Gideon Cross charged.

He was an A Rank Vanguard a veteran of a hundred dungeon breaks. He had faced towering dragons and armies of the undead. But as he sprinted toward the entity wearing Duncan Carmichael’s face he knew with absolute certainty that he was running toward his death.

He did not care. His boys were dead. Finn and Flint were piles of gray ash on the cavern floor.

"Captain wait!" Declan screamed from the back of the formation his cynical demeanor completely shattered by panic.

Declan slammed his hands together channeling every drop of his A Rank healing magic. He bypassed the safety limits of his core casting his ultimate support skill.

"Aura of the Lifegiver!"

A blinding pillar of emerald light erupted from Declan’s body shooting across the cavern and enveloping Gideon. The healing magic was so intense it caused the dead gray moss on the walls to briefly bloom with life. It reinforced Gideon’s muscles accelerated his cellular regeneration to near immortality and coated his platinum armor in a protective layer of pure life force.

The Wanderer stopped watching Gideon approach. He turned his empty silver eyes toward the source of the green light.

"These little tricks won’t save you" The Wanderer whispered.

He did not raise his hand. He simply blinked.

A microscopic needle of concentrated anti mana materialized in the air and shot across the cavern moving faster than the speed of sound. It pierced directly through the emerald pillar of light and struck Declan perfectly in the center of his chest.

The healing magic died instantly.

Declan gasped looking down at his chest. There was no blood. There was only a spreading circle of rotting gray flesh. The anti mana devoured his spiritual core in a fraction of a second.

"Captain..." Declan choked out reaching a trembling hand forward.

His legs gave out. Before his knees even hit the stone floor his body crumbled into a pile of dry gray dust.

"Declan!" Elena screamed her voice tearing her throat.

Gideon did not stop. The loss of his healer the loss of his entire family fueled a rage so deep it burned away his fear. He closed the distance raising his massive tower shield. He poured all of his remaining mana into the metal activating Titan’s Wall not as a defensive dome but as a concentrated battering ram.

"Die!" Gideon roared slamming the glowing shield directly into The Wanderer’s chest.

The impact created a shockwave that cracked the cavern walls. Dust and debris rained down from the ceiling. For a fraction of a second Gideon thought he had done it. He thought the sheer kinetic force of an A Rank Vanguard strike had crushed the entity.

Then the golden light of Titan’s Wall flickered.

The Wanderer was standing perfectly still. He had not been pushed back a single inch. He had caught the edge of the massive tower shield with one pale hand.

"Weak" The Wanderer said his voice echoing in Gideon’s mind. "You are not going to win this."

The Wanderer squeezed his fingers.

The A Rank platinum shield the unbreakable wall that had protected The Ironclad for four years shattered like cheap glass. The metal rusted and turned to ash blowing away in the cold cavern wind.

Gideon stumbled forward his primary weapon destroyed.

For a moment, time slowed. Gideon could hear his own heartbeat hammering against his ribs, could feel the emerald residue of Declan’s aura still clinging to his skin, useless now. The cavern air tasted of rot and ozone. His breath came in ragged gasps, not from exhaustion, but from the sheer, impossible weight of the thing standing before him.

Elena’s scream echoed faintly in the distance, but it felt muffled, as if the world itself was retreating from the truth of what was happening. Gideon’s hands trembled—not with fear, but with fury so hot it bordered on madness. He had led these people. He had promised to bring them home. And now Finn, Flint, Declan—all gone. Reduced to dust before his eyes.

He thought of Avalon. Of Lily’s laugh. Of the way the morning sun hit the Ironclad banner back at base camp. He would never see any of it again. The realization should have broken him. Instead, it sharpened him.

If he couldn’t win, he could at least make the monster bleed.

The Wanderer tilted his head, studying him with the detached curiosity of a scientist observing an insect about to be crushed. There was no malice in those silver eyes. That was worse. Malice could be fought. Indifference could not.

Gideon spat blood onto the stone floor. His voice was raw.

"Then let’s see how much you can endure."

The Wanderer reached out and grabbed Gideon by the throat lifting the massive armored man off the ground with effortless terrifying strength. The anti mana began to seep into Gideon’s armor rotting the metal and burning his skin.

Gideon choked kicking his legs but the grip was like a vice of solid steel. He looked down into the empty silver eyes of the monster. He knew it was over. He was not going to see Avalon. He was not going to see Lily again.

But he was a Captain. And his mage was still alive.

"Elena" Gideon gasped blood spilling from his lips. "Run."

Gideon stopped fighting the grip on his throat. Instead he reached out with both hands and grabbed The Wanderer’s arms locking the entity in place.

Gideon closed his eyes and visualized his spiritual core. He bypassed the natural limiters of the Awakening system. He drew all of his mana inward compressing it into a tiny unstable singularity inside his chest.

"Core Detonation" Gideon whispered.

It was the ultimate suicide move. An A Rank core exploding released the equivalent energy of a tactical warhead.

The Wanderer tilted his head a flicker of mild curiosity crossing his dead features.

A blinding flash of pure white light consumed the cavern. The explosion was deafening vaporizing the stone floor and sending a massive shockwave of fire and kinetic energy ripping through the dungeon.

Elena was thrown backward by the blast crashing hard against the cavern wall. Her vision went white and a high pitched ringing filled her ears. She slid to the floor coughing up dust and blood.

She looked up through the thick smoke her heart pounding in her chest.

Gideon was gone. He had sacrificed his soul to destroy the monster.

The smoke slowly began to clear.

Standing in the center of the massive blackened crater completely untouched by the explosion was The Wanderer. His gray logistics uniform was not even singed. He brushed a speck of ash from his shoulder and turned his silver eyes toward the final surviving member of The Ironclad.