The Geothermal Tap hummed with a noise that felt less like machinery and more like a heartbeat.
Kai stood on the central platform, watching the fabrication tray slide out for the fiftieth time. A sleek, four-legged drone, shaped like a scarab beetle and plated in matte-black composite, sat steaming on the metal.
[ ITEM COMPLETE: SENTRY DRONE (MK. 1) ][ ARMAMENT: MICRO-RAILGUN / SENSOR SUITE ][ AI STATUS: AWAITING LINK ]
Kai reached out. He didn't touch the drone; he touched the air above it, writing a script in blue light.
Link. Broadcast. Obey.
The drone's optical sensor flared red. It chirped—a sound of digital acknowledgment—and scuttled off the tray to join the rows of identical machines waiting by the blast doors.
Fifty of them. A swarm.
"It's beautiful," Rin said. She was standing at the console, monitoring the thermal output.
She looked different. The grime of the Sump was washed away. She wore a fitted mechanic's jumpsuit fabricated from synthetic weave. But the biggest change was her left arm.
The Tier 2 Prosthetic was a work of art compared to the scrap she had worn before. Chrome-plated, silent, and agile. She flexed the fingers, the servos moving instantly, responding to her thoughts without the lag or pain of the old interface.
"It's an army," Kai corrected. "Small. But ours."
< QUANTITY HAS A QUALITY ALL ITS OWN. > Cipher observed. < BUT THESE ARE FODDER, HOST. AGAINST A SERVER ASCENDANT, THEY ARE TOYS. YOU NEED A KILL-SWITCH. >
"I'm working on it," Kai muttered.
He walked to the edge of the platform. He looked down at the magma. He had spent the last twelve hours draining the excess heat, converting it into Qi, and pouring it into the fabrication queue. His stats were stable, his reserves capped at 500/500.
But he knew it wasn't enough.
Nova's warning had been clear. Prince Aethelgard wasn't just an enforcer; he was a Hunter. A "User" class. In the hierarchy of the Heaven Server, Users had privileges that NPCs—even glitched ones—couldn't dream of.
"Rin," Kai said. "How are the perimeter sensors?"
Rin tapped the console screen, her new metal fingers clicking against the glass.
"I wired the Packet Sniffers into the tunnel network for three kilometers out," she said, her voice steady. She was growing into her role as the Operator. "Nothing yet. Just rats and waste flow."
"He won't come through the tunnels," Kai said, looking up at the ceiling of the vast cavern. "He's royalty. He doesn't crawl."
< HE WILL COME FROM ABOVE. HE WILL TRY TO CRUSH US WITH GRAVITY. >
Kai nodded. "Then we change the terrain."
He jumped down from the platform, landing amidst his drone swarm.
"Follow," he commanded.
The fifty drones clicked in unison and skittered after him.
They spent the next six hours turning the approach to the Geothermal Tap into a kill box.
Kai didn't just place turrets; he edited the architecture.
Using [ DECOMPILE ], he thinned the floor plating in the main access tunnel, turning solid steel into fragile eggshells that would collapse under the weight of a heavy mech.
Using [ SCRIPTING ], he created pockets of vacuum in the air vents, traps designed to snuff out combustion engines or suffocate biological intruders.
He took the massive 20mm Vulcan Cannon from the fallen Siege Bot and mounted it on the ceiling of the server room, hidden behind a holographic camouflage field.
[ DEFENSE RATING: HIGH ][ LETHALITY: EXTREME ][ POWER CONSUMPTION: SUSTAINABLE ]
When they were finished, the Dead Sector wasn't just a bunker. It was a loaded gun.
Kai sat on the floor of the server room, eating a synthesized steak. It tasted salty, metallic, and wonderful.
"Kai," Rin asked, sitting beside him. She was polishing her new arm with a rag. "Who is he? This Prince."
"He's a Pure-Blood," Kai said, swallowing. "Born in the Upper Ring. They say they have 'Golden Cores' from birth. They don't need to scavenge for Qi; the System feeds it to them."
"Why does he care about us?"
"Because we broke the script," Kai said. "The Sect sells the idea that your place in the world is fixed. That you're born a Null, or a Worker, or a Prince, and that's your destiny. By cultivating... by changing... we proved them wrong."
Rin looked at her hand. "We proved we can fix things."
"Exactly."
