Blinding purple light from the summit ritual altar cast wild, erratic reflections across the main chamber's glass walls. Before them, the supreme master levitated gracefully atop the cosmic energy vortex, fixing Zulfa's squad with a cold, condescending smirk.

Yet before Zulfa could step forward and level his rifle toward the altar, the floor beneath their boots shuddered violently. A deafening, high-frequency mechanical hum shrieked from deep beneath the floorboards, followed by a massive tremor that rattled the tower's concrete pillars hard.

Zulfa lowered his head for a fraction of a second, catching the Aether-Tech scanner display on his wrist flashing in rapid red strobes. He let out a sharp hiss, realizing a fatal tactical error they had nearly overlooked.

"Wait, Captain! Naya!" Zulfa shouted, halting Captain Danu as the veteran racked his rifle. He pointed toward the vertical access shaft leading down to the tower's lower engine room in the corner of the room. "We can't attack the altar directly right now!"

Naya turned in shock, blinking in disbelief amid the gale of cosmic storm winds. "What do you mean, Zul? The master is right in front of our eyes! If we waste time now, his ritual will be complete!"

"It's not wasting time, it's about system priority order!" Zulfa replied in a panicked yet controlled voice, his fingers pointing to the anomaly graph on his scanner display. "Even if we manage to kill the master at that altar right now, the cosmic energy surging through the entire city is fed directly by the main mystic artery valve in this tower's basement engine room! Without shutting down that central valve first, the ritual's energy will keep triggering chain explosions that will obliterate every district!"

Captain Danu gritted his teeth, glancing briefly toward the master still levitating mockingly within the energy vortex. "Damn it! So that central valve acts as the core heartbeat for the entire ritual system up here?"

"Exactly, Captain!" Zulfa stated firmly. "I have to head down to the main engine room right now to stabilize that central valve alone, while you guys hold the entrance to this room!"

"But, Zul, your right arm—which was just injured from the biometric verification—hasn't fully healed yet!" Naya protested with a trembling, anxious voice, gripping the youth's jacket sleeve tight. "That lower engine room is packed with high-density anomaly radiation! You can't go down there alone!"

Zulfa gazed deep into Naya's eyes, then slowly peeled the girl's fingers away with a reassuring, confident smile. "I don't have a choice, Naya. My engineering expertise is the only thing that can stop that machine from the inside. Trust me... once again."

Naya swallowed hard, nodding fast with tear-filled eyes. "Alright... but hurry back, Zul. Don't make me wait too long."

"Watch my six, Captain!" Zulfa called out, spinning on his heel to dive down the vertical emergency ladder toward the lower basement engine room.

Inside the vast, dimly lit main engine room, the atmosphere felt deeply oppressive. Massive crystal-wrapped pipes pulsed furiously, venting high-pressure, sulfur-scented steam. At the center of the room, a colossal artery valve ten meters in diameter spun wildly, emitting an ear-splitting mechanical screech.

Zulfa sprinted straight toward the main valve control console surrounded by sparking electrical arcs. Rummaging through his tactical pack, he hauled out a large Aether-Tech locking module, plugging its primary adapter cable straight into the machine terminal.

"Alright... let's finish this," Zulfa muttered in deep concentration, beginning to type out the emergency override code with his left hand while his bandaged right hand still throbbed with sharp pain.

Click... click... zzzzt!

Before he could punch in the third line of code, the upper floor's atmosphere deteriorated drastically.

From the engine room ceiling and the surrounding dark corridors, pitch-black shadows began bleeding out. Thousands of dimensional guardian shadow entities—translucent creatures bearing razor-sharp crystal claws—materialized in unison, hissing ferociously as they charged toward the engine room.

"Zulfa! They're coming from every direction!" Captain Danu's voice echoed through the handheld radio comms, followed by the rapid rattle of plasma rifle fire from the floor above.

"Hold them, Captain! I need three more minutes to lock down this central valve!" Zulfa shouted back, his fingers flying faster across the control console amid the billowing steam.

Upstairs, Captain Danu and Naya fought desperately at the engine room entrance threshold. Captain Danu unleashed a barrage of hybrid rifle fire, shredding the frontline of feral shadow entities leaping forward. Beside him, Naya hurled electromagnetic stun grenades back-to-back, forging a wall of artificial lightning that incinerated dozens of dimensional beasts before they could reach the descending stairs.

"Don't let a single one of them touch Zulfa!" Captain Danu snarled, sweat streaming down his temples as he reloaded his rifle single-handedly.

"Watch out, Captain! The mutant wave on the right is multiplying!" Naya panicked, shooting down a shadow mutant leaping from an overhead pipe.

Back down in the basement engine room, Zulfa blocked out the sound of the battle above. Cold sweat poured in sheets over his frame. The cosmic radiation pressure from the main valve was immense, making his lungs feel scorched with every breath.

"One more step... enter the final sync code..." Zulfa rasped, slamming the large execution button on the Aether-Tech panel with his left hand.

The device screen flashed a brilliant green: SYNCHRONIZATION 95%... 98%...

Yet right at the brink of completion, the main valve suffered a terrifying power surge.

BZZZT—KRAAK-BOOM!

The main valve system suffered a severe overload. The giant machine rejected the shutdown command, triggering a chain reaction from the Aether-Tech crystal core Zulfa had wired into it.

Before he could dodge, a high-voltage pure electrical backcurrent exploded out from the terminal console, slamming squarely into Zulfa's frame and surging straight into his wounded right arm.

"Arghhhhh—!" Zulfa shrieked in agony, pitched backward to crash hard against the engine room's concrete wall.

Blue and purple arcs of electricity crackled wildly across his body, instantly short-circuiting all motor nerve functions in Zulfa's right arm and leaving him collapsed and helpless across the steel floor with his decoder device shattered to pieces beside him.