The moment the lava pool boiled, Raen's vision was swallowed by a blinding orange-red glare.
The heat wave hit him like the breath of a giant beast, sweat on his skin evaporating before it could drip. Instinctively, he turned aside, wrapping the infant tightly with his Elven cloak, while his Frosttongue sword carved out a wall of ice in front of him—
Hiss—!
The clash of ice and fire erupted in scalding steam. Raen's silver hair was instantly soaked with mist, sticking to his cheek. Through the distorted heat haze, he saw Goldlock Forgefire's hands fully merged into the ancient tree's roots. Beneath the Dwarf's skin flowed lava-like veins, and his grin, stretching to his ears, spewed occasional sparks.
"You think you can stop anything?" Goldlock's voice was no longer the rough tone of a Dwarf, but a blend of countless screeches echoing from the Abyss. "The ancient tree has long been marked by the Council. It will become the new 'Divine Vessel'!"
The seven chains piercing the ancient tree suddenly tightened. Dark purple runes pulsated along the links like veins. The faces on the trunk twisted in silent screams, bark cracking inch by inch to reveal flowing black pulp inside—no longer metallic sap, but corrupted Abyssal matter!
The infant in Raen's arms suddenly struggled fiercely, his tiny body burning with alarming heat. His golden pupils contracted into two vertical slits, fixating on the ancient tree nearing collapse. His lips trembled as he uttered a few syllables:
"Can…not…awake…"
Raen's fingertips condensed an ice spike and launched it at Goldlock's throat, but it was swallowed by a sudden pillar of lava three inches from the target.
"Useless, elf." Goldlock's neck unnaturally stretched as his head twisted 180 degrees to look behind him. "Your frost is laughable before the Forgefire secret art—"
His words abruptly cut off.
An arrow suddenly shot down from the cavern ceiling, piercing through Goldlock's mechanical eye! Black-purple pus sprayed out, and the Dwarf let out a howl unlike any human sound.
Raen sharply looked up—
Ravenna knelt on one knee on the root network above the cavern, her shortbow's string still trembling. Her runed arm emitted unstable red light, a familiar smirk on her lips: "Hey, old relic, need some help?"
Ironbeard's figure flashed from the other side. The old Dwarf's warhammer struck heavily against one of the chains, runes erupting shockwaves that caused fine cracks in the link. "Goldlock!" he roared, "You've defiled the Forgefire family's honor!"
"Honor…?" Goldlock's remaining black-hole eye looked at Ironbeard. The eye socket pierced by the arrow oozed black flesh growths. "The Council's gift… is the true power!"
Suddenly, he pulled his hands free from the roots. Lava condensed in his palms into two blazing white battle axes. Even more terrifying, his skin began peeling away extensively, revealing molten muscle beneath—he was no longer a Dwarf, but an Abyssal creature wearing Dwarf skin!
Raen seized the chance to rush toward the ancient tree. His Frosttongue sword slashed at the nearest chain. The blade clashed with the black-purple runes, sparking eerie blue flames, yet the chain did not budge.
"Useless!" Goldlock's voice echoed from all directions as his body merged with the cavern. Seven fiery shadows like him rose from the lava pool. "These chains are forged from 'Dark Iron.' Only Forgefire secret art or—"
A streak of golden light suddenly flashed across the cavern.
The infant had broken free from Raen's arms unnoticed, floating midair. His body appeared semi-transparent, countless fine golden light streams flowing inside, like a humanoid scroll being rapidly read. When he spoke, the voice was no longer childish babble but a steady male tone:
"In the name of Adrian, binding undone."
The golden light pierced the ancient tree's trunk like a sword. The black pulp flowing under the bark suddenly halted. Then, one of the seven chains trembled violently, the runes extinguishing one by one!
"A Paladin's… consciousness?" Raen watched the infant in shock as fragments of memory flashed through his mind—Corrupted Bone Marsh, Adrian's sacrifice, the white light enveloping all…
Goldlock's fiery shadows screamed angrily. Four lava pillars shot toward the infant simultaneously!
Raen leapt without hesitation. Frosttongue sword split into twelve icy blades forming a shield, but half of the crystals melted instantly under the intense heat. As the lava was about to engulf them—
A crimson figure descended from above!
Ravenna's runed arm fully turned dark red. She slammed a fist onto the ground, an alchemical magic circle unfolding beneath it. Violent energy forcibly dispersed the lava, but at the cost of her arm's skin cracking, blood dripping along the runes and bursting into golden flames upon touching the ground.
"Hey, little brat," she gasped toward the infant, "if you wanna help, now's the time!"
