The jungle thinned to a jagged courtyard of shattered stone, each slab etched with claw marks deep enough to swallow a man's fist. Moss clung to broken pillars, and the faded mural of a massive, lion-like beast glared from the crumbling wall.
Its stone eyes seemed alive with disdain, as though measuring the worth of the intruders.
Nara the Snare moved like mist, her pale spirit-threads weaving through the clearing as if she were sensing the pulse of the ruin itself. Her expression was calm, almost bored, but her pupils glimmered with violet runes—proof of her mastery over the Puppet Walker Clan's sinister arts. She whispered softly, and a shadow detached from her back, It was Setkhefre the Guardian Pharaoh puppet, its body a wrap of golden living qi-thread, skittered forward to probe the ground with it's dead break dagger.
Behind her, her five accomplices fanned out with silent precision.
"Brick jaw" Toma, a hulking brute who bonded with a Tri-Rhino tops Core skin crackled with chocolate colored earth qi, he carried a spiked iron slab shield.
Sidhe, was a slim poison-wielder, she had bonded with a Virus Viper Core, she slunk among the ruins with a serpent draped around her neck, her fingers already staining purple.
Morrak of the Hollow Fang, was bonded with a Crimson King Bat, his eyes were black voids, he hummed softly as spirit-worms wriggled across his thinly membrane bat arms.
Jinae the assassin was bonded with a Cerulean pistol Shrimp Mantis, she possessed devastating bubble techniques.
Erlan, their youngest, carried a lacquered box strapped to his back, talismans glowing faintly against the wood.
Erlan was Bonded with a Rainbow Finch Core.
"The air reeks of him," Morrak muttered, sniffing. "The Foe Dog Emperor's spirit lingers." His voice was too smooth for his hulking form.
Nara knelt at the courtyard's center, plucking a thread of qi from the ground. The ruin responded with a low rumble—an ancient mechanism awakening. She smiled faintly, as if amused.
"The trial is already active," she said. "Prepare yourselves. And remember the order: Morrak first for brute force, Toma as the shield, Sidhe's venom for the survivors. Jinae, keep your wind blade sharp. Erlan… you know your role."
Erlan swallowed hard but nodded. The talismans on his box pulsed brighter, reacting to the qi current.
The ruins groaned, stones shifting under the weight of ancient qi. Setkhefre's golden threads flickered, the puppet's eyeless head cocking as it tapped the ground with its dagger. Each strike sent ripples of pale light through the courtyard, revealing buried glyphs beneath moss and rubble.
"Circle pattern," Nara murmured. "We're standing in the Emperor's hunting ring."
At her words, Brickjaw Toma slammed his iron slab into the ground with a grunt, earth qi rippling outward to form a low wall of jagged stone around them. Sidhe crouched low, her serpent's tongue tasting the charged air, while Jinae vanished in a gust, reappearing on a nearby pillar with her mantis claw glowing faintly blue.
Morrak's hum deepened to a low thrumming note, his membranous wings twitching. Spirit-worms detached from his arms and burrowed into cracks in the ground, drinking from dormant formations. Erlan shivered, his talismans pulsing like frantic heartbeats against the lacquered box strapped to his spine.
Then, the mural's eyes lit up.
Golden flames burst from the stone beast's sockets, flooding the courtyard in a blaze of heat and qi. The crumbling wall split apart, and from its center padded a creature larger than a war elephant, its mane a halo of molten gold, claws leaving molten grooves in stone. The Spirit Guardian of the Foe Dog Emperor stalked forward, its teeth clicking like sword edges.
Setkhefre hissed, its golden-threaded limbs tightening around the dagger, and Nara's threads fanned out into a glowing spiderweb that glimmered between shattered pillars.
"Positions," she said softly, her voice calm, commanding.
The five accomplices snapped into motion:
Toma braced himself as the frontline, his iron slab radiating dense earth qi.
Sidhe climbed high, venom dripping from her nails and fangs bared.
Morrak spread his wings, voice rising into a batlike shriek that made the Spirit Guardian falter for a heartbeat.
Jinae blurred around the edges of the arena, bubbles forming at her fingertips like glass bullets.
Erlan knelt, his talismans fluttering as if caught in a storm, rainbow light bleeding from the seams of his box.
The Spirit Guardian roared, shaking dust from the ruined courtyard. Glyphs across the ground blazed with golden light, marking each of them as prey.
"Remember," Nara whispered, her expression sharpening into something dangerous. "It's a test. Survive long enough, and the door opens. Break it… and the Emperor's curse will follow us home."
The golden beast lunged, and the courtyard erupted into chaos.
"The trial is already active," she said, voice low and steady, her spirit-threads quivering like a spider sensing prey. "Prepare yourselves. And remember the order: Morrak first for brute force, Toma as the shield, Sidhe's venom for the survivors. Jinae, keep your Bubble canon at the ready. Erlan… you know your role."
Morrak bared his needle-sharp teeth, wings spreading wide as if to drink in the golden glow. "I'll rip it open," he hissed, voice vibrating with the hum of his spirit-worms.
