The silence following Gareth's death did not last long. It was a fragile thing, shattered instantly by the sound of Captain Varkas's boots hitting the mercury-slicked mud. The impact was not a landing; it was a declaration of war. The Low Justiciar did not wait for his partner to coordinate. He did not wait for Vane to recover his breath. He simply moved.

Varkas initiated his Physical Aura. The white-gold light erupted from his pores, condensing into a visible, shimmering shell of high-density mana. To Vane's Target Analysis, the man's danger level spiked from fatal to something nearly impossible to quantify. The air in front of the Captain was physically pushed aside, creating a vacuum that whistled as he surged forward.

Vane felt the pressure before the blow landed. It was a crushing, atmospheric weight that threatened to collapse his lungs. He did not retreat. He could not. Valerica and Mara were only twenty yards behind him. If he broke now, they would be liquidated before they could reach the treeline.

[Target Analysis]

Name: Varkas

Rank: Low Justiciar

Danger: Fatal

Authority: None

Skills: [Physical Aura - Grade B]

Vane adjusted his stance, sinking into the Argent Horizon. He utilized Internal Pulse, forcing the matte silver mana of the Silver Fang into his skeletal structure. It was an agonizing process. It felt like his marrow was being replaced by molten lead. The silver mana acted as a biological dampener, reinforcing his bones against the sheer kinetic energy of a Rank 5 strike. Without it, the first exchange would turn his skeleton into powder.

Varkas arrived with a roar. He did not use a weapon. He used a simple, overhead strike with a fist wrapped in a Grade B aura.

Vane initiated the 2nd Form: Lunar Deflection. He did not try to stop the fist. He used the frictionless hum of the Spiral Circulation around his spear shaft to catch the underside of Varkas's forearm. The intent was to redirect the massive vector of force into the ground.

The collision sounded like a mountain splitting open. Vane's boots buried themselves six inches into the mud as the frictionless sleeve around his spear screamed under the friction. The spear did not snap, but Vane felt the recoil travel through his reinforced bones, cracking the dampeners he had just set. He gritted his teeth, his vision blurring for a split second as he guided the Justiciar's fist past his shoulder.

The ground where Varkas struck erupted. A crater three feet deep opened in the silver sludge, sending a geyser of mercury and dirt into the air.

"Pest!" Varkas growled. He did not overextend. He utilized his superior rank to reset his posture instantly, his left hand snapping out to grab the shaft of Vane's spear.

Vane reacted with a desperate Flash Step, a Grade C skill he had stolen and refined. He didn't move forward; he vibrated backward, his body appearing to flicker as he escaped Varkas's reach. But as he pulled away, a flash of silver light caught the corner of his eye.

[Target Analysis]

Name: Kaelen

Rank: Low Justiciar

Danger: Fatal

Authority: None

Skills: [Analytical Sight - Grade B]

Captain Kaelen had arrived. He did not have Varkas's brute force, but he had something far more dangerous for a fighter like Vane. His eyes were glowing with a cold, predatory violet light. His Analytical Sight was dissecting Vane's movements in real time. He saw the micro-strains in Vane's muscles. He saw the way Vane favored his left side to protect his cracked ribs.

Kaelen's rapier moved in a blur of precision. It was not a swing. It was a series of five stabs aimed at Vane's pressure points.

"Valerica! The ridge!" Vane shouted.

He could not block all five. He utilized the Argent Horizon to its limit, spinning his spear in a tight, protective figure-eight. He parried four of the strikes, the star-metal ringing like a bell with every contact. The fifth strike, however, found its mark. Kaelen's rapier bypassed the spear and sank two inches into Vane's shoulder.

The pain was cold and sharp. Vane didn't flinch. He used the contact to initiate Absolute Severance.

The Silver Fang flowed from his shoulder and into the rapier's blade. Kaelen's eyes widened. He felt his weapon's durability simply vanish as the SS-Rank Authority rejected the very concept of the steel's hardness. The rapier did not break. It disintegrated.

Kaelen let go of the hilt and leaped backward, his violet eyes flashing with a mix of shock and calculation. "Varkas! Don't let him touch your weapon! He's using a conceptual rejection!"

Varkas didn't care. He was already mid-swing, his leg coming around in a roundhouse kick that carried the weight of a falling building. Vane crossed his arms, reinforcing them with every scrap of mana he had left.

The kick connected. Vane was sent skipping across the surface of the mercury pool like a flat stone. He traveled forty feet before slamming into a petrified iron tree. The trunk, thick as a man's waist and hardened over centuries, shattered upon impact.

Vane fell into the mud, coughing up a mixture of blood and mercury vapor. His left arm was numb. Two more ribs were definitely broken. He looked up, his vision swimming. He saw Valerica.

She had not run.

Valerica was standing ten feet away from the Justiciars, her Celestial Heart flaring with a violent, golden plasma. Mara was huddled behind her, the girl's hands glowing as she tried to maintain a crystalline shield.

