Chapter 356: The Guardians of Aegis

The enormous mechanism kept turning, and somewhere beneath the ruins, stone groaned under its weight.

Kai stared at the structure in the distance. Something was happening deep below Aegis, and he could feel it through the soles of his boots as the ground trembled again, harder this time.

Sera tightened her grip on her sword. "Everyone, get ready."

Lily looked around. "Ready for what?"

A loud crack split the air behind them. When they turned, the ancient road was breaking open, stone falling inward as dust burst into the air, until a perfectly circular hole sat in the middle of the road.

Kai’s eyes narrowed. "Back."

They moved immediately, and more cracks spread across the ruins, one after another, as enormous sections of ground opened all over the city.

Lily stared at the holes. "There are tunnels under the city."

Gabriel’s expression hardened. "Everyone, stay together."

A deep metallic sound rang out from somewhere below them.

CLANG.

Something was striking the inside of the underground structure, and a moment later, it struck again.

Sera looked down at the nearest hole. "Something’s coming."

The ground exploded, and a massive figure burst up through the road.

It stood nearly five meters tall, built from dark stone and metal, with ancient symbols carved across its chest.

It had no eyes, only a narrow line of light glowing across the front of its head, and when it landed, the whole road shook beneath it.

Another one climbed out after it, then another, and then dozens more.

"Golems," Lily said.

"Ancient war constructs," Gabriel corrected.

"That’s worse."

Stone warriors poured from the holes across the ruins, some carrying enormous swords and others carrying shields, while a few held bows made from a metal none of them recognized. Behind them came larger machines, four-legged constructs, stone beasts, floating weapons, and heavy machines that rolled forward on tracks. Aegis had awakened its army.

Sera glanced around. "How many?"

Kai scanned the ruins. "Too many to count."

Gabriel raised her staff. "Then don’t count."

A stone warrior charged, and Sera vanished from where she had been standing. The warrior’s sword came down, but she was already inside its swing, and her blade flashed once. The construct’s upper half slid off its lower half and crashed onto the road.

Sera landed beside the wreckage. "That one was easy."

Kai looked at her. "You sound disappointed."

"I expected more."

A mechanical beast rushed toward them, and Kai raised one hand. The air in front of him bent, and the machine stopped as if it had slammed into an invisible wall before its body folded sideways and flew into a ruined building.

Lily stared. "That was new."

Kai looked at his hand. "Maybe."

Another machine fired, and a glowing projectile streaked across the ruins. Gabriel stepped forward, and a massive barrier appeared in front of them just as the shot struck it. The barrier shuddered, but Gabriel pushed her staff forward and it expanded outward, the shockwave throwing several machines off their feet.

"Stay inside the barrier!" she shouted.

Lily raised both hands. "I can shut down the smaller ones!"

Glowing symbols formed around her, and she pointed at the nearest construct. "Mana Disruption!"

The symbols struck its body, and the machine froze in place as the core in its chest flickered and went out. It collapsed onto the road.

Lily smiled. "That still works."

"Good," Sera said, turning toward the ruins. "Because there are a lot more."

Dozens of stone warriors were charging toward them, and Sera ran straight at them.

Her blade struck once, then twice, then again, and stone shattered with every hit as she cut through their formation without slowing down.

When one warrior raised its shield, she struck it head on, and the shield broke apart before she kicked the warrior backward into three of its allies.

"Next!"

Kai stepped forward, and the air around him twisted. A group of machines suddenly lost control, one firing into another while a second crashed into a stone tower, and a third was lifted off the ground and slammed back down into the road.

Kai walked through the chaos, and every time he raised his hand, something changed. A sword missed him by a few centimeters, a projectile curved away from his chest, and a machine found itself moving in the wrong direction. When a stone warrior swung at him, Kai simply stepped aside and let the blade pass his shoulder before he pressed a palm to its chest. The air compressed, and the construct was blasted backward across the road.

"He’s getting better," Lily said.

Sera glanced at her. "At what?"

"Distortion."

"I noticed."

Kai didn’t look back. "Can you two stop discussing me while I’m fighting?"

Sera smiled. "No."

A machine broke through the line and rushed toward Lily. She turned, and her eyes went wide as it raised an arm bigger than she was. "Oh. That’s big."

Gabriel stepped between them, and a massive beam of light erupted from her staff, blasting the machine backward through a stone wall.

Lily let out a breath. "Thank you."

Gabriel smiled. "You’re welcome."

Lily looked at the hole in the wall. "That was actually pretty impressive."

"I know," Gabriel said.

Then the ground shook again, harder than before, and everyone stopped. A deeper sound rolled through the ruins, low enough that Kai felt it in his chest, as if something enormous was moving directly beneath them.

