The group came to a halt at the base of the palace steps.
The air felt denser here.
Before them stood the gate.
Twin doors of stone and metal rose nearly ten meters high, each surface engraved with intricate curling script, runes so old they no longer belonged to any known tongue. The patterns danced across the panels like coiled serpents frozen in time. Moss had crept into the lower edges, green threads clinging to grooves worn by wind and time.
Despite their faded glory, the doors thrummed faintly, a heartbeat pulsing through the threshold.
Ryu stepped forward, cloak brushing his heels as he approached.
"Let's see if it opens," he murmured.
He placed his hands against the cold surface and pushed, first with caution, then with rising force, channelling Qi through his arms.
The doors didn't budge.
He frowned and pushed harder, star-flame flickering along his palms.
Still nothing.
Yan stepped beside him, already warming her hands with a glow of phoenix fire.
"Here," she said. "Let me add a little encouragement."
Together, they pressed against the gate. Qi surged outward. The ground trembled lightly beneath their feet.
And still… silence.
"Should I just blow the doors up?" Yan asked, cracking her knuckles, her tone too casual for Lira's comfort.
"No!" Lira said sharply, eyes wide. "That's not a good idea! This entire structure is older than anything we've seen. We could destroy everything!"
Ronan walked slowly toward them, gaze steady on the runes.
"Everything else in this ruin has been locked behind formations," he said. "Why would this be different?"
He knelt briefly at the base of the left panel, running a hand just above the stone's surface, sensing the subtle flickers of residual energy. "There's an array here. Possibly more than one."
Ryu narrowed his eyes. That would explain the resistance.
He reached inward, into the flame.
Into the star-marked void.
But this time… nothing answered. No vision. No guidance. Just a quiet hum and a flicker of heat. He exhaled slowly, frustration creeping in.
"I'm not getting anything," he said.
Then Lira stepped forward, her silver-tinted green eyes scanning the swirling script. Her gaze followed the flow of each line, watching the way it curled, doubled back, and spiralled inward toward a single shared origin point.
"These symbols…" she said. "They aren't just decorative."
Everyone turned to her.
"They start at the edges and wind inward. All of them. Like they're channels. Energy conduits." She raised her hand and gently pressed it to the beginning of one arc. "What if we don't force it open?"
Veris tilted his head. "You mean… feed it?"
Lira nodded. "But not randomly. Only certain paths."
She took a slow breath, channelled her Qi into her palm, and let it seep into the groove that curled toward the centre of the door like a vine.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then, click.
A small, almost inaudible sound came from deep within the gate. Stone shifted. Metal scraped softly beneath their feet.
"Is it working?" Himari whispered.
Ryu stepped beside Lira, placing his hand on a nearby inscription that mirrored the shape of hers, another channel curving toward the centre.
He pushed his Qi forward.
Another click.
Then, a deep grinding shudder echoed through the walls.
Rrrrrrrrrkkk…
The sound rolled across the stairway, vibrating through the soles of their boots. The doors began to tremble, dust sifting from the seams, old moss shaking free. Internal locks rotated, gears catching on long-sleeping mechanisms.
And then,
Boom.
The twin doors cracked open, parting slowly.
A gust of cool air rushed out from within, carrying the scent of ancient incense, stone dust, and dormant Qi. A dim, golden light flickered from beyond, the first glimpse of the palace's interior laid bare.
No one moved at first.
Ryu let his hand fall.
"Looks like we were expected," he said quietly.
Lira nodded. "It responded to harmony, not force."
Ronan stepped forward, his boots ringing against the ancient stone floor.
"Well," he said, casting a half-smile over his shoulder, "after you."
And together, the seven stepped through the gate of the forgotten palace, their shadows stretching long and thin beneath the dying sunlight. As the last foot crossed the threshold, the doors behind them rumbled, sealing shut with a final, echoing boom.
They were inside.
The interior opened into a massive entrance chamber, larger than any of them expected. The hall was long, nearly a hundred meters from one end to the other, wide enough to fit a small fortress within its span. Smooth stone tiles, worn but unmarred by time, spread beneath their feet in concentric circles that pulsed faintly with residual Qi.
At the far end, a narrow archway marked the exit. Straight ahead. But the path wasn't empty.
The walls were lined with statues, twenty on each side, spaced evenly and looming at three meters tall. They stood like sentinels, unmoving, yet unnervingly lifelike.
Each one was unique.
Some held long spears with blade-ends curved like crescent moons. Others bore massive scimitars, held in a cross-armed grip over their chests, blades meeting at the hilt. A few wielded staffs topped with iron ringlets, reminiscent of ritual shamans or ancient monks. Their expressions were neutral, but somehow... watching.
