The three Sentinel Automata descended the spiraling staircase with silent, clockwork precision, their internal runes glowing with a powerful, stable Knight-rank Aura. They were designed to withstand explosions and shrug off direct Flame-Aura strikes—the perfect defense against a standard Guild intruder. But Kaela was not standard. She was the Void.
She didn't wait for them to reach her. She needed to end the fight instantly, silently, and without expending any energy that would alert the Shadow Hand above.
Kaela exploded into motion. She wasn't fighting three machines; she was solving a single, complex geometric problem. She darted up the stairs, forcing the Automata to commit to a downward defensive posture. The first Automaton, sensing the minimal spiritual presence, fired a high-velocity, stunning bolt. Kaela executed a razor-thin pivot, letting the bolt whistle past as she vaulted onto the stone banister.
She channeled the absolute zero of her Black Core into her legs for a split second of explosive force. She launched herself across the void of the stairwell, aiming directly for the central column around which the Automata were orbiting. The maneuver placed her exactly in the blind spot of the three machines.
As she landed on the column, the three Automata paused, their internal sensors struggling to process a target with a null Aura signature. This was the window.
Kaela drew Rust-Eater. The Void-Iron slipped out in absolute silence. She crushed the temptation to push any Aura into the blade; the Sin-Eater was already hungry, and its consumption of the surrounding air was enough to sharpen the edge to spiritual perfection.
She struck the first Automaton at the Achilles tendon—the thin, flexible metal plating at the base of its heel joint. It was the only part of the Sentinel's armor not reinforced with a thick defensive rune. Rust-Eater didn't meet resistance. It cut cleanly through the vulnerable joint, slicing the connecting wires and severing the machine's forward motion. The Automaton seized, its balance ruined.
Before it could fall, Kaela used its shoulder as a springboard, launching herself toward the second machine. This time, she didn't aim for a physical joint. She aimed for the Aura intake—the glowing crystal in the center of its chest that fueled its movements.
She tapped the crystal with the flat of the Sin-Eater's blade. The moment the Void-Iron made contact, the Black Core within her pulled. The Sin-Eater acted as a siphon's nightmare, instantly drinking the stabilized energy right out of the Automaton's core. The machine didn't break; it simply died. Its internal gears ground to a halt as its fuel source was annihilated in a microsecond.
The third Automaton managed to calculate her trajectory, swinging a heavy, enchanted mace. Kaela didn't dodge. She remembered Elara's lessons on structure. She caught the mace on the blade's hilt, locking her joints and pivoting the force into the floor. The stone beneath her cracked, but the Sin-Eater devoured the spiritual weight of the blow, making the impact feel like a feather's touch.
With the mace pinned, Kaela slid the edge of Rust-Eater up the weapon's shaft and severed the Automaton's wrist. She finished the machine with a precise thrust into its sensory array.
Three elite guardians had been dismantled in under fifteen seconds. No alarms rang. No fire had been thrown. The stairwell remained dark and silent, save for the faint, cooling clicks of metal parts.
Kaela sheathed the sword, her breath coming in shallow, controlled bursts. She looked up. The Grand Reservoir was just two levels away. The air was growing colder. The Shadow Hand was close.