Nox followed Wilhelm deeper into the sewers, his footsteps echoing off the wet stone walls. The avatar body moved smoothly, Volker's muscles responding perfectly to his commands. The blue coat swayed with each step, and the white mask caught the dim light from Wilhelm's torch.

  "Not much further now," Wilhelm said over his shoulder, his bandaged stump pressed against his chest. "The Sanctum awaits."

  They'd been walking for fifteen minutes, descending through increasingly ancient tunnels. The architecture changed as they went deeper. Modern concrete gave way to old brick, then to carved stone that predated the city itself.

  Nox could feel it through the avatar body. The weight of age. The sense of something vast waiting below.

  "Tell me about the ritual," Nox said, keeping his voice casual. "What exactly happens?"

  Wilhelm's remaining hand gestured enthusiastically as he walked.

  "The Rite of the Opened Way is our sacred ceremony, Doctor. Thirty years of preparation, all leading to this moment. Seven sacrifices, each positioned at a point of power within the summoning circle. When their blood is spilled and their bodies transformed, they become anchors. Living gates through which the Mother can extend Her influence into our world."

  "And I'm the seventh sacrifice."

  "You're the key sacrifice," Wilhelm corrected.

  "The others are merely fuel. But you, Doctor, you carry Her mark. You've touched Her Law. When your blood joins theirs, when your body transforms, you won't just be a gate. You'll be the doorway itself. The bridge She walks across."

  "Sounds painful."

  "Gloriously so."

  They walked in silence for another few minutes. The tunnel opened into a wider passage, and Nox could hear voices ahead. Many voices, all speaking in low reverent tones.

  They rounded a corner and the passage opened into a massive antechamber.

  Nox stopped, taking in the scene.

  There were at least a thousand cultists gathered in the space. They filled the chamber from wall to wall, all wearing dark robes, all turning to look as Wilhelm and Nox entered.

  The moment they saw Nox, they bowed.

  Not a casual bow. A full prostration, dropping to their knees and pressing their foreheads to the stone floor. A thousand people moving in perfect synchronization, the sound of their robes rustling like a wave.

  "The Chosen One approaches!" someone called out.

  "Blessed by the Mother!" another voice added.

  "He Who Carries Her Mark!"

  "The Bridge Between Worlds!"

  Nox walked forward slowly, Wilhelm at his side. The cultists remained bowed, not daring to look up. As he passed, some of them reached out to touch the hem of his blue coat, their fingers trembling.

  "They've been waiting for you," Wilhelm said softly.

  "For thirty years, we've searched for someone who could serve as the Mother's vessel. And now you're here."

  They walked for twenty minutes through the bowing crowd. Twenty minutes of passing cultists of every rank, from ordinary believers to hunters who radiated A-rank power. All of them on their knees. All of them worshipping him.

  Through his shared consciousness, Nox's main body back at the clinic was observing everything, memorizing faces, counting numbers, calculating tactical information for the military assault that would come soon.

  Very soon.

  Finally, they reached another passage. This one was guarded by six figures who didn't bow. They stood at attention, their faces visible beneath their hoods.

  The Dark Young. The seven executives of the Children of the Mother Goat.

  Well, six now. Wilhelm was already here.

  Wilhelm gestured to each of them in turn. "Doctor Nox, allow me to introduce the Dark Young. The blessed servants who will conduct tonight's ritual."

  The first stepped forward. A woman in her forties with severe features and grey eyes. When she opened her mouth to speak, Nox saw it. The second mouth, vertical down her throat, lined with lamprey teeth.

  "Sister Margarethe," she said, both mouths moving in harmony. "The Mother's voice honors us with your presence, Doctor."

  The second was a man who looked like a university professor, complete with reading glasses. But when he extended his hand for a handshake, Nox saw that his fingers were too long, jointed in too many places.

  "Brother Frederick," he said. "Your arrival fulfills prophecy, Doctor. The Mother's will be done."

  The third was a woman whose beauty was almost painful to look at. Until she smiled, and Nox saw that her teeth were filed to points, her tongue split like a snake's.

  "Sister Helena," she hissed. "Sssuch an honor to finally meet you, Chosen One."

