The Tower of Ranks did not look like a building. It looked like a geometric scar on the horizon, a needle of white-gold light that pierced the very stratosphere. It was the physical manifestation of the System a structure where every floor was gated by a specific Rank, and where the air itself was saturated with the "Primary Code" of the Central Authority.
The Scrap-Venture hovered miles away, cloaked in a "Static-Void" shroud that Kenji maintained with a localized [Stasis Field].
"The Tower is protected by a Rank 10 Nullification Field," Commander Kael explained, her holographic map flickering. "Normally, any scrap-based energy would be instantly dismantled the moment it touched the perimeter. But with Kenji's current resonance, we have a window. A very small one."
Kenji looked at his team. They were outfitted in "Unranked" combat gear suits woven from the null-scrap of the Sunken Citadel and the thermal residue of the Glacial Eye.
"We split into two teams," Kenji said, his voice calm but carrying the weight of a Master. "Kael, you and the Insurgency fleet will provide the orbital distraction. Hit their satellite anchors. Force the High Council to divert power from the internal gates to the external shields."
"And us?" Mateo asked, adjusting his new resonant-frequency gauntlets.
"We go through the basement," Kenji replied. "The 'Foundation of the Forsaken.' It's where the Tower dumps the data-waste and core-residue of everyone who fails their Rank-Up trials. It's the largest concentration of pure, unrefined scrap in the world. It's my home turf."
The insertion was a blur of violet light. Using [Void Step: Group Transit], Kenji bypassed the outer walls and materialized the team in the bowels of the Tower.
The Foundation was a cathedral of garbage. Massive pipes, the size of city streets, pulsed with a sickly green light, dumping liquid core-waste into vast, churning vats. The air was a thick, poisonous fog of "Failed Ranks."
[ENVIRONMENTAL ALERT: VOLATILE SCRAP SATURATION - 99%]
[SYSTEM STATUS: DISCONNECTED]
"I feel... lighter," Zola said, her geomancy-gauntlets humming with a strange, wild energy.
"That's because the System doesn't exist down here," Kenji said, breathing in the toxic air as if it were mountain oxygen. "This is where the Ranks go to die. For everyone else, it's poison. For us, it's an infinite battery."
As they moved through the waste-tunnels, Kenji felt the remaining four Fallen Stars. They were directly above them, ascending toward the Spire's apex.
[SENSE: FALLEN STARS DETECTED]
• The Scrap of Eternal Hunger (Rank S)
• The Scrap of Blinding Truth (Rank S)
• The Scrap of Absolute Gravity (Rank S)
• The Scrap of Infinite Recursion (Rank S)
"They're starting the ritual," Elara whispered, her Frost Weaver sense tingling. "I can feel the 'God-Rank' awakening. It's like a vacuum, pulling every bit of order toward the top."
"Then we climb," Kenji said.
They reached the central elevator shaft, a vertical vacuum that bypassed the standard floors. But it wasn't empty. Standing guard over the waste-access was a creature that looked like a distorted mirror of Kenji himself. It was a System-Simulation, a being made of pure, high-rank data, designed to mimic the powers of any intruder.
[BOSS: THE ARCHIVE SHADOW (RANK 9)]
The Shadow didn't speak. It simply mimicked Kenji's stance. A violet-gray aura erupted around its form a perfect imitation of [Scrap Velocity].
"It's copying you!" Bjorn yelled, raising his shield.
"It's copying what I was," Kenji corrected.
The Shadow lunged with a [Void Step], appearing behind Kenji with a blade of dark energy. But Kenji didn't turn around. He didn't even move.
He reached into the "Foundation" waste around them, pulling the raw, liquid core-residue into his hand. He didn't refine it. He didn't forge it. He simply threw it.
[SKILL: SCRAP-STREAM OVERLOAD]
The unrefined waste hit the Archive Shadow. Because the Shadow was made of "Perfect Data," the introduction of "Chaotic Waste" was like a virus. Its form began to stutter and glitch. It tried to mimic the waste, but its core was built for order. It couldn't handle the "Noise."
