?Location: The Tomb of the Beast King – Central Chamber

  Time: Day 3 of the Trial – The Heist

  ?Iron-Mountain was a terrifying sight. A seven-foot-tall wall of muscle and bronze skin, charging at the speed of a runaway train, his warhammer raised to turn Aris into paste.

  ?"KILL HIM!"

  ?Aris sat on the floor, clutching the wooden box containing the Beast King's Heart. His eyes darted between the charging brute, the flying Ice-Witch, and the confused Stone Golem.

  ?"I don't want it!" Aris screamed, his voice cracking perfectly. "Take it! It's cursed!"

  ?He didn't just drop it. He threw it.

  ?With a flailing, desperate heave, Aris launched the priceless artifact through the air.

  ?It spiraled directly toward Lady Lin.

  ?"Protect me, Fairy Sister!" Aris wailed.

  ?Lady Lin, hovering on her ice cloud, instinctively reached out. Her greed overrode her tactical sense. She caught the box.

  ?"Mine!" she hissed, clutching it to her chest.

  ?Iron-Mountain roared, his momentum carrying him forward. He couldn't stop. He pivoted on one foot, shattering the floor tiles, and swung his hammer at Lady Lin instead of Aris.

  ?"Hand it over, Witch!"

  ?BOOM.

  ?The hammer smashed into Lady Lin's hastily erected ice wall. Shards of razor-sharp ice exploded outward.

  ?[System Alert: High Energy Spike Detected.]

  [Guardian Golem: Re-engaging.]

  ?The Stone Golem, which had been idling, suddenly flared with red light. Its sensors picked up the massive discharge of Qi from the clash between Earth and Ice.

  ?"INTTRUDERS DETECTED," the Golem groaned, its voice like grinding tectonic plates.

  ?It raised both fists—fists the size of boulders—and slammed them down onto the arguing duo.

  ?"Move!" Lady Lin shrieked, diving sideways. She dropped the box in her panic.

  ?The wooden box tumbled across the stone floor, coming to a rest in the center of the room.

  ?The fifty remaining Core Disciples stared at it.

  ?For a second, nobody moved. Then, pure chaos erupted.

  ?"Get the Heart!"

  "Stop them!"

  ?Spells flew. Fireballs, wind blades, and lightning bolts filled the air. The alliance of the Core Disciples evaporated instantly. They turned on each other like rabid dogs, ignoring the Golem that was stomping them into paste one by one.

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  ?In the corner, Aris and Mo were huddled behind a broken pillar.

  ?"Master," Mo whispered, watching a cultivator get punted into the ceiling by the Golem. "The artifact is in the Kill Zone. How do we retrieve it?"

  ?Aris wiped the fake tears from his eyes. His expression shifted to cold calculation.

  ?"We don't retrieve it," Aris said, his eyes glowing with violet light. "We let physics retrieve it."

  ?He looked at the floor of the chamber. It was polished obsidian.

  ?[Law Manipulation: Active]

  [Target: Surface Friction (Floor).]

  [Setting: 0.00% (Absolute Zero Friction).]**

  [Cost: 800 MP.]**

  ?Aris snapped his fingers.

  ?Instantly, the floor turned into something slicker than ice. Slicker than oil.

  ?The twenty cultivators running toward the box suddenly lost all traction. Their feet flew out from under them.

  ?"Whoa!"

  "What the—?!"

  ?Bodies piled up. They slid uncontrollably across the room, crashing into walls, into pillars, and into each other. Even Iron-Mountain, with his immense strength, looked like a baby deer on a frozen lake, his legs flailing before he face-planted violently.

  ?The box, however, was also subject to the law change.

  ?Aris picked up a small pebble.

  ?"Vector shot," Aris muttered.

  ?He flicked the pebble. It hit a nearby rock, ricocheted off a helmet, and tapped the side of the wooden box.

  ?Tap.

  ?With zero friction, that tiny tap was enough. The box began to slide. It accelerated, gliding smoothly across the chaos, dodging the flailing limbs of the cultivators.

  ?It slid in a perfect arc, right past the Golem's legs, and came to a gentle stop exactly at Aris's feet behind the pillar.

  ?Aris picked it up and shoved it into his inventory.

  ?"Run," Aris whispered.

  ?"Wait," Mo said, pointing at the Golem. "It sees us."

  ?The Golem had stabilized itself (gravity anchors). It turned its glowing red eyes toward the pillar. It saw Aris holding the prize.

  ?It opened its mouth. A beam of concentrated magma energy began to charge.

  ?Aris didn't panic. He looked at the frantic, sliding mass of cultivators in the center of the room.

  ?"Hey!" Aris shouted, stepping out from the pillar. "Look! Iron-Mountain has it!"

  ?He pointed at the giant man struggling to stand up.

  ?Aris used Void-Weave to cast a simple illusion. A glowing image of the box appeared in Iron-Mountain's hand.

  ?The Golem's targeting system swiveled. It locked onto Iron-Mountain.

  ?"TARGET ACQUIRED."

  ?"No!" Iron-Mountain screamed, seeing the magma beam aiming at him. "It's a lie! I don't have it!"

  ?VOOOOM.

  ?The beam fired.

  ?Aris didn't stay to watch. He grabbed Mo's arm.

  ?"Now!"

  ?They sprinted (or rather, skated carefully) toward the exit tunnel. Behind them, the sound of an explosion and Iron-Mountain's enraged screams echoed through the tomb.

  ?Location: The Escape Tunnels – 1 Mile Away

  Time: 10 Minutes Later

  ?Aris collapsed against the wall of the tunnel, panting. This time, he wasn't acting. Maintaining a friction-less zone over that large of an area had drained nearly half his mana reserves.

  ?"We have it," Aris said, patting his chest.

  ?He pulled out the wooden box. He opened it.

  ?Inside sat a fist-sized crystal. It pulsed like a living organ, radiating a deep, primal heat.

  ?[Item Analysis Complete]

  [The Beast King's Heart]

  [Grade: Divine (Incomplete).]

  [Effect: Contains the condensed Bloodline of the Ancient Behemoth. Can be consumed to upgrade a Physique to 'Monarch' tier.]

  ?"This is it," Aris smiled, the violet light in his eyes reflecting off the crystal. "This is the key to fixing the Abyssal Sovereign Body's hunger."

  ?"Do you consume it now?" Mo asked, guarding the tunnel entrance.

  ?"No," Aris closed the box. "Not here. The energy signature would alert every Elder watching the trial. We consume it after we win."

  ?Aris stood up.

  ?"The trial ends tomorrow. We have the required cores. We have the Grand Prize. Now we just need to survive the exit camping."

  ?"Exit camping?" Mo asked.

  ?"The Disciples who failed to find loot will be waiting at the portal," Aris explained, checking his map. "They'll try to rob anyone coming out. It's standard cultivation behavior."

  ?Aris grinned.

  ?"Let's go show them what happens when you try to rob the robbers."

  Lore Update - Law Manipulation (Friction):

  ?Utility: High. Can disrupt movement, accelerate projectiles, or create slip-n-slide death traps. ?Weakness: Affects allies too unless specified (Mo required special boots). Requires line-of-sight.