Chapter Five: Confrontation

First Layer

Inner pit

Pitland AKA "The Pit"

Continent of Zenithan

The Pit stretched before me like a yawning abyss, the distant glow of Astral Shards shimmering beneath the darkness like fallen stars. I stood at the edge of a craggy outcrop, gazing into the deep trenches that marked the first layer. The air was thick—saturated with psychic residue, the lingering echoes of countless battles fought over these shards. The very ground beneath me hummed with energy, as if remembering the chaos that had unfolded time and time again.

I adjusted my gear, my fingers running over the reinforced plating of my Astral Suit, the material cool under my touch. VoidNet was gone. Silent. Its presence, once a constant whisper in my mind, had vanished. No cryptic messages. No system corrections. No directives guiding my every step.

For the first time in years, I was alone.

It had been days since Cognis rejected me—since I received the letter that sealed my fate in their eyes. Lack of psychic power, they said. A liability. It was almost laughable. Me? A liability? The irony of it all made my jaw tighten.

I had power—more than they could ever comprehend. But the chains wrapped around me—the system's damnable suppression—kept me from proving it. Kept me from showing them.

I exhaled slowly, my breath steady despite the slow simmer of frustration curling in my chest. Sometimes, I just wanted to make them eat the dirt beneath their feet. A petty thought, but one I had entertained more than once. Still, that wasn't my goal. Not yet.

For now, I had a hunt to finish. The wind howled like a starving beast, tearing through the ravines and rattling the worn edges of my tattered cloak as I descended deeper into the Pit's first layer. The air carried a bitter chill, thick with the scent of ozone and the lingering traces of Astral energy. Every step I took on the jagged terrain was a reminder that I was walking a razor's edge, alone—without VoidNet's guidance. Just me.

The eerie glow of scattered Astral Shards embedded in the rock cast ghostly shadows across the uneven path, pulsing faintly like remnants of lost souls. I ground my boot against a protruding stone, pressing down hard. A sharp crack echoed in the emptiness as a shimmering shard, roughly the size of my palm, broke free. It tumbled into my waiting hand, warm and humming, its surface veined with intricate patterns of latent energy. The glow throbbed—a trapped heartbeat pulsing in my grip.

I studied it for a moment. These things were worth a fortune topside. A single high-purity shard could buy a month's worth of supplies, maybe even a decent place to sleep outside the slums. But money wasn't my real problem. Well, it was but not at the top of my list right now. I stored the shard in my spatial band, continuing my walk.

The light of my plasma torch flickered against the cavern walls, its artificial glow barely cutting through the oppressive darkness of the Pit's first layer. The deeper I went, the denser the Astral Energy became, warping the air with a hazy shimmer. I tightened my grip on my blade as I carved through the layers of crystalized Astral Shards embedded in the cavern wall. Each shard had value—some more than others—but in the end, they were just currency. Tools to grease the wheels of the underworld. Without Cognis backing me, I would need a different route into the Legacy Families. A different strategy.The Legacy Families. The mission VoidNet had given me years ago, when it had first awakened to me. I had to eliminate the six founders of the Legacy Families. Do you know how crazy that was?

First of all, the Legacy Families were no ordinary bloodlines. They were the true rulers of this world—the six families whose lineages traced back to the first six Espers, those who had survived the apocalypse and reshaped civilization. Each bore the blood and power of gods, the architects of the new world order. Publicly, the six nations that ruled the world were independent and sovereign. Privately, each was a puppet state controlled by one of the Legacy Families and their vassals.

The founders weren't just leaders; they were gods walking among men. It was said that their psychic abilities were passed down like divine inheritance, creating dynasties of power that no outsider could challenge. To the public, they were philanthropists, business moguls, and visionaries, funding everything from technological advancement to psychic research. But beneath that pristine illusion, they were the unseen rulers of the six nations, their will enforced through vassal houses and private military forces. Each of the Legacy Families commanded vassal families, lesser bloodlines bound to their service in exchange for protection and power. Some vassals were nearly as influential as their masters, acting as regional governors, corporate heads, and enforcers. Others were loyal hounds, carrying out dirty work in the shadows, ensuring that their masters' will remained absolute and unchallenged.

The Legacy Families existed beyond the reach of law. They were untouchable, untouching, their influence woven so deeply into the world that no government, no organization, could challenge them. If I wanted to dismantle their hold, I had to be more than just another Ranker looking for fortune. I had to become a shadow within their ranks, a ghost in their system, an unseen threat.

I exhaled, slipping the shards I'd extracted into my spatial band. I still had options. These could be sold to a black-market broker, giving me access to deeper layers of the Pit—places where only Legacy operatives dared to tread. Perhaps I'd find a different inroad there, a new path into their ranks. If I wanted to get close to the Legacy Families, I had to infiltrate one of their vassal houses.

That was my next move.

A distant tremor shook the ground beneath me, snapping me back to the present. I froze, senses flaring. Something big was moving deeper in the tunnels. Spirit Beast? Another Ranker? I rolled my shoulders, feeling the weight of the blade in my arm, my muscles tensing in anticipation.

Whether it was an enemy or an opportunity, it didn't matter. I was ready.

