The mid-level of the Verdant Spire was a vertical labyrinth. The branches here were so wide they had their own weather systems—mist-heavy jungles where the "rain" was actually the condensed mana of the World-Tree.
"Sully, mark the heat signatures," Kane commanded.
Sully's eyes pulsed with a violet-black hue. "Sarge, there are hundreds. But there's a massive void in the center—a signature so hot it's washing out my Void-Sight. That's the King."
Kane turned to the fifty Celestial Guardians. They were shivering, their white robes stained with Titan-Ape ichor. They were used to firing gold-light bolts from the safety of a ship, not wading through acidic moss.
"Listen up," Kane's voice was a low vibration. "The Sky-Lords gave you gold and told you that you were gods. I'm giving you a choice: die as a memory of a falling ship, or live as the Vanguard of the Void. If you want to see the 3rd Realm, you follow the Juggernaut."
Vance stepped forward, his iron skin clanking. "You heard the man! Shields up! We're going in loud!"
The Massacre in the Canopy
They didn't sneak. Kane wanted the Titan-Apes to scream. He wanted the Titan-King to know that something hungrier than him had arrived.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: COMMANDER'S AURA]
[SQUAD BUFF: +15% PHYSICAL DEFENSE]
As they entered the Nest—a hollowed-out section of a branch the size of a stadium—the canopy erupted. Hundreds of Rank-4 Titan-Apes dropped from the heights, their muscular arms capable of crushing a tank.
"Phalanx!" Vance roared.
The Guardians locked their gold-shields. The apes slammed into the line like hairy boulders, but Vance was the anchor. He absorbed the impact, his Rank 3 Peak iron body glowing red as he converted the kinetic energy into a massive ground-pound.
BOOM.
The shockwave staggered the apes.
"Now!" Kane blurred.
He didn't use his axes at first. He moved through the swarm as a shadow, his Shadow-Slayer form leaving trails of black mist that choked the beasts. Every time a Titan-Ape fell, Kane's Soul-Siphon fed the essence back into his Guardians, healing their wounds and hardening their resolve.
[HARVESTING RANK 4 ESSENCE...]
[SQUAD COHESION: 45%]
In the center of the nest, the ground shook. A beast twelve feet tall, with silver-white fur and four arms, rose from a pile of bleached bones. It didn't roar; it spoke in a rumbling, ancient dialect.
"The System-Breaker... has come to my table," the King growled.
[TARGET: THE TITAN-APE KING (SOVEREIGN)]
[RANK: 5 - PEAK STAGE]
[EQUIPPED: PRIMORDIAL BONE-CLUB (RANK 5)]
The King swung a massive club made from the femur of a dragon. The air itself compressed, creating a vacuum that pulled the Guardians toward him.
"Vance, get them back!" Kane shouted.
Kane met the King mid-air. The Twin Fangs clashed against the Bone-Club, creating a spark of violet and white light that incinerated the surrounding moss.
[STRENGTH CHECK: OVERPOWERED]
[VITALITY: 82%]
Kane was slammed back into a tree trunk. He spat out a mouthful of silver blood, his silver eyes narrowing. The King was Rank 5 Peak—a full stage and a half above him.
"You have the hunger," the King said, stepping over the corpses of his kin. "But you lack the Weight. You are still a leaf in the wind, Ranger."
"I'm not a leaf," Kane rasped, his Midnight Plate beginning to smoke as he forced the God-Feeder Manual into Overdrive. "I'm the hole in the world."
Kane didn't reach for his axes. He reached for the Void in his chest.
[WARNING: SOUL-FUSION ATTEMPTED]
[SACRIFICING RANK 4 ESSENCE TO AWAKEN: THE ASHTEN AVATAR]
Kane's body didn't just grow; it digitized. He became a ten-foot-tall specter of black glass and violet flame. The Twin Fangs merged into a single, massive Great-Axe of the Void.
"Let's see how much weight you have," Kane's voice echoed from a thousand dimensions at once.
He swung.
The Great-Axe didn't hit the King's club; it cut through the concept of the club. The dragon-femur turned to grey ash. The King's silver fur turned to black embers.
[SOVEREIGN SLAIN: THE TITAN-APE KING]
[RANK 5 PEAK HEART-CORE ACQUIRED]
[RANK 4 (EARLY) \rightarrow RANK 4 (PEAK STAGE)]
Kane stood over the dissolving King. In the center of the ashes lay a glowing, emerald-green scroll.
[LEGENDARY BLUEPRINT ACQUIRED: THE WORLD-TREE CRUSHER (RANK 5 HEAVY WEAPON)]
"Sarge..." Vance walked up, his iron skin cracked and bleeding. He looked at the Ashten Avatar form as it faded back into Kane's human shape. "You're starting to look less like us every day."
Kane didn't answer. He looked at the emerald scroll, then at the sky. A second Celestial Skyship, twice the size of the Arbitrator, was descending through the clouds.
"They're here," Kane said, his voice cold and flat. "Vance, take the Blueprint. We're going to need a bigger gun."