  The fourth was a massive man, easily seven feet tall, with muscles that strained his robes. His eyes were wrong though. Goat eyes, with rectangular pupils.

  "Brother Klaus," he rumbled. "The Mother smiles upon us tonight."

  The fifth was an elderly woman who moved with disturbing grace for her age. Her hands were covered in scars that looked self-inflicted, arranged in deliberate patterns.

  "Sister Yolanda," she said, her voice cracking. "Thirty years I've waited. Thirty years of faith. And now you're here."

  The sixth was a thin man with hollow cheeks and eyes that had seen too much. When he spoke, his breath smelled like grave dirt.

  "Brother Matthias," he whispered. "The end times approach, Doctor. The Mother rises."

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Nox nodded to each of them politely, playing his role. "Thank you for the warm welcome. I'm honored to be part of something so... significant."

  They smiled at that. All of them, their faces lighting up with fanatical joy.

  "Come," Wilhelm said, gesturing deeper into the passage. "The Sanctum awaits."

  They walked together, the seven Dark Young surrounding Nox like an honor guard. The passage opened into a chamber so vast that Nox's breath caught for a moment.

  It was huge. Absolutely massive. The ceiling disappeared into darkness overhead, easily a hundred feet up. The chamber stretched out in all directions, a space large enough to hold thousands of people comfortably.

  And it was filling up fast.

  Cultists poured in through multiple entrances, taking positions around the perimeter. More and more of them, hundreds becoming thousands. All of them finding their places, all of them beginning to chant in low voices.

  In the center of the chamber was the summoning circle.

  It made every other summoning circle Nox had ever seen look like a child's drawing. This one was carved directly into the stone floor, fifty meters across, filled with what had to be centuries of dried blood. The patterns were so complex they hurt to look at directly. Seven rings nested within each other, each one containing thousands of runes and symbols that pulsed with sickly purple light.

  At seven points around the circle's edge stood stone altars. Six of them already had people chained to them. The sacrifices. They looked drugged, barely conscious, swaying in their restraints.

  The seventh altar was empty.

  Waiting for him.

  "Beautiful, isn't it?" Wilhelm asked, his voice reverent.

  "It's something," Nox agreed.

  The chamber continued to fill. Two thousand cultists now. Then three thousand. They lined the walls, filled the spaces between pillars, created a sea of dark robes that surrounded the circle completely.

  This was it. The entire cult, gathered in one place. Every member, every believer, every fanatic who'd spent years preparing for this moment.

  Perfect.

  Wilhelm gestured to the empty altar. "Your place awaits, Doctor. Whenever you're ready."

  Nox walked to the seventh altar. The other six sacrifices were already in position, their wrists and ankles bound with chains that glowed with the same purple light as the circle. He could see their faces now. Young people, probably volunteers. Probably true believers who thought being transformed into a gate for an Outer God was an honor.

  He stepped onto the altar and stood there, not bothering with the chains. Nobody tried to restrain him. He was the Chosen One. He was here willingly.

  The chanting grew louder. Three thousand voices raised in unison, speaking words that predated human language. The sound filled the chamber, echoing off stone, building and building until the air itself seemed to vibrate.

  The seven Dark Young took their positions around the circle. Wilhelm at the north point, Margarethe at the south, the others at the cardinal directions between. They raised their arms, their voices joining the chant.

  The summoning circle flared to life.

  Purple and black light erupted from the carved lines, shooting upward in pillars that reached toward the ceiling. The runes began to rotate, spinning faster and faster, creating a vortex of eldritch power that made Nox's teeth ache.

  And then the sound started.

  Goat cries. Thousands of them. Bleating and screaming in tones that no natural goat could produce. The sound came from the cultists themselves, their throats producing noises that shouldn't have been possible for human vocal cords.

  The ritual had begun.

  Wilhelm stepped forward, pulling a curved dagger from his robes. The blade looked ancient, stained dark with old blood. He approached the first sacrifice, a young man who stared at the blade with dilated pupils and a blissful smile.

  Wilhelm raised the dagger and brought it down, plunging it into the young man's chest.

