Chapter 35 - 34: Eight Minutes

Chapter 35: Chapter 34: Eight Minutes

The first masked operator moved faster than any ordinary Hunter.

Arin saw the motion through the combat suit before his eyes fully registered it.

A red warning flashed across his visor.

«HOSTILE VECTOR DETECTED.»

He shifted left.

The operator’s blade passed close enough to scrape sparks from Arin’s shoulder plate.

Lucan appeared immediately.

His knife struck the attacker’s wrist.

Aldric followed with a silver arc of mana that forced the masked figure backward.

Then Vaelor laughed.

Golden pressure exploded from his body.

The entire chamber shook.

"Finally," the Grandmaster said. "Something worth hitting."

Arin looked toward him.

"Try not to destroy the ceiling."

Vaelor’s smile widened.

"No promises."

"Then stay away from the supports."

For a heartbeat, Vaelor actually looked offended.

Then two masked operators attacked him together.

He met them head-on.

The impact sounded like siege weapons colliding.

Arin turned away.

Vaelor could handle himself.

That wasn’t his problem.

His problem was the timer.

«REMOTE FOUNDATION SEVERANCE:

07:54.»

Eight minutes.

That was all they needed.

Behind Nera, the Root Gate continued opening.

Darkness churned inside the sphere.

Something enormous moved beyond it.

Not humanoid.

Too many limbs.

Too much mass.

Arin did not intend to find out what it was.

Nera stood before the gate with her black eyes fixed on him.

"You would bury your own history."

Arin fired.

She twisted aside.

The energy round struck the floor.

Nera smiled.

"Still impulsive."

"No."

Arin fired again.

She dodged.

A third shot followed.

Not at her.

At the operator beside the core.

The round struck his shoulder.

He collapsed.

Nera’s smile disappeared.

Arin lowered the weapon slightly.

"I’m prioritizing."

Lucan drove another operator into the wall.

"Six minutes?"

"Seven."

"Close enough."

A masked attacker swung toward him.

Lucan ducked.

His blade entered beneath the figure’s ribs.

The operator made no sound.

No cry.

No hesitation.

Lucan immediately jumped back.

"These people aren’t feeling pain."

Arin’s visor scanned the injured man.

«BIOLOGICAL RESPONSE:

ABNORMAL.

PAIN RESPONSE:

SUPPRESSED.

NEURAL SIGNATURE:

PARTIALLY REMOTE.»

"Not fully people," Arin said.

Lucan looked toward him.

"That’s becoming a recurring problem."

The wounded operator suddenly rose.

Lucan stared.

"I stabbed his lung."

"He disagrees."

The operator charged again.

Lucan swore and intercepted him.

Arin moved toward the access core.

Nera blocked his path.

No weapon.

No armor.

Just that calm expression.

"You cannot disconnect this gate."

"Actually, Builder-01 disagrees."

That finally made her blink.

Arin’s visor displayed a second feed.

Far above them, Builder-01 was tearing through the ancestral foundation.

Not randomly.

Precisely.

Structural anchors.

Elysium conduits.

Valerius stone supports.

One after another.

EVE coordinated remotely.

The old vault was being separated from the estate like rotten wood cut from a larger structure.

«FOUNDATION SEVERANCE:

11%.»

Nera saw the display reflected in Arin’s visor.

Her expression changed.

"You connected Elysium construction systems to this estate."

"Temporarily."

"You risk exposing your infrastructure."

"Yes."

"You risk contaminating your network."

"Yes."

"You risk the access core collapsing."

"Yes."

She stared.

"Why?"

Arin looked toward the gate.

"Because the alternative is letting you finish."

For once, Nera had no answer.

Arin moved.

She attacked.

Fast.

Much faster than before.

Her hand came toward his throat.

No visible weapon.

The suit screamed.

Arin raised the emergency shield.

Her fingers hit the barrier.

Black light spread across it.

