“The Hammerheart Consortium is a potent business enterprise within the Empyrean, with members stretching across almost every aspect of society. In government, the military and even the Ardent, you can find their members. The board of this organization retain the image of a family business through extreme nepotism, but while this would typically result in weakness, each member of the core Hammerheart bloodline seems to endure a baptism of fire to ensure that they are up to the tasks which they are assigned. “

—Who is Who in Interplanetary Trading, Grof Nejesej

Through the solid rock above them, Hammerheart fell like a blazing meteor.

Lava rained down around them and his burning fist struck down where Sylvas had been standing just a moment before. There was no way he could have known just where Sylvas had been standing, but somehow, he had.

How did he— Sylvas started to ask himself as he rolled across the ground only to cut himself short as he spotted Hammerheart and the glowing ball of fire that had been launched towards him.

Zipping across the space between them faster than Sylvas could blink, let alone react, the fireball would have ended him right there and then and if it weren’t for the wards Bael had placed on him, causing it to abruptly wink out. Or close enough to it that his role in the battle would have most certainly been over. He’d expected the dwarf to be furious at the near miss and what it represented, but as Sylvas pushed himself up he found the dwarf smiling and cracking his knuckles.

“Guess we’re doing it the old-fashioned way then.”

Then Hammerheart was upon Sylvas like an avalanche, letting out a loud shout as he closed.

Finishing his scramble back up to his feet, Sylvas’ first thought was to backpedal as far as he could in the constrained space, but his luck only allowed him a pair of steps before his back hit a wall. That meant that he had to dodge, leaning all of his experience fighting the dwarf distilled through Lockmind to tell him which way to go, which way had the highest likelihood of survival.

And against all odds, he made it, as the dwarf’s first punch whiffed by his nose by scant inches, searing a burning line of red right across his vision.

Unfortunately as a result of that dodge, he landed on loose sand and promptly fell, instinct screaming at him to roll, but his body simply couldn’t respond fast enough. Hammerheart’s boot took him in the ribs with enough enhanced strength to lift him right off the ground and crash into the wall again. Then, just like that he was caught, plucked from the air by the front of his vest bunched up in one of Hammerheart’s burning fists as the other pulled back, ready to deliver what Sylvas saw as a deathblow. “I’m going to enjoy this.”

“Not if I do this first.” Kaya abruptly snarled, appearing from just over the dwarf’s shoulder. As she did, Sylvas saw that her fist was encased in liquid metal, yet not made into a simple cudgel this time, but rather a blade. One that slipped cleanly through whatever protections that the other dwarf had woven into his flesh and right into one of his kidneys.

Hammerheart made a sound like a deflating balloon, then Kaya’s other bladed fist slammed into his other side. “That’s for Hot Lips, you culgh-born gratzkag!”

It was enough for the man’s grip on Sylvas to break, sending him dropping down to the ground whereupon he immediately started scurrying away. By this point Sylvas knew very well where his strength lay and it wasn’t anywhere up close to anything as hostile as Hammerheart.

Yet even so as Sylvas played for space, he was shocked to see that the dwarf still stood when by all rights he should have fallen. The attacks that Kaya had landed had been punishing in every sense of the word, enough to have sent any other recruit to the ground. But instead of doing just that, Hammerheart bellowed and spun, swinging one of his own arms around like a pendulum and knocking both of Kaya’s aside, all while tearing the blades out from his body in a spray of blood. “How many times do I have to teach you this lesson, you dumb—”

A colored sphere, oily in rainbow colors shot across the room from at high speed took the dwarf in the throat causing whatever vile thing he was about to call Kaya was cut short.

“That was for my sister!” Sylvas heard Anak shout from elsewhere as he continued to play for space away from the dwarf, and saw Kaya do the same, the liquid metal of her magic transforming back into her familiar cudgels.

Yet no sooner did the avenging fiend’s shout finish, did a loud shriek fill the air, one potent enough that it instantly caused Sylvas’s ears to burn with agony, reminding them that he’d forgotten about the rest of the dwarf’s team.

Damn it, what did I miss? Sylvas demanded as he began to rifle through his Lockmind, replaying the scattered seconds that he had missed upon Hammerheart’s arrival.

