Episode-928
Chapter : 1855
The fruit Lloyd had eaten was potent. It was overflowing with energy. Lloyd placed his hand on Ben’s shoulder plate.
"Interface," Lloyd commanded.
He channeled the excess mana from the fruit directly into Ben. It wasn't a gentle transfer; it was a high-pressure injection.
Whirrrr-click.
Ben’s arms hummed back to life. The lights on his elbow joints flickered from dead red to a steady yellow. The heavy weight of his armor seemed to lighten as the servos engaged.
"What did you eat?" Ben asked, staring at Lloyd with a calculating gaze. "Your output is spiking. You're radiating enough heat to cook a steak. Where did you get that kind of density?"
"I ate the trap," Lloyd explained with a grin hidden behind his visor. "Rubel tried to drain us, so I reversed the flow and ate his battery. It tastes like victory, Ben. And maybe a little bit like strawberries."
"You are a scavenger," Ben said, shaking his head but testing the grip of his metal hand. "Only you would look at a death trap designed to kill us and see a buffet. It's disgusting. Effective, but disgusting."
"Waste not, want not," Lloyd replied. He patted Ben on the shoulder, checking the structural integrity of his friend's armor. "Can you walk? My sensors say Rubel is hiding in the Inner Sanctum. He knows his trap failed. He’s going to be desperate, and desperate men make mistakes."
Ben hefted his heavy lance. He checked the seals on his armor and flexed his mechanical fingers. He was still battered, and his spirit was low, but the restoration of his mobility brought back his arrogance. He stood up to his full height, towering over Lloyd.
"I can walk," Ben said, his voice cold and hard. "I can fight. And I'm done playing defensive. Let’s go kick his door down."
"Good," Lloyd said. He turned his gaze toward the dark, towering palace that loomed over the city like a tombstone. "Let’s go, Rook. The traitor is waiting, and I’m feeling energized enough to punch a hole through a mountain."
They left the ruined central square and began the trek deeper into the heart of Gator City. The walk was surreal. Just ten minutes ago, the city had been a deafening riot of noise—thousands of demons chewing, fighting, screaming, and bartering for food. The very stones beneath their feet had vibrated with a hungry hum that rattled the teeth.
Now, the city was dead silent.
It wasn't a peaceful silence. It was the terrified silence of a jungle after a predator has roared. It was the silence of prey hiding in their burrows.
The magical streetlamps, which usually burned with a sickly, gluttonous yellow flame, had all flickered out when Lloyd drained the grid. The only light came from the bruised purple sky overhead and the faint, cold blue glow of Lloyd’s visor. The shadows stretched long and thin across the streets, looking like skeletal fingers reaching out to grab them.
As they walked down the main avenue, Lloyd kept his sensors active. He could feel eyes watching them from every darkened window, every crack in the walls, and every alleyway.
The citizens of Gator City—the Gluttonyspawn—were hiding. These were creatures born of hunger, monsters that instinctively attacked anything that moved to satisfy their endless cravings. Usually, two humans walking down the street would be swarmed instantly. But they had just witnessed something impossible.
They had seen two humans walk into the "Garden of Vines," the city's ultimate defense, and not only survive but consume it.
To a demon of Gluttony, being eaten is the ultimate fear. Lloyd had terrified them on a primal level. He had out-eaten the city.
Ben noticed the movement too. He saw vertical pupils widening in the cracks of shuttered windows. He heard the soft, frantic clicking of heavy bolts sliding into place behind reinforced doors. A large, four-armed demon peeked out from an alley, saw Lloyd’s black armor, and immediately scrambled backward into the darkness, whimpering like a kicked dog.
"Look at them," Ben sneered, keeping his lance ready but lowering the tip slightly. "Cowards. They scatter like rats when the light turns on. I thought this was a city of monsters, not a nursery."
"Fear is universal, Ben," Lloyd said, his voice echoing softly in the empty street. "Fear is just data. It’s the calculation that you are no longer the top of the food chain. Right now, they don't know what we are. To them, we are the new apex predators. We are monsters that consume energy."
