Fa led the team through the winding sewers guided by Kait, where the stench of wastewater mixed with the smell of rusted metal, forming a nauseating odor. Tisk pulled out several glowing small devices from his toolkit and tossed them ahead, illuminating the damp tunnel walls with blue-white cold light, covered in strange slime and moss.
"These sewers are more complicated than the mines in Silver Crimson Village," Tisk grumbled in a low voice, his goggles constantly scanning the surroundings. "I'm detecting multiple structural weak points; they could collapse at any moment."
The rune stone in Arya's hand emitted a faint pulse, like a dark heart beating. "The curse energy is getting stronger; we're approaching the source." Her emerald eyes flickered with worry in the darkness. "The Blood Elves' magic is polluting this area."
After nearly half an hour of arduous progress, the team finally reached the exit below the abandoned northern port. Kait skillfully pushed open a hidden metal gate, and a salty sea breeze immediately rushed into the tunnel.
Everyone cautiously poked their heads out, and the scene before them was suffocating. Thick sea fog shrouded the entire dock like a gray burial cloth, enveloping it in oppressive silence. Three cargo ships with blood-red sails loomed like ghosts at the dock, the Gintello family's emblem—a green snake coiled around a gear—faintly visible in the mist. More unsettling were the twisted symbols embroidered on the sails, similar to the rune stone in Arya's hand, emitting an ominous dark red glow.
Blood Elves paced back and forth on the decks, their pale skin and blood-red eyes particularly striking in the fog. The Gintello family's guards were equipped with weapons fusing technology and magic, the energy circuits on their armor emitting a low humming sound.
Fa crouched in the shadows, her star eyes faintly glowing as she analyzed the enemy's defenses. "Patrol intervals of thirty seconds, groups of three. Two sniper points in the southeast corner, and a hidden magic sensor on the northwest side." She whispered, "We must destroy those cargo ships and stop the transport of the curse cores. If they activate the curse array, the entire Gold Merchant Fortress will be doomed."
Tisk gripped his war hammer named "Earthshaker," the perpetual gear embedded in the hammerhead beginning to spin faster. "I'll create chaos to draw attention; you sneak onto the ships. My armor can generate short-term electromagnetic pulses to disrupt their tech equipment."
Arya gathered a soft halo of light in her hands: "I can use purifying flames to destroy the curse cores, but it takes time to cast. The Blood Elves' dark magic has natural resistance to light-based spells."
Kait nervously huddled behind Fa and whispered, "What can I do for you?"
Fa turned her head and lightly patted his shoulder: "You've already brought us here; now find a safe place to hide. If we fail... you have to survive and tell the outside world what happened here."
Tisk's Metal Storm
The plan unfolded quickly. Tisk took a deep breath and leaped out from cover, slamming his war hammer heavily into the ground. "Come on, you bastards! Taste the might of a dwarf blacksmith!"
The electromagnetic runes on "Earthshaker" activated instantly, bursting with blinding silver light. All metal weapons within a five-meter radius were yanked away by powerful magnetic force, the Gintello guards' equipment flying off their hands and clashing in the air with piercing metallic sounds.
"It's that dwarf! Grab him!" A guard leader shouted, raising his tech rifle, but Tisk's shoulder armor suddenly ejected six spike launchers, fanning out in a sweep and nailing the opponent to an obsidian pillar.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Fa and Arya sneaked toward the nearest cargo ship like shadows. Fa's Star Trail short blade sliced through with a blue light, precisely cutting the electronic lock on the cabin door. The two agilely flipped over the gunwale and slipped into the dark interior of the ship.
The scene inside the cabin was horrifying. Dozens of black metal crates were neatly arranged, each engraved with blood-red runes, dark red light seeping from the seams. The air was thick with the heavy smell of rust and some decaying sweet scent, as if invisible tentacles were caressing the skin.
"These crates are all curse cores," Arya's voice trembled slightly. "Each core can corrupt hundreds of minds. We must destroy them."
She began chanting complex elven incantations, condensing a ball of pure white light flame between her hands, attempting to detonate the crates.
At that moment, the cabin door was flung open, and a Blood Elf elder entered. Under his cloak, dark red curse seals were revealed, his eyes flickering with dangerous light. "You think you can easily sabotage our plans?" The Blood Elf elder's voice was like a cold blade; with a raise of his hand, a dark red energy whip lashed toward Arya.
Fa immediately drew her short blade and stepped forward: "Arya, focus on destroying those crates; I'll hold him off!"
The two engaged in fierce combat, the short blade clashing with the long whip, sparking flames. Meanwhile, Tisk was single-handedly fighting several Gintello guards on the dock; each swing of "Earthshaker" brought wind and fire, but the enemies were numerous, and his movements gradually became labored.
