The ringing in Kaelen's ears wasn't the silence of the blackout; it was the echo of that massive CLANG—the sound of heavy machinery impacting the ancient foundations. The Mechanist Corps was not drilling; they were breaching.
The Watchman's voice, calm and metallic, filled the chamber: "The Mechanist Corps has deployed three Sentry-Golems and two platoons of Enforcers to the structural supports directly above us. They are attempting to collapse the foundation to access the Regulator. Time to Key Synthesis: 44 minutes, 20 seconds. We are now under siege."
Kaelen felt a cold dread, but also a fierce, protective instinct. He was the organic shield, the final line of defense for a digital god.
He tore his hand away from the Regulator, the tingling cold of the First Surge Signature still clinging to his skin. He grabbed his wrench and spun towards Elara, who was already scrambling into action.
"They're coming from above!" Kaelen yelled over the grinding sounds. "The foundation supports!"
Elara pointed to the floor. The ceramic tiles were perfectly clean, but she knew the architecture. "The Aetheric Regulator is supported by four primary Pressure Rods. They run down into the bedrock. They are the only viable path for the Corps. We have to defend those rods!"
Kaelen looked at the four massive, polished brass columns that anchored the pedestal, realizing they were not decorative; they were the structural weak points.
"How do we fight Golems with a wrench?"
Elara, always thinking in systems, not strength, was already connecting wires from her circuit board to a small, labeled maintenance port near the door. "We don't fight Golems head-on. We use the environment. This chamber is a closed loop, Kaelen. The Watchman can cycle the atmospheric pressure. But I need to connect the venting system to the Regulator's Crystal Coils."
"You want to flood the chamber with concentrated Aether?" Kaelen asked, recognizing the insane, suicidal plan.
"No, I want to vent the Aetheric Waste from the Coils—the high-pressure, non-conductive byproduct. If I can hit the Golems with a jet of that, their systems will seize," Elara said, her eyes gleaming with manic focus. "But I need time to splice the pressure valve."
Time. That was the only currency they had.
Kaelen sprinted to the nearest Pressure Rod, directly beneath the loudest grinding noise. He pressed his ear to the cool brass. He could hear the metallic screaming of a drill eating into the foundation.
He ripped a jagged piece of copper cable from his scavenging kit and jammed one end into a micro-port on the Quantum Disc. He didn't care about conserving the charge anymore.
Aura. Gravitic Pulse. Focus on the metal 100 feet above us. Just one pulse. Make them think the foundation is unstable.
Aura: Executing. One Gravitic shockwave requires 10% of remaining charge. Initiating Now.
Kaelen felt the Disc vibrate violently. A silent, non-physical wave of force shot upwards.
CRACK!
The grinding noise stopped instantly. It was replaced by the panicked shouts of the Enforcers and the loud, metallic THUD of a heavy object falling a short distance.
The Watchman: "Target one—Sentry-Golem Alpha—temporarily immobilized. The sudden Gravitic pressure shift confused its stabilization protocols. Excellent tactical deployment, Mechanist."
The respite was momentary. A new, more sustained drilling began on the second Pressure Rod. They had learned the first sound was a distraction.
"Second Rod! Elara, how long?"
"Twenty minutes to splice the valve! I need the Watchman to divert power!"
Kaelen couldn't hold them all. He ran to the second Rod, but before he could activate the Disc again, the first Enforcers broke through the primary foundation wall, directly into the chamber.
Three soldiers, their bronze armor caked in dust and pulverized rock, staggered into the pristine room. They didn't hesitate. Two raised their Steam-Rifles, aiming at Kaelen, and one raised a massive Aetheric Net Gun toward Elara.
"Stop the Regulator! Secure the Relic!" the leading Enforcer roared.
Kaelen acted purely on instinct. He knew he couldn't dodge the Aether beam.
He spun the Quantum Disc in his hand and flung it—not at the soldiers, but at the polished ceramic floor between them.
Slam!
The impact was minimal, but the sudden, localized shock of the Quantum Disc hitting the perfect ceramic caused the ancient floor to briefly dematerialize—a localized, two-foot wide pit of pure, dark conceptual nothingness, a temporary glitch in reality.
The two riflemen, mid-stride, dropped instantly into the void. Their screams were cut short as the floor instantly snapped back into place, sealing them beneath the surface.
The third Enforcer, holding the Net Gun, stared at the floor, his mind short-circuiting at the sight of his comrades being erased by pure physics.
"Deletion!" he screamed, his voice breaking.
Kaelen didn't give him a chance to recover. He charged, wrench in hand, and slammed the heavy tool into the Enforcer's glass helmet. The helmet shattered, sending the soldier reeling into the wall, unconscious.
Kaelen retrieved the Quantum Disc from the now-intact floor, his heart hammering against his cracked ribs.
Aura: Charge remaining: 75%. Localized Structural Nullification is highly effective against stable environments. Warning: The Golems have located the primary entrance. They are not waiting for the foundation to collapse.
A horrific, tearing sound erupted from the chamber's main entrance—the heavy, bronze access port they had sealed shut. Two Sentry-Golems, towering monstrosities of brass and piston, were methodically ripping the ancient door off its hinges.
Elara looked up, her face streaked with sweat and grime, her hands working furiously to connect the final wire. "Five minutes, Kaelen! I need the Watchman's power loop!"
The Watchman's voice was sharp with urgency: "Mechanist, you must delay them. I am diverting power to Elara's splice. I cannot assist you further. Time to Key Synthesis: 35 minutes."
Kaelen stood alone, the wrench heavy in his hand, facing two massive Golems that were now tearing into the room.
He didn't have a plan. He had only a pocketful of scrap, a Quantum Disc, and a desperate, fractured logic.
"Alright, ghost," Kaelen thought, feeling the surge of battle focus. "Let's see if we can teach these walking scrap-heaps how to deal with Chaos."
He ran toward the advancing Golems, not to fight, but to lead them into the very structural supports they were supposed to be defending. He had to make the Golems destroy the Regulator Chamber for him.