The giant glass panels of the Iron Heights tower cast threatening shadows over the city, glowing with steel-blue light in the darkness of night. On the top floor, at the center of the circular laboratory, Katherina knelt on the ground, her wrists bound tightly by cuffs that stretched upward toward the ceiling.
From the metal rings clasped around her wrists, the Duke's new device pulsed with a blue light, slowly draining Katherina's magic.
Each pull forced a muffled groan from her lips.
A pain as if the dark magic within her veins was being torn out…
The Duke, wearing his usual theatrical smile, strode across the laboratory floor like an actor on a grand stage, arms spread as if rousing an audience.
Duke:
"Even the gods must envy me… To store such pure magic power…
Do you see it now, Katherina? Your outdated methods are over.
This city will enter the Age of Iron."
Katherina lifted her head, breathless.
Her hair was disheveled, her eyes trembling with rage and pain.
Katherina:
"You're… insane. If you try to inject that power into your body… it will tear you apart."
The Duke laughed.
Duke:
"I won't be torn apart. I will become king."
At that moment, the side door to the laboratory slid open.
Young assistant Sabrina entered—brilliant, trusted by the Duke, yet too inexperienced to fully grasp the danger of darkness.
Holding a tablet, she hurried over.
Sabrina:
"Sir… the production line report is in. Sixty-two percent of the active magic injection tubes are ready.
We can prepare the first soldier test units by morning."
The Duke sighed with dramatic satisfaction.
Duke:
"Excellent… When my soldiers carry Katherina's magic, I'll make the king's army kneel with a single command."
Katherina clenched her teeth.
Each pull dug deeper, more vicious.
Katherina:
"Ruling this city was never enough for you… was it?
You've always planned to overthrow the king."
The Duke approached her, leaning down to whisper.
Duke:
"You never understood, not even when you stood at my side.
I… am the rightful heir to the throne.
And I will redesign this city through the power of science, not magic."
The device began to work faster.
The air around Katherina trembled with a dark purple mist.
As her magic was ripped away, the glow on her skin faded.
Sabrina stared nervously at her screen.
Sabrina:
"Sir… power extraction is reaching the critical threshold. If we keep draining at this pace—"
Duke:
"SILENCE!"
His eyes narrowed with hunger.
"I ordered it to accelerate. Do not interfere."
Katherina's breath faltered, her head falling forward.
Under the laboratory lights—bright like stage lamps—the Duke stood alone like a king.
Duke:
"The fate of this city is being written in this laboratory.
And I… am about to forge my own empire."
Wind howled outside.
Atop Iron Heights, the incoming storm made the steel titan of a building hum.
But inside, no one cared about the storm.
The true tempest was the power being torn from Katherina's core.
As the Duke left the laboratory, Katherina's screams echoed behind him.
Sabrina followed, the corridor walls flashing threatening red and blue warnings against the steel surfaces.
The elevator ascended quietly.
When the doors opened, they faced a massive gate labeled Experimental Unit – Alpha.
Sabrina entered a code on her tablet.
The doors opened with a hiss of hydraulic steam.
Inside, twelve soldiers stood in a row along the wall.
Armorless, connected to machines by cables running across their chests and arms, they waited motionlessly for commands.
The Duke walked in like a performer stepping into the spotlight.
Duke:
"The first members of my army…
The soldiers of a new age."
Sabrina spoke with a tremor in her voice.
Sabrina:
"Sir… Katherina's magic is still unstable.
Injecting it now might cause unpredictable side effects."
The Duke turned to her with an impatient smile.
Duke:
"Every revolution has a cost, Sabrina.
We are making history."
Reluctantly, Sabrina lowered her head.
The injection capsules connected to the soldiers filled with swirling violet and black light.
The magic ripped from Katherina only moments ago now hissed like boiling liquid inside the tubes.
The Duke raised his hand.
Duke:
"Begin."
Sabrina drew a shaky breath and entered the command.
Sabrina:
"Injection… starting."
All capsules activated at once.
The room filled with a piercing whirring sound.
Purple lines crawled across the soldiers' veins like snakes.
One soldier gritted his teeth.
Another bent forward as if suffocating.
A third trembled—then snapped his eyes open, glowing with a swirling violet light.
The Duke watched with excitement.
Duke:
"Magnificent… their bodies are accepting the magic."
But suddenly, the soldier at the far left screamed.
His body convulsed, the purple lines in his veins turning pitch black.
Soldier:
"Aaah—! It's… burning me!"
Sabrina panicked.
Sabrina:
"Sir! His body is rejecting the magic! We need to stop the injection immediately!"
The Duke looked at her coldly and shook his head.
Duke:
"No. Continue."
Sabrina froze in shock.
Sabrina:
"But… he'll die!"
Duke:
"This is selection.
Anyone who can't adapt doesn't deserve to join my army."
As the soldier collapsed to the ground, the others grew stronger, dark purple auras radiating from their bodies.
Sabrina stepped back in fear.
Sabrina:
"This… this isn't science anymore… it's massacre."
The Duke smiled.
Duke:
"Science is a stage where only the strong survive.
Today… we've taken a great step."
The remaining soldiers opened their eyes in unison.
They no longer looked human.
Their pupils burned with violet flame, their very breath vibrating with magic.
The Duke stood proudly before his new army.
Duke:
"The first soldiers of my empire…
Pioneers of the new age born from Iron Heights…"
The soldiers knelt as one.
Soldiers:
"At your command, my Duke."
The Duke's eyes gleamed with dark triumph.
Duke:
"The king's reign ends tonight…"
A cold, wicked laugh echoed through the chamber.
Chapter 13 – THE END