Inside the cabin, Arya finally succeeded in activating the rune stone in her hand. With a loud bang, a magical wave swept through the entire cabin; the cursed rune stones emitted piercing cracking sounds, and the red light began to disintegrate. However, the explosion's shockwave hurled Arya away, slamming her into the cabin wall, blood seeping from the corner of her mouth.
Fa was knocked back by the Blood Elf elder taking advantage of the moment, her short blade flying out and embedding into the deck. She tried to get up but was stepped on the chest by the opponent. The Blood Elf elder looked down at Fa, "Your eyes... Star Pupil!" The Blood Elf elder suddenly recognized Fa's identity, greed flashing in his eyes. "What an unexpected harvest. The master will be pleased with this gift!"
On the dock, Tisk was also surrounded by guards, his armor full of cracks. He swung his hammer to fell one enemy but was stabbed from behind by another, staggering to his knees. Kait, hiding behind a wooden crate in the distance, watched everything and finally mustered the courage to rush out, picking up a stone and hurling it at the guards, trying to save Tisk.
The Blood Elf elder raised his hand, a red light enveloping Fa; Fa felt her body locked by invisible forces, unable to move. She gritted her teeth, her consciousness gradually blurring. "Is this how it ends..."
Star Pupil Awakening: Time Freeze
At the moment Fa was about to succumb, her right eye suddenly flashed with dazzling light. A strange power surged from within her, and everything around—the Blood Elf elder's whip, the flying dust, even Tisk's distant shout—froze in that instant. Time seemed to stand still, the world plunging into dead silence.
Fa was astonished to find she could move in the frozen time. She quickly rushed to Arya, lifting her from the cabin floor.
Then she turned and dashed to Tisk and Kait on the dock, pulling them up one by one and dragging them back to the sewer entrance. When she finished, the burning pain in her right eye reached its peak, and time resumed flowing.
The Blood Elf elder's face showed astonishment for the first time. Meanwhile, Tisk and Kait found themselves inexplicably out of danger.
"What was that just..." Tisk looked confused at his suddenly changed position.
"No time to explain!" Fa shouted, blood seeping from the corner of her mouth. "We need to get out of here fast!"
Kait and Tisk carried Fa and Arya, stumbling back to Kait's home, covered in wounds. Kait's mother saw them and immediately closed the door. Arya barely managed to support herself to heal everyone's injuries, magical light flickering weakly at her fingertips. Fa sat aside, head lowered, staring at her right eye, trying to understand what had just happened.
Tisk leaned against the wall, panting as he asked: "What was that?"
Fa shook her head, her voice low: "I don't know... but it saved us."
Arya looked up, a hint of surprise in her eyes: "That was the power of the Star Pupil; you've finally awakened. The elders once said that the Star Pupil can turn the tide in crises."
Kait's mother and Kait approached with worried faces: "Are you all okay? I thought..."
Fa gave a weary smile and gently patted his head: "Thanks to you, we escaped. You were very brave, Kait."
Meanwhile, on the dock of the abandoned northern port, the Blood Elf elder stood before the destroyed cargo ship, his face grim. The rune stones in the cabin had turned to fragments; the thwarted plan ignited fury in his eyes.
"They escaped..." he whispered, his voice laced with chill. "But this is just the beginning."
He turned and commanded the Gintello subordinates behind him: "Everyone, hurry and leave; prepare for the next phase. They won't get far, and I need to report what happened here to that lord quickly."
Soon, footsteps echoed from the port direction, the enforcement team's steps growing closer. They quickly surrounded the abandoned port and began investigating the cause of the explosion.
Blood Dawn
In the narrow wooden house of Kait's family, the last glimmer of healing magic faded from Arya's fingertips. Tisk leaned in the corner, wiping bloodstains from his hammer, ointment seeping from the cracks in his armor slowly solidifying. Fa sat by the window with her eyes closed, her right eyelid twitching slightly—since the Star Pupil power awakened, that burning sensation flowed like magma in her veins, even her breath carrying a stinging like star debris.
"Your eyes..." Arya handed over a cup of herbal tea, steam coiling into strange spirals at the rim. "The Star Pupil power needs a medium to stabilize, or it will backlash against the host." She pulled open her collar, revealing a silver pendant around her neck, the crystal at its heart glowing with seven-colored light. "This is the Light Elf relic left by my mother; it might help you suppress the energy rampage temporarily."
