Two days later, Elias was still severely injured, but stable, his strength slowly returning through Lyra's focused energy transfer. Lyra, fueled by his reciprocal healing and her fierce resolve, had transformed. Her scholar's intellect was now fused with a predator's focus.
They piloted the Sky-Interceptor, using Lyra's knowledge of the high-altitude magnetic currents to bypass the Solstus anti-air patrols. The Gilded Spire, shining like a cruel jewel on the horizon, was their destination.
We are approaching the Ascendant's Eye, Lyra projected. Elias, I need you to focus the Nullifier Blade's field through the broadcast array. It must neutralize the Aether interference long enough for the Memory-Crystal's broadcast to stabilize.
Elias, still weak, gripped the Nullifier Blade, his hand resting on the Interceptor's broadcast console. "Ready. The pain of the Aether drain will be severe. Don't stop until the message is live."
Lyra brought the interceptor into a controlled dive, aiming for the massive crystalline antenna of the Spire's communication hub. She slammed the ship's nose against the hub's shield.
Now!
Elias channeled the Nullifier Blade's energy. The Blade screamed, the cold power flowing out, neutralizing the high-level Aether defense field of the Spire's broadcast hub. Lyra simultaneously connected the Memory-Crystal to the array.
Across the entire Gilded Spire, on every screen, datapad, and crystalline window, the face of Patriarch Solstus appeared, followed by the terrifying, irrefutable image of the Syndicate Contract. The ancient High Veridian script, translated instantly by Lyra's pre-programmed sequence, scrolled across the screens: the explicit details of the deliberate plan to destroy the World-Tree.
Chaos erupted in the Spire. Guards stopped patrols; Ascendants stared in horror at the betrayal by their own Patriarch. The truth, witnessed by all, was an immediate, societal collapse.
"It's working," Elias managed, slumping in the seat, the Nullifier Blade falling to the floor. The drain had been immense.
"Now, the Atrium," Lyra stated, her voice tight with focus.
She piloted the battered Interceptor toward the Grand Obsidian Atrium, the highest and most heavily shielded chamber, where the Syndicate Exchange was already underway.
Lyra abandoned the interceptor on a nearby landing platform, grabbing the Nullifier Blade and the Memory-Crystal. She carried Elias's heavy, high-powered disruptor rifle—she was no assassin, but she was armed.
They moved toward the Atrium's heavy, obsidian doors, protected by a massive Aether energy shield.
I will use the Blade to cut the shield, Elias projected, his mind clearer now. But the neutralization will only last for seconds. You go first, Lyra. You present the evidence and the Blade to the Council.
Elias, using the last of his strength, grabbed the Nullifier Blade. He slammed the crystal tip against the invisible shield.
The shield shrieked, folding in on itself as the Blade's neutralizing energy tore a clean, temporary hole in the defense.
"Go!" Elias shouted, shoving Lyra through the breach.
Lyra rushed through, the Memory-Crystal clutched in one hand and the heavy rifle in the other.
The Grand Obsidian Atrium was a vast, glittering chamber. Seated at a massive obsidian table were the eight members of the Arcane Council, Patriarch Solstus, and three figures in dark, heavy robes—the Syndicate representatives.
Lyra stormed into the center of the room. The Council members, stunned by the broadcast, rose in confusion.
"STOP!" Lyra's voice cracked through the silence. "The Syndicate Exchange is a treasonous plot to murder Aerthos! My father has betrayed every Ascendant oath!"
Patriarch Solstus, a man of cold, aristocratic fury, was stunned to see his daughter, but quickly recovered. "Seize her! She is a traitor, working with the terrorists of the Low City!"
Lyra slammed the Memory-Crystal onto the obsidian table. "The evidence is the truth! And I bring the only weapon capable of stopping your lies!"
The Patriarch drew a massive Aether-pistol. Just as he raised it, the heavy Obsidian doors burst inward, and Elias stumbled into the room, his face pale and set, the Nullifier Blade dragging on the floor.
"If you fire, Patriarch," Elias growled, raising the disruptor rifle—stolen from Kaelen's men—with a trembling hand, "I will not miss."
The assassin stood, wounded and compromised, beside the scholar. Their shared love, their shared pain, and their shared purpose had brought them to the ultimate stage.