Toma grunted in reply, slamming his spiked slab-shield into the dirt. The Tri-Rhinotops core within him pulsed, and a shell of earthen armor crawled over his shoulders, cracking like volcanic rock.
Sidhe's serpent coiled tighter around her neck, its forked tongue flicking against her jaw as she tipped her fingers and let poison drip, each drop sizzling when it struck the moss.
She smiled faintly, a predator savoring the hunt.
Jinae twirled a glowing bubble the size of a marble between her fingers, its surface refracting light like a prism. The Cerulean Pistol Shrimp Mantis's power churned within her lean frame, making the air around her crackle.
Erlan, trembling slightly, placed his hands on the lacquered box. Rainbow light bled through its seams as talismans fluttered in the air, drawn by the swirling qi currents. He swallowed hard, but nodded once, silently steeling himself.
Setkhefre, Nara's golden-threaded puppet, marched forward, dagger raised. The Mini Setkhefre turned toward the glowing glyphs on the ground, as if studying the formation with a predator's patience.
Then, the ruins roared.
The mural split like a gaping maw, and from its depths the Spirit Guardian of the Foe Dog Emperor surged forth—an immense beast of golden mane and obsidian teeth, its paws cracking stone as it stalked forward. Glyphs ignited across the courtyard, a glowing hunting ring that pulsed with killing intent.
"Positions," Nara murmured. Her spirit-threads tightened, snapping into a shimmering web between the ruins.
The golden beast crouched low, eyes blazing with hatred older than memory. The hunting ring flared brighter, locking them all in place.
And then it leapt.
The beast's leap shattered the courtyard's edge, stone shrapnel spraying like arrows. Toma was already there, his slab-shield braced in a crouch, earth qi hardening his stance until he was a mountain against a storm. The Spirit Guardian's claws struck, sparks bursting as obsidian talons scraped across the shield's jagged surface.
"Now!" Nara's voice cut like a bell.
Morrak blurred into motion, his membranous wings beating once, sending a shockwave of sound through the courtyard. Spirit-worms erupted from the cracks around the guardian's paws, latching onto glowing glyphs and drinking deeply, disrupting the hunting ring's flow. The beast staggered, snarling in frustration.
Jinae was already a streak of blue light, flickering around the beast's flank. She flicked her wrist, releasing a marble-sized bubble that struck the Spirit Guardian's ribs and detonated like a cannon blast, the concussive wave rippling through its molten mane.
Sidhe descended next, venom dripping like rain. Her serpent hissed, fangs glowing with purple qi as she lashed out, stabbing toxins deep into the creature's neck. The guardian roared, thrashing, molten qi sizzling where poison met its hide.
Erlan knelt at the edge of the courtyard, the lacquered box before him trembling. He tore a talisman free, slamming it into the ground. Rainbow qi spread outward in a lattice, sealing fractures in the hunting ring to contain the guardian's fury. His face was pale, sweat dripping, but he didn't falter.
And through it all, Setkhefre advanced.
The golden-threaded puppet danced across rubble with impossible precision, dagger flashing. Nara's fingers twitched in rhythm, her violet-threaded controlers blazing as she guided the puppet through a storm of claws and heat! Each strike from Setkhefre wasn't just an attack—it severed qi threads anchoring the Spirit Guardian to the formation, unraveling the Emperor's trap strand by strand.
"Shift!" Nara snapped, and her squad responded instantly! Toma dropped his guard and rolled aside as the beast slammed into empty space; Morrak dove low, releasing a sonic shriek that fractured another glyph. Jinae's next bubble struck the beast's paw mid-swipe, detonating with a sharp crack and throwing the creature off balance.
The hunting ring's glow dimmed for a heartbeat.
"It's working," Erlan breathed, voice trembling.
Nara's lips curled in the faintest smile. "Of course it is."
The Spirit Guardian threw back its head and roared, summoning golden qi into its mane until it blazed like a second sun. The courtyard trembled, cracks spiderwebbing outward.
The Foe Dog was preparing for the Lion Dance.
Nara's threads quivered in warning. "Brace. Second phase."
The golden beast reared on its hind legs, molten claws raking the sky! Glyphs across the courtyard flared, and the shattered stones rose, spinning like a storm of blades. Its mane burned brighter, each strand of golden qi writhing like a whip, and with a deafening crack, the creature moved.
It was no longer running—it was dancing. The Spirit Guardian's steps were a blur of power and precision, its paws striking glyphs in a pattern older than memory. Each step sent shockwaves through the ground, turning rubble into shrapnel and air into cutting wind!
The "Lion Dance" wasn't a single attack; it was a battlefield-wide ritual of death.
"Defensive formations!" Nara barked, her voice calm even as her fingers worked the puppeteer controllers. Spirit threads lashed out from her hands, weaving into a dome-like lattice over her squad. Setkhefre, golden and deadly, blurred forward to intercept, its dagger striking glowing glyphs before they could fully ignite.
