The blast wave that ripped through Vault Zero was not a subtle spirit tremor. It was the brutal, bone-shaking impact of heavy-duty siege warfare.
From high above, in the circular antechamber eighty feet over their heads, came the ear-splitting, clockwork roar of steam boilers firing under forced draft. The sound echoed through the fiery bedrock of Mount Khorat like the bellowing of an enraged iron beast.
A shower of black glass dust and crushed mortar drifted down through the cold astral light, speckling the open face of the Founding Promise.
Unit Ren raised his heavy brass head, his amber sight sensor rotating rapidly as he analyzed the sound signed names shaking through the stone arches.
“Sound hum identified,” Unit Ren reported in his flat, relentless flat voice. “Twin four-inch diamond-tipped rotary drills powered by high-pressure steam boilers. Backup impact: six-ton high-pressure battering ram running at forty cycles per minute. The Grand Synod has mobilized the town building corps.”
The contract ledger ratified: Breach of Vault Zero outer edge. Assault Force: Arch-Chancellor Malakor & Void-court Cohor. Siege Machinery: Twin Steam-Driven Rotary Breaching Drills. Target Location: The Outer Seventh Adamantine Portal. Load-bearing Pushback: 3-Foot Solid Cold-Rolled Star-iron I. Estimated Time to Breach: Exactly Eleven Minutes, Forty Seco. Defensive Directive: Holding Action at the Central Obsidian.
