The tunnels beneath the capital were a dark, rotting maze.
Jin dragged his bare feet across the cold, damp stone. The air down here was toxic. It smelled heavily of sulfur, stale water, and decaying meat. He breathed through his mouth. His lungs burned with every step.
His Foundation Level 3 body was incredibly fragile. He was exhausted. But he did not stop walking. A good manager does not stop when he is tired. He stops when the objective is secure.
Nyx walked silently in front of him. Her dark cloak melted into the black shadows of the tunnel.
She stopped abruptly. Jin almost bumped into her back.
Nyx turned around. She held her hand out. She held a thick, featureless mask made of dull grey iron.
"Wear this," Nyx commanded. Her voice was flat and quiet in the echoing tunnel. "We are entering the unregulated zones. Your face is a massive liability. If a low-level gang member recognizes the Seventh Prince, they will kill you and sell your corpse to your sister."
Jin took the heavy iron mask. It felt cold against his fingers.
He placed it over his face. He pulled the thick leather straps tight around the back of his head. The mask had no mouth opening. It only had two narrow slits for his eyes. It was uncomfortable and heavy.
But it was perfectly efficient. It completely erased his identity. He was no longer the Trash Prince of the Apex Empire. He was just another anonymous shadow in the underworld.
"I am ready," Jin said. His voice sounded muffled and hollow behind the thick iron.
They kept walking. The dark tunnel slowly opened up.
The silence was broken by a low, constant rumble. The smell of sulfur was replaced by the sharp scent of burning fuel and cheap alcohol. They stepped out of the narrow tunnel and onto a massive, metal walkway.
Jin looked over the metal railing.
They had reached the black market. It was a colossal underground cavern. It was entirely unregulated. It was a hostile, violent market of pure supply and demand.
Below them, thousands of criminals, smugglers, and mercenaries moved like a swarm of angry ants. Stalls made of rusted scrap metal lined the uneven dirt floor. Merchants yelled loudly. They sold stolen imperial weapons. They sold illegal, toxic beast cores. They sold human slaves chained together by the neck.
Jin analyzed the crowd. He felt no fear. He felt a strange sense of familiarity. This was just raw commerce. It was brutal and dirty, but the rules were exactly the same as Earth. Money was the only language that mattered here.
Nyx did not walk down into the crowded central market. She led Jin along the high metal walkways. They walked toward the dark, cavernous edges of the underground slum.
They approached a large, dimly lit docking bay.
A single transport ship sat in the middle of the bay. It was not a beautiful, sleek royal vessel. It was an ugly, blocky machine. It was built from dark green scrap metal and thick, blast-resistant glass. It looked like a flying iron brick. But Jin saw the massive, heavy thrusters bolted to the back. It was built for pure, raw speed.
A massive, scarred man stood in front of the boarding ramp. He wore heavy leather armor. He held a large, rusted plasma rifle. He was a smuggler. He was the owner of the ship.
Nyx walked straight up to him.
She did not negotiate. She did not say a single word. She reached into a hidden pocket inside her dark cloak. She pulled out a large, glowing blue beast core. It was a high-tier core. It held massive amounts of pure, violent Aether.
She tossed the glowing core through the air.
The smuggler caught it with his thick hand. He looked at the deep blue light. His greedy eyes widened. He tested the weight. He knew exactly how much it was worth. It was enough wealth to buy ten scrap ships.
The smuggler nodded once. He did not ask for names. He did not ask where they were going. He simply turned around and walked away into the dark shadows of the black market.
It was a clean, untraceable transaction. Jin approved.
"Board the vessel," Nyx ordered.
Jin walked up the heavy metal ramp. The inside of the transport ship was cramped and smelled like old sweat and engine grease. He walked to the front cockpit. He strapped himself into a frayed, hard leather passenger seat. He pulled the heavy metal safety harness tight across his chest.
Nyx walked in behind him. She hit a large red button on the wall. The metal boarding ramp closed with a loud, heavy slam.
She sat in the pilot's chair. Her hands flew across the complex control panels.
The massive thrusters ignited. The entire ship shook violently. Jin felt his teeth rattle in his skull. The ugly green ship lifted off the docking pad. It shot forward, flying straight toward a massive, vertical exhaust tunnel built into the cavern roof.
The ship accelerated rapidly. The G-force pressed Jin hard against the leather seat. His weak chest felt like it was being crushed by a boulder. He gritted his teeth behind his iron mask. He did not complain.
They burst out of the exhaust tunnel.
They broke through the surface level of Chimeria. The dark, starry night sky opened up above them. They were finally free of the underground maze.
The ship angled sharply upward. They were heading directly toward the upper atmosphere. They were leaving the capital planet.
Jin turned his head. He looked out the thick, cracked glass of the side viewing port. He watched the towering, glowing white bone-spires of the Apex Empire shrink beneath them. He was leaving his massive corporate inheritance behind.
Then, he noticed something wrong.
A sharp, bright light appeared in the dark sky behind them. It was a massive thruster flare.
Jin leaned closer to the glass. He focused his eyes.
A second spaceship was flying directly behind them. It was not an ugly, scrap-metal smuggler ship. It was incredibly sleek. It was plated in pristine, white bone armor. It cut through the air with terrifying speed.
Painted clearly on the side of the white hull was a massive golden crest. It was a sword piercing a dragon's skull.
Jin knew that crest. Every person in the empire knew that crest.
"We have a tail," Jin stated. His voice was completely calm. He reported the raw data. "It is an imperial pursuit vessel. It belongs to the First Prince. Kaelen's hunters found us."
Nyx looked at a small, glowing radar screen on her control panel.
"The blockade is tight," Nyx confirmed. "They are matching our speed. They are locking their targeting arrays onto our engines."
Jin calculated their odds of survival. The imperial ship was heavily armed. Their smuggler ship had no energy shields and no mounted weapons. It was just a fast brick. If the hunters fired a plasma cannon, they would turn into a ball of fire in the upper atmosphere.
"We cannot outrun them," Jin said. It was a simple fact.
Nyx did not panic. She did not accept failure.
She unbuckled her metal safety harness. She stood up from the pilot's chair. She reached out and slammed her hand onto a heavy yellow lever on the control panel. The autopilot engaged. The ship continued flying in a straight, steep line toward orbit.
Nyx walked to the back of the small cabin.
She opened a heavy metal locker bolted to the wall. The smugglers had left their personal armory behind. She reached inside. She bypassed the rusted swords and the old rifles.
She pulled out a massive, thick metal tube.
It was a heavy, shoulder-fired hand missile. It was a crude, brutal explosive weapon designed to punch through thick armor.
Nyx placed the heavy tube onto her right shoulder. She turned toward the back of the ship.
She hit the manual release switch for the rear cargo door.
The heavy metal ramp unlocked. It dropped open instantly.
The violent, freezing wind of the upper atmosphere screamed into the small cabin. Loose debris flew through the air. The noise was deafening. The ship shook wildly from the sudden drag.
Nyx did not hold onto a railing. Her Divinity Realm balance kept her perfectly anchored to the metal floor.
She walked directly to the edge of the open ramp. She stared out into the dark, roaring sky. She pointed the heavy hand missile directly at the sleek, white imperial ship flying fast behind them.
She locked the target.
Nyx pulled the trigger.