The boundary between the Fourth and Fifth Oceans was not a liquid barrier. It was a conceptual wall made of Pure Definition.
As Vane Varkas's ship, the Void-Cutter, ascended from the grey, ruined remains of the Neon Heavens, the very nature of reality began to shift once more. In the lower four oceans, everything was a "Derivative"—a copy of a copy, painted with thinning pigments. But the Fifth Ocean, the Prismatic Origin, was the source. Here, the grass wasn't just green; it was the idea of green. The water wasn't just blue; it was the primordial essence of fluidity.
To enter this realm as a "Static" was theoretically impossible. The sheer "Intensity" of the existence here would typically cause a lower-ranked being to vanish instantly, like a pencil sketch being dropped into a furnace.
[Ding!]
[ENTERING ZONE: THE CELESTIAL SURFACE] [Environmental Hazard: 'Absolute Reality'.] [Effect: Your 'Definition' is being challenged. Every second spent here without a 'High-Saturation Shield' will result in -10% HP.] [Host Status: Level 90 (The Sovereign of the End).] [Notice: The 'Void' does not require definition. Environmental Hazard Nullified.]
Vane stood on the deck, his hands gripped tightly on the railing. His matte-black form was now so dense that it looked like a physical hole had been punched into the vibrant, shimmering sky of the Fifth Ocean. Beside him, the Void-Cradle containing Mía hummed with a soft, violet light. She was breathing deeply, her soul absorbing the "True Pigments" of this high realm to repair the damage done by the Guild Master.
"Master, look..." Lyra whispered, her voice trembling with awe and terror.
Above them, the "Stairway" appeared. It wasn't a set of steps, but a series of floating islands, each one a different vibrant color, spiraling upward toward a sun that didn't burn—it sang. This was the Stairway to the Palette, the only path to the High Courts where the Seven Great Painters resided.
"The saturation here..." Lyra gasped, clutching her chest. Even as a Rank 15 Void-Hound, she was struggling. "It's too much. I feel like I'm being overwritten. Like the world is trying to paint over me with 'Better' colors."
Vane turned to her, his violet eyes glowing. He reached out and tapped her forehead, leaving a smudge of absolute black.
"Don't look at the colors, Lyra," Vane commanded. "Focus on the gaps between them. The Fifth Ocean is beautiful, but it is fragile. It is a house of cards built on a foundation of light. And light... is the weakest thing in the universe because it needs a source to exist."
Vane looked up at the first island of the stairway. It was a lush, emerald forest where every leaf was a literal gemstone. Standing at the edge of the island was a reception party.
They weren't soldiers. They were Artisans.
Clad in flowing robes of silk that changed color with their heartbeat, the Artisans held brushes made of phoenix feathers and palettes made of dragon bone. These were the "Gatekeepers" of the Fifth Ocean—Rank 9 masters who didn't fight with swords, but with Composition.
"The Smudge has arrived," the lead Artisan said, his voice echoing with a melodic resonance. He didn't look angry; he looked disgusted, as if he were looking at a cockroach in a five-star gallery. "Vane Varkas. You have destroyed the Fourth Ocean. You have murdered a Guild Master. For these crimes against Aesthetics, you are sentenced to Total Erasure."
Vane didn't even slow the ship down. "Erasure? You're about a thousand levels too late for that threat."
The Artisan smiled thinly. "[Art-Physics: THE GARDEN OF ETERNAL STILLNESS]!"
With a single stroke of his brush in the air, the emerald island exploded into growth. Thousands of gemstone vines shot out from the shore, crossing the distance to Vane's ship in a heartbeat. These vines didn't just grab; they "Decorated." Everywhere they touched the ship, they turned the black wood into flowering gold and sparkling jewels. They were trying to "Fix" Vane's ship by turning it into part of the scenery.
"They are trying to turn us into a statue!" Lyra roared, her claws sparking as she slashed at the encroaching vines. "Master, the ship is losing its 'Void' signature! It's becoming too heavy with 'Detail'!"
Vane stepped forward. He didn't use a shield. He didn't use a needle. He simply took a deep breath and exhaled.
"[SOVEREIGN SKILL: THE BREATH OF EXTINCTION]!"
A wave of grey, ash-like energy spilled from Vane's mouth. As it touched the gemstone vines, the "Life" in them vanished. The vibrant emerald turned to dull grey stone. The flowering gold turned to lead. The "Art" was stripped away, leaving only the cold, dead matter underneath.
The Artisans on the shore gasped, their palettes cracking. "Our composition... it's being neutralized! He's using 'Zero-Frequency' energy!"
"My turn," Vane said.
He leaped from the ship, landing on the emerald island with the weight of a falling moon. The gemstone trees shattered into dust under his feet.
"[PIGMENT DRAIN: AREA OF EFFECT]!"
Vane didn't aim for the Artisans. He aimed for the Island.
He slammed his palms into the ground. A web of black ink spread across the emerald forest like a plague. In seconds, the vibrant green was sucked into Vane's body. The sky above the island turned from a brilliant gold to a murky, overcast grey.
[Absorbing 'True Emerald'...] [Experience Gained: +100,000 XP] [Level Up! Level 91!]
The Artisans screamed as their source of power was literally eaten from beneath them. Without the island's saturation, they were nothing. They began to "Fade," their silk robes turning to rags, their youthful faces wrinkling into old age.
"You... you monster!" the lead Artisan cried out, his brush trembling. "This island was a masterpiece that took a thousand years to paint!"
"Then you should have spent more time on the foundation," Vane said, walking through the grey dust toward the next island in the spiral.
