When the last golem fell, it struck the floor with a thunderous crash, and silence returned.
Akari exhaled sharply, stepping forward from behind Yan.
"Where did you two learn to fight like that?" Akari asked, still breathless, her eyes wide. "That was... that was unreal."
Ryu sheathed his blade, shaking the dust from his cloak with casual indifference. "We've been through worse," he said. "A few ruined sects. Twisted beasts. One spirit-tier void creature that nearly tore a city apart…"
Yan chuckled softly. "Don't forget that sect master who tried to merge with a cursed relic. That was a mess."
"Oh, right," Ryu added. "Hard to forget the guy who bled Qi just by breathing."
Akari blinked. "You're serious."
Lira, already re-braiding a strand of her hair, murmured, "They're always serious. That's the problem."
Akari exchanged a glance with Himari, who looked equally stunned. Neither spoke, but the unspoken thought hung in the air: Just what have these people survived?
"Still," Ronan said, wiping sweat from his brow, "we wouldn't have made it this far without you." He glanced around at the shattered golems, their broken pieces scattered like discarded armour. "Not even close."
Veris nodded. "That void collapse... I've never seen anything like it. I want to understand how it's possible."
Ryu gave a small smile. "One day, maybe."
The group lingered for a breath, the weight of the battle still settling over them. Then Lira looked ahead, her expression sharpening as her Qi sense stirred faintly.
"The next trial's close," she said.
"Then let's not waste time," Yan replied, rolling her shoulder.
Their boots crunched across the fractured stone floor, the remains of the statues fading into shadow behind them. One by one, they crossed the threshold into the next chamber, smaller, narrower, but far stranger.
The hallway narrowed into a long chamber; its walls smooth as glass but humming with restrained energy. White inlays spiralled along the floor and walls in curling, circuit-like patterns, flickering faintly beneath their feet like veins pulsing with light.
Embedded within the stone, hundreds of gems, amethyst, crimson, teal, obsidian, glimmered in no clear pattern. Some were set in circular clusters like constellations, others jagged as if punched through by a fist of Qi. Their glow was soft… expectant.
"Oddly calm," Lira whispered, her voice reverberating faintly in the silence.
The group slowed. Each step was careful. Eyes scanned for traps, for pressure plates, for signs of shifting stone.
Then it happened.
A pulse of heat. A flicker of red.
And then, light.
Dozens of needle-thin beams of crimson energy erupted from the gem clusters, lancing across the chamber in jagged angles. They moved fast, too fast, zigzagging like lightning between the walls, floor, and ceiling, connecting gem to gem in a web of death.
The sound they made was quiet, just a faint hiss, like steam meeting flesh. But the effect was instant.
Yan yanked Himari back just as a beam scythed the air where her head had been. The girl stumbled into her arms; breath caught in her throat.
"Oh great," Ronan muttered, eyes wide. "A disintegration trap. That's new."
"The beams…" Akari's voice was tight, her gaze darting between the flickering paths. "There's no rhythm. They connect randomly. No consistent pattern. The intervals are tight, unpredictable."
Across the chamber, barely visible through the flickering red lattice, a stone arch glowed faintly.
"Well…" Ryu said, voice dry. "That's going to be a problem."
Veris crouched near one of the walls and reached for a blade from Ryu's void pouch. With slow precision, he tossed it into one of the intersecting beams.
The result was immediate. The blade evaporated in midair, leaving behind nothing. Not even ash.
"Right," Veris muttered. "Definitely a problem."
"Do we risk it?" Lira asked, voice soft. "Or is this a seal meant to keep everyone out?"
"We time it," Ryu said. "Group waves. No hesitation. Yan, Ronan, Akari, you're on front. Lira, fog when you can. Himari, Veris, you stay close to me."
Yan cracked her knuckles. "Let's dance."
The first wave launched into motion.
Yan went low, fire curling at her boots as she dashed beneath a beam, twisting midair to vault over another. Her phoenix Qi left trails of gold and scarlet light, momentarily drawing the eyes of the beams, forcing them to blink away.
Ronan followed, blades unsheathed, slicing thin arcs of frost ahead of him, catching small pulses of energy mid-flight and dissipating them just long enough to pass.
Akari was fluid, her Qi wrapped tight around her fists and ankles, propelling her through the gaps with the grace of a falling leaf on the wind.
Ryu hung back with the second group, eyes narrowed. The beams weren't just traps; they were part of an array. He could see the echoes in the energy flow, the way some gems dimmed and pulsed in reaction to movement.
He watched. Calculated.
Then moved.
"Now."
He guided Lira forward. She reached out with both hands, forming thin plates of frost and fog that clouded several nearby gems. The beams sputtered, flickered. Veris and Himari darted through the brief gap, sliding low across the tiles.
They were halfway through.
Then came the mistake.
A misread pulse. A delay. A breath too soon.
Himari stepped forward, just as two beams realigned, one from above, one from the side.
They converged.
And she couldn't dodge.
"HIMARI!" Ronan's voice cracked as he lunged, but he was too far.
She'd darted forward, just as two beams realigned, one from above, another from the side, converging.
The beam was unavoidable.
Ryu turned, eyes flashing.
He stepped back.
Everything slowed.
Sound dimmed.
The beam closed in.
And then, reality split.
A ripple of black and white void tore open midair, a slit of space carved by instinct. The beam passed through it, vanishing into the pocket of distortion. A heartbeat later, it emerged behind her, fizzled against the far wall.
Himari collapsed forward, landing on her hands. Gasping. Untouched.
Ryu stood behind her, one hand still raised, space warping faintly around his fingers.
He blinked.
He hadn't planned it.
He had just… done it.
A new feeling surged through him. Space no longer resisted him, it responded.
The beam trap continued to pulse, but no more mistakes followed.
One by one, the rest of the team crossed the room. They timed their steps, counted the pulses, and used every technique at their disposal, flame, frost, footwork, and force.
Finally they reached the far doorway.
The rune at the top of the stone arch glowed faintly.
Then dimmed.
The beams flickered once more and died.
The silence that followed was oppressive.
Veris turned first. "What the hell was that?"
Ryu stepped forward, steady now, though his breath still came in slow draws.
"I made a tear in space, letting the beam pass through reality, I moved it."
Lira's eyes lit with understanding. "You… created a wormhole, a void pocket mid-cast. You allowed something to pass through space without collapsing the energy."
"That wasn't Ascension Stage Two," Ronan said flatly. "You moved faster than I could track. And you altered a fixed energy pattern mid-flight. I've never seen that before."
Ryu scratched the back of his head, slightly sheepish.
"Well… I never said I was only Ascension Stage Two," he muttered. "You just assumed."
A beat of silence passed.
Then Veris let out a breath and nodded. "It Doesn't matter, you saved her. You didn't have to, and that means more than the rank of power behind your name."
Himari stood now, brushing dust from her knees. She looked at Ryu with a strange expression, half awe, half uncertainty, but said nothing.
The tension in the air finally loosened.
Yan smirked, clapping a hand against Ryu's shoulder. "Could've told them earlier, you know."
Ryu grinned. "Where's the fun in that?"
They moved on, stepping through the archway where next chamber waited.