Toma slammed his slab-shield down, his Tri-Rhino tops core roaring to life. A dome of cracked, earthen qi sprouted around him, absorbing the first shockwave. Sidhe's serpent hissed as she crouched low, fangs glowing with venom qi; she struck at the Foe Dog mid-flight, her poison coating the clock work beast harmlessly.
Morrak launched skyward, wings thrumming at a pitch that shattered floating slabs into powder! His spirit-worms rained down onto the pavement crawling toward glowing glyphs to gnaw at their power.
"Erlan!" Nara snapped.
"I—I see it!" Erlan's voice cracked as he pulled three talismans from his lacquered box, slapping them to the ground in sequence. A rainbow seal pulsed outward, slowing the rotation of the lethal stone storm.
But the Spirit Guardian was already upon them!
With a single leap, it descended in a spiral, golden mane whipping outward like rays of golden sunburst, its claws carving glowing sigils midair that exploded on contact with stone. The hunting ring had become a vortex of qi and killing intent.
"Left flank!" Jinae's voice rang sharp as glass. She flickered into motion, hurling a bubble the size of her fist. It detonated like a cannon blast! Opening a gap in the storm. She darted through, blade flashing as she carved a line of blood across the Guardian's shoulder.
The beast roared, slamming a paw down, and a shockwave shattered the ground beneath them, sending rubble flying.
"Hold formation!" Nara's command snapped like a whip, her puppet Setkhefre darting in to clash with the beast's claws, dagger meeting obsidian talons in a burst of sparks. The puppet's golden threads slashed at the glyphs etched into its fur, severing one—just one—and the storm faltered for a heartbeat.
Nara's violet runes flared brighter, her expression cold and calculating. "This is no ordinary guardian. He's feeding on the formation."
The beast snarled, golden qi boiling off its body, mane brightening again. The Lion Dance was far from over.
The Spirit Guardian's golden mane became a blazing whirlwind as it spun, claws striking glowing glyphs in a deadly rhythm. Each impact sent a shockwave through the courtyard, toppling pillars and flinging rubble!
"Shield!" Nara's voice cut through the chaos.
Toma slammed his slab-shield into the ground, earthen qi erupting into a cracked wall just in time to block the first shockwave. It splintered under the impact, but it bought precious seconds. Sidhe darted low, her serpent striking at a falling slab, its venom hissing as it dissolved stone midair.
"Left side! Jinae!"
Jinae flickered from shadow to shadow, her mantis-core bubbles detonating with sharp cracks, clearing paths through the deadly storm! Morrak swooped high, shrieking at an ultra sonic pitch that shattered several floating glyph-stones, clearing breathing space for Erlan to slap three rainbow seals down in quick succession!
"Box stable!" Erlan cried, hands trembling as he forced qi through the talismans. The rainbow glow slowed the rotating glyphs, but the Guardian's mane pulsed brighter, flooding the formation with fresh energy.
Setkhefre skittered along the walls, golden threads slicing at qi currents that anchored the glyphs. Sparks danced each time dagger met glowing rune, but the storm barely faltered.
Nara's expression sharpened, her pupils glowing brighter with violet runes as she analyzed the beast's movements. Her spirit-threads quivered, tracing the air. "Not random," she whispered. "He's… dancing. It's a pattern."
"What pattern?" Morrak snarled, batting a stone aside with his wings.
"Watch its paws!" Nara's voice rose slightly, tension sharpening her calm tone. "Every third step, it resets the glyph ring!"
The Spirit Guardian struck again, paws flashing golden light as they landed on precise glyphs. Nara's threads followed the rhythm—one, two, three, reset; one, two, three, reset.
"Positions shift on every reset," she murmured, more to herself than the squad. Then louder: "Jinae, bubble the third step! Sidhe, poison the anchors! Morrak, sonic burst on its right paw when it lifts!"
They moved without hesitation. Jinae's bubble detonated beneath the beast's paw mid-step, breaking the perfect rhythm of its Lion Dance. The Guardian staggered, golden mane flaring as it roared in frustration. Sidhe's serpent lashed out, venom dripping onto the glowing glyphs beneath its other paw, corroding their light.
"Now!"
Morrak unleashed a piercing screech that made the Guardian falter, its ears bleeding golden qi. Erlan's talismans flared, locking three glyphs in place.
The Lion Dance stuttered, its once-perfect rhythm breaking for the first time.
"This is it!" Nara's threads surged, latching onto a glowing glyph and pulling. The rune shattered like glass, sending a chain reaction through the hunting ring. Half the hovering stones fell at once, slamming into the ground.
The Spirit Guardian snarled, body flickering as its qi storm faltered.
"Don't let up!" Nara commanded. Setkhefre darted forward, dagger flashing in a blur. It severed another glyph-thread at the beast's flank, causing sparks of golden qi to spray like molten blood.
Toma charged with a roar, his slab-shield glowing as he smashed into the Guardian's leg, forcing it back a step. Jinae followed up with a detonation that cracked the beast's armor plating, revealing a golden cog.
"Clockwork," Nara breathed, her runes widening. "It's mechanical."
