The sapphire light of the Abyssal Shelf was no longer beautiful. To Vane Varkas, it was now an eyesore—a fake, artificial glow that tried to hide the rot beneath the surface.
Vane stood in the center of the carnage, his chest rising and falling in a rhythmic, heavy thrum. He wasn't breathing the oxygen-rich ether that the "Luminaries" loved so much. Instead, his body was absorbing the very darkness of the trench. His skin, now a matte black that seemed to have no texture, felt cold to the touch.
[Ding!]
The mechanical chime of the System rang in his mind again, clearer than before.
[Current Saturation Level: 1.2% (The Void is Empty)] [Warning: Host's 'Ink-Well' is depleted. Skill 'Render' will be deactivated in 300 seconds if no pigment is consumed.] [Daily Quest Triggered: The Hunger of the Sovereign.] Objective: Consume 500ml of High-Grade Pigment. Reward: +5 Attribute Points, Skill 'Ink-Sense' (Rank F). Failure: Regression of Saturation Level.
"Hunger, huh?" Vane whispered, his voice vibrating the water like a low-frequency sonar.
He looked down at the "Grey Husk" that used to be Lord Caelum. The man was still alive, but barely. Without his "Solar Gold" saturation, Caelum was nothing more than a 2D sketch of a human being. His lungs couldn't even process the water anymore because he lacked the "Physics" to survive at this depth.
"V-Vane... please..." Caelum croaked, his eyes pale and colorless. "I have... money... I have gems... in the Upper Spires..."
"You had a soul once, too," Vane said, stepping over him. "But you traded it for a higher Rank. Now, I'm just taking the change you have left."
Vane raised his foot and slammed it down onto Caelum's chest.
"[Pigment Drain]."
A surge of grey, dying energy flowed from Caelum into Vane's boots. It wasn't high-quality stuff—it was the dregs of a broken soul—but the System accepted it.
[Pigment Absorbed: 50ml of 'Faded Gold'.] [Ink-Well: 15% Filled.]
Caelum's form finally dissolved into fine, white dust, scattered by the deep-sea currents. The "Prodigy" of the Silver-Tier Guild was gone, leaving nothing but a faint glimmer in the silt.
ROAR!
Nearby, the [Emerald Slasher]—the Ink-Born beast Vane had rendered from the knight's remains—was tearing through the metal hull of the extraction ship. The creature was a nightmare of obsidian and green light, its movements so jagged they seemed to glitch through the water. It didn't eat meat; it licked the "Neon Paint" off the ship's walls, growing larger and more violent with every lick.
"Return," Vane commanded.
The beast stopped mid-strike. It turned toward Vane, its violet eyes glowing with a mixture of fear and absolute loyalty. In an instant, it dissolved into a stream of black liquid and flowed into Vane's shadow.
[Portfolio Updated: 'The Emerald Slasher' has been stored.] [Note: Summons gain 10% of the Pigment you consume.]
Vane turned his gaze toward the extraction ship. It was a "Cloud-Leaper" class vessel, designed to travel between the First and Second Oceans. On the side of the hull was the emblem of the Radiant Wing Guild—the very organization that had exploited him for a decade.
"My sister," Vane muttered.
His heart, now a core of vibrating obsidian, clenched. His sister, Mía, was still in the "Faded District" of the surface city. She was suffering from Color-Anaemia—a disease where the body slowly loses its ability to hold light. To the Guild, she was a hostage to keep Vane working the dangerous trenches. To Vane, she was the only piece of the "Old World" he refused to erase.
"If Caelum doesn't return, the Guild will send 'The Cleaners'," Vane thought, his mind racing with the cold logic of the System. "I need to reach the Surface before they realize the 'Static' didn't die."
Vane walked into the ship. The interior was luxurious—plush velvet seats, gold-leaf carvings, and jars of "Liquid Light" used for drinking. To a commoner, this was a palace. To Vane, it was a buffet.
He placed his hands on the walls of the main cabin.
"[Pigment Drain: Maximum Output]."
The effect was instantaneous. A wave of "Absolute Black" spread from Vane's palms like a virus. The gold leaf turned grey. The red velvet turned white. The sapphire engine core dimmed until it was nothing but a cold rock.
[Analyzing Pigment Type: 'Lux-Class Decoration'] [Quality: Low-Medium.] [Absorbing... 100ml... 300ml... 600ml...]
[Daily Quest Completed!] [Reward: +5 Attribute Points received.] [New Skill Unlocked: Ink-Sense (Rank F).]
Vane closed his eyes. Suddenly, the world changed. He no longer saw "objects." He saw "Frequencies."
In the dark water outside the ship, he could sense the "Heat Signatures" of deep-sea monsters. But more importantly, he could see the Ley-Lines of the Ocean—the currents of color that acted as highways between the Five Oceans.
"There," Vane whispered.
He sensed a concentrated source of "Deep Violet" moving toward the shelf at high speed. It was fast. It was heavy. And it was filled with murderous intent.
[Alert! High-Rank Entity Detected.] [Target: 'The Silent Warden' (Rank 6 Artisan).] [Warning: Host's current Level is insufficient for a direct confrontation.]
Vane's eyes narrowed. "The Cleaners are already here? Caelum must have had a 'Life-Sync' charm."
He didn't panic. The "Static" Vane would have hidden in the mud and prayed for mercy. The "Abyssal Sovereign" simply calculated.
