Chapter 9: The Heavens' Descent
The ceiling of the Under-City didn't just break; it evaporated.
A mile above their heads, the "ground" of the upper simulation dissolved into a shower of golden sparks. Two streaks of light descended, tearing through the rusted atmosphere of the Graveyard like falling stars.
"They're here," Emily hissed, slamming a fresh energy cell into her rifle. "They didn't even wait for the gates to reset."
David didn't need the system to tell him who it was. His Thump of Dread was no longer a beat; it was a continuous, vibrating hum that made his teeth ache.
[Warning: High-Rank Candidates Detected]
[Rank 3: The Iron Monk (Condition: Enraged)]
[Rank 4: The Shadow Stalker (Condition: Hunting)]
The two figures landed atop a pile of discarded 21st-century cars, five hundred yards away. The Iron Monk stood tall, his bronze skin glowing with a dull, bruised purple light where David's feedback strike had landed. Beside him was a silhouette that seemed to bleed into the surrounding darkness—a figure wrapped in shifting black bandages, wielding two curved daggers that dripped with liquid static.
"Nineteen!" the Monk's voice boomed, amplified by Soul Force. "I can smell the copper of your blood. Come out and die with dignity, or I will peel this basement apart brick by brick!"
"We can't fight both," Emily whispered, her eyes darting toward the shadows. "The Stalker is a specialist. If he gets behind us while we're dealing with the Monk, it's over."
"I know," David said. He looked at his hands. The obsidian veins were pulsing faster. "We split them up. This place is a maze of old code and metal. Use your 'Spatial Folding' to lead the Stalker into the sector with the malfunctioning Memory Cubes. The feedback there will mess with his cloaking."
"And you?"
"I have a score to settle with the Monk," David said, his voice dropping an octave as the Breath of the Wind began to swirl around his ankles. "And I'm the only one who can take his hits."
Emily looked at him for a second too long—a strange, unreadable expression crossing her face. "Don't die, David. You're my ticket out of here."
She vanished into a ripple of green light just as a wave of golden energy obliterated the spot where she had been standing.
"Running? How disappointing," the Iron Monk rumbled, leaping from the pile of cars. He landed in front of David, the impact creating a crater ten feet deep.
The Shadow Stalker didn't speak. He simply dissolved into the darkness, a faint trail of black smoke following Emily's trajectory.
"It's just us, Bronze-man," David said, stepping into a low stance.
[Skill Trigger: Storm-Step]
[Combat Mode: Overclocked]
David moved. He didn't run toward the Monk; he circled him at a speed that left after-images. The Monk spun, throwing punches that shattered the rusted steel pillars around them, but David was weightless, flowing around the strikes like smoke.
Badum-tap! Badum-tap!
"You have two blessings, and yet you choose to scurry like a rat!" the Monk roared. He slammed his palms together. [Divine Skill: Bell of the Third Realm].
A golden, bell-shaped barrier expanded outward. David couldn't dodge it in time. The sonic pressure hit him, slowing his Storm-Step and vibrating his internal organs.
[Integrity: 54%]
[Internal Bleeding Detected]
David coughed up a mouthful of black blood, but he didn't stop. He leaned into the pressure. He needed the Monk to think he was winning. He needed to lead him deeper into the graveyard of "Giant Constructs"—the massive, half-finished combat robots from a deleted war-sim.
"Is that all?" David taunted, wiping his mouth. "The Rank 3 is just a loud bell?"
The Monk's face contorted. "I will grind your heart into dust!"
He lunged, his entire body turning into a golden projectile. David waited until the last possible 0.2 seconds.
Skip-Beat!
David didn't dodge. He jumped upward, grabbing onto a dangling, rusted cable belonging to a five-story-tall robot arm. The Monk's strike missed, slamming into the robot's "Core"—a massive, unstable battery of raw essence.
[Warning: Ancient Core Destabilized]
"What...?" the Monk gasped, his fist buried in the sparking machinery.
"The Under-City isn't just a trash heap," David said, hanging from the cable above him. "It's a minefield."
David slammed his obsidian-infused fist into the cable. He didn't just break it; he channeled the Primal Heart's feedback directly into the robot's dying brain.
BOOM.
The five-story robot arm groaned, its ancient hydraulics screaming as it collapsed directly onto the Iron Monk.
David hit the ground, panting. He knew it wouldn't kill the Monk, but it would buy time. He looked toward the sector where Emily had gone. His Pulse of Providence was giving him a strange, rhythmic tapping.
Pitter-patter... Badum... Pitter-patter...
Fortune and Dread. Intertwined.
"She's in trouble," David muttered, his eyes glowing with silver wind.
He didn't know that miles away, Emily wasn't struggling. She was standing over the dissipating smoke of the Shadow Stalker, her rifle lowered. She wasn't looking at her prey. She was looking at a message on her own screen—one David couldn't see.
[Private Message from Rank 1 'The Saint']
[Message: 'The Fourth Blessing requires two sacrifices. One to open the door, one to enter. Choose wisely, Rank 12.']
Emily's amber eyes flickered. She looked toward the sound of the explosion where David was fighting for their lives.
"I'm sorry, David," she whispered to the empty air. "But I'm not going back to the wasteland."