Bullets tore through the heavy air of the Prodigium vault, chipping away at the ancient stone pillars and sending clouds of grey dust into the bright floodlights. High-caliber rounds whistled past Anna’s ears, answered by the rhythmic, deafening roar of tactical shotguns. John Wick’s contacts had established a defensive perimeter near the entrance, their dark tactical armor smeared with plaster and soot. John Wick himself moved like a machine, his customized Glock barked in rapid pairs as he dropped three mercenaries trying to flank the mercury pool. Beside him, John Marston worked the lever of his repeater with blinding, instinctual speed. Each crack of Marston's rifle ended with a heavy thud of a body hitting the concrete floor. Arthur Morgan grunted, reloading his double-barrel shotgun with bloody fingers before leaning out from behind a fallen steel girder. He unleashed a blast that tore through the chest of an approaching shock trooper, sending the man flying backward. Mary Linton stood right behind him, her hands steady on a bolt-action rifle, picking off stragglers with cold, calculated precision. Flames and kinetic energy rocked the chamber as the White Suit Man’s acolytes pushed forward with supernatural strength. These were not mere mercenaries; their eyes glowed with a sick, yellow haze, their bodies twitching with dark magic. They crawled along the walls and vaulted over barriers with terrifying agility. Obi-Wan Kenobi’s blue lightsaber hummed loudly, a brilliant circle of light in the dim vault. He deflected a hail of automatic gunfire back into the chest of an advancing heavy gunner, his face a mask of calm, meditative focus. Every movement was precise, economical, and perfectly defensive. Anakin Skywalker fought with a completely different energy. His blue blade was a streak of pure violence, cutting through weapons, armor, and flesh with terrifying speed. He leapt into the center of a mercenary squad, his lightsaber spinning in a deadly arc that left nothing but severed metal and smoking armor in his wake. Across the chaotic chamber, the White Suit Man stood near the edge of the deep mercury pool. His tailored suit remained impossibly clean, untouched by the blood and plaster rain. He watched the carnage with a thin, mocking smile, his dark eyes locked onto Anna. Anna gripped her tactical katana, her knuckles turning white. The pale gold light of Ma'at pulsed along the flat of her blade, vibrating against her palms. She did not wait for him to move. Sprinting across the cracked stone floor, she channeled her power into her legs, launching herself over a pile of debris. She brought her katana down in a devastating vertical strike meant to cleave him in two. The air screamed around her blade. White Suit Man did not draw a weapon. He simply waited until the glowing edge was inches from his forehead before his body blurred. Metal screeched against stone as Anna's blade struck empty air, leaving a deep gouge in the floor. She had overcommitted, her momentum carrying her forward. Her eyes widened as she realized she was hurtling directly over the lip of the deep, toxic mercury pool. Gravity lost its grip on her for a fraction of a second as she stared down into the shimmering, silver liquid. It was a deathtrap, designed to encase and suffocate an immortal forever. She could not stop her forward motion. Anakin saw her fall. He reacted instantly, thrusting his hand forward with his fingers clawed in desperation. A heavy wave of invisible energy slammed into Anna’s waist, halting her descent mid-air. The unseen force yanked her backward with violent speed, dragging her across the stone floor away from the ledge. She landed hard on her shoulder, rolling to her feet immediately, her chest heaving as she gasped for air. She locked eyes with Anakin, giving him a single, tight nod of gratitude. "Start the ritual!" Obi-Wan shouted over the roar of gunfire, his lightsaber clashing against a dark-infused blade wielded by the White Suit Man. Anna scrambled to the edge of the containment console, her fingers flying over the modern interface while her voice began to chant the ancient, guttural words of Ma'at. The magic tasted like copper on her tongue. Glowing glyphs began to spark along the edges of the mercury pool, casting a bright gold luminescence across the silver liquid. White Suit Man hissed, realizing what she was doing. He tried to rush her, but Obi-Wan and Anakin intercepted him together. Blue met dark energy as the two Jedi synchronized their strikes. Obi-Wan pressed forward with defensive stabs, keeping the entity occupied, while Anakin unleashed a barrage of heavy, overhead strikes that forced the creature back. But the entity was incredibly strong, catching Anakin’s glowing blade between his bare, shadow-wrapped palms. The smell of burning flesh and ozone filled the air as the White Suit Man grinned, slowly pushing Anakin's lightsaber back toward the young Jedi's chest. Anger bubbled up inside Anakin, hot and uncontrollable. He saw the lives of everyone in the room hanging in the balance, threatened by this ancient parasite. Yellow fire flared in Anakin's eyes, the sulfurous glow of the Sith overriding his blue gaze. He did not fight the darkness this time; he grabbed it and molded it into raw, crushing power. With a guttural roar, Anakin unleashed a massive telekinetic blast. The sheer force of the push shattered the concrete beneath their feet and sent the White Suit Man flying through the air, crashing hard against the central pillar. A blinding gold light erupted from the mercury pool as Anna finished the final incantation of the ritual. The liquid metal began to churn and rise like a living wave. Anna seized the moment of the entity's disorientation. She leapt forward, her katana blazing with the pure, unfiltered Light of Ma'at, driving the blade straight through the White Suit Man's chest. His eyes widened in genuine shock as the gold light burned him from the inside out. Anna twisted the blade, using his own momentum to pitch him backward into the swirling, glowing mercury. Liquid metal swallowed him instantly, the surface bubbling furiously as the containment runes locked into place, sealing the pool shut with a heavy, metallic hiss. Silence fell over the chamber, broken only by the heavy breathing of the survivors and the crackle of dying fires. Anakin stood panting, the yellow fading from his eyes as he looked down at his trembling, leather-gloved hand. Suddenly, a deep, rhythmic thumping echoed from beneath the sealed pool, and the gold runes began to turn a violent, bleeding red.

Chapter 14: The Convergence of Blades