He looked at the 5 Attribute Points he had just gained.
"System. Put all points into [Saturation]."
[Updating Stats...] [Saturation: 45 -> 50] [Sub-Stat Unlocked: Heavy-Pressure Aura.] [Effect: Your presence now exerts 5x gravity on anyone with a lower Saturation Level.]
Vane felt his body become heavier. Not the kind of weight that slowed him down, but the kind of weight that made the world bow before him. He stepped out of the ship, standing on the edge of the shelf as the "Deep Violet" light approached.
Out of the gloom, a new figure appeared.
He wasn't wearing armor. He was wearing a simple, dark-purple robe that stayed perfectly dry despite being underwater. In his hand was a long, thin needle—a "Stitcher's Blade"—that hummed with a sound like a swarm of angry bees. This was a Warden, one of the elite assassins the guilds used to "sew up" mistakes.
The Warden stopped twenty meters away, his eyes fixed on the grey, colorless dust where Caelum had died.
"A Static who survived the Bleach," the Warden said, his voice a cold, thin whisper. "And you've stolen the Guild's pigments. You are a very strange glitch, Vane Varkas."
"I'm not a glitch," Vane said, his black shroud rippling. "I'm the new Law."
The Warden chuckled. "Law? You are a Level 10 brat who just found a lucky treasure. You think because you can drain a few Rank 4 knights, you can stand against a Warden of the Sixth Rank?"
The Warden raised his needle. "[Art-Physics: The Thousand-Stitch Cage]."
In an instant, the water around Vane transformed. Thousands of violet threads, each thinner than a human hair but stronger than steel, erupted from the ether. They began to weave a cage around Vane, closing in with the speed of sound. These threads didn't just cut—they "sewed" the victim's soul to the physical world, making it impossible to move or use skills.
Vane didn't move. He didn't try to dodge.
"In the Five Oceans," Vane said, as the threads touched his black skin, "you all think that 'more color' means 'more power'. You think the more vibrant you are, the more you exist."
Vane reached out and grabbed the violet threads with his bare hands.
"But you're wrong," Vane hissed. "In the dark... everyone is the same."
"[Absolute Saturation: Heavy-Pressure Aura]!"
CRACK!
The violet threads didn't cut Vane. Instead, they shattered. The immense "Weight" of Vane's presence was so high that the threads couldn't hold their form. They were crushed by the sheer gravity of his soul.
The Warden's eyes widened. "What?! My threads... they snapped? That's impossible! Only a Rank 7 could break the Stitcher's Law through pure force!"
"I'm not using force," Vane said, taking a step forward. Each step he took sent a shockwave through the water that made the Warden's internal organs rattle. "I'm using Absence."
Vane lunged.
He didn't use a weapon. He didn't need one. He used his hand like an eraser.
The Warden tried to retreat, his body blurring into a violet mist, but Vane's [Ink-Sense] was already ahead of him. Vane caught the Warden by the ankle, pulling him out of the mist.
"[Pigment Drain]!"
"NO! STOP! I SURRENDER!" the Warden screamed, but Vane wasn't listening.
The "Deep Violet" of the Warden's soul was far more potent than the "Solar Gold" of Caelum. It was like drinking aged wine after a lifetime of dirty water. Vane felt the power rushing into his veins, his System notifications going insane as he leveled up again and again.
[Level Up! Level 11... Level 13... Level 15!] [Saturation increasing...] [Stolen Skill Detected: 'Warden's Needle' (Rank D).] [Analyzing... Error. Skill is incompatible with 'Void' Class.] [Converting Skill into 'Ink-Sovereign' Variant...] [New Skill Unlocked: Abyssal Needle (Rank D).]
Vane dropped the Warden's grey, lifeless body into the silt. He felt... full. For the first time in his life, the constant "emptiness" in his soul was quiet.
He looked at his hand. A thin, black needle made of solidified ink manifested in his palm. It didn't hum like the Warden's; it was silent. It was a weapon designed to kill without a sound.
"Level 15," Vane muttered. "Not enough. The Guild Master is at the Ninth Rank. He has the power of the 'Prismatic Storm'."
He looked toward the extraction ship. It was still functional, though its "Colors" were gone. To the rest of the world, it would look like a ghost ship—a grey, dead thing floating in the sapphire sea.
"System," Vane said, his voice growing cold. "What is the fastest way to Level 20?"
[Scanning Local Environment...] [Target Located: The Sunken Gallery of the Second Ocean.] [Description: A 'Dungeon' where the laws of physics are distorted. High concentration of High-Rank Monsters and Corrupt Pigments.] [Reward for Clearing: 'The First Canvas' (Ancient Artifact).]
Vane walked back into the ship and took the pilot's seat. He didn't use the standard ignition. He poured his own black ink into the engine, forcing the "Dead" ship to obey his will.
The engine roared—not with fire, but with a hollow, abyssal sound.
"Mía," Vane whispered, staring at a small, faded photograph of his sister taped to the dashboard. "Wait for me. I'm going to bring the whole sky down to the bottom of the sea to save you."
The ship shot forward, leaving the Abyssal Shelf behind.
In the wake of the "Ghost Ship," the water didn't return to its sapphire blue. It remained grey. It remained silent. The "Bleach" had intended to erase Vane Varkas, but instead, it had created the only thing the Five Oceans should truly fear.
A man who had nothing left to lose, and a System that allowed him to take everything.