For a brief moment, she saw inside—a golden cog, rotating in perfect rhythm with the Lion Dance.
Her lips curved into a dangerous smile. "I need that gear cog, it's a legendary puppet clockwork piece!"
The Guardian roared and slammed its paws into the ground, resetting the entire hunting ring with a thunderous shockwave. Stones rose again, glyphs blazing brighter than ever.
"Phase three," Nara murmured, eyes glinting. "And now we know the key."
The courtyard pulsed with golden light as the Spirit Guardian reset the hunting ring, glyphs burning brighter, but Nara's threads hummed with eerie calm. She had seen its heart—the clockwork core—and now every move was calculation, every breath a countdown.
"Listen carefully," she said, her tone razor-sharp. "We take it apart piece by piece. Morrak, wings high. Sidhe, anchor the left. Toma, right flank. Jinae, bubbles on my mark. Erlan… lock its chest."
Erlan's hands trembled, but his nod was firm. The lacquered box glowed brighter as he pulled a talisman marked with a rainbow sigil.
The Spirit Guardian lunged, mane blazing like molten gold, its claws carving arcs of death. Toma met the strike with his slab-shield, the impact cracking stone beneath his feet, but he didn't budge. Morrak swooped low, unleashing a sonic burst that forced the beast to recoil. Sidhe's serpent lashed forward, fangs dripping venom onto glowing glyphs, their light sputtering out.
Nara's threads shot forward, weaving a shimmering net that wrapped around the Guardian's front leg. "Now, Jinae!"
A blue flash erupted as Jinae appeared above the beast's shoulder, hurling a bubble the size of a melon. It struck the Guardian's armor and detonated like a cannon blast, shattering a golden plate. For a heartbeat, metal gears beneath the plating spun in perfect rhythm, glowing with ancient qi.
"There!" Nara's voice sharpened. "Lock it!"
Erlan slammed the rainbow talisman into the ground, and spectral chains erupted from his seals, wrapping around the exposed cogwork at the beast's chest. The Guardian roared, twisting violently, but its movements faltered, the talisman glowing brighter with every struggling jerk.
"Hold it steady!"
Toma charged with an earth-shaking roar, ramming his shield into the Guardian's side, pinning it against a broken pillar. Sidhe darted in, her serpent striking the beast's foreleg joints, venom sizzling on contact. Morrak's screech reached a bone-rattling pitch, disorienting the Guardian just long enough for Setkhefre to leap forward.
The golden puppet's dagger flashed like lightning, Nara's fingers moving faster than sight as her threads guided each strike. With surgical precision, Setkhefre severed three glowing glyph-threads running through the beast's body, forcing its chest plating open like a blooming flower of molten steel.
The clockwork heart lay bare: a golden cog, etched with runes, spinning in perfect time with the hunting ring.
"Jinae!"
The assassin flickered into motion, bubbles detonating in a chain, clearing a path to the beast's core. Nara's threads lashed out, weaving a spiral cage around the cog.
"Now!"
Setkhefre plunged its dagger into the clockwork beasts head. Nara's threads coiled around the gear, twisting and snapping it free in a single motion. The Guardian convulsed, golden qi bleeding from its body like molten sunlight.
"Fall back!" Nara ordered. Her squad scattered just as the Spirit Guardian let out a final roar, collapsing into a heap of shattered plating and dimming glyphs. The golden cog, warm and thrumming with energy, floated in Nara's grip, bound by her violet threads.
She studied it, eyes gleaming with hunger. "A puppet's heart," she whispered. "Ancient… perfect."
The courtyard fell silent, save for the ticking of gears cooling in the Guardian's corpse.
Nara turned to her squad, her calm voice soft but firm: "We're staying. This one resets. We'll farm it until Setkhefre sings with its gears."
Morrak grinned, wings folding. "And the Emperor?"
Nara's smile was faint, chilling. "The Emperor can wait. This… is only the first piece."
She lifted the cog, golden light reflecting in her violet eyes. The hunting ring flickered back to life around the ruined courtyard, the walls rumbling as the trial prepared to reset.
"Positions," Nara murmured. "Round two begins."
The courtyard became a crucible of clockwork death and rebirth.
Another clockwork guardian emerged, its golden mane blazing like dawn, Nara's threads sang sharper, Setkhefre's blade gleamed brighter, and her squad's coordination reached terrifying levels.
The Guardian lunged, predictable but powerful, and Toma absorbed the brunt with his slab shield, legs driven knee-deep into stone. Morrak's scream shattered glyphs midair, while Jinae's explosive bubbles tore through armor plating. Nara's threads cut true, severing control nodes and prying another Cog free.
Setkhefre absorbed the relic greedily, its golden wrappings shimmering with new glyphs. Its dagger sprouted a serrated edge, gears shifting beneath its puppet-like body, making it run faster!
Another clockwork beast descended, Sidhe's serpent struck glyph-nodes with surgical precision, venom sizzling as glowing symbols faltered. Toma's shield rippled with earthen qi, absorbing kinetic shockwaves, and Erlan's talismans layered the battlefield in rainbow seals, slowing the Guardian's movements.
