Chapter 139: instability

The enormous protective formation surrounding the kingdom’s capital had begun to weaken.

Amon felt it before Theron finished speaking.

The pressure that had always surrounded the capital changed.

For most people, the barrier was nothing more than a faint dome visible during the night.

To Amon’s senses, it had always been much more.

Layers of energy.

Interlocking formations.

Thousands of individual nodes working together to create one continuous defensive structure.

Now those layers were collapsing.

Not instantly.

One by one.

Theron rushed toward the nearest formation panel.

His hands moved across the symbols.

"Primary energy flow has stopped."

The commander looked upward.

"How long do we have?"

Theron did not answer.

"Theron."

"Minutes."

The commander’s face changed.

"How many?"

"I don’t know!"

Theron slammed both hands against the formation panel.

"It was never designed to operate independently."

Amon looked at the sealed gate.

The system remained open.

[Ancient Prison Transfer Gate sealed.]

[Barrier energy supply interrupted.]

[Estimated capital barrier stability: 63%.]

Then 62%.

Amon’s eyes narrowed.

"Why was the barrier drawing power from this gate?"

Theron shook his head.

"We didn’t know it was."

"Someone knew."

Amon looked toward the collapsed vessels.

The foreign entity had known exactly what would happen.

Which meant this situation had been prepared long before tonight.

The commander turned toward the exit.

"I need to mobilize the walls."

Amon stopped him.

"Against what?"

The man looked back.

"The Night Crawlers."

"They’re dead."

"The dens you reached are dead."

The commander corrected him.

"There are other regions."

Amon’s Danger Sense reacted.

East.

North.

South.

Several distant directions.

Not immediate threats.

Movement.

Large movements.

Amon’s expression hardened.

"They already know."

Theron looked toward him.

"Know what?"

"The barrier is weakening."

The commander stared.

"How could they know this quickly?"

Amon looked at the gate.

"They were waiting."

Silence.

That was the only explanation that made sense.

The dens Amon had destroyed were only part of the corrupted network.

If other creatures had been positioned farther away, they could have been waiting for exactly this moment.

The system flashed.

[Capital barrier stability: 57%.]

Amon turned.

"Go."

The commander did not need another instruction.

He ran.

Theron followed.

Amon remained behind.

His attention settled on the gate.

The foreign vessels had collapsed.

Twenty-two empty hosts.

Eleven living ones.

The living bodies were unconscious, but breathing.

The black fate threads had disappeared the instant the gate closed.

Amon looked toward the sealed surface.

"System."

[Master.]

"Can Gate Control reconnect the barrier without opening the gate?"

A pause.

[Analyzing.]

Amon waited.

[Possible.]

His eyes sharpened.

"How?"

[Current gate structure contains multiple functions.]

[Traversal.]

[Containment.]

[Energy transfer.]

[Master currently possesses partial authority over all three.]

"Then restore energy transfer."

[Warning.]

[Existing barrier connection is integrated into the prison’s external network.]

Amon frowned.

"Meaning?"

[Reconnecting the original flow may expose the capital to foreign prison influence.]

That was unacceptable.

"What about creating a separate connection?"

[Possible.]

Amon immediately understood the problem.

"Cost?"

[High.]

Of course.

[Recommended Fate Authority: 5.]

Amon had 3.

"Can I do it at 3?"

[Yes.]

[Probability of successful stable separation: 31%.]

Amon’s expression did not change.

"What happens if it fails?"

[Possible outcomes include gate destabilization, barrier collapse, foreign observation, authority damage, or forced gate reopening.]

That was considerably worse.

Amon looked upward.

[Capital barrier stability: 49%.]

No time.

He raised one hand toward the gate.

"Show me the energy structure."

Gatekeeper Authority responded.

The chamber changed.

Not physically.

Lines appeared within Amon’s perception.

Thousands.

Silver.

Black.

Gold.

The gate was far more complicated than anything Theron or the kingdom’s formation masters had understood.

Amon ignored most of it.

He searched for one thing.

The barrier connection.

There.

A thick silver channel extended upward from the gate.

Inactive now.

Around it were dozens of black threads connecting deeper into the prison network.

Those were the problem.

Amon reached toward the silver channel mentally.

The Gatekeeper Authority reacted.

Information entered his mind.

[External Energy Transfer Path.]