The infant looked at her and suddenly pointed at her forehead. A golden light surged into Ravenna's runes, the dark red instantly harmonizing into a gorgeous purple-gold.
"What is—" Ravenna's eyes widened as countless unfamiliar memories flooded her mind: the origin of alchemy, the truth of the mechanical heart, the final ritual in the Corrupted Bone Marsh…
Ironbeard's warhammer struck the chain again. This time, with the infant's weakening effect, a visible crack appeared. "More!" the old Dwarf shouted angrily.
Raen's Frosttongue sword took the chance to pierce the crack. The Elvish incantations fiercely opposed the dark runes on the chain. Suddenly, his left eye turned emerald green—a sign of the awakening power of the Life Ancient God. Vein-like patterns spread from his neck to his cheek.
"In the name of the Seed of Life," he murmured, the sword's edge glowing emerald, "Break!"
Clang—!
The first chain finally shattered!
The cavern began to collapse.
The ancient tree, freed from one chain's restraint, shook violently. The faces on the trunk changed from pain to anger. The roots writhed like giant serpents, pulling away from the lava pool and sending a rain of fire soaring through the air.
The seven fiery shadows of Goldlock merged into a three-meter-tall lava giant. Beneath its black-hole-like eyes, a mouth cracked open, filled with sharp teeth: "You have no idea what you're unleashing!"
Ironbeard wiped the lava off his beard, his one eye fixed tightly on his former lieutenant: "The only thing I want to release is your soul from the clutches of the Abyss, Goldlock."
"My soul?" The lava giant let out a twisted laugh. "It was already offered to the Council alongside the others of the Forgefire family at the ceremony a hundred years ago!"
He slammed his chest violently. Amid flying lava, countless black crystals shot out from within — memory crystals, each reflecting a cruel scene:
Dwarven craftsmen forced to kneel before the Abyssal altar.
Goldlock's grandfather plunging a dagger into his kin's heart.
The infant thrown into the furnace, molten metal poured into his seven orifices…
"The Forgefire family has long been puppets of the Council," the lava giant's voice twisted with glee. "We've been lying in wait within the fortress, just for today!"
Raen raised his Frosttongue sword again, but this time, entwined around the blade were no longer ice crystals, but emerald-green, vine-like energy. The power of the Life Ancient God fused with Elven magic, giving the blade a translucent crystalline texture.
"A century of sins must end."
The lava giant roared, spewing flames, but Raen no longer dodged. He charged through the blaze, the sword's edge tracing a perfect arc—
Swish!
The emerald sword light blossomed like a crescent moon, severing the lava giant's right arm at the shoulder. But no blood flowed from the wound; instead, countless black worms crawled out, ravenously devouring the severed limb, and in an instant, reformed it into a new arm!
"The power of the Life Ancient God?" Goldlock's voice dripped with mockery. "Too bad, you carry more than just its seed—"
Suddenly, the lava giant's chest split open, revealing a pulsating black heart inside. Its surface was covered with blood vessel-like chain patterns, and at its center was embedded a—
Crystal of the Elven Mother Tree.
Raen felt as if struck by lightning; his Frosttongue sword nearly slipped from his grasp. That was the core that vanished when the Elven Forest was destroyed—how could it be here?
"Surprised?" Goldlock laughed. "The Council planted the 'bait' inside you long ago! The Life Ancient God, the Elven Mother Tree, the blessing of the Holy Alliance, the Dragonblood curse... you're nothing but a walking petri dish!"
The edges of Raen's vision began to redden, his emerald left eye contrasting eerily with the right eye gradually turning into a vertical slit. Chaotic fragments of memory churned through his mind:
The cold operating table in the laboratory.
His mother's tearful face as she implanted a magical crystal into his chest.
Twelve masked dwarves cutting open his heart and planting a green seed.
The last smile of Paladin Adrian in the Corrupted Bone Marsh...
"Raen!" Ravenna's voice pierced through the fog. She had somehow climbed onto the ancient tree's trunk, her purple-golden runed arm inserted into a crack. "Don't listen to that lava trash! The second chain—now!"
Raen snapped back to full awareness. His Frosttongue sword lit up once more. But this time, he deliberately avoided the emerald energy and activated another power within—silver-blue Elven magic surged like a tidal wave, spiraling into an energy storm around the blade.
"Winter's End."
The sword light poured like a falling galaxy, striking precisely at the second chain's crack. At the same time, the infant floating in the air raised his hand again. Golden light and silver-blue energy intertwined, forming an incredibly dazzling beam of destructive light—
Boom!
The second chain shattered with a resounding crack!
