High above the Rifted Star‑trail Plain, the Grey‑Robes Council's Ring of Knowledge hovered like a colossal skeletal compass. Twelve stone towers descended bone‑chains into the newly green grass, anchoring the floating city at last. When Chen Yuan pressed his mechanical arm against a chain link, the storm‑runes on his grafted cogs resonated with the spirit‑flames atop each spire—skeletal runes once tainted now visibly cleansed before his eyes.
"Matilda's turned a sky‑castle into a grounded fortress," he mused, eyeing the newly restored storm‑rune bas‑reliefs on the towers. His gears clicked in satisfaction. "Patriarch, your disciples have taste—at least they know to seal skeletons against decay." The pendant at his chest trembled—a silent shrug from the ancient cultivator's remnant.
Matilda's bone‑rooted wheelchair glided beside him, her silver visors flickering jade light from the pendant.
"Chen Yuan, the final legacy of Azure Bone lies in the central Spire of Observation," she said. "But to unlock it, you must resonate all thirteen jade‑slip fragments—how many have you gathered?"
"Nine." Chen Yuan displayed his open palm—nine of the thirteen storm‑runes glowed gold. "The last three must link to the Council itself, the Starborn's relic, and…" He glanced to Selene, whose reassembled mask pointed toward the tower's roots. "…the Custodian‑skeletons here."
Old Mo suddenly emerged from the caravan's shadow, clutching a magic‑path jade slip dredged from the Abyssal depths.
"Back when the Patriarch hid the core, he split the legacy in three—into the Ring's guardians, a Starborn artifact, and Iron Fortress's power‑core. Iron Fortress's shards are active; next…" He tapped a skeletal relief at the spire's base, "…only these bone‑wardens hold the final fragment."
Selene pressed her temple—her maskoglyph flickered, projecting star‑trail data.
"They're awakening—bearing residual Abyssal essence!"
Bone‑Vein Resonance flared: the skeletons beneath the spire roots crawled to life, each Custodian's ribs etched in reverse storm‑runes—a maladapted magic‑path seal from the Abyss. Chen Yuan's mechanical arms whirred into chainsaw‑mode, the storm‑rune teeth slicing each rising skeleton and re‑nailing them to the earth.
"System—no, archive," he smirked, cleaving open a Custodian's chest to reveal half a blood‑stained jade fragment. "Had I known the key to the legacy was ripping bones, I'd have brought lubricant." The pendant trembled in protest at his violent approach.
In the central Spire's Astronomer's Hall lay heaps of decaying parchments. Matilda plucked floating jade slips from the air—they flickered with Azure Bone's spectral image.
"These are the Patriarch's final instruction: the 'Nine Transformations of Reverse‑Entropy,' capable of converting any Cthulhu‑entity's chaos‑core into pure astral primal," she explained. Then her silver visor cracked, revealing a storm‑rune‑etched artificial eye. "But the final transformation… demands you bear the backlash of resonating thirteen fragments at once."
Lilith's shadow‑blade swept the parchments—one incantation caught her eye.
"'The Key's Price'—with each fragment activated, the host's flesh converts toward magic‑path primal. Chen Yuan, your mechanical arm and bone‑scales… is that the price paid?"
"Otherwise why would a normal student become half‑machine, half‑skeleton?" he laughed, flexing his metal fingers oozing golden ichor. "Better than becoming a tentacled monstrosity, I suppose."
Without warning, the hall's dome cracked open. Twelve Custodian skeletons dropped from above, their jointed ribs forming massive chains aimed at the pendant on Chen Yuan's chest. Old Mo hurled the Astral Anchor to stabilize the space while Nika's custom bone‑cannons unfolded from the caravan, firing mechanist‑runed, Blood‑Death‑charged rounds.
"Selene—pinpoint the Chief Custodian's soul with your mask!" Chen Yuan roared, grappling the nearest warden. He found in its rib‑cage his father's hair—proof the Patriarch had used his own disciples' bones as the final defense.
Matilda's artificer‑eye glimmered with sorrow behind the floating slips:
"To keep chaos at bay, the Patriarch bound thirteen disciples' souls into these fragments— their skeletons became the Ring's guardians."
Chen Yuan's Astral‑Trail Perception locked on thirteen attack vectors. He had an idea: he arranged his nine fragments on a star‑map line.
The Custodian skeletons froze. Storm‑runes lit along their ribs—flashing memories of the young disciples who'd willingly sacrificed themselves to protect the primal legacy.
"I'm sorry it took me so long to bring you home." Chen Yuan slid each fragment into the pendant. One by one, the guardians dissolved into astral‑dust, fusing into his mechanical arm. "Patriarch—your disciples were gentler than you ever were. No one forced me to rip up bones."
When the thirteenth fragment clicked home, the hall's floor glowed with a complete astral star‑map—thirteen storm‑runes blazing in unison. Chen Yuan felt something awaken deep in his mind: the full remnant consciousness of Azure Bone, and with it the Patriarch's final hope for this world.
"Now for the ultimate challenge." Matilda pointed to a black expanse at the map's center. "The 'No‑Return Land'—the convergence of chaos‑primal's currents. Only by aligning all thirteen fragments can you open the portal."
Lilith gripped Chen Yuan's wrist, her silver eyes reflecting his mechanical‑flesh profile.
"Your body may not survive another primal backlash. Matilda—any remedy?"
"None," Matilda admitted. Chen Yuan examined the storm‑runes creeping up his neck.
"Ever since I first touched that pendant, I knew the cost. But still…" He tapped his telescoping metal fingers, "Better to become machine than have the system tell me my entire journey was an illusion."
Old Mo rummaged in a chest, producing a gear‑shaped talisman—the very first given him by the Patriarch.
"This was his pocket‑watch, stabilizing flesh‑primal balance temporarily. But each use accelerates the mech‑bone fusion."
"Perfect," Chen Yuan chuckled. "I've wanted to see if these arms could fire bone‑arrows anyway." He set the talisman over his heart; its cogs spun and chimed in harmony with the pendant. "Selene—where's the No‑Return Land portal?"
"Among the ruin‑towers of the Shattered Star Plains," she replied. Her mask projected the location—but it's now a vortex of pure chaos‑primal.
"Pfft—at least Old Mo's caravan has GPS." Chen Yuan patted the wanderer's shoulder; Old Mo chanted softly before a skeletal relief. "And besides, Earth souls love finding bugs in the system—like charging mech‑arms with astral‑energy or brewing coffee with Blood‑Death Qi."
Outside the hall, a single wildflower bloomed on fresh grass—unscarred by watching eyes. Chen Yuan puckered the pendant at his chest, aware this was not the end but the true beginning. As he and his companions boarded the caravan, the wheeled bones clattering beneath them, the cadence of mech‑arm joints was crystal‑clear in the silent dawn—the footsteps of a magic‑path cultivator, and the first step of the Cthulhu World's rebirth.
"System—no, pendant," he whispered, watching the Astral Core's light entwine with the rune‑etched jade. "Next time we unlock a legacy, give me a progress bar. I'd rather face ten Barû than rip open another Custodian's ribs—especially when their eyes still hold the master's memory."
The pendant vibrated with a distant, knowing laughter from the Patriarch's spirit. Chen Yuan looked up at the clearing sky—star‑trails weaving through storm‑runes overhead. He understood now: the path of the magic‑path cultivator was not merely rebellion, but restoration—using Earth‑born cunning, indomitable resilience, and astral clarity to forge an unimaginable future for the Cthulhu World.