Amon focused on the black threads.

"Separate them."

[Current authority insufficient for direct command.]

His eyes narrowed.

The Prison Law Fragment pulsed.

Suppression.

Binding.

Seal Recognition.

Amon smiled faintly.

"Then suppress them."

The fragment activated.

The black threads froze.

Not severed.

Suppressed.

The system reacted immediately.

[Foreign prison connections temporarily suppressed.]

[Estimated suppression duration: 8 minutes.]

Enough.

Amon grabbed the silver pathway with his authority.

"Reconnect."

Energy exploded through the chamber.

Boom!

Amon staggered.

The gate remained closed.

The silver pathway ignited.

[External Energy Transfer restored.]

Above the capital, the barrier stopped collapsing.

[Barrier stability: 41%.]

Then increased.

42%.

43%.

Amon watched carefully.

The black prison threads remained frozen.

The solution worked.

Temporarily.

The system gave him exactly what he expected.

[Warning.]

[Suppression duration remaining: 7 minutes 42 seconds.]

Amon exhaled.

He had less than eight minutes to create a permanent solution.

Or the prison connections would return.

He looked at the gate again.

The foreign network had been feeding energy into the barrier for centuries.

That raised the obvious question.

Why?

Nothing inside the prison seemed interested in helping humans.

The connection had to serve another purpose.

Amon activated Seal Recognition.

His perception followed the silver pathway upward.

Through the palace.

Across the capital.

Into the massive barrier.

Then outward.

Amon froze.

The barrier was not only keeping creatures outside.

Something else was happening.

A faint stream flowed back.

From every formation node.

From the capital.

Toward the gate.

Amon’s eyes hardened.

Energy entered the barrier.

Something different returned.

"What is that?"

[Analyzing.]

[Residual life-fate energy.]

Amon went still.

"The barrier is collecting fate from the people."

[Confirmed.]

His expression became cold.

For generations, hundreds of thousands of people had lived beneath the barrier.

Every day.

Every birth.

Every death.

Every choice.

Tiny fragments of fate had been collected.

And sent underground.

Into the prison.

The foreign entity’s words returned.

The gate is the only reason this kingdom still exists.

Technically true.

The prison had powered the barrier.

The kingdom had unknowingly paid for that protection.

Amon followed the return stream deeper.

It did not stop at the gate.

It continued beyond it.

Far beyond.

Toward something inside the prison.

Then Seal Recognition failed.

Amon’s perception snapped back.

[Authority insufficient.]

His expression had become completely emotionless.

Someone had built the capital barrier as a harvesting structure.

The kingdom thought it had inherited ancient protection.

In reality, the city had been feeding something for centuries.

Amon looked at the unconscious living vessels.

Perhaps the foreign entity had not created the arrangement.

Perhaps it had simply discovered it.

That possibility did not make the situation better.

Footsteps approached.

Theron returned alone.

He entered the chamber breathing heavily.

"The barrier stabilized."

"I know."

Theron stopped.

His eyes moved toward the gate.

"You restored it?"

"Temporarily."

The formation master looked relieved.

Then Amon continued.

"We have another problem."

Theron’s relief vanished.

Amon pointed toward the formation channels in the wall.

"The barrier has been harvesting fate energy from everyone inside the capital."

Theron stared at him.

"What?"

"You heard me."

"That’s impossible."

Amon looked at him.

Theron immediately regretted the phrase.

He walked toward one of the ancient formation interfaces.

"I’ve studied the barrier for twenty-three years."

"And you’ve been studying only half of it."

Amon activated Gate Control.

The return stream became faintly visible.

Theron’s face changed.

Silver light flowed upward.

A nearly invisible black-gold current flowed downward.

"What is that?"

"Life-fate residue."

Theron stared.

His hands began trembling.

"No."

Amon said nothing.

Theron stepped closer.

"No, that pathway was classified as energy discharge."

"It isn’t."

Theron’s expression collapsed.

"How long?"

"Probably since the barrier was built."

The formation master went silent.

Amon looked at him.

"Who built it?"

"The founding king."

"Alone?"

"No."

Theron shook his head.

"According to the oldest records, he was assisted by an unknown formation master."

Amon’s eyes narrowed.

"Name?"

"There isn’t one."

Of course.

Theron continued.

"The records only call him the Black Architect."

