The "Old Pulse" was no longer a silent tomb. With Ren at its center, the engine roared like a caged god. The violet light emanating from the brass heart didn't just illuminate the cavern; it reshaped it. The gravity within the chamber had stabilized into a rhythmic, protective tide that pulsed outward, creating a zone where only those sanctioned by the "King" could move freely.
Ren stood on the central platform, his fingers tracing the cold, jagged edge of the Void-Reaper. The scythe was an extension of his own soul—heavy, hungry, and impossibly sharp.
[System Notification: The Void-Reaper is synchronized.]
[Current Weapon Soul: 100/100 (Satiated)]
[Status: Ready for Harvest.]
"Ren! They're here!" Lia's voice cut through the hum of the machinery. She stood at the edge of the obsidian ledge, pointing toward the ceiling of the vast cavern.
Above them, the dark glass ceiling was beginning to glow with a sickly, incandescent gold. It wasn't the warm light of a sunrise; it was the harsh, artificial glare of Imperial "Shatter-Charges."
BOOM.
The sound was tectonic. A massive section of the ceiling disintegrated, raining tons of debris into the abyss. But the stones didn't fall naturally. They were pushed aside by beams of concentrated solar mana. Descending through the dust and smoke came the Third Legion—the "Sun-Eaters."
Hundreds of knights, mounted on armored Griffons and mechanical gliders, spiraled down into the cavern. At their head was a figure in platinum armor, his cape white as a cloud and his spear trailing a wake of golden fire.
"General Kaelas," Malachi hissed, stepping up beside Ren. The masked man's hand was white-knuckled on his bone-dagger. "The 'Butcher of the Border.' He doesn't take prisoners, Ren. He razes cities to ensure no one survives to tell the tale."
[Target Identified: General Kaelas (Level 68)]
[Class: Solar Warlord]
[Legion Count: 1,200 Solar Knights]
[Threat Assessment: Severe Overload.]
"He came for the Forge," Ren said, his voice resonating with the vibration of the brass heart. "But the Forge belongs to the Void now."
General Kaelas brought his Griffon to a halt, hovering fifty meters away from the central platform. His visor retracted, revealing a face scarred by a hundred battles and eyes that burned with a fanatical, holy light.
"Ren Thorne!" Kaelas's voice was amplified by his armor, echoing like a thunderclap. "By order of Emperor Alaric, you are a walking contagion. The Forge is the property of the Throne. Relinquish your hold on the machine, and I shall grant your sister a swift death instead of the pyre!"
Ren looked at Lia. She was pale, but she had picked up a discarded brass pipe from the ruins, her hands steady. She wasn't a victim anymore.
"I have a better offer, General," Ren shouted back, raising the Void-Reaper. The scythe's blade began to bleed shadows, the dark energy dripping onto the platform like ink. "Turn your Griffons around, and I might let you keep your souls."
Kaelas laughed—a dry, mirthless sound. "A child wielding a farmer's tool thinks he can threaten a Legion. Archers! Purify the dark!"
A rain of "Sun-Flare" arrows descended. Thousands of streaks of golden light hissed through the air, aimed directly at the engine's core.
"Sovereign's Command: Gravitic Shield!"
Ren slammed the butt of his scythe into the floor. The Forge responded. The pulse of gravity intensified, creating a dome of distorted space above the platform. The arrows hit the shield and didn't explode; they bent. The light was pulled into a tight spiral, compressed until it turned into harmless sparks that were swallowed by the Void.
"My turn," Ren muttered.
He didn't wait for the second volley. He used Void Step, but not to move a few meters. With the Forge fueling him, his range had exploded. He vanished from the platform and reappeared in the center of the Griffon formation, mid-air.
"Void-Reaper: Soul-Sever!"
Ren spun in a full circle, the massive scythe carving a path through the air. The blade didn't just cut through the knights' armor; it cut through the mana that held their Soul Armaments together. Shields shattered like glass. Spears turned into useless sticks.
Six knights and their mounts were cleaved in half before they even realized he had moved. As they fell, their mana didn't dissipate—it was pulled into the scythe, feeding the hunger.
[Kill Confirmed: 6 Solar Knights]
[Void Points +450]
[Weapon Soul: 110/100 (Overcharged)]
"He's a monster!" one of the knights screamed, trying to pull his Griffon away. "The gravity... I can't fly!"
Ren didn't stop. He was a shadow amongst the gold. Every strike of the scythe was a death sentence. He moved with a cold, mechanical efficiency, his mind synced with the System's combat algorithms.
"Singularity Point!"
