The water erupted into chaos.
The swarm of mechanical piranhas vibrated through the water like angry hornets, their metal jaws snapping.
Verdict didn't try to dodge them all. That was impossible. Instead, he pulled the trigger.
THWIP. THWIP. THWIP.
His rifle didn't roar. It coughed, a dry, tight sound that barely traveled through the dense liquid.
Blue streaks of soul power cut through the murky red darkness.
Each shot was perfect. The first seeker drone exploded into scrap metal. The second spun away with a shattered tail. The third took a slug directly through its central eye.
But there were dozens of them.
And behind them, the mountain of iron was moving.
The Leviathan opened its maw, a cavern of rotating grinders meant to crush rocks into gravel. It didn't try to bite, but it inhaled. A massive suction vortex pulled the water and Verdict straight toward the grinders.
Verdict gritted his teeth. His wind barrier groaned under the strain.
"Fifth Spirit Skill: Piercing Gale!"
He didn't fire at the beast. He fired behind him.
The spiraling wind shot drilled into the water, creating a massive tunnel of cavitation and recoil. Verdict used the force like a rocket booster, blasting himself sideways, narrowly avoiding the suction.
He slammed into a rusted walkway, the impact jarring his bones.
The Leviathan slammed its jaws shut on empty water, the sound like a thunderclap that rattled Verdict's skull.
'I can't fight it here,' Verdict thought, his lungs beginning to burn. 'I need space. I need air.'
He looked up. The shaft continued upward, past the breach, toward the central drilling chamber.
He kicked off the wall, shooting upward like a torpedo.
...
In the Heat Regulation Room, Lens was having a breakdown.
"No, no, no! Don't you lock me out, you miserable pile of bolts!"
Lens paced frantically before the massive control console. His mechanical arm was plugged into the interface, its metal fingers twitching as they manipulated the glowing runes of the station's mind.
The room was lit only by the angry orange warnings flashing on the walls.
"System Failure. Sector 4 Flooded. Life Support Critical."
"Oh, I'm aware!" he spat at the ceiling. "Thank you for the update!"
He grabbed a lever with his flesh hand and yanked it. Sparks showered down from the ceiling.
"Come on, dammit… Think, Lens. THINK!"
He tapped the side of his goggles, muttering under his breath. "This isn't a building. It's a MACHINE. A machine designed to drink fire from the planet's core. The Leviathan....it's not a guardian....."
Lens froze.He pulled up a schematic on the screen. It was a wireframe diagram of the serpentine construct.
His eyes widened behind the thick lenses.
"It's a coolant pump," he whispered.
"A mobile coolant pump. It patrols the station, absorbing excess heat to keep the pipes from melting. That's why it attacks us, our Soul Power registers as heat sources. To it, we are just... hot spots to cool down."
A manic grin slowly curled across Lens's lips.
"You're hungry, huh, big guy? You want heat?" He slammed the display to a new screen, a geothermal drill schematic glowing hellish red.
"Let's see how you like the buffet."
Lens slammed his hand onto a different section of the console.
"I'll give you heat. I'll give you the whole damn sun."
He reached for his ear-piece.
"Verdict! You still alive out there? Great! Don't die yet.....I need you."
...
Static crackled in Verdict's ear.
"...Verdict! The main chamber! You need to get to the main chamber!"
Verdict didn't answer. He was busy trying not to be sliced in half.
He had reached the upper level of the flooded shaft, a vast, open cavern where the massive drill once turned. The water here was turbulent, churned by the venting heat from below.
The Leviathan was right behind him. It moved with terrifying speed for something so large, its serpentine body winding through the wreckage of the station.
Verdict twisted in the water, firing a shot at the beast's eye.
PING.
The heavy slug bounced off the creature's armored eyelid. It didn't even scratch the paint.
"Armor is too thick," Verdict grumbled, bubbles escaping his lips. "It's star-iron."
"It's not armor, you brute! It's a heat sink!" Lens's voice screamed in his ear.
Verdict grimaced, blowing bubbles as he muttered, "No difference to me, shrimp. It still won't crack."
Lens's voice came at a higher pitch now. "Would you listen for once in your life?! Get to the central shaft! I'm overriding the safety valves!"
"'Safety valves'? What does that even...."
"Just DO IT," Lens shrieked. "Drag that brute to the middle while you still have limbs! I'm about to.....trust me....vent lava!"
Verdict didn't ask questions. He trusted the crazy little man's brain, even if he hated his personality.
Ahead, he spotted the central shaft, a massive, circular pit in the floor of the cavern, glowing with an ominous, blinding red light. The water above it was boiling violently.
Verdict grimaced. "Guessing this isn't going to be fun…"
Verdict swam toward it.
The Leviathan shrieked. Sensing its prey moving toward the heat source, it surged forward, its turbines spinning to maximum.
It was faster.
Verdict felt the displacement of water behind him. A massive shadow fell over him.
He turned.
The Leviathan was there. It didn't bite this time. It whipped its tail.
A slab of metal the size of a house slammed into Verdict.
CRACK.
His wind barrier shattered.
The impact broke ribs. Verdict was hurled through the water like a ragdoll, spinning uncontrollably. He slammed into the side of the central shaft, coughing out his last breath of air.
Blood drifted from his mouth, black in the red light.
His vision blurred. The water pressure pressed in, trying to crush him now that his barrier was down.
The Leviathan loomed over him, its mouth opening slowly, savoring the kill.
"Verdict! Now!"
Verdict didn't think. He didn't breathe.
He gathered every ounce of his remaining Soul Power into his legs.
"Shadow Step."
He vanished.
Not a teleport, but a burst of speed so fast it left a vacuum image behind.
He appeared ten meters away, hovering directly over the boiling pit of the central shaft.
The Leviathan lunged at the afterimage and found itself directly over the vent.
In the control room, Lens slammed both hands onto the red master switch.
Lens slammed his hands down, giddily hollering, "Hope you're hungry, buddy. I brought lunch!"
CLANG-HISSSSSS.
The safety valves on the geothermal drill blew.
A pillar of superheated magma and steam, suppressed for three thousand years, erupted from the shaft. It wasn't just hot water, it was the blood of the planet.
The blast hit the Leviathan point-blank.
The machine screamed.
To be continued...