“Oh, you have to be shitting me.” Noah stared up at the golem looming over him. Somehow, even despite the cracks in his mind, this more than anything else managed to buy him an instant of grounded thought. An instant that was spent entirely on annoyance. “Cancel! Abort! This is not a library!”

Noah didn’t wait for a response. He drew on his own Runes, letting their power burn through him as his violin snapped into being in his hands. There was absolutely zero part of him that believed the golem would just stop now that he’d asked it to.

“Prayer,” the centipede chittered, hurriedly backing up into the hallway, feet clicking desperately against the ground.

Oh, would you shut up?

The bow of Noah’s violin danced across its strings as he played a Formation into being. Hollow Symphony rotated within him, lending its power to him before he could even ask for it to help weave the Formation into being at an incredible speed.

The eye burning behind the massive golem flickered like a candle. “Voice commands are not permitted during an active test due to prior incidents,” the Access Point reported. “Please utilize alternative methods.”

“What method—”

A horrid, grinding noise filled the air and nearly drowned Noah’s music out as the golem’s hand extended toward him. Pieces of debris and rust rained away from it in a shower of dust as the golem’s old joints were put back into use for the first time in gods-knew how long.

Noah darted to the side, the crackling tendrils of fractalized white magic at his back hissing and twitching with his movements. They almost sounded hungry.

A deafening crash shook the darkness and the platform bucked violently as the golem’s hand slammed down where Noah had been standing. Waves of Rune Force beat against his domain, but they couldn’t bring him to his knees.

Compared to Father, this Golem’s Rune Force was pathetic.

And it wasn’t the only one that had access to Rune Force.

Fuck it. I’m not playing pattycake with this damn thing.

As Noah sank deeper into the pattern of his song, more and more power gathered within his body. It burned in his veins and beat in his heart, pumping out to fill the air surrounding him with its expectant hiss.

Garina’s training had given him this. He didn’t have proper Rune Force in the way that a Rank 7 did… but he could access bursts of it through his pattern. Adding a Formation around himself formed enough of a magical barrier to keep him from getting outright crushed by sheer pressure.

The Golem reached out for Noah with its other arm. A shimmering disk of red chaos materialized in the air before it, shattering as the metal arm slammed into it but buying him a second in the process.

That second was all he needed. The Formation he was creating finished, made possible only by the incredible speed that Hollow Symphony granted him, and Sunder’s power exploded forth.

A black spear sliced through the air. It slammed into the Golem’s shoulder, carving clean through the metal with a loud shriek. A flash of white magic cut through the air as one of the metal automaton’s arms fell away from the rest of its body.

Arcs of electric magic hissed out from the body as the arm plummeted into the darkness below, vanishing from sight. The golem barely even seemed to notice. Its other hand reached out for Noah, several of the Imbuements covering its surface glowing brighter than the others.

Noah’s eyes went wide. He sliced the bow of his violin across its strings, and a disk of red magic formed before him a moment before a bolt of angry lightning exploded from the golem’s palm. It slammed into his shield with a loud crack, shattering the magic and releasing a burst of wind pressure that threw him a foot to the side.

Complex runic patterns spun through the air around where the golem’s severed hand had been. They wove into being so fast that it was impossible to tell if they were being drawn sequentially or if they’d just all snapped into existence at once.

They formed into a glowing arm composed entirely of raw magic — and then the golem pointed its newly re-formed limb right at Noah. A dozen lines of runic power composing it lit brighter than the others. A gout of flame exploded from its palm, forcing Noah to dive to the side all the while continuing his song.

He wove another Formation into being, hitting the ground in a roll and shooting back up to his feet just in time to avoid another blast of lightning that slammed into the ground where he’d been a moment before.

Let’s see how it deals with magic that disintegrates matter itself. I haven’t lost the power from the components that make up Unraveling Disruption.

