Executioner's League-Chapter 81: The Celestial Vanguard!

The dimly lit chamber

pulsed with a low, mechanical hum. Screens flickered with data streams and

surveillance feeds, each one tracking the trajectory of the Ascent Vessel bound

for Celestia. Seraph stood at the center of it all, his cloak draped over one

shoulder, eyes locked on a translucent map hovering in front of him. Lines

traced the vessel's path through the upper atmosphere, its destination marked

by a glowing icon.

Behind him, the heavy

doors slid open with a hiss. Vorenth stepped in, his presence a storm of

suppressed rage. His metallic boots echoed sharply against the reinforced floor

as he approached.

"What's the point of

tracking those brats?" Vorenth growled, arms tense at his sides. "They're

inferior—weaklings chasing ghosts. They don't stand a chance."

Seraph didn't turn. His

voice was low, deliberate. "Senjuro's power is not as fragile as you believe.

He's not lacking strength—he's bound by a state he hasn't yet overcome. But

when the time comes... he will awaken."

Vorenth scoffed, stepping

closer, his tone turning accusatory. "And what makes you so sure? How do you

even know he lives there? And more importantly..." His voice

sharpened. "Why are you afraid of him?"

There was a long pause.

Then Seraph slowly turned,

his eyes glowing faintly beneath the shadow of his hood. "I've fought him

before."

Vorenth's scowl deepened,

but Seraph continued, voice cold and unwavering.

"He's not the kind of man

you underestimate. He doesn't fear death—he chooses when it

comes. Even death itself hesitates before him."

Vorenth's fists clenched.

In a sudden burst of fury, he turned and slammed his arm into the metal wall

beside him. Sparks erupted from the impact point, and the overhead lights

flickered. Consoles sputtered as an ominous surge of energy rolled off him like

a shockwave.

The room dimmed for a

heartbeat, cloaked in the aftermath of his outburst.

"I don't care how fearless

he is!" Vorenth shouted, his voice laced with barely contained rage. "He won't

find them! He won't stop us!"

Seraph remained calm,

unshaken by the outburst. He stepped forward, the faint hum of his corrupted

flux reverberating in the room. His next words were spoken like a prophecy.

"He's the flame that can

burn through any shadow."

Vorenth's expression

twisted. "What do you mean by that?"

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Seraph turned his back

once more, returning his gaze to the map. His voice dropped to a near whisper,

though it carried with eerie weight.

"You'll know when the time

comes."

For a moment, silence hung

in the room like a drawn blade.

Then, with a snarl,

Vorenth stormed out, slamming the reinforced door behind him with a force that

made the chamber tremble.

Seraph remained still, his

fingers lightly tracing the glowing flight path of the vessel on the holo-map.

"Let's see how far your

fire reaches... Senjuro."

The Ascent Vessel hummed

with a smooth descent as it pierced the veil of clouds. Below, the glowing

cityscape of Celestia came into view—an awe-inspiring expanse

of luminous towers, sky-bridges, and flux-powered transit veins running like

arteries across the floating sky-nation.

With a soft mechanical

hiss, the vessel touched down on a skyport pad near the outer ring of Lumina

Spire—the most advanced district in all of Celestia. The docking clamps

secured, and the ramp descended.

Kyrin and Senjuro stepped

out into the brilliant light of the district. The very air shimmered with

power—charged by the currents of Auralis Flux, the purest and most

potent flux in the known world. It pulsed through everything, from the roads

beneath their feet to the glowing veins along the buildings that stretched into

the heavens.

The two paused for a

moment, taking in the sight. Lumina Spire was breathtaking—an

architectural marvel of inverted towers, spiraling platforms, and floating

constructs orbiting the central flux-core. It was more than a city. It was

alive.

Kyrin gave a low whistle.

"Now this... this is on another level."

Senjuro's gaze was fixed

upward toward a skyscraper where their contact awaited. "No time to admire the

view. Let's move."

They made their way to the

designated tower—a gleaming, vertical fortress of flux-infused glass and alloy.

Inside, the lobby was quiet but pulsing with soft luminescence, a projection of

the city floating above a circular console.

An assistant greeted them

without a word, scanning their IDs through biometric flux readers. Moments

later, a door slid open behind them, revealing a high-speed lift. Within

seconds, they were whisked upward into the upper levels of the spire.

Upon reaching their floor,

they stepped into an armory unlike any they'd seen—lined with prototype

weapons, advanced armor suits, neural-enhanced helmets, and modular flux

enhancers. This was tech straight out of the Vanguard's personal vaults.

Senjuro approached a rack

of hybrid core interfaces, selecting one customized for close-quarters combat.

Kyrin gravitated toward a dual-saber set pulsing with light-blue

resonance—sleek, light, but brimming with potential.

Suddenly, Senjuro's NyxBand vibrated

on his wrist. He tapped it, and a hologram of Syvaren flickered

into view.

"I hope you've arrived

safely," Syvaren said without pleasantries. "I'm uploading your route. You'll

find a detailed map of your primary and fallback paths to the Tech Hub

Arsenal—your mission starts there."

The transmission ended as

quickly as it came, and the display on Senjuro's band expanded into a

topographic flux-map of Lumina Spire. The location glowed faintly on the

northern edge of the district.

Kyrin stepped beside him.

"Tech Hub Arsenal, huh? Sounds like our kind of place."

"Let's not waste time,"

Senjuro replied, strapping on his new gear. "We need to reach the Vaults and

secure what we came for before anyone realizes why we're really here."

The two suited up quickly.

