The moment Aelric charged, the Wardens moved.
Their clock-faced masks snapped toward him, ticking hands spinning wildly. In an instant, they surged forward—crawling along walls, leaping across chains, sliding between the grinding gears.
Elara gasped, raising her dagger. "Aelric!"
But he didn't slow. His corrupted arm writhed, tendrils whipping outward to smash the first wave aside. The Wardens shattered into fragments of light—but then the pieces twisted, reversing through the air, reforming.
Regeneration. Just like the System warned.
"Don't stop moving!" Aelric shouted, his grin wild. "We break the bell or we die here!"
---
The bell tolled again.
The sound ripped through the chamber like a blade. Elara screamed as her wrist burned.
[2 Days: 15 Hours: 32 Minutes] → [2 Days: 14 Hours: 11 Minutes]
Over an hour gone in one heartbeat.
She staggered, clutching her chest. The weight of the toll pressed her to her knees. Every ring wasn't just sound—it was theft.
Her time was being stolen piece by piece.
---
Aelric smashed a Warden's mask, using the recoil to leap forward. His corrupted tendrils lashed out, wrapping around the chains above. He swung himself closer to the bell, ignoring the Wardens clawing at him.
Elara forced herself up, blade trembling. She slashed at the Wardens trying to surround him, her arms aching, lungs burning.
She knew her strikes didn't matter—they would just regenerate. But she couldn't let them swarm him. She wouldn't.
---
As Aelric landed on the central platform beneath the bell, the tower itself reacted.
Chains writhed. Gears groaned. The room tilted, the staircases unraveling into shifting bridges of light. The bell's cracked surface glowed brighter, runes pulsing like veins.
The False Bell was alive.
Elara froze, horror washing over her. "It's not just a bell… it's feeding on us."
The System's voice echoed coldly:
> [The False Bell consumes stolen hours.]
[Sustained existence: dependent on devouring timers.]
She looked at her wrist again, tears welling. [2 Days: 12 Hours: 59 Minutes]
It was eating her life away.
---
Aelric's grin sharpened. "Good. Then we starve it."
He slammed his corrupted arm into the platform, tendrils exploding outward like spears. They pierced the chains anchoring the bell. Metal screamed as links snapped, fragments dissolving into black static.
The bell shuddered, its toll faltering for the first time.
The Wardens shrieked in unison, masks cracking with distorted sound. They swarmed faster, more desperate, their limbs twisting unnaturally as they dove for Aelric.
---
Elara sprinted forward, heart pounding. She slashed through one Warden, ducked under another, and planted herself at Aelric's back.
He glanced over his shoulder, smirk tugging at his lips. "Thought I told you to stay alive, not get in my way."
Her voice shook, but her grip didn't. "I'm not letting you do this alone."
For a second, his grin softened—just a flicker. Then he turned back, pipe raised. "Then we make it loud."
---
Together, they struck.
Elara cut through the Wardens lunging at them, keeping the pressure off. Aelric focused on the chains, tendrils tearing through one anchor after another.
The bell roared in fury, its surface splitting wider. Light bled from the cracks, spilling across the chamber. Each time it rang, more time vanished from their wrists.
Elara's numbers tumbled in sickening drops:
12 Hours… 9 Hours… 7 Hours…
She felt her strength draining, her breaths shorter.
But Aelric kept moving, even as his corrupted veins spread further up his neck, burning like fire.
---
The Wardens closed in, overwhelming. One smashed into Elara, knocking her blade aside. She cried out as claws raked her arm.
Before it could finish her, Aelric's tendrils ripped the Warden apart, his voice a guttural snarl. "Don't touch her!"
His corruption surged violently, black flames hissing across his arm. For a heartbeat, the Wardens recoiled, their masks flickering.
Elara stared at him, terrified. His veins pulsed wildly, his grin twisted, eyes glowing with something both brilliant and dangerous.
"Aelric… you're—"
"I said keep climbing," he growled, wrenching another chain apart.
---
At last, only one chain remained.
The bell shook violently, tolling without pause. Each sound shredded hours at once. Elara collapsed, wrist blazing—her timer crashing into [6 Hours: 21 Minutes]
She sobbed, body trembling. "I'm almost out—I'm almost—"
Aelric grabbed her by the shoulders, forcing her to her feet. His eyes burned, mad and bright.
"Then we finish it now. Before it takes another second."
He swung his corrupted arm high, tendrils lashing at the final chain. The Wardens surged together, a tide of bodies trying to block him.
Elara screamed, dagger flashing. She cut down everything she could reach, bloodied and desperate, holding the swarm back for just one heartbeat longer.
---
The chain snapped.
The bell crashed down, shattering against the platform. Cracks ripped across its surface, the runes flaring violently. A soundless scream tore through the tower as the Wardens dissolved into dust.
The light of stolen hours burst free—rivers of time scattering like stars, rushing upward through the cracks in the ceiling.
Elara's wrist burned again.
Her timer steadied. [2 Days: 14 Hours: 16 Minutes]
Her stolen hours had been returned.
---
She fell to her knees, sobbing with relief. "We… we did it… we actually—"
Aelric staggered beside her, his grin faint but unbroken. His corrupted arm smoked, veins pulsing dangerously.
But his timer glowed steady. [12 Years: 5 Months: 1 Day]
He chuckled, collapsing against the broken bell. "Told you. We just had to hit it hard enough."
Elara laughed through her tears, clutching his sleeve. "You're insane."
"Probably," he rasped. His eyes closed briefly, grin lingering. "But we're alive. That's all that matters."
---
The System's voice filled the chamber.
> [False Bell destroyed.]
[Ashvale Clocktower Trial completed.]
[Remaining Nights: 2.]
[New Trial Unlocked: The Pendulum's Judgment.]
Elara's breath hitched. "Two nights left…"
Aelric's grin sharpened again, blood dripping down his chin.
"Good. Then we're almost at the endgame."