The air didn't just vibrate; it groaned under the weight of fifty Level 100 existences converging on a single point. To the mercenaries of the Iron-Soul World, the sight was biblical—a descent of golden gods intended to erase a single speck of violet dust.
Each of Helios's knights was a veteran of a thousand border wars in the Absolute Realities. They moved with a hive-mind synchronicity, their golden lances forming a geometric cage of solar fire known as the [Formation: Solari's Executioner]. The temperature on the floating island spiked to 5,000°C, turning the black rock beneath Austin's boots into a glowing, viscous pool of lava.
"Die for the pride of the Sun!" the knights roared in unison.
Austin stood at the center of the molten rock, his faded Academy uniform long since vaporized, leaving him clad in a translucent cloak of violet Primordial Essence. He looked at the descending cage of fire and felt something he hadn't felt since his time on Earth: Genuine pressure.
This is it, his Earth-soul whispered, cold and calculating. Their combined stats create a 'System Wall' that even my Authority will struggle to pierce if I fight them one by one. I need to consolidate the Law.
"Authority: Lawless Sovereign," Austin's voice was a low, tectonic rumble. "Law to be ignored: The Boundary of Self."
In that instant, Austin didn't just occupy the space he was standing in. He felt the entire floating island, the lava, the air, and even the golden lances of his enemies as parts of his own nervous system.
The first ten knights struck. Ten lances of concentrated solar plasma pierced the space where Austin's heart should have been. But there was no blood. Austin's body shimmered like a heat haze, his physical form vibrating at a frequency that allowed the lances to pass through him as if he were nothing more than a memory.
"Third Refinement: Transmutation," Austin whispered.
He reached out and grabbed two of the lances. As his Sovereign's Touch gloves made contact, the golden solar energy didn't explode—it changed. Under the influence of Transmutation, the "Heat" of the sun was flipped into "Kinetic Inertia."
The ten knights suddenly found themselves frozen mid-air, their momentum completely stripped and stored within Austin's palms. To the observers, it looked like a video game had glitched, freezing ten high-level entities in a state of statue-like paralysis.
"My turn," Austin said.
He released the stored inertia in a single, silent pulse. The shockwave wasn't visual; it was a ripple in the "Source Code" of the floor. The ten frozen knights didn't just fly back—they shattered. Their armor, their bones, and their very levels were reduced to raw, unformatted XP that swirled around Austin like a violet hurricane.
[NOTIFICATION: 10x LEVEL 100 ENTITIES DEFEATED.]
[XP POOL: 2,500,000 / 2,500,000 (CAP REACHED).]
[WARNING: LEVEL 75 IS THE LIMIT FOR FOUNDATION ESTABLISHMENT.]
[CORE FORMATION PROTOCOL INITIATED.]
"He's breaking through!" Helios shouted from his chariot, his golden eyes narrowing in fury. "Don't let him stabilize! Burn the entire island! Burn the dimension!"
The remaining forty knights formed a circle, pointing their lances toward the sky. They began to chant a forbidden solar hymn, sacrificing their own HP to summon the [SKILL: SUPERNOVA FALL]. Above the floating island, a miniature sun began to form, its diameter expanding until it blotted out the entire elemental vortex.
Austin ignored the impending apocalypse. He sat cross-legged in the center of the molten rock, his hands resting on his knees.
Inside his dantian, the Primordial Singularity was screaming. The massive influx of XP from the ten knights acted like oil on a fire. The rotating sphere of darkness began to compress, drawing in the surrounding lava, the solar fire, and the very "Concept of Chaos" from the 23rd floor.
A Gold Core? No. A Purple Core? No, Austin thought, his mind reaching into the memories of the Manual of the Eternal Beginning. I need a Core that can hold the weight of the Absolute Realities.
"Reality Flip," Austin's soul roared within his mind. "The End... becomes the Beginning."
As the Supernova Fall descended—a tactical nuke of solar energy designed to delete everything on the map—it struck Austin's meditation circle. But instead of an explosion, there was a void.
The miniature sun didn't detonate; it was sucked into Austin's chest. He was using the ultimate attack of forty Level 100 knights as the "Hammer" to forge his Core.
Crunch.
The sound echoed through the entire 23rd floor—the sound of a universe being born in a small space.
Austin's violet aura vanished. For a heartbeat, he looked like a normal boy again. Then, a pulse of energy erupted from him that was so dark it turned the golden sky of the Sun-Eaters into a bruised, charcoal grey.
[NOTIFICATION: BREAKTHROUGH SUCCESSFUL.]
[REALM: CORE FORMATION (INITIAL STAGE).]
[CORE RANK: PRIMORDIAL CHAOS SINGULARITY (UNIQUE).]
Austin stood up. His Level counter, which had been stuck at 75, began to tick upward at a dizzying speed.
[LEVEL 76... 80... 85... 90.]
He reached Level 90 in three seconds. He was now at the same level as Helios Solari.
The forty knights were gasping, their mana drained, their ultimate attack eaten. They looked at Austin and saw a predator that had moved beyond their comprehension.
"Transmutation," Austin said, his voice now carrying the resonance of a true Sovereign. "Every strike you gave me, I am now returning with interest."
He flicked his wrist. The solar energy he had "eaten" from the Supernova was vomited back out, but it was no longer golden. It was violet. It didn't burn; it erased.
The forty knights didn't even have time to scream. The violet fire passed through them, and where a battalion of Level 100 gods had stood, there was now only empty air. Not even ash remained.
[NOTIFICATION: 40x LEVEL 100 ENTITIES DEFEATED.]
[TOTAL LEVEL REACHED: 95.]
Austin turned his gaze toward the chariot. Helios was no longer smiling. The Golden Crows were whimpering, their wings tucked close to their bodies in a gesture of absolute submission.
"You," Austin said, stepping onto the empty air, creating "Solid Concept" footholds with every stride. "You said you wanted to take my tongue as a souvenir?"
Helios gripped the railing of his chariot, his knuckles white. "You... you used my own knights as a catalyst? You planned this from the moment I arrived!"
"I don't plan for insects, Helios," Austin said, appearing in front of the chariot. "I just move, and the insects happen to be in the way."
Austin reached out and grabbed the lead Golden Crow by its throat. With a simple squeeze, the sun-bird vanished into a puff of golden feathers and XP.
"Now," Austin said, looking into Helios's terrified eyes. "Let's see if a Sun-Eater can survive a taste of the Void."