kael the Iron Flame. Burned him in front of the council. They all cheered."
Something inside Rayan broke.
He dropped his fear. Dropped his hesitation.
He didn't fight like a rebel anymore.
He fought like a ghost of vengeance.
He rushed forward with no sound, sliding under Rix's strike, leaping up to slam both blades into Rix's shoulder seam.
Steel buckled. Sparks burst.
Rix staggered back, roaring, as Kara hurled a vial of acid into his face. He screamed, dropped his weapon, and fell to one knee.
Rayan stood over him.
> "Kael's blood doesn't kneel to monsters."
He drove his blade into Rix's chest—not deep, but deliberate.
Rix gasped.
> "You'll never stop the Circle…"
> "But I'll make them bleed."
Rix collapsed.
The vault was theirs.
---
Back on the surface, the news traveled fast: Bastion Rix – dead. His vault breached. Ghost survives.
The Crimson Circle panicked.
Lord Varlon left the Trade Council.
Seris vanished from her holding cell.
Kellor moved his shipments offshore.
But none of them could erase what was already done.
The Iron Veins of Kael'var had been severed.
And now the blood flowed free.