The engines of the Sky-Whale Airship screamed, pushing the Spirit-Turbines past their redline. The ship wasn't flying; it was hurtling across the sky like a meteor wrapped in matte-black armor.
Below them, the landscape blurred—a smear of grey rock and dead grass. But ahead, the horizon was stained purple.
The Imperial Capital, once the jewel of the continent, looked like a festering wound. A massive, swirling vortex of dark energy hovered over the palace, dropping tendrils of light into the city streets like the roots of a parasitic plant. Even from ten miles away, they could hear it—a low, throbbing hum that vibrated in their teeth.
Inside the hangar bay, the air was cold and smelled of ozone and high-octane spirit fuel.
Princess Zhao Ling sat in the cockpit of the War-Lotus. Her face was pale, illuminated by the harsh blue light of the diagnostic screens.
"Neural synchronization at 98%," Gu Ling said, her voice amplified by the ship's intercom. She was up on the catwalk, monitoring the tank's vitals. "Your Highness, the feedback loop is set to maximum. You will feel everything the treads feel. If you hit a wall, it will feel like you hit the wall."
"Good," Zhao Ling whispered. She gripped the control spheres, her knuckles white. "I want to feel it."
Jiang Fan walked around the front of the tank. He was checking the armor plating, tapping the heavy Spirit-Iron with his knuckles.
"It's solid," Jiang Fan judged. He climbed up the side of the tank and leaned into the cockpit.
The Princess looked up at him. She was strapped in so tightly she could barely breathe, her paralyzed legs encased in armored greaves that locked into the chassis. She looked small inside the massive machine. Small, but dangerous.
"Hey," Jiang Fan said softly, brushing a strand of red hair from her forehead. "You okay?"
"I'm going to kill him, Jiang Fan," she said, her voice trembling not with fear, but with a terrible, cold resolve. "My father. He's eating his own people. I'm going to put a shell through the Throne Room window."
"He deserves it," Jiang Fan agreed. He reached down and tightened her shoulder harness, his fingers lingering for a moment over her heart. "But remember the plan. You are the distraction. You make noise. Big, loud, tank noise. You draw the Royal Guard to the main gate."
"And you?"
"Yun Xi and I go in the back door," Jiang Fan smirked, though his eyes were serious. "While they're busy trying to crack your shell, we sneak into the Array Room and pull the plug."
"Don't die," she whispered.
"I can't die," Jiang Fan winked. "I haven't finished my nap."
He leaned down and kissed her—hard and brief. It tasted like adrenaline and promise.
"See you on the throne."
He jumped down.
"Gu Ling!" Jiang Fan shouted over the roar of the engines. "We are over the drop zone! Open the bay doors!"
THE DROP
The floor of the airship hissed. The massive bay doors groaned open, revealing the city five thousand feet below.
The wind howled into the hangar, whipping Yun Xi's maid apron and Jiang Fan's robes.
Below them, the Capital was a grid of panic. The purple tendrils of the Ancestral Array were pulsing faster, sucking the golden motes of soul-light from the houses below.
"Time to check out," Jiang Fan muttered.
He looked at the Princess in her tank.
"System," Jiang Fan commanded. "Deploy the payload."
The clamps holding the War-Lotus released.
CLANK.
The tank dropped.
It didn't glide. It fell like a two-ton brick of vengeance.
Inside the cockpit, the Princess screamed—not in terror, but in exhilaration. The neural link flooded her brain with the sensation of freefall. For a woman who hadn't felt her legs in weeks, the sudden rush of gravity pulling on her entire body was intoxicating.
"Thrusters!" she screamed mentally.
On the underside of the tank, Spirit-Jets flared blue.
BOOM.
The tank slowed its descent just enough to survive the impact.
It hit the cobblestones of the Imperial Plaza with the force of a meteor strike.
CRASH!
Dust, stone, and shockwaves exploded outward. The ground shook for blocks.
When the dust settled, a crater sat in the middle of the square. And climbing out of the crater, treads grinding the rubble to dust, was the War-Lotus.
"Attention Imperial Guard!" The Princess's voice boomed from the external speakers, magnified to god-like volume. "This is a noise complaint! Turn off the machine!"
THE DISTRACTION
The Royal Guard—elite soldiers in golden armor—swarmed from the palace gates. There were hundreds of them.
"It's a demon beast!" one captain shouted. "Open fire!"
Fireballs, lightning bolts, and heavy arrows rained down on the tank.
Inside the cockpit, the Princess didn't flinch. Through the neural link, the impacts felt like rain tapping against her skin.
"That tickles," she whispered.
She clenched her mind.
Shields up.
The blue hexagonal barrier flared on her left arm. The attacks dissipated harmlessly.
Target Lock: The Gate.
"Knock knock," she grinned.
The rotary cannon on her right arm spun up with a high-pitched whine. WHIRRRRR.
BRT-BRT-BRT-BRT-BRT!
A stream of condensed spirit-slugs tore through the air. The massive oak-and-iron gates of the Palace splintered into toothpicks. The guard towers crumbled.
"I AM ZHAO LING!" she roared, driving the tank forward over the wreckage of the gate. "I AM THE DAUGHTER OF THE DRAGON! AND I AM TAKING BACK MY HOUSE!"
