The Salt Flats of Giza were no longer a wasteland. They had become the "Landing Site," a sprawling refugee camp where the former elites of Aether and the scavengers of the ground stood side-by-side, united by the shared experience of surviving a falling world.
But above them, at the center of the world's map, the Tower of Ranks was changing.
Usually a pillar of shimmering white light, it was now a column of bleeding, jagged crimson. The "Total Revision" protocol was active. The System was no longer calculating Ranks; it was preparing to delete the current "Data-Set" all of humanity and start over.
[COUNTDOWN TO REVISION: 42:15:22]
[SYSTEM ALERT: ASSET DE-MATERIALIZATION COMMENCING]
Inside the Scrap-Venture, the air was thick with the scent of ozone and the heavy hum of Kenji's presence. He sat in the center of the hold, surrounded by the six Stars. They didn't just orbit him; they were part of his nervous system. Every time he breathed, the gravity in the ship fluctuated.
"The team is ready," Elara said, entering the room. She was wearing a combat suit woven from the "Knowledge Rain" scrolls armor that could literally deflect the System's logic. "But Kenji... the people out there. They're terrified. They saw what you did to the islands. Some think you're a savior. Others think you're the new Architect."
Kenji didn't look up. His eyes were fixed on the Scrap of the Architect the ghostly, translucent Seventh Star he could see through the Tower's base code.
"I'm neither," Kenji said, his voice a perfect, terrifying resonance. "I'm just a Smith who found a broken machine. And I'm going to fix it by taking it apart."
"You sound like him," Bjorn said from the doorway, his runic axe resting on his shoulder. "The Architect. You're starting to talk about 'machines' and 'data' instead of 'friends' and 'freedom'."
Kenji finally looked up. For a split second, his eyes flickered to their original gray before the violet-black of the Hunger surged back. "I'm carrying six Stars, Bjorn. My mind is processing the history of every scrap of metal on this planet. It's... hard to stay small."
[CORE STABILITY: 62% (DEGRADING)]
"Then let us be your smallness," Priya said, stepping forward. She handed him a small, dented metal locket. It was the first thing Kenji had ever "Recycled" back in the Oakhaven sewers a piece of junk that held a faded picture of his parents. "Remember this? Rank 0 scrap. No value to the System. But you saved it anyway."
Kenji took the locket. The cold hunger in his chest recoiled from the object's sentimental resonance. He tucked it into his robes.
"Kael! Mateo!" Kenji called out, his voice regaining its human edge. "Set a course for the Tower. We don't sneak in this time. We punch through."
The flight to the Tower was a gauntlet. The System was throwing everything it had left at them. The sky was filled with Glitch-Hounds monsters made of corrupted pixels and Sentinel-Drones that fired beams of pure "Deletion Code."
"Shields at thirty percent!" Mateo yelled, his fingers a blur as he fought the System's attempts to hack the Scrap-Venture's steering. "The Tower is emitting a 'Null-Zone'! My controls are turning into literal gibberish!"
"I've got the wheel!" Kenji shouted. He didn't use the controls. He reached his hand into the ship's engine-block, merging his consciousness with the Recursive Iron.
[SKILL: SOUL-MERGE FORGING]
The Scrap-Venture didn't just fly; it evolved. The ship's wings stretched into serrated blades. The hull turned into a shimmering, obsidian-silver alloy. It became a living "Echo" of Kenji's own power.
They hit the Tower's outer barrier a wall of solid Rank-Logic.
"Kenji, the barrier is Rank 10!" Elara warned. "We can't break it!"
"We don't break it," Kenji said, the six Stars in his chest aligning in a perfect, straight line. "We Recycle the Rank."
Kenji stood at the prow of the ship and roared. He unleashed the [Consuming Void] and the [Absolute Gravity] at the same time. The Rank 10 barrier didn't shatter; it was pulled into Kenji's core, its complexity stripped away until it was just raw, unranked energy.
The Scrap-Venture slammed into the Tower's side, embedding itself like a harpoon into the bleeding crimson light.
[ZONE: THE TOWER OF RANKS - THE CORE]
[RANK: ???]
[STATUS: UNAUTHORIZED ENTRY]
The team leaped from the ship into a hallway of shifting glass and light. There were no walls here only infinite streams of data flowing like rivers of gold.
At the end of the hall stood the Seven Primes the Architect's personal council. Each one was a Rank 9 Apex, representing a different aspect of the System: Law, War, Wealth, Logic, Fate, Order, and Silence.
"The Scrapsmith," the Prime of Law said, his voice a gavel-strike. "You have reached the end of your revision. Surrender the Stars, and we shall grant your team a place in the New World."
Kenji stepped forward, his team fanning out behind him.
"I've seen your New World," Kenji said, drawing a blade made of pure, solidified Void. "It looks a lot like the old one, just with a fresh coat of paint. My team doesn't want a place in your world. They want a world without you."
"Then you shall die as you began," the Prime of War roared, summoning a spear that could level a city. "As junk!"
The final battle before the throne had begun.