Silas Kapito stared at the neon-blue liquid bubbling in the Bio-Med Pod. The sweet computer voice told him to soak and heal his shattered left arm. The pain in his body was blinding. The dark metal lattice under his pale skin burned with exhaustion. But Silas did not step into the warm, glowing tank. "I see the poison," Silas whispered to the empty, white room. His "Kinetic Vision" showed him the truth. Hidden inside the healing nanobots were heavy traces of "Numb." The Chrome Council had laced the medicine with a powerful sedative. If he got into the tank, the drug would put his Kapito-Gene back to sleep. He would heal, but he would wake up as a weak, baseline human. Silas knew he had a choice. He could fight the Golden-Eyed Clone with a broken arm and likely die. Or he could find a third way. He stepped up to the edge of the Bio-Med Pod. He did not get in. He reached out with his good right hand and grabbed the heavy metal control panel on the side of the tank. "Warning. Unauth

Silas Kapito walked away from his ruined suite. He walked down the bright, quiet hallways of the Aegis Wing. He was looking for The Engine room, but the Citadel was a maze of lies. He stopped in front of a pair of giant, pure crystal doors. The words Aether Lounge were carved into the glass in gold letters. Silas pushed the heavy crystal doors open. His broken, heavy boots stepped onto the soft white floor. He expected to find soldiers. He expected to find fear. The giant floating city had crashed. The sky was falling. The world outside was ending. But inside the Aether Lounge, there was no panic. There was only soft, sweet music playing from hidden speakers. The air smelled like fresh rain and expensive fruit. Silas stood in the doorway. He was covered in dry silver blood, dark oil, and green acid burns. He looked like a monster of war. Sitting inside the beautiful room were the top-tier students of the Academy. These were the children of the absolute highest Chrome Council mem

The Aether Lounge was completely dark. Silas Kapito had drained all the power from the room to save little Mara. The launch engines were dead. The rich elite students sat shivering on the floor, their glowing armor turned to useless grey plastic. Silas stood in front of the broken crystal doors, shielding Mara with his body. Standing in the hallway was the Golden-Eyed Clone. He held his massive Black-Iron sword. And floating right behind him was Elara, the Mother Battery. Her silver eyes glowed brightly in the dark. "Put the child down, Original," the clone smiled, pointing his sharp sword at Silas. "The Mother has decided. You are obsolete." Silas stared at Elara. His human heart felt a sharp, terrible pain. The woman he loved from the old world was standing with his enemy. "Elara," Silas whispered. "Why are you helping him?" Elara floated silently. She did not answer. She did not look at him with love or sadness. She looked at him with cold, empty silver eyes. This was Silas’

The Aether Lounge was completely quiet. The elite students sat on the floor, shaking in fear. They watched the Ash-King stand perfectly still, taking a five-ton punch to the chest without moving a single inch. Thorax, the giant champion of the High-Born Court, stared in absolute horror. His massive steel fist was buried against Silas’s marble-white skin. The giant boy tried to push harder. He grunted, grinding his teeth. The heavy, mechanical servos inside Thorax’s metal arm began to whine loudly. The machine was trying to deliver more power, but it could not. It had encountered the "dead-stop" of Silas’s incredible internal density. Silas’s tungsten bones were infinitely harder than the steel. Thick white smoke poured out of the vents on Thorax’s arm. The hydraulic fluid was overheating. The machine was destroying itself trying to move the immovable object. "Move!" Thorax screamed, his face turning red with panic. Silas slowly opened his solid black eyes. He looked down at the

The giant glass windows shattered inward. A massive wave of pure, blinding orange fire rushed into the room. The asteroid had finally hit the Citadel. "Elara, the shield!" Silas Kapito roared over the deafening noise. Elara did not hesitate. The Mother Battery raised both her hands. Her bright silver eyes flared with ancient power. She threw a massive, invisible dome of kinetic energy over Silas, herself, and the frozen General Krov. The roaring orange fire crashed against the invisible dome like a tidal wave hitting a rock. The heat was terrifying. The floor outside the dome instantly melted into liquid slag. The Golden-Eyed Clone, still crying on the floor, was vaporized in a single second. Inside the dome, Silas and Elara held their breath. The kinetic shield groaned under the impossible weight of the falling star. For ten agonizing seconds, the world was nothing but roaring fire and shaking stone. Then, the terrible noise began to fade. The heat died down. Elara slowly low