Exiled Heir: God-Tier Forge System in the Eternal Night

7: The Sun-Eater's Grave

... a grin that looked like it was carved out of cold obsidian.

 

"Kael! What the hell are you doing?! Get back here! That's a damn siege-engine, not a practice dummy!" Silas screamed, his voice nearly drowned out by the mechanical roar of the Sun-Eater’s cooling fans.

 

"Relax, Silas. I’m just taking a closer look at Dad’s expensive toy," Kael called back, his voice eerie and amplified by the resonating armor on his legs. "Hey, old man! Can you hear me up there in your golden tin can? Or did you finally go deaf from listening to Jax’s whining?"

 

The giant machine hissed, steam venting from its joints like the breath of a dying dragon. A massive hatch on the shoulder of the beast groaned open, and Lord Valerius Draven stood there, silhouetted by the artificial glare. He looked down at his son with eyes as cold as the Eternal Night itself.

 

"You’ve become a nuisance, Kael. A loud, vibrating nuisance," Valerius’s voice boomed through the speakers. "I gave you a clean exit. A quiet death in a mine. But you had to go and wake up things that were meant to stay buried. You’re just like your mother—always looking for a light that doesn't exist."

 

"At least she didn't hide in a metal box when things got tough," Kael spat, his grip tightening on the Infernal Shadow-Reaper. "You didn't come down here to save me, and you didn't come to kill me. You came because you’re scared of what I’ve found, aren't you?"

 

"Scared? Of a dying boy playing with rusted gears?" Valerius scoffed, turning back to his controls. "Captain, prime the main cannon. If he wants to be a hero, let him see what a real sun looks like."

 

"Wait, Dad! Don't blow him up yet! I want to see him crawl first!" Jax yelled from the walkway, his face twisted in a manic glee. "Kael! Look at you! You look like a charcoal briquette! Why don't you just give up and let the adults handle the big machines?"

 

"The only thing 'big' about you, Jax, is the target on your head," Kael muttered.

 

[Ding!]

 

[Warning: Sun-Eater Main Cannon at 95% Charge.]

 

[Energy Signature: Compressed Solar-Essence.]

 

[Danger Level: Absolute.]

 

"System, give me the odds," Kael whispered.

 

[Calculating...]

 

[Survival probability of direct hit: 0.0002%.]

 

[Suggested Action: Use 'Void-Siphon' to create a localized singularity. Warning: This will consume 90% of current stamina.]

 

"I don't need stamina where I'm going. Do it," Kael growled.

 

The air around the Sun-Eater’s barrel began to ripple. The golden light intensified, turning from a painful yellow to a blinding white. The heat was so intense that the stone floor beneath the machine began to turn into liquid glass.

 

"Fire," Valerius commanded.

 

BOOM!

 

The world turned white. A beam of concentrated artificial sunlight erupted from the cannon, a solid pillar of destruction aimed directly at Kael’s chest. It was enough energy to level a city block, let alone one man.

 

"KAEEEEEEL!" Silas’s scream was lost in the roar of the blast.

 

But the explosion didn't happen. Not the way it should have.

 

Kael stood his ground, his greatsword held vertically in front of his face. As the golden beam hit the blade, the violet runes didn't just glow—they screamed. A swirling vortex of pitch-black energy manifested at the tip of the sword, sucking the golden light in like a hungry ghost.

 

"What?! It’s... it’s swallowing the beam?!" one of the pilots inside the Sun-Eater yelled. "The energy levels are dropping! He's siphoning the main reactor!"

 

"Impossible! That’s Tier 4 energy! His blade should have vaporized!" Valerius roared, his composure finally cracking. "Give it more power! Overload the cooling cycles! Melt him!"

 

"I don't think you're listening, Dad!" Kael’s voice echoed through the white glare, sounding like it was coming from everywhere at once. "I'm a blacksmith. And you just gave me the best fuel I’ve had all day!"