The Encounter with the Third Painter
As Vane climbed higher, the pressure of "Reality" became almost unbearable. He was now at the midpoint of the Stairway, an island of pure, liquid silver.
Waiting for him was a figure far more dangerous than the Gatekeepers.
A woman sat on a silver bench, sketching in a book made of human skin. She wore a simple grey dress, but her eyes were two different colors—one a burning crimson, the other a freezing cobalt.
This was Lady Vermillion, the Third of the Seven Great Painters. A Rank 12 Entity. In the Fifth Ocean, "Ranks" no longer went by tens; they went by the "Quality of the Soul." A Rank 12 was a being who had reached the "Limit of Form."
"You look tired, Vane Varkas," she said, not looking up from her sketchbook.
Vane stopped ten meters away. He felt it—the Domain. Around Lady Vermillion, the air was vibrating at a frequency that made Vane's skin itch. She wasn't using light; she was using Concept.
"You're not like the others," Vane said, his shroud rippling defensively. "You don't smell like 'Perfection'. You smell like... blood."
Lady Vermillion finally looked up, a sad smile on her face. "That's because I am the Painter of War. The other six like to pretend this world is a beautiful dream. I am the one who reminds them that every color needs a sacrifice to be born. The red of the sunset? That's the blood of the fallen. The blue of the sea? That's the tears of the forgotten."
She stood up, and the silver island beneath her began to turn red.
"The Guild Master Solari was my student," she continued. "He was a boring boy. He loved the light too much. You, however... you are a fascinating 'Negative Space'. I've been waiting a long time for a Black Pigment to return to my palette."
"[ART-PHYSICS: THE MASSACRE OF THE BLANK PAGE]!"
She didn't use a brush. She simply waved her hand, and the world became a 2D sketch.
Vane felt his 3D depth being compressed. His internal organs, his bones, his very thoughts were being "Flattened" into a single layer of ink on a page. It was an attack that bypassed armor, bypassed gravity, and bypassed the Void. It was a direct attack on his Existence.
[Warning!]
[Host is being 'Layered'.] [Dimensional Integrity: 60%... 40%...] [Warning: If you become 2D, you will be 'Stored' in her book forever.]
Vane roared, his violet eyes glowing with an intensity that cracked the silver floor. He didn't try to push back with force. He used the one thing he had that no one in the Fifth Ocean possessed: The Memory of the Abyss.
"You want to turn me into a drawing?" Vane hissed, his body flickering between 2D and 3D. "Then I'll show you the one thing you can't paint."
"[SOVEREIGN SKILL: THE UNFINISHED TRAGEDY]!"
Vane didn't attack Lady Vermillion. He attacked the Page.
He reached into his own chest and pulled out a handful of "Void-Ink"—the primordial substance of the Zero Depth. He threw it at the sky.
The ink didn't spread; it erased. Wherever the black ink touched the "Sketch" of the world, a hole appeared. The 2D layer was torn apart, revealing the absolute, terrifying nothingness underneath.
Lady Vermillion's sketchbook caught fire. She screamed, her two-toned eyes bleeding. "My Domain! You're tearing the Canvas! Stop! If you tear too much, the Fifth Ocean will collapse into the Fourth!"
"Let it fall!" Vane shouted, his 3D form snapping back into place with a violent shockwave. "Let the whole sky turn grey! I'm tired of looking at your 'Masterpieces'!"
Vane lunged forward, his hand transforming into a massive, three-fingered claw of absolute shadow.
"[RENDER: THE ERASER'S GRIP]!"
He caught Lady Vermillion by the face. She tried to use her crimson eye to ignite him, but Vane simply drank the fire. He used his cobalt eye to freeze him, but Vane absorbed the cold.
"You are a 'Great Painter'?" Vane asked, his voice dripping with venom. "To me, you're just a Medium."
"[PIGMENT DRAIN: SOUL-REFINERY]!"
The Rank 12 power of Lady Vermillion began to pour into Vane. It was like drinking liquid lightning mixed with molten lead. Vane's Level began to climb at a rate the System couldn't even track.
[LEVEL UP! LEVEL 92... 95... 99!] [LIMITER BREAKING...] [Calculating Rank...] [HOST HAS REACHED THE 'ARTISAN' REALM.]
Vane dropped the grey, lifeless husk of Lady Vermillion. He stood on the ruined silver island, his aura now so powerful that the islands above him began to shake and crack.
He looked up toward the very top of the Stairway. There, sitting in a palace made of "Living Light," was the First Painter: The Architect of the Heavens.
"Six more to go," Vane whispered.
He turned back to the ship, where Lyra was watching him with wide, fearful eyes.
"Lyra," Vane said, his voice sounding like the echoes of a mountain. "Take Mía to the Grey Zone we just created. It's the only place the Five Oceans can't reach her now. I'm going to the top."
"Master... you can't face the other six alone! They are Rank 15 and above! The Architect is... he's the one who drew the System!"
Vane looked at his hands. They were no longer black; they were "Non-Existent." He was becoming a living paradox—a being that existed only to end existence.
"He drew the System?" Vane laughed, a sound that made the stars in the Fifth Ocean flicker and die. "Then I can't wait to show him my red-pen."
Vane didn't use the ship. He didn't use the stairs.
He unfolded his wings, which were now large enough to cast a shadow over the entire Fifth Ocean. With one powerful flap, he shot upward, a black comet heading straight for the Heart of Creation.
The "Abyssal Sovereign" had reached the final stage. The "Leveling" was almost over. Now, the Editing began.