Chapter 9
2107words
The blue light at the tip of Liora's staff flickered, illuminating the twisted space ahead: the once straight passage had become winding under the void's influence, and the distant rock walls expanded and contracted, resembling the innards of a living giant beast.
"Watch your step." Kael's gold and purple markings were especially eye-catching in the darkness. He suddenly fired an arrow, and the gold-purple light struck what appeared to be an ordinary rock on the ground.
The rock instantly shattered, revealing writhing void tentacles inside—these tentacles had disguised themselves as rocks, waiting for prey to approach.
"These things are craftier than the constructs of Maz'rokxas. They can mimic their surroundings."
Zik fumbled through his backpack and pulled out a fragment of Kaya ore. The ore emitted a faint red glow in the void energy: "My device may be broken, but this ore can sense the energy frequency of the rifts."
He held the ore above his head, and the red light suddenly intensified, pointing toward a fork on the left side of the passage. "This way! The energy concentration is highest here—it should lead to the entrance!"
Valery's Sin Stele continued to hover above the four, with a barrier of shadow energy constantly resisting the void mist seeping from the rock walls.
"I can sense Morrigan's presence," her voice was tense, "along with remnant souls of other Reapers — they're trapped in the void energy, serving as 'nourishment' for the rift."
The Sin Stele suddenly flickered, projecting a vision of what lay beyond the fork: dozens of black-armored Reapers were busy around a massive energy core, which was entwined with Kaja Vein conduits that plunged deeply into the darkness at their other end — that was the entrance to the Void Rift.
The four cautiously moved to the side of the fork, while Liora observed the core through her staff's far-seeing spell: "That's a Dominance Fragment left by the Jailer! Morrigan is using it as a medium to connect the Kaja Vein to the Void Rift."
She pointed to the runes surrounding the core, "Those are twisted Titan runes. He's trying to extract cosmic soul energy through the mineral veins to forcibly expand the rift."
"No wonder the heartbeat of the cosmic soul is growing weaker," Kael gripped his longbow tightly, "We just need to destroy the Dominion Fragment to sever the connection between the mineral veins and the rift."
Just as he was about to rush out, Valery stopped him: "Wait, look at the eyes of those harvesters — they've been assimilated by the Void, they have no self-awareness, they're just puppets controlled by the Dominion Fragment."
Zik suddenly had a flash of inspiration and pulled out several modified "energy disruption grenades" from his backpack: "These are made from fragments of Titan devices and can disrupt the Dominion energy. If I can throw them around the core, it could temporarily immobilize the puppets." He looked around at the terrain, "But I need someone to draw their attention."
"I'll go." Kael raised his longbow, with gold-purple arrow materializing on the string, "I'll pretend to attack the core, drawing them over. Liora, use your magic to cover Zik; Valery, prepare to cleanse the assimilated harvesters — they might still be saved."
The plan unfolded instantly. Kael's arrow shot like a meteor toward the domination shard, but suddenly changed direction just before impact, hitting a rock beside the core.
The harvesters immediately became alert, raising their spears and charging toward the direction the arrow came from. "Now!" Zik seized the opportunity to roll forward, throwing energy disruption grenades one by one around the core.
After the disruption grenades exploded, golden energy waves spread out, causing the harvesters to momentarily pause, the purple light in their eyes dimming.
Valery immediately rushed forward, the shadow energy from her sin stone transforming into countless fine threads that entwined the harvesters: "The chance for redemption has come!"
Fine lines pierced into the Reaper's armor, slowly extracting the void energy within them. The energy was absorbed by the Sin Monument, converting it into pure shadow energy.
Liora took the opportunity to approach the core, the blue light at the top of her staff colliding with the purple energy of the core, attempting to analyze the structure of the Titan runes: "These runes have been severely distorted, but the basic framework remains." She pulled out a bronze plate from her chest, "As long as we reactivate the runes with Titan energy, we can reverse its effect, changing it from 'extraction' to 'containment'."
Just then, the passage suddenly shook violently, and Morrigan's roar came from the darkness: "A group of insects! You dare to ruin my plans!"
His figure burst out from the void rift, wrapped in thick void energy, with a black crystal added to the top of the scepter in his hand — that was the "Heart of the Void" taken from the depths of the void.
"Morrigan! Weren't you captured by the Alliance?" Liora stepped back in surprise.
"That was just my avatar!" Morrigan sneered while waving her scepter, the Void Heart emitting a blinding light, instantly re-assimilating the purified Harvesters, making them even more powerful than before, "I anticipated your arrival and prepared for this contingency!"
The situation reversed instantly. The enhanced Harvesters charged frantically toward the four of them, the energy from the Dominion Shard became more violent, and the Kaja Vein began to expand rapidly, with void rifts multiplying across the rock walls.
Cracks appeared on Valery's Sin Stele barrier: "This isn't working! We can't hold out much longer!"
Kael suddenly made a decision: "Liora, continue deciphering the runes; Valery, cover me — I'm going to directly inject balancing energy to forcibly suppress the Dominion Shard!" He walked up to the core, golden-purple patterns spreading from his arms across his entire body, "Zik, use the ore to help me locate the core weakness of the shard!"
Zik immediately placed the Kaja ore against the core, the red glow of the ore intertwining with the purple light of the core, revealing a tiny gap on the shard: "Here! This is the weakest point of the shard!"
