The Slayer System was a breathtaking artifact of the Earthwill, of the Mother. It provided mankind with supernatural abilities, a new economic system and industries kept perpetually secure by perpetual danger, an omniscient force whose watchful eye saw all—there were fields dedicated to understanding its motivations. Which condition would activate a certain function, like probing the brain to see what area it affected. The Guards spent an obscene amount of funds to see if they could hack into the System.

Though, any fool knew that once a vulnerability was found, the System would patch it and strengthen its defenses.

But that was the brilliance of man, wasn’t it? The sheer grit to disobey anything, even God, if it meant obtaining just a shred of further power.

Moralists hated that aspect of humanity. Idealists thought we should be better than that. Realists knew you couldn’t trim the fat off like a tumor, instead found ways to adapt and suck it up. But then there were the madmen. People who embraced this dark yet enlightening side of themselves. Because only then you’d find real results, actual change. Names in big bolded letters in history textbooks.

And Catalyst wanted to break the System. Not for any particular reason. No outstanding motivations. Because she had the ability to, nothing more.

The Disaster was a blessing. As long as she kept herself alive, she could get rid of a few nuisances to her research and gain unrestricted access to materials she couldn’t easily obtain otherwise.

Like for example, the Predator of Predators, whose corpse was suspended inside a preservation liquid, sleeping permanently in a pod.

Catalyst observed the tainted cosmic blood inside the syringe, twisting it around to catch different angles. The white light in the lab made the substance shimmer like someone dumped a vial of glitter inside. Innocent-looking as far as blood went, but this contained the properties of the Lesser Watcher, Pereyra. Or at the minimum, power from the Space Beyond.

“Catalyst!” called one of her team members, she couldn’t bother to remember their names. It was the British girl who was already growing gray hairs. Behind her was the Fragment, currently being locked tight for its protection, his dismembered head floating in the pod.

It must be a disappointment to Seraph that we couldn’t extract his memories before the attack, but imagine how I feel? I barely had time to do any significant analysis. Oh well, this amount of blood is more than enough.

“—Ma’am?” asked the Brit.

“What was it?” Catalyst asked as she turned to her station, nonchalantly transferring the blood to a vial.

“Where should we take the body?” she simply inquired.

Catalyst narrowed her eyes, distrustful. Martials bred a toxic meritocratic culture where the strong stepped on the weak, but once you add sprinkle of ethical and scientific violations, it was difficult to trust anyone. You had to be paranoid in this line of work. Rarely anyone was innocent unless you entered into a reputable position through recommendations and a great portfolio. “Where we put the rest of the alchemical ingredients: in storage,” answered Catalyst, careful with her words. “Put it in B5, but let me label it first.”

She searched for the box of labels and found it, plucked one and a couple markers. It took longer than usual to jot down the details. Tearing the film off, she stuck it to the belly of the pod. “There,” Catalyst said to the assistant. “Don't risk taking the elevators. The ramps are longer but I doubt you want to be trapped in a confined space with this thing."

“Yes ma’am!” exclaimed the girl before calling nearby workers to help transport the thing. They couldn’t coordinate getting the right coffee orders let alone transporting top secret product. The pod’s top-left wheel slid off the platform, causing everyone to yelp and panic, frantically correcting themselves as the Journey watched on.

“Useless,” muttered Catalyst under her breath as she turned to the back of the lab, where Seraph’s observer was speaking with (being distracted by) Jin Tiehan’s man. She had someone associated with an affiliate guild of Angels to come; normally the nosey asshole would notice Carn’s disappearance and raise hell, but the Miracle was doing that for him.

So he’ll be oblivious for a little bit. He’ll notice soon, though. All she had to do was point in the direction and smile. The blockhead was a tenth as thorough as the Angel herself and wouldn’t discover the label. On the off-chance he did, he wouldn’t think twice.

It looked ordinary. Complying with regulations established by the Phenomena Society and the Guards. It was a special sticker, though, having a teleportation rune drawn. The demesne and the Sungrazers themselves prevented anti-spatial abilities but when the effect dropped, Fragment Carn would suddenly go missing.

