A stillness — deep and heavy — gripped the forge.
The radiant warmth that had filled the chamber only moments ago was gone, replaced by something cold and sharp, like the breath before a storm.
Savitar's electric-blue eyes flickered, his usual grin nowhere to be found.
Lightning crackled faintly along his silver-white coat, dancing in erratic pulses.
Savitar: "My Chosen… he's in No Man's Land."
The words struck like thunder.
Every Primordial turned.
Aegriya's golden halo dimmed. Voltraeus's storm-gray aura tightened. Even Kaiser's broad shoulders stiffened under the weight of the silence that followed.
Aegriya: "You're certain?"
Savitar's reply was instant — his voice low, tense, stripped of its usual bravado.
Savitar: "He was near the boundary of the Null Plane, tracking an echo fragment. But something pulled him in — something that shouldn't exist. If I don't reach him now, he'll be erased before the Cycle even begins."
The forge's mechanisms trembled faintly, reacting to the spike in divine tension.
The vines of Yggdrasil etched into the stone walls pulsed faintly, as though listening to the conversation of gods.
Hephaestus: "Damn it… right when Karl finally stabilizes."
Voltraeus: "If the Null Plane's active again, that means the Seal's weakening faster than we expected."
Thanamira: "We can't afford to lose another Chosen. If one dies now, before synchronization, the balance will unravel."
Karl, standing in the center, looked between them, confusion written all over his face.
Karl: "Wait— your Chosen? You mean— he's on Earth?"
Artemis (softly): "There are ten of you, Kurogane Karl . Ten vessels bound to Yggdrasil. ________ _______ was sent to earth to save humanity."
Karl: "…And one of them's in danger."
Savitar turned toward him, eyes blazing like lightning through glass.
Savitar: "________ _______. The one who carries my mark. He's reckless, but he's family now. I'm not letting him fade."
The air thickened with energy as Savitar clenched his fist, his lightning aura coalescing into a sharp hum that shook the forge walls.
Poseidara: "Then go. The rest of us can handle the preparations here."
Aegriya: "If he's truly in No Man's Land, then the Void is moving sooner than we predicted. We'll need every Chosen active before the rift expands."
Thanamira's ghostly form wavered like a dying ember.
Thanamira: "Then we scatter — each to their Chosen. It's too soon, but waiting means death."
Hephaestus: "Karl's synchronization is barely complete—"
Artemis: "He's strong enough to stand. The rest is up to him now."
A brief silence passed.
Karl met Hephaestus's eyes — a mix of trust, pride, and unspoken fear.
Then Poseidara took a deep breath, her voice echoing like the crash of a thousand tides.
Poseidara: "Then it's decided. The Cycle begins early."
And then — the chamber ignited.
Each Primordial flared with divine essence, their auras roaring like colliding stars.
Savitar blurred first — his body splitting into a thousand streaks of lightning that spiraled upward through a tear in space.
Poseidara followed, dissolving into a torrent of seafoam mist.
Voltraeus vanished in a storm of gray thunder, Nocturne melted into pure absence, and Moara's body unraveled into ribbons of bone-white smoke.
Thanamira's light dispersed into drifting souls, Aegriya ascended in a beam of gold, Kaiser became a burning silhouette of strength, and Artemis turned to starlight that faded with her whisper:
Artemis: "Do not falter, Karl Ryuuga. The moment you hesitate… is the moment another world dies."
And then, silence.
Only two presences remained — the crackling glow of molten metal and the steady hum of machinery.
Hephaestus turned to Karl, his molten eyes heavy with determination.
Hephaestus: "Looks like it's just us now, boy."
Karl took a deep breath, his armor still flickering faintly with Vythra current.
Karl: "Then what do we do?"
The Primordial of the Forge smiled, resting a massive hand on Karl's shoulder — the heat gentle, almost comforting.
Hephaestus: "What we always do, kid. We build. While the gods fight, we prepare."
Only two presences remained.
Hephaestus… and Karl.
The forge had fallen silent. The hum of the Drive Regulator, the faint pulse of Vythra through Karl's armor, even the soft ticking of nanite gears — all of it was gone. For the first time since Karl's rebirth, he felt the weight of emptiness pressing down, the absence of the other Primordials noticeable like a missing heartbeat.
Karl could feel his pulse echoing in his head, a drum of anticipation that had nothing to do with fear and everything to do with the unknown.
Hephaestus' molten-gold eyes, usually calm and precise, glowed brighter than usual. His massive frame loomed over Karl, not threatening, but immovable, like the anvil of fate itself.
Hephaestus: "Karl… you have proven yourself capable of channeling Vythra. You have surpassed what I could have hoped for — but that does not mean the trial is over."
Karl swallowed, his hands twitching slightly inside his gloves.
Karl: "Trial…? What trial?"
Hephaestus' gaze sharpened, and a faint ripple of heat flowed outward, bending the air like the afterglow of a forge.
Hephaestus: "This is no ordinary test. It is… urgent. I cannot afford delay, and you have only just begun to understand what your body, mind, and soul can truly do."
Karl's heart raced. He had faced darkness, near-death, and the terrifying void of being unanchored from Vythra — but something about Hephaestus' tone carried the weight of inevitability, like the hammer blow before the metal bends.
The Forge itself seemed to react. Sparks of nanite energy danced in the air, forming faint hexagonal lattices around Karl's limbs. The Engine Soul pulsed faintly inside his chest, the mother cocoon glowing with blue-tinged light. The Gear Drive hummed along his spine — a mechanical heartbeat syncing with Karl's own.
Hephaestus: "Prepare yourself, Karl. You will face the essence of creation itself… and you must endure. If you fail… you will not be ready for what is coming."
Karl took a deep breath, feeling the weight of three souls inside him — his conscious self, and the combined essence of his parents embedded in the Engine Soul and Gear Drive.
Karl (whispering): "I… I won't fail."