Comparing the Mariana Trench with this would have been a kiddie pool.Three centuries out in the sea of the new First Continent, the water ceased to behave as water. It was acting like liquid lightning.The tactical lights in the command bridge of the Leviathan were flashing a bloody crazy red. The huge Black Iron sub was being kicked around like a can of tin in a laundry machine."Rune shields are failing!" The heavy brass helm was clashed with by Captain Nemo, who threw about his mechanical eye crazing. The water here--they are full of pure Aether! It's eating through the hull!"To support himself, Alex hung on to the command console. The sea, through the glasteel windows, was not black; it was a vision-destroying, whirling cauldron of silver light. It was an Aether Hurricane--an area storm of unruly creating power roaring on the bottom of the waves.HISS.A horrible voice was heard in the bridge. The mythical Black Iron, a metal which had readily resisted the crushing depths of the

Fifty miles of crystal forest gave way to a landscape of scarred, glowing earth.Silverspire existed as an open wound which extended across the surface of the First Continent because it lacked any urban development. The fortified structure used polished silver stone to create a seamless wall which surrounded a deep mine that measured one mile in width. The battlements located dozens of Aether Cannons which had their barrels set to monitor the area at all times.The pit area carried the sound of pickaxes making rhythmic clinking noises which the wind carried. Human slaves who had thousands of luminous silver burns were forced by Celestial overseers who used their crackling whips to extract creation energy from mined materials.Alex, Cain, Talon, and Glacia all stood at the treeline to observe the fortress from their position.Talon whispered his tactical assessment while scanning the walls with his eyes. The ramparts displayed two hundred visible Celestial Guards. The Aether Cannons di

"You have our attention."The First Celestial Emperor spoke with a voice that created physical pressure which affected every person within a distance of a thousand miles. The enormous transparent face which floated in the golden sky above Silverspire showed no human feelings because its white eyes did not display any mortal emotion.The ruined quarry became a site where the liberated human slaves who numbered in thousands to their knees because of extreme fear. The divine power of the Emperor brought Alex down to the ground while he fought back against his mental domination. Cain stood with his arms crossed, showing his defiance through the appearance of his dark abyssal scars.Alex maintained a position of perfect military posture. The World Core inside his chest pulsed with energy to counteract the Emperor's mental domination. The Emperor's bright white eyes and Alex's silver eyes met each other."I didn't come for your attention," Alex yelled to the sky, his voice amplified by terr

The screams of the Celestial Envoy echoed across the courtyard.True to his word, Cain didn't hesitate. With a brutal, fluid motion born from a decade in the Void, the First Heir dismantled the arrogant messenger. The Envoy’s liquid-silver armor offered no protection against the localized, absolute nothingness of a point-blank Void strike.Cain tossed the severed, silver-bleeding limbs onto the ramp of the needle-shaped ship, then kicked the weeping, broken Envoy right in the chest, sending him sprawling into the airlock.Alex walked up the ramp, his silver eyes completely devoid of mercy. He looked down at the Envoy."Tell the Second Emperor his bomb was a dud," Alex said, his voice carrying the crushing, terrestrial weight of the World Core. "And tell the First Emperor he made a mistake."The Day Thirty deadline must not be our waiting period.The airlock delivered a hissing sound as it closed shut. The silver ship ascended into the sky while it expelled a stream of shining blood wh

"Come and take it."The Second Emperor did not scorn. He didn't shout. He was floating along, his bare feet an inch above the cratered earth.Alex met him head-on.He didn't hold back. He redirected the total peak of the World Core, forcing the millions of tons of planetary bulk into his muscles. His transparent, colorless sword of the Aether-Dragon Sword swung on a disastrous vertical stroke at the head of the Emperor.The Emperor didn't dodge. He just lifted his palm, which was open."Disintegration."ZZZT--VWOOM.As it happened, when the Aether-Dragon Sword touched the palm of the Emperor, there was no metallic clang. No kinetic shockwave was present.Rather, there sprang, like a balloon of complete annihilation, perfectly spherical, between them.The sheer mass of the planet that was pushing the sword of Alex contradicted the divine law of the aura of the Emperor. The opposing ideals conflictingly annulled one another. The bedrock upon which they stood fifty feet below, was merely