The revelation of the Grand Council's formation and their target—the Ancient Heart of Mana—sent a cold dread through the weary survivors in the Elder Nexus. Aziel, despite his profound exhaustion, felt a surge of grim determination. The stakes had never been higher.
"The Ancient Heart of Mana," Aziel repeated, his voice firm. "We have to get there. Now. Before them." He looked at the Celestial Archive, then at the Elder Construct. "Koram, the Starforger pathway you mentioned. How do we access it? What does it entail?"
Koram, already pouring over the Archive, pointed to a shimmering schematic. "The 'Last Starforger Path.' It's a series of dormant, interconnected mana conduits woven into the fabric of the universe itself. Not stable portals like the ones Astraeus uses, but highly unstable, single-use jumps. They were created by the Starforgers as a final, desperate measure for extreme emergencies. Their locations are incredibly obscure, masked by ancient mana cloaking."
"Unstable jumps?" Rylan muttered, a nervous twitch in his eye. "Sounds like a lottery ticket to nowhere."
"Precisely," Jax confirmed, his cybernetic eye scanning the schematics. "Each jump requires a massive, precisely calibrated mana surge from the Mana Nexus Amplifier to activate it. And since the Mana Core is almost depleted, and Aziel is… well, exhausted, it will be a monumental strain. We'll be on a ticking clock at each jump point."
"And the path itself is hidden, even from the Divine Sovereigns' networks," Koram continued. "But the Archive has the precise coordinates for each jump. It's our only advantage."
"The path is perilous, young ones," the Elder Construct resonated, its voice now tinged with a solemn warning. "It traverses through dormant cosmic realms, through forgotten ley lines of mana, some of which are still susceptible to the Sovereigns' distant influence. You will face challenges at each jump point. And there is no turning back once you begin."
"We understand," Lena stated, her resolve hardening. "We have no other choice. If the Grand Council reaches the Ancient Heart of Mana, all is lost."
Aziel, pushing past his fatigue, gripped the Key of Resonance. "Jax, can you prepare the Amplifier for the first jump? Koram, plot the coordinates for the fastest route to the Ancient Heart of Mana. Seraphina, you'll need to focus your purity to stabilize each jump for us. We can't afford any miscalculations."
Jax immediately began recalibrating the Mana Nexus Amplifier, the Ethereal Quartz at its heart glowing faintly, struggling to gather what little ambient mana it could. "It'll be slow going, Aziel. The Mana Core is barely ticking. Each jump will drain it further. We'll be running on fumes."
"Then we run on fumes," Aziel replied, his gaze unwavering. "We survive. We reach the Heart."
Suddenly, the Elder Nexus trembled violently. Not a distant hum, but a direct, terrifying presence.
"They are upon us!" the Elder Construct boomed, its voice filled with desperation. "Imperius, the Sovereign of Conquest! He has pierced the Nexus's defenses! He is leading the vanguard of the Grand Council!"
A colossal figure, radiating an aura of overwhelming military might, appeared at the shattered entrance of the Elder Construct. Imperius was a being of shimmering bronze and steel-like mana, his form like an ancient, invincible general, armed with a spear of solidified cosmic energy. His eyes, burning with cold, strategic fire, surveyed the chamber, immediately locking onto Aziel and the Key of Resonance.
"The anomaly. The Key. You will proceed no further," Imperius boomed, his voice a perfectly disciplined, terrifying command that seemed to bend reality to his will. "The Grand Council will not permit this defilement. Surrender the relic, and your demise will be swift."
Kael roared defiantly, charging forward with his club. Valerius, Mara, and Rylan followed, their forms a desperate, battered line of defense. Lena coordinated their movements, directing their limited mana attacks at the imposing Sovereign.
But Imperius was not like Astraeus. He did not react with blind rage. He was a master tactician. With a flick of his wrist, he unleashed perfectly synchronized mana constructs—glowing, ethereal soldiers of light—that moved with chilling precision, overwhelming their defenders. His spear, with a single, precise thrust, shattered Kael's club and sent him sprawling.
"He's too powerful! Too precise!" Lena yelled, barely dodging a mana-soldier's strike.
"Your resistance is illogical," Imperius stated, stepping closer, his form radiating an impenetrable aura of order. "The Grand Council has deemed the Cosmic Rebirth an intolerable chaos. It will be purged. Your path ends here."
Aziel knew they couldn't fight this. Not now. Their only hope was to escape, to use their single advantage: the element of surprise with the hidden Starforger Path.
"Jax! Activate the first jump! Now!" Aziel roared, channeling the last, desperate surge of his Mana Core into the Mana Nexus Amplifier.
The Amplifier shrieked under the strain, its Ethereal Quartz flaring erratically. A shimmering, unstable portal began to tear open in the air before them, small and violent, crackling with raw mana.
Imperius, sensing their intent, bellowed, "They attempt to flee! Stop them!" He launched a massive, crushing wave of disciplined mana, aimed at the opening portal, intending to collapse it before they could escape.
"Seraphina! Stabilize!" Aziel yelled, his voice strained.
Seraphina, mustering her last reserves of pure mana, poured it into the unstable portal, her body glowing with a desperate, pure light. The raw mana of the portal shimmered, settling, just enough for passage.
"Everyone! Through! Now!" Lena yelled, pushing Rylan forward. Kael, recovering, dragged Mara and Valerius towards the shimmering tear. Jax and Koram plunged through, pulling the Amplifier and Archive with them.
Aziel, seeing his team escape, poured the last of his energy into maintaining the portal. He looked back at Imperius, the Sovereign of Conquest, whose crushing wave of mana was moments from annihilating the opening.
With a final, desperate surge, Aziel leapt through the shimmering tear, the portal collapsing behind him an instant before Imperius's attack slammed into empty space. They were gone, once more, into the terrifying unknown. The Last Starforger Path had begun, a desperate race against a unified pantheon of gods to save the very essence of the universe.