The hissing shriek of the dimensional storm winds outside the tower corridor grew increasingly savage, hammering against the thick eightieth-floor glass walls with a concussive force that shook the floorboards. Before the towering five-meter steel door—the sole pathway leading to the summit ritual altar room—the atmosphere abruptly fell into a tense, breathless silence.

Zulfa stood frozen, staring at the cutting-edge biometric scanner panel glowing with a fierce red light. His recent statement hanging heavy in the air regarding the absolute locking system unlockable only by the Architect’s bloodline left a crushing weight.

Captain Danu furrowed his brow, fixing a sharp gaze upon Zulfa’s palm before shifting back to the door panel. "Wait a minute, Engineer... You mean that biometric lock reads your family's genetic code? Your late father's bloodline?"

"Yes, Captain," Zulfa answered calmly, his voice ringing resolute without a trace of hesitation on his face. "This tower's defense system was engineered atop technological foundations built by my grandfather and father before the corporation hijacked it. That panel doesn't require a digital passcode; it requires biological blood verification from the Architect's direct lineage."

Naya, standing right beside Zulfa, caught her breath instantly. The girl's face bleached bone-white. She stepped forward, clamping her hands hard around Zulfa's jacket sleeve. "Zul, are you insane?! There has to be another way! We can find a detour or hack its internal network grid from the emergency console in the next room!"

Zulfa turned to look at Naya, offering a faint smile to temper the panic in the girl's eyes. He shook his head slowly. "There's no time left, Naya. Every second we waste brings that light pillar up above closer to opening the permanent gate. The city below us doesn't have a second chance."

Without waiting for further argument, Zulfa's left hand dipped into his tactical pocket, drawing out a specialized folding utility knife featuring a silver crystal blade radiating a faint energy glow.

Naya shook her head rapidly, tears suddenly pooling in the corners of her eyes. "Zul, please..."

"Trust me," Zulfa whispered gently, locking eyes straight into Naya's gaze.

With a swift, confident motion, Zulfa pressed the crystal blade against his right palm. Without a shred of hesitation, he drew a deep slash across his skin, letting the blade slice through to draw a stream of dark crimson blood that immediately slicked his fingers.

Ugh... Zulfa clenched his jaw against the sharp sting stabbing his hand's nerves.

"Zul!" Naya shrieked hysterically, lunging forward.

Before the blood could drip uselessly to the floor, Zulfa balled his hand into a fist over the biometric scanner's optical lens embedded in the giant steel wall. The warm blood of the Architect's descendant fell squarely across the scanner's glass eye.

Bzzzt—Click!

Instantly, the scanner panel—previously blazing a warning red—shifted into a blinding, electric turquoise-blue. A high-frequency mechanical chime echoed from deep within the massive steel wall, executing a genetic decoding chain reaction.

"GENETIC VERIFICATION APPROVED. WELCOME BACK, MAIN ARCHITECT," an automated computer voice chimed softly and clearly, piercing the corridor's stillness.

Kr-r-ack—clank... BOOM!

Massive electromagnetic bolts locking the five-meter steel door disengaged automatically. Slowly, the ritual altar portal slid backward into the recess of the walls, exposing the summit chamber interior long concealed from the world.

Yet at that exact second, Naya paid no mind to the opening door. She grabbed Zulfa's wounded right hand, tearing a strip of fabric from her own tattered sleeve to rapidly wrap the deep gash across his palm in a panic.

"You are completely reckless..." Naya sobbed quietly, her fingers trembling violently as she bound the clean bandage tightly to staunch Zulfa's bleeding. "Why does it always have to involve hurting yourself every time we're standing at death's door, huh?"

Zulfa stared down at Naya tending to his wound with fierce devotion. He smiled warmly, raising his left hand to stroke the top of Naya's head tenderly.

"Because I know... I have the best assistant in the world who's always ready to patch me up once the fight's over."

Naya glanced up, playfully swatting Zulfa's shoulder with her left hand while smiling through the lingering trace of her tears. "Don't crack jokes during a crisis like this, Engineer."

Captain Danu, keeping watch over the two youths from behind while racking his rifle, cleared his throat softly with a thin smile curving his lips. "Sorry to interrupt your romantic moment, but I think our host inside is getting impatient to welcome us."

Hearing Captain Danu's words, Zulfa and Naya snapped their gazes back toward the interior chamber beyond the newly opened steel portal.

Yet before they could step across the threshold—

BZZZT—WHOOSH!

A dense, lethal wave of cosmic energy pressure abruptly burst outward from within the ritual altar room, slamming into the outer corridor where they stood with the force of a thousand horsepower.

Zulfa, Naya, and Captain Danu were pitched backward several steps from the shockwave, shielding their faces with their jacket sleeves against the gale of blinding purple light.

As the glare gradually subsided and the corridor air cleared once more, the interior of the tower summit's altar room lay fully exposed before them.

At the center of the black stone altar floating above a swirling vortex of cosmic energy, the supreme master levitated slowly, ringed by thousands of floating data-light shards and purple fire pillars scorching the sky. The man turned his head slowly toward the entrance, fixing Zulfa with a cold smile and pupilless purple irises radiating the aura of a god of destruction.