Sector 2 was not the slums.
It was a fortress of steel, glass, and concentrated magic.
At its heart stood the Core Tower, heavily fortified by the Silver-Blood Guild. It housed the Major Mana Node—a crystalline geyser of pure energy that powered the defensive shields of the entire upper district.
To attack it was to declare war on the city itself.
Arthur stood on the roof of a neighboring skyscraper.
Rain lashed against the massive, glowing blue dome protecting the tower, hissing as the high-density mana vaporized the water.
"Thirty-two active sensors," Arthur murmured, his cold gaze tracing the patrol routes of the elite guards below. "Six sniper nests. Two Grand Mages."
Beside him, the boy shivered. Not from the cold, but from the dark energy violently churning inside his newly forged veins.
"Point me at them," the boy rasped, his hand twitching toward his broken iron dagger.
"Brute force against a fortress is a waste of resources," Arthur replied calmly, the [Mantle of the Fallen Lord] absorbing the city lights around him.
"We don't break the walls." Arthur raised his hand. "We let the walls crush them from the inside."
[Skill Activated: Summon Plague-Bone Assassin]
The toxic-green skeleton rose from Arthur's shadow.
"The mages. The snipers. The sensor hubs," Arthur commanded. "Silent elimination. Corrupt the feed."
The Assassin dissolved into the rain.
...
Inside the Core Tower's central control room, a Level 30 Grand Mage frowned at his console.
"Did Sector 4 report in yet?"
"No, sir," the communications officer replied. "Complete radio silence from Tartarus. Guild Master Marcus ordered a full lockdown."
The Mage scoffed. "Marcus is paranoid. Nothing can breach the Node's barrier. We have enough ambient mana here to—"
Flicker.
Sniper Nest 3 blinked out on the perimeter map.
"Comms," the Mage snapped. "Check Nest 3."
"Calling Nest 3... No response, sir."
Flicker. Flicker.
Sensor Hub Alpha and Beta. Gone.
A cold drop of sweat rolled down the Mage's neck. This wasn't a malfunction.
"Sound the alarm!" he roared.
He didn't finish the sentence.
The massive, glowing blue dome outside the window violently shuddered. It didn't shatter.
It turned green.
A sickly, toxic, neon-green hue spread across the barrier like a creeping virus.
Arthur hadn't sent the Assassin just to kill. He had sent it to bleed its [Lethal Corrosion] directly into the external mana veins feeding the Node.
"The air!" a guard yelled in the courtyard below. He clutched his throat as the corrupted mana leaked into the atmosphere. His lungs blistered instantly. He collapsed, foaming at the mouth.
Panic erupted. The flawless formation of the Silver-Blood elites broke into chaos.
Arthur looked down at the boy.
"Now. Show me if you are worth the power."
The boy didn't hesitate. He threw himself off the eighty-story skyscraper, plunging like a broken arrow toward the courtyard. As he fell, the dark-purple energy Arthur had planted in his heart exploded outward, wrapping around his fragile body like jagged, spectral armor.
CRASH!
The boy hit the ground.
Three elite guards, gasping from the toxic air, turned their weapons toward him.
"Intruder!" one yelled, swinging a heavy enchanted mace.
The boy raised his broken dagger. It was coated in the light-devouring void-matter of the Abyssal Heart.
Slash.
The mace was cleanly sheared in half. The boy lunged, plunging the void-laced dagger directly into the man's chest.
[Subordinate Kill Confirmed.]
[Host gains 50% EXP.]
[Subordinate absorbs 50% EXP.]
The boy gasped violently as pure, high-level mana surged into his broken body.
He didn't look at the corpse falling at his feet. He looked at his own trembling, bloodstained hand.
"...More," the boy whispered, his eyes burning with a terrifying, addicted frenzy. He didn't just level up. He fed.
The dark energy around him grew thicker, more violent.
But the Silver-Blood Guild was not a collection of amateurs.
"HOLD THE LINE!" a booming voice echoed.
A Level 32 Vanguard Captain stepped out of the tower. He slammed his heavy silver shield into the ground.