< ALERT. > Cipher's voice cut in, sharp and loud. < SEISMIC SPIKE DETECTED. SECTOR 98. DIRECTLY ABOVE US. >
Kai dropped the food. He stood up.
"He's here."
He walked to the server console. "Rin, eyes on the screen. If the sensors go dark, switch to manual targeting."
Rin jumped into the chair, her fingers flying across the keys. "Sensors are... active. I have a visual."
On the main screen, a grainy, black-and-white feed from a hidden camera in the upper shaft appeared.
It showed the Sump. The piles of trash. The darkness.
And then, a light appeared.
It wasn't a flashlight. It was a golden beam, cutting through the smog like a laser.
A ship was descending.
It wasn't a rusted shuttle or a bulky transport. It was a yacht. Sleek, white ceramic plating, trimmed with gold. Anti-gravity engines hummed with a sound that was more like a choir than a machine.
It floated down through the waste shaft, repelling the filth with a shimmering energy shield. Trash that touched the shield was instantly vaporized.
[ TARGET: ROYAL GUNSHIP (SERAPH CLASS) ][ SHIELDS: ACTIVE ][ WEAPONRY: PLASMA LANCE / SMART MISSILES ]
The ship hovered over the entrance to the Dead Sector. A ramp lowered majestically.
A figure stepped out.
Even on the grainy screen, he radiated arrogance. He wore white robes that shouldn't exist in the Sump, spotless and flowing. His hair was long, pale gold. He floated a few inches off the ground, refusing to touch the muck.
[ TARGET: PRINCE AETHELGARD ][ CULTIVATION: QUANTUM CORE (MID-STAGE) ][ THREAT: CALAMITY ]
Flanking him were four elite guards. Not the Viper thugs. These were Praetorians. Tall, cybernetic knights in gold and red armor, wielding energy halberds.
"He brought the honor guard," Kai muttered. "He thinks this is a ceremony."
Aethelgard raised a hand. He didn't shout. His voice was amplified by the ship's speakers, booming through the tunnels, reaching even the bunker deep below.
"Subject Zero," the Prince's voice was smooth, bored. "You have stolen property of the Divine Silicon Sect. You have accessed forbidden directories. And you have stained my sector with your glitch."
He paused, looking around the Sump with distaste.
"Surrender your core. Submit for deletion. And I will make it quick."
Kai pressed the transmit button on the console. His voice echoed back up the shaft, distorted by the speakers.
"Come and get it."
Aethelgard smiled. It was a cold, beautiful smile.
"Very well. Purge the directory."
He snapped his fingers.
The four Praetorians moved. They didn't run; they activated thruster packs on their backs and shot down the tunnel toward the bunker door.
"Rin," Kai said. "Light them up."
Rin slammed her hand onto the enter key.
[ EXECUTE: AMBUSH.EXE ]
In the tunnel above, the trap sprung.
The floor plating that Kai had decompiled—the fragility he had engineered—gave way.
But the Praetorians were flying. They didn't touch the floor.
< THEY ARE AIRBORNE. FLOOR TRAP INEFFECTIVE. >
"I know," Kai said. "Wait for it."
As the Praetorians flew over the trapped section, the hidden turrets in the walls—the ones Kai had repaired and mounted—popped out.
But they didn't fire bullets. They fired Static Webs.
Kai had modified the ammunition. Copper wire nets, charged with the battery packs he had scavenged.
THWUMP-THWUMP.
The nets flew through the air.
The lead Praetorian slashed with his halberd, burning through the net instantly.
"Pathetic," the Prince's voice echoed.
But the second net hit the second guard. The charged copper wrapped around his thruster pack.
ZAP.
The electricity shorted the thruster control. The Praetorian spun out of control, slamming into the wall.
[ TARGET 1: DISABLED ]
"One," Kai counted.
The remaining three Praetorians didn't slow down. They raised their halberds. Bolts of red energy shot down the tunnel, blowing the hidden turrets to pieces.
They reached the blast door—or the hole where it used to be.
They flew into the server room.
"Open fire!" Kai yelled.
The fifty scarab drones, hidden in the shadows of the ceiling and the racks, dropped.
They rained down on the knights like a swarm of metal locusts. Micro-railguns fired, pinging off the gold armor.
The Praetorians swung their halberds, slicing drones out of the air. It was a massacre of machinery.
