The silver dust from the explosion still hung in the air like a ghostly fog as Harold lowered Rainnes into the medical ward. Fortress Isfellan felt different now—silent, yet it was not a calming silence. There was a constant vibration that no longer came from the machines, but from the stone foundations themselves.
Anne stood by the large window, her back to the room. Her usually steady hands were gripping the edge of the map table tightly. Caine entered with a sour expression, carrying a damage report printed on thermal paper.
"The subterranean structure is a total loss, Anne. We've lost the prison, the emergency labs, and direct access to Mine Nine," Caine tossed the report onto the table. "But that isn't the biggest problem. The problem is my resonance sensors... they aren't picking up a single entity, but rather a million signal points throughout the walls of Isfellan."
Harold entered the room, his face cleaned but the wound on his temple still covered by a rough bandage. "Rainnes says William isn't dead. He merged with the earth."
"Biologically, that's impossible," Caine interrupted. "But occultly... he may have distributed his consciousness into the iron particles of Isfellan."
"That means he's everywhere," Anne turned, her sharp amber eyes locking onto Harold. "He's in your sword, in the armor of the soldiers, and in every machine I built here. William no longer needs a body if he can control the primary material of our industry."
Harold fell silent. He looked toward his sword leaning against the wall. For the first time, he felt like a stranger to the weapon that had accompanied him for ten years.
Meanwhile, in the medical ward, Rainnes sat upright in her bed. Her ears were ringing. She could hear small voices—thousands of whispers traveling through the steam pipes.
"...thank you for the silver light, Anne..." "...the iron feels so warm..."
Rainnes covered her ears with a pillow, but the voice didn't come from the air. It came from the vibrations of her iron bedframe. She jumped down to the stone floor, but the vibrations only grew stronger.
"He's building something," Rainnes whispered into the darkness.
Suddenly, in the corner of the room, an iron nail embedded in the wall began to rotate on its own. The nail slowly unscrewed itself from the wood, levitated in the air, and began to vibrate until it emitted a piercing shriek. Soon after, the metal spoons on the medical table and the scalpels on the tray followed, all hovering to form a circle around Rainnes.
"Anne! Caine! In here!" Harold shouted from the corridor.
When Anne and Caine reached the ward, they saw an impossible sight. The metals in the room weren't just floating; they were beginning to melt and form intricate strands of black thread in the air, like a mechanical spiderweb.
Caine immediately raised his stabilizer device, but the tool exploded in his hand. "Damn it! He's using my device's frequency to accelerate the process!"
From the metal web, William's voice sounded clearly, echoing from every corner of the room.
"The Vaine family always wanted to rule the world with machines," the voice said calmly, almost affectionately. "So, I am giving you what you want. Isfellan is no longer a fortress. Isfellan is my new body."
The floor beneath their feet began to shift. The entirety of Fortress Isfellan—thousands of tons of stone and iron—began to resonate with the same heartbeat.
"We have to go," Harold grabbed Anne's hand. "Now!"
"No," Anne pulled her hand away, her eyes fixed on the metal web forming William's face. "If this fortress is his body, then we only need one thing to kill him."
Anne turned to Caine. "Caine, remember the 'Zero-Point' prototype you hid on the ship? The one that can create a total sound vacuum?"
Caine's eyes widened. "It's still unstable, Anne! It could erase our entire existence!"
"Better to be erased than to become part of William's collection," Anne replied without hesitation. "Harold, take Rainnes to Caine's ship. My brother and I will handle the heart of this fortress."