The White Void shattered under the weight of Kane's Great-Axe. The three "Creators" dissolved into pixels of light, screaming as their "perfect" system was consumed by the God-Feeder.
Kane stood amidst the wreckage of the Seventh Realm, his Void-Lord Regalia pulsing with the power of three combined worlds. He felt invincible. He felt like the end-point of evolution.
[NOTIFICATION: TUTORIAL COMPLETED]
[REALM 1-7: HARVESTED]
[CURRENT RANK: 7 (LOWER-DEITY)]
"We did it," Vance panted, his iron skin cooling as the pressure of the system vanished. "Earth is free. The Gods are dead."
Kane looked up, but he didn't see the exit to Earth. He saw the "ceiling" of the White Void crack. Beyond the crack wasn't the Nevada desert. It was an endless, shimmering Cosmic Ocean.
Floating in that ocean were thousands—millions—of "Bubbles." Each bubble was a Purgatory. Each bubble had its own Seven Realms, its own Archons, and its own Harvest.
And circling those bubbles were shadows the size of solar systems. Entities with Ranks so high the System couldn't even display the numbers. One of the shadows—a creature with a thousand burning eyes—turned its gaze toward Kane's tiny, broken bubble.
[WARNING: COSMIC ENTITY DETECTED]
[THREAT LEVEL: BEYOND COMPREHENSION]
[STATUS: A NEW SNACK HAS ESCAPED THE JAR]
The "Creators" Kane had just killed weren't the masters of the universe. They were just Junior Managers tending to one small farm in a corner of a galactic slaughterhouse.
Kane looked at his Twin Fangs. In this new ocean, they were no better than toothpicks. He felt a cold, familiar sensation crawling up his spine. It wasn't fear. It was a hunger he hadn't felt since the Wailing Grove.
"Free?" Kane whispered, a dark, jagged smile spreading across his face as he watched the Thousand-Eyed God approach. "No, Vance. We just got out of the nursery."
He gripped his axes, his silver eyes reflecting the infinite stars.
"I'm still starving."