Setkhefre darted like lightning on it's new mechanically powered limbs, ripping through armor as easily as silk. Another Cog joined its body, its mechanical hum deeper, richer.
The trial escalated, summoning two clockwork Guardians. But Nara's commands were calm, chillingly and measured.
"Left one—Jinae, shatter the knee. Morrak, wings up. Toma, bait right flank."
Explosions filled the courtyard, talismans blazing in arcs of rainbow light. Sidhe's venom cascaded through cracks in armor. Nara The Snares threads became a glowing web, weaving between enemies, binding limbs, locking joints. In a single motion, Setkhefre vaulted from Morrak's shoulder, landing on a Guardian's back, carving through its spine plating in a blur of steel.
Two more Cogs claimed. Setkhefre grew heavier, taller, its body an evolving marvel of artistry—half clockwork beast, half war puppet.
By the sixth run, Setkhefre had become armor plated like a scaled dragon, it's dagger upgraded to a short glaive that hummed with clockwork power.
The squad, too, transformed:
Toma's slab shield now bore glowing lines of cogwork etching, able to redirect kinetic strikes.
Sidhe's serpent slithered with upgraded venom sacs, infused with trace amounts of mechanical qi.
Jinae's bubble canon claw had been upgraded with compressed energy, it's shockwave was now twice as devastating.
Morrak's body took on a mechanicle motif and his spirit worms evolved into flying clockwork wyrms.
Erlan's talismans shimmered like stained glass, their power refined to near-instant binding.
And Nara… she radiated authority, her puppet threads no longer pale, but shimmering violet-gold, carrying the resonance of every Cog she claimed.
The courtyard walls rumbled. Ancient glyphs blazed brighter than ever, and then a new presence filled the trial grounds.
From the shadow of a colossal stone archway, a massive mechanical lion emerged, its mane a halo of rotating blades, its eyes blazing with the wisdom of centuries. This was no respawning trial beast. This was the Foe Dog Emperor himself.
Its voice was deep, resonant, carrying the weight of countless generations:
"Puppet Walker of Violet Threads… You see the dance in its entirety. Not brute strength, nor arrogance of spirit, but precision. Insight. Patience. You are not merely passing my trial—you are dissecting it."
The Emperor stepped closer, and with each movement, his massive gears whirred in harmony. He was a masterpiece of metal and soul, the peak of Puppet Mastery.
"You would make a fine student."
Nara bowed slightly, her expression calm but her pupils shimmering with hunger for knowledge.
"I will teach you," the Emperor continued, "not merely to command puppets, but to become their heart, to weave soul into gear and clockwork into spirit."
He raised one claw the size of a cart, and the air split with golden light as a staircase of interlocking gears spiraled upward into darkness. The archway widened, revealing an immense door of polished obsidian cogs, each one carved with glowing runes.
"Come, Nara the Snare," said the Emperor. "The second floor awaits, and with it, the true trial. If you would wear my armor, you must first learn its soul."
The gear-stairway pulsed with a rhythmic tick, beckoning the group.
Setkhefre landed at her side, its bandaged limbs folding reverently. Nara placed one pale hand on its golden frame, her threads tightening around it like a cloak.
Then, without a word, they ascended the staircase with her, gears clicking beneath her boots, drawn into the shadow of the colossal door and the second trial.
The maze pulsed with energy, gears grinding in the walls, levers jutting from floors, and tiles that shifted as though alive. Her squad descended carefully, moving as a single unit, their senses alert for both traps and guardians.
"Stay together," Nara commanded, her violet-threaded runes glowing faintly as they traced over the maze. "I'll see the locks, the openings, and I'll guide us through. You trust me."
Toma grunted in acknowledgment, shield ready. Sidhe's serpent flicked its tongue, tasting the energy in the walls. Morrak's wings stretched, his membranes quivering as he prepared to use his Ultra Sonic waves while Erlan double checked his relic load out.
Nara's eyes scanned the maze. Several walls bore subtle glyphs—locks embedded in the mechanical architecture. Each lock controlled sliding panels, trapdoors, or rotating sections of the maze. She touched a lever on her podium, feeling the subtle vibration of the mechanisms beneath her fingers.
"Left passage blocked by a gear lock," she murmured. "Morrak, ultra-sonic sweep."
A sharp, high-pitched note rang out, vibrating through the walls. Morrak's wings shimmered as the echoes mapped hidden mechanisms. A pattern emerged in his mind—a sequence of resonances marking which locks could be disengaged safely.
"Two, three, five—slide the panels in that order," Morrak instructed.
The wall groaned, cogs clicking as it shifted, opening a narrow passage just wide enough for the squad. Clockwork hounds—sleek, metallic beasts with spiked legs and glowing eyes—lunged from the shadows, but Toma's shield met the first strike while Sidhe's venom corroded the jointed legs of another.