«SHIELD INTEGRITY:

79%

62%

41%»

Three seconds.

That was all it took.

Arin stepped backward and discharged the multi-tool directly into the shield field.

Electric energy surged.

Nera recoiled.

Not from pain.

From surprise.

Arin followed with a kick to her knee.

She barely moved.

Strong.

Much stronger than she looked.

She smiled.

"Without your devices, you would already be dead."

Arin stared.

There it was again.

That same tired argument.

He drove the sidearm into her stomach and fired at point-blank range.

The blast threw her across the chamber.

She struck the wall.

Arin lowered the smoking weapon.

"Good thing I brought them."

Lucan laughed from somewhere behind him.

"I really enjoyed that."

Aldric did not.

"Focus."

The Duke’s sword blocked a black blade descending toward Lucan.

Silver mana flared.

Father and son stood back-to-back for a moment.

Neither looked comfortable with it.

One operator attacked Aldric from the left.

Lucan intercepted.

Another moved toward Lucan’s blind side.

Aldric struck first.

They both froze.

Only briefly.

Then Lucan said:

"Don’t make this emotional."

Aldric’s jaw tightened.

"Wasn’t planning to."

"Good."

They separated and returned to fighting.

Arin noticed.

Filed it away.

Later.

Everything important seemed determined to become a later problem.

The timer continued.

«06:31.»

Vaelor threw one masked operator through a stone pillar.

Arin’s expression changed immediately.

"Support!"

Vaelor looked toward the cracked column.

"Oh."

Arin stared.

The Grandmaster shrugged.

"He annoyed me."

"Do that again and I’ll shoot you."

Vaelor laughed.

"You already did."

"Then you know I mean it."

The Grandmaster looked delighted.

Arin regretted speaking.

Then the Root Gate changed.

The darkness inside it widened.

A limb emerged.

Not fully.

A black, jointed appendage longer than a horse.

Then another.

The chamber temperature dropped.

Vaelor stopped laughing.

Lucan looked over.

"What is that?"

Nera pushed herself from the wall.

Blood ran from the corner of her mouth.

Her smile returned.

"Archive Guardian."

Arin’s eyes narrowed.

"Yours?"

"Not exactly."

"Can you control it?"

"No."

"Excellent."

Nera laughed softly.

"It protects the Archive."

"From?"

"Everything."

That included them.

And probably her.

Good.

The creature pushed farther through.

A massive claw gripped the edge of the gate.

The access core groaned.

«FOREIGN ENTITY TRANSIT:

37%.»

Arin looked toward the foundation timer.

«05:58.»

Too slow.

"EVE."

Her voice came through immediately.

"Listening."

"Increase severance speed."

"Risk of structural failure rises to forty-three percent."

"Where?"

"Ancestral wing."

"Evacuated?"

"Confirmed."

"Do it."

Aldric heard.

His expression changed.

"Forty-three percent?"

Arin looked at him.

"Your hall may collapse."

Aldric stared.

Then looked toward the ancient vaults around them.

Family history.

Artifacts.

Six centuries of inheritance.

He tightened his sword grip.

"Do it."

Arin almost nodded.

Good.

EVE responded.

"Acceleration confirmed."

«FOUNDATION SEVERANCE:

19%...

25%...

31%.»

The entire chamber shook.

Dust rained from the ceiling.

Nera’s expression finally became urgent.

"Stop!"

Arin fired at her.

She dodged.

"You first."

She raised one hand.

The six masked operators stopped fighting.

All at once.

Lucan nearly stabbed through empty air.

Aldric stepped backward.

Vaelor frowned.

Then every operator turned toward the access core.

Arin understood.

"Stop them."

Too late.

The six placed both hands against the sphere.

Black energy surged.

Their bodies convulsed.

One collapsed.

Then another.

Their flesh began turning gray.

Arin’s visor flooded with warnings.

«MASS AUTHORITY TRANSFER DETECTED.