****

The air shimmered with psychic energy, thick with the crackling remnants of abilities clashing in the gloom of the Pit's depths. The battlefield was a jagged expanse of broken stone and astral fractures, where two opposing forces stood locked in combat—each vying for control over a beast of immense power.

At the center of the chaos, the Spirit Beast loomed, its massive form coiled in the trench of the cavern. It was a colossus, a four-legged titan with a jagged obsidian hide, its eyes glowing with primal intelligence. Unlike the Titanbone Serpent, this beast radiated a denser Astral core, its body vibrating with so much latent energy that it distorted the very air around it.

And yet, its greatest threat wasn't its own power—but the ones trying to claim it.

The Battle for the Core

On one side, a squad of Cognis Operatives—clad in sleek, dark combat suits lined with astral circuitry—moved in synchronized formation. Their leader, a woman with an argent visor, raised a psionic barrier, deflecting a volley of gunfire from their enemies.

"Hold formation! The beast's Astral Core belongs to Cognis!" she barked, her voice laced with authority.

Opposing them, a group of Rogue Syndicate fighters—mercenaries and ex-Rankers with patchwork gear—moved with chaotic efficiency, their weapons charged with stolen Astral Tech enhancements. A burly enforcer, his right arm encased in a gauntlet pulsing with unstable energy, sneered as he leveled a plasma-edged blade at the Cognis squad.

"Screw your orders, Cognis lapdogs! The Syndicate claims this beast!"

Then, all at once, the battlefield erupted. Psionic projectiles clashed against kinetic barriers, blades carved through the darkness, and gunfire illuminated the cavern in bursts of deadly brilliance. Explosions rocked the battlefield as gravity waves and raw kinetic force tore through the surrounding terrain.

In the chaos, the Spirit Beast roared, its Astral Core pulsing violently, reacting to the energy disturbances. Its massive tail whipped across the field, flattening stone pillars and sending Syndicate operatives flying. The fight had reached a fever pitch—both factions locked in a desperate struggle—so focused on each other that they failed to notice the third player stepping into the fray.

I stood on a rocky outcrop, watching the conflict unfold, my hand, outfitted with the astral guantlet tech,rested on the hilt of my Astral Blade. My eyes flickered between the combatants and the beast—assessing, calculating.

They were wasting time. The Spirit Beast's Astral Core was far too valuable for me to let either group claim it. A single core of this density? It would fetch a fortune on the black market, enough to fund my next move against the Legacy Families. I exhaled, rolling my shoulders as I stepped forward. It was time to act.

"All of you are wasting your damn energy," I muttered.

Then, I moved. The world blurred as I launched from my vantage point, my superhuman capabilities propelling me forward with impossible speed. One moment I was above them—the next, I was among them. I landed in the center of the battlefield, the impact cracking the ground beneath me. All eyes turned to me. The Cognis leader reacted first.

"Unknown combatant! Identify yourself!"

The Syndicate enforcer growled, raising his weapon.

"Who the hell—?"

I ignored them. They weren't my concern. My focus was on the beast. The Spirit Beast reared back, its core pulsating, sensing my presence. It lunged, jaws parting to unleash a wave of raw Astral energy, an attack that could vaporize lesser fighters on impact. I didn't dodge. I stepped forward, my Astral Blade igniting in my grip, the blade humming with raw psionic force. With a single motion, I cut through the incoming energy wave, splitting it down the middle as I closed the distance. The beast hesitated.

"Too slow."

I disappeared from its vision, reappearing beneath its massive frame. My blade traced a perfect arc, cutting deep into its underside—straight into the core of its body. A shockwave exploded outward as the Astral Blade connected with the beast's core, sending ripples through the air, the very fabric of energy distorting around us. The Spirit Beast spasmed violently, its roars turning into a choked sound. The glow of its Astral Core flickered—then dimmed. Then, in one final shudder, the beast collapsed. Dead. Silence fell.

For a long moment, no one moved. The Cognis Operatives and the Syndicate fighters stood in stunned silence, staring at the massive corpse of the beast—the kill stolen right from under them. The Cognis leader recovered first, her expression unreadable behind her argent visor.

"You… Who are you?"

The Syndicate enforcer snarled, taking a step forward.

"You bastard! That core is ours!"

I flicked the blood off my blade, the energy dissipating into the air. Then, I reached down and placed a hand over the still-warm chest of the fallen beast. The glow of its Astral Core pulsed one last time before I yanked it free. A brilliant sphere of condensed Astral energy, dense with power beyond measure, now sat in my grasp. I turned to them, slowly.

"You two can keep fighting if you want." I pocketed the core, stepping back. "But this? This is mine."

The Cognis leader stiffened. The Syndicate fighters looked ready to rush me, but none moved. Because they had seen it. They had seen how effortlessly I had cut down something they struggled to kill. They had seen the way I moved, the way I fought—beyond any ordinary Ranker. They had felt my power.

"Tch." The Syndicate enforcer spat to the side, his grip tightening around his weapon. "This isn't over." He motioned to his men, and reluctantly, they backed off.

The Cognis leader gave me one last glance, her visor gleaming under the cavern light. She undid the Astral blade from her tech, putting it aside as she regarded me.

"You just made an enemy for yourself," She said. "I hope you understand what that means." I smiled, knowing what she meant. But I said nothing as I walked towards the shadow by the corner, entering it and disappearing from their view.