Location: Inside the Geo-Titan, Depth: -2000 ft.
Time: 10:30 Hours.
The inside of a god smells like sulfur, old copper, and wet dog.
They rappelled down the throat of the mountain. The walls were not made of stone here. They were lined with a smooth, dark metallic substance that felt soft to the touch, pulsing rhythmically like a carotid artery. Every few seconds, a massive THUMP vibrated through the ropes, shaking dust loose from the ceiling and rattling their teeth.
"I think I'm going to be sick," Silas groaned, swinging in his harness as he descended into the red gloom. "The walls... they're sweating."
"Don't touch the fluid," Valerius warned, sliding down past him with practiced ease. "It is likely digestive acid or lubricant."
HISSS.
A drop of the clear liquid fell from the ceiling and landed on Silas's boot. The leather smoked instantly.
"Definitely acid!" Silas yelped, tucking his legs up.
They touched down on a platform made of calcified bone fused with brass grating. The tunnel opened up into a cavern so vast their high-powered flashlights couldn't hit the ceiling.
Dante unclipped his carabiner. He activated his mechanical eye, switching to thermal vision.
"Heat signatures everywhere," Dante noted. "The whole room is alive."
They walked forward. The ground was a mesh of metal grating suspended over a river of magma that flowed like blood. Massive pistons, the size of skyscrapers, churned in the darkness, driven by the geothermal heat.
HISSS-CLANK. HISSS-CLANK.
"It's a factory," Havoc whispered, looking up at the machinery that stretched into the shadows. "Who built this inside a monster?"
"The Old Kings," Dante said, tracing a seamless brass pipe that ran directly into the flesh of the wall. "They didn't build it inside the monster. They built the monster around the engine. To protect it. It's a biological tank."
They reached the central chamber.
Suspended in the center of the void by massive chains the size of freight trains was the source of the heartbeat.
The Second Axiom: The Gilded Crucible (The Engine of War).
It was a sphere of polished brass and pulsing red crystal, roughly the size of a cathedral. It wasn't just sitting there; it was expanding and contracting like a lung. With every contraction, a wave of red light washed over the room, and a shockwave of raw mana blasted outward.
THUMP.
"That's it," Dante said, shielding his eyes from the red pulse. "The Second Key."
"It's beautiful," Silas whispered, mesmerized by the gears turning inside the crystal shell. "Perpetual motion. Infinite torque. It violates every law of thermodynamics."
"It's killing us," Valerius reminded him, checking his own skin for burns. "The radiation is strongest here. My blood feels hot."
Dante walked to the edge of the platform. A bridge of hard, solidified light connected their ledge to the Engine sphere.
"We need to shut it down," Dante said. "Or at least, put it in sleep mode. Prime? How do I turn it off without blowing up the hemisphere?"
"Analysis," Prime's voice crackled, distorted by the intense magnetic interference. "The Engine is currently in 'Siege Mode'. To lower the output, you must manually disengage the Primary Drive Shaft. Located at the North Pole of the sphere."
"Manually," Dante sighed. "Of course. It's never a button."
"I'll go," Havoc volunteered, checking his explosives. "I can blow the coupling. A shaped charge should crack it."
"No explosives," Dante ordered instantly. "You scratch that paint, and the mana discharge vaporizes the continent. We do this delicately."
Dante stepped onto the light-bridge. It felt solid, but hummed under his boots.
"Valerius, you're with me. Havoc, Silas—hold the perimeter. If anything crawls out of the shadows, shoot it."
Dante and Valerius walked across the bridge. The air hummed with power. The red light washed over them, making their skin tingle like they were standing in a microwave.
They reached the surface of the Engine. It was warm to the touch. Gears the size of houses turned slowly beneath the transparent brass plating.
"There," Dante pointed.
A massive lever, marked with the glowing runes of the First Era, locked the main gear in place.
"Help me pull it," Dante said.
They grabbed the lever. Dante engaged his hydraulics, the servos whining. Valerius flared his mana, his muscles bulging.
"On three. One... Two... Three!"
They pulled.
GRIND.
The lever moved. Rust broke. The gears groaned in protest. The heartbeat slowed.
Thump... Thump... ... Thump.
The red light dimmed. The radiation levels dropped instantly. The magma river below began to cool, turning to black rock.
"We did it," Valerius exhaled, wiping sweat from his brow.
"UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED."
The voice didn't come from Prime. It came from the ceiling.
A spotlight blinded them.
Descending from the shadows of the upper cavern was not a monster. It was a machine.
It looked like a centaur made of black iron and seamless gold. Its lower body was a heavy tank chassis with spider legs. Its upper body was a humanoid torso with four arms, each holding a weapon: A spinning diamond saw, a pneumatic pile-bunker, a flamethrower, and a massive riot shield.
It was sleek. Silent. Perfect.
The Praetorian Prime.
"Oh, come on," Dante groaned. "Does every ancient ruin have a security system?"
"PROTOCOL: STERILIZE. THREAT LEVEL: EXISTENTIAL."
The Praetorian landed on the light-bridge with a crash that shook the entire cavern. The bridge flickered, threatening to dissolve. It blocked the path back to Havoc and Silas.
"Dante!" Havoc screamed from the far ledge, raising his rifle. "You got a big ugly problem!"
The Praetorian revved its saw. REEEEEEE.
"Valerius," Dante said, his Silvergrin reflecting the sparks of the saw. "You wanted to know what War looks like?"
Dante snapped his Transmutation Daggers into his hands.
"This is the Landlord. And we just broke his heater."