Chapter : 1369

  The chains went taut. Lloyd swung them in a wide arc, swinging underneath the bridge like a pendulum. The guards above hacked at the empty air, confused.

  They swung towards the outer wall. Lloyd released the chains and fired new ones, grappling onto a gargoyle on the tower. He retracted the chains, pulling them up with a violent jerk.

  They landed on the narrow ledge of the outer wall, breathless and shaking.

  "You... are... crazy," Mina panted. Her eyes were wide with adrenaline.

  "Effective," Lloyd corrected. "Now run. The main gate is that way."

  They ran along the wall. Arrows followed them, clicking against the stone. They were moving targets in a shooting gallery.

  Lloyd used his [Void Steps]. It was harder without his spirits boosting him, exhausting him rapidly. He flickered in and out of existence, a blur of azure light. He grabbed Mina each time, pulling her through space with him. To the guards, they looked like ghosts, appearing and disappearing, always one step ahead of the bolts.

  "They're closing the portcullis!" Lloyd shouted.

  Ahead, the massive iron gate was slowly descending. If it closed, they were sealed in.

  "We won't make it!" Mina cried.

  "We make it," Lloyd growled. "Or we die trying."

  He pushed his Void power to the limit. He grabbed Mina and threw them both forward into a long, desperate Void Step. The world blurred. Colors stretched.

  They reappeared sliding across the cobblestones, right under the falling gate. The iron teeth slammed down inches behind their heels, catching the hem of Mina's dress.

  Lloyd ripped the fabric free. They scrambled up and ran into the darkness of the surrounding forest. They didn't stop. They ran until their lungs burned and their legs felt like lead. They ran until the fortress was just a dark silhouette against the stars.

  They collapsed in a small clearing, hidden by dense pine trees. Mina leaned against a tree, dry heaving. Lloyd slumped on the ground, wiping sweat and soot from his face.

  "Are you okay?" Lloyd asked between gasps.

  Mina looked at him. She was a mess. Her expensive dress was ruined. Her glasses were crooked. She had a smudge of grease on her nose.

  "I am... alive," she said. She started to laugh. It was a hysterical, breathless sound. "We jumped off a bridge. We actually jumped off a bridge."

  "It was a tactical descent," Lloyd said, grinning weakly. "Very professional."

  "You are a lunatic," Mina said, but there was no malice in it. Only relief. "A complete lunatic."

  Lloyd looked back towards the fortress. It was lit up like a torch. He could hear shouting in the distance.

  "We lost the element of surprise," Lloyd said soberly. "Wilfred knows we're here. He knows we know."

  "He knows who we are," Mina added. "Lord Vane and Dr. Mina. He will have sketches of our faces distributed by morning."

  "The disguises are burned," Lloyd agreed. "We have to get out of Ramos. Tonight."

  "But the Heart," Mina said again. "We failed."

  "We survived," Lloyd said. "That's step one. Step two is regrouping. Step three is coming back with a bigger hammer."

  Suddenly, a low rumble shook the ground. It wasn't an earthquake. It was a deep, mechanical vibration coming from the fortress.

  Lloyd stood up. "What is that?"

  The air grew heavy with static. The hairs on Lloyd's arms stood up. He looked at the fortress.

  The central tower—the highest point—began to glow. A sickly, purple light pulsed from the windows.

  "He's activating it," Mina whispered in horror. "The weapon."

  "He can't," Lloyd said. "It's not finished. He doesn't have the limbs attached."

  "He doesn't need the limbs to fire the main cannon," Mina realized. "If he connected the Heart... even crudely... he can channel the power."

  The rumbling grew louder. It sounded like a beast waking up. A beast made of stone and hate.

  "We need to move," Lloyd said urgently. "Further back. Now!"

  They retreated deeper into the trees, putting more distance between them and the castle. They found a high ridge that overlooked the valley.

  They watched.

  The purple light intensified. It shot up from the tower, a beam of raw, unstable energy. It pierced the clouds. The sky above the fortress swirled, turning a bruised, angry violet.

  BOOM.

