The explosion shook the entire bay.
Heat.
Smoke.
tal fragnts flying everywhere.
But Asher stayed calm.
He dropped down behind a fallen crate, using it as cover as the shockwave rolled past him. The Knight dove behind the sa crate, landing beside him with a rough grunt.
For a few long seconds, neither of them moved.
Only the sound of burning tal and collapsing machinery filled the air.
Finally, Asher let out a slow breath.
"...Well," he said calmly, "that was loud."
The Knight coughed once. "Loud? It nearly killed us."
Asher shrugged lightly. "Yeah, but it didn’t. So I’m counting that as a win."
The smoke slowly cleared.
Pieces of the Pri Warden were scattered across the bay—chunks of armor, shattered cables, lted plating. A huge crater sat where its torso used to be, still glowing faint blue.
The head lay several ters away, visor flickering weakly.
The Knight leaned forward. "Is it... gone?"
Asher stood up, brushing dust off his shoulders.
"It blew itself up. I don’t think even it can co back from that."
He walked toward the remains without fear, stepping over debris and broken tal. Even with the floor still steaming, he didn’t rush. He stayed steady and calm, scanning the wreckage.
The visor of the severed head sparked one last ti.
"FAILURE... RECORDED..."
Asher quietly tapped the side of the visor with his boot.
"Yeah, yeah. Sleep mode."
The light inside the visor faded completely.
The Knight finally relaxed, lowering his sword.
"It’s over."
Asher nodded. "For now."
A support beam groaned sowhere above them, and dust fell from the ceiling.
Asher looked around the ruined bay, voice still calm.
"This place feels like it wants to fall apart. We should move before sothing else wakes up... or collapses on us."
The Knight sheathed his sword. "Agreed."
They started walking toward the corridor ahead—the only path not blocked by debris.
Asher glanced back once at the destroyed Pri Warden.
"Biggest one so far," he said quietly. "But at least it stayed down."
The Knight asked, "You’re not shaken at all?"
Asher gave a small, calm smile.
"If I lose my cool every ti sothing tries to kill , I’ll never make it to the exit."
The Knight huffed a tired laugh. "Fair enough."
Both of them stepped into the dim corridor.
Behind them, the ruined bay crackled with sparks.
Ahead of them... more darkness.
Asher kept walking, steady and composed.
"Alright," he said, voice calm as ever. "Let’s see what’s next."
The corridor ahead was no longer filled with alarms or flashing lights. Everything was quiet now. Too quiet.
Asher stepped inside first, calm as always. The Knight followed behind him, still breathing hard from the fight.
The hallway was long and dusty, lined with cracked panels and flickering lamps. It felt old... older than the bay they just ca from. Asher looked around slowly, taking in the ruined technology and strange markings on the walls.
"So many fights," he murmured. "Whoever built this place didn’t want anyone getting through."
He brushed so dirt off his arm and kept walking, steady and relaxed. But inside, he was thinking.
This place... it wasn’t made for humans. Soone else lived here. Soone who hid sothing important.
The corridor split into several dark paths. More broken machines, more twisted tal, more dead ends. The whole area looked like a maze designed to trap anyone who entered.
Asher stopped for a mont and looked up at the ceiling.
"...Feels like soone’s watching," he said quietly.
The Knight turned. "You sense sothing?"
Asher didn’t answer. He didn’t need to. He could feel it—distant, faint, but full of hatred. A sharp, focused anger locked onto him from sowhere far deeper in the facility.
Not a machine.
Not an Oga unit.
Sothing alive.
Sothing from beyond this place.
Sothing from the Myriad Venos Organization.
The Knight saw Asher’s eyes narrow. "Asher? What is it?"
Asher stayed calm, voice low and steady.
"Soone’s been following my fights. Watching every step."
"Who?"
"A man from Venos," Asher said. "He’s the one who planned all these machines. He’s the one who set every trap we just survived."
The Knight tensed. "Why would he do that?"
Asher kept walking, back straight, expression unmoving.
"Because he hates ," Asher said simply. "More than anyone else."
The Knight frowned. "You know him?"
"No," Asher answered. "But he knows ."
He walked deeper into the shadows, unshaken.
"The hatred in his eyes... I can feel it from here. He wants to break . He wants to crush my bones and tear my soul apart. Then drink whatever’s left."
The Knight’s grip tightened on his sword. "Then we’ll face him."
Asher nodded calmly.
"We will."
The corridor ahead opened into another huge chamber—dark, silent, and full of strange machines half-buried in dust.
Asher stepped inside without hesitation.
Sowhere far away, soone watched him through a screen—his eyes filled with pure, burning hatred.
And Asher felt it.
But he stayed calm.
"Co find ," he whispered. "I’m waiting."
The Knight waited.
Asher chuckled under his breath. "I’m not the one getting hunted... I’m the one taking all his treasures."
Before the Knight could reply, a deep rumbling echoed through the chamber.
Thud... thud... thud...
A massive door ahead—ancient, layered with steel and strange glowing runes—began to shift. Dust fell from the ceiling as gears the size of boulders turned for the first ti in centuries.
The whole hall vibrated.
Asher stepped forward, eyes sharp."Finally opened, huh?"
With a last heavy clang, the door split apart.
A bright golden light spilled out—warm, shimring, almost blinding after all the darkness.
Inside...
A vault.
Pillars of tal.Rows of glowing relics.Stacks of sealed containers humming with power.Fragnts of advanced technology scattered like abandoned treasure.
The entire place shined—silver, gold, red, blue—like a hidden kingdom of forgotten wealth.
He walked straight in, completely relaxed, as if danger didn’t exist.
He picked up a crystal piece glowing with swirling energy. It pulsed in his hand like a living star.
Then he grabbed another relic—so kind of weapon core—and tossed it casually into a storage pack.
Piece after piece, device after device, he gathered everything with zero hesitation.
"These machines? These traps?" Asher said while picking up a golden cube. "They weren’t guarding the facility."
He pocketed the last relic and cracked his neck.
"They were guarding my loot."
The Knight exhaled in disbelief. "You’re unbelievable."
Asher grinned.
"I know."
But just as he finished collecting the final treasure...
The lights in the vault turned blood-red.
A cold voice echoed through the chamber—full of venom, full of hatred.
"Thief."
Asher looked up slowly, smile fading.
A figure appeared on a high screen—a man with long black hair, pale skin, and eyes filled with pure, burning rage.
The Venos planner. The one who had been watching.
His voice shook with fury.
"You dare take what belongs to ?"
Asher stared at him... then smirked.
"It belongs to now."
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