CHAPTER 28: THE RECLAMATION AGENT

  [LOCATION: EMERALD TEMPLE - INNER SANCTUM]

  [COMBAT STATUS: ACTIVE]

  [THREAT: GUARDIAN (RANK 7)]

  The Obsidian Guardian didn't move like a living thing. He moved like a calculation—perfect, efficient, and devoid of wasted energy. He took one step, and the distance between him and Lilo vanished. The mana-spear whistled through the air, a line of pure force that would have decapitated a normal man.

  Lilo didn't jump back. He didn't have the knees for it anymore. He parried.

  The sound of the collision was a thunderclap that cracked the basalt floor. Lilo was thrown back twenty feet, his boots leaving deep furrows in the stone. He didn't fall. He stayed on one knee, his white hair plastered to his forehead with sweat.

  "He’s fast, Gray," Lilo rasped. "Faster than the void-walkers."

  "I didn't send you in there to be faster," I said. I was analyzing the Guardian’s movements. He was tethered to the pillars. Every move he made drew mana from the temple’s archive. "He’s a 'Security Program' given physical form. You can't kill him with a sword. You have to bankrupt him."

  "How?" Ami shouted. She was raining daggers down on the Guardian, but the obsidian skin didn't even scratch. The blades just bounced off and shattered.

  "I didn't tell you to use physical attacks, Ami! He’s made of data and mana. Every time he strikes, he consumes a portion of the temple’s reserves. Sammy, I need you to draw his fire. Use your shield. I’ve boosted its mana-reflection properties by 400%."

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  "I'm on it!" Sammy stepped forward.

  The Guardian turned. He didn't see a boy with a shield; he saw a target. He lunged, the spear striking Sammy’s shield with the force of a falling star. Sammy groaned, the light of the shield flaring a brilliant white as it absorbed the impact and channeled it back into the temple's floor.

  "I didn't authorize a recharge!" I shouted at the screen. "Sammy, hold the line! I’m diverting the reflected energy into the Core-Siphons!"

  I wasn't just watching a fight; I was managing a power-grid. I was taking the energy the Guardian spent and stealing it before it could return to his source. It was a closed-loop theft.

  The Guardian struck again. And again. Each blow was a masterpiece of violence, but each blow made him slightly more translucent. He was running out of capital.

  "He's slowing down," Lilo said. He stood up, his sword glowing with a desperate, golden light. "Gray, I can take him now."

  "I didn't say 'take him,' Lilo. I said 'bankrupt him.' If you kill him, the temple will just respawn a new one. I need you to shatter his spear. The spear is his primary 'Asset.' Without it, he has no way to execute his function."

  "I didn't ask for a lecture on economics!" Lilo roared.

  He didn't wait for my permission. Lilo charged. It was the first time I’d seen him use his full power since he’d aged. He didn't look like an old man; he looked like a dying sun. He ignored the Guardian’s first three strikes, letting the obsidian spear graze his armor, just to get inside the Guardian’s reach.

  "I didn't authorize a suicidal charge, Lilo!" I yelled.

  Lilo didn't listen. He grabbed the shaft of the mana-spear with his bare hand. I saw his skin smoke as the raw mana burned into his palm. He didn't let go nor flinch. He swung his golden sword in a massive, overhead arc.

  *CRACK.*

  The spear shattered into a thousand shards of green glass.

  The Guardian froze. He looked at his empty hands, then at Lilo. For the first time, the obsidian face showed an expression: confusion. He didn't have a protocol for losing his weapon.

  "I didn't give you permission to exist without a purpose," I said into the intercom.

  I triggered the final siphon. The Guardian dissolved. His obsidian body turned into a fine, black vapor that was sucked into the Oasis-linked pillars.

  [THREAT NEUTRALIZED]

  [MANA GAIN: 25% (GUARDIAN LIQUIDATION)]

  Lilo fell to his knees, his right hand a charred, ruined mess. He looked at the white hair falling over his eyes and laughed, a dry, bitter sound.

  "I got... your keys, Gray," he wheezed.

  I didn't tell him he did a good job. I didn't tell him I was proud. I looked at the 'Repair' column for Lilo’s armor and hand.

  "I didn't say the keys were cheap," I said. "Ami, secure the Emerald Core. We’re going home."

  I sat back in my chair. The black box on my desk had turned a deep, satisfied green.

  I didn't feel like a victor. I felt like a man who had just successfully foreclosed on a very dangerous property.