Chapter 134: Into the heart

Once upon a time, to Clayton, Korrath felt like an untouchable towering wall of pure Genesis power, the worst of what the Genesis Protocols created. Once upon a time, the Verdant Lord of New Chicago seemed untouchable to him. The mere prospect of facing him in a war felt like suicide. Afterall, who was he? Clayton was just a street rat who got sucked into the Genesis Protocols, and somehow survived it. But since then, he was no longer just a street rat. He’d grown. He’d blossomed into the Verdant Lord of the Forgotten City of Atlanta. He had an army of his own now, and loyal subjects who were ready to fight with him to the death. He was Luminous Seed now. Now, he could face Korrath Verdant Lord to Verdant Lord, and finally, after months of a draining war, here he was, at the heart of his archenemy’s Mechanosite. The street was quiet again. Too quiet. The corpses of the three generals lay scattered across the ruins, their forms twitching faintly before dissolving into heaps of dust and ash. The silence left in their wake pressed down like a weight, heavier than the battle itself. No one cheered. No one spoke. They all knew what it meant. This was no victory, not yet. Rather, this was permission to proceed to the final boss. The Nexus Engine loomed before them, pulsing with mechanical life. It was no ordinary tower. It was the true throne of Korrath’s power. Heck, it was Korrath himself. The fortress, the machine, the biomechanical heart of New Chicago; every wall, every spire, and every gear was an extension of his body and mind. This was the Verdant Lord of New Chicago. The Rootsite strike force had not reached his door, they had stepped into his veins. Clayton stood at the front, Regalia dripping faint green sparks, his chest heaving with steady breaths. He should have felt triumph. Instead, he felt the weight of the tower’s shadow stretch across his bones. He knew that the true battle was about to start. "Do you feel it?" he asked quietly. Torren shifted beside him, Pyreaxe resting against one shoulder. "I feel it. The bastard’s watching us." "It’s more than that," Lorn murmured. Her hands still glowed faintly, threads of healing light weaving across Harrick’s wounds. "It’s like we’re already inside him. The walls, the air, even the ground, it all beats with his rhythm." Clayton smirked. "It’s his Aspect. His Aspect may not be as high-ranked as mine, but it’s still extremely powerful". "Just like my Aspect gives me two bodies and other advantages, this is the trait of his Aspect". His eyes turned dark. "He should have attempted the third trial already, his cowardice kept him in his comfort zone". "He is a genius who never realized his full potential. Powerful, but vulnerable". They acknowledged the warning in his words, knowing just how formidable of an adversary they were about to face next. Veyra’s bow was still drawn, though no enemy stirred. Her arrows trembled slightly, not from fear but from the pressure of standing this close to the source. "Every step forward... it feels like he’s pulling us in." Kaelin glanced at the shadows curling along the street, his Ashveil twitching like smoke. "Then we cut deeper until he bleeds." His voice was calm, but the tightness in his jaw betrayed him. Soren spat to the side, Emberblade blazing faintly in his grip. "He’s trying to suffocate us. Let him. A blade breathes just fine in the fire." Still, the silence lingered. The squad shifted uneasily, their wounds aching, their lungs burning from the endless fight. Four months of war had led here. To this street, to this tower, to this final walk into a monster’s chest. For a moment, the thought hung unspoken among them. What if this is the last step? What if none of them walk out again? Clayton felt it, the doubt trying to coil around their spirits. He would not let it root. He raised Regalia, its edge catching the glow of the Nexus Engine. "We knew this was never about survival," he said, voice carrying steady and sharp. "We came here to end Korrath. If this is his heart, then we break it." That was all it took to break the silence. The squad straightened, each one lifting their weapons again. Torren smirked, fire glinting in his eyes. "Now you sound like me." Clayton grinned. Veyra finally lowered her bow, but her grip tightened. "Good. I was getting tired of waiting." Kaelin slid into the shadows without another word. Lorn gave a single nod, his calm presence steadying them all. They were ready, and then... The Nexus Engine stirred. The gears rotated faster. The pulsing