With Felix guiding them, Aurora and Lucian's golems advanced through the chaotic battlefield. The platforms moved in unpredictable sequences, tilting, rotating, or outright vanishing beneath their summons' feet. Timing was everything, one wrong step and their golems would plummet into the abyss.
Aurora's stone golem leaped to the next platform, its reinforced limbs absorbing the impact. Lucian's tendril wrapped around a passing structure, using its momentum to fling itself forward, barely catching the edge before pulling itself up.
"Next one shifts left in three seconds, jump now!" Felix's voice was sharp, unwavering.
Both golems launched forward as the previous platform dropped out of existence, narrowly avoiding disaster.
Felix's own golem, despite its massive frame, moved with unexpected agility. The molten veins in its body pulsed with Lucian's light magic, each burst of power making its movements smoother, faster. It crushed smaller platforms beneath its weight, then used the debris to propel itself forward.
Just as they gained momentum, the arena changed.
The shifting sequence they had relied on shattered, platforms that should have moved stayed in place, others that had been stationary suddenly lurched at impossible angles.
"It's like the arena realized I found the pattern," Felix muttered, his frustration clear. "It completely changed."
Aurora quickly maneuvered her golem onto a stable platform, preparing to adapt, but Lucian spoke first.
"Felix!." His sharp tone was far from his usual calmness. "Take a second and be calm. Find the pattern again, like only you can."
Felix froze, it was the first time that he had ever heard Lucian raise his voice, snapping him out of his spiral.
Shutting everything else out, he forced his brain into overdrive. Analyzing. Predicting. Searching for the new sequence. The platforms were behaving differently, but they weren't random.
His eyes darted between them, his mind working faster than ever. Then, understanding flickered across his face.
"The platform up and to your right, dash across and transfer down as it passes left!" His voice snapped with renewed confidence.
The golems moved in perfect sync, obeying his every command. Step by step, leap by leap, they closed in on the final platform.
Aurora's golem made the last jump, landing solidly. Lucian's tendril coiled and launched, securing its place. Felix's molten behemoth followed, its body landing with a heavy thud.
The final platform locked into place beneath them, signaling the completion of the challenge.
Aurora let out a small breath, relieved the first challenge was complete. Turning to Felix, she opened her mouth to tell him he had done a good job… Only to freeze mid sentence.
Blood trailed down from his nose.
She dashed over to him. "Felix! Are you okay?" Grabbing his arm, she tried to check him over.
"I'm fine," Felix muttered, brushing her off. His voice was steady, but there was a slight waver in his breath. "I just pushed my mind to its limit." He wiped the blood from his nose with the back of his hand, already refocusing. "We don't have time to worry about me, we need to focus on the challenge."
Aurora hesitated for a moment but nodded, following his gaze back to the arena.
The battlefield had changed.
The platforms were gone, replaced by what looked like the ruins of a massive stone temple. Four towering pillars stood at the corners of a wide stone pad, the intricate carvings along their surfaces pulsing faintly with mana. In the center of the pad, a glowing crystal floated, a key hovering just above it.
Surrounding the area were four rounded stone constructs, drifting eerily through the air. Their slow, deliberate movements gave the unsettling impression that they were waiting for something.
At the far end of the temple ruins, a single stone pathway led toward a keyhole carved into a massive gate.
"It looks like we need to retrieve the key and use it," Lucian observed, studying the arena. His eyes flicked to the hovering key, then to the pathway leading to the keyhole. "Might as well try the easy route first, right?"
Aurora nodded and guided her golem forward, positioning it close enough for Lucian's tendril to reach. As the tendril extended toward the key, the tip began to fade, disintegrating as if an invisible force was erasing it.
"Anti-magic field," Aurora murmured. She had expected as much, but it was worth a shot.
Felix tilted his head, unfazed. "This one's still easy, though, right?" He turned to Lucian. "Pull one of those boulders down to my golem."
Lucian didn't hesitate. His tendril lashed out, wrapping around one of the floating stone spheres and dragging it down.
Felix's golem caught the boulder effortlessly. Without missing a beat, he had it hurl the rock directly at the key. The impact sent the key flying out of the anti-magic zone, tumbling freely through the air.
Felix smirked, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "See? Was that not the easy solution?" He glanced at the others, unsure if it was supposed to be that simple.
Aurora wasted no time, directing her golem to snatch up the key and move toward the keyhole. "I won't argue with a simple answer," she said with a shrug as her golem inserted the key.
The arena rumbled in response. Stone shifted, the entire structure groaning as the battlefield transformed once again.
The second stage completed.
As the dust settled, their golems stood in what looked like a massive workshop. Towering scaffolding surrounded the half-formed body of a colossal stone golem, its unfinished frame missing key components. The faint hum of dormant magic pulsed through the air, as if waiting to be activated.
"Looks like we're building this thing ourselves," Aurora said, scanning the scaffolding. She crossed her arms, thoughtful. "Good thing I've studied golem construction, not just summoning them."
"Alright then," Felix muttered, wiping the last of the blood from his nose. His grin was weaker than usual, but still there. "Let's build a golem."