The grinding of the massive stone doors echoed in my ears as I stared at Julian Radford's hate-filled face. Ti seed to slow as I calculated the narrowing gap—barely two feet now and closing fast.
"Knight, you die here today," Julian sneered, his one arm still blocking the exit.
Frederick's weight on my back felt heavier with each passing second. His breathing was shallow, his life bleeding out from his crushed legs. I couldn't let him die here.
"Not today," I muttered, summoning my last reserves of strength.
With a desperate lunge, I sprinted toward the gap. Julian's eyes widened in surprise as I approached. At the last second, I twisted my body sideways and threw Frederick with all my might through the narrow opening between Julian and the door.
Frederick's body sailed past Julian's outstretched arm and tumbled to safety on the other side. The montum of my throw left off-balance, giving Julian the opening he needed.
His remaining hand lashed out, grabbing my throat with crushing force. "Fool! You could have saved yourself!"
I struggled against his grip but couldn't break free. My energy reserves were depleted from the battle and the desperate rescue. This content was first released on *.
"Worth it," I choked out.
Behind Julian, I saw Frederick being pulled away from the closing doors by Daphne Grenville, her face a mask of horror as she realized what was happening.
"Liam!" she scread.
Julian's eyes glead with triumph as he released , stepping backward through the gap. "Farewell, Knight. The Immortal Bane Sect will be your tomb."
The doors slamd shut with finality, sealing inside the crumbling chamber. I pounded against the impenetrable stone once, then turned to face my fate.
The hall had transford completely. Ancient runes blazed along the walls, ceiling, and floor, forming complex patterns that pulsed with malevolent energy. The air itself seed alive with deadly intent.
"So this is the legendary killing formation," I muttered, backing away as the floor cracked beneath my feet.
From beyond the sealed doors, I heard muffled voices. So sounded concerned, others coldly practical.
"We need to leave now," ca Julian's commanding voice. "The entire complex is reconfiguring itself."
"But Liam is still in there!" That was Daphne's voice, surprisingly distressed.
Julian's response was dismissive. "Knight sealed his own fate when he challenged . Collect whatever inner cores you can find, and let's go."
I turned away from the doors. There would be no help from that direction. The chamber continued to change around , walls shifting and reshaping themselves into new, deadly configurations. The air grew thick with oppressive energy that made each breath a struggle.
From the center of the room, a pillar of dark energy erupted, spiraling upward like a tornado of black lightning. Where it touched the walls, deadly formations activated, sending beams of energy criss-crossing through the chamber.
I dodged the first wave, my battle instincts kicking in despite my exhaustion. A beam of energy sizzled past my ear, leaving a scorched trail in the air.
"Need to find another way out," I gasped, scanning the transforming chamber for any possible exit.
The second wave ca faster. I twisted away from two beams but a third caught my shoulder, burning through my robe and searing the flesh beneath. Pain exploded through my body as I stumbled back, barely keeping my footing.
"Argh!" I cried out, clutching my wounded shoulder. The burn wasn't ordinary—it felt like acid eating through my flesh, the pain radiating outward along my qi pathways.
Outside the chamber, I could still hear voices.
"The formation is designed to torture and kill intruders slowly," explained a scholarly voice—Darnell Bradford, I thought. "No one has ever survived the Immortal Bane Sect's killing formation once fully activated."
"He saved my brother," ca Daphne's subdued response. "He could have escaped, but he chose to save Frederick instead."
A third wave of energy beams lashed out, more nurous and faster than before. I managed to evade most, but two caught —one across my back and another slicing through my right thigh. I crashed to the floor, my body screaming in agony.
"I understand now," I heard Daphne say softly from beyond the doors, "why Isabelle loves him so deeply."
My heart clenched at Isabelle's na. Would I never see her again? The thought gave a surge of desperate strength. I forced myself to my feet, swaying unsteadily as blood soaked my robes.
"I can't die here," I growled through gritted teeth. "Not like this."
The formation responded as if it had heard , intensifying its assault. The black tornado at the center of the room expanded, sending out pulses of energy that rippled through the air like deadly shock waves.
I tried to summon my spiritual energy to form a shield, but my reserves were too depleted. The first pulse hit like a physical blow, lifting off my feet and slamming against the wall. Bones cracked on impact, and I tasted blood as I slid to the floor.
The second pulse was worse—it didn't just damage my body but attacked my spiritual core, my dantian. I scread as the foreign energy invaded my ridians, corrupting and burning everything it touched.
"Isabelle," I whispered, her face clear in my mind despite the agony racking my body. "I'm sorry."
The killing formation seed to sense my weakening state. The black tornado focused, forming into a spear-like projection aid directly at my heart. This would be the killing blow.
As it launched toward , ti slowed again. I saw my life flashing before my eyes—my childhood as an orphan, the years of humiliation with the Sterling family, eting Isabelle, discovering my powers, the battles fought and won.
Was this truly how it would end? After all I'd survived, all I'd overco?
The black spear was inches from my chest when sothing impossible happened.
A golden light erupted from within —not from my conscious effort, but from deep within my dantian. The light took form, coalescing into a towering silhouette of a man that stood protectively before .
The black spear struck this golden figure and simply... dissolved. The killing formation's energy scattered like dust in the wind, its power nullified by the golden presence's re existence.
I stared in disbelief through blood-clouded eyes. The figure was at least nine feet tall, radiating an aura so powerful it made the ancient formation seem like a child's toy by comparison. Its form wasn't fully solid—more like concentrated golden light in the rough shape of a human—but there was sothing hauntingly familiar about its bearing.
The golden figure raised one massive hand, and a wave of pure, cleansing energy swept through the chamber. Where it passed, the formation's runes sputtered and died. The black tornado collapsed in on itself, shrinking until it vanished entirely. The walls stopped their deadly dance, returning to their original positions.
My pain receded as healing energy washed over , knitting broken bones and sealing wounded flesh. I could breathe again without agony, though exhaustion still weighed heavily on every limb.
"What... who are you?" I whispered, awestruck by the being that had appeared from within my own body.
The golden figure stood motionless, its back still turned to as it surveyed the now-dormant chamber. Its aura was both terrifying and comforting—like standing in the presence of a mountain that could crush you yet chose to provide shelter instead.
Slowly, deliberately, the figure began to turn toward . Though it had no distinguishable facial features—just a bright golden light where a face should be—I felt a profound connection to this being. Sothing deep within recognized it on a level I couldn't explain.
A wild, impossible hope flared in my heart as the figure fully faced .
"Father," I whispered, my voice cracking with emotion, "is that you?!"
The golden figure stood silent before , its luminous form casting long shadows across the ancient chamber as it regarded the broken, blood-stained young man at its feet.
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