"If the soldiers set up those heavy drills, they will punch right through those gaps and shatter the focal points of the runes," Solon explained. "Then we make sure they cannot set up the drills," Sikoa smiled fiercely. Sikoa reached down and picked up a heavy, stolen Glassview magical rifle from the floor. She checked the blue ammunition crystal. It was fully loaded. She slung the rifle strap over her shoulder and kept her two daggers ready. "I am a terrible shot," Solon muttered. He looked down at his own empty hands. Then, Solon reached into his heavy gray cloak. He pulled out one of the thick, heavy brass stabilizing rods. The rods they had taken from the Founders' Armory. The rod was a heavy, blunt spear with a clear quartz crystal tip. "These rods were used to pin reality down," Solon said, a clever spark returning to his pale eyes. "They channel raw kinetic force perfectly. If I use my own life force, I can use this rod like a sniper rifle. I can shoot pure, concentrated

Caster Spellbound brought the two heavy brass rods down with all his might. He did not hit Elias Thorpe in the head. He did not hit the madman’s mechanical chest. Caster aimed for the thick, glowing red and purple cables that connected Thorpe to the giant, floating white crystal. The clear quartz tips of the brass rods smashed directly into the magical cables. The golden light in Caster’s eyes flared, pushing pure, heavy truth into the strike. The chaotic blood magic could not resist the absolute law of Caster’s will. The thick cables snapped in half. "NO!" Elias Thorpe screamed. The sound was not just a human yell. It was the sound of a man having his soul ripped out of a socket. The infinite, terrible power of the universe was violently disconnected from his body. A massive shower of bright red sparks exploded into the air. The sudden loss of power hit Thorpe like a speeding train. The half-machine man flew backward off the raised stone altar. He crashed hard onto the blue cr

Caster crawled forward. He knelt right over the bloody iron sigil. He reached his hands out. He grabbed the two main heavy brass stabilizing rods. His left hand gripped the left rod. His bleeding right hand gripped the right rod. He became the human wire connecting the machine to the earth. He looked up at the massive, screaming, cracking Central Node floating directly above his head. "Breathe," Caster commanded the machine. Caster closed his eyes. He reached into his chest. He grabbed the tiny golden seed. He did not use it as a weapon. He did not use it as a wall. He used the golden magic of pure truth to pump his own life force through his arms. The golden light rushed down his shoulders. It flowed through his elbows. It poured into his hands. The golden light hit the heavy brass rods. The moment the light touched the metal, the Heart Alchemy Engine woke up. The sound was not loud. It was incredibly deep. It felt like a massive, heavy heartbeat echoing through the entire pla

The heavy, ticking bomb fell through the air in slow motion. Caster Spellbound knelt on the blue crystal floor. His hands were gripping the heavy brass rods of the Heart Alchemy Engine. He watched the madman, Elias Thorpe, throw the cracked, explosive Planar Fusion Core directly into the center of the machine. "NO!" Caster screamed. The core hit the bloody iron sigil. Caster squeezed his eyes shut. He braced his frail, old body for the end of the universe. He expected a massive explosion of fire and dark magic. He expected the entire planet to break into tiny pieces of floating dust. But the explosion did not happen. Instead, a strange, wet, hissing sound filled the quiet cavern. Caster slowly opened his gray eyes. The cracked core sat inside the silver triangle. The Heart Alchemy Engine was a machine built to filter poison. It was built to absorb chaotic energy and turn it into clean, safe blue mana. When the exploding core hit the machine, the silver magic simply swallowed

"Look at my new army, Caster," Thorpe sneered through his glass mask. He pointed a heavy brass finger at the dozen silent monsters. "They do not ask questions. They do not feel fear. They do not betray me. They are perfect."The human mercenaries who had survived the blast stood up. There were nearly five hundred Glassview Enforcers and Crimson shock troopers in the cavern. They had come to kill Caster for gold. But now, they looked at Elias Thorpe and his terrifying Thralls. They realized that the real monster was right in front of them. "It is Elias Thorpe!" a Crimson captain yelled. "He has turned into a demon! He killed our friends and turned them into puppets!""Shoot him!" a Glassview soldier screamed. The human armies forgot about Caster. They forgot about the bounty. They raised their heavy rifles and pointed them at the giant machine-man. "Fire!" the commanders roared. Five hundred heavy guns went off at the same time. A massive wave of lead bullets, blue magical bolts,