The adrenaline of the arena began to fade, replaced by the crushing reality of what Kael had just done. He had rejected the most powerful organization in the world. He was broke, rogue, and marked.
At the edge of the Golden District, where the marble streets turned back into the cracked pavement of the Outer Rim, Kael stopped.
"This is where you turn off," Kael said, not looking back.
Eren gripped his staff, looking conflicted. "Kael... are you sure about this? The Protectors—they won't let us just walk away. You saw the drones."
"I saw them," Kael replied, glancing at a humming speck in the sky. "Let them watch. But where I'm going... you can't follow. Not yet."
Eren looked down at his hands. He had leveled up, yes. He had survived the Spire. But he knew, deep down, he wasn't like Kael. He wasn't an anomaly.
"I need to train," Eren said quietly. "My healing... it's strong, but it's slow. I need to find a way to make it instant. Like your Blink Step."
Kael smirked. "Good. Go to the Underground Market. Use the credits we made from the cores. Buy manuals. Don't rely on the World System to hand you power—take it."
Eren nodded, a new fire in his eyes. He didn't say goodbye. He just turned and walked into the crowd, disappearing into the city to forge his own path.
Kael stood alone.
[ System Query: Location of nearest S-Rank Gate? ]
The Codex answered instantly, a red marker pinging on his mental map.
[ Target: The "God's Sever" Gate. ] [ Distance: 12 km North. ] [ Warning: High-Density Mana Zone. Approach with caution. ]
Kael pulled his hood up. "Let's see what the apocalypse looks like."
The God's Sever
The S-Rank Gate wasn't a swirl of light or a cave entrance. It was a wound in the sky.
Located in a quarantined zone north of the city, the gate hung suspended in the air—a jagged, vertical tear in reality, three hundred meters tall. It didn't glow. It was a void of absolute vantablack, leaking a purple mist that withered the grass beneath it for miles.
Kael stood at the perimeter fence, a kilometer away from the actual rift. Even at this distance, the air felt heavy, like walking underwater.
[ Warning: Ambient Mana Density exceeds safety limits. ] [ Mental Stress: Rising. ]
Kael grabbed the chain-link fence, his fingers trembling.
It wasn't fear of a monster. It was the biological terror of a prey animal standing next to a predator that ate stars.
The pressure coming off the gate pushed against his skull. He could feel the monsters inside—sleeping, waiting. Compared to this... the Void Stalker was a gnat. The Glitch-Ogre was a toy.
If this breaks open, Kael thought, his breath coming in shallow gasps. I die in 0.01 seconds. Ash Phase won't save me. The Codex won't save me.
He stared into the abyss, and the abyss stared back.
His knees buckled. He sank to the dirt, sweat soaking his clothes. This was the "Great Collapse" Ironwood spoke of. This was the end of the world.
And he was just an E-Rank with a few glitchy tricks.
"I'm weak," Kael whispered, the realization tasting like bile. "I'm so pathetic it's funny."
He clenched his fist, digging his nails into his palm until it bled. The terror didn't break him. It hardened him. It burned away the arrogance from the tournament and left only cold, desperate hunger.
"Watch me," he hissed at the silent void. "I'm going to eat you too."
He turned and walked away, the pressure lifting with every step, but the weight of the promise remaining on his shoulders.
Home: The Sanctum
Kael's apartment was exactly as he left it—cramped, smelling of dust, with a flickering lightbulb. It felt alien now. Too small.
He locked the door, sat on his battered mattress, and closed his eyes.
"System. Deep Dive."
[ Initiating Transfer... ]
The world dissolved into static.
When Kael opened his eyes, he was back in the Sanctum of Ash. The grey sky churned above him, and the massive, withered Skill Tree loomed in the distance.
But something had changed.
The ground around the tree wasn't just ash anymore. There were stone foundations—spectral outlines of walls and pillars rising from the dust.
The Codex materialized as a shadow figure. "Welcome home. Your vitals are elevated. Did you stare at the sun?"
"I stared at the end," Kael muttered, walking toward the tree. "I need to get stronger. Not just skills. I need... more."
"Then you are in the right place."
The Codex gestured to the vast, empty wasteland of the Sanctum.
"You have treated this place as a training room. It is not. It is a Kingdom."
A massive interface window scrolled open, displaying features Kael had ignored in his rush to survive.
[ SANCTUM FEATURES ]
1. Temporal Dilution (Active): Time flows slower here. (Current Ratio: 1:12).
2. The Ash-Garden (Locked): Cultivate Beast Cores to grow "Skill Fruits." (Requires Soil of the Fallen).
3. The Soul Forge (Locked): Use the essence of defeated enemies to repair or upgrade weapons.
4. The Barracks (Locked): Recall the "Echoes" of enemies absorbed by the Sanctum to fight as mindless soldiers.
Kael stared at the list. "I can grow skills? I can summon armies?"
"Eventually," the Codex said. "Right now, you are a squatter in your own palace. You have the Authority, but you lack the Foundation."
The shadow pointed to the spectral stone foundations rising from the ash.
"This is your Domain. Currently, it is a 10x10 meter patch of dirt. But now that you have achieved Rank E, the blueprints have expanded."
A holographic blueprint overlaid the ruins. It showed a massive fortress—a compound with armories, libraries, forges, and throne rooms.
"Because you are E-Rank, the first seal has broken," the Codex whispered, its voice vibrating with anticipation. "You have unlocked the 'Personal Sector.' A physical space within this dimension where you can store loot, sleep without fear, and even bring guests... if you trust them."
Kael looked at the blueprint. A compound. A base that the Protectors couldn't touch. A place where time bent to his will.
"It's unlocked," Kael said, watching the ghostly walls flicker. "But it's not solid. Why?"
"Because the Sanctum cannot build from nothing," the Codex corrected. "The System provides the design, but you must provide the material. To stabilize a pocket dimension of this size, you need a high-density spatial catalyst."
Kael reached into his pocket (which translated into his inventory inside the Sanctum) and pulled out the Void Stalker's Essence—a swirling violet orb he had saved.
"Will this work?"
The Codex's shadow form seemed to smile.
"A D-Rank Spatial Core? Oh, yes. That will do nicely. That is not just a brick, Kael. That is a cornerstone. But be warned... forcing reality to take shape hurts."
Kael gripped the core. He remembered the pressure of the S-Rank Gate. He remembered the fear.
"Pain is progress," Kael said.
He crushed the core in his hand.
The Sanctum exploded with violet light. The ground shook as the foundations of his new empire began to rise from the ash.