The air in Oakhaven didn't just grow hot; it became heavy. The pressure of Zayn's Mantle Flow was so intense that the grey ash on the ground began to liquify, turning into a bubbling, black glass.
Iron-Wall Vorg didn't flinch. He adjusted the grip on his meteorite mace, his "Deep-Earth Lead" armor groaning as it absorbed the initial shockwaves of Zayn's presence.
"You think a little heat changes the hierarchy, boy?" Vorg's voice was muffled by his thick helm, sounding like stones grinding together. "I have stood in the heart of the Pale Moon's furnaces. I have been forged in the silence of the void. Your 'Stage 2' is nothing but a flickering candle to me."
Vorg lunged.
For a man of his bulk, the speed was impossible. He didn't run; he used a [Technique: Kinetic Anchor] to pull himself forward, the mace whistling through the air with the weight of a falling mountain.
Zayn didn't dodge. He couldn't. If he moved, the shockwave of the impact would pulverize the villagers huddled behind him. He raised his arms, the silver knuckles he'd forged glowing with a white-hot intensity.
[TECHNIQUE: MANTLE-SHIELD – MOLTEN UPRISING]
Zayn slammed his fists together. A pillar of pressurized magma erupted from the ground between him and Vorg. The meteorite mace hit the pillar, and for a heartbeat, time seemed to stop.
The sound was a deafening CRACK followed by the hiss of steam as the molten rock cooled instantly against the meteorite's surface. The shockwave shattered every window left in the village.
Zayn's feet sank six inches into the ground. Blood leaked from his nose, the pressure of the hit bypassing his Qi and vibrating his very organs.
[HEALTH: 74%]
[INTERNAL DAMAGE DETECTED: MINOR LUNG LACERATION]
"Is that all?" Vorg sneered, pulling his mace back for a second strike. "The 'Living Planet' is barely a pebble!"
"I'm not trying... to stop you," Zayn gasped, his eyes burning with a chaotic gold light. "I'm trying... to cook you."
Vorg paused. He looked down. His lead armor, designed to resist vibration, was a fantastic conductor of heat. The magma Zayn had summoned wasn't just an attack; it was a coating. The lead was starting to sag. The runes of suppression etched into the metal were melting, their blue light flickering and dying.
"You... gutter-born rat!" Vorg roared. He realized the trap. He raised his mace, but it was heavier now. The lead of his gauntlets was beginning to fuse with the handle.
Zayn didn't give him a chance to recover. He stepped forward, his body shimmering in the heat-haze. He didn't use a punch. He grabbed the front of Vorg's chest plate with both hands.
[TECHNIQUE: POINT-RESONANCE – THERMAL COLLAPSE]
Zayn didn't send a vibration outward. He sent it inward, focusing the frequency to match the melting point of the lead armor.
The sound was horrifying. It was the sound of a thousand screaming flutes. The Lead-Armor didn't just melt; it imploded. The liquid metal, superheated by Zayn's Internal Burn, flowed into the joints and gaps of the armor, sealing Vorg inside a coffin of his own defense.
"ARGH!" Vorg's scream was cut short as the molten lead filled his helmet.
[LEVEL UP: 29 -> 31]
[STAGE 2 MASTERY: 15% -> 25%]
Zayn let go. The massive armored figure of Vorg stood frozen for a second, a statue of blackened, cooling lead, before toppling over. The impact shattered the statue into a dozen jagged pieces. There was no blood—only the smell of scorched ozone and ash.
Zayn stood over the remains, his chest heaving. The silver knuckles on his hands were fused to his skin, the metal having reached such a high temperature that it had become a part of him.
He looked toward the Soul-Siphon. The massive machine was still humming, still drinking the life of the land.
"Zayn, stop!" Liora's voice cut through the ringing in his ears. She was running toward him, her staff glowing with a warning green light. "The Siphon isn't just a machine! It's connected to the Moon-Hunters' souls! If you break it now, you'll trigger a—"
Zayn didn't listen. The Rage was no longer a fire; it was a flood. He walked toward the obsidian tower, his every step leaving a flaming footprint in the ash.
He didn't use a technique. He just punched the base of the tower with everything he had left.
"GIVE. IT. BACK."
The obsidian shattered. But instead of an explosion, there was a Pulse. A wave of pure, stolen life-force erupted from the Siphon, a blinding green light that swept across Oakhaven.
Zayn was at the center of it.
[WARNING: SOIL-SYNC OVERLOAD]
[PLANETARY RESONANCE: STAGE 3 PREVIEW DETECTED...]
The world went white.