Inside the sphere, a door opened. Not a physical door, but a fold in space.
Kane tumbled through, his body smoking, his skin literally peeling off as the Tier-10 energy he'd just swallowed tried to expand inside his lungs. He landed in a room made of pure, white data-streams. In the center stood a figure that looked like a child made of glass.
"Stop," the child said. Its voice wasn't a hum anymore; it was a tired, old sigh. "You are breaking the balance, Little Fish. If you eat me, the Sol Sector collapses. The Earth will drift away from the sun. Your people will freeze in the dark."
Kane stood up, shaking. He was Rank-8 (Peak) now, leaning heavily into Rank 9 (Universal-Carrier). "The Earth was already freezing under your 'Order.' We'll take our chances with the dark."
"You do not understand," the child-Arbiter said, gesturing to the data-streams. "The Consortium was the shield. Beyond this sector, there are things that make me look like a toy. Things that move between galaxies to feed on 'Void-Carriers' like you."
"Then I'll eat them too," Kane said, stepping forward, his hand reaching for the child's throat.
"Then do it," the Arbiter said, its glass body beginning to glow. "But know this: Once you take my core, the Hegemony of the Deep will see the 'Signal.' They will know the Harvest is spoiled. They won't send an Arbiter next time. They will send a Reaper."
Kane didn't hesitate. He plunged his hand into the child's chest.
[CORE CONSUMED: THE ARBITER'S EYE] [EVOLUTION SUCCESSFUL: RANK 9 - THE VOID-ARCHON] [WORLD-STATUS: SOVEREIGN (UNLOCKED)]
The chrome sphere didn't explode. It vanished.
Kane was left floating in the vacuum of space, miles above the Dyson-Ring. His armor was gone. His axes were gone. He was just a man with silver skin and eyes that held the entire history of a dead universe.
He looked down at the Mercy of Silence. It was a wreck—half of it turned to dust, the other half drifting.
"Sully... Vance... Doc..." Kane's voice whispered through the galaxy, a Rank-9 command that couldn't be ignored. "The 'Law' is dead. We are the Law now."