Poof, that’s it. Gone.

Martials had a long and secret record of carelessness.

“Now that’s over with…” Catalyst held up the vial of Fragment Carn’s blood, taking sidelong glances at the nuisance in the room. “Let’s start.”

Petals of the grave flower, saliva of a direwolf, strips of an elder dragon’s tongue, the condensed essence of a god of strength, the clipped wings of a fairy, and other unimportant ingredients. Except for the final piece: the blood of Fragment Carn of the Lesser Watcher.

To create this potion.

[Item]

Guild Master’s Sacrifice [SSS]

A potion brewed by you, Catalyst, the Journey of Alchemy, intended only for Guild Master Jin Junjie. Through a simple analysis, this potion is able to significantly raise his attributes and grant him an endless well of power, having tapped into the same Source as those cosmic entities from beyond.

Upon consuming this potion, death is highly probable.

“So this is your masterpiece, Catalyst,” Master Jin Junjie said, holding the warm [Sacrifice] in his hands. It wasn’t stored in anything fancy. Just an old bottle she’d cleaned earlier, and the liquid inside was rather dull too: just a brownish-black slop with pretty glitter inside. “This has to be your fifth SSS potion you have created, yes?”

I don’t keep count. “I guess so.” Catalyst glanced around in the lab, finding it enjoyably empty after the Guild Master arrived. “I threw random ingredients together and it surprisingly remained stable. Effective. If the System’s appraisal is anything to go by, then it’ll likely work.”

“Good.” Master stored it in his [Inventory]. “Ikeya will prove whether or not I find a use for it.”

I hope it does. “Good slaying, Guild Master.”

“Excellent work, Catalyst.”