The Formation activated. A wave of purple fractals ripped out to slam into the golem’s un-damaged hand as it rose. They melted through the metal like nothing was there, chewing into the magic like a ravenous hound —

And the Golem reformed itself just as it had before. Before Noah’s magic had even finished running its course, the damaged portions of its arm were composed entirely of burning white magic.

“Bullshit,” Noah said. “The hell are you made out of?”

The golem slammed its hands — one fully magic, the other largely metal — together. Arcs of magic slithered between its fingers as it pulled them apart like loose threads. Power prickled against Noah’s skin.

He took a step back, his bow still dancing across the strings of his violin to begin pulling another Formation into being.

And then Noah frowned. The tingle against his skin was familiar. Confusion passed through his features in a flash. It wasn’t just slightly reminiscent of something he’d felt before. The power he was feeling was identical to—

A wave of purple fractals exploded out from the golem’s hands, cubic magic carving toward Noah in an angry wave. The very same magic that he’d just unleashed upon it.

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Noah didn’t get a chance to be confused. Chaos warped the air around him and he shifted to the side, repositioning just out of the way of the attack. It slammed into the ground where he’d been and shattered into spinning splinters.

There was no time to process what had just happened. The golem was gathering magic again — and Noah could feel his own runes stirring in response. He had no idea how, but there was no doubt about it. This thing was copying him.

“That’s my trick,” Noah growled, finishing another Formation. Sunder shuddered as its power flowed out of him and through the strings of his Violin. A black spear carved out a second time, this time slamming straight into the top of the golem’s head and piercing down through the center of its body.

The machination didn’t even react. Different Imbuements ignited along its body as the damage repaired itself with more layers of white magic. Then it slammed both of its hands down onto the platform.

A violent tremor tore through the ground as waves of magic rippled beneath Noah. The sheer force launched him a foot into the air. Indignation exploded through Noah in an angry wave.

That’s power from Natural Disaster! It can steal magic that I haven’t even used yet? What kind of bullshit is—

The golem swept a hand toward Noah. Arcs of red chaos rippled around him and he warped, vanishing and reappearing on the ground below the huge appendage as it passed overhead.

Noah rolled to his feet, forming another Formation around him and unleashing it the instant it was ready. A wave of chaos magic exploded out from him in a crescent arc that he sent right for the metal monster’s chest.

The golem clapped its hands together, and an identical arc erupted from it. The two waves of magic slammed into each other — and Noah’s power shattered.

He threw himself out of the way as the golem’s attack carried on, smashing into the ground where he’d been and shattering into fragments of runic energy. The indignation Noah felt turned to anger. The golem wasn’t just copying his powers. It was better at using them. That was just too insulting for him to tolerate.

But it hasn’t taken Sunder, nor is it using Formations. That means it has limits.

Noah’s song accelerated, matching the anger burning within him. He dodged out of the way of another blast of stolen chaos lightning, drawing on Sunder all the while to pour its power into the Formation he was creating.

Then he released it.

A black line bisected the golem lengthwise, going from one side of its body to the other without stopping. It cut through metal and magic alike with a loud shriek. Huge chunks of the golem’s body split away and tumbled into the darkness to reveal magic-imbued gears and connections running within the construct with all the complexity of a human body.

But, to Noah’s disbelief, more white magic wove into being where the chunks had been suspended. It replaced the imbued gears down to the imbuements upon their surface, replicated tubes and re-formed halves of split chambers.

Every single part of the golem re-built itself with the white magic as if nothing had happened. The automaton had become more magic than metal, but it didn’t even seem to have noticed.

Noah gritted his teeth.

Still. It can’t block Sunder. No matter how many of my abilities it can copy, it still can’t steal that. If I cut it into pieces enough, the magic should eventually run out. Nothing can take damage like this forever.

Noah began to create another Formation. He had no idea how he was going to kill this thing, but he’d be damned if he gave up or ran here. This was the only source of information he had, and he was going to get what he wanted… even if he had to beat it out of a hunk of Imbued metal.

