2026-04-28 23:38:27
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Chapter 64
Drogo Payne did not wake up all at once. He woke up in pieces. First, he felt the cold. It was a deep, biting cold that lived inside his bones. Then, he felt the weight. It felt like a mountain was sitting on his chest, pressing the air out of his lungs.Finally, he felt the taste. It was the taste of copper, ash, and his own black blood. He opened his eyes. He was lying at the bottom of a crater. This was not the Forbidden Zone or the slums. He was in the Mid-Tier District of Solara. Around him, the ground was made of pretty blue stones, but now those stones were shattered. He had fallen from the Apex Tier like a stone dropped from the clouds.Drogo tried to move his right arm.Grind.The sound of broken obsidian rubbing against shattered bone made him hiss. His arm was a mess. The polished black skin was cracked and peeling off in large, dry flakes. Beneath the obsidian, his flesh was raw and glowing with a sickly violet light.[VITALITY: 12%.][MANA: 2%.][CORE STATUS: UNSTABLE.]
Chapter 63
The air inside the Breathing Room was thick and hot. It felt like the inside of a giant’s mouth. The walls of the iron tank were sweating, the water dripping down the rust in long, dark lines.Silas Kapito stood in the center. He did not look tired. He did not look like a boy who had spent three nights breaking his own bones. He looked like a statue.The Dregs were sitting on the floor, panting. Ren’s face was red. Kaelie was holding her side. Jax and Leo were leaning against each other. Even the big man, Kael, was breathing hard. The Horse Stance had taken their strength. The "Internal Flow" breathing had taken their focus. They were empty."Stand up," Silas said.His voice was not loud, but it cut through the sound of their heavy breathing like a knife."We are tired, Silas," Jax groaned. "My legs feel like they are made of cooked noodles. I can't even stand, let alone fight.""The enemy will not wait for you to rest," Silas said. He walked to the back of the tank. "The Syndicate do
Chapter 62
Silas made them pair up. One person played the Enforcer. They had to move their arms in big, slow swings. The other person had to stay low, breathe, and find the "Axillary Vent.""Move with the wind!" Silas shouted. "Do not fight the arm! Slide under it! Use your legs to launch! The target is the lung of the god!"Scuff. Scuff. Thud.The sounds of the Dregs moving filled the iron tank. They fell many times. They were slow. They were sloppy. But every time they found the target, their eyes lit up. They were learning the Anatomy of a God. They were learning that the people who ruled them were just men in broken boxes.Jax and Leo practiced together. Jax swung a rusted pipe like a mace. Leo dived under it, his hand hitting Jax’s side with a "poke.""Locked!" Leo cheered."You were too slow," Silas said, appearing behind them. He moved so quietly that neither of them heard him. "Jax would have stepped on your foot. Again. Stay on the balls of your feet. Do not plant your heels. If you pl
Chapter 61
The air in the Breathing Room was thick and heavy. The single chemical flare on the floor was burning low, casting a flickering orange light. It made the shadows of the rusted iron tank dance like ghosts. Silas Kapito sat on the floor, but he was no longer meditating.He reached out and picked up a piece of charcoal. It was a chunk of burnt wood he had found in the furnace vents. It was black and dirty, but it was a tool.The Dregs—Ren, Kaelie, Jax, Leo, and the big man Kael—stood in a circle around him. Their faces were wet with sweat. Their legs were still shaking from the three hours of the Horse Stance. They looked at Silas with tired eyes. They wanted to know why they were suffering.Silas stood up. He walked to the curved iron wall of the tank. The wall was covered in white salt and orange rust.Scritch. Scritch. Scritch.Silas began to draw. He did not draw a person. He drew a machine.He drew a tall figure with broad shoulders and thick legs. He drew heavy plates over the ches
Chapter 60
As the punch hit his palm, Silas took a small step back. He let his arm move like a spring. He sucked the momentum of Kael’s punch into his own body. He moved his hips in a circle, guiding Kael’s giant fist past his own ear.Silas didn't throw a single punch. He just used The Catch. He pulled on Kael’s wrist and used his foot to gently tap Kael’s ankle at the same time.Kael’s own momentum, his massive weight and his violent force, became his enemy. Because Silas wasn't there to stop him, Kael flew forward. He couldn't stop.BOOM.Kael hit the far wall of the iron tank. He slammed into the rusted metal with a sound like a gong. He fell to the floor in a heap, his face red and his breath gone.The other Dregs stared in total shock. They hadn't even seen Silas move. One second, Kael was punching. Next, Kael was on the floor."What... what was that?" Ren whispered."That," Silas said, looking down at Kael, "is the difference between a tool and a master. Kael fought like a machine. He mov
Chapter 59
The breathing room was a place of ghosts and old air. It was a giant, round tank made of thick iron, hidden deep behind a wall of trash in the Sump. Years ago, it was a pressurized oxygen chamber. It was used to save workers who had been poisoned by the bad air of the mines. Now, it was just a rusted shell. It smelled of old pennies and wet dust.Silas Kapito stood in the center of the tank. The only light came from a single, flickering chemical flare on the floor. It cast a long, dancing shadow of Silas against the curved walls.Standing before him were the Ghosts. Ren, Kaelie, Jax, and Leo. But today, Ren had brought one more.His name was Kael.Kael was much bigger than the others. He was a "Hauler." His job was to carry heavy crates of scrap metal for twelve hours a day. His shoulders were wide, and his neck was as thick as a tree trunk. He had no machines in his body, but his muscles were hard like stone from years of work.Kael did not look happy to be in the Breathing Room. He
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