Server 9-Chapter 33: THE IVORY GATE

The plaza outside the Data-Hub was silent, except of the hum of the twin energy blades held by the Ivory Guards.

They stood like statues carved from white marble, blocking the entrance to the only building that mattered. Behind them, inside the Hub, Malachi’s servers were spinning up, preparing to execute fifty thousand people.

I took a step forward. My right arm hung useless at my side, the skin charred black from the train’s magnetic rail. The pain was a dull throb, buried under the cold, hungry static of the Devourer.

"Access Denied," the Ivory Guards repeated in perfect unison.

They didn’t wait for a response. They just moved.

They were fast—Level 25 fast. They blurred into motion, crossing the twenty meters between us in a heartbeat.

"Spread out!" I yelled.

I dove to the left, rolling over my good shoulder. The first Guard—Alpha—slashed the air where my head had been a second ago. "The blade passed so close the heat scorched my hair."

"Maya, take Beta!" I shouted, scrambling to my feet. "Keep him off me!"

"On it!" Maya didn’t hesitate. She dropped to one knee, her Enforcer rifle barking a three-round burst at the second Guard.

BANG-BANG-BANG.

The bullets sparked off Beta’s white armor. It didn’t penetrate, but the kinetic impact forced him to stumble. He turned his blank face toward her, raising his blade.

"Target acquired," Beta said emotionlessly. He charged at Maya.

That left Alpha. And me.

Alpha turned slowly. He didn’t run. He stalked. He knew I was injured. He could see the smoke rising from my arm.

"Subject: Elias," Alpha said. "Threat Level: Critical. Solution: Dismemberment."

He lunged towards me.

It was a thrust, aimed straight for my heart.

I didn’t have a weapon. I didn’t have a shield. I only had my left hand and a hunger that felt like a black hole in my chest.

[Skill: Network Sense]

Time seemed to slow down. I saw the energy flowing through Alpha’s suit. It wasn’t a battery; it was a reactor. A mini-fusion core embedded in his chest.

He’s not a soldier, I realized. He’s a power plant with a sword.

I moved quickly to the side to avoid a forward stab attack. The blade was a inch away from my ribs.

I grabbed his wrist with my left hand.

[Skill: Energy Siphon]

FEED.

I pulled. I didn’t try to be subtle. I ripped the energy from his suit like a starving animal tearing meat from a bone.

ZZZRT.

Alpha jerked. His white armor flickered grey.

"Error," he stated, confusion coloring his robotic tone. "Power drain detected. Rerouting..."

He slapped me with the back of his hand..

His armored fist slammed into my jaw.

CRACK.

I flew backward, crashing into a holographic display stand. The impact knocked the wind out of me. My vision blurred.

[HP: 60%]

[ENERGY: 15%] 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

"Elias!" Sarah screamed from the doorway where she was trying to hack the lock. "I can’t open it! It’s hard-coded to the Guards! Their bio-signatures are the key!"

"Of course they are," I said, spitting blood onto the pristine white pavement. "We have to kill them to open the door."

Alpha was walking toward me again. His blade hummed louder, compensating for the energy I had stolen.

"Resistance is inefficient," Alpha said, raising his sword for a killing blow.

I looked at him. I looked at the glowing blue core in his chest.

I couldn’t beat him in a sword fight. And I couldn’t overpower him with strength.

But I could overload him.

"Glitch!" I yelled into my comms. "The EMP charges! Do you have any left?"

"One!" Glitch shouted, firing his pistol at Beta to cover Maya. "But it’s small! It won’t kill a Level 25!"

"I don’t need it to kill him," I said, standing up on shaky legs. "I need it to crack his shell."

"Throw it!"

Glitch didn’t hesitate. he grabbed it from his belt and tossed it to me.

It sailed through the air, arcing toward Alpha.

Alpha’s sensors tracked it instantly. He swatted it out of the air with his blade.

SLICE.

The EMP charge was cut in half.

But it detonated on contact.

POP.

A small burst of blue static washed over Alpha. It wasn’t enough to stop him, but for one second, his force field flickered.

That was my window.

[Skill: Overcharge — Legs]

I dumped my remaining 15% energy into my leg muscles. I launched myself.

I tackled Alpha.

We hit the ground hard. I wrapped my legs around his waist, pinning his sword arm. I jammed my good hand—my left hand—directly onto his chest plate, right over the flickering core.