veins along its walls brightened, glowing red as though blood was rushing quicker through its arteries. The ground rumbled beneath their feet. And then a voice came, smooth, low, reverberating through the air. "You’ve done well." It was Korrath. "Better than I expected, I truly underestimated you. You killed my generals. You reached my heart. And yet..." The walls around them flexed, the veins pulsing brighter. The voice deepened. "...you do not understand. By stepping closer, you’ve already lost." The words slid into their skulls like knives. Each syllable thrummed with certainty, like the judgment of a god. Veyra hissed, clapping a hand to her temple. Harrick groaned, swaying where he stood. Even Soren clenched his jaw, teeth grinding. Clayton forced his roots deeper into the pavement, steadying himself. He shouted back, voice cutting through the pressure. "You talk too much". His cold voice cut through like a blade. The oppressive hum faltered, and with it the squad breathed easier. Korrath chuckled, deep and metallic. "Good. Then bleed for me." The Nexus Engine split open. The massive gates of its base peeled apart like ribs tearing open, revealing the darkness inside. A wave of hot, metallic air blasted outward, carrying the stench of oil and blood. Inside, the corridors pulsed red. Gears turned along the walls, cables slithered like serpents, and streams of glowing liquid rushed through channels like rivers of fire. It was not an entrance. It was a throat. Clayton tightened his grip on Regalia. "Move," he ordered. The strike force stepped into the dark. The breach began at once. The moment their boots crossed the threshold, the walls shifted. The corridor closed behind them with a slam, cutting off the street. The tower groaned, alive, reshaping itself around the intruders. Dozens of biomechanical drones dropped from the ceiling, their limbs clicking, eyes burning with green fire. "Here we go!" Torren roared, swinging his Pyreaxe in a blazing arc. BOOM! The drones fell in showers of sparks, cleaved apart by the inferno. Soren darted forward, his Emberblade slashing through two at once. Kaelin’s shadows swallowed three more, daggers flashing from within the veil. Veyra’s arrows shot down the hall, each one exploding against the enemy ranks, splintering them apart. Lorn’s roots burst from the floor, wrapping around the survivors, crushing them with brutal force. Harrick lunged past her, spear skewering through two at once, his strikes sharp and furious. The corridor became a slaughterhouse. But for every drone they cut down, more poured from the walls. Clayton lifted his hand. Vines erupted along the ceiling, tearing through the metal, collapsing an entire section of the corridor in a storm of roots and rubble. The flood stopped. For a moment, the silence returned. They pressed on. The deeper they went, the stranger it became. The corridors twisted, bending in impossible angles. Doors opened to reveal nothing but walls of flesh-metal pulsing with light. At times, whispers drifted through the halls, voices of the dead, echoes of those who had fallen in past wars. Kaelin snarled, shoving past a wall of writhing cables. "This place... it’s not a tower. It’s a nightmare." Lorn’s face was pale, but his voice was steady. "No, it’s a heart. And it wants to consume us." Clayton said nothing. His silence was more powerful than any reassurance. He simply kept moving forward, Regalia glowing green in the red gloom. At last, they reached a massive chamber. The walls curved high overhead, filled with gears larger than houses, each one turning with a deafening grind. In the center stood a colossal core of glowing veins, pumping streams of molten light into the channels around it. The inner sanctum of the Nexus Engine. The heart of Korrath. The strike force slowed. No one needed to say it aloud, this was it. The chamber trembled, and the veins along the core flared bright. Korrath’s voice thundered again. "You’ve walked into me. Now you’ll die in me." From the walls, shapes began to stir. Not drones this time, not machines, but guardians. Monstrous biomechanical hulks, larger than any they had faced before, peeling themselves from the gears, rising from the floor, crawling from the veins, each one glowing with fragments of Korrath’s power. The final defense. Clayton raised Regalia, its light clashing with the glow of the core. His voice was cold amd steady. "This isn’t your heart anymore. It’s our battlefield." The strike force spread out, weapons raised, eyes locked on the guardians. The breach had begun.