ROOT GATE STABILITY INCREASING.»

The creature beyond pushed harder.

The gate widened.

Nera looked at Arin.

"They were never meant to return."

Vaelor’s face twisted.

"Disposable."

Nera didn’t deny it.

Lucan looked toward him.

"Feeling familiar?"

Vaelor’s jaw clenched.

That one landed.

Arin moved toward the operators.

Nera intercepted again.

This time Lucan arrived from the side.

His knife struck her arm.

Black blood appeared.

Not red.

Lucan froze.

Nera looked at the wound.

Then at him.

"Still carrying stolen authority."

Lucan’s expression changed.

"You know what they did to me."

"Of course."

"Then you know Mara."

Nera smiled faintly.

"Poor Mara."

That was enough.

Lucan attacked again.

Different now.

Not controlled.

Angry.

Arin saw it immediately.

"Lucan."

No response.

Nera blocked his knife.

He swung again.

Too wide.

She caught his wrist.

Black light surged toward the scarred Founder mark in his palm.

Lucan screamed.

Arin fired.

The shot struck Nera’s shoulder.

She released him.

Lucan stumbled backward.

Arin grabbed his collar and pulled him away.

"Control yourself."

Lucan shoved his arm free.

"You heard her."

"Yes."

"She knows Mara."

"Yes."

"Then—"

"Later."

Lucan stared.

Arin pointed toward the gate.

"That kills us first."

For several seconds, Lucan’s breathing remained ragged.

Then he looked toward the massive claw entering the room.

His expression reset.

Cold again.

"Fine."

Good.

Arin looked toward Vaelor.

"Can you break the operators away from the core without killing them?"

Vaelor laughed.

"Why avoid killing them?"

"Because I don’t know what happens to the gate if they die."

The Grandmaster’s smile faded.

"Reasonable."

He moved.

Golden mana compressed around his body.

Vaelor hit the first operator with an open palm.

Not enough to kill.

More than enough to launch him away from the sphere.

The Root Gate flickered.

Arin’s eyes sharpened.

"Again."

Vaelor struck a second.

Then Aldric joined.

Silver mana wrapped around the Duke’s sword.

He hit an operator with the flat of the blade.

Third removed.

The gate destabilized.

«FOREIGN ENTITY TRANSIT:

44% → 39%.»

Good.

Lucan took the fourth.

Knife handle to the temple.

Operator down.

Arin ran toward the fifth.

The masked figure turned.

Arin fired into the floor beside his foot.

The blast knocked him sideways.

Five removed.

Only one remained.

Nera appeared between Arin and the final operator.

Her dress was torn.

Black blood covered one arm.

But she still smiled.

"You are delaying the inevitable."

"That’s the current objective."

Arin watched the timer.

«FOUNDATION SEVERANCE:

57%.

TIME:

03:41.»

The Archive Guardian roared from the gate.

The sound had no air in it.

It seemed to travel directly through bone.

Several Valerius Hunters outside the hidden chamber collapsed.

Vaelor winced.

Aldric staggered.

Arin’s suit muted the worst of it.

Lucan wasn’t as lucky.

Blood ran from his ear.

Nera did not react.

Arin noticed.

"You’re protected from it."

She tilted her head.

"Archive privilege."

"Useful."

Arin raised his sidearm.

Her smile widened.

"Your weapon won’t kill me."

"Not aiming at you."

He fired past her.

Nera’s eyes widened.

The round struck the sixth operator.

Not his body.

The floor beneath him.

Stone vaporized.

The man dropped through the opening.

His hands tore away from the access core.

The Gate spasmed.

The massive claw slipped.

The creature roared.

«TRANSIT STABILITY:

CRITICAL.»

Nera’s calm vanished completely.

"No!"

Arin smiled faintly.

"There you are."

The Archive Guardian forced itself forward.

The gate widened violently.

One enormous eye appeared beyond the darkness.