As he did, he saw snapshots of Luna, Orson, and Ironeye still on the upper floor in the middle of a shoot-out with a few of the junior recruits that Hammerheart had press-ganged into his service. At the time there were maybe half their number left, and none of them looked to be anywhere close to fighting fit, or at least enough for Sylvas to trust that his team would be able to handle them without additional help. That however left the sonic fiend who’s name Sylvas had never bothered to learn, a snapshot of memory a few seconds later telling him that he’d seen her fall through the hole in the ceiling at roughly the time that Hammerheart had kicked him against the wall.

And immediately focused her attention on the third portion of Sylvas team, which now that he knew where to look for, weren’t at all doing that well.

Turning just in time, Sylvas found himself greeted to the sight of Bael quite literally flying through the air, spinning head over heels as a blast of sonic energy struck him. But worse than just that, he saw the fiend charging after him, slowing only to send a blast of energy towards the upper floor, which promptly caused the entire building to shake. It was more than Sylvas could let go unanswered as he summoned the energy for an Arcane Arrow, the spell thankfully taking shape without issue and launching itself in her direction. From there, it crossed the distance separating them in a blink and caught the woman high in the shoulder as she ran, striking her with enough force as to send her cartwheeling heavily into the wall nearby.

Hopefully that’s helpful enough, Sylvas thought as what few seconds he had to offer the rest of the battle came to an end, courtesy of a sweltering blast of heat washing over him. Immediately he turned his attention back towards where he’d last seen Kaya and Hammerheart to see the latter shroud himself in a cloak of flames, enveloping his entire body in the same scalding fire that had only clothed his fists before.

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“That’s enough!” He shouted in a hoarse rage as he spun towards Sylvas, his eyes quite literally burning red with hate. So much if it in fact, Sylvas wondered if the man was truly still there behind them. “You…you have ruined everything! My record, my career with that stupid girl and that stupid accident, and now it is time for you to pay for all of it! My family are furious. Furious, with me! As if I did a damned thing wrong. But oh I won’t this time. Oh no, I’m going to make things right. Right as they ever could be.”

Sylvas simply stared back at the man something in his mind clicked about the dwarf, about who he truly was and what drove him to be that way. It was an understanding that hardened Sylvas’ will even further, giving him the final push for what he was about to do next.

“I’ll break you. Crush you.” The dwarf continued as he began to advance, his words causing the fires surrounding him to intensify, the rage that he was fueling them causing them to turn nearly white. “I’ll take you apart with my bare hands you worthless—”

Sylvas opened his Cold Storage directly in front of Hammerheart and promptly caused him and his words to vanish.

No, he didn’t pull the dwarf into the other plane, that would have been impossible, but what Sylvas did instead was simply let all the sand that he had packed into the place out in the form of a mighty geyser. There was no warning when it arrived, no telltale hint of an attack coming. One moment there was just him and Hammerheart in their respective pocket of battle, then the next the dwarf was slammed against the far wall by the incredible weight of what Sylvas had unleashed. But more than just brutalizing the man, the impact and the sheer quantity of the sand erupting from Sylvas’ pocket realm all but instantly turned their chamber into a cloying dust storm, prompting everyone who was still standing to cry out.

“Kaya, go help Bael!” Sylvas shouted as he saw the dwarven woman give him an incredulous look from the corner of his eye, all while shouting something that sounded like assent to his ear.

Which was a good thing, as that was all the consideration Sylvas had to offer anyone else as he saw the wall where he had pinned Hammerheart begin to burn and then turn to slag, a sign that even despite all the dwarf had endured he fight hadn’t left him yet. That was why when a shape cloaked in living fire leapt out from behind the spraying column of sand and high into the air, Sylvas was already reacting, words spilling from his mouth to close the portal to his cold storage. Then, no sooner did the shimmering scar and the torrent of sand that it spawned vanish, did Sylvas reopen it, this time aiming its emergence at the midpoint of Hammerheart’s arc as the dwarf sailed through the air.

Arriving like the fist of an angry earthen god, the renewed torrent of sand all but crushed Hammerheart into the ground as it slammed into him, the accompanying impact so great that for a second the light of white fire surrounding him vanished. Yet despite even that, the dwarf wasn’t to be denied, and again the blazing fire came back, all but setting the air aflame with its intensity.