  A shockwave of sound hit them, rattling their teeth. The beam pulsed. It wasn't a clean shot. It was jagged, wild. It arced out, striking the side of a nearby mountain.

  The rock vaporized.

  A massive chunk of the mountain, the size of a house, simply ceased to exist. It was replaced by a crater of glowing molten slag.

  Lloyd stared. His mouth was dry.

  Chapter : 1370

  "That wasn't a spell," he whispered. "That was a laser. A magical orbital laser."

  "It is Anubis's light," Mina said, her voice trembling. "The legends said the Guardian could burn the sky. They weren't metaphors."

  The beam cut out. The light on the tower faded. Smoke poured from the windows. It seemed the machine had overheated or shut down. But the damage was done. The mountain was scarred. The sky was torn.

  "He turned it on," Lloyd said. "Just for a second. Just to show us."

  "It was a warning," Mina said.

  "No," Lloyd corrected. "It was a test fire. And it worked."

  He looked at the smoking crater. He imagined that beam hitting the capital. Hitting his estate. Hitting his friends.

  The failure of the heist settled on him like a lead weight. He hadn't just failed to get a component for his suit. He had failed to stop a doomsday device.

  "We have confirmation," Lloyd said, his voice hard. "Absolute confirmation. Wilfred has a weapon of mass destruction. And he's crazy enough to use it."

  "What do we do?" Mina asked. She looked small and frightened against the backdrop of the destruction.

  Lloyd turned to her. His face was grim. The playful scholar was gone. The Major General was back, and he was planning a war.

  "We go back," Lloyd said. "We get Ken. We get help. And then we come back here and we tear that fortress down, brick by brick."

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  He looked at the smoking tower one last time.

  "The race isn't over, Mina," Lloyd said. "It just changed. It's not a race for a rock anymore. It's a race against the clock. And the clock is ticking."

  He offered her his hand. "Come on. Let's go home. We have a war to prepare for."

  Mina took his hand. They turned away from the fortress and walked into the dark forest, leaving the glowing scar on the mountain behind them as a terrifying promise of what was to come.

  The forest was dark and quiet, a stark contrast to the violent energy that had just torn the sky apart. Lloyd and Mina moved quickly, their footsteps muffled by the pine needles. They didn't speak. There was nothing to say. The giant hole in the mountain said it all.

  Lloyd's mind was a whirlwind of calculations. He was replaying the escape, the infiltration, and the final, terrifying display of power.

  "Efficiency," Lloyd muttered. "We lacked efficiency."

  "We lacked an army," Mina corrected quietly. "And we lacked luck."

  They reached the edge of the forest where they had hidden their horses. Luckily, the animals were still there, though they were spooked by the noise.

  Lloyd checked the saddlebags. His supplies were intact. "We ride for the border," he said. "We don't stop at Ramos. Wilfred will have the city locked down within the hour. He'll be hunting for 'Lord Vane' and his accomplice."

  "My research," Mina said sadly. "I left my notes at the inn."

  "Leave them," Lloyd said. "Your life is worth more than a notebook. Besides, you have the most important data in your head."

  They mounted up. Lloyd took the lead. He guided them onto a deer trail that bypassed the main road. He knew Wilfred would have checkpoints on the highway. They had to move like fugitives.

  As they rode, Lloyd couldn't shake the image of the purple beam. It was raw power. Unrefined, chaotic, but devastating.

  "He used the Quartz," Lloyd thought. "He burned through a massive amount of it to fire that shot. That's why the beam stuttered. The resonance wasn't perfect."

  It was a small comfort. The weapon wasn't fully operational yet. It was like a cannon held together with duct tape. Dangerous to the target, but also dangerous to the user.

  "He needs the limbs to stabilize it," Lloyd realized. "The body of the Golem acts as a grounding rod. Without the full chassis, the recoil will destroy his own fortress."

  That gave them time. Not much, but some. Wilfred had to finish the build before he could fire again safely.

  "Two weeks," Lloyd estimated. "Maybe three. That's how long we have until he can march that thing out the front door."

  Three weeks to stop an apocalypse.

  They rode through the night. The moon watched them, indifferent to their panic. By dawn, they were miles away from Ramos, deep in the neutral territory of the foothills.