Black.

Bottomless.

It focused on Arin.

Then Nera.

Then everyone.

For one second, Arin understood something.

The creature did not care who summoned it.

Good.

The gate started collapsing.

Nera ran toward the sphere.

Arin intercepted.

She struck him.

Hard.

The shield broke.

Arin flew backward.

His back hit the wall.

Pain exploded through his ribs.

«EMERGENCY SHIELD:

OFFLINE.»

Nera reached the sphere.

She placed both hands on it.

Black light erupted.

The Gate stabilized.

Barely.

«FOREIGN TRANSIT:

51%.»

Halfway.

Too much.

Arin forced himself upright.

Lucan moved toward Nera.

She threw him aside.

Aldric attacked.

Nera deflected his sword with one hand.

Vaelor charged.

She unleashed a black pulse.

The S-Rank Grandmaster was thrown across the room.

Strong.

Much stronger than before.

Root connection.

Arin’s visor updated.

«ARCHIVIST NERA:

ROOT EMPOWERMENT ACTIVE.»

The timer.

«FOUNDATION SEVERANCE:

71%.

02:12.»

Not fast enough.

The Archive Guardian’s head began emerging.

Black plates.

Multiple eyes.

Too many jaws.

The chamber suddenly felt very small.

Arin looked upward.

Then at the support structures.

Then at the access core.

A plan formed.

Bad.

Dangerous.

Useful.

"EVE."

"Listening."

"Can you collapse only the floor beneath the core?"

A pause.

"Yes."

"Depth?"

"Approximately forty meters into sealed bedrock chamber."

"Will the gate survive?"

"Unknown."

"Will we?"

Another pause.

"If you remain in the chamber, survival probability twenty-nine percent."

Lucan heard.

"No."

Arin ignored him.

"Can the core be dropped without full foundation severance?"

"At eighty percent."

The display read:

«74%.»

Thirty seconds maybe.

Nera looked toward him.

She had heard only his side of the conversation.

But she understood enough.

"You wouldn’t."

Arin smiled.

Lucan groaned.

"Why does everyone keep saying that?"

Aldric looked toward Arin.

"What are you planning?"

"Exit."

Vaelor pushed himself upright.

"That doesn’t answer him."

"It answers what matters."

Arin pointed toward the corridor.

"Everybody out."

Lucan stared.

"And you?"

Arin looked toward the core.

"I need to trigger it manually."

Aldric’s face hardened.

"No."

Arin looked at him.

That word.

From his father.

Old instinct wanted to react.

He ignored it.

"Go."

"I’m not leaving you."

Lucan stared at Aldric.

Vaelor stared too.

Even Nera looked amused.

Arin’s expression remained flat.

"This isn’t reconciliation."

"I know."

"Then don’t make it one."

Aldric stepped closer.

"I’m still your father."

Arin’s eyes cooled.

"Then act like one and get out of my way."

Silence.

Aldric stopped.

That hurt him.

Arin saw it.

Not relevant.

The timer:

«82%.»

Enough.

"EVE."

"Ready."

Arin raised the sidearm.

"Everyone out."

Lucan swore.

Then grabbed Aldric’s arm.

"He’s not changing his mind."

Vaelor moved toward the corridor.

"For once, the boy and I agree."

Aldric resisted.

Lucan pulled harder.

"Father."

The word stopped him.

Lucan’s face was serious.

"Go."

Aldric looked between both sons.

Then turned.

They ran.

Vaelor followed.

Lucan last.

Nera remained at the core.

Arin remained opposite her.

The Archive Guardian pushed through farther.

Nearly sixty percent now.

Nera stared at Arin.

"You’ll die."

"Maybe."

"You would destroy yourself for people who exiled you."

"No."

Arin looked toward the ceiling.

Beyond it, civilians were evacuating.

Thirty thousand.

Workers.

Servants.

Children.

People who had nothing to do with his exile.

