The girl, who called herself Unit-Alpha, didn't just give Kane the machine. She became the machine.
She merged with the Fabricator, and the liquid metal began to pour out of the core, flowing onto the floor like a silver ocean. But as the metal touched Kane's shadow, it changed. It turned into Void-Steel—an alloy of Tier-10 logic and Rank 9 hunger.
"Sully! Upload the blueprints of the Mercy of Silence!" Kane commanded. "Vance, Doc—guard the perimeter! We're going to be here for a while!"
For three days, the core of Lot-12C became a factory of gods.
The Void-Steel didn't just build ships; it built Evolutions.
Vance received a new set of Singularity-Plate armor, capable of absorbing a Tier-9 blast.
Doc was given the Plague-Core Staff, allowing her to infect machines with biological rot.
Sully was integrated into a Neural-Nexus, giving her control over a hundred "Ghost-Drones."
And for Kane?
The Fabricator didn't give him armor. It gave him a Crown. A circlet of Void-Steel that allowed him to broadcast his "Hunger" across light-years.
"The fleet is ready, Sarge," Sully said, her voice echoing through the newly forged bridge of their new flagship: The Revenant.
It wasn't five miles long like the Mercy. It was only a mile long, but it was made entirely of Void-Steel and powered by the white dwarf star at the center of the world. It was a ship that could "Blink" through timelines.
"Kane," Unit-Alpha's voice whispered through the ship's speakers. "The Gardener has arrived. He is at the outer shell. He is not happy."
Kane sat in his new throne, the Void-Steel crown pulsing on his brow.
"Open the hangar doors," Kane said, his silver eyes burning with the power of a dead world. "Let's go say hello to the Landlord's boss."