Ren threw a marble-sized orb of darkness into the densest cluster of knights. The orb expanded instantly, creating a vacuum that pulled twenty Griffons into a chaotic, bone-crushing mass. The screams of the beasts and men were silenced as the gravity crushed them into a single, compact sphere of metal and flesh.
General Kaelas roared in fury, his platinum spear erupting in a pillar of flame. "Enough! I will end this myself!"
The General dived, his spear aimed at Ren's chest. The speed was incredible—a Level 68 Warlord was a force of nature. Ren barely had time to bring the shaft of the Void-Reaper up to block.
CLANG.
The impact sent a shockwave through the cavern that shattered the nearby obsidian pillars. Ren was thrown backward, his boots skidding across the air as he used the Forge's gravity to keep from falling. His arms felt as if they had been hit by a falling star.
[Warning: Integrity at 45%]
[Mana Reserves: 30%]
[Note: The enemy is using 'Saint-Grade' Solar Mana. Your consumption rate is slowed.]
"You are strong for a seedling," Kaelas said, hovering above him, his spear glowing with an intensity that hurt to look at. "But you are but a single shadow against the midday sun. My Legion is endless. Your mana is not."
Ren looked down. While he had been fighting Kaelas, the rest of the Legion had bypassed him, landing on the platform and the surrounding ruins. Malachi was fighting three knights at once, his bone-dagger a blur of grey mist. Lia was cornered, using the brass pipe to deflect a knight's sword, her movements desperate.
"Ren! Don't worry about us!" Lia shouted, though a knight's blade had already grazed her shoulder.
Ren felt something in his chest snap. It wasn't his ribs. It was the last thread of restraint.
The "Sprout Phase" of the Void King was about growth. But growth required fertilizer.
"You think your numbers matter?" Ren's voice was no longer his own. It was a chorus of a thousand hollow echoes. "In the Void, there is no 'endless.' There is only... nothing."
Ren let go of the scythe. It didn't fall; it floated beside him, its blade turning into a liquid-like substance. He opened his arms wide, his chest splitting open to reveal the true Void Orb, which had grown from the size of a marble to the size of a human heart.
"Forbidden Art: The Great Maw!"
The Forge behind him let out a scream that sounded like a dying planet. The violet light turned into a pitch-black tide.
Suddenly, every knight in the cavern—even General Kaelas—felt their feet leave the ground. Not because they were flying, but because the cavern's center of gravity had just shifted to Ren's chest.
"What is this?" Kaelas gasped, his platinum armor beginning to warp inward. "My mana... it's being pulled out of my skin!"
The 1,200 knights of the Third Legion were being dragged toward Ren like iron filings to a magnet. Their golden light was being stripped away in long, glowing ribbons, all of it spiraling into the black hole in Ren's chest.
[FEEDING INITIATED: MASSIVE SCALE]
[Absorbing 1,200 Solar Essences...]
[Level Up! 25 -> 28]
[Level Up! 28 -> 32]
[Level Up! 32 -> 35]
The cavern was filled with the sound of snapping metal and the terrified cries of men who were being erased from existence.
General Kaelas struggled, his spear driven into a stone pillar as he tried to resist the pull. "You... you are not a King! You are a plague!"
"I am whatever you made me," Ren said, his eyes now two voids that consumed all light.
With a final, violent pulse, the Great Maw closed.
The 1,200 knights were gone. Only their empty, crumpled suits of armor fell to the floor, echoing like hollow cans. The cavern was silent. The golden light was extinguished. Only the violet pulse of the Forge remained.
Ren fell to one knee, the liquid shadow of the Void-Reaper solidifying back into his hand. He was vibrating with an unbearable amount of stolen energy.
[Warning: Overload imminent. 5,000% Mana Capacity reached.]
[System Recommendation: Expel energy or evolve.]
Ren looked at General Kaelas, who was the only one left standing, his platinum armor shattered and his spear broken. The General looked at Ren with a look of pure, unadulterated terror.
"Go tell your Emperor," Ren said, his voice a whisper that filled the entire cavern. "The harvest has changed hands."
Kaelas didn't wait. He scrambled toward the hole in the ceiling, his Griffon dead, fleeing on foot through the ruins.
Ren didn't chase him. He turned toward the Forge. He could feel his body changing, the "Sprout" turning into something more permanent.
"Malachi," Ren panted, looking at the masked man who was staring at him with a mixture of fear and reverence. "Is the Forge ready?"
"It is," Malachi whispered.
"Good," Ren said, his hand touching the brass heart. "Because I'm going to turn Aethelgard into a shadow."