The Scrap-Venture was no longer a stealth ship. After the "Knowledge Rain" at Aethelgard, every radar, mana-sensor, and satellite in the System was tuned to their frequency. The hull was scorched, the Recursive Iron was pitted from orbital fire, and the crew was exhausted.
But as they crossed the Cloud-Wall into the Floating Isles of Aether, the atmosphere changed. The air became thin, sweet, and charged with high-density mana. Above them, hundreds of islands ranging from the size of a house to the size of a city drifted in a perfect, choreographed dance.
[ZONE: THE FLOATING ISLES OF AETHER (RANK S - LUXURY)]
[ENVIRONMENT: LOW GRAVITY / HIGH MANA-DENSITY]
[OVERWATCH: THE SKY-LORD ARMADA]
"It's beautiful," Priya whispered, looking at the waterfalls that flowed from one island and fell for miles before being caught by the gravity-wells of another. "It looks... peaceful."
"It's a gilded cage," Kenji said, standing at the prow. He was wearing a new set of robes he'd "Recycled" from the Silent Monks' gear. They were threaded with silver logic-circuits that helped him stabilize the five Stars currently vibrating in his chest.
[CORE STATUS: 5/7 STARS INTEGRATED]
[CURRENT SYNC: 78% (VOLATILE)]
"The people up here think they're gods because they've forgotten what the ground looks like," Kenji continued. "But their 'godhood' is powered by the Scrap of Absolute Gravity. Without it, these islands would fall and crush the world below."
"Wait," Mateo said, looking at his scanners. "If we take the Star... the islands fall? We'd be killing millions of civilians, Kenji."
Kenji looked at the nearest island a lush garden-estate belonging to a minor High Council noble. "I don't want to drop the islands. I want to ground the Lords. We have to find a way to stabilize the gravity manually before we pull the Star."
Suddenly, the sky darkened. It wasn't a cloud.
A fleet of Winged Hussars Rank 7 aerial knights on bio-mechanical griffins dropped from the islands above. Unlike the clinical Reclaimers, these warriors were decked in gold and sapphire armor, carrying lances that hummed with concentrated lightning.
"By order of the Sky-Lord Regent!" the lead Hussar shouted, his voice amplified by the thin air. "The Anomaly and his crew are to be grounded and dismantled! Surrender the Stars and your lives will be 'Archived' instead of 'Deleted'!"
"Archived? That just means being a ghost in a box," Bjorn growled, slamming his axe into the deck. "I'd rather be scrap!"
"Kael, evasive maneuvers!" Kenji commanded. "Don't fire back with the cannons the recoil in this low gravity will spin us out of control. Use the [System Sight]!"
Kenji closed his eyes. With the Star of Truth active, the sky wasn't empty. It was filled with "Gravity-Paths" invisible rails of blue light that the islands and the Hussars used to navigate.
"Mateo! There's a gravity-junction at ten o'clock!" Kenji pointed. "If we hit that with a [Void Burst], it'll create a localized vacuum. The griffins can't fly in a vacuum!"
"On it!" Mateo diverted the ship's remaining mana to the forward emitters.
A ball of black energy streaked from the Scrap-Venture, hitting the junction. For a split second, a hole was punched in the atmosphere. The Winged Hussars, caught in the sudden loss of lift, spiraled out of control, their griffins shrieking as they plummeted toward the lower islands.
"That won't keep them down for long," Elara said, her eyes tracking a massive shadow approaching from the highest island.
The Grand Skyship: The Architect's Mercy was descending. It was a Rank 9 fortress-ship, the pride of the Sky-Lord Regent. It was armed with "Gravity-Cannons" that didn't fire projectiles they fired points of infinite weight.
"Kenji, if that thing hits us, we don't just explode," Kael warned. "We turn into a marble."
"I see the Star," Kenji whispered.
Through the hull of The Architect's Mercy, Kenji's [System Sight] could see a glowing, obsidian sphere at the ship's center. The Scrap of Absolute Gravity. It was being used to keep the massive fortress afloat and to suppress any rebellion in the Isles.
[NEW MISSION: THE FALL OF THE HIGH BORN]
Objective: Infiltrate The Architect's Mercy.
Danger Level: Rank 9 (Apex)
"We can't outrun that ship," Kenji said. "So we're going to 'Recycle' its momentum."
"How?" Zola asked.
"We're going to let them hit us," Kenji said, a terrifying violet-and-white light flaring in his eyes. "Priya, ready the Stasis Diamond. We need to become 'Unmovable' at the exact moment they try to crush us."
The Architect's Mercy fired. A beam of dark, distorted space streaked toward the Scrap-Venture.
"NOW!" Kenji roared.
Priya slammed her staff into the deck. The Stasis Diamond expanded, encasing the ship in a field of zero-entropy. When the gravity-beam hit them, it didn't crush them. Instead, because the Scrap-Venture could not be moved or altered, the "Weight" of the beam had nowhere to go.
The laws of physics screamed. The Scrap-Venture acted like a solid pin in a bowling alley. The gravity-beam "back-flowed" along its own path, yanking the massive Architect's Mercy toward the smaller ship with violent speed.
"Brace for boarding!" Kenji shouted.
The two ships collided with a sound that shook the very foundation of the islands. Kenji didn't wait for the dust to settle. He used [Void Step] to leap through the shattered hull of the fortress-ship.
He stood in the grand hallway of the Sky-Lords, his Scrapsmith robes fluttering in the high-altitude wind.
"I'm here for the Star," Kenji said to the empty hall.
"And you shall find only the weight of your sins, Scrapsmith," a voice boomed.
At the end of the hall sat the Sky-Lord Regent, a Rank 8 Grand Master holding a scepter that hummed with the power of the sixth Star.
The battle for the heavens had begun.