CHAPTER 116: THE CELESTIAL FORGE

With a sound like rushing air, Ryan’s team broke the surface of the Sunken Arena’s entry pool. They emerged from the dark depths into the bright, noisy reality of the Crucible.

For a moment, they just floated there, treading water and breathing in real, non-recycled air. The massive screens all around the stadium, which had been showing the chaotic battle below, now focused entirely on them.

Ryan held up the Heart of the Leviathan. The glowing blue crystal pulsed with a soft, steady light, a beacon of their victory.

A wave of stunned silence washed over the massive crowd, followed by a roar of disbelief and applause. The spectators jumped to their feet.

The team from Sector Gamma, the newcomers, the dark horse with no special gear, had done it again. They had won the second event, a challenge that should have been impossible for them.

On the screens, the view split. One side showed Ryan’s team, victorious. The other side showed the teams still fighting their way down. They saw the other teams tough submersibles battling a pack of guardians, and other teams struggling in the dark. And then, the camera zoomed in on the face of Lord Valerius inside his golden command mech.

His face, projected a hundred feet high for everyone to see, was a mask of pure, undiluted shock. His mouth was slightly open, his eyes wide.

He had spent a fortune on his top-of-the-line mechs, machines designed specifically for this kind of challenge. And he had been beaten by a team with nothing but modified armor and a leader who could apparently tell water to become a wall.

His shock quickly melted into a dark, ugly rage. It was a public humiliation of the highest order.

"Wow," Chris Magnus said, spitting out a mouthful of pool water. "I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone that angry. He looks like he’s about to pop. You could cook an egg on his forehead."

Ryan ignored the comment, his eyes on the screen. He knew this wasn’t over. A man with an ego as big as Valerius’s didn’t just accept defeat.

He was right.

Lord Valerius’s face contorted in a snarl. He slammed his fist against his console, his voice, meant only for his team, accidentally broadcast across the arena for a split second due to his damaged systems. "Incompetent fools! If we cannot win, then no one will!"

His golden mech, which was just surfacing nearby, suddenly turned. Its weapon pods opened, aiming not at Ryan’s team, but at the battered, scarred submersible of the other teams, which was just emerging from the water.

"What is he doing?" Emma gasped.

Before anyone could react, Valerius’s mech fired. A brilliant beam of plasma shot across the water, slamming into the side of the other teams submarine.

The attack was a blatant, shocking breach of the Games’ rules. You competed against others; you didn’t attack them out of pure anger after the event was over. The crowd gasped in horror.

But the attack never fully landed. A shimmering, golden barrier appeared out of nowhere, blocking most of the blast. The Prime Warden’s voice, which had been warm and exciting before, now boomed through the stadium with the cold, hard weight of cosmic law.

"LORD VALERIUS OF THE TECHNOCRATIC IMPERIUM," the voice thundered, shaking the very foundations of the Crucible. "YOU HAVE VIOLATED THE SACRED RULES OF THE GOD GAMES. SUCH DISHONOR WILL NOT BE TOLERATED."

The lights on Valerius’s magnificent golden mech flickered and died. Its arms went limp, and it floated lifelessly in the water like a giant, useless bath toy. The Prime Warden had remotely disabled his machine.

"YOUR TEAM IS DISQUALIFIED FROM THIS EVENT," the Warden continued, his voice echoing with finality. "ALL POINTS AWARDED TO YOU IN THESE GAMES ARE NOW FORFEIT. A PENALTY OF TEN MILLION GOD CREDITS IS LEVIED AGAINST YOUR SECTOR FOR THIS UNSPORTSMANLIKE CONDUCT. LET THIS BE A WARNING TO ALL."

Lord Valerius was ruined. In a single fit of anger, he had lost the event, lost all his points, cost his sector a fortune, and shattered his reputation in front of the entire god verse.

He was no longer a proud rival; he was a disgraced loser. His face on the screen was now pale with the horror of what he had done. He had lost control, and it had cost him everything.

After the disgraced Lord Valerius and his team were quietly escorted away, a tense quiet settled over the arena. The Prime Warden let the moment hang in the air before continuing, his voice returning to its normal, grand tone.

"The drama of the Sunken Arena is concluded! Let us now look to the third and final event! The ultimate test of champions! The final stage... THE CELESTIAL FORGE!"

The giant screens changed, showing a new, terrifying landscape. It was a small pocket dimension, and at its center was a star. It was a dying sun, swirling with violent flares of red and orange energy.