"I’m destroying your gate for people who didn’t."

Nera’s eyes hardened.

"Semantics."

"Important distinction."

The floor beneath the core flashed.

«DROP SEQUENCE AVAILABLE.

MANUAL CONFIRMATION REQUIRED.»

Arin stepped toward the control point.

Nera attacked.

Expected.

He threw the multi-tool.

She dodged instinctively.

The device struck the access core.

Arin triggered remote discharge.

Electric energy exploded.

The core flickered.

Nera’s root empowerment dropped for one second.

Enough.

Arin sprinted.

Reached the manual node.

Pressed his palm against it.

«ACTIVE FOUNDER DETECTED.

CONFIRM FOUNDATION DROP?»

Nera recovered.

She grabbed him from behind.

Black energy burned through the suit.

«ARMOR INTEGRITY:

38%.»

Arin clenched his teeth.

"Confirm."

«FINAL CONFIRMATION.»

Nera’s fingers tightened around his throat.

"You cannot win."

Arin looked toward the Gate.

At the massive creature trying to enter.

Then at her.

"I’m not trying to win."

He smiled.

"I’m making sure you lose."

"Confirm."

The floor disappeared.

Not cracked.

Gone.

The access core dropped.

Nera’s eyes widened.

Gravity took her too.

The Root Gate collapsed with them.

The Archive Guardian roared.

Arin jumped.

Not down.

Toward the wall.

Phantom-01 materialized beneath him in midair.

The motorcycle hit a fragment of falling stone.

Boosters screamed.

Lucan, standing at the upper corridor, stared.

"HE CAN DO THAT?!"

Arin accelerated upward.

Behind him, Nera and the access core fell into darkness.

The Root Gate twisted.

The Archive Guardian’s head was cut off halfway through transit.

Black light imploded.

The explosion chased Arin upward.

Phantom-01 slammed through the collapsing vault entrance.

Lucan dove aside.

Arin cleared the threshold.

Then the entire ancestral foundation collapsed.

Stone.

Metal.

Gold.

Artifacts.

Six centuries of House Valerius history vanished into the earth.

A shockwave threw everyone across the ancestral courtyard.

Then—

Silence.

Dust covered everything.

Arin lay beside the Phantom-01.

His visor flickered.

«COMBAT SUIT:

CRITICAL DAMAGE.

USER:

ALIVE.»

He laughed once.

Painfully.

Lucan crawled toward him.

"You are insane."

Arin sat up.

"Probably."

Aldric appeared through the dust.

Blood covered one side of his face.

He looked at the crater where the ancestral hall had stood.

Everything his family had preserved for generations was gone.

Arin watched him.

Waiting.

Anger?

Rage?

Condemnation?

Aldric stared at the crater for several seconds.

Then looked at Arin.

"Did it work?"

Arin checked his System.

«ROOT ACCESS CORE:

SIGNAL LOST.

FOREIGN TRANSIT:

FAILED.

ARCHIVIST NERA:

STATUS UNKNOWN.»

Arin nodded.

"Yes."

The Duke exhaled.

Then, to Arin’s surprise, he started laughing.

Not loudly.

Not happily.

The exhausted laugh of a man watching six centuries of inherited burdens disappear into a hole.

Lucan stared.

"Are you all insane?"

Vaelor sat against a broken wall.

"Apparently hereditary."

Arin looked at the crater.

Then at his father.

"Thirty thousand civilians."

Aldric’s laughter stopped.

"What?"

"Still here."

Arin forced himself to stand.

Pain ran through his ribs.

He ignored it.

"The Coalition hasn’t withdrawn."

Vaelor’s expression changed.

"Without me, they’ll fracture."

"Good."

Arin looked toward the eastern walls.

"Then we finish this."

Aldric stared.

"You can barely stand."

Arin looked at his damaged suit.

"Then I’ll sit on the bike."

Lucan covered his face.

