The Blood of Vampire: Chapter 16 - The Scars of the Iron Road
Vorlag finally cornered them on an ancient, elevated highway known as the Iron Road—a stretch of geomantically reinforced metal that amplified his forces' power.
Vorlag didn't use men this time. He deployed the Sentinel of Iron Road—a towering, eight-foot-tall automaton of polished chrome, armed with plasma casters and a terrifying defensive matrix.
"The Sentinel is pure Law, kid," Ryn yelled, dodging plasma fire. "It runs on Geometric Law. Your Shadow-Blood chaos won't affect it—it'll just classify you as a mathematical error and erase you!"
The Sentinel moved with blinding, machine precision, its optical sensors locking onto Jatex. It fired a silent, high-frequency Aethyr pulse—a wave of spiritual discipline designed to instantly nullify the Sanguine Stain.
Jatex had to fight the cold, paralyzing wave of Law. His Shadow-Blood screamed in protest. He managed to execute a desperate, high-cost Shadow-Leap to avoid the pulse, his power feeling slow and sluggish against the machine's precision.
"We need a flaw! A physical one!" Jatex yelled, landing hard, his Weave tearing.
Ryn, the scavenger, ran toward the Sentinel, ignoring the risk. She saw what Jatex couldn't—the minute flaws in the Dwarven Iron construction.
"The right knee joint! The assembly plate is off-center by two millimeters! It's designed to allow for heat expansion, but it creates a kinetic vulnerability!"
Jatex focused. He couldn't use a powerful, chaotic Siphon. He needed the smallest, most precise spiritual needle he could make.
He consumed a sliver of his raw, exposed Aeliana's Scars energy—the pure defiance of her will. He channeled it into the tip of his finger and executed a Pinpoint Weave.
Jatex launched himself into a low, terrifying blur. He didn't attack the Sentinel's head or chest; he jammed his spiritually charged fingertip into the off-center joint plate at the right knee.
The Sentinel didn't explode. It merely seized up, its entire perfect Geometric Law locked by the single, precise physical flaw. The plasma casters dropped, and the giant machine stood frozen, a testament to human engineering failure.
Jatex collapsed, his lungs burning, his Shadow-Blood utterly depleted. They had defeated the machine, but the cost was nearly total. They were one step closer to the Crystal Spire, but now they were fighting with nothing left but sheer will.