[ The Inverse Pyramid - The Tip ]
Kai and Nyra hit the stone surface hard.
They were standing on a solid walkway, but their eyes screamed that they were hanging upside down.
Above their heads—which was technically the desert floor—the triangular gate they had fallen through glowed like a distant, dying star.
Below them, stretching into the vast interior of the pyramid, was an endless abyss of floating ruins.
"We made it," Nyra gasped, frantically checking her limbs.
"We didn't die."
She looked over at Kai. He hadn't moved a muscle since they landed.
He was collapsed on one knee, his face deathly pale, a cold sweat beading on his forehead.
"Kai?" Nyra asked, her voice trembling.
"What do we do now?"
Kai tried to stand, but his muscles violently locked up. His joints felt like rusted gears grinding against each other.
"I can't," Kai gritted out through clenched teeth.
"Overuse penalty."
"What?"
"Using [ZERO KELVIN] on a micro-perception level... manipulating millions of moisture particles individually... it fried my nerve endings," Kai whispered, his breath ragged.
"My body is in complete thermal shock. I can't move for a while."
Nyra's face softened with sympathy. She knelt beside him, hurriedly opening her bag.
"Here, drink some water. You look completely dehydrated."
She unscrewed the cap of her water bottle and tipped it forward.
Splash.
The water didn't pour down into Kai's mouth.
Instead, the liquid globules floated upwards, drifting toward the "ceiling" like weightless bubbles.
They rose higher and higher until they splattered against a floating stone block fifty feet above their heads.
Nyra and Kai watched the water completely defy physics in stunned silence.
"Okay," Nyra whispered, staring at the empty plastic bottle.
"That's... problematic."
"Not anti-gravity… center shifted… it's pulling toward the tip…" Kai analyzed, forcing his Developer brain to compile the logic even as his body failed him.
"So if we jump too high..." Nyra trailed off, staring into the terrifying abyss above them.
"We fall into the sky," Kai finished coldly. "And we don't stop falling until we hit the atmosphere."
Nyra swallowed hard.
"I'll... I'll go scout ahead. Just a few meters. Maybe I can find a safe spot while your system reboots."
"Be careful," Kai warned, his eyes tracking the floating ruins.
"Don't trust your eyes in here."
After Nyra had gone, Kai tried to move his arm and failed again.
Suddenly, a faint sound echoed from the floating ruins.
He forced his brain to ignore it.
For the first time since entering the Pyramid, Kai had no move to calculate. No variable to manipulate.
He was simply… stuck.
In the deepest part of the darkness, something watched.
As Nyra searched for clues, the floating ruins trembled for a split second—as if something ancient deep below had acknowledged her presence.
The Pyramid did not welcome visitors.
It assessed them.
[Outside the Pyramid- Security Perimeter ]
The thermodynamic sandstorm had vanished just as quickly as it appeared, leaving the Endless Company's security team in complete chaos.
"Sir!" a guard shouted, sprinting to the command tent.
"The Super Cops are here. They've breached the outer perimeter."
"What?" The Head of Security (H.O.S.) slammed his tablet down onto the tactical table.
"Why now?"
He aggressively adjusted his uniform and marched outside.
A convoy of heavily armored police vehicles had stopped directly at the gate.
A Senior Cop stood at the front, flanked by armed officers.
"We require your immediate cooperation," the Senior Cop stated firmly.
"We are investigating the anomaly."
The H.O.S. sneered, crossing his massive arms.
He was a Level 40 Tank class, employed directly by the Endless Company. To him, cops were just glorified civilians with badges.
"With whose permission?" the H.O.S. asked arrogantly.
"This is private property of Endless. Unless you have a warrant signed directly by the CEO, get lost."
"We have orders from the top," the Senior Cop insisted, not backing down.
"I am the top here!" the H.O.S. roared, poking a massive finger into the cop's chest armor.
"I answer only to the Board. You think a badge scares me?"
Clap.
Clap.
Clap.
A slow, rhythmic applause echoed from the black luxury sedan idling behind the police line.
The rear door clicked open. Vrisha stepped out.
He wore his beige raincoat loosely, his signature sun-shaped earring catching the dying desert light.
He was clapping slowly, a devious, mocking smile plastered across his face.
The H.O.S. frowned, his sheer bulk making him overconfident.
