The wind in the Obsidian Canyon sounded like a dying flute.
It whistled through the jagged black spires, carrying the scent of burning oil and ozone. Kaelen lay prone on a ridge overlooking the valley, his black coat blending perfectly with the volcanic rock. Beside him, Vex adjusted the telescopic lens on her crossbow.
"Big," Vex whispered. "Ugly. And loud."
Below them sat the Scavenger King's Fortress. It wasn't a building; it was a parasitic growth. A massive, crashed airship from the Old Era had been welded into the canyon wall. Scaffolding made of bone and rusted iron wrapped around the hull like a ribcage.
Searchlights swept the canyon floor. Patrols of Ash-Golems—crude constructs animated by low-grade crystals—marched in perfect, mindless loops.
"The mutant wasn't lying," Kaelen observed, his [Abyssal Sight] picking up the massive heat signature radiating from the ship's center. "That fortress is putting out enough energy to power a city block. In a Dead Zone, that's impossible."
"Unless he has a Mana Well," Seraphina suggested, shivering in the cold ash. "Maybe he found a natural spring?"
"Natural springs don't scream in agony," Kaelen replied flatly.
He pointed to the exhaust vents near the ship's engines. The smoke coming out wasn't grey. It was a faint, sickly pink.
"That's mana-burn residue," Kaelen explained. "He's burning something biological to keep the lights on."
He slid down the ridge, checking his gear.
"Vex, you take the east wall. Silence the sentries. Seraphina, you're with me. Keep your thermal output to zero. If you flare up, every sensor in that pit will target us."
"We're going in through the front?" Seraphina asked, eyeing the massive blast doors.
"No," Kaelen pointed to a drainage pipe leaking sludge into the canyon. "We're going in through the plumbing."
The pipe was narrow, slick with grease, and smelled of chemical waste.
They crawled for twenty minutes in silence. Kaelen took point, using his [Null-Breaker] vibration to dissolve the iron grates barring their path without making a sound.
Hummmmm.
The vibration of the fortress grew louder. They emerged into a maintenance tunnel beneath the main hangar. The floor vibrated beneath their boots.
"We're under the Engine Room," Kaelen whispered. "Stay close."
They climbed a service ladder, emerging behind a stack of crates in a massive, cavernous hall.
What they saw made Seraphina gag.
The Engine Room was a cathedral of cruelty. In the center of the room sat the "Generator"—a massive, spinning turbine of brass and glass. But it wasn't powered by coal or crystals.
Attached to the turbine were hundreds of pods. And inside each pod was a person.
They were emaciated, hooked up to tubes that glowed with blue light. The machine was sucking the mana directly out of their blood, refining it, and feeding it into the fortress grid.
[System Analysis.]
[Object: Bio-Mana Converter (Rank B).]
[Fuel Source: Living Awakened (Levels 1-5).]
[Efficiency: 40%. Lethality: High.]
"By the Light..." Seraphina horrified whisper was barely audible. "They're... they're batteries."
"Inefficient," Kaelen critiqued, his face a mask of cold pragmatism. "He's draining them dry instead of cycling their recovery. He's burning through his stock too fast."
"That's what you're worried about?" Seraphina hissed, looking at him with disbelief. "The efficiency?"
"I'm worried about the waste," Kaelen corrected.
"These are assets. If properly managed, a mana farm like this could sustain a Tier 3 Barrier indefinitely. But this..."
He gestured to a pod where a man had gone limp, his eyes grey.
"...This is just slaughter."
Vex dropped down from the catwalks above, landing silently beside them.
"Guards are neutralized on the upper deck," she reported. "But the King isn't in his quarters. He's here."
She pointed to a raised platform overlooking the generator.
Sitting on a throne made of welded exhaust pipes was a man. He was huge—seven feet of muscle and cybernetic grafts. One of his arms was a hydraulic claw. He wore a coat made of stitched human skin.
[Target: Mordecai, The Scavenger King.]
[Class: Technomancer / Warlord.]
[Level: 22.]
Standing around him were five women. They were beautiful, dressed in silks that looked out of place in the Wasteland. But their eyes were blank. Dead.
"The Harem," Vex muttered. "Mind-broken. Dolls."
Mordecai leaned forward, watching the generator spin. He held a goblet of wine.
"Power output is dropping," Mordecai rumbled, his voice grinding like gravel. "Sector 7 needs replacing. Toss the husks into the incinerator and bring in the new batch we caught from the Nomad caravan."