"Val, I told you to go!" Vane wheezed. He tried to stand, but his legs felt like they were made of water.

"Shut up, Vane!" Valerica yelled. Her voice was high and strained, but her eyes were burning with a terrifying light. "I'm not leaving you to be a martyr!"

She raised her spear and slammed the butt into the ground. Singularity Collapse.

The gravity in the center of the clearing did not just increase; it folded. A point of absolute density appeared between Kaelen and Varkas. The two Justiciars, caught off guard by the Rank 3 girl's sudden output, were yanked toward each other. The mercury in the basin rose in a massive, silver orb, pulled toward the center of the gravity well.

"Impudent brat!" Varkas roared. He flared his Physical Aura to its maximum, his white-gold mana fighting against the crushing weight of the singularity. He planted his feet, the mud turning to stone beneath the pressure of his rank.

Kaelen was less physically durable, but he was faster. He used the momentum of the pull to launch himself toward Valerica, a hidden dagger appearing in his hand. "Die, little star!"

Vane saw it. He didn't think. He utilized the 3rd Form: Falling Star.

He did not have the height for a true aerial strike, so he used the explosion of his own mana to launch himself from the shattered tree. He spun his body like a drill, funneling every drop of the Silver Fang into the tip of his spear. He became a streak of matte silver light, a bolt of pure rejection aimed at Kaelen's back.

Kaelen sensed the threat. His Analytical Sight screamed a warning. He twisted in mid-air, abandoning his attack on Valerica to bring his dagger up in a defensive parry.

It was useless.

The Silver Fang met the dagger. The dagger ceased to exist. The spear-tip continued through the space where the weapon had been and tore a jagged path through Kaelen's side. The Captain let out a strangled cry as the Authority erased a chunk of his reinforced armor and the flesh beneath it.

Vane hit the ground and rolled, his body screaming in protest. He ended up beside Valerica. He grabbed her arm, his grip bruisingly tight. "Now. Run. The dungeon entrance is right there."

He pointed toward a jagged opening in the ridge, where the iron trees grew so thick they formed a natural arch. It was the entrance to the Weeping Iron-Groves dungeon.

Valerica didn't argue this time. She saw the blood on Vane's face. She saw the way his left arm hung uselessly at his side. She grabbed Mara and began to sprint toward the arch.

"I will kill you!" Varkas's voice was a seismic event.

The Justiciar had broken free of the singularity. He was covered in mercury, his white cape tattered and stained. He looked less like an Imperial Captain and more like a vengeful demon. He gathered his mana into his right fist, the white-gold light condensing until it was as bright as a small sun. Imperial Impact.

He threw the punch at the fleeing trio. A beam of pure, concussive mana tore through the air, vaporizing the iron trees in its path.

Vane turned. He knew he couldn't deflect this. It was a Grade B skill fueled by a Rank 5 mana pool. It was too much for a single Sentinel to stop.

"Mara! The lattice!" Vane roared.

Mara, terrified and sobbing, turned her head. She saw the beam of light closing in. Her S-Rank Authority, the Crystalline Lattice, responded to her desperation. She didn't just build a wall. She built a massive, multi-faceted prism of transparent crystal that spanned the entire entrance of the arch.

The Imperial Impact struck the prism.

The crystal did not shatter. It was an S-Rank Authority, and while Mara lacked the rank to make it permanent, the conceptual strength of the lattice was absolute. The beam of light hit the first facet and was refracted. It hit the second and was split. The concussive force was scattered into a thousand harmless needles of light that pierced the surrounding trees.

The prism held for three seconds before it dissolved into sparkling dust.

It was enough.

Vane, Valerica, and Mara dove into the darkness of the archway. The air changed instantly. The sweet scent of mercury was replaced by the smell of ancient oil and cold, damp stone. They were inside the dungeon.

The entrance was narrow, barely wide enough for two people to stand abreast. It was a tactical chokepoint.

Vane collapsed against the stone wall, his spear clattering to the ground. He looked back toward the light. He saw Varkas and Kaelen skidding to a halt at the threshold. The two Justiciars looked at the dark opening with a mixture of rage and hesitation. Even for them, entering a Grade 4 dungeon while injured was a risk.

"We aren't done!" Varkas screamed into the darkness. His voice echoed off the damp walls, sounding like a chorus of ghosts. "There is nowhere to run in there, rat! We will find you in the dark!"

Vane looked at his hands. They were shaking. The Silver Fang was still humming in his marrow, a lingering poison that he needed to cool down before it shattered his bones from the inside out. He looked at Valerica, who was already kneeling beside Mara, checking the girl for injuries.

"We're in," Valerica whispered. She looked at Vane, her face pale in the dim light of the dungeon's glowing moss. "What now?"

Vane reached out and grabbed his spear, using it as a crutch to pull himself upright. He looked deeper into the tunnel, where the sounds of shifting metal and distant growls signaled the presence of the dungeon's true masters.

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