"Who is this clown? Is this a circus?"
The police officers instantly went deadly silent. They lowered their heads in absolute, instinctual fear.
"A clown?" Vrisha chuckled, the low sound vibrating unnaturally in the air.
"That's a new one."
Behind the H.O.S., his own lieutenants began to whisper frantically.
"Sir... that's Vrisha."
"Shut up! Don't look directly at him."
"I heard he was offered the 7th Seat of the Strongest Hunters."
"Yeah, and he rejected it because he said the pay was 'boring'."
The H.O.S. heard the whispers.
His arrogance faltered for a fraction of a second, but his Tank-class pride wouldn't let him back down. He looked at Vrisha's lanky frame and messy suit.
"He's the 7th Strongest?" The H.O.S. scoffed, trying to regain control of the perimeter.
"Are you kidding me? This guy looks like a twig. One punch and he'd snap in half."
Silence.
Absolute, silence.
Then, Vrisha laughed.
"AHAHAHA!"
It was a loud, hysterical burst of laughter that echoed across the dunes.
"A twig! Oh, that is rich!"
The atmosphere instantly turned heavy. The sunlight itself seemed to dim, as if afraid to shine on him.
The H.O.S. felt a cold bead of sweat trickle down his spine. His high-level survival instincts were suddenly screaming at him to run.
"Why stop?" Vrisha asked.
Suddenly, his face was mere inches from the H.O.S.'s face. The smile was completely gone. His eyes were empty, solar voids.
"Laugh, man. I thought it was funny."
The H.O.S. stiffened. His massive hands began to shake uncontrollably.
"I..."
"I told you to laugh."
Vrisha gently placed a single hand on the massive man's shoulder.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: SOLAR ECLIPSE (MENTAL VOID)]
Snap.
To the outside world, the H.O.S. just stood there, his eyes wide and unblinking.
But inside his mind, the physical world violently vanished.
[The Void]
The H.O.S. was floating in absolute darkness. No sound. No light. No gravity.
"Where am I?" he shouted, his voice swallowed by nothingness.
"Guards! Attack!"
No answer.
At first, he counted his breaths.
Then he lost count.
The silence was deafening.
"Anyone? Is this a trick?"
His heartbeat raced in his ears.
Then he forgot what he was counting.
"Please! Let me out! I'll pay you!"
Three days passed.
The darkness began to eat his mind. He couldn't remember his own name. He couldn't remember his mother's face. He was completely alone in the endless universe.
"Someone... please kill me..." he wept into the void, his sanity fracturing.
"My mind is breaking..."
As he spoke, real water began to fall from his vacant eyes. Thick saliva flooded out of his mouth, dripping onto the desert sand.
As Time rotted.
[Reality - 5 Seconds Later]
The H.O.S. collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut. Foam dripped from his mouth.
His eyes rolled back into his skull, staring at a horror only he could see.
The Endless security guards immediately drew their weapons, panic erupting across the camp.
"Attack!"
"Calm down," Vrisha said soothingly, raising a single hand.
He smiled down at the broken, foaming man.
"He just needed a timeout to think about his manners."
Vrisha turned his gaze to the trembling lieutenant.
"Now. Explain exactly what happened here."
The lieutenant, as pale as a sheet, dropped his gun into the sand.
"S-Sir! There was a sandstorm! An intruder used it to bypass the gate sensors!"
"A sandstorm?" Vrisha's eyes lit up with genuine amusement.
"A sandstorm that listens to someone… interesting," he murmured.
He walked past the broken gate toward the Pyramid entrance, the Senior Cop trailing nervously behind him.
"Sir," the Cop warned, checking the sky.
"It's getting dark. The desert night creates heavy mana interference."
Vrisha stopped.
He looked up at the darkening twilight sky, then back at the ominous inverted triangle hovering above them.
He could sense the erratic, glitching power inside.
"True," Vrisha murmured, slipping his hands into his pockets.
"I don't feel like working overtime today."
He turned his back on the Pyramid and walked toward his car. For a brief second, the smile didn't return.
"We go in tomorrow. Stories are better when the protagonist believes he is ahead."
Before getting into the vehicle, Vrisha gazed back at the hovering black structure one last time. His eyes narrowed.
Something inside the Pyramid did not feel like prey.