Before anyone could answer, Arin’s Authority Band activated.

House Elysium.

EVE’s voice.

"Founder."

"Status?"

"Ark Prime countdown remains active."

Arin closed his eyes briefly.

Of course.

«TIME REMAINING:

05:18:44.»

Five hours.

Then EVE continued.

"Additional development."

Arin’s expression flattened.

"Bad?"

"Unclear."

"Those are usually bad."

A pause.

"Elara is awake."

Good.

"Seraphine?"

"Absent."

Better.

Then:

"Your mother has requested immediate contact."

"Why?"

EVE hesitated.

"She says the collapse of the Valerius access core activated something inside Ark Prime."

Arin looked toward the massive crater.

"What?"

EVE answered.

"An emergency awakening signal."

His System displayed a new message.

«ARK PRIME STATUS:

PRESERVATION LOCKS FAILING.

OCCUPIED PODS:

12,418.

AUTOMATIC REVIVAL SEQUENCE:

INITIATED.»

Arin went completely still.

Twelve thousand.

Not empty pods.

Occupied.

People.

Children.

Preserved lives.

The timer changed.

«MASS AWAKENING IN:

05:17:59.»

Lucan saw his expression.

"What happened?"

Arin looked at him.

Then at Aldric.

Then toward the battlefield still surrounding House Valerius.

Five hours.

A collapsing noble war.

Thirty thousand civilians.

A damaged combat suit.

And twelve thousand ancient lives preparing to wake beneath House Elysium.

Arin exhaled slowly.

"New problem."

Vaelor groaned from the wall.

"I hate when you say that."

Arin looked toward Phantom-01.

The bike was damaged.

Still functional.

Good enough.

He mounted.

Aldric stepped forward.

"Where are you going?"

Arin looked toward the eastern horizon.

"Home."

The Duke’s face changed at the word.

Arin continued before he could speak.

"Roland has evacuation command."

Then toward Vaelor.

"You are going to order the Royal Guild contingent to withdraw."

Vaelor narrowed his eyes.

"And if I refuse?"

Arin looked at him.

"Then I tell your Guild exactly how the Hollow Crown used you."

Vaelor’s jaw tightened.

Good.

Then Arin looked toward Aldric.

"Your war is yours again."

Aldric frowned.

"You are leaving?"

"Yes."

"What about the Coalition?"

"They’re no longer unified."

"And Theron?"

"Your prisoner."

"And us?"

Arin looked at him.

There it was.

The question beneath everything.

House Valerius.

His father.

The people who threw him away.

Arin’s expression remained calm.

"I came because civilians needed help."

Aldric said nothing.

"They’re alive."

Arin started the Phantom.

Blue light flickered weakly along its frame.

"So my job here is finished."

Lucan stepped closer.

"I’m coming."

"No."

His expression hardened.

"Arin."

"Mother needs you here?"

Lucan stopped.

Arin continued.

"No. She needs you at Elysium."

Lucan’s face changed.

Right.

Arin nodded toward the rear seat.

"Get on."

Lucan smiled.

Aldric watched.

Neither son looked toward him again.

The Phantom-01 turned toward the forest.

Then Aldric called:

"Arin."

Arin stopped.

Did not turn.

The Duke stood beside the ruins of the ancestral hall.

His entire inheritance behind him was rubble.

For the first time, Aldric Valerius looked less like a Duke than a tired father.

"I was wrong."

Silence.

Lucan looked toward Arin.

Arin remained still.

For years, some hidden part of him had probably wanted those words.

Now that they had finally arrived...

They were not enough.

But they were not nothing either.

Arin looked back over one shoulder.

"Good."

Aldric flinched.

Arin continued.

"Now figure out what you’re going to do about it."

The Phantom-01 accelerated.

The brothers disappeared into the forest.

Behind them, House Valerius watched the classless heir leave for the second time.

The first time, they had looked at him with pity.

This time, nobody dared.