The heavy lead box hit the workbench with a thud that echoed through the silent foundry.
Mei stared at it. She could feel the hair on her arms standing up from the static charge leaking through the seals.
"You brought it," Mei whispered, looking at Rylan with wide eyes. "A Thunder-Source Geode. Late-Stage. Unstable."
"Sylara put it to sleep," Rylan said, gesturing to the shivering Ice Phoenix leaning against the wall. "But she can't hold it forever. The ice is already sweating. If that thing wakes up before it's in the containment chamber, we lose the warehouse."
Mei nodded, snapping into focus. She grabbed a pair of rubberized tongs.
"Clear the floor!" Mei shouted to the Earth-Kin. "If you are made of stone, you are conductive! Get back!"
She opened the box.
The geode sat inside, encased in Sylara's blue rime-ice. It pulsed slowly, like a heart under a frozen lake.
Mei moved with terrifying precision. She lifted the crystal and placed it into the heart of the massive machine she had built in the center of the room.
The Thunder-Arc Ballista looked less like a weapon and more like a torture device for physics. It was a massive assembly of brass coils, spirit-glass tubes, and dampening runes, all leading to a sleek, iron-wood barrel aimed at the retractable roof skylight.
"Inserting the core," Mei announced.
She slid the geode into the brass housing. She slammed the locking lever down.
HUMMMMM.
The machine woke up.
The ice around the geode flash-melted. The purple energy surged out, hungry for a path. It hit Mei's containment runes and screamed, channeling into the capacitors instead of exploding. The glass tubes on the side of the weapon lit up with a blinding violet glow.
Mei checked the gauges. "Pressure at 80%... 90%... Stabilizing."
She slumped against the console, laughing breathlessly. "It holds. The lattice holds."
Rylan walked over and touched the cold iron of the barrel. He felt the hum of devastating power beneath his fingertips.
"Range?" Rylan asked.
"Three miles effective," Mei reported. "Five miles maximum. It fires solid iron bolts charged with concentrated lightning. It can punch through a city wall. Or a dragon's scale."
"Good," Rylan said. "Because I think we're going to need it sooner than we thought."
The celebration was short-lived.
Lyra entered the foundry, her face pale. She held a spyglass.
"Rylan," she said urgently. "The roof. Now."
Rylan, Sylara, and Mei climbed the catwalk to the roof access.
The smog over Iron-Tooth City was churning. But it wasn't the wind moving it.
High above the city, breaking through the cloud layer, was a shape. It was a sleek, green vessel, shaped like a spearhead, floating on anti-gravity arrays. A Jade Empire Sky-Skiff.
It wasn't a warship—it was too small. It was a scout. A hunter.
It was circling the city, emitting a low, rhythmic pulse of sound.
"They are scanning for the Geode," Sylara said, her eyes narrowing. "That pulse triggers a resonance in the crystal. They know exactly where it is."
As if to answer her, the Sky-Skiff stopped circling. It pivoted. Its nose pointed directly at the Slag District. Directly at the warehouse.
A hatch on the bottom of the skiff opened. A green light began to gather.
"They aren't here to retrieve it," Rylan realized. "They are here to detonate it."
If the skiff fired a resonance beam, the Geode inside the ballista would overload and vaporize three city blocks.
"Mei!" Rylan roared into his receiver. "Target the skiff!"
"I... I can't see it!" Mei's voice came back, panicked. "The roof is still closed! And I need coordinates!"
Rylan looked at the skiff. The green light was brightening. They had seconds.
"Open the roof!" Rylan ordered.
The gears ground open. The massive barrel of the Thunder-Arc Ballista rose from the darkness of the warehouse, aiming at the sky.
"I need a spotter!" Mei screamed. "The smog is too thick! I can't get a lock!"
Rylan looked at Sylara. She was the only one with the eyesight and the instincts of a Peak Stage cultivator.
"Sylara," Rylan said. "Take the scope."
Sylara looked at him. "I am a prisoner. Why should I help you shoot down my enemies just to save your hide?"
"Because if that ship fires," Rylan said, pointing at the gathering light, "you die too. And you never get your vengeance."
Sylara snarled. She grabbed the heavy brass aiming scope mounted on the roof railing. She synced it to the ballista below.
"Elevation 45 degrees!" Sylara barked. "Windage three degrees East! Target is locked!"
Down below, Mei spun the heavy wheels. The barrel shifted, tracking Sylara's commands.
The light on the Sky-Skiff flashed. It fired.
A beam of green energy shot down toward the warehouse.
"FIRE!" Rylan commanded.
Mei slammed the trigger.
CRACK-BOOM.
The sound was deafening. It wasn't a mechanical thud; it was the sound of a thunderclap originating from inside the building.
A bolt of solid iron, wrapped in a spiraling vortex of purple lightning, exploded from the barrel. It moved faster than sound. It tore through the smog, leaving a vacuum tunnel in its wake.
It met the incoming green beam halfway.
The lightningbolt didn't just stop the beam; it shattered it. The purple energy rode up the green beam like a conductor wire, instantly reaching the Sky-Skiff.
The bolt slammed into the skiff's hull.
KABOOM.
The Jade vessel disintegrated. The anti-gravity arrays failed catastrophically. The ship turned into a fireball of green and purple flame, raining debris down onto the city.
The shockwave rattled the teeth of everyone on the roof.
Rylan stood firm, watching the burning wreckage fall.
Sylara lowered the scope. She was breathing hard, a fierce, predatory grin on her face. For a moment, the ice had melted, replaced by the heat of the kill.
"Direct hit," Sylara whispered. "No survivors."
"Reload," Rylan ordered into the receiver. "In case they sent two."
He looked out over the city.
The explosion had been seen by everyone. The Syndicate in the Spire. The gangs in the slums. The City Guard on the walls.
Rylan Sterling hadn't just built a gang. He had built surface-to-air artillery.
"They know now," Lyra said, stepping up beside him. "There is no hiding."
"We were never hiding," Rylan said, looking at the burning sky. "We were just reloading."
[Ding! Threat Neutralized: Jade Empire Scout Skiff.] [Reputation Update: "The Warlord of Iron-Tooth".] [Global Tension: Critical.]
Rylan turned to his team.
"Get inside. The Syndicate is going to come knocking again. And this time, Vargas won't be smiling."
End of Chapter 53