Darkness poured into Rayne's ears and nose like molten metal.
The messenger's black shadow coiled around his limbs, every inch of contact sending the agony of ten thousand needles stabbing into his flesh at once. Worse still, the dark matter was trying to worm its way into his veins—searching for the crystal of the Elven Mother Tree.
"Found you… key…"
The messenger's voice echoed directly inside his skull. Seven eyes spun madly within the darkness, reflecting the flow of four different energies inside Rayne's body. The emerald life energy was being suppressed, the inherited elven nature magic turned sluggish, the Holy Alliance's sealing power flickered in and out—only the dark-red dragonblood curse rejoiced, eagerly welcoming the darkness's intrusion.
Rayne's right eye had already transformed completely into a vertical slit pupil. Dark-red lines crept up his neck and across his cheek. He bit the tip of his tongue, the taste of blood and the stab of pain snapping his mind into brief clarity. With great effort, his left hand formed an ancient gesture—
Dragon-Tongue Magic: Bloodburn.
The dark-red lines flared violently. Tiny beads of blood seeped from his skin, igniting into crimson-gold flames the instant they touched the shadow.
"Tssraaaahhh!"
The messenger screamed at a piercing frequency, forced to release part of its grip. Rayne seized the chance to drive the Frost-Whisper sword into his own left shoulder, unleashing water magic from the school of nature through the wound—its force clashing against the dragonflame to create an explosive backlash.
Boom!
The shockwave hurled both him and the messenger away. Rayne slammed into the control console, the pain in his spine dimming his vision, but at least the control had been broken.
Staggering to his feet, he saw the entire ley-line core laboratory had descended into chaos—
Ironbeard's warhammer had smashed three main energy conduits, and the erupting ley-line fluid flooded half the room like a glowing tidal wave.
Ravenna's rune arm was plunged into the control console, purple-gold lines spreading like a virus to infect the alchemy matrix. The twelve crystal pillars were shattering one after another.
And most chilling of all—
The baby was floating before the central container, his tiny hand pressed against the transparent shell. Golden light clashed violently with the dark matter inside. Adrian's phantom flickered in and out behind him.
"Rayne! Behind you!" Ravenna's scream cut through the din.
The messenger's shadow was re-forming in midair—this time abandoning its humanoid shape, becoming instead a giant raven's beak that plunged down toward Rayne.
He rolled aside, raising the Frost-Whisper sword to block—when three silver-blue arrows suddenly shot in from the flank, piercing straight through the beak's "upper jaw."
The half-elf had somehow awakened again and followed them here. Her right arm was entirely shattered; she held the crystal bowstring in her teeth, her left eye burning with fierce resolve.
"Core… overloading…" she called out thickly. "Ten seconds…"
Rayne understood her instantly. He sprinted toward the central container, four energies surging through his legs for propulsion. Five meters—three—one—
The messenger's shadow crashed down from the ceiling like a wave.
"Too late!" Ironbeard roared, hurling his warhammer. The runes flared in midair, forming a brief barrier.
Ravenna suddenly leapt from the console, her rune arm transforming entirely into a purple-gold spear. "Catch!"
She tore the arm from her own body and hurled it to Rayne.
He snatched the spear in mid-leap, using his momentum to drive it hard into the container—
Crack!
The transparent shell split with spiderweb fractures. The golden light from the baby's hand poured in, tangling with the dark matter inside. The entire container shuddered violently, its internal magic energy spiking into madness.
The half-elf used the last of her strength to hurl herself onto the main console, her broken body shielding it from the alchemists who tried to intervene. Her crystalline right eye met Rayne's gaze, and her mouth curved into a smile of release.
"May the gears… turn forever…"
Light swallowed everything.
The ley-line writhed like a giant glowing python.
Rayne struggled to keep his balance amidst the magical turbulence; the protective barrier formed by the four energies was continuously being eroded. Ravenna's severed arm began to bleed again, and Ironbeard's mechanical eye flickered incessantly due to the energy interference.
The worst was the infant's condition—the skull mark was expanding, black light spreading outward like tentacles. Every time Rayne tried to suppress it with energy, it would be reflected back by some higher-ranked entity.
"What exactly is inside him?" Ravenna shouted through the energy turmoil.
"Adrian said it's a 'prison'." Rayne's emerald left eye revealed more details. "But I think…the real focus is what the prison is holding."
Suddenly the ley-line took a sharp turn, throwing them into a tributary. The surrounding rock walls were embedded with mechanical structures—gears and pistons composing a vast underground factory. And straight ahead—
A giant tree completely encased in metal stood in the hollow's center.
"The second Watcher." Ironbeard's mechanical eye wildly adjusted focus. "Even more thoroughly shackled than the Ironroot Ancient Tree!"
The metal shell of the giant tree was inscribed with alchemical runes. Dozens of thick conduits pierced its trunk, extracting not sap but a dark green crystal. Even stranger, beneath the tree knelt twelve figures clad in white robes, their backs connected by conduits to the tree, clearly under deep control.
"The Lord of Glass City and the Council's top brass…" Ironbeard's voice dripped with killing intent. "They are directly siphoning the Ancient Tree's consciousness."
Rayne suddenly held back the two others, signaling to hide. A patrol passed below—not Observers, but soldiers clad in black armor, their chests bearing an emblem of a crow clutching a gear.
"Mechanical abominations of the Abyssal Council." Ravenna whispered. "I've seen them on black market bounty lists. Each one can take down a dragon alone."
The infant twitched suddenly in Rayne's arms; the skull mark's black light flared wildly. At the same moment, a rune on the metal tree abruptly extinguished, and a small patch of the shell fell away, revealing silver-gray primal bark beneath.
"He's resonating!" Rayne understood immediately. "After Adrian's consciousness faded, he instinctively sought help from the other Watchers!"
Ironbeard calculated the patrol's route.
"To get close to the Ancient Tree, we have to deal with that patrol first."
Ravenna checked her remaining dagger.
"I'll draw away three."
"No." Rayne stopped her. "I have a better plan."
He gently pried open the infant's hand and took out the Deeprock family crest. He infused the emblem with four energies; streams of emerald, deep purple, gold, and dark red light swirled between the gears.
"Ironbeard, do dwarves have anything like a 'bloodline resonance' secret art?"
The one-eyed dwarf squinted.
"You want to use the crest to activate the Ancient Tree's internal defenses? That's too risky! If it triggers a self-destruct magic array—"
"Then I'll take that risk." Rayne threw the crest into the air above the patrol. "Better than waiting to die."
The crest arced through the air, landing precisely in the center of the patrol. Ten seconds of silence passed—
Click.
All the armored soldiers simultaneously turned their heads; the sensors under their helmets locked onto the crest.
"Deeprock… traitor…"
Amid the synthetic mechanical roar, the entire underground factory suddenly lit up with blinding red light!