Firebase Hades. The Workshop.The jungle air, usually thick with the scent of man-eating flowers, now smelled of sulfur and high-grade accelerants.Lin Jin dumped the heavy sacks of Star-Dust onto the workbench. The black powder sparkled like crushed diamonds."It's volatile," Lin Jin warned. "In this atmosphere, a gram of this has the explosive yield of a hand grenade."Butcher Wang grinned, his face illuminated by the forge fire. He picked up a casing made of grey Abyssal Bone. He carefully poured the Star-Dust inside, then capped it with a tip carved from the Lightning Demon Lord’s core fragments.[Item Created: Void-Round (Mark II).] [Propellant: Star-Dust.] [Payload: Calamity Lightning / Kinetic Penetrator.] [Velocity: Mach 10.]"Mach 10," Wang whispered reverently. "Boss, at that speed, we don't even need to aim. The shockwave alone will liquefy organs.""Load them," Lin Jin ordered. "All 500 rifles. We have guests arriving."The ground beneath them trembled. Not from an earthqu

Mystic Pill Valley. The Hall of Infinite Knowledge. The library was a tower carved into the heart of a living mountain. It smelled of dry paper, ink, and the lingering souls of dead scholars. Lady Azure stood at the massive bronze doors. She looked nervous. "This is the Restricted Section," she said, holding up her Sect Token to disable the barriers. "Outsiders are usually killed on sight here. You have three hours, Lin Jin. Take what technique you want, but do not touch the sealed artifacts." Lin Jin walked past her. The air inside was cold. Thousands of floating scrolls filled the atrium, glowing with different colors representing their elements. "Techniques?" Lin Jin scoffed. He swiped a floating scroll labeled Supreme Fire Dragon Art. He glanced at it and tossed it aside. "I don't need to know how to breathe fire," Lin Jin muttered. "I have a stomach full of stars for that." He ignored the combat section. He ignored the alchemy section. He walked straight to the back, to

Firebase Hades. Day 7 of the Siege.The air inside the World-Lock barrier was thin. The Spirit Qi was gone, consumed by the voracious appetite of the Ashbone Division. The jungle plants had withered and died, their energy harvested to feed the forges.But inside the base, the heat was intense.The fortress was gone. The walls had been melted down. The Iron Mule was a skeleton.In the center of the crater stood The Babel Drill.It was a monstrosity of engineering. A three-hundred-meter tall spire of black Abyssal metal, reinforced with Heavenly Sword steel and Soaring Crane jade. It looked like a giant, angry needle aimed at the heart of God."Structure integrity at 98%," Gu Panyue reported, her voice raspy from the thin air. "But we have a problem. The mass is too high. The Spirit-Wood engines can't generate enough thrust to break escape velocity and punch through the World-Lock.""We need a reaction," Butcher Wang said, wiping grease from his face. "Something with the yield of a smal

The Celestial Court. The Arena.The silence following the punch didn't last.It was broken by a sound that resembled a star collapsing.Mars, the God of War, wiped the golden ichor from his broken nose. His eyes, previously burning suns, turned into black holes of pure, condensed rage."You..." Mars hissed. The sound vaporized the golden clouds for light-years. "You dared to touch the face of Authority."The armor on Mars shifted. The plates of dead civilizations fused together, turning molten red. He grew taller, his form becoming less humanoid and more like a living catastrophe.[Enemy Status Update: Mars - Phase 2.] [Form: Avatar of Total War.] [Threat Level: Extinction.]Mars raised his World-Breaker Sword. Red lightning arced from the blade, cracking the fabric of the Celestial Dimension."I will not just kill you," Ma

The Celestial Court. The High Table.Three days had passed since the First Decree.The Golden Platform, usually radiating a light that illuminated the cosmos, was dim. The air was heavy with a suffocating, divine desperation.The God of Life sat slumped on her throne. Her form, usually a vibrant tapestry of blooming galaxies and flowing rivers, was graying at the edges. The stars in her hair flickered like dying lightbulbs."We are fading," Life whispered. Her voice, once a melody of creation, sounded like dry leaves scraping against stone. "Without the Harvest... I cannot sustain my conceptual mass.""I feel it too," The God of Elements rumbled. He looked unstable. Bolts of uncontrolled lightning arced from his skin, striking the floor and leaving scorched marks. "My cohesion is breaking down. If I do not consume high-grade Qi soon, I will devolve into a mindless cosmic storm."Mars, the God of War, sat polishing his nose. He looked gaunt. His armor, usually molten red, was dull and