Chapter : 1387

Lloyd felt a lump form in his throat. He had fought monsters. He had fought assassins. He had fought demons. He knew how to deal with enemies who wanted to kill him. He didn't know how to deal with a giant metal girl apologizing for almost stepping on him.

"Sleep," Lloyd said softly, patting the metal hull. "It's okay now. The bad man can't make you walk anymore. You can sleep."

"Father..." the voice sighed. "I miss... the garden."

And then, there was a final, deep vibration that shuddered through the massive frame. It felt like a sigh. The last residual energy in the quartz lines faded completely. The Golem didn't just stop moving; it vacated. The presence, the soul that Lloyd hadn't even realized was there until this moment, was gone.

Lloyd sat back on his heels. He stared at the Firefly logo again. The contrast made him sick. On one side, a father's desperate love trying to save his child. On the other, a ruthless corporation from another world turning that love into a weapon of mass destruction.

"Firefly," Lloyd hissed. "You guys really know how to ruin everything. You take a tragedy and turn it into a product."

He felt a profound sense of exhaustion. Not just physical, but spiritual. He had won. The threat was neutralized. Ramos was safe. But it didn't feel like a victory. It felt like he had just witnessed a funeral.

He looked down at the hatch. He knew Wilfred was probably inside, either dead from the backlash or hiding. But Lloyd couldn't bring himself to open it yet. He didn't want to see the man who had enslaved a ghost.

"Rest in peace, kid," Lloyd whispered to the machine. "I promise, no one is going to wake you up again."

He stood up, wiping the grit from his face. He needed to get the Heart. Not to use it for his suit. Not anymore. He couldn't put a person in his suit. That was gross. And wrong. He needed to get the Heart to protect it. To make sure Firefly never got their hands on it again.

"Lloyd!"

He turned. Mina’s head popped up over the edge of the chest plate. She was covered in soot, her hair was a disaster, and she had a smear of grease across her nose. She looked absolutely beautiful.

"I'm here," Lloyd called out. "Welcome to the top of the world. The view is terrible, but the company is excellent."

Mina scrambled up onto the flat surface of the chest plate. She was panting, her chest heaving from the climb. She looked around at the devastation, then at Lloyd.

"Is it... over?" she asked.

"It's over," Lloyd said. "The machine is dead. The pilot is... well, silent. And the ghost has left the building."

"Ghost?" Mina frowned. "What ghost?"

"I'll explain later," Lloyd said. "It's a long, sad story involving bad parenting and ancient magic. Right now, we have a job to do. We need to secure the package."

Mina nodded. She pointed to the center of the chest, where the armor had been cracked by Lloyd's earlier attacks. "The Heart chamber. It should be under the primary plating. If Wilfred installed it according to Anubis's original designs, there should be a manual release mechanism."

She walked over to the cracked crystal armor. It was slippery. The surface of the Golem was smooth metal, polished and cold, and now covered in a layer of the fine grey dust from the Anti-Aethel Quartz. It was like walking on a frozen lake covered in snow.

"Be careful," Lloyd warned. "It's slicker than a politician's promise up here."

"I am fine," Mina said, stepping carefully. "I am a field archaeologist. I have climbed ruins. I have navigated tombs. I am not a clumsy damsel."

She reached the edge of the cracked armor. She leaned over, trying to see into the cavity where the Heart pulsed with a faint, dying light.

"I see it!" she exclaimed. "It is huge. Much bigger than the drawings. If I can just reach the latches..."

She leaned further. She stretched her arm out. She shifted her weight.

Her boot hit a patch of the grey powder mixed with hydraulic fluid.

Zip.

There was no friction. One moment she was standing; the next, her feet were flying out from under her. She slid toward the edge of the chest plate, which dropped off fifty feet onto a pile of sharp rubble.

"Whoa!" Mina yelped. It was not a dignified scholarly sound.

Lloyd moved. He didn't think; he just reacted. He activated his [Steel Blood] to reinforce his legs for traction and lunged forward.

Chapter : 1388

He caught her wrist just as she went over the curve of the armor. He dug his heels in, sparks flying as his metal-soled boots scraped against the Golem's hull. He halted their slide a few feet from the drop.

He pulled her up, hauling her back to the safe, flat center of the chest. She collided with him, clutching his jacket for balance.

"I thought you were a mountain climber," Lloyd teased, holding her steady. His heart was racing, but he kept his voice light. "That was a very dramatic descent. Were you trying to test gravity? I can assure you, it still works."

Mina was breathing hard, her face flushed. She looked up at him. She was safe. His arm was around her waist, solid and secure.

"I slipped," she defended herself, though her voice was shaky. "It is... very slippery. It is an occupational hazard."

"You are such a child when it comes to your hobby," Lloyd laughed softly. He brushed a bit of dust from her shoulder. "You see an old rock and you forget how to walk. You get so excited you try to dive headfirst into a robot."

Mina straightened up, trying to regain her dignity. She smoothed her ruined dress. "I am not a child. I am a researcher. And this 'old rock' is the discovery of the century. Anyone would be excited."

She looked at him, a small, playful smile touching her lips. "And besides... do you have the patience to handle such a child? A child who falls off robots and needs saving every five minutes?"

Lloyd blinked. He looked at her. The sun was starting to rise behind her, framing her messy hair in a halo of gold. She wasn't asking about the mission. She wasn't asking about the Golem.

She was asking about them.

She was asking if he, a man with a complicated past, three potential wives, and a death sentence on his head, had the patience to deal with her. To deal with the scholar who got into trouble, the woman who challenged him, the partner who read history books while he sharpened swords.

Lloyd felt a warmth spread through his chest that had nothing to do with magic.

"Patience?" Lloyd repeated. He smiled, a genuine, crooked smile that reached his eyes. "Mina, I spent two weeks teaching goblins how to farm. I spent hours listening to noblewomen talk about drapes. I have infinite patience."

He squeezed her hand gently. "Of course I have the patience for you. I think... I think handling you might be the only job I actually want."

Mina's smile widened. Her eyes sparkled. "Good. Because I plan to find many more dangerous rocks. And I will need someone to catch me."

"It's a deal," Lloyd said. "I catch. You study. And we try not to die."

He let go of her waist, but he didn't let go of her hand. They stood there on top of the fallen god, surrounded by ruins, holding hands like two teenagers on a first date.

"Now," Lloyd said, clearing his throat. "Let's get that Heart before the guards wake up and realize their boss is defeated. I really want to go home."

"Yes," Mina agreed softly. "Let's go home."

She turned back to the Heart chamber, moving much more carefully this time. Lloyd stayed right behind her, ready to catch her, ready to hold her, ready to be whatever she needed him to be. The war was far from over, but in that moment, on top of the metal mountain, Lloyd felt like he had already won the only prize that mattered.

Getting down from the Golem was easier than falling off it, mostly because Lloyd used his chains to lower them safely. They retrieved the Golem Heart—a heavy, pulsing sphere of crystal and stone that felt warm to the touch—and wrapped it in Lloyd’s coat. Wilfred was nowhere to be found inside the cockpit. It was empty, save for an escape tunnel hatch that had been blown open. The coward had run.

"He's gone," Lloyd noted, looking at the open hatch. "Ran away to fight another day. Or to complain to his corporate overlords."

"We cannot chase him," Mina said. "We have the Heart. That is the priority."

They left the fortress ruins behind, riding hard for the Whispering Crag. They needed answers. The Golem’s final words haunted Lloyd. He needed to know the full truth before he decided what to do with the artifact.