[Guild Skill Activated: Emergency Mana Purge!]
A blinding wave of pure, holy light erupted from the Captain, forcefully pushing back the toxic green fog in the courtyard. The Plague-Bone Assassin, caught in the holy light, shrieked silently. Its bones cracked and hissed, but it didn't retreat. It simply dissolved into green mist, only to violently re-materialize behind a panicked guard, slicing his throat before melting back into the shadows.
"Form up! Focus the intruder!" the Captain roared.
The holy light burned the boy's spectral armor. The pain was agonizing.
The boy screamed, his mind fracturing under the sudden influx of EXP and the holy fire. The dark energy inside him went rogue. He lost control.
He turned, not toward the guards, but toward the shifting shadows of his own ally—the Plague-Bone Assassin.
The boy raised his dagger, his eyes completely pitch-black, ready to slaughter the summon to feed his ravenous hunger.
"ENOUGH."
The word wasn't shouted.
It was dropped like an anvil.
The holy light in the courtyard flickered and died.
The Vanguard Captain gasped, his knees buckling under an impossible, crushing weight.
[Title Activated: Calamity Seed]
Arthur descended from the sky, walking down the air itself. His black coat billowed like raven wings.
He landed directly in front of the frenzied boy.
The boy snarled, raising his dagger toward Arthur.
Arthur didn't flinch. He didn't draw a weapon.
He simply looked into the boy's pitch-black eyes.
"Control it," Arthur's voice was absolute, freezing the blood in the boy's veins. "Or I erase you."
The boy froze. The chaotic, dark energy violently receded, forced back into submission by the sheer, terrifying presence of the true Sovereign. The boy dropped to his knees, panting heavily, his mind snapping back to reality.
Arthur looked up at the Level 32 Captain and the remaining elite guards surrounding them.
The Captain was strong. He had resisted the poison. He had purged the courtyard.
"General. Executioner," Arthur commanded.
Two massive, terrifying silhouettes rose from his shadow.
The three-meter-tall [Abyssal General], and the glitching, faceless horror of the [Null Executioner].
"Clear the path."
The Captain didn't run. He raised his massive shield, bracing for the impact, his aura flaring brightly.
The Null Executioner didn't swing its blade. It simply walked forward and passed its jagged tear of nothingness through the shield.
The Captain braced himself, but the kinetic shock never came.
His shield didn't break. It... simply wasn't there anymore.
The veteran Captain looked down at his empty hand, then at the missing half of his own torso.
"This isn't an enemy," the Captain whispered, his eyes wide with a horrifying, final realization. "This is—"
He was deleted from reality before he could finish the sentence.
Screams were cut short. Armor was unmade.
Arthur walked slowly through the carnage, his hands in his pockets.
He stepped over the bisected, cleanly erased remains of the Silver-Blood elite, stopping only when he reached the shattered doors of the Core Tower.
Inside, the Grand Mage backed away in absolute terror.
Arthur ignored him. He looked at the massive, glowing crystal of the Mana Node.
It wasn't just a rock. It pulsed. It hummed with ancient, deep-earth energy. It resisted the dark aura radiating from Arthur, trembling slightly as if it were alive.
Arthur pressed his pale hand directly against the pure, blue crystal.
The Mana Node screamed.
Not a sound... but a violent vibration that shook the steel bones of the tower.
"You built a fortress," Arthur said softly.
Thick, blood-red lightning ignited around his fingers, violently sinking into the crystal.
The pure blue light twisted... darkened... and cracked.
"I turned it into a grave."
The blue light died completely.
A second of absolute, suffocating silence fell over the control room.
Then—
Something else began to beat inside the massive crystal.
Slow.
Hollow.
Wrong.
[WARNING: Major Mana Node Stability Compromised.]
[System Error: Reclassification Failed.]
Arthur's pitch-black eyes flickered with a cold, abyssal light as he listened to the terrifying new heartbeat echoing through the tower.
"...Now let's see what a dead world gives birth to."