  They stopped at a stream to let the horses drink. Lloyd splashed cold water on his face. It stung his eyes, washing away the soot but not the fatigue.

  Chapter : 1371

  Mina sat on a rock, staring at the water. She looked exhausted. The adrenaline had faded, leaving her hollow.

  "I thought I was ready," she said softly. "I thought I could handle this. I am a scholar. I read about wars. I read about weapons."

  "Reading about a fire and standing in one are two different things," Lloyd said, sitting beside her.

  "I was useless," Mina said bitterly. "I panicked. I got caught. I slowed you down."

  "You cracked the lock," Lloyd reminded her. "You found the tunnel. You identified the weapon. Without you, I would still be in the bar buying drinks for Jory."

  He looked at her seriously. "You did good, Mina. You survived. That's the only metric that matters today."

  Mina looked at him. "And you? You lost your prize. The Heart is still there."

  Lloyd picked up a stone and skipped it across the stream. One, two, three, four. Not as good as Rosa.

  "I lost the battle," Lloyd admitted. "But I gained intelligence. I know where it is. I know what it does. And I know Wilfred's weakness."

  "What is his weakness?"

  "Pride," Lloyd said. "He fired that shot to scare us. To show off. He wasted fuel and revealed his hand just to say 'I am strong'. A smart man would have kept it hidden. A smart man would have let us run and wonder. Wilfred is loud. Loud men make mistakes."

  "He almost killed us," Mina pointed out.

  "Almost," Lloyd grinned tiredly. "But 'almost' is the difference between a tragedy and a great story."

  He stood up and offered her a hand. "Come on. We need to keep moving. I know a safe house near the border. Ken has a contact there. We can rest, eat something that isn't trail rations, and send a message to the capital."

  Mina took his hand. "You are strangely optimistic for a man who just failed a heist."

  "I'm an engineer," Lloyd said. "Failure is just data. Now I have the data. Next time, I build a better plan."

  They reached the safe house by midday. It was a small farm run by a retired spy who owed Ken a favor. They were given food, a bath, and fresh clothes.

  Lloyd sat at the kitchen table, writing a coded message on a scrap of parchment.

  To: The King & The Arch Duke

  From: The Decorator

  Subject: Bad Weather in the West

  Target located. Target is building a god. Confirmed Class-S threat. Magical orbital laser capability. Doomsday clock active. Requesting heavy support. Also, tell my wives I am alive and I am sorry.

  He rolled up the scroll and gave it to the spy's swiftest messenger pigeon. He watched the bird fly off towards the east.

  "Now we wait," Lloyd said.

  Mina came into the kitchen. She was wearing a simple peasant dress. She looked like a different person. Softer. Vulnerable.

  "What happens now?" she asked.

  "Now I go back to the drawing board," Lloyd said. "I can't build the Aegis without the Heart. That project is dead in the water. So I need a new weapon. Something that can counter a golem."

  "Another golem?" Mina suggested.

  "No time," Lloyd said. "And I don't have the materials. I need something... asymmetrical. Something that breaks the rules."

  He thought about his powers. His Void powers. His spirits. The Golem was physical. It was magic.

  "I need an anti-magic shell," Lloyd mused. "Or a virus. A magical virus that infects the stone."

  His mind spun with ideas. This was his comfort zone. The problem was massive, but it was a problem. Problems had solutions.

  "We also need to deal with the political fallout," Lloyd added. "Wilfred just fired a weapon of mass destruction. The King can't ignore that. This is an act of war."

  "Will the army march?" Mina asked.

  "They'll try," Lloyd said. "But Wilfred has a mountain fortress and a laser. A siege would be a massacre. We need a strike team. The Wraiths."

  "They aren't ready," Mina reminded him. "You said two months."

  "They'll have to be ready," Lloyd said grimly. "Or we fake it."

  He looked at Mina. "You should go home. Back to the estate. You've done your part. It's going to get ugly now."

  Mina shook her head. "No. I am in this. I saw the weapon. I know the runes. I am the only one who can disarm the lock on the Vault if we get back in."