"Open wide," I snarled.

[Skill: Energy Siphon — Max Output]

[Mode: Invert]

I didn’t drain him. I pushed.

I took the chaotic, dirty energy I had absorbed from the train rail—the energy that was burning my own arm—and I shoved it into his pristine fusion core.

It was like pouring sludge into a Ferrari engine.

Alpha convulsed.

"Warning," his voice glitched. "System... contamination... Core... instability..."

His white armor turned black. Red, corrupted energy moved outward from my hand like vein

"DIE!" I screamed, pouring every ounce of pain, every ounce of rage into him.

BOOM.

His chest exploded.

Not a fire explosion. A data explosion. A shockwave of pure code and force blasted outward. It threw me off him. I rolled across the pavement, coming to a stop near Sarah’s feet.

Alpha lay on the ground. His chest was a smoking crater. His eyes were dark.

[BOSS DEFEATED: IVORY GUARD — ALPHA]

[XP GAINED: 5,000]

[LEVEL UP!]

[YOU ARE NOW LEVEL 15]

I lay there, gasping. My energy bar refilled instantly from the level up. The pain in my burnt arm receded slightly as the System healed me.

"Elias!" Sarah pulled me up. "One down!"

I looked across the plaza.

Maya and Glitch were in trouble.

Beta had cornered them. Maya ran out of bullets, so she’s was swinging the rifle like a bat to defend herself. Every time she hits the energy blade, sparks flew. Glitch was throwing debris, trying to distract him.

Beta raised his sword.

"Target: Maya," Beta said in a serious, controlled voice. "Termination."

"Hey!" I shouted.

Beta stopped. He turned his head slowly. He saw his fallen brother. He saw the smoking hole in Alpha’s chest.

For the first time, the machine hesitated.

"Analysis," Beta said. "Threat Level updated: Extreme."

He turned away from Maya. He turned toward me.

"Vengeance protocols initiated."

He began to run.

He was faster than Alpha. He blurred, closing the distance in seconds.

"Elias, look out!" Maya screamed.

I didn’t move. I stood in front of the locked door of the Hub.

I waited.

Ten meters. Five meters.

I raised my hand.

[Skill: Techno-Symbiosis]

I didn’t target the Guard. I targeted the door behind me.

The door was locked to the Guards’ bio-signature. Alpha was dead. But Beta was right here.

I reached into the door’s locking mechanism. I reached into Beta’s signal.

Connect.

The door sensed Beta’s approach. It sensed his ID code broadcasting loud and clear as he charged to kill me.

[Access Granted]

The massive blast doors behind me hissed open.

I dropped to the ground.

Beta couldn’t stop. His momentum carried him forward. He swung his blade at where my neck had been—and sliced through empty air.

He flew past me, straight through the open doors, into the dark lobby of the Hub.

"Now!" I yelled.

I slammed my hand on the interior control panel.

[LOCKDOWN]

The heavy blast doors slammed shut.

CRUNCH.

Beta was halfway through. The doors caught him at the waist. Hydraulic pressure—designed to stop a tank—clamped down on his white armor.

He screamed. Sparks flew as his chassis was crushed. His legs kicked wildly on our side of the door, while his torso was trapped inside.

He struggled for a moment, then became completely still

[BOSS DEFEATED: IVORY GUARD — BETA]

[XP GAINED: 5,000]

Silence fell over the plaza.

We stood there, breathing heavy in the cool night air. Two dead bosses. One broken door.

"You used him as a key," Glitch whispered, staring at the crushed legs of the robot. "That was... terrifying."

"It was necessary," I said, leaning against the wall. My right arm was still useless, but I felt stronger. Level 15.

Sarah walked up to the control panel. She stepped over Beta’s legs without looking down.

"The Hub is open," she said with a serious voice. "We have ten minutes before the Harvest begins. If we don’t stop the server, fifty thousand people die."

I nodded. I looked at Maya. She was reloading her rifle, her hands was steady. She looked older than she had this morning.

"Are we ready?" I asked.

Maya racked the slide. "Let’s go delete some files."

We stepped over the wreckage of the Guard and entered the darkness of the Data-Hub.

The lobby was cold. It was lined with rows and rows of black servers, humming with a low, menacing sound.

And in the center of the room, projected as a massive hologram, was a face I knew too well.

Malachi.

"Welcome, Elias," the hologram smiled. "You are just in time for the show."