Henry's body blurred into pure blue light as he roared:
Henry: "SHOOTING STAR!"
He streaked across the banquet hall like a comet, heavenly energy burning a trail behind him. His fist—wrapped in light that split the shadows apart—slammed into Midas's chest.
The throne shattered into fragments of molten gold—
But the body dissolved into static.
Henry's fist crashed through nothing but holographic ash.
Henry stumbled, eyes wide.
Henry: "…What?"
Elara's breath caught. The table, the food, the throne—everything flickered, its edges glitching before stabilizing again. And then Midas's voice echoed, layered, artificial yet cruelly sharp.
Midas (hologram): "Did you truly think I would risk standing before you unguarded? This chamber is no hall, Henry Dreherg. It is a crucible."
The floor thrummed. Gold-lined circuitry carved into the walls lit up with hungry crimson. The air thickened like a storm about to break.
Elara turned, eyes wide.
Elara: "Henry—"
Henry dropped to one knee. A crushing weight bore down on him, not physical, but tearing at the core of his Awakening. His blue aura bled away from his skin, sucked into invisible veins that ran across the walls.
Henry: "Ngh—Elara… I… can't move!"
Midas's voice rolled through the chamber, smug and calm.
Midas (hologram): "You stand within my masterpiece: the Awakening Absorber. Built not to kill you, Henry, but to drink you dry. To peel your light from your flesh until nothing remains but an empty shell."
Elara's eyes blazed with fury. She slammed her hands onto the marble floor—emerald light flaring, crackling with life.
Elara: "You won't touch him!"
Green energy erupted, vines of pure radiance tearing upward, smashing into the walls. Panels burst, sparks raining across the chamber. The veins dimmed, flickering.
Midas's voice remained calm, almost amused.
Midas (hologram): "Ah. The little experiment resists."
The chamber shook violently. Pipes cracked, golden shards clattering to the floor. The absorber's hum rose to a scream, its core overheating.
Elara: "Henry, hang on! I'll rip this thing apart!"
Midas: "Don't bother, little Elara; with Henry's Awakening, I will create a better world for all of us, for you."
But Elara ignored him.
She turned her power toward the ceiling, tearing through layers of black-gold plating. But before she could land the next blow—
A shadow fell over her.
Ravenous stepped through the smoke. His chest rose and fell in heavy breaths, gravity crackling faintly around him. His eyes burned—not fully his own, haunted by Zorath's memories, but focused on her all the same.
Ravenous: "…I told him you'd come here."
Henry struggled, his voice hoarse.
Henry: "Ravenous…"
Ravenous's head tilted, as if voices spoke inside his skull. He looked from Henry to Elara, his smirk weak, more confused than mocking.
Ravenous: "I don't even know if I'm me anymore. Ravenous? Zorath? Both? Neither? I don't care… But I know one thing."
He extended a hand. The air warped, walls buckling as gravity twisted.
Ravenous: "I can't let you leave."
Elara summoned her energy again, green whips lashing toward him. Ravenous countered with a crushing field, flattening the vines mid-air. The force cracked the marble under her feet.
Henry grits his teeth, his veins glowing faintly blue as he tries to resist the absorber.
Henry: "Elara—don't… waste your strength on him… destroy the core!"
The chamber screamed. Sparks rained from the walls. Midas's hologram flickered, still smiling even as the mountain itself threatened collapse.
Midas (hologram): "Careful, children. Break too much, and this absorber will not simply consume you—it will consume the mountain. The blast will turn this mountain into glass."
Elara's heart pounded. She looked at Henry, nearly on his knees, his light dimming. She looked Ravenous, haunted, and dangerous, yet unstable. And above them all, Midas's voice—distant, untouchable—dripped like molten gold.
The absorber's hum climbed higher, shaking dust loose from the dome above. The mountain groaned, seconds from becoming their tomb.
The chamber roared like a beast in pain. Red light streaked the veins in the walls, pulsing faster with every heartbeat. The Awakening Absorber, meant to be Midas's perfect trap, was faltering.
Henry staggered, his body locked in place by invisible chains. His heavenly aura bled into the walls, pulled from him in glowing threads. Each breath was harder than the last.
Henry (hoarse): "…I… won't… break."