Their armor adjusted to their vitals, syncing seamlessly with their hybrid

cores. Helmets locked in, gauntlets flickered to life, and energy blades hummed

softly at their sides. They were no longer just operatives—they were walking

arsenal units.

Before stepping out, Kyrin

looked at Senjuro with a determined nod. "Kael's counting on us."

Senjuro's eyes flared with

resolve. "Then let's make sure we don't let him down."

Together, they stepped out

of the spire and into the heart of Lumina. Neon currents twisted through the

city's translucent bridges as aerial transports passed above and below them.

With flux-charged boots and enhanced gear, they launched forward—darting across

sky-rails and gravity-lifted platforms, making their way toward the Tech Hub

Arsenal with quiet urgency.

Above them, the central

spire pulsed like a heartbeat, fed by the radiant veins of Auralis Flux.

Whatever awaited in the

Vaults... the mission had begun.

Lumina Spire pulsed

beneath their feet as Senjuro and Kyrin approached the northern quadrant of the

district, where the Tech Hub Arsenal was nestled between

towering flux conductors and layers of quantum energy grids. The air shimmered

with radiant heat signatures—this part of the city was less public, more

restricted, and guarded not by drones, but by Celestia's elite: the Sentinels

of Flux, cloaked warriors augmented by neural-link armor and Auralis-bonded

weapons.

Using stealth-mode

implants embedded in their newly acquired suits, Senjuro and Kyrin bypassed the

outer scanners and slipped into a maintenance shaft leading into the Arsenal's

understructure. A vented corridor took them into a dark access bay lit only by

the faint hum of containment fields.

As they moved forward,

Senjuro slowed suddenly, raising a hand.

"You hear that?" he

whispered.

Kyrin focused, filtering

through the sounds. Footsteps—light, but distinct—and not following a guard

pattern.

The two halted behind a

stack of flux canisters as a shadow passed into view. The figure wore a sleek

silver cloak over combat armor laced with soft gold trims, and a mask that

refracted light—almost invisible unless you looked straight at it.

Senjuro raised an eyebrow.

"That's not a Sentinel."

The figure turned as if

sensing them. In a flash, she drew twin shortblades, flux-charged with a

familiar resonance. Before Senjuro could react, she was in front of them.

"I should be asking what you're doing

here," the masked figure said, her voice sharp but composed. "This is

restricted territory, and neither of you carry Celestian Vanguard signatures."

Kyrin exhaled and held his

hands slightly open—non-threatening. "We're not here to fight. We're on a

recovery mission sanctioned by Syvaren of Neonis. We're trying to save

someone—Kael Xavier."

The woman tilted her head

at the name. A pause lingered.

Then, in a swift move, she

disengaged her blades. Her mask deactivated with a pulse of light, revealing a

face framed with dark, braided hair and striking golden eyes that shimmered

faintly with flux energy.

"I've heard of Kael," she

said. "And Syvaren."

Senjuro narrowed his eyes.

"You're Vanguard, aren't you?"

She gave a short nod.

"Formerly. Name's Aureva Lysien. I left the order after I found out

what the upper council was doing with the Auralis Flux. This Arsenal?" She

gestured to the corridor behind her. "It's a front. The real Vault lies beneath

it, hidden from even the majority of Celestia's elite."

Kyrin stepped forward,

intrigued. "You've seen it?"

"I've been inside it,"

Aureva replied. "Once. It's locked behind a tri-key flux cipher—impossible to

crack without the original signatures."

"Then help us get in,"

Senjuro said firmly. "Kael's core has been corrupted. We need pure Auralis Flux

to build a diverge contraption to pull him back."

Aureva studied them for a

long moment. "You have fire in your eyes. Both of you. That tells me you're not

here for power, or revenge. Just someone you care about."

She turned, her expression

hardening. "Then listen closely. The Vault isn't just protected by locks. The

Sentinels guarding it are trained to neutralize intruders in under sixty

seconds—and worse, someone else has been trying to get in. Someone not

from Celestia."

Senjuro's jaw tightened.

"Seraph."

Aureva gave a sharp look.

"You know him?"

"We've fought him," Kyrin

said, bitterness bleeding into his voice. "He's corrupted Kael's core and is

trying to use him as a weapon."

Aureva's face grew cold.

"Then you're already too late. He's been sending agents here for weeks. But he

hasn't breached the Vault yet. He's missing something."

"What?" Senjuro asked.

"The third key."

She pulled a data crystal

from her belt and flicked it into the air. A holographic map bloomed in front

of them—beneath the Arsenal, through layers of sealed catwalks, sat a circular

chamber marked with three keypoints and a pulsating core at the center.

"The first key lies in the

Arsenal—held in a prototype device built from Auralis-infused alloys. The

second is within the Spire Council's archives. And the third..." she hesitated,

"was stolen long ago. It belonged to a rogue Celestian who defected to Ashvein."

Senjuro and Kyrin

exchanged a look. They both knew who she meant.

"Vorenth," Kyrin muttered.

Aureva nodded. "If Seraph

gets that final key... nothing will stop him from rewriting the flux network

within the Vault."

"And turning Kael into a

living conduit," Senjuro finished.

Aureva turned toward the

inner passage, already stepping forward. "Then we better move. I can get us

into the Arsenal's secured wing. But once we take that first key, every

Sentinel in this zone will know we're here."

Senjuro nodded and readied

his weapon. "Then we make it count."

Kyrin smiled, the fire in

his eyes reigniting. "Let's give them a reason to remember us."

Together, the three

disappeared into the shadows of the Arsenal—blades sharp, hearts steady, and

time slipping through their fingers.