The Journey watched her sole superior leave the room, indifferent. It seems we didn't need an elaborate scheme to send you with your ancestors, Guild Master Jin. You're too fond of me.

~~~

[Skill Activation: Records of the Master - Phantasm Chain Valley]

Seven balls of white flames spawned brilliantly above the devastated ruins of Bronzehall Avenue in a perfect circle. They made a sound. A quiet sound that you couldn't hear unless you were right underneath, but it sounded like tears. It was as if these flaming orbs were the mighty souls of the deceased, perhaps they were the dead that Ikeya had effortlessly slain. Then they shouldn't have any qualms for what happened next. Simultaneously, together, they converged onto the Forger at its most vulnerable, battering its mortal shell again and again until the last of the souls were sent, and the skill was complete.

As though caught in a current, Ikeya was suddenly slower. Its shoulders were dragged downwards by the pull of gravity. Dumbly its head swiveled around from side-to-side; if Master Jin Junjie was able to see its eyes, then its pupils would dart from left-to-right, up-and-down, searching for the source. Maybe it would find him, but its gaze would not directly meet his.

Even cosmicborn, it could still be put in chains by the Guild Master of Martials Guild.

That was the [Phantasm Chain Valley], able to inflict seven impediments upon any enemy: strength, constitution, speed, cognition, magic, blindness and pain.

I thought I would find little success in using this technique upon a Comet, but the mortal shell weakens it, thought Master Jin Junjie. It seemed even he could underestimate his own skill.

The Ordoians capitalized on the Forger's fallen state, unleashing a rhapsodic hail of ranged attacks from afar. Wizards created magic circles that emitted a constant barrage of missiles, the rifles used their own high-power, advanced weaponry systems to pummel the Forger where it stood, bewildered. Bullets and bigger bullets, explosions and bigger explosions.

“After me, Gul!” clamored his perfected son, Tiehan, when the bombardment entered a brief pause.

Gul followed.

[Skill Activation]

[Thirteen Palms Devastating Thunder]

[Shinsoo]

Azure lightning rendered the rubble further into dust, jumping between the layers like dolphins through seas, striking the Forger buried in the midst of heavy smog. Thirteen bands of lightning, long and powerful; obliterating claws across earth, converging at the enemy.

A horrid scream rang but was cut short by a rampaging tidal wave of shining water, lifting up the loose detritus off the ground. Small pebbles to entire quarters of buildings were stolen by the Korean's water manipulation, and Ikeya was buried in a cluttered tsunami.

The wave slapped against the still-standing buildings, but some yawned and tilted over. One collapsed on the spot but Tiehan had noticed; potent qi surged and safely demolished the structure through well-placed strikes. He simply added the remains to Gul's [Divine Water]. Because it was her who was finely controlling the seas, there wasn't any danger of flooding. Her manipulation had effectively established invisible barriers, walls that could only be toppled by a broken concentration.

Or another’s touch.

Master Jin Junjie huffed and took a step forward.

He arrived in less than a heartbeat.

[Skill Activation: Records of the Master - Touch Disruption]

And effortlessly Gul’s prized [Divine Water] had been taken apart and combusted, effectively turning her flood into a deadly, explosive field. The intensity of the explosion would make even the Royals’ manic Bedlamite weep. Mist flung as high as a geyser from end-to-end, obscuring the battlefield from everyone including himself; however, Master Jin Junjie possessed [Truesight Eyes] which bypassed most forms of visual impediments.

Bronzehall Avenue had rain. Sometimes pebbles dropped onto his shoulders, bouncing off and splattering against the inch-high waters.

[Touch Disruption]: Through the implantation of Jin Junjie's Ancestor Qi into an opponent's (or in this case, an ally's) given technique or skill, it waged war against the internal mana structures inside; against weaker targets, this was the effect: the complete destruction of his foe’s ambitions, and he’d see their faces pale in despair.

But this was no such time although he would like to see Gul’s expression. Because already, the Lesser Forger was rising from the onslaught of high-level skills as a wretched silhouette in the rain.

It was taking this fight too lightly.

Quick as an eagle, Master Jin Junjie made enormous bounds with a single step, gracefully spun as a pillar of fire came, redirecting wind high where it’d harm no one. Then he arrived. Ikeya's cloak was in tatters, a few distortion open like swords half-drawn from their scabbards.

The Sungrazer was kicked high into the sky. Before it could reach the peak of its flight, Master Jin Junjie was already above it.

[Son!] he cried in Mandarin.

Tiehan was already moving.

[Records of the Master]

[Records of the Righteous Cultivator]

[Nine Skyward Azure Blades]

Around the Guild Master and Vice Guild Master of Martials were nine azure swords, each one mastered individually, named after the nine sons of the Dragon King in Chinese mythology.

