Chapter 83: The Pursuit Begins

The tunnel trembled as the Academy breached the ruins, the distant thunder of explosions shaking loose dust from the ceiling. The ground vibrated beneath their feet, a low rumble of war machines and combat spells tearing through stone and metal alike.

Elias wiped sweat from his brow, adjusting his gauntlet as it recalibrated after the last fight. His energy reserves were low, but not empty. They had no time to rest.

Marco's console flashed red, his expression darkening. "We've got at least two full Academy assault teams moving in fast. Heavily armed. Battle constructs. And—uh—something really, really big."

Lira groaned, flipping her dagger. "Define big."

Marco zoomed in on the incoming forces. The image flickered, revealing a massive, armored war machine, roughly twenty feet tall, its core glowing with unstable arcane energy.

Reinhardt whistled. "That's a Titan-class Siege Walker. Haven't seen one of those in years."

Ivy exhaled, adjusting her bow. "Fantastic. Because today wasn't already a nightmare."

Cecilia muttered, "Why do they even need that thing? We're just a handful of people."

Varian, watching silently, finally spoke. "They do not know what we have uncovered. They assume we are still searching. This is a preemptive strike."

Elias exhaled sharply. "Then we have one advantage. They don't know we're already leaving."

Lira raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, but they're blocking the only exit."

Marco pulled up a schematic. "Not the only exit." He pointed at a secondary access route, marked in yellow. "This leads to an old Vanguard outpost, a supply route that hasn't been used in centuries. If we take it, we can bypass the main battlefield and escape unnoticed."

Elias nodded. "Then we move. Fast."

Reinhardt cracked his knuckles. "And if they find us?"

Cecilia smirked. "We make them regret it."

They moved quickly, navigating the narrow tunnels leading toward the abandoned outpost. The deeper they went, the more the walls changed, shifting from ancient stone to metal-lined corridors, signs of long-lost Vanguard engineering.

Elias's visor scanned ahead, mapping the terrain, detecting no immediate hostiles—

And then the ground shook violently.

Marco cursed. "Oh, come on! What now?!"

Ivy grabbed the wall for support. "That wasn't from the surface."

Cecilia narrowed her eyes. "Then what caused it?"

Elias's HUD flashed with warnings.

Subterranean anomaly detected. Unknown energy source. Approaching fast.

Lira exhaled sharply. "I swear to every god out there, if we just woke up another ancient nightmare—"

The tunnel collapsed behind them.

A massive claw—jagged metal and writhing arcane tendrils—tore through the stone, slamming into the wall just inches away from Elias.

He barely dodged, thrusters firing instinctively, flipping back as the creature fully emerged.

A warbeast.

Except this wasn't a normal warbeast.

It was mechanized, parts of its body fused with Vanguard technology, its glowing core pulsing erratically, like it was barely holding itself together.

Reinhardt's grip on his hammer tightened. "What. The. Hell."

Marco's scanner flickered wildly, unable to properly identify it. "That's… not Academy tech. That's—something else."

Varian's expression darkened. "A failed experiment."

Elias's mind raced. The warbeast's body was heavily damaged, its exposed circuits sparking, its movements erratic, like it had been left down here for centuries—and forgotten.

Cecilia's blade flickered in her hands. "If it's been trapped down here this long, why is it just waking up now?"

Elias realized the answer immediately.

"We reactivated the facility."

Lira sighed. "So we basically knocked on its door and said 'Hey, wake up, we're here to ruin your day.'"

The warbeast roared, its entire body glowing red, and then it charged.

Elias barely had time to react before the massive claws came down. He twisted, thrusters firing, but the sheer force of the impact sent shockwaves down the corridor, collapsing part of the ceiling.

Reinhardt swung his hammer, connecting with the beast's side, but the impact barely phased it.

Ivy loosed a barrage of enchanted arrows, aiming for the exposed circuits—some of them hit, but instead of weakening it, the beast seemed to absorb the energy.

Marco swore. "It's adapting."

Varian's golden sword gleamed as he slashed across its armor, carving deep into its plating, but the warbeast barely slowed.

Lira leapt onto its back, daggers flashing as she went for joints in the plating. "Come on, die already!"

The warbeast twisted violently, slamming her into the wall. Lira hit the ground with a cough, rolling away just before a claw sliced into the floor where she had been seconds earlier.

Elias moved fast, his Vanguard Core pulsing.

He scanned the warbeast, looking for a weak point—

And then he saw it.

The core.

The unstable power cell in its chest, flickering wildly.

Elias's mind locked onto one plan.

"Reinhardt!" he shouted. "I need a clear shot at the core!"

Reinhardt grinned. "Oh, I can do that."

The big man charged forward, his gauntlets glowing red-hot. He grabbed the warbeast's jaw, planting his boots firmly against the ground.

Then, with a titanic effort, he wrenched the beast's head sideways, exposing the core in its chest.

Elias's gauntlet flared to life.

Cecilia, seeing the opening, phased beside him. "I'll boost your attack."

Elias nodded.

Cecilia's blade flickered as she slashed through the air, creating a compressed energy vortex. The force channeled directly into Elias's gauntlet, overcharging his next strike.

His entire suit vibrated as he prepared to fire.

"NOW!"

Elias unleashed the energy, a blinding golden blast exploding from his gauntlet.

The beam struck the warbeast's core dead center.

For a moment, it froze.

Then, with a final, ear-shattering roar, the core detonated, sending out a shockwave of unstable magic that ripped through the tunnel.

Elias was thrown back, landing hard against the stone. Dust and debris rained down.

Silence.

Then—

Lira coughed. "Did we win?"

Reinhardt groaned. "If we didn't, I quit."

Marco checked his console. "Yep. It's dead."

Ivy exhaled, slumping against the wall. "Can we leave now?"

Elias pushed himself up, his armor flickering from power drain.

"Yeah," he muttered, glancing toward the tunnel ahead. "We're not staying for round two."

They ran.

Behind them, the ruins continued to collapse, the past burying itself once more.

The Academy was coming.

And the real battle had yet to begin.