  The sacrifice's scream cut through the goat cries. His body convulsed, back arching, bones cracking and reshaping. His skin split open as something pushed out from inside. Tentacles. Dozens of them, black and writhing, each one tipped with a mouth full of teeth. His legs fused together, becoming a trunk of twisted flesh. His head split open like a flower, revealing layers of eyes and more mouths, all of them screaming in harmony.

  He had become the thing. A Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath. A walking nightmare of tentacles and mouths and flesh that defied description.

  Wilhelm moved to the second sacrifice. The dagger fell again. Another transformation, another scream, another body twisted into something that shouldn't exist.

  Then the third. The fourth. The fifth. The sixth.

  Six Dark Young now stood at their altars, their tentacles writhing, their mouths crying out in voices that mixed with the goat sounds filling the chamber.

  Wilhelm turned to Nox, the dagger dripping with blood. His face was split in a smile of pure fanatical ecstasy.

  "Are you ready, Doctor?" Wilhelm asked, his voice trembling with emotion.

  "Are you ready to become the bridge? To feel the Mother's touch? To transcend this mortal form and become something glorious?"

  Nox looked at him. Then he started laughing.

  Not a polite chuckle. Not a nervous laugh. A full, manic, completely unhinged laugh that echoed through the chamber and cut through the chanting.

  "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

  Wilhelm's smile faltered. "Doctor?"

  Nox ripped open his blue coat and shirt, exposing his chest.

  There, embedded directly into the avatar's sternum, fused with bone and muscle and glowing with internal fire, was a massive ember-colored stone. The Fire Titan's heart. The A-rank monster Part that from the boss that Varyn bought. The same core he'd spent forty-three minutes of screaming agony grafting into the avatar body in his clinic's grafting room.

  And thanks to the grafting room's critical success rate, the A-rank core had evolved. Upgraded. Transformed into something far more dangerous.

  An S-rank heart.

  It pulsed with heat, casting orange light across the ritual chamber.

  Wilhelm's eyes went wide. "What... what the fuck is that?"

  Nox's laughter got louder. "HAHAHAHAHAHA! SURPRISE, MOTHERFUCKER!"

  The Fire Titan's heart began to glow brighter. The S-rank skill activated.

  Pride of the Titan. Rank: S

  Type: Last Stand / Self-Destruct

  When the Fire Titan is about to fall, it refuses to surrender. It ignites its core and turns its entire body into a miniature sun. After a short charge, it explodes with nuclear-level force, erasing everything within several kilometers.

  Effects: - Instant vaporization at the center

  - Massive shockwave

  - Leaves behind a crater of molten glass

  - The more injured and enraged the Titan is, the stronger the explosion

  Cost: The user dies.

  "A titan does not kneel. If I fall... you fall with me."

  Wilhelm's face went from ecstatic to panicked in half a second. "NO! STOP! WHAT ARE YOU—"

  The heart pulsed, and the temperature in the chamber spiked. The air itself began to shimmer with heat. The cultists' chanting faltered as they felt it, the massive surge of power building in Nox's chest.

  "NO NO NO NO NO!" Wilhelm screamed, raising the dagger. He lunged forward and plunged it into Nox's throat, the blade sinking deep, severing vocal cords and arteries.

  Blood sprayed, but Nox kept laughing. With what was left of his vocal cords, with blood pouring from his neck, he laughed like a madman.

  He reached up and ripped the white mask from his face, throwing it as far as he could. It clattered across the stone floor, rolling to a stop near the edge of the circle.

  The Fire Titan's heart was glowing now. Actually glowing, bright enough to light up the entire chamber, bright enough that cultists shielded their eyes.

  The temperature continued to rise. Stone began to crack from the heat. The air wavered like summer asphalt.

  "STOP IT!" Wilhelm was screaming now, stabbing the dagger into Nox's chest over and over, trying desperately to damage the core, to stop what was coming.

  "STOP IT! YOU'LL KILL US ALL!"

  Nox's body was dying. Blood poured from a dozen wounds. His avatar's biology was shutting down, organs failing, consciousness fading.

  But he had just enough left for one last sentence.

  With blood bubbling from his ruined throat, with his vision going dark, with three thousand horrified cultists staring at him, Nox raised both arms triumphantly and screamed his final words.

  "GLORY TO THE HANDSOME DOCTOR!"

  The Fire Titan's heart detonated.

  BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!