Ikeya’s scream turned into a dying cackle and opened portals in hopes to kill the two cultivators before they could strike down the star.

In this form? Impossible. Shackled by the [Phantasm Chain Valley], reduced to its pathetic form resembling humans, it was too slow and too weak. Ikeya was going to learn this lesson and pay gravely for it.

The combined [Nine Skyward Azure Blades] tore through the distortions and closed them through brute force, continuing on. Eighteen blades, a technique tempered through years of combat and training, powered by qi refined from heir-to-heir like polishing a gem found deep in the crust. The bright collision was the epitome of the Jin Family: of humanity’s irrational search for power, and its arrogance to reach beyond the heavens.

Spirit beasts, the divine, greater.

Any mortal creature would be chopped as fine as onions, but a Sungrazer was much tougher than that. Resilient, as Pereyra and Tewfik had proven before. Although Ikeya remained whole, it squealed and squealed, dropping hard onto the broken battlefield.

Unmoving. It was quiet.

The cultivators returned to Earth. Gul and a crowd of lesser Slayers regrouped with the Jins while the bombardment restarted. Everything in Ikeya’s general area was already destroyed, but they were going to do it again.

“There,” Master Jin Junjie said, watching the scene unfold. Subduing the Forger in this form wasn’t difficult when they had the weaponry and power advantage. To prevent the Comet from opening its portals and utilizing them, you simply had to overwhelm it.

Gul was uneasy given her expression; what a shame. She’d been a rising star in her youth but now she was an unsightly tangle of paranoia and doubt, unbecoming of a Slayer of her rank. Weakness meant death, and she forgot that lesson. Perhaps the tragedy that befell her and Ordo University was self-inflicted.

Tiehan looked on at the unceasing cannonade with pride and awe. “The transformation will begin soon.”

“Do not be complacent; this is just the beginning. Archknell was bested and so had many of our own. Ikeya will prove itself to be a formidable threat to us,” warned Master Jin Junjie to his lot. Mostly to the high-rankers, the only ones that truly mattered.

Instinctively he opened his hand as if to search within his [Inventory], recalling the [Sacrifice] that Catalyst had brewed for him. Yes, this wasn’t nearly the true extent of the Forger’s powers; a single Comet at full strength killed thousands of this Earth’s finest. The power difference was comparable to humans and a pesky wasp. So if he had to die, then so be it. His legacy was already secured. The future of Martials Guild will be bright underneath the Perfected Cultivator, and the old master will live on inside the [Honor] granted to the Jin Family.

[SLAYER SYSTEM ALERT]

Greater cosmic energy detected.

The [Phantasm Chain Valley] was decastec.

As soon as the Slayers received the notification, the magical artillery halted and so had the ballistics. The air changed, now. Everyone felt it. Chilling. Like it was a winter’s cold, turning blood into thick ice even amongst the veterans. The palpitations of the heart, the existential dread of the abyss.

Master Jin Junjie was silent as a grave, speechless. So this was how the Slayers in Operation Scorcher had felt, then. What a curious feeling this was. Such potent fear that cut away at all insignificant articles and connected to him solely as a human. Disgusting. He should study this feeling more if he survives.

He gulped and heard the same uneasy motions throughout the waiting crowd. He did not know if any of them, besides from Gul, had participated in Scorcher but they were shortly be the first soldiers combatting this new beast.

And there, it arose from the war-haze, giant and prominent in the backdrop of the supernova night.

A black and scarlet spider standing on two legs, fifty feet tall.

Its legs were like scythes. It resembled futuristic technology you’d find in a science-fiction show. Elegantly the other legs lowered themselves like wings, translucent black feathers hanging off the outer dark shell while the scarlet ‘flesh’ within shone brightly like rubies. The main body looked distinctly feminine in an hourglass shape, the torso composed of ridges like scales to armor. A dim red energy leaked from the vents like a constant low-power flame. The head was shaped by an inverse triangle, the chin dangerous with a point, and the eyes were narrow as a knife’s edge, oozing red energy as well. Levitating on its back was its ‘egg sac’ you’d find on mother spiders, housing its breed. A universe was contained inside. It was like a bubble or a balloon. It was the sight you see when you stargaze on the top of a hill.

The bombardment continued.

The first volley was neutralized without issue. Missiles and magical formations couldn’t reach the Forger. They were swallowed whole by portals tearing through the fabric of this world, and a second later, the same projectiles re-appeared above the Ordoians. Quickly the shielders went into action and raised enough protection to prevent any casualties.

But that was the first showcase of its abilities.

“Foolish…” Ikeya muttered, seething with rage. “Here lies our tomb—”

[Coordinates Registered]

[Marker Acknowledged]

