The cursed jewel provided most of the heart’s power and the ability to still function despite normally catastrophic damage. The jewel was situated in the pupil of the eye which was right above the sword’s blade, the heart must have shifted to avoid having the jewel destroyed. I leaned down and inspected the sword's hilt for any identifying markings and found a small triangular outline right above it but the rust obscured it. This wasn’t a normal rust mind you, it was induced by the jewel in an attempt to begin repairing itself and restore functionality.

In a few more decades the sword should become weak enough for the gears to breakthrough, good for the heart, not good for anyone else. Due to the sword piercing the demon core, a very important component located near the center, the heart couldn’t perform a complete purging of the sword for fear of damaging the core any further. So it could only very slowly erode the sword, and telling from the quality of it, it probably has taken centuries to get this far. I did not want to deal with a flesh sentry right after waking up so I needed to complete the century-long unfinished job.

I retrieved my dagger, coated it with magic, and carefully aligned it before slamming it down at the jewel. A crisp ting echoed throughout the room as my dagger struck true and the grinding stopped. Despite my powerful strike the dagger only barely pierced through it, but I was not aiming to destroy the jewel, only suppress it, my dagger is not a normal blade after all. Now that the jewel was being suppressed I could remove its connection without the preventive measures activating and giving me difficulty.

I traced the edges of the jewel to finding a mana line. Once I located it I raised a claw and slammed it down, easily piercing the metal and significantly weakening the mana flow. The components inside started to frantically startup but were unable to perform at peak capacity and soon started to slow to a crawl. I quickly pierced another claw on the other side and started to pull the jewel until the magic tether dislodged and it popped out.

Once the jewel was removed the heart fell silent, but it wasn’t dead yet. I started to patiently dissemble the heart peace by peace. It doesn’t look like it but it has over two hundred thousand moving pieces. I worked quickly but it still took almost four hours to complete. Now for the last piece, the demon core. I carefully grabbed the sphere around the size of a human head and carefully removed the sword tip from it, I needed to be very careful because a single slip-up could cause a nuclear explosion. Once the sword popped out a brilliant light shone through the gap.

I grabbed both sides of the gap and used magic to create a fracture around the outer layer. It split apart to reveal a smaller sphere but unlike the silver of the outer layer, this was pitch black. A small nick was visible on the side the sword struck but the rest was perfectly smooth. I placed both hands on each side of the sphere and started rapidly absorbing the stored magic. Due to the abundance of it, I only finished absorbing it after a couple of hours.

Once the stored magic was absent the sphere became clear and revealed a dizzying number of lines inside. After observing it for a second I determined it was a reused generation three model so it probably fell during the end of the killing fields, I could tell by rough lines and makeshift updates. The third generation of flesh sentries was mass-produced during the battle of hell’s reach, but that doesn’t make them any less dangerous. After gazing at it nostalgically for a second I lifted it before smashing it down, causing it to shatter into dust, I didn’t need anyone getting any ideas about it after all.

I got up and grabbed the jewel that still had my dagger stuck in it, I reached into my cloak and retrieved the curse doll, and placed it on the jewel. The doll’s tendrils reached out and engulfed the stone and I grabbed my dagger. The demon core could be considered the brain, due to it containing the semi-consciousness of the sentry, and the cursed jewel could be considered the heart because it powered the whole entity by using a form of high necromancy to control the organic matter. Though I could have kept the core it would have done me no good since it was already fully programmed to do a certain thing, destroy, but the heart on the other hand could be refined into something else.

I yawned and looked down at the mess of gears and hoses below me, I might as well destroy them even though it’s almost impossible to put together again, I didn’t survive the killing fields being careless after all. I waved my hand and a pitch-black flame erupted up consuming the gears and after a second there was nothing but a puddle of metal left. I inspected it for a second before nodding and turning around, it looks like my work here is done.

As I was returning to the entrance I suddenly felt the Murolok’s connection with me sever, but before the connection was completely gone I caught sight of a hooded individual, it seems I was not alone. I wasn’t quite expecting for the Murolok to be dispatched instantly but I still had a precaution for it. A cruel smile emerged on my face as I sensed the newly placed mark heading down the left hall, it’s time for a little hunt.