She pushed the throttle. The tank surged. She felt the crunch of the golden gate beneath her treads. It was a phantom sensation—her paralyzed feet felt nothing, but her mind felt the texture of the metal buckling under her will.
It was addictive.
THE INFILTRATION
While the entire Imperial Army was busy trying to stop the angry tank at the front door, two figures landed silently on the roof of the West Wing.
Jiang Fan dusted off his robes. Yun Xi adjusted her gloves.
"She's making a mess," Yun Xi noted, looking at the plumes of smoke rising from the main gate. "That cleaning bill is going to be astronomical."
"It's fine," Jiang Fan scanned the roof. "We'll take it out of the Emperor's pension."
They moved.
They dropped into a ventilation shaft, sliding down into the bowels of the palace. The air here was thick and heavy. It tasted metallic.
"The soul pressure is high," Jiang Fan muttered, feeling the weight on his chest. "He's already drained about 10% of the city. If he hits 50%, he becomes an Ascended Immortal. Then we're in trouble."
They kicked open a grate and dropped into a hallway.
Standing there were ten Shadow Guards—the same type Su Qing had defeated, but fully armed.
"Intruders!" the leader hissed.
Yun Xi didn't slow down. She was holding her broom (which Gu Ling had upgraded with a titanium core).
"Excuse me," Yun Xi said politely. "Housekeeping."
She spun the broom.
WHACK-CRACK-THUD.
She moved like a dancer. She ducked a sword, swept the leg of a guard, and slammed the broom handle into the throat of a third.
Jiang Fan kept walking. He didn't even draw his fan.
A guard lunged at him.
Yun Xi intercepted, grabbing the guard's face and slamming him into the wall.
"Do not disturb the Master," she scolded, throwing the unconscious body aside.
They reached the heavy iron doors of the Ancestral Chamber.
"It's locked," Yun Xi said, trying the handle. "Sealed with Blood Magic."
Jiang Fan sighed. "I hate magic. It's so unhygienic."
He placed his hand on the door.
"System. Item Interaction: The Universal Key."
[ Item Selected: The Skeleton Key of the Lazy Thief. ] [ Effect: Unlocks anything. Side Effect: The door screams. ]
Jiang Fan turned the spectral key in the lock.
AAAAAHHHHHHH!
The door literally screamed in agony and swung open.
THE THRONE OF SOULS
The chamber was massive. In the center, a pillar of blinding white light shot up into the ceiling.
Floating inside the light was the Emperor.
He didn't look human anymore. His skin was translucent gold. His eyes were burning white. He had grown to seven feet tall, his muscles bulging with stolen power.
"You are too late," the Emperor's voice echoed, sounding like a thousand people speaking at once. "I have tasted the divine!"
He looked down at Jiang Fan and Yun Xi.
"A maid and a slacker," the Emperor laughed. The sound shook the stones. "You think you can stop a God?"
Jiang Fan looked at the Emperor. He pulled out his fan and flicked it open.
"A God?" Jiang Fan asked, looking unimpressed. "You look more like a balloon that's about to pop."
"INSOLENCE!"
The Emperor waved his hand.
A wave of pure soul pressure slammed into them. It was strong enough to crush a tank.
Yun Xi planted her feet, shielding Jiang Fan. She groaned, her knees buckling under the weight. The floor cracked beneath her boots.
"Master..." Yun Xi gritted out, blood trickling from her nose. "He's... heavy."
Jiang Fan stepped out from behind her.
He walked into the pressure. His robes whipped around him. His hair blew back.
But he didn't buckle. He didn't bend.
"System," Jiang Fan whispered. "How much XP do we have?"
[ Current XP Pool: 5,400,000 XP. ] [ Status: Overloaded. ]
"Dump it," Jiang Fan said. "All of it."
[ Destination? ]
Jiang Fan looked at the floating, glowing Emperor.
"Into my right hand."
[ Warning: Limb destruction imminent. ]
"Override."
Jiang Fan's right arm began to glow. Not gold, not white. It glowed a terrifying, void-like purple. The air around his fist began to crack, black lightning arcing off his knuckles.
"Hey, Emperor!" Jiang Fan shouted.
The Emperor looked down. "What?"
"You forgot one thing about Ascending," Jiang Fan smiled. "Gravity still applies."
Jiang Fan jumped.
He didn't use a technique. He just jumped, propelled by five million points of raw power. He shot up like a bullet, breaking the sound barrier inside the room.
He appeared right in front of the Emperor's floating face.
"Nap time," Jiang Fan whispered.
He punched the Emperor in the nose.
KRA-KOOOOOM.
The impact was blinding. The pillar of soul light shattered.
The Emperor was launched out of the beam. He flew across the room, smashing through three stone pillars, through the back wall, and out into the palace garden.
The Ancestral Array flickered and died.
Jiang Fan landed back on the floor. He shook his hand. It was smoking.
"Ow," he muttered, blowing on his knuckles. "That guy has a hard head."
Yun Xi stared at him, wide-eyed.
"Did you just... punch the divinity out of him?"
"He wasn't divine," Jiang Fan yawned, leaning against a pillar. "He was just full of hot air. Now, let's go find the Princess. I bet she's parked in the living room by now."