 

[Ding!]

 

[Energy Siphon Successful!]

 

[Origin Furnace Fuel Level: 9.8%... 9.9%...]

 

[Project Dawnbreaker: 100% Ready for Initialization.]

 

"Silas! Get down!" Kael roared.

 

He swung the Infernal Shadow-Reaper in a horizontal arc. He didn't release a wave of fire this time. He released everything. The golden energy he’d just absorbed was shot back at the Sun-Eater, but it wasn't gold anymore. It was a jagged, oscillating wave of violet and white—pure, unrefined 'Dawn-Matter'.

 

K-CHAK!

 

The wave hit the Sun-Eater’s left leg. The reinforced titanium-alloy didn't just bend; it shattered into a million tiny fragments. The massive machine tilted, its hydraulics screaming as it tried to compensate for the missing limb.

 

"My leg! The stabilizer is gone!" the pilot shrieked. "We're going down!"

 

"Hold it steady, you coward!" Valerius yelled, slamming his fist into the console. "Kael! You think one lucky hit makes you a king?! This machine was built to survive the collapse of a mountain!"

 

"Then let's see how it handles a heart attack," Kael said. He lunged forward, his new greaves sparking against the floor as he covered the distance in a single leap. He landed on the Sun-Eater’s main chassis, his sword already buried halfway into the gold plating.

 

"Get him off! Use the defense turrets!" Jax screamed, ducking behind a pillar.

 

Small auto-cannons sprouted from the machine's skin, tracking Kael’s movement. Rat-tat-tat-tat! Bullets pinged off Kael’s shadow-shield, but he didn't even look at them. He was focused on the glowing orange core visible through the cracks in the armor.

 

"System, analyze the core. Give me the kill-switch," Kael commanded, his voice strained as he parried a mechanical arm that tried to swat him like a fly.

 

[Item Appraisal: Sun-Eater Core (Tier 4).]

 

[Flaw: Pressure-release valve located behind the secondary cooling fan. One strike will cause a 'Chain-Reaction Collapse'.]

 

"Found you," Kael grinned.

 

"Kael, stop! If that core blows, we all die!" Silas yelled from the corner, his eyes wide with terror. "The whole mine will go up!"

 

"Not if I catch the explosion, Silas!" Kael shouted back. "Trust me! I know what I'm doing!"

 

"You don't know a damn thing!" Valerius’s voice boomed as a hatch opened and he stepped out onto the hull, a glowing energy-saber in his hand. The old man looked rejuvenated, his own power-armor humming with the same golden light as the machine. "You were always a dreamer, Kael. But dreams don't survive the Night. Only strength does."

 

"Then let's see which one of us is stronger, Dad," Kael said, pulling his sword out of the hull and facing his father. "The son you threw away, or the man who hid behind a machine for twenty years."

 

"You talk too much for a corpse," Valerius growled, lunging forward with a speed that defied his age.

 

Their blades met, and the shockwave nearly threw Silas off the floor. Gold met violet. Sunlight met Shadow. The two of them were a blur of motion on top of the tilting, groaning siege-engine.

 

"You think this 'System' of yours makes you special?!" Valerius snarled, his blade locked against Kael’s. "I knew about the ring! I knew what Elara was building! Why do you think I let her die?! Why do you think I let her poison you?!"

 

Kael’s heart skipped a beat. "You... you knew?"

 

"Of course I knew! She wanted to give this power to everyone! To the peasants! To the weak!" Valerius pushed harder, his eyes burning with a zealot's fire. "The Eternal Night is a filter, Kael! It keeps the strong on top and the weak in the dirt! I couldn't let her ruin the world with 'hope'!"

 

"You killed her for a hierarchy?" Kael’s voice went deathly quiet. The violet light in his eyes started to bleed into a dark, oily black. "You killed my mother because you were afraid of equality?"

 

"I killed her to preserve the Draven name!" Valerius roared.

