Chapter 9: The Purified Core (Continued)
The second, non-acoustically dampened BOOM! was much closer, signaling the Patternmaster's arrival at the main gates. The very architecture of the Zenith, designed to maintain the Law of Silence, was vibrating under the force of the intrusion.
Kael raced up the tiers of the ancient Library, his steps now silent and fluid thanks to the restored Law of Habit and the purified Law of Velocity. He no longer had to consciously fight the architecture. He was an efficient machine in motion.
He reached a large observation balcony overlooking the main concourse. Below, emerging from the grand archway, was the source of the chaos.
It was a monstrous Aetheric Golem, a ten-foot-tall construct forged from layers of heavy steel and pulsing Aetherium ore. It moved with crushing, methodical force, each step a violation of the city's Law of Stability. Its primary weapon was a massive, rotating arm infused with the Law of Heat Friction, turning its movements into incinerating strikes.
Perched atop the Golem's massive shoulder was Lord Cygnus, his purple Aetheric Suit flaring brightly, acting as the Golem's control nexus. The Patternmaster was weaving an immense Law of Command into the Golem's core, turning the mindless construct into an extension of his own will.
Cygnus spotted Kael instantly. His voice, amplified by his Aetheric suit, cut through the residual noise.
"Mistborn! You sought refuge in the cradle of Silence! You mistake silence for safety. Here, the Loom is stable—and I will use that stability to tear your fractured soul apart!"
The Golem's massive head swiveled toward Kael. Cygnus directed his first attack: a Law of Focused Conflagration—a beam of superheated Aether shot from the construct's chest.
Kael did not retreat. He tested his purified defenses.
He engaged his purified Law of Resistance to the maximum. The massive energy beam struck Kael's shield.
There was no sound, no explosion, no shuddering. The immense heat energy struck the perfected Fluid Deflection mesh of his shield and was instantly, smoothly shunted into the ambient Aether of the Zenith, which absorbed the energy into its vast, silent flow. Kael felt only a mild tremor, and best of all, no soul-cost.
"Impossible! A pure Deflection weave!" Cygnus shrieked, momentarily stunned by the failure of his high-powered attack. "You have purged the chaos! The Architect aids you!"
Kael didn't reply. He focused on his ultimate goal: the base of the tower. He had to bypass the Golem.
He used the purified Law of Velocity (Temporal Displacement), and in a blink, he was not on the balcony but on a smaller ledge twenty feet closer to the Golem.
The Golem, controlled by Cygnus's Law of Command, was too slow to track the instantaneous displacement.
Cygnus, however, was a Patternmaster. He abandoned the Golem's primary weapons and began to weave his own counter-pattern: the Law of Static Cords.
Hundreds of fine, iron-hard Aether Threads shot out from Cygnus's hands, not aiming to bind Kael, but to saturate the very air around him, turning the space into a complex, paralyzing net designed to ensnare Kael's next displacement jump.
Kael saw the threads with his Law of Resonance. They were dense, numerous, and expertly placed. He couldn't displace through them without massive friction and subsequent injury.
Kael had no time for another purification lesson. He had to eliminate the obstacle. The construct was bound by Cygnus's Law of Command. The Law of Command was held by an Aether Thread that ran from Cygnus's suit to the Golem's core.
Kael activated the ultimate, unpurified Law: Thread-Severance.
The Shard pulsed violently, demanding its final toll—the complete consumption of his Law of Will/Desire. Kael felt the last remnants of his personal drive vanish, replaced by a crystalline, perfect emptiness. The trade was complete.
Kael aimed the Thread-Severance Law, not at Cygnus, but at the single, thick Aether Thread running from the Patternmaster's heart to the Golem's core.
Sever the thread of Command.
The Law of Thread-Severance—the ability to unmake an innate connection—activated. It struck the thread with absolute finality.
Snip.
The Law of Command was annihilated. It did not snap or destabilize; it simply ceased to exist.
The Aetheric Golem instantly froze. The immense, powerful Law of Command holding the construct together and driving its will vanished, leaving a powerful, but inert, mass of metal and Aetherium. The Law of Heat Friction on its arms sputtered out.
Lord Cygnus screamed in rage. He wasn't physically hurt, but the psychological blow was immense. The loss of the Golem, and the realization that Kael possessed the ultimate annihilation Law, momentarily shattered his composure.