~~~

“The Sovereigns, the heroes of the Slayer Emergence. Every soul on Earth knows of their names,” Yatsar had begun. “Magus, who created [First Magic] that eventually inspired the Phenomena Society; Oblivion, the one who mastered [Death]; Darkrealm, whose inventions we are still researching today; and the leader, Primordial, who had risen the Sovereign Peninsula where Ordo would be founded upon.

“The Sovereign we concern ourselves with is Gigantomachia, the Godslayer, wielding the titular [Godslayer Claymore] which had been shattered into pieces and kept safe in Grendel Arsenal. It’s rumored that the giant himself had killed at least one hundred gods with this weapon, and right now we need its power.”

The Wonder Superweapon had found its second-best location in Pine Park in West Dawns, situated in the middle of a soccer field surrounded by armored vehicles. This location was picked out by Conqueror and Sage for this contingency: when both Wonder and Ikeya were on the field of play.

Which meant they were both targets.

Pine Park allowed the two Sungrazers to be in-range.

The Superweapon buzzed to life. Intense, geometric lines of mana coursed through the body. Alma shouted at all nearby soldiers to stay back as the mana emission was so high that it’d harm regular humans.

“Thunderstrike Hammer and I had to speed-test countless prototypes and ideas until finally we decided on this: only drained [High-Grade Draconic Spirit Cores] were able to properly absorb every attribute we needed. Thus, they’ll be our shell. We produced three. Only three of these [Infused Spirit Cores]. First, of course, we extracted the key essence of the [Godslayer]...”

“Anti-divinity property, origin [Godslayer Claymore]: Stable.” Blackviper read off the screen as the coordinates were given for the Forger.

“We needed to ensure that it would hit.”

“Independent projectile certainty principle, origin [Freischütz]: Stable.”

“We targeted the internal energy structure in hopes we could permanently damage it.”

“Mana system disruption property, origin [Termination Arrow]: Stable.”

“Catalyst was kind enough to give us whole ribs extracted from Fragment Carn.”

“Fragment-grade cosmic property, origin [Ribs of Fragment Carn]: Stable.”

“Although we didn’t anticipate receiving direct cosmic material, I believe it will be the key essence for our success. But there is one last piece to the Wonder Superweapon: an anti-divinity weapon is not as effective against a non-divine entity. Which is why we included the [Marker].”

“Coordinates have been registered. Alignment complete. [Apotheosis Marker] active.” Blackviper watched as an almost invisible red laser shot from underneath the main barrel. “Ten-percent, twenty-five, thirty-five, sixty, eighty-three, ninety-nine, one-hundred. Complete! The Forger, Ikeya, is recognized as a divine entity!”

“Three shots,” Yatsar had reiterated. “Preferably, we want to use one for each of the remaining Sungrazers, which means we have one attempt at dealing major damage or even killing them. For Ikeya, the perfect time is shortly after its transformation into its true form.”

Blackviper gritted her teeth underneath her mask. “The Forger is sighted in. Energy charge: one-hundred-percent. The [Infused Spirit Core] is stable! All visuals are green! Approving launch!”

Thunderstrike Hammer and Yatsar responded in unison, “Approving launch!”

“Commencing artillery bombardment of the Forger, Ikeya!”

Alma warned everyone to plug their ears and the lever was pulled.

A deafening boom cracked throughout Pine Park, flattening the blades of grass on the field. Initiate watched on, licking her lips and dying for a cigarette break, as the shell left a deep blue trail in its mark. It left physical sight within moments and just like that, the [Infused Spirit Core] was launched kilometers away.

Anyone underneath its path would hear a horrifying whistling sound like a dragon’s roar—these cores were ripped from dragons, after all—but unlike most anomalies in this outbreak, this wasn’t caused by a monster. It was humanity’s work. The shell flew faster than even a high-ranker could readily react to, all the way to its target.

Before Ikeya could finish its sentence, suddenly something had pierced through the egg-sac and punctured an enormous hole into its chest. Then a bluish-white explosion that had consumed the Comet whole. Underneath the boom of the shell, an ear-shattering cry rang.

Smoke subsided. Ikeya was revealed, its black armor cracked and peeling. The scarlet flesh underneath glowed dimmer, sparkling ichor oozing from every wound. It bled an ocean’s worth and moaned like a bloody lioness. Its head was bowed low, tortured with mortal pain.

It was still alive, unfortunately, but the Superweapon worked.

It severely injured an entity from the Space Beyond.

Tiehan communicated to the warriors present, “We have the upper hand! Don’t relent for even a moment! We can bring down another Comet here and now!”