 

"Then today, the Draven name dies with you," Kael said.

 

[Ding!]

 

[Host Emotion: Peak Rage.]

 

[Unlocking Forbidden Skill: 'World-Eater’s Anvil'.]

 

[Effect: Every strike will now absorb 5% of the target's Soul-Essence.]

 

"What is this... why is my armor getting heavier?" Valerius gasped as Kael’s strikes suddenly became twice as fast and three times as heavy. Every time their blades touched, a spark of golden light was sucked into Kael’s ring.

 

"Your armor isn't getting heavier, Dad," Kael said, his voice sounding like a chorus of a thousand whispers. "The world is just tired of carrying you."

 

Kael delivered a crushing overhead strike. Valerius raised his saber to block, but the Infernal Shadow-Reaper simply cut through the energy-blade like it was nothing. The cleaver slammed into Valerius’s shoulder, shearing through the power-armor and deep into the bone.

 

"AGHHHHH! My arm! You... you monster!" Valerius fell back, clutching his shattered shoulder.

 

"I learned from the best," Kael said, raising his foot and kicking his father off the hull of the Sun-Eater.

 

Valerius tumbled through the air, hitting the stone floor with a sickening thud. He tried to crawl away, but his armor was sparking and leaking fluid. He looked up, his face covered in blood and grease, to see Kael standing on the edge of the machine, looking down like a vengeful god.

 

"Jax! Help me! Get the guards!" Valerius wheezed.

 

But Jax was already gone. The coward had seen the tide turn and was already halfway up the ventilation shaft, climbing like a rat.

 

"He's not coming back, Dad," Kael said. "Nobody is."

 

Kael turned his attention back to the Sun-Eater’s core. The machine was groaning, the internal alarms screaming as the cooling system failed. The orange glow was turning into a violent red.

 

"Silas! Grab the 'Project Dawnbreaker' canisters from the lab! Now!" Kael commanded.

 

"I got 'em! But what do we do with 'em?!" Silas yelled, hauling two heavy, glowing blue tanks toward the center of the room.

 

"When I blow this core, I'm going to funnel the energy into the Origin Furnace! I need those canisters to stabilize the output!"

 

"Kael, that's suicide! The pressure will liquefy your bones!" Silas cried.

 

"Then I'll just have to forge new ones!" Kael laughed, a wild, reckless sound.

 

He raised his greatsword one last time. He could feel the 'Void-Heart' and the energy he’d siphoned from the cannon vibrating in the blade. It was too much power for a Tier 2 weapon. The metal was starting to crack.

 

"System, give me everything! All the points! All the mana! Put it all into the 'Soul-Siphon'!"

 

[Ding!]

 

[Warning: 1000% Output engaged.]

 

[Host Death Probability: 99.9%.]

 

"I like those odds," Kael whispered. "They’re better than the ones I started with."

 

He drove the blade into the core.

 

SILENCE.

 

For a split second, the entire cavern went quiet. No drilling. No screaming. No sirens. Then, the Sun-Eater didn't explode—it imploded. The massive machine collapsed in on itself, turned into a ball of white-hot energy that Kael held between his hands like a dying sun.

 

"ORIGIN FURNACE! OPEN UP!" Kael roared.

 

The massive doors of the central furnace swung wide. Kael thrust the ball of energy into the intake.

 

BOOM!

 

The shockwave was so powerful it blew the remaining guards out of the ventilation shafts. The light was so bright it could be seen from the surface, a pillar of purple and white fire shooting up through the mine and into the black sky above.

 

[Ding!]

 

[Origin Furnace: 100% Fueled.]

 

[Project Dawnbreaker: Initializing...]

 

[World-Scale Event Detected: The Eternal Night is receding.]

 

Kael collapsed to his knees. His skin was scorched, his hair was white as snow, and his eyes were bleeding. But he was smiling. He looked at the system notification and let out a shaky breath.