"You are an abomination! You have no purpose! You have no soul!" Cygnus shrieked, his Aetheric suit flaring with chaotic energy.
Kael, now truly devoid of Will, looked at Cygnus with cold disinterest. The Patternmaster's emotional state was a tactical vulnerability.
Kael used the chaos. He activated the purified Law of Velocity again, bypassing the frozen Golem and the still-reeling Cygnus. He appeared at the base of the tower, in the vault where the Architect resided.
He found the carving of the Law of Stone—the foundational Law that ensured the Zenith's perfect, stable geometry. It was a dense, ancient pattern, thrumming with immense, constant power.
Kael knew the risk was absolute. Annihilating the Law of Stone would cause the Zenith to instantly collapse into the turbulent Canyonlands Aether. The resulting shift would destabilize the Aether for miles and could kill Kael as easily as Cygnus.
But it was the only way to sever the supply of stable Aether from Cygnus.
He raised his hand and focused the unpurified Law of Thread-Severance—the ultimate, high-cost Law—on the carving.
Just as the Law began to activate, the Architect's immense, silent presence projected into his mind with a force that overcame even the Thread-Severance's consumption.
"WAIT. The Severance of Stone will cause chaos. You have paid the full price. The facets are complete. Before you destroy the city, receive your final purification."
The Architect's knot of Aether Threads quickly projected a final, terrifying Pattern into Kael's Void-fracture: the Law of Silence's Inverse—a Law that allowed the wielder to absorb the residual, latent Aetheric energy of a destroyed environment.
Purify the Thread-Severance Law by directing its annihilation not outward, but inward—consuming the chaos it creates.
Kael executed the purification pattern while maintaining the Thread-Severance Law on the carving—a simultaneous act of creation and annihilation.
He forced the Law of Severance to activate, but instead of allowing the resulting chaos to erupt, he instantly used the Law of Silence's Inverse to consume the resulting energy.
Kael activated the Law of Thread-Severance on the Law of Stone.
The fundamental Law of Stability that maintained the entire Obsidian Zenith was annihilated.
The effect was horrifyingly silent. The massive, perfect city did not crash or explode. It simply lost its Law of existence. The buildings dissolved, not into dust, but into pure, inert Aetherium ore. The solid, stable Law of the city instantly reverted to its raw, turbulent component state.
The energy released was biblical. But Kael's refined Law of Silence's Inverse consumed the entire massive cascade of energy, drawing it into the Eclipsed Shard.
The Shard glowed with a terrifying, contained power.
All nine Laws were purified. The emerald octahedron pulsed, now perfectly clean, stable, and capable of integrating the Laws of other Shards without any soul-cost.
The final piece of his soul, the Law of Will/Desire, returned.
Kael felt a terrifying, absolute Purpose flood his core. Not the simple drive for survival, but a vast, terrifying need to complete the Shards and impose order on the fractured Loom. He was no longer a machine; he was a being of singular, terrifying Will.
Lord Cygnus, who had witnessed his ultimate weapon vanish and his base of power dissolve, hung suspended in the collapsing void, his Aetheric Suit protecting him from the turbulent Aether.
"You… you have no right! You are a slave! You are an echo!" Cygnus screamed, weaving a desperate, final Law of Gravity to crush Kael.
Kael looked at Cygnus—a man of petty rage and failing power—with the purified, cold Will of a being who carried the Law of Time.
He spoke, his voice no longer husky, but possessing the low, commanding resonance of the Architect itself.
"I am the Mistborn. My name is Kael Draven. And you are in my way."
Kael activated the purified Law of Thread-Severance one last time, this time targeting the thick, woven Aether Thread of Cygnus's Aetheric Suit.
The suit vanished. Lord Cygnus—the Patternmaster, the Hound of the Loom—was instantly exposed to the raw, destabilized Aether of the collapsing Zenith.
Cygnus let out one final, silent, metaphysical shriek as the chaos tore his complex Aether Thread apart. He dissolved into the turbulent Aether, an insignificant casualty of Kael's terrifying ascension.
Kael stood alone in the turbulent void, the purified Shard of Time humming in his chest. He had destroyed the city, defeated the Patternmaster, and gained absolute control over his core Laws. The Obsidian Zenith was gone.
The Ashborn Slave had found his truth. The Saga of the Ashborn Slave was complete.