Sera looked around. "Please tell me that’s the last wave."

Gabriel shook her head. "No."

"Of course not."

A section of the road collapsed, and a stone warrior far larger than the others climbed out of the ground. It stood nearly fifteen meters tall, covered in ancient armor, with a giant weapon gripped in one hand. Where its face should have been, there was only a single glowing symbol.

Lily looked up at it. "That’s a little excessive."

Sera smiled. "Finally."

Distortion stirred around Kai, and the air grew heavy. He could feel something inside the construct that wasn’t mana, something older, and it felt like it was looking back at him.

The giant raised its weapon, and Gabriel shouted, "Move!"

BOOOOOOM!

The weapon came down, and the road where they had been standing exploded, sending stone flying in every direction as dust swallowed everything.

Kai walked out of the dust cloud and looked up at the giant, and Sera landed beside him a moment later. "Want to split it?"

"You take the left."

Sera grinned. "Gladly."

She launched herself forward. The giant swung, and Sera jumped over the blade before landing on its arm and driving her sword into its armor. The metal cracked with a sharp ring, and the construct let out a grinding sound that echoed across the ruins.

Kai raised his hand. The air around the giant twisted, and the ground beneath its feet bent just enough to throw off its balance. As it stumbled, Kai pulled his hand sideways, and the construct was hurled into the ground while Sera leapt clear of its arm.

"Can you shut it down?" Kai called to Lily.

"I’m trying!" She ran to the fallen construct and started reading the symbols across its chest. "There’s a core!"

"Where?"

"Chest!"

The giant was already starting to rise again. Kai raised his hand, and Distortion compressed around his fingers.

"Now!" Lily shouted.

Kai struck, and the air folded in on itself before a concentrated force slammed into the construct’s chest.

BOOM!

The armor shattered, exposing a glowing core underneath. Lily thrust her hand forward, and a wave of mana hit the core, making its light flicker once, then twice, before it went dark.

The giant stopped moving, and its enormous body collapsed onto the road.

CRAAAAASH.

Dust rolled across the ruins, and for several seconds, nobody moved.

Then Sera sheathed her sword. "That was better."

Kai looked at her. "You enjoyed that."

"Obviously."

Lily crouched beside the exposed core. "This technology is incredible."

"Don’t touch anything yet," Gabriel said.

Lily paused. "Why?"

"Because Aegis has already shown us its systems are still active."

Kai looked around and saw that she was right. The other constructs had stopped fighting, but they hadn’t disappeared. Hundreds of machines were scattered across the ancient roads, some destroyed and others standing perfectly still, like statues waiting to be told what to do.

"What triggered them?" Kai asked.

Gabriel shook her head. "We don’t know."

Kai looked at the symbols along the road, which were still glowing faintly. "Maybe we do. This started when I stepped onto the road."

Lily’s expression changed. "You’re saying the city detected you?"

"Maybe."

Gabriel stared at the nearest symbol. "That shouldn’t be possible. The old Aegis systems shouldn’t recognize anyone."

Kai looked at her. "Anyone?"

"Not modern people."

"What does that mean?"

Gabriel looked out over the ruins for a long moment. "I don’t know."

Before Kai could push her, Lily shouted, "Wait! Look!"

She was standing beside the fallen giant, pointing at a crack that had opened beneath it. When they moved closer, they found a staircase descending into darkness below the broken construct, perfectly preserved and lined with ancient symbols. Unlike the ones in the ruins above, these were glowing brightly.

Sera looked down. "That wasn’t there before."

"No," Gabriel said.

Kai stared into the dark. The stairs went far below the city, and Distortion was reacting again, not violently this time, but like a gentle pull toward whatever waited at the bottom.

"We should go down," Lily said.

Sera sighed. "Of course you think that."

"There’s an entire ancient structure beneath us."

"That’s exactly why I’m worried."

Lily turned to Kai. "You want to investigate it too."

Kai nodded. "Yes."

"I agree," Gabriel said.

Sera looked at her. "You do?"

Gabriel kept her eyes on the stairs. "Those constructs weren’t protecting the surface."

Kai understood immediately. "They were guarding the entrance."

"Exactly."

Lily’s eyes widened. "Then whatever is down there..."

"Is important," Gabriel said.

Kai looked back at the city one last time. Towers reached into the clouds above them, surrounded by faceless statues, silent weapons, and roads wider than any highway.

But the one thing the guardians of Aegis had protected for thousands of years had been hidden beneath all of it.

He stepped onto the first stair, and the symbol under his foot glowed brighter. Sera followed him, then Lily.

Gabriel looked back once. The city had gone quiet again, though a few distant lights were still burning. She turned toward the others. "Stay close."

Together, they began to descend, and the entrance slowly disappeared above them.