The earth groaned beneath the city of Valtheria.
Deep in the bowels of the Trinity Vault, steel sang and runes screamed. Protocol Leviathan—a weapon born of divine fear and arcane desperation—was waking.
Engines powered by godlight surged. Chains melted into light. The colossus stirred.
It had no soul. Only purpose.
Eradicate the Archon.
Duskfall - Forgehouse
Altharion's head snapped up mid-meditation.
The ripple in the Arcane Web was undeniable. Something massive, ancient, and broken was moving beneath the ley lines. A predator awakened.
He stood.
"They've unleashed it..." he muttered.
The disciples looked at him in confusion.
"What is it, master?" asked the girl with the scarred face.
"A mistake they buried long ago. One even they feared."
He turned to his glyph wall, drawing new sigils at speed. Defense patterns. Dispersal fields. Energy siphons.
"You will not face this," he told them. "But you will watch. And you will learn what it means to be hunted by your own creation."
Celestial Dome - Observation Deck
Helios watched as Leviathan ascended from its cradle.
Over thirty meters tall, forged from dusksteel and blessed with ten thousand divine seals, the construct resembled a giant cloaked in shifting armor, its face a featureless void.
"Engagement path confirmed," an attendant announced.
Helios narrowed his eyes. "Let him see it. Let him remember it."
Duskfall - Above the Slums
The skies tore open.
A spiral of light descended as Leviathan arrived. The ground cracked beneath its landing. Buildings buckled. Civilians fled, screaming.
Altharion stood alone at the center.
He stared up at the machine that once hunted him in the war that shattered empires.
"You still wear the same armor," he called out. "Still rely on chains you do not understand."
Leviathan raised an arm.
A massive rune ignited—one designed to erase magical presence entirely.
Altharion raised his own hand.
Reality bent.
The attack dissolved before it struck.
Then he vanished.
Reappeared above Leviathan.
Whispered a word.
"Collapse."
A symbol detonated across the sky. Leviathan staggered. Runes flickered. Shields failed for a heartbeat.
And Altharion dropped like a comet, slamming his palm against its chestplate.
Runes met runes.
The blast flattened three city blocks.
Celestial Dome - Panic
"Target integrity at sixty percent!"
"Containment field is destabilizing!"
Helios slammed his fist against the console. "It wasn't supposed to weaken!"
A voice echoed through the scrying crystal.
"I remember your weapons, Helios. Just as I remember your lies."
Final Scene - Aftermath
Leviathan stood, cracked and hissing, retreating into the skies on emergency recall protocols.
Altharion stood amid the ruins, robes torn, bleeding but smiling.
He turned to his disciples.
"You saw. You learned. Now you understand: even gods fall."