Jinae flickered across the corridor, bubbles bursting midair to stagger another guardian, while Erlan's rainbow talismans wrapped around a trap tile, preventing it from activating. Morrak's ultrasonic pulse disoriented the remaining hounds long enough for the squad to regroup.
"Next lock—center," Nara called, tracing the lock's pattern with her spirit threads. Her spirit-threads wrapped around the mechanism like threads of light. She twisted the cogs counterclockwise, then pulled a lever at the base. "Watch the gear above—it's the master release."
The wall shivered and then slid open with a thunderous click, revealing a new corridor.
Time and again, the maze tested them: rotating walls, shifting floors, and hidden trap panels. But Nara's commands, precise and calm, guided her squad like a conductor leading an orchestra. Morrak's waves mapped the hidden locks, Sidhe neutralized hazards with her venom, Jinae disrupted clockwork predators, Toma shielded the squad, and Erlan's talismans stabilized dangerous mechanisms.
Hours passed—or perhaps minutes, for time warped in this place. Each success gave Nara insight into the labyrinth's design: it was a single massive mechanism, alive, reacting to intruders, and yet entirely predictable to someone who understood gears and threads.
Finally, after a particularly devious sequence of sliding walls and rotating chambers, Nara's fingers traced the last master lock.
"And… now."
A deafening series of clicks echoed throughout the labyrinth. Walls ground aside, floors aligned, and the clockwork beasts froze mid-strike, stilled by a momentary puzzle reset.She and her squad emerged unscathed, battered but triumphant.
"Excellent," Nara murmured, leading her party, Setkhefre glinting beside her. "You all performed beautifully."
The final corridor spiraled upward, a gear-lined shaft leading to a massive, reinforced door—the entrance to the third floor. Nara's violet-threaded eyes glimmered.
"The real trial begins above," she whispered. "And this time, it will test more than just coordination. It will test vision, creativity, and the strength of our threads."
Setkhefre hissed in agreement, golden threads snapping like lightning. The squad followed Nara as the door slowly ground open, revealing the shadowed stairwell to the third trial.
The gear-stairway groaned beneath their feet, each step a living cog, grinding in perfect rhythm. At the top, the massive door of interlocking obsidian and gold cogs swung open on its own, revealing a vaulted chamber bathed in pale golden light.
The air smelled of hot metal and cog oil, and Nara felt the faint hum of machinery woven into the walls—an intelligence older than any of her Puppet Walker ancestors. Setkhefre's golden armor rippled with anticipation, its glaive flexing in its grip like a predator sensing prey.
Her squad followed closely, formation tight. The Emperor's presence was palpable; even the shadows seemed to shift around them, alive with anticipation.
In the center of the chamber, a colossal silhouette crouched: the Foe Dog Emperor himself. But this time, he wasn't a single guardian. Multiple limbs, cogs, and interlocking plates rotated around him like orbiting satellites. Each movement produced a harmonic resonance, vibrating through the floor and into Nara's threads.
"Welcome, Puppeteer," the Emperor's voice boomed, echoing as if the walls themselves were speaking. "You have seen the surface… the dance. But a true puppet master does not merely manipulate—he becomes the mechanism itself."
He moved suddenly, each step a quake, each claw swipe spinning gears that opened doors, closed passages, and triggered hidden constructs in the chamber. Around them, platforms rose and fell, chains swung like pendulums, and mechanical hounds skittered across the floors, their eyes glowing crimson.
"Your squad survives through coordination. But here," he gestured with a clawed hand, "you will be alone. Your threads alone must weave order from chaos. If you falter, the gears will consume all who follow."
Nara's violet runes flared as she let her threads extend. Setkhefre summoned shadow servants each guided by Naras will, lancing forward to intercept the first wave of mechanical predators.
"Erlan, support from above," she instructed. Talismans lifted into the air, tracing protective lattices along the ceiling and walls, stabilizing falling platforms.
The Emperor unleashed a torrent of mechanized constructs: clawed arms that swung like hammers, cogs the size of doors spinning toward her threads, and glyphs etched into the floor that pulsed with lethal qi. Nara's fingers danced, threads lashing, weaving, snapping. Each attack she intercepted or rerouted carried the echo of a thousand smaller threads, binding limbs, deflecting energy, and redirecting the flow of the chamber's traps.
A massive cog rotated into view at the chamber's far end, gleaming with golden teeth. Nara's heart skipped—she recognized it immediately. The same design as the cog she had pried from the Lion Dance Guardian, but multiplied, integrated into a living machine of impossible complexity.
"It's...the inheritance!" she whispered to herself. "The last cog needed for the ultimate puppet…"
Her threads quivered in excitement and calculation. Each move she made now wasn't just defense—it was a test of whether she could interface with the Emperor's mechanisms on a conceptual level. A single misstep, and the chamber itself would tear apart her squad.
The Emperor tilted his massive head, cogs clicking into a new pattern. "This is no longer about survival. This is about resonance. Command the gears, or they will command you."
Nara closed her eyes briefly, letting her threads expand like a living spiderweb, sensing every vibration, every rotation, every pulse of qi. She could feel the "heartbeat" of the chamber now—the way each moving piece influenced the others, how the mechanical constructs anticipated her moves, how the energy flowed like clockwork blood.
