Chapter 71 The Price of Sovereignty
The tension in the underground garden was a physical weight.
We were at a stalemate: Julian Vane held the trigger to the world's destruction, and we held the only thing that could stop the architects.
"Mama," Liam whispered, pulling on my sleeve.
"The Iron King isn't telling the whole truth. The Node isn't recording us. It’s... it’s eating us.
"
I looked at the swirling white energy in the column.
Now that my eyes were adjusted to the mundane light, I could see it—the energy wasn't just data.
It was souls. Tiny, flickering sparks of life force were being pulled from the city above and funnelled into the Prime Node.
"He's using the city as a battery," I realized, my voice thick with horror.
"You aren't protecting these people, Vane.
You're consuming them to power your own immortality.
"
Vane’s face twisted, the mask of the grandfather slipping to reveal the monster beneath.
"A small price for the survival of the species!
What are a few million lives compared to the preservation of four thousand years of history?
"
"Everything," Killian roared.
He didn't wait for a plan.
He lunged at Vane, but Vane wasn't as fragile as he looked. He moved with a speed that shouldn't have been possible in a dead zone, dodging Killian’s strike and driving a concealed taser into the Alpha’s side.
Killian collapsed, his muscles spasming.
"Kill him!" Vane screamed to the shadows.
From the lush greenery, the "Iron Guard" emerged—soldiers in heavy, bio-mechanical armour that functioned independently of magic. They were Vane’s own version of the Ghost Pack, but they were human, driven by zealotry rather than neural grafts.
The garden turned into a slaughterhouse. My Reclaimed wolves, weakened by the field, fought with a desperate savagery, using their teeth and claws against the Guard’s steel blades.
Aris pulled a handgun and began to lay down cover fire, while Silas used his knowledge of the sub-levels to sabotage the artificial suns.
I ignored the fight. I ran for the Prime Node.
"Don't touch it!" Vane yelled, scrambling toward me.
"The feedback will kill you!"
I didn't care.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the Key of Stone.
The moment the ancient crystal came near the Prime Node, the Dead Zone began to buckle.
The humming grew louder, a sound like a thousand screams, and the white energy in the column turned a violent, bruised purple.
Author's Note?:
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