Elias barely had time to process the weight of what they had just uncovered before Marco's voice cut through the moment like a sharp blade.
"We have company."
His fingers flicked across the console, pulling up real-time surveillance feeds from the facility's outer defenses. The footage was grainy but clear enough—a fleet of Academy warships was closing in fast, their sleek, silver exteriors cutting through the sky like predators on the hunt.
Lira groaned. "Of course they're already here."
Reinhardt cracked his knuckles. "Good. I was getting bored."
Ivy shot him a look. "You really need to redefine fun."
Cecilia sighed. "So, what's the play? Hold the ruins? Or do we run like hell?"
Elias didn't hesitate. "We get out. Now."
Varian nodded, already calculating escape routes. "The Academy has more numbers. Holding this place would be a waste of resources."
Marco spun his chair around, tapping rapidly. "Already prepping an exfiltration route. There's a subterranean exit leading to an old Vanguard outpost about ten clicks south. If we move fast, we can be gone before they even get inside."
Lira threw her hands up. "Finally, a plan that doesn't involve us getting punched by magic nerds."
Reinhardt smirked. "Yet."
Ivy grabbed her quiver. "Don't jinx it."
Elias looked toward the Forgotten King, still standing in the center of the chamber, watching them with an unreadable gaze.
"Are you coming with us?" Elias asked.
The King's golden eyes flickered. "No."
Reinhardt raised an eyebrow. "So you're just gonna sit here while the Academy digs up your sacred ruins?"
The King remained silent for a long moment. Then, he slowly raised a hand. The walls trembled.
Elias's HUD lit up with energy spikes, the ruins responding to the King's will. Then, without warning, the Sentinels in the main chamber stirred again, their eyes flickering back to life, their weapons raised.
Varian exhaled. "He's not staying. He's buying us time."
The King looked at Elias, his voice calm yet absolute.
"Go. Do what I could not."
Elias clenched his fists, then nodded. "We'll finish this."
The King gave a slight nod, then turned toward the entrance, where footsteps echoed from above.
The Academy had arrived.
Elias didn't wait to see what happened next.
"Move!"
They ran, darting down the passage Marco had mapped out. The corridors twisted and turned, old tunnels long abandoned but still stable enough to support their escape. The deeper they went, the more the stone shifted to metal, signs of old Vanguard structures beneath the ruins.
Marco checked his scanner. "We're three levels down. Just need to get through one more passage, and we'll hit the exit."
Ivy frowned. "So why does this feel way too easy?"
Cecilia groaned. "Why would you say that?"
Because the moment she did—the ground trembled.
Elias felt it before he heard it—a low, thunderous roar, like something massive shifting beneath them.
Lira's dagger was already in her hand. "Tell me that's not the ruins collapsing."
Marco's face paled. "It's not."
The tunnel ahead shattered outward, stone exploding as a massive shape tore through the corridor.
A construct—but not like the Sentinels before.
This one was different.
Larger. Heavily armored. Its limbs crackled with unstable energy, its head sleek and predatory, its movements more fluid, more lethal.
Marco barely got out two words.
"A Prototype."
Elias's heart pounded. "You mean one of the Academy's old experiments?"
Marco nodded quickly. "Yeah, and judging by how fast it's moving, I'd say this one wasn't deactivated properly."
The Prototype Construct lunged.
Reinhardt caught it mid-charge, his gauntlet grinding against its plated arms, but the force sent him flying back, smashing into the tunnel wall.
"Heavy—!" Reinhardt grunted, shaking off the impact. "Okay, this thing's a bit stronger than the last guys."
Lira flipped back, daggers flashing. "Yeah, no kidding!"
Elias fired his thrusters, launching forward with a charged strike. His gauntlet collided with the construct's head, sending a shockwave through its frame, but instead of staggering, it absorbed the impact, redirecting the force back at him.
The blast threw Elias backward. He rolled, barely managing to regain his footing before it charged again.
Ivy loosed an arrow, aiming for its exposed joints, but the construct twisted unnaturally, dodging the projectile. Cecilia phased behind it, slashing at its power core, but the construct's defense matrix activated, sending a pulse of energy that forced her back.
Varian stepped forward, his golden blade flashing in a precise, calculated arc. His strike sliced through the armor plating, but instead of falling, the construct reassembled itself mid-motion.
Varian's eyes narrowed. "Self-repairing at this speed?"
Marco checked his console. "It's not just self-repairing. It's learning."
Elias dodged another attack, mind racing. This wasn't just some old security bot. It was an adaptive combat prototype, one of the Academy's early attempts at war machines.
And they had just reactivated it.
Lira ducked beneath a swipe. "Alright, genius, how do we kill it?"
Marco's eyes scanned the data stream. "It's running on an old core system—but the fail-safes are still active. We need to overload it."
Elias gritted his teeth. "How?"
Marco hesitated.
Then he sighed.
"You're not gonna like it."
Elias groaned. "That's not encouraging."
Marco pointed at the construct's power nodes, flickering along its shoulder and back. "If we redirect enough energy into its primary core, it'll overload the system. But to do that…"
Reinhardt grinned. "Someone has to be the bait."
Elias sighed, adjusting his gauntlet. "Yeah. Figured."
Cecilia smirked. "Try not to die, okay?"
Elias exhaled. "No promises."
Then he charged.
The construct reacted instantly, shifting all attention to him. Elias dodged one strike, then another, his thrusters carrying him upward as he drew its attacks away from the others.
Marco called out. "Now!"
Ivy fired an arrow at full charge, the projectile piercing one of the exposed nodes.
Lira followed, daggers flashing as she sliced into a second point.
Varian drove his blade through the final node, his golden energy locking the system in place.
The construct jerked, its frame locking, energy surging violently through its body.
Elias flipped mid-air, gauntlet overloaded with stored energy.
And then—
He punched straight through the core.
The impact detonated the construct from the inside out, a shockwave of golden energy ripping through its form, shattering its adaptive defenses.
It collapsed instantly.
Silence.
Then—
Reinhardt let out a long breath. "Okay. That was way too close."
Elias exhaled. "Yeah."
Marco checked his scanner. "Good news? It's actually dead."
Lira grinned. "Bad news?"
Marco sighed.
"The Academy just breached the ruins."
Elias clenched his fists.
They weren't out yet.
And the real fight was still coming.