Chapter 91: Realization, Main Generator Went Down
He set the gold bars in their designated spots along the array, making sure each one aligned with the specific node it was meant to feed.
Once everything was in place, he stepped into the center and lowered himself to a seated position.
He exhaled slowly, letting the familiar rhythm take over.
His voice began the chant, each word vibrating through the air with subtle resonance.
Almost immediately, the gold began to shine.
The runes responded in kind.
Their glow deepened until light filled the circle.
He felt the mana flowing towards him.
It was a powerful tide of energy leaving the gold and entering his body.
His brow furrowed.
The mana was heavy, and hard to direct.
It was a normal occurrence.
Mana absorption always carried the risk of backlash, and controlling it required constant focus.
Most mages spread the process out over months, sometimes years, precisely to avoid this.
Asterios also absorbed only a small amount of mana every day to do this.
He was used to this phenomenon where mana didn’t listen to him.
He tightened his control, carefully guiding the mana through the channels of his body toward his core.
The process demanded precision. A single slip could mean a shattered core, paralysis, or worse, death.
Minutes passed.
The weight of the mana didn’t ease.
Instead, it began to push against his control, resisting him.
His eyes narrowed.
The resistance wasn’t normal.
A faint alarm prickled in the back of his mind.
He tried to slow the absorption, but the flow didn’t respond.
The mana kept pushing, harder now, as if it had taken on a life of its own.
His pulse quickened.
’What is happening? This is like.....’
In that instant, a thought struck him like a hammer.
The body double’s death.
The realization dawned upon him.
The assassin did exist.
He had killed the body double, and tampered with his runes.
Fear and anger surged in Asterios’ heart.
’I’ll kill whoever did this!’
But for now, survival came first.
He forced every scrap of willpower into regaining control.
His veins burned, swelling under the strain, and sharp bursts of pain spread through his limbs due to mana backlash.
His skin prickled as if it were sizzling from the inside.
The pain only made him angrier.
’How dare they?’ The thought burned hotter than the mana. ’How dare they try to take me out like this?’
Even angry, he did not stop chanting.
He knew the consequences if he stopped.
The flow inside him still bucked and twisted, but it wasn’t accelerating as fast as before. That gave him a sliver of relief.
Then he noticed something else.
The mana in the room was flowing in a weird way.
Asterios flicked his gaze to the floor.
Some of the runes were pulling in mana instead of releasing it towards him.
That wasn’t part of the design.
He didn’t understand the alteration, but he couldn’t move without risking complete loss of control.
Before he could think further, the first explosion hit.
The overloaded runes burst in a shockwave of raw mana, shattering the lights above.
Sparks danced in the air, followed by arcs of electricity that snapped and hissed like angry serpents.
The remaining runes churned in disarray.
The arcs of electricity shot down.
It happened again, this time with more power.
His face was drained of color as he realized the danger.
The gold he had brought and the runes on.the floor were acting as conductors, and amplifiers.
They were drawing the electricity from the broken fixtures above and channeling it straight into the array.
Since he was in the middle, the lightning was using him as a path to reach the floor.
Another arc of electricity — no, a lightning bolt struck.
It slammed into him with a crack.
The heat and force tore through his body.
His skin blistered.
The smell of burnt flesh rose in the air.
More runes lit up again, stronger than before.
The mana and electricity were feeding into each other, building toward something far worse.
He threw up a magic shield on instinct.
The barrier flared bright as another lightning strike slammed down, but maintaining it meant taking his focus off his own unstable mana.
That was the breaking point.
He had stopped chanting.
The mana flow inside him reversed violently, surging back toward his mana core.
The cracks began instantly, jagged pain slicing through him.
"Ahhh!!!"
His scream echoed off the walls, half rage, half agony.
He tried to force the mana back under control, but the mana ignored him.
It was like trying to hold back a flood with bare hands.
A fourth lightning bolt tore through the ceiling, stronger than the last.
The shield held for a fraction of a second before collapsing without his support.
The impact seared his scalp.
His hair and skin melted.
He staggered.
Every nerve in his body was aflame.
He thought about escaping the room, but his limbs refused to obey.
Every muscle of his was locked under the strain, spasming from both mana backlash and electrical burns.
Another lightning bolt.
Then another.
The cycle repeated.
Lightning fell from above, and mana tore him apart from within.
The two forces attacked him from inside out.
Each strike was more devastating than the last.
Asterios continued his attempt to chant.
The words broke apart in his throat, replaced by hoarse screams.
His body began to fail.
Flesh melted, skin charred. The heat warped the air around him.
His vision blurred, and the edges darkened.
The world around him collapsed into pain and white-hot light.
There was no last-minute reprieve.
The mana consumed what it could.
The lightning finished the rest.
When it was over, there was nothing left of Asterios Dukas but a blackened, twisted shape in the center of a shattered rune array.
Asterios had no idea who attacked him until the end.
...
The first surge of electricity tore through the underground complex like a live wire snapping free.
It started from Asterios’ training room, jumped through the conduits, and slammed into the main generator.
The hum that normally filled the base cut off in an instant.
Darkness swallowed the corridors.
For several seconds, there was nothing but the echo of startled voices in the dark.
Then the backup generator kicked in.
Lights flickered back to life with a stutter.
The head of security stopped mid-sentence and looked up at the ceiling.
The combat specialist sitting across from him had already set down his drink.
"What was that?" the combat specialist asked, his brows creasing.
"Sounds like the main generator went down," the head of security said, pushing himself up from the couch. "When was the last time we had it serviced?"
"I don’t know. You want me to pull the maintenance records?" The combat specialist stood as well.
"Later. First, get someone down there to check it in person."
A guard standing near the lounge entrance received a quick nod from the combat specialist and left at a jog.
Before they could say more, the head of security’s communicator buzzed. He answered it.
"S-sir!" The voice on the other end was urgent.
"What is it?"
"The vital signals of the House Head just stopped!"
The head of security’s face hardened.
"Check the surveillance feeds. Is there an intruder?"