But the drones were a distraction.
Kai stepped out from behind the central rack. He held the Arc-Blade. The plasma burned white-hot.
He locked eyes with the lead Praetorian.
[ TARGET: PRAETORIAN A ][ SHIELD: 100% ][ WEAKNESS: NECK JOINT ]
Kai charged.
He didn't use the floor. He ran along the side of the server racks, defying gravity with a burst of Scripting—creating temporary friction pads under his boots.
He leaped.
The Praetorian thrust his halberd.
Kai twisted in mid-air. The energy blade scorched his coat.
He landed on the Praetorian's shoulders.
"Decompile!"
He didn't cut. He slammed his free hand onto the knight's helmet.
He poured 100 Qi into the command.
[ TARGET: HELMET VISOR ][ ACTION: REMOVE OPACITY ]
The gold faceplate didn't break. It turned clear. Transparent glass.
The Praetorian flinched, suddenly exposed.
Kai drove the Arc-Blade through the glass, straight into the man's eye.
The knight convulsed and dropped out of the air, crashing to the floor.
[ TARGET 2: NEUTRALIZED ]
Two left.
The remaining two Praetorians backed off, hovering near the ceiling. They realized this wasn't a cleanup operation. It was a war.
"Pull back!" one shouted.
"No," a voice boomed from the tunnel entrance.
Prince Aethelgard floated into the room. He had descended from his ship. His white robes were glowing with a soft, golden light. He looked at the dead Praetorian, then at Kai.
He didn't look angry. He looked delighted.
"A Null who cultivates," Aethelgard mused. "And you use the Entropy Sutra. I thought that code was lost in the Great Format."
He raised a hand. The air in the room grew heavy. Gravity seemed to double.
[ WARNING: GRAVITY WELL DETECTED ][ MOBILITY: COMPROMISED ]
Kai's knees buckled. The drones fell from the ceiling, pinned to the floor. Rin gasped, slumped over the console.
Aethelgard floated closer. He touched the ground for the first time.
"You are a fascinating bug," the Prince said. "But I am the admin."
He pointed a finger at Kai.
A beam of golden light—pure, concentrated Order—shot toward Kai's chest.
Kai couldn't dodge. The gravity held him.
< SHIELD! > Cipher screamed.
Kai didn't have a shield.
But he had the Vulcan Cannon.
He reached out with his mind to the heavy weapon mounted on the ceiling above him.
"Decompile: Mount!"
The bolts holding the massive cannon dissolved.
The 180kg gun fell.
It fell directly in front of Kai.
BOOM.
The golden beam hit the falling cannon. The heavy steel melted, slagging instantly, but it absorbed the shot.
Kai rolled backward, shielded by the molten wreckage of the gun.
"Clever," Aethelgard said. He sounded bored again. "But you are out of tricks."
He raised both hands. The golden light intensified. He was preparing to wipe the room.
Kai looked at his Qi. [ 150/500 ].
He looked at the server console.
"Rin!" Kai shouted. "The Tap! Overload it!"
Rin, pinned to her chair by the gravity, managed to reach one hand to the lever she had used before. The coolant flush.
But this time, she didn't pull it. She pushed it.
[ WARNING: COOLANT PUMPS REVERSED ][ MAGMA INJECTION IMMINENT ]
The floor of the room rumbled. The vents opened.
But instead of cold air, a blast of furnace heat erupted into the room.
The magma from the pit below was rising.
Aethelgard frowned. "Suicide?"
"No," Kai said, standing up despite the crushing gravity. The heat washed over him. The Entropy Sutra devoured it.
[ ENERGY ABSORBED ][ QI RESERVES: RISING... 200... 300... ]
"Environment," Kai snarled.
He channeled the rising heat, the gravity pressure, the chaotic energy of the room.
He didn't cast a spell. He executed a crash.
[ SKILL: LOGIC BOMB ]
He pushed a wave of pure, chaotic data-Qi outward.
It hit Aethelgard's gravity field. Order met Chaos.
CRACK.
Reality fractured. The gravity field shattered.
Aethelgard was thrown back, his white robes singed. He looked shocked.
"You..."
Kai stood amidst the rising steam and heat, his eyes glowing blinding red. The Arc-Blade ignited, longer and brighter than before.
"Get out of my server," Kai said.