 

"We did it, Silas..." Kael whispered. "We actually did it."

 

Silas ran over, his face covered in soot but his eyes bright with tears. "You did it, Kael. You actually lit the damn fire. Look... look at the walls!"

 

The black vines were dying. The ancient machines were glowing with a warm, steady light. The 'Abyssal Cradle' was no longer a tomb; it was a heartbeat.

 

"Kael... your father," Silas pointed toward the pile of rubble.

 

Valerius Draven was still alive, but barely. He was staring up at the ceiling, his eyes wide with a mixture of horror and awe. "The light... it’s... it’s actually coming back..."

 

"Yeah," Kael said, standing up with Silas’s help. He picked up his sword, which was now a dull, rusted grey, its energy spent. "And it’s coming for you first."

 

"Wait! Kael! I can tell you where the rest of them are! The Council... the ones who really started the Night!" Valerius begged, his voice a pathetic rasp. "I have the codes! I have the keys!"

 

Kael looked at his father. He remembered the cold dinners. He remembered the look of disgust when he coughed blood. He remembered the feeling of the mine gates slamming shut.

 

"I don't need your codes, Dad," Kael said, turning his back on the man. "I have a System for that."

 

Suddenly, the floor beneath them began to shift. Not from an explosion, but from a rhythmic, mechanical movement. The Origin Furnace wasn't just a heater. It was a transport.

 

"Warning!" Silas yelled, pointing at the display screens. "Something’s coming up from the deeper levels! Something even bigger than the Kraken!"

 

A massive, mechanical platform began to rise from the shadow-lake, carrying a single, pristine white pod. It looked like a coffin, but it was covered in runes that even Kael’s 'Item Appraisal' couldn't read.

 

"What is that?" Kael asked, his eyes narrowing.

 

[Ding!]

 

[Identity Confirmed: 'The Matriarch's Stasis Pod'.]

 

[Status: Opening...]

 

Kael’s heart stopped. "Mother? She’s... she’s inside?"

 

The pod hissed, and a cloud of cryo-mist spilled out onto the floor. A hand—pale, delicate, but marked with the same black veins as Kael’s—reached out and gripped the edge of the pod.

 

"Elara...?" Valerius whispered, his voice full of a terror Kael had never heard before. "No... I saw you die! I saw the furnace consume you!"

 

The woman stepped out of the pod. She looked exactly like the hologram, but her eyes weren't blue. They were a brilliant, burning white. She looked at Valerius, then at Silas, and finally, her gaze settled on Kael.

 

"My little spark," she whispered, her voice echoing through the cavern like a bell. "You grew up so fast."

 

"Mother? Is it really you?" Kael took a step forward, his voice trembling.

 

"It is, Kael. And I see you’ve been busy with my little ring," she said, her eyes drifting to the 'Infernal Shadow-Reaper' in his hand. Her smile widened, but it didn't look kind. it looked hungry. "But you missed a step in the blueprint, my son."

 

"Missed a step? What are you talking about?" Kael asked, a cold feeling starting to creep up his spine.

 

"The System doesn't just forge items, Kael," she said, stepping toward him. Her feet didn't touch the ground; she was floating on a cushion of shadow-matter. "It forges a host. A perfect, indestructible vessel. And now that you've reached Level 10..."

 

She reached out her hand, and the ring on Kael’s finger began to burn with a heat ten times hotter than the furnace. Kael fell to his knees, screaming, as the black veins on his arm began to pulse and grow, turning into jagged, metallic spikes.

 

"Mother! What are you doing?! It hurts!"

 

"It’s supposed to hurt, Kael," she said, her voice turning cold and distant. "To forge a god, you have to burn away the human. And I’ve waited a long time for my new body to be ..."

 

Dia menghentikan kalimatnya tepat saat jarinya menyentuh dahi Kael, sementara di sekeliling mereka, seluruh mesin di dalam Cradle mulai berputar terbalik dengan suara yang ...