Floating in orbit around this angry star was a massive, ring-shaped structure made of black, cosmic metal: the Forge.

"Teams will enter this unstable dimension," the Prime Warden explained. "You must survive the intense heat and radiation to gather two key materials: ’Starmetal Ore,’ found in the asteroids that orbit the dying star, and ’Condensed Light Filaments,’ which can only be harvested from the star’s violent solar flares."

The screen showed fiery creatures made of pure solar energy, Solar Elementals emerging from the star’s surface. They were guarding the raw materials.

"Using these materials, you must battle your way to the Celestial Forge itself," the Warden’s voice boomed. "There, you will use your skills to craft a ’God Key,’ an artifact of immense power.

The first team to forge a perfect key and present it to me will be crowned Champions of the Decennial God Games!"

The crowd roared with excitement. This was a challenge of pure power and skill. It tested combat against the elementals, endurance against the heat, and the rare ability to craft a cosmic artifact.

Back in their private champion lounge, Ryan’s team watched the screen, a mix of awe and worry on their faces.

"Okay, I take back everything bad I said about the water," Chris said, wiping a hand over his face. "I’d rather be a manatee than a piece of bacon. We’re going to be cooked alive in there."

"The radiation levels are off the charts," Emma said, already analyzing the data. "Our standard armor won’t be enough, even with Ryan’s modifications. We’ll need to constantly manage our exposure."

Zara, however, looked intrigued. "A forge that uses a dying star as its power source. The principles involved must be incredible. And forging a God Key... that’s not metallurgy.

That’s applied reality-shaping." She glanced at Ryan. "This is a test of energy control and creation. This is a test for you."

Ryan nodded slowly. He knew she was right. His Imposition System, the power to change and create the very rules of the world around him, was perfectly suited for this.

He didn’t need a hammer and tongs. He could shape the starmetal with his will. For the first time, he felt like a challenge had been designed just for him.

There was a short break before the final event, a chance for teams to rest and prepare. While the others were busy checking their gear and supplies, Ryan found a moment of peace.

He walked to a small, private observation deck that looked out not at the arena, but at the true, star-dusted blackness of space.

He wasn’t alone for long. A moment later, Scarlett joined him, standing beside him in silence. She wasn’t wearing her heavy combat gear now, but a simple, dark uniform.

For a while, neither of them spoke. They just watched the distant galaxies swirl outside the window.

"You’ve been quiet," Ryan said finally, breaking the comfortable silence.

"Just thinking," she replied, her voice soft. "About everything. The Labyrinth. The Arena. Valerius." She shook her head slightly. "He let his pride destroy him."

"It almost destroyed us, too," Ryan said. He turned to look at her. Her face, usually so guarded and stern, was softer in the dim light of the stars.

In her eyes, he saw the deep exhaustion of a warrior, but also something else. Something he had been sensing for a long time. It was in the way she always stood a little closer to him in a crowd, the way her eyes found his across a room, the way her fierce protection of him felt less like a duty and more like a need.

"Scarlett," he started, his voice quiet. "We’ve been through a lot. More than most people go through in a hundred lifetimes. And through all of it... you’ve been there. My constant."

She met his gaze, her own eyes unblinking. She didn’t look away.

"I know what you are to me," he continued, choosing his words carefully. "You’re my right hand. My guardian. My most trusted friend. But I think... I feel... it’s become more than that. For me, at least."

There. He’d said it. He laid his feelings out, simple and direct, just like her.

A long, silent moment passed between them. The only sound was the faint hum of the station’s life support. Scarlett’s expression didn’t change, but a subtle warmth bloomed in her eyes.

It was a look of profound relief, as if a weight she had been carrying for a very long time had just been lifted.

"It has for me, too," she confessed, her voice barely a whisper. "For a long time."

He felt his own heart lift. He reached out and gently took her hand. Her fingers, strong and calloused from a lifetime of holding a blade, curled around his. It was a simple touch, but it felt more significant than any victory in the arena. It was a quiet promise.

"We have one more challenge," he said. "A big one. We need to be focused."

"I’m always focused," she replied, a tiny, rare smile touching her lips. It transformed her face, making her look younger, less burdened. "We win this. Then... we can talk about what comes next."

"Then we win," he said, his voice full of a new certainty. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

They had solidified their bond, not with grand speeches or dramatic kisses, but with a quiet understanding in the starlight.

Their connection, forged in the fires of survival and battle, had finally been named. And with that new strength between them, Ryan felt ready to walk into the heart of a dying star.