  "It's dangerous, Mina."

  "I know," she said. "But I am a Ferrum ally now. And a Siddik. We do not run from fights."

  Lloyd smiled. She was tough. Tougher than she looked.

  Chapter : 1372

  "Okay," he said. "Welcome to the team. Your code name is 'The Librarian'."

  "I hate it," Mina said.

  "It'll grow on you," Lloyd assured her.

  They spent the rest of the day resting. As night fell, Lloyd went out to the porch. He looked west, towards Ramos. He couldn't see the fortress, but he could feel it. A dark spot on the horizon.

  He had failed to get the Heart. He had failed to stop the weapon. He was running away with his tail between his legs.

  But he wasn't defeated.

  "Enjoy your victory, Wilfred," Lloyd whispered to the wind. "Build your toy. Polish your crown. Because I'm coming back. And I'm bringing a storm with me."

  He clenched his fist. His Steel Blood hummed. He felt the unified power of his spirits in his core.

  He didn't have the Aegis. He didn't have the perfect plan. But he had his mind. He had his allies. And he had a very, very big grudge.

  The adventure in Ramos was over. The War for the West had just begun.

  And somewhere in the distance, thunder rolled, as if the sky itself was agreeing with him.

  The morning sun hit Lloyd’s face with the enthusiasm of a Golden Retriever waking up its owner. It was bright, it was annoying, and it meant he had to get up. They had spent the night in a safe house near the border, but safety was a relative term when a madman with a magical orbital laser was building a doomsday device a few miles away.

  Lloyd sat at the wooden table, nursing a cup of coffee that tasted like hot mud. Mina sat across from him, looking remarkably put-together for someone who had just committed high treason, jumped off a castle wall, and ridden a horse through the night. She was holding a map.

  "We need answers," Lloyd said, staring into his mud-coffee. "We know Wilfred has the Golem Heart. We know he has the quartz. We know he has a giant robot body. But we don't know how it works. And if we don't know how it works, we can't break it without blowing up half the continent."

  "Anubis," Mina said, tapping the map. "It all comes back to him. The creator."

  "He's been dead for five hundred years," Lloyd pointed out. "He is currently unavailable for comment."

  "But his knowledge survived," Mina countered. "I did some cross-referencing in the archives before... before we became fugitives. Anubis had a student. A man named Thoth. And Thoth had a student. And that student had a student."

  "It’s a pyramid scheme of knowledge," Lloyd muttered. "Let me guess. The current student lives in a cave on top of a mountain and speaks only in riddles?"

  "Not a cave," Mina corrected. "A hut. And not a mountain. A very steep hill. His name is Elder Corin. He is one hundred years old. He was the last apprentice of the line of Anubis before the school was disbanded."

  "A hundred years old," Lloyd sighed. "Great. He probably thinks the steam engine is a passing fad. Where is he?"

  Mina pointed to a spot on the map labeled 'The Whispering Crag'. It looked desolate. It looked rocky. It looked like exactly the kind of place a hermit would live if he wanted to avoid door-to-door salesmen.

  "Pack your bags, Librarian," Lloyd said, standing up. "We are going to visit a senior citizen."

  The journey to the Whispering Crag was less of an adventure and more of a cardiovascular punishment. The "steep hill" Mina had described was actually a jagged spire of rock that seemed to hate human ankles. Lloyd grumbled the entire way up. He complained about the dust. He complained about the wind. He complained about the lack of an escalator.

  "You are a powerful warrior," Mina observed as Lloyd wheezed next to a goat. "You fought a fire demon. Why are you defeated by a slope?"

  "Fighting demons is adrenaline," Lloyd gasped. "This is just walking. Walking is boring. And uphill walking is tyranny."

  Finally, after what felt like three days but was only three hours, they reached the summit. There, nestled between two large boulders, was a small, crooked hut made of driftwood and stone. Smoke curled from the chimney. It smelled of herbs and old soup.

  Lloyd straightened his coat. "Alright. Let's go charm the secrets out of him."

  He knocked on the door. No answer. He knocked again. Still nothing.

  " maybe he's deaf," Lloyd suggested. "He is a hundred."