But, before he could finish, a loud, blaring note tore through the air from the tower behind the golem. The construct abruptly froze, the magic gathered around its limbs evaporating as its limbs went slack.

“Analysis complete,” the eye reported casually, as if it hadn’t been trying to kill him an instant ago. “Your Keystone Rune has been assessed. Are you prepared to receive your assessment?”

Noah stared at it.

“Cancel Primary Directive,” Noah said. “I just want—”

“Primary Directive is already complete,” the eye said. “Assessment pending. I am unable to query the Heart at this time.”

Noah pinched the bridge of his nose. His heart was still pounding in his chest and the damned centipede was still muttering prayers in the corner of the platform. Then he shook his head. He’d gotten this far. There was no point to tap out now. “Give me the damn assessment, then.”

“According to gathered energy, your Keystone Rune appears to be at Rank 5,” the eye said. “It possesses multiple unregistered aspects. Attempts to register this information in the Heart failed due to lack of connection. Would you like me to record them until the grid is re-activated?”

“No,” Noah said immediately. He didn’t need to leave some kind of paper trail for someone to chase him down. “Tell me what you found and delete everything from your memory after that. Continue your report.”

“Acknowledged. The assessment of your Keystone Rune’s power and compatibility with your fighting style has been completed. However, the chances of an inaccurate assessment are high. I suggest a re-assessment. It is likely that readings during this test were inaccurate due to the damage to the grid.”

“That’s fine,” Noah said. “Ignore that. Do not re-assess anything. Just give me the information.”

“Acknowledged. Your rune seems to suit your fighting style well, but it appears that you only utilized one of your three Rank 5 Runes. This is inefficient.”

It can sense Astral Ruin and Concentrated Singularity? Shit. I really don’t know the full extent of how those work yet, though. I’m just more comfortable with Unraveling Disruption.

“They’re new,” Noah said, but he couldn’t contain his curiosity. “Tell me what else you got.”

“The strength of the rune is abnormally high. It appears to be a Rank 5, but the raw power aligns more closely with Rank 6 combinations.”

That strong? Damn.

Noah grinned. His thoughts were still strangely clear. Not anywhere near as clear as he would have liked — but he didn’t feel like he was splitting apart at the seams anymore. Maybe the fight had given him enough of a focus to recover a little from the effects of the white void and the Line.

“Keep going. I love compliments,” Noah said. “Do you—”

“Significant inefficiencies were located within your utilization of your magic and synchronization with your rune,” the eye continued. “You are likely functioning around 60% of your rune’s true output. Given the inefficiencies present in your usage of your other abilities and inclination toward using Formations, your performance in this test is rated at a 3/10.”

Noah’s eyes went wide.

What? My usage of my abilities is that bad?

“Seriously?” Noah managed, unsure if he was more offended or surprised.

“This score does not take into account usage of abilities outside the scope of my senses,” the eye added. “This Access Point has records of multiple individuals with similar fighting styles and scores to your own. Would you like to review them?”

“Wait. What kind of records?” Noah asked, his eyes snapping up to the glowing orb.

“All fights within this Access Point have been stored. There are currently ten thousand and fifty nine different instances of researchers recorded, including their combinations, recorded within this Library,” the eye reported. “Would you like to review anything in particular?”

The back of Noah’s neck prickled as he swallowed, finally realizing what the Access Point meant when it had called itself a library. This place had records of every single person who had used it before. Video records, from the sounds of things. Their techniques, their combinations, literally everything. It was all here.

And this was just one access point. There were 750 of these things scattered throughout the Lost Citadel, each one of them presumably able to analyze people who entered it and assist them in their training. This place wasn’t just some old maze.

If Arbitage had access to something like this… if his students had been able to train with a tool like this one, their growth would have been a dozen times faster than it already had been. The Lost Citadel was the perfect training ground.

Holy shit. What have I stumbled into?