Their surfaces were smooth and dull, somewhere between aged bronze and terracotta, with subtle etchings on their armour that flickered under the low light. Dust clung to their shoulders, but their stance suggested alertness, not decay.
"Damn… these look creepy," Veris muttered, eyes wide as he drifted closer to one.
Akari and Himari instinctively stepped behind Ryu and Yan, drawn to the comfort of greater strength.
"I don't like this," Himari whispered.
"They feel wrong," Akari added, scanning the rows of unmoving guardians.
Ryu slowed his steps, narrowing his eyes. A slow pulse brushed against his senses, faint but familiar. Not hostile. Not yet.
Yan glanced his way. "You feel that?"
Ryu gave a single nod. "They're not just decorations."
The others didn't feel it, not clearly, not at their stage. But Yan and Ryu, their Qi perception long surpassed that of most Ascension stage, could sense the undercurrent.
Static before the storm.
Then Yan inhaled, tightened her grip on her blade, and gave him the signal.
Ryu pushed Lira gently between them. "Stay here. Shield them if needed."
He turned back to the others. "There's forty of them. We're not taking them all at once."
Akari stared, unsettled. "They're… waking up."
Hairline cracks began to form along the joints of the nearest statues. Tiny fractures spread down their arms, along their legs, glowing faintly with pale Qi.
The sound came next.
Stone scraping against stone.
Like dozens of coffins opening all at once.
The statues stepped forward, not fast, but deliberate, descending from their podiums in unison. Their weapons didn't raise, but their presence alone sent tension slicing through the room.
Yan didn't hesitate. "What's the plan?"
Ryu's voice was steady. "Draw them in. Cluster as many as you can, use bait, movement, anything. I'll create a void collapse between them. If it doesn't destroy them outright, it'll destabilize their forms. Once they're grouped or weakened, the rest of you finish them."
"You're going to collapse the centre of the room?" Ronan asked, blinking. "That's insane."
"Only a little," Ryu said, smirking. "Let's go."
The battle began.
Yan erupted into motion, fire roaring beneath her feet as she zigzagged through the nearest column of statues. Phoenix fire lit up the chamber in streaks of crimson and gold, drawing the statues' attention like moths to a blaze. She weaved between their strikes, luring a dozen into formation.
Ronan and Akari flanked from either side, striking with precision and retreating before the statues could counter. Veris and Himari stayed near Lira, defending the rear, casting minor techniques and shielding barriers to buy time.
The golems moved with grinding weight but uncanny coordination, blades swung in arcs, spears jabbed with inhuman timing. One statue crashed into another as Yan twisted through them, laughing as she narrowly dodged a wide cleave.
"Now!" she shouted.
Ryu's eyes narrowed. He raised one hand.
The air folded.
A ripple of spatial distortion tore through the centre of the chamber, then snapped inward.
A pulse of black light and silvery flame erupted at the core of the gathered golems. Space bent in on itself. The vacuum howled like wind through a broken window.
The statues closest to the centre shattered instantly, terracotta bodies imploding as the collapse tore their joints apart. Others were flung into nearby walls, breaking into halves or crumbling at the knees.
Dust and debris rained down. Silence followed.
Yan landed beside Ryu, blade humming with heat. "That worked."
"Still more to go," he muttered.
The second wave advanced, slower, more cautious. Ronan lunged with twin frost blades, ice trailing behind him as he cut through two damaged golems. Akari reinforced her fists with burning Qi and delivered a crushing punch that cracked a statue's helmet in half.
Lira raised her hands, the brooch on her chest glowing bright. Ice shot from her fingers, freezing the legs of a charging statue mid-stride. Himari followed with a spear thrust that pierced the crack, splitting it apart.
They fought as a unit.
As a team.
Though Ryu and Yan had clearly carried the battle, the rest had held their own, and that mattered. Ronan and Veris had landed decisive strikes, each felling a golem or two through focused coordination. Their elemental techniques, icy bursts from Ronan and water-edged stabs from Veris, had proven useful, if still lacking in raw power.
At the far end of the room, two statues had been different, larger, more intricate, their movements more fluid. Rank Seven Elemental, Ryu estimated. Ronan had struggled to hold one at bay until Lira froze its leg, giving him the opening to shatter it.
But through it all, Ryu and Yan were never in danger.
Yan darted through the battlefield like living flame, her phoenix Qi burning away joints and cores with every precise slash. Ryu's space folding was surgical, one moment he was beside Lira, the next behind a statue, blade carving through weak points revealed by insight alone.
When the last golem fell, it struck the floor with a thunderous crash, and silence returned.