Chapter : 1856
"I prefer being the predator," Ben stated, looking at a group of goblins scurrying away like roaches as they approached. "It simplifies the rules of engagement. Anything that runs is prey. Anything that stands is a target."
"Enjoy it," Lloyd said. "Psychological warfare is efficient. Every demon that hides is one less demon we have to fight. It saves ammo."
They continued forward, their boots clicking loudly on the cold cobblestones. They crossed a bridge made of bleached white bone that spanned a dry canal. The canal was usually filled with blood-red sludge, but now it was empty, cracked and dry. Lloyd’s "Life-Eater" protocol had been thorough. It had drunk the city dry.
Ahead of them lay the Inner District.
The architecture changed drastically here. The chaotic, messy feeding stalls and mud-brick hovels of the outer city were gone. In their place stood towering spires of polished black obsidian and red marble. The buildings twisted upward like jagged teeth, leaning over the street to create a claustrophobic tunnel.
This was the Noble Quarter, where the high-ranking demons and Rubel’s elite guards lived.
Lloyd slowed his pace. He reached into his pocket—or rather, his inventory—and pulled out a small canteen of water. He took a sip, looking casual, but his [All-Seeing Eye] was scanning every inch of the road ahead. The data streams were moving fast, analyzing the geometry of the buildings.
"Ben," Lloyd said quietly, screwing the cap back onto his canteen. "Do you know why Rubel chose this city?"
"Because he's a parasite," Ben replied instantly, scanning the rooftops for snipers. "He went where the food was. He wanted to gorge himself on power he didn't earn."
"That's part of it," Lloyd said. "But look at the design. The outer city feeds the inner city. The noise, the eating, the energy... it all flows inward. Rubel didn't just hide here; he plugged himself into the top of the pyramid. He thinks he's safe because he's surrounded by walls and guards."
Lloyd stopped at the edge of a large, circular plaza that marked the entrance to the Inner District. The massive iron gates were open. Beyond the gates, the hallway was dark and smooth, lined with highly polished reflective surfaces.
"But walls work both ways," Lloyd continued. "They keep enemies out, but they also keep you in. Rubel is trapped in his own fortress. He knows his vines failed. He knows his power grid is dead. He’s sitting in that throne room right now, watching us approach, and he’s realizing that his walls have turned into a cage."
Ben looked at the open gate. He frowned, his single eye narrowing with suspicion. "Open gates? In a siege? It insults my intelligence. It's a trap, Lloyd. Obviously."
"It is a trap," Lloyd confirmed instantly. "My sensors are picking up a massive spatial distortion just past the threshold. The geometry inside that hallway is wrong. The lines don't meet where they should. The floor is tilted at an angle that the eye can't see."
Ben tensed up, the grey aura of his Sloth spirit flickering around his shoulders. "Spatial magic? Like a portal?"
"Worse," Lloyd said. "A maze. It’s a Mirror Fold. It’s designed to separate a squad. If we walk in there, the space will twist. You’ll go one way, I’ll go another. He wants to divide our strength so he can pick us off one by one. He knows he can't beat us together, so he wants to fight us alone."
Ben frowned deeply. "So we flank? Blow a hole in the side wall?"
Lloyd shook his head. "We can't. The distortion is anchored to the palace foundation. It covers the entire district. If I try to break it from the outside using Void energy, the feedback could collapse the entire district. We’d be burying ourselves under a mountain of obsidian."
Lloyd stepped closer to the gate, staring into the dark, reflective corridor. He could feel the magic humming—a low, discordant note that grated on his nerves. It was a sloppy, desperate spell, but it was powerful.
"We have to walk into it, Ben," Lloyd said calmly. "We have to let the trap trigger. Once we are inside the distortion, I can find the anchor point and shatter it. But until then... we’re going to be on our own."
Ben looked at the dark maw of the gate. He didn't look afraid; he looked annoyed. He trusted Lloyd’s analysis, but he hated playing by the enemy's rules.