The moment Fa took the pendant, the burning in her right eye suddenly eased, as if someone had poured a ladle of ice water into boiling oil. She looked out at the gradually brightening horizon; the dawn of Gold Merchant Fortress was dyed in blood-red sunrise, even the clock tower spire seeming stained with blood.
Tisk suddenly stood up, his goggles flashing a red alert: "The enforcement team's patrol airships are hovering over the slums; they're searching for witnesses to the port incident."
As if confirming his words, a piercing loudspeaker echoed from afar: "Attention all residents! A terrorist attack occurred at the northern port; report any suspicious persons immediately!" Kait's sister shrank into her mother's arms, the tattered curtains flapping in the airflow.
"We need to move," Fa tucked the pendant close. "Gintello and the enforcement team are both after us; Kait's family will be implicated too."
Arya stared at the reddish rune stone fragments in her hand: "It's too late. These fragments are resonating—the Blood Elves' curse array has already activated; the controlled elites are gathering."
As if responding to her words, the entire wooden house suddenly shook violently, plaster falling from the walls. Through the window slits, everyone saw a horrifying scene: the residents of the slums walked out of their homes like sleepwalkers, blood-red curse marks appearing on the backs of their necks, converging toward the city hall. Kait's mother suddenly clutched her forehead and knelt down, red light faintly flowing under her skin—the curse purified three days ago was reviving!
"They've strengthened the curse array's range..." Arya pressed her palm to the woman's forehead, light and dark intertwined magic barely suppressing the red light. "We must destroy the curse array core, or the entire Gold Merchant Fortress will become a city of puppets!"
Gold Merchant Fortress Council
Deep underground in the city hall, hidden a massive altar unknown to outsiders. The Blood Elf elder stood at the center of the altar, surrounded by seven obsidian pillars engraved with runes, forming an ominous circle. At the top of each pillar was embedded an ancient metal plate, etched with fragments of a star debris map, the originally azure patterns entangled and polluted by blood-red runes.
The Gintello leader—a burly man with a mechanical prosthetic eye—was embedding the last metal plate into the altar's groove. Binary code flowed in his mechanical eye, a cruel smile on his face.
"Thanks to those fools causing trouble at the port, the enforcement team's attention is all on the slums." The Blood Elf elder stroked the trembling altar; the light screen projected by the pillars showed hundreds of controlled elites entering the council hall. "Once the map fragments are pieced together, the location of the star debris will be revealed... and then Gold Merchant Fortress will become our gift to the master!"
Data streams flashed in the Gintello leader's mechanical eye: "What about that team? They've caused us too much trouble already."
"They'll walk right into the trap." The Blood Elf elder grinned ferociously, slashing his palm; blood dripped onto the altar, forming eerie symbols. "After all, what they're seeking is here too... and that Star Pupil will be the perfect sacrifice for the ritual."
As if sensing the resonance of the map fragments, the rune stone in Arya's hand suddenly floated up, guiding the team to the secret passage leading to the altar. The team dove into the cold sewers without hesitation, but Kait clung tightly to Fa's sleeve.
"Take me with you! I can recognize Gintello's mechanical traps!" The boy's eyes shone with determination.
Tisk shoved a miniature crossbow into his hand: "Stick close to me, kid. If you see a pipe flashing red, hit the deck immediately."
The Decisive Battle of Gold Merchant Fortress
The secret passage led straight to the underground cavern where the altar was located. When the team burst out of the tunnel, the scene before them made everyone gasp—the altar had a massive eyeball suspended above it, formed from dark energy, its pupil reflecting the streets of Gold Merchant Fortress, countless blood-red threads extending from the eyeball, connecting to the controlled citizens.
"You've finally arrived, Star Pupil." The Blood Elf elder spread his arms, his voice filled with ecstasy. "Your eyes will be the final piece of the ritual!"
Tisk launched the first attack. "Earthshaker" slammed heavily into the ground, electromagnetic pulses bursting forth. The Gintello guards' tech equipment immediately failed, but the Blood Elves' magical attacks became even fiercer.
Arya simultaneously manipulated five elemental magics: light shields blocking incoming dark arrows, fire walls devouring approaching enemies, wind blades severing the blood-red control threads. Her silver hair danced in the magical storm, as if a goddess had descended.
Fa charged straight at the altar, her Star Trail short blade slicing with azure light, precisely cutting the blood threads connecting the citizens. For every thread severed, a citizen regained consciousness, but Fa also felt corresponding pain backlash.
"It's useless, Star Pupil!" The Blood Elf elder laughed. "For every thread you cut, the altar absorbs ten times the pain! You're just accelerating your own demise!"
Blood-red tentacles surged from the ground, wrapping around Fa's legs. On those tentacles appeared the pained faces of the controlled citizens, emitting silent screams.