"Yes, My King," a robotic servant droned, moving toward the pods.
Kaelen looked at the pods. He looked at the King.
"We need that generator," Kaelen stated. "But I can't carry a ten-ton turbine."
"So we leave?" Seraphina asked hopefully.
"No," Kaelen drew his Mithril Sword. "We take the keys."
"What keys?"
"The batteries," Kaelen said. "If I free them, I have a hundred angry mages. If I feed them potions, I have a hundred loyal angry mages."
"That's a lot of mouths to feed, Boss," Vex warned.
"They aren't mouths," Kaelen smiled, the violet light of the [Abyssal Sun] flickering in his eyes. "They're an army."
He turned to Seraphina.
"Can you overload that turbine without killing the people attached to it?"
Seraphina looked at the machine. She looked at the suffering people. Her eyes hardened.
"I can melt the driveshaft," she said. "It will cause a localized EMP."
"Do it," Kaelen ordered. "Vex, secure the exit. I'll handle the King."
"He's Level 22, Kaelen," Vex warned. "And he has a claw that can crush a tank."
"I stripped a Paladin," Kaelen said, stepping out from behind the crates. "Let's see if I can strip a scrapyard."
He walked into the open.
"Hey!" Kaelen shouted, his voice echoing over the hum of the machine.
Mordecai snapped his head around. The Harem dolls didn't react.
"Who the hell are you?" Mordecai roared, standing up. His hydraulic claw spun to life.
"I'm the Safety Inspector," Kaelen deadpanned, holding up his sword. "And you're violating about a dozen labor laws."
"Intruder!" Mordecai shouted. "Kill him!"
The robotic servants abandoned the pods and charged.
"Now, Seraphina!"
BOOM.
Seraphina unleashed a [Solar Flare] directly into the spinning brass turbine.
The metal warped instantly from the heat. The driveshaft snapped. The massive machine screamed as it spun off its axis, sparks showering the room.
The lights in the fortress flickered and died.
The EMP wave hit the robotic servants. They froze, their circuits fried.
But Mordecai didn't freeze. His cybernetics were shielded.
"You ruined my engine!" Mordecai screamed, leaping from his throne. He landed on the deck with a heavy thud, cracking the floor. "I will peel you slowly!"
He charged Kaelen, the hydraulic claw snapping at the air.
Kaelen didn't run. He activated [Null-Breaker].
He met the charge.
Clang!
The sword met the claw. Kaelen was pushed back, his boots sliding on the metal grate. The King's strength was massive—easily 40 STR.
"You're just a boy!" Mordecai laughed, pushing Kaelen down. "A soft, fleshy boy!"
"And you," Kaelen strained, his muscles burning, "are just spare parts."
Kaelen dropped his defense. He let the claw close around his left arm.
Mordecai grinned. "Gotcha."
He activated the hydraulic crush.
But Kaelen's arm didn't break. Because Kaelen's left arm wasn't just flesh anymore. It was the [Sin Eater].
Kaelen released the limiter.
[Skill: Abyssal Touch.]
"Consume."
Black mist erupted from Kaelen's arm, wrapping around the metal claw. It didn't eat the metal; it ate the energy powering it.
The hydraulics whined and died. The claw froze, locked in place.
Mordecai's eyes widened. "What... what did you do?"
"I turned off the power," Kaelen whispered.
He twisted his body, using the locked claw as a pivot point. He swung his sword with his right hand.
[Technique: Mana Sever.]
He aimed for the glowing blue port on Mordecai's chest—his life-support core.
SHINK.
The Mithril blade pierced the casing.
Mordecai gasped, black oil leaking from his mouth.
"You..."
"Your reign is over," Kaelen said coldly. "I'm under new management."
He kicked the King off his blade. Mordecai slumped against the ruined generator, gasping for air.
Kaelen stood over him.
[Ding!]
[Boss Defeated: Mordecai (Level 22).]
[XP Gained: 8,000.]
[Loot: Hydraulic Claw (Rank C), Fortress Keycard.]
Kaelen turned to the pods. The emergency release latches had popped open when the power died. The prisoners were falling out, coughing, weak, but alive.
Seraphina rushed to help them.
Kaelen looked at the shivering, emaciated crowd. A hundred Awakened. Weak now, but give them a week of food and mana...
"Vex," Kaelen called out. "Load the carriage. We're not taking the generator."
He looked at the people looking up at him with fear and awe.
"We're taking the batteries.