The transition wasn't a teleport; it was a violent atmospheric reentry.
The 1st Realm shattered into a billion white pixels behind them, and for a moment, Alpha-6 was suspended in the Void-Between. Then, gravity returned with a vengeance.
[LOCATION: THE 2ND REALM — THE VERDANT SPIRE]
[ALTITUDE: 50,000 FEET]
[WARNING: TERMINAL VELOCITY REACHED]
"Sarge! We're falling!" Sully screamed, her hair whipping in the hurricane-force winds.
Below them, the 2nd Realm revealed itself. It wasn't a planet. It was a World-Tree so massive its trunk was the size of a continent, with branches that held entire oceans and mountain ranges.
"Vance! Iron-Dome! Now!" Kane roared, his Midnight Plate glowing as he fought the friction of the air.
Vance grabbed Sully and Doc, his body expanding into a massive, hollow sphere of high-density carbon steel. Kane slammed into the top of the sphere, using his Rank 3 Peak strength to steer their descent like a meteor.
Suddenly, the clouds below them parted.
A vessel the size of an aircraft carrier, carved from white marble and reinforced with glowing gold circuitry, drifted into their path. It didn't use engines; it was held aloft by the hum of a thousand trapped souls.
[TARGET: CELESTIAL SKYSHIP 'THE ARBITRATOR']
[FACTION: THE CLOUD-LORDS]
"Brace for impact!" Kane yelled.
The Iron-Dome smashed through the Skyship's upper deck, sliding across the marble surface with a screech of tortured metal before coming to a halt at the base of the main mast.
The Gold-Tier Enforcers
As the smoke cleared, Vance retracted his iron skin, gasping for air. Doc immediately began pulsing Rank 2 Life-Well energy to heal the squad's friction burns.
They were surrounded.
Unlike the Orcs or the Ash-Walkers, these warriors were elegant. They wore flowing white robes over intricate gold-lattice armor. Their eyes weren't silver or amber—they were a terrifying, vacant Heavenly Blue.
[TARGET: CELESTIAL GUARDIANS (RANK 4 - EARLY STAGE) x50]
"You have committed the ultimate heresy," a woman stepped forward from the ranks. She sat atop a floating throne of ivory, her long hair braided with strands of literal lightning. "You broke the 1st Realm Anchor. You have cost the Lords a century of harvest."
[TARGET: HIGH-INQUISITOR LYRA]
[RANK: 5 - PEAK STAGE (SLAYER-TIER)]
Kane stood up, the Twin Fangs clicking into his palms. His Ashen Scales were scorched, but his silver eyes were burning with a new, dangerous intensity. "The harvest is over. We're moving up. Either move the ship, or I'll eat the hull."
Lyra smiled, a cold, pitying expression. "A Rank 3 'Prey' speaks of eating a Skyship? You truly don't understand the scale of the Spire."
She snapped her fingers.
The fifty Guardians didn't charge. They raised their hands in unison. The air around Alpha-6 turned to solid gold.
[WARNING: HEAVENLY SUPPRESSION ACTIVE]
[STRENGTH REDUCED BY 50%]
[AGILITY REDUCED BY 50%]
"Sarge... I can't... move..." Vance grunted, his iron limbs locking up as the gold-light invaded his joints.
Kane felt the weight. It was like the hand of a God pressing him into the marble. But his God-Feeder Manual wasn't a part of the Heavenly System. It was an anomaly.
"Scale?" Kane whispered, his voice cracking the golden silence. "You want to talk about Scale?"
The Midnight Plate on his chest split open, revealing a pulsing, violet void where his heart should be. The God-Feeder was no longer just a manual; it was becoming a Singularity.
[ULTIMATE SKILL AWAKENED: VOID-HUNGER (RANK-ZERO LIMIT)]
Kane didn't attack the soldiers. He slammed his axes into the deck of the Skyship. The obsidian blades didn't cut the marble—they began to drink it. The gold circuitry in the floor began to dim as Kane started siphoning the Skyship's very soul.
"What are you doing?!" Lyra screamed, rising from her throne. "That ship is powered by ten thousand years of essence!"
"Then it should be enough for a snack," Kane growled.
[SKYSHIP ENERGY ABSORBED: 5%... 12%... 20%...]
[RANK 3 (PEAK) \rightarrow RANK 4 (EARLY STAGE)]
[EVOLUTION ACHIEVED: THE SHADOW-SLAYER]
The Skyship began to tilt. The "Heavenly Suppression" flickered and died as the power was diverted to stop the ship from falling.
Kane stood up, his armor now wreathed in a swirling, dark mist that erased the light around him. He looked at Lyra, who was now trembling.
"Your ship is falling, Inquisitor," Kane said, his voice echoing with the power of the Rank 4 Shadow-Slayer. "Do you want to save your people, or do you want to find out how a Rank 4 God-Feeder tastes?"