The hologram of Midas shimmered at the golden throne. His calm voice was edged with annoyance.
Midas (hologram): "No… no, this is too soon. The chamber's calibration is compromised. The heat… it shouldn't be rising this fast."
He slammed a golden fist on the throne's armrest. Sparks flared across the chamber's circuits.
Midas (hologram, sharper): "Ravenous! Hold them. The Absorber must finish its work before the overload."
Ravenous stood in the smoke, his shoulders heaving. His eyes flickered—he pressed his palm down, and the air crushed like a collapsing star.
The floor split. The weight bore down on Elara, forcing her to her knees.
Ravenous (straining): "…Stay. Still."
But Elara screamed back, emerald energy flaring from her hands. It coiled like living serpents, snapping against the gravity fields. She forced herself upright, teeth bared.
Elara: "I've been a prisoner before. Never again!"
She lashed her vines forward, one striking Ravenous across the chest. He stumbled, growling, but his laughter followed—low and broken.
Ravenous: "…That's the fire he spoke of. The girl who lived in the cage. You burn brighter now."
Elara didn't stop. She struck again and again, driving him back step by step, her Awakening surging more fiercely than ever before. But Ravenous raised both arms, crushing the space around her in a violent implosion.
The impact flung her across the hall, smashing her into a column. She gasped, coughing blood, but her eyes stayed locked on Henry.
Henry's body shook violently. His aura was almost gone, sucked into the absorber's veins. His knees buckled, and for the first time, his light flickered weakly.
Elara: "Henry! Don't you dare give in!"
Henry gritted his teeth. His hands trembled, but he clenched them into fists.
Henry (panting): "…I won't. Not… for him."
The walls rattled, pipes bursting one after another. Steam hissed into the air, scalding and white. The Absorber's hum climbed into a scream.
Midas's hologram flared, his golden eyes narrowing.
Midas (snapping): "Ravenous, end her! The machine must stabilize!"
But Ravenous stood still, watching the chaos with a strange calm. His smirk cracked, revealing something more pained beneath.
Ravenous (quietly): "…Zorath… It tells me… None of this will last."
Midas's hologram turned sharply toward him.
Midas (furious): "You are mine, Ravenous. Do not forget what you are."
Ravenous looked up at the hologram, his smirk widening again into a laugh.
Ravenous: "…That's the problem. I don't know what I am anymore."
The floor split beneath Henry. Energy surged violently, tearing golden panels from the walls. The Absorber's core deep inside the mountain pulsed too quickly, unstable, and ready to burst.
Henry roared, forcing his body to move against the pull. His aura flickered back, thin but defiant.
Henry: "If… you want my Awakening… then you'll choke on it!"
His fist flared with what little Heavenly light he had left. He slammed it into the floor. Cracks of glowing blue energy shot outward, colliding with the crimson veins. The system screamed louder, circuits frying.
Elara, bloodied but unbroken, dragged herself to her feet. She hurled her vines into the walls, ripping chunks of machinery free. Sparks and molten gold showered down, the room growing hotter by the second.
The mountain itself groaned—stone trembling as if it might collapse.
Midas's voice, for the first time, carried fury.
Midas (hologram, snarling): "STOP! If you destroy this chamber, you destroy yourselves! The absorber's collapse will burn the entire mountain to ash!"
But Henry's glare cut through the pain, through the machine, and through Midas's projection.
Henry: "Then we'll burn together!"
The hologram flickered, Midas's golden teeth bared in anger. His voice dropped into a venomous hiss.
Midas (low): "…So be it."
The hologram shattered into static.
Then the core burst.
A column of light ripped upward, tearing through the dome of the mountain. Black stone melted, golden metal vaporized. The explosion roared like a god's fury, fire and gravity twisting together.
Henry grabbed Elara, shielding her with what remained of his heavenly aura. The blast tore at his back, searing his skin, but he held on, his teeth gritted against the pain.
Ravenous stood in the firestorm, laughing, his silhouette swallowed by light.
The mountain collapsed.
For miles around, the land shook. The golden dome atop the peak shattered into the sky, scattering fragments of molten black-gold across the horizon. Smoke and fire rose, blotting out the stars.
And when the light finally dimmed, only ruins remained where the palace of gold had once stood.