Chapter 70: The Eye of the Dragon Vein
"That's…!"
Following Minato's instructions, Liumu let Sarah lead the way. The two climbed through the intricate piping system, eventually arriving at what appeared to be a massive puppet manufacturing facility.
Watching the assembly-line machinery methodically construct puppet after puppet was a chilling sight. A central pillar of emerald energy ran through the factory's heart, delivering power that brought the lifeless constructs to animation.
"He actually built a puppet factory right at the Eye of the Dragon Vein!"
Sarah's voice trembled with shock and hatred. She glanced at the puppet patrols below, then turned to Liumu. "Can you get me down there?"
Following her pointed finger, Liumu saw it. Beneath the central energy pillar was a complex, purple-red sealing array. At its center was a spherical object resembling an eye, pulsing with an eerie, bloody light.
"That energy pillar is the nexus where the Dragon Vein supplies power to all of Loulan," Sarah explained hurriedly. "And that 'eye'… it's the key to opening the Dragon Vein's seal."
Long ago, to harness the Dragon Vein's energy for Loulan, the city's founders had erected the central pillar. After Anrokuzan arrived, he helped Sarah's mother redesign the energy distribution system using these pipes, transforming Loulan from a barren desert outpost into the glorious city it was today.
The Dragon Vein's power was near-limitless. Now, most of it was being funneled into this endless puppet production.
Anrokuzan's ambition wasn't to be second-in-command. He aimed to shatter the authority above him and become the sole master of this power.
"Wait… I hear voices." Liumu focused, listening through the hum of machinery and pipes. Peering through a gap in the ductwork, he finally saw them—the people of Loulan, dozens of them, formed in a circle around the base of the energy pillar. Their faces were gaunt, their eyes hollow, as they were forced to channel the Dragon Vein's energy, their own vitality being siphoned away.
"No wonder the square was full of puppets," Liumu muttered. "All the able-bodied men of Loulan… they've been captured and turned into slave labor here."
Following his gaze, Sarah's eyes widened in horror. The sight of her people, reduced to pale, skeletal figures, chained and exploited, ignited a fire in her chest.
Puppet overseers patrolled the perimeter. As ordinary civilians, the people had no means to resist.
"Send me down there! Now!" Sarah's voice was steel. "I need to seal the Dragon Vein!"
Without waiting for a reply, she leapt from the pipe. Liumu shook his head but followed instantly, a streak of light beside her.
The factory's automated defenses activated immediately. Puppet guards whirred to life, blades extended, and charged the intruders.
Liumu moved like lightning. A punch shattered one puppet into scrap. He wove around Sarah, creating a protective perimeter, smashing any construct that dared get close.
Finally, Sarah reached the sealing array. She knelt before the Dragon Vein's key, her fingers trembling as she traced the intricate patterns. This was her mother's greatest legacy. And now, to stop Anrokuzan's madness, she would have to seal it away with her own hands.
"Hurry!" Liumu urged, smashing another puppet that reformed almost instantly thanks to the green energy flowing from the pillar. The assembly lines were still running, churning out more combatants by the second. "These things don't stay down!"
Sarah nodded, biting her thumb. She pressed her bleeding finger against the central, eye-like sphere.
The "eye" blinked. A strange, red light pulsed from it. The mechanical arms flanking the sphere began to grind, slowly moving to close over the key.
"Success…" she began, a hopeful smile forming.
Then it froze.
The mechanism shuddered and stopped. The sealing process halted abruptly.
"What…? Why? Why won't my blood activate the seal?!" Panic edged her voice.
"Hahaha! My foolish Queen Sarah!" A booming, mocking laugh echoed through the factory. The iron wall beside them exploded inward. Anrokuzan, now fused with a massive, centipede-like puppet construct, emerged from the hole. Minato and the others materialized beside Liumu in defensive stances a moment later.
Chōza Akimichi was panting heavily, supporting himself on Minato's shoulder. "This thing… it just won't stay broken!"
"And it can absorb the chakra from my insect jade," Aburame Shibi added, his voice flat but tense. "My ninjutsu is useless against it."
Minato's eyes were locked on the centipede-puppet abomination. His expression was grim. "Buy me some time," he said, his hands already flying into a rapid, complex series of seals.
Seeing the familiar pattern, Liumu recognized the jutsu immediately. "We'll do it together!" he declared.
His own hands blurred into seals. In moments, two Rasengan hummed to life—one in Minato's palm, one in Liumu's. And they didn't stop growing. Within seconds, both spheres had swelled to the size of small boulders, their rotational energy whipping up a fierce wind.
"Sarah!" Liumu shouted over the growing roar. "Get those people out of here! Now! Don't let them get caught in this!"
"Ah? Right!" Sarah snapped back to reality. She scrambled to her feet and sprinted toward the huddled group of Loulan citizens by the energy pillar. Under covering fire from Chōza, she reached them.
"Quickly! Come with me! Hurry!" she urged, her voice desperate.
But the people of Loulan were in a daze, their spirits broken by long captivity. They stared at their young queen as if she were a ghost.
Seeing their blank faces, Sarah's heart ached. She glanced back at the titanic clash brewing between her protectors and the monstrous Anrokuzan. Time was running out.
She dropped to her knees, frantically working on the heavy manacles binding the people's feet. "Please! You have to move!" She pushed and pulled, trying to herd them toward a large, hidden door set into the factory wall.
The door was massive, operated by three consecutive locking mechanisms. But Sarah, weakened and small, couldn't budge the first one.
The twin Rasengans howled, their wind tearing at everyone's clothes and hair.
Sarah gritted her teeth until her jaw ached. She planted her hands on the cold stone mechanism and pushed with all her might. Sharp stone ridges bit into her palms, drawing blood that slicked the surface.
She didn't stop. She couldn't.
Anrokuzan would kill her to secure his rule. And these people… he would never let them live as witnesses.
As queen, raised on her mother's teachings of the royal path, she understood: Without subjects, there is no king. Without the people, there is no Loulan.
She was weak. She was young. But as queen, how could she stand by and watch her people be slaughtered?
No.
Absolutely not!
Veins stood out on her neck. Her face flushed crimson. Bloodshot eyes focused solely on the stubborn mechanism. Her feet scrabbled for purchase on the smooth stone floor, leaving white scratches.
Then, a hand appeared beside hers on the mechanism. Then another, overlapping her bloodied fingers.
Soon, palms were pressing from all sides. A wave of warmth surged from behind her—not just warmth, but strength, flowing into her, multiplying, endless and unyielding.
She looked back.
The people of Loulan—her people—smiled at her, their eyes no longer hollow but filled with a resolute light.
"Your Majesty," one said, his voice raspy but firm. "Don't give up."
"Don't give up!" another echoed.
"Let us help you!"
"Together!"
"Everyone…" Tears of overwhelmed emotion sprang to Sarah's eyes. She had no time for sentiment. She turned her head back, fresh determination blazing in her gaze, and pushed again.
CLUNK.
With a heavy, satisfying sound, the first locking mechanism slid fully into the wall.
A spark of pure hope ignited in Sarah's heart.
(End of Chapter)
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