Kael took a deep breath, the golden-purple energy from his entire body gathering at his fingertips, forming a thin, elongated beam of energy that shot precisely toward the gap. The moment the energy beam pierced the shard, Morrigan suddenly rushed forward, slamming her staff heavily into Kael's back: "Die!"
Kael coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood, yet the intensity of the energy beam didn't diminish in the slightest.
Seeing this, Valery unhesitatingly hurled her sin stele toward Morrigan. The stele split into countless fragments in mid-air, forming a shadow cage to trap him: "Kael, now! I can't hold on for long!"
Liora seized the opportunity, pressing the bronze plate against the core. The titan runes began to reconfigure as the bronze plate activated: "It's working! The runes are reversing!"
The purple energy of the core started to weaken, and the expansion rate of the Kaja Vein slowed down.
But Morrigan's power far exceeded their expectations. Roaring with rage, he swung his staff, causing the Void Heart to release an enormous surge of energy that shattered the shadow cage to pieces.
The fragments of the sin stele scattered across the ground as Valery was thrown backward by the shockwave, crashing hard against the rock wall.
"No one can stop me!" Morrigan rushed toward the core, attempting to remove the bronze plate. "The Void Abyss will consume all of Azeroth!"
At this critical moment, Zik suddenly lunged forward, pressing all his Kaja ore against the core: "Stop right now!" The goblin genes within him were fully activated, the ore resonating with his blood, erupting in a dazzling red light. "My grandfather's grandfather was right, goblins aren't just good at making money — we're also the guardians of the Star Soul!"
The red light intertwined with Kael's gold-purple energy and Liora's Titan energy, forming a tri-colored light pillar that enveloped both Morrigan and the Dominion Fragment.
Morrigan let out a piercing scream as his body gradually dissolved within the light pillar: "No — I won't accept this!" His final power transformed into a beam of black energy, shooting deep into the void rift.
The pillar of light persisted for a full ten minutes before gradually dissipating. The Dominion Fragment was thoroughly purified, transforming into a strand of golden energy that merged with the Worldsoul Core; the Kaja Vein stopped expanding and began to slowly retract; the assimilated harvesters regained consciousness, standing in place in bewilderment.
Kael collapsed weakly on the ground, his gold and purple patterns growing dim; Valery struggled to get up, collecting the scattered fragments of the sin stele, where the shadow energy had become pure; Zik sat slumped on the ground, gasping for breath, the Kaja ore on his body having lost its luster.
Liora walked to the entrance of the void rift, where the runes on the bronze plate emitted a soft glow: "The Dominion Fragment has been destroyed, but the rift hasn't closed yet — Morrigan's final energy beam might have awakened something in the abyss." She pointed to the depths of the rift, from which came deeper growling sounds, "We need to activate the 'Titan Lockdown Array' to completely close it."
"What does the lockdown array need?" Kael struggled to stand up, the gold and purple patterns becoming faint again.
"It requires the perfect fusion of four energies — Light, Shadow, Balance, and Order," Liora said, "The four of us have exactly the right energies, but we're all very weak now..."
"You have us!" Familiar voices came from outside the passage. Vereesa, Elias and Grom rushed in with Alliance and Horde soldiers, "The battle at the rear is over, we're here to help you!"
Elias raised his holy light staff, infusing it with luminous energy; Grom's war axe was wrapped in shadow energy—a technique of using redemption energy he had learned from Valery; Vereesa controlled the order magic of the Silver Covenant. The four energies converged on the bronze plate from different directions, merging with the energy of the protagonist team.
"Activate!" Liora shouted, and the bronze plate flew toward the entrance of the void rift, transforming into a massive golden barrier. The titan runes on the barrier began to rotate, gradually compressing and sealing the rift. When the rift was completely closed, the barrier erupted in a dazzling light, then dissolved into countless points of light that merged into the Worldsoul Core.
The heartbeat of the Worldsoul suddenly became strong and powerful, causing the entire Heart of the Earth Cavern to resonate. Liora felt a warm energy flowing out from the Worldsoul Core, enveloping everyone—it was the Worldsoul's gratitude.
Valery looked at the fragment of sin stele in her hand. Suddenly, the fragments fused together, forming a new sin stele. The record of sins on it had disappeared, replaced by a new line of text: "The Redeemer finally becomes the Guardian."
Zik picked up the Kaja ore from the ground, and the ore once again emitted a faint red light: "It seems they can still be used. In the future, we can use them to monitor the state of the star souls."
Kael's gold and purple patterns stabilized, no longer as violent as before: "I think I finally understand the meaning of this energy — it's not for fighting, but for balance."
Liora closed the mentor's notebook. On the last page, a line of text automatically appeared: "The final chapter of the Harvester is the beginning of balance."
She looked up at everyone, her eyes full of hope: "We succeeded, but this is just the beginning — the balance of Azeroth needs all of us to protect it together."
At that moment, the Heart of the Earth Cavern suddenly trembled slightly, and the runes on Liora's bronze plate lit up again, pointing toward the Worldsoul Core: "Wait, within the Worldsoul's energy... there's another unfamiliar fluctuation." She frowned, "Like some kind of... new primal force?"
Everyone exchanged glances, their recently relaxed nerves tensing up again.
Although the void rift had closed, in the world of Azeroth, it seemed new secrets were waiting for them to uncover.
And in the distant sky, a new star suddenly brightened, illuminating the night sky of Azeroth — it was a signal of balance being restored, and also an omen of new challenges.