Arya's Magical Dance and the Blood Battle
Arya's magical storm reached its peak, the five elements forming a perfect balance field around her. The interweaving of light and dark, the dance of fire and water, the flow of wind—this sight shocked even the Blood Elf elder.
"Five-system balance... impossible!" He roared, intensifying his assault.
But Arya's mana was rapidly depleting, blood spilling from her lips. Every second she maintained the five-system magic balance, her mind felt like it was being sliced by blades. She had to buy time for Fa!
Fa's Star Pupil awakened again at that moment, starlight flowing substantively from her right eye. She saw the altar's core—those seven map fragments absorbing blood magic, gradually fusing into a hideous blood-red eyeball.
"Must destroy the core!" Fa roared, channeling all her power into the short blade. The Star Trail short blade erupted with sun-like brilliance, slashing through all entangling tentacles, but the cost was blood surging from her nostrils, her right eye's iris aching as if shattered.
The Blood Elf elder pounced, his blood curse fingertips turning into chains wrapping around her ankles: "Your star power is like a candle exposed to a wolf pack—"
Before he could finish, Arya's light arrow pierced the Blood Elf elder's shoulder, and Tisk's war hammer heavily smashed the altar's edge, shattering two obsidian pillars. Fa seized the opportunity, fusing the light power from the pendant with her Star Pupil energy, forming a pure beam of light that shot straight through the Blood Elf elder's heart.
The blood-red runes on the map fragments began to disintegrate, azure light points flying like meteors, reassembling into a complete star map. The Blood Elf elder watched in horror as his body dissipated in the star power, screaming as he flung out one last blood curse: "You think you've won? You have no idea what you're up against..."
The Mechanical Madman's Escape
Tisk's war hammer pressed against the Gintello leader's throat, the gear grinding sound intertwining with the data flow from the opponent's prosthetic eye. "Now, tell me the Blood Elves' true purpose—"
Before he could finish, the Gintello leader's mechanical eye suddenly burst with intense light, his chest device spewing black smoke. The metal plates on the ground flipped under magnetic force, and Tisk's magnetic boots instantly failed. Staggering, he was slashed on his left arm by the opponent's serrated blade, blood splattering on the prosthetic eye, only to discover it wasn't a flesh body at all—the neck below the eye revealed flickering red mechanical joints.
"Dwarf, you think I'm like those cursed fools?" The Gintello leader's voice became coldly inhuman, four mechanical spider legs popping out from his back, clinging to the dome in a bizarre posture. "The Gintello family sold their souls to the darkness long ago..."
He flung a metal disc, which exploded into an electromagnetic pulse upon landing. Tisk's goggles went black instantly, and his armor's thrusters paralyzed.
When vision returned, the Gintello leader was at the secret passage entrance, holding the last unpurified map fragment: "Betes Forest's ancient castle? Heh, so the star debris is there. We'll be waiting for you—"
Before the words finished, he activated the jet devices on his mechanical legs, vanishing into the darkness as a blue streak, leaving only deep mechanical claw marks on the ground.
Dawn's Price
The altar collapsed in the clash of star power and blood magic, morning light seeping through the cracks, illuminating the ground littered with metal debris and magical embers. Tisk half-knelt on the ground, watching the energy core on his armor's chest flicker red, cracks spreading to the gear core.
Arya held the unconscious Fa, drained from mana overuse, her fingertips gently brushing over the blood scab on his right eye, where fine star sparks flickered beneath the skin, like a sealed universe in turmoil.
"The Star Pupil power has deeply fused with his nervous system," Arya's voice choked. "It's like mixing lava into wine. We must follow the map to find all the star debris to restore this balance, or his body will burn from the inside out..."
Tisk tore off his damaged goggles, revealing the dwarf rune tattoo at the corner of his eye: "Looks like the next stop is Betes Forest." He kicked the half-melted mechanical spider leg at his feet; amid the clicking of turning gears, residual blood magic made a line of small words appear on the part's surface: "The Heart of Stars is the world's wound..."
Engine sounds of the enforcement and rescue teams echoed from afar. Morning light finally fully illuminated Gold Merchant Fortress, yet no one saw the heroes' wounds hidden in the shadows. In the scorched ruins, on the burned corner of that map fragment, the last wisp of starlight quietly sank into the earth—as if some ancient entity awaited the true awakening.
The team achieved victory at a heavy price, but the road ahead was even more perilous. What secrets hid in Betes Forest's ancient castle? What was the true purpose of the Gintello leader and the Blood Elves? How would Fa's Star Pupil power develop?