"The System thinks waste is nothing," Kenji said, walking through the glitching Shadow as if it were a ghost. "But waste is just potential that hasn't been told what to be yet."
With a snap of his fingers, Kenji triggered the [Stasis Diamond], freezing the Shadow in its glitched state before shattering it with a pulse of the Abyssal Heart.
The path was clear.
They entered the shaft and began a rapid, gravity-defying ascent. As they passed floor after floor, Kenji saw the Ranks of the world flashing by:
• Floor 50: The Hall of Heroes (Rank 7)
• Floor 75: The Chamber of Archons (Rank 8)
• Floor 90: The Council's Zenith (Rank 9)
"We're passing the High Council," Elara said, her eyes wide. "Why aren't they stopping us?"
"Because they're busy," Kenji said, looking up.
At the very top of the shaft, the four Fallen Stars were circling a massive, crystalline throne. Seated on the throne was a figure shrouded in a cloak of "Primary Code."
It was the System Architect.
"Welcome, Kenji Tanaka," the Architect's voice echoed, sounding like a million voices speaking in perfect unison. "You have brought the final pieces of the puzzle. The Defense, the Lift, the Void, and the Stasis. Without them, the God-Rank would be incomplete. With them, the System becomes eternal."
The Architect raised a hand, and Kenji felt his core being pulled literally pulled out of his chest. The three Epic Scraps he had fought so hard to integrate were vibrating, trying to return to their "Source."
"He's not fighting us," Kenji realized, his knees hitting the floor of the elevator. "He's just... reclaiming his property."
"Kenji!" Priya screamed, her healing light trying to anchor his core.
The Architect stood up, the four Stars orbiting his head like a crown. "You thought you were a rebel, Scrapsmith. But you were merely my most efficient collector. You gathered the most difficult fragments when my Enforcers failed. For that, you have my gratitude. You shall be the first to be integrated into the New Order."
The World-Eater beam from earlier was nothing compared to this. The entire Tower of Ranks began to glow with a blinding, conceptual light. The "God-Rank" was beginning to manifest.
[ALERT: CORE EXTRACTION IN PROGRESS - 15%... 30%...]
[RANK DOWN IMMINENT: 5... 4... 3...]
Kenji felt his power fading. The Master-level resonance was being stripped away. He was becoming a Rank 0 Scrapsmith again, standing in the presence of a God.
But as his core began to empty, Kenji felt something else. Something the Architect couldn't see.
The "Waste" from the Foundation was still in his system. It wasn't an Epic Scrap. It wasn't a Fallen Star. It was just the "Noise" of a thousand failed souls. And the Architect's God-Rank ritual was designed to absorb "Perfect Stars," not "Garbage."
"You want my core?" Kenji whispered, his white hair falling over his eyes. "Then take all of it. Even the parts you threw away."
Kenji didn't resist the extraction. He pushed.
He opened the floodgates of his core and channeled the entire "Foundation of the Forsaken" the millions of tons of liquid waste and failed magic directly into the Architect's ritual.
[SKILL: THE FINAL RECYCLE]
The God-Rank ritual, which required absolute purity, was suddenly hit with a tidal wave of chaotic, unranked filth. The golden light of the Spire turned a muddy, violent green. The four Fallen Stars began to wobble in their orbits.
"What... what is this?" the Architect roared, his voice cracking. "This is... impurity! This is non-data!"
"It's not non-data," Kenji said, standing up, his eyes now glowing with a wild, uncontrollable rainbow of colors. "It's the people you forgot."
The Spire began to shake. The God-Rank wasn't awakening; it was choking.
"Everyone! Grab a Star!" Kenji ordered.
In the chaos of the ritual's failure, the four orbiting Stars were momentarily vulnerable. Elara, Mateo, Zola, and Bjorn lunged forward, each grabbing a fragment of the God-Rank's power.
The Tower of Ranks began to explode from the top down.