Amon felt the Fate Devouring Seed pulse.

Hard.

The system appeared.

[Foreign fate reference detected.]

Amon’s gaze sharpened.

"What?"

[Designation ’Black Architect’ possesses residual fate significance.]

[Possible connection to external fate entity.]

Amon looked at Theron.

"When did the founding king live?"

"Four hundred and eighty-seven years ago."

Not six hundred.

The first system bearer had disappeared more than six hundred years ago.

Different period.

Maybe connected.

Maybe not.

The suppression timer continued.

[5 minutes 11 seconds.]

Amon looked back toward the gate.

He needed to sever the prison connection permanently.

He raised his hand.

"Gate Control."

The silver channel responded.

Amon searched for an alternative power source.

Nothing nearby possessed enough energy.

Then he felt something.

Above.

Not the palace.

Farther.

The entire city.

Formation nodes.

Mana veins.

Awakeners.

Artifacts.

The capital already produced enormous amounts of energy.

The barrier had simply never been designed to use it efficiently.

Amon looked at Theron.

"Can the barrier run on mana?"

Theron frowned.

"Theoretically."

"How much?"

"Far more than the city’s current formations generate."

"How much more?"

Theron calculated quickly.

"Three times."

Amon’s eyes narrowed.

That was manageable.

Not immediately.

But manageable.

"Then we rebuild the supply structure."

Theron stared.

"You want to replace a formation network older than the kingdom?"

"Yes."

"That could take years."

"We have four minutes."

Theron stared at him.

Amon activated the Gatekeeper Authority.

The entire ancient energy-transfer design appeared within his mind.

Not fully understood.

But visible.

"You’re going to copy the transfer principle."

Theron’s eyes widened.

Amon looked toward him.

"You said you’ve studied the barrier for twenty-three years."

"I have."

"Good."

Amon pointed to the wall.

"Then learn quickly."

The next minutes became chaos.

Amon controlled the ancient gate structure.

Theron controlled the human formations.

They worked from opposite directions.

Amon isolated the silver energy pathway.

Theron redirected three major palace mana channels.

The formations overloaded twice.

One wall exploded.

Neither stopped.

[Suppression remaining: 2 minutes.]

Amon forced the silver pathway away from the prison network.

Theron created a temporary conversion array.

"Now!"

Amon severed the original connection.

The gate shook.

Black threads snapped awake.

They rushed toward the silver pathway.

Suppression weakened.

[46 seconds.]

Theron activated the new mana channels.

Nothing happened.

"Theron."

"I’m trying!"

[31 seconds.]

Amon felt the prison connections pushing harder.

The gate surface began darkening.

[19 seconds.]

"THERON."

The formation master slammed both hands onto the array.

"OPEN!"

Mana exploded.

The silver pathway ignited.

The black threads struck it.

Amon activated Binding.

"Stay."

Black chains formed.

The threads froze.

[Suppression expired.]

For one terrifying second, everything held.

Then the barrier connection shifted.

The prison threads fell away.

The silver pathway locked onto the human mana network.

The system flashed.

[Independent energy transfer established.]

[Foreign prison connection severed.]

Above them, the capital barrier surged.

[Barrier stability: 52%.]

Then 61%.

70%.

Theron collapsed to one knee.

Amon remained standing.

[Barrier stability: 83%.]

[Warning.]

[Current mana expenditure exceeds sustainable production.]

Amon expected that.

They had bought time.

Not solved everything.

Then another notification appeared.

[Foreign fate harvesting interrupted.]

Amon’s eyes narrowed.

A third followed.

[Unknown recipient has detected loss of tribute.]

The chamber became silent.

Amon looked at the gate.

Theron slowly stood.

"What does that mean?"

Amon did not answer.

Because Danger Sense had already reacted.

Not to the gate.

Not to the capital.

Far beneath them.

Something impossibly deep had just awakened.

A low vibration passed through the floor.

Then a voice entered Amon’s mind.

Old.

Slow.

Angry.

"Who stopped my harvest?"

The Fate Devouring Seed erupted.

[WARNING.]

[HIGHER FATE ENTITY HAS ESTABLISHED LOCAL OBSERVATION.]

Amon stared downward.

For the first time that night, the threat was not coming from beyond the wall.

It had been beneath the kingdom the entire time.