“I…am…not…finished!” Sylvas heard Hammerheart roar from within the sands as it all but instantly turned to glass around him, creating just enough of a barrier for the image of a slowly advancing silhouette from within to appear. “I…will…break…you!”

It was enough that anyone other than Sylvas would have likely broke, the seemingly indomitable dwarf having taken injuries and weathered attacks that would have killed another soul, yet somehow remained standing. But for him, after all that he had done, after all that he had endured, the concept of faltering, of giving up when he was so close to victory didn’t even enter his mind. He simply acknowledged that he wasn’t finished yet, and moved the shimmering scar of his cold storage once more, this time taking Hammerheart from the side, and all but tearing him off of his feet.

A blow that as with all the others that followed it, the dwarf somehow managed to survive, recover from, and resume his advance, prompting Sylvas to simply do it again and again, two of the falling into a test of wills unlike any other.

I can do this, Sylvas told himself every time he closed, reopened, closed, and reopened his cold storage to blast Hammerheart with the dusty sand that he’d collected, each and every single cycle becoming easier than the last as the volume stored within decreased. Yet even with that growing ease, he felt the simple action tax the dregs, the whispers of mana left in his core. He had needed to burn through a sizeable portion of his reserves with his first attack to open the storage, and now after his dozenth reopening of the pocket realm he teetered on the verge of collapse.

Yet even so, he refused to allow himself to fall.

Hammerheart was still standing. Enore had yet to be avenged. They hadn’t yet won the Cull. So Sylvas simply couldn’t give up.

I can do this, he chanted while taking in a deep breath and cycled the pittance of mana he still had available to him, drawing it through his body and mind, readying it for another manipulation of his cold storage. Sylvas felt the rotation of the first circle as the mana passed through it, coiling around in a loop before turning to continuing on to the second. There it did the same thing, passing through his practically hollow core in a familiar feeling that Sylvas had felt countless times before.

Except this time, instead of the mana looping back gently and peacefully as it always had, he felt it take a third turn, something that all but stopped him in his tracks.

W-what? He demanded as he felt the mana shift, his momentary confusion then breaking a second later when he realized what had happened. My mana it’s…pure.

With a start Sylvas realized that he had done it. By opening and closing his cold storage over and over, he had burned away the chaotic mix of mana within his body until only a single affinity remained, his mental eye taking in the infinite darkness that was his core.

Gravity.

It was all that he needed to finish what he had started. It was all that had Sylvas had been waiting for as he grasped hold of the darkness, giving it one final push through the cycle.

And closed his third circle.

Power immediately flooded into Sylvas as the mana sealed the loop within him, every ounce of exhaustion that he’d felt up until that moment simply melting away as if it had happened to someone other than him.

I…I did it. He thought numbly, unable to believe what had just happened to him. Nor was he the only one either, for right at that moment he heard an enraged roar tear through the air, followed by the blooming presence of heat.

“No…no! I won’t let you!” Sylvas heard Hammerheart cry out, his momentarily split focus then returning just in time to see that the dwarf had not only managed to finally close with him, but had also launched a fist towards him. Yet even as he saw the blow coming, saw where the blow would land, Sylvas did nothing.

For he knew that he didn’t need to.

A fact that Hammerheart discovered when his fist connected with Sylvas’ chin and all but shattered, the dwarf’s bones bursting out through his skin as fingers and knuckles met a force they could not best. Instantly the dwarf let out a shriek of pure agony as he staggered backwards to cradle the shattered remains of his hand, the injury and the disbelief of what had happened all but stunning the man in place.

An advantage that Sylvas wasted no time in using to finally bring the fight to an end as he shifted the now pure gravity mana that filled his body, that filled his newly forged embodiment. Yet as it shifted, it did not find itself being directed into a spell as it normally would have. Rather instead Sylvas sent it into motion, travelling down through his neck and along his arm as he prepared to swing in retaliation, the power it carried intensifying again and again until his arm was fully cocked back and he spoke the last words he had to offer the man.

“Goodbye, Hammerheart.”

Then his fist struck the dwarf straight in the chest with the weight of a falling building, far more than was needed to launch him up and off his feet, through the far wall of the chamber, and into whatever lay beyond.

A truly colossal blow that several seconds later was punctuated by a loud, distant crash, followed by Vaelith’s voice sounding out.

“Exercise complete.”