The lava giant let out an ear-splitting roar, and the lava in the cavern began to rage uncontrollably. But even more astonishingly, at the sites of the broken chains, the bark of the ancient tree visibly began to restore to a silver-gray. Two branches shot out like spears, piercing straight through the lava giant's shoulders!
"No—!" Goldlock's voice started to distort, "The Council promised—!"
Ironbeard's warhammer struck for the third time, this time targeting the lava giant's knee. "In the name of the ancestors of the Deeprock clan!" The old dwarf's one eye shed tears of blood. "End this nightmare!"
All the ancient runes on the hammerhead flared up, and one blow shattered the lava giant's lower half into rubble. Raen leapt forward, Frosttongue sword stabbing directly at the black heart—
The moment the sword's tip touched the Elven crystal, a sudden mutation occurred!
The crystal erupted with dazzling white light. Inside Raen, the powers of the Life Ancient God, the Dragonblood curse, and the Holy Alliance's blessing all surged wildly. His body floated midair, silver hair standing on end, and three different-colored vein-like patterns appeared beneath his skin, as if countless tiny snakes were fighting within his blood vessels.
Most terrifying of all—
That Elven crystal was slowly detaching from the black heart, flying toward him!
Ravenna pulled her bloodied arm out of the crack in the tree trunk, the purple-golden patterns already spreading up to her shoulder. She saw Raen's abnormal condition, cursed, and was about to jump down, but suddenly a tree root wrapped around her ankle.
"Let go of me!" She swung her fist at the root, but heard an ancient voice ring directly in her mind:
"The vessel… must remain whole…"
More fragments of memories flooded in—
Alchemists quietly praying around a mechanical heart embryo.
Old Nick pressing his bloodstained hand against her chest.
At the outpost, the Moon Well resonating with her mechanical heart…
"I see now." Ravenna suddenly laughed, her green eyes flashing with madness. "You little brat, you planned all this from the start, didn't you?"
The infant looked at her and nodded lightly.
Ravenna stopped struggling and instead actively pushed her runed arm fully into the tree trunk: "Then come!"
The purple-golden light poured into the ancient tree like a flood, all the patterns instantly glowing at their brightest. The dark runes on the third chain began to crumble. Ironbeard seized the opportunity and brought his warhammer down again—
Crack!
As the third chain broke, the Elven crystal on Raen's side finally completely detached from the black heart and merged into his chest as flowing light.
The indescribable pain made Raen arch his body; he felt his soul being torn into three parts:
One sank into the emerald Sea of Life.
One soared through the silver moonlit dragon skies.
One stood at the pure white temple of the Holy Alliance.
The lava giant took the chance to rebuild its body, its magma tentacles wrapping toward the out-of-control Raen. At the critical moment—
A flash of golden light passed by.
The infant appeared in front of Raen, a tiny palm pressed against the lava giant. This time, the voice was no longer Adrian's, but an older, more majestic tone:
"Step back."
A simple word, yet it struck the lava giant like lightning, freezing its entire body in place. Goldlock's face twisted in the magma, and for the first time, the black-hole eyes showed… fear.
"Impossible…" His voice broke apart, "You… cannot still be—"
The infant's palm suddenly pierced the lava giant's chest, precisely grabbing the remaining black heart. Golden light burst forth like flames, and the heart was reduced to ash in the pure energy.
The lava giant collapsed.
Before the last trace of Goldlock's consciousness faded, he suddenly looked at Ironbeard and spoke something in the oldest Dwarvish. The old dwarf's one eye widened, and his mechanical eye even sparked from shock.
Then, all fell silent.
Raen fell from midair, barely caught by Ironbeard. The Elven patterns of the Mother Tree crystal appeared faintly on Raen's chest. His breathing was weak but steady.
The ancient tree had broken half its chains. For the first time, the silver-gray canopy stretched open at the cavern's ceiling, forming a metallic starry sky.
Ravenna slid down from the tree trunk. The purple-golden patterns faded back from her arm, but faint golden light still flowed beneath her skin. She staggered over to Raen, trembling fingers reaching for his carotid artery.
"He's still alive." Ironbeard said in a deep voice, but his one eye stared at the infant, "But who exactly is he…"
The infant slowly landed, his golden pupils returning to a childlike innocence. He wobbled over to Ravenna's feet, hugged her calf, rubbed against it like a normal child, then—
Let out a big yawn and fell asleep.
Ravenna and Ironbeard looked at each other.
In the distance, the fourth chain shattered by itself under the ancient tree's power. The loud crack awoke Raen. His emerald left eye slowly opened, and deep in its pupil reflected the revived ancient tree—and an even deeper…Fate.