"Setkhefre… integrate," she whispered.
Golden threads surged from the puppet into the chamber itself, latching onto the nearest spinning cogs. The miniature puppet mirrored her every motion, slashing, anchoring, and rerouting kinetic energy. Slowly, carefully, the tidal wave of mechanized assaults began to obey her rhythm.
The Emperor's eyes glimmered with interest. "Ah… you see the machine not as a beast, but as a body. Soon, the cogs will obey, and the mechanism will recognize its master. But mastery requires more than control…"
Above the chamber, a massive brass gate creaked open, revealing another layer of rotating gears, levers, and floating platforms. The trial was only beginning.
"Each step," Nara murmured, violet threads coiling like serpents around her fingers, "brings me closer. Each cog… each joint… every piece of the Emperor's design… will belong to me. And when it does…"
Her lips curved into a faint, dangerous smile. "Setkhefre will become more than a puppet. It will become mech, it will become legendary."
The Foe Dog Emperor stepped fully into view, enormous limbs folding like a living clockwork cathedral. His voice rumbled like grinding gears.
"Begin, Nara the Snare. Let your threads become the heart of the mechanism. Survive here, and you will claim what no puppeteer before has ever held."
The chamber thrummed, cogs spinning, blades whirring, glyphs burning, and Nara's violet-gold threads shimmered brighter than ever. The third-floor trial had begun.
The chamber shuddered as the Foe Dog Emperor moved, each step sending shockwaves through the intricate gear-laden floor. Spinning cogs clashed against levers, releasing walls of blades and swarms of mini-clockwork guardians. Light gleamed off polished brass and gold, casting a lattice of shadows over the labyrinthine battlefield.
Nara's violet-gold threads surged outward, snapping taut as they lanced toward every moving part. Setkhefre summoned more shadow servants, each leaping, stabbing, and anchoring pieces of the environment to redirect the Emperor's mechanical assaults!
"Formation alpha," she commanded, voice calm but razor-sharp. "Erlan, stabilize the upper gears. Morrak, sweep the chamber with ultra-sonic pulses. Toma, shield the left flank. Sidhe, poison the nodes, Jinae, bubble canon the pathways."
Each squad member moved as a single unit. Erlan's rainbow talismans spiraled upward, locking rotating platforms mid-spin just long enough for Nara's threads to lunge and intercept spinning cogs. Morrak's screech shattered smaller constructs midair, revealing weak joints and energy conduits. Sidhe's venom sizzled against mechanical nodes, corroding copper and brass with a precision only she could achieve. Jinae's bubbles burst with pinpoint accuracy, neutralizing spinning blades and staggered guardians.
Nara's hands moved faster than thought, threads wrapping around massive pistons and interlocking gears, forcing them into stasis just long enough to maneuver. Each motion of her fingers rippled through Setkhefre, turning the puppet into a synchronized extension of her will.
Then she saw it—a faint glow beneath the Emperor's forelimb, a massive cog rotating in perfect time with the chamber's machinery. The pulse matched the rhythm of the first Lion Dance Guardian she had harvested. Her violet-gold threads quivered.
"There," she murmured. "The first piece. Setkhefre, integrate sequence one."
Golden-threaded puppets darted forward, latching onto the cog. Sparks flew as the dagger struck precise angles, severing the anchoring glyphs in milliseconds. Nara's threads coiled around the cog like living veins, lifting it free. The Emperor roared, a sound that reverberated through metal and soul, but the cog floated in Nara's grasp, vibrating in resonance with her threads.
"Yes…" she whispered, eyes alight with hunger. "The core… begins to listen."
As the cog integrated with Setkhefre, the puppet's golden frame shivered and reconfigured. Plates shifted, gears nested, and his glaive transformed into an enhanced serrated glaive with a mechanical hum. The puppet moved faster, stronger, and more fluidly than before, its body responding as though alive.
"Round two," Nara called. "Distract it while I align the next piece."
The Emperor pivoted, swinging massive limbs that turned the floor into a spinning puzzle of gears and blades. Clockwork hounds darted through the chaos, snapping jaws and striking rotating platforms. Toma slammed his shield into the floor, absorbing the brunt of a crushing cog strike. Morrak's wings emitted sonic pulses, disorienting the hounds and revealing weak joints. Sidhe struck at the Emperor's stabilizing cogs with venom-coated claws, corroding the brass in milliseconds. Jinae flickered between shadows, detonating bubbles that staggered the Emperor's mechanical appendages.
"Second piece," Nara whispered, spotting another golden cog exposed at the Emperor's torso. Threads lashed outward, coiling around interlocking cogs while Setkhefre mirrored every movement, dagger slicing through control nodes.
The cog lifted free, integrating into Setkhefre with a resonant click that sent the puppet's body realigning. Its limbs grew longer, joints reinforced with interlocking brass, and its back sprouted a segmented tail of interwoven gears, glowing faintly with clockwork energy.
"Each cog… a heartbeat," Nara muttered. "Each piece brings it closer… brings me closer."
The Emperor's voice rumbled again, shaking the chamber. "Clever, Puppeteer. But the machine is not merely steel—it is spirit. Can you command it without being consumed?"
The mechanical lion swiped with immense claws, toppling platforms and launching a chain reaction of rotating cogs. Nara's threads surged, guiding Setkhefre into a blur of dodges, counters, and slashes. Each cog Nara harvested integrated into the puppet instantly, evolving it from guardian revenant to a full-scale clockwork war frame.
The first half-hour of the trial passed as a controlled storm. Nara never paused, never hesitated. Each command, each thread, each harvest reinforced her connection with Setkhefre. Slowly, the puppet began to resemble the Legendary inheritance she had glimpsed in the Foe Dog Emperor's workshop—a living mech, a fusion of clockwork, qi, and Puppeteer mastery.
Her squad, battered but alive, moved in near-perfect harmony. Erlan's talismans stabilized floors; Morrak's sonic pulses revealed hidden locks; Sidhe's venom corroded energy nodes; Jinae's bubbles disrupted attacks; and Toma shielded them all.
"Almost… there," Nara murmured, violet-gold threads quivering with the pulse of every cog she had claimed. "Keep it steady… just a little more…"
The Emperor's gaze followed her every move, massive gears whirring in silent admiration.
The chamber trembled with the Emperor's anticipation. Each cog Nara had harvested now pulsed with an inner resonance, aligning perfectly with Setkhefre's golden-threaded frame. The puppet's body shifted, plates sliding apart, gears spinning in perfect harmony, joints elongating, and serrated edges sprouting like the teeth of a predator.
"It's… ready," Nara whispered, violet-gold threads snaking across the floor like a river of light.
Setkhefre's eyes glowed, twin orbs of molten gold that reflected her own. The puppet's chest plate slid open with a hiss of pressurized steam, revealing a cockpit-like cavity within, glowing with interwoven glyphs and cogs. Threads extended like welcoming arms, wrapping around the entryway, guiding her toward it.
"Step inside," the puppet seemed to hum, a resonance not mechanical but almost sentient.
Nara's breath caught for a heartbeat. She touched the threads at the edge of the cockpit, feeling the pulse of the gears sync with her own qi. Slowly, reverently, she climbed inside. The cockpit was alive—panels shifting, glyphs spinning, levers sliding into place as if recognizing her touch.
"Connection… initializing,"
Her violet threads shot outward, merging with Setkhefre's golden network. The puppet vibrated in acknowledgment, responding to the smallest twitch of her fingers and the subtlest push of her mind. She flexed her hands—and the puppet mirrored her every movement perfectly. Arms, legs, tail, even the serrated glaive extending from its forelimb moved as extensions of her body, her thoughts flowing into the machinery like qi into flesh.
"This… is incredible!" Nara breathed.
Setkhefre's head dipped slightly, a gesture of acknowledgment. Then, testing her puppet body, she leapt forward, landing in the center of the chamber with the weight of a tidal wave. The gears in its limbs hummed in harmonic resonance with her pulse.
"You are one with me now," Nara whispered, threads tightening, body sinking into the cockpit's controls.
She flexed her mental control, and the first segment of the Setkhefre Mech roared to life. Golden light spilled from the joints, tail snapping through the air with a hiss of energized gears. The cockpit interface displayed every cog she had collected, every integration complete, the system now fully aware of her intent.
"Setkhefre… begin full engagement mode," Nara commanded, voice calm and authoritative.
The Puppet frame pulsed, limbs coiling with kinetic energy. A hum filled the chamber, a sound that was half gear, half heartbeat. Nara's squad below watched in awe as the puppet moved with a fluidity and power they had never seen! A battlefield-ready machine responding to a single mind.
"It's… alive," Morrak breathed, wings bristling as he scanned the chamber for new threats.
"No," Nara said, her eyes glowing violet-gold from inside the cockpit. "We're alive. Together."
Setkhefre leapt forward again, claws tearing into the Emperor's mechanical minions with brutal precision, spinning cogs locking into place with each strike. Nara directed the glaive with surgical skill, cutting chains, disarming traps, and corroding glyphs in perfect rhythm.
"First segment complete," she murmured. "But this… is just the beginning."
Golden threads and gears hummed in perfect unison. The cockpit's glyphs glowed brighter as if breathing alongside her. She was no longer merely a puppeteer—she was the heart, mind, and soul of a living war frame, a nascent puppet, a Foe Dog, capable of unmatched destruction and precision.
The Foe Dog Emperor's eyes gleamed from across the chamber. "Excellent," he rumbled, voice carrying over grinding gears. "You have claimed the body. Now I will teach you to command its soul. Only then will you understand the true power of your inheritance."
Nara's lips curled into a faint, fierce smile. "Then let's begin."
The war frame surged forward, tail thrashing, claws tearing, and glaive slicing. The trial had escalated—and the true test of Puppet Foe Dog mastery had begun.