Location: The Violet Sea - Underwater
Cold. Dark. Silence.
Ren sank into the depths of the Violet Sea.
The impact of the energy beam had shattered the deck of The Balerion and cracked his ribs, even with his Titan Hardening.
Saltwater rushed into his nose.
[System Alert]
[Health: 65%]
[Enemy Identification: 'The Arbiter' (Tier 4 Entity).]
[Warning: Enemy is using 'Admin Access' code. Your System is being jammed.]
Ren's eyes snapped open. They glowed bioluminescent blue in the murky water.
Admin Access? How the f*ck is this possible So does the multiverse has its own cops.
Right now it's not a time to think
He looked up. Through the churning water and debris of the sinking ship, he saw her.
The chrome-armored woman.
She wasn't swimming; she was walking on the water's surface, peering down with eyes like dying stars.
She raised her hand again. A second beam charged up.
"Not this time," Ren thought.
He couldn't use fire here. He couldn't use lightning (it would fry his own crew in the water).
He needed raw power.
Ren bit his tongue.
[Transformation: Partial Sovereign Titan (Upper Torso).]
Underwater, steam exploded. A massive, white-armored hand materialized from the steam, bigger than a carriage.
Ren (inside the Titan construct) grabbed the keel of the sinking ship.
[Skill: Limit Breaker (Strength).]
He didn't pull himself up; he threw the ship wreckage at the woman.
CRASH.
Tons of timber and iron erupted from the sea, flying toward the woman.
The Arbiter didn't flinch. She swiped her hand. A wave of distortion erased the debris from existence.
"Crude," she stated, her voice sounding metallic.
"Ren, Subject 001. You have violated the progression curve. You have altered the destiny of three worlds. Judgment is deletion."
"Deletion... is this like... TVA " Ren thought
But Ren was already out of the water.
He launched himself from the sea like a missile, fully transformed into the 15-meter Sovereign Titan.
Water cascaded off his white armor. He roared—a sound that shook the waves.
He summoned the Warhammer.
The Arbiter hovered in the air. "Titan tech? Outdated."
She pointed a finger. A gravity well formed around Ren's chest.
Ren felt his weight multiply by a thousand. His armor cracked. He was being crushed into a tin can.
She's strong. Way stronger than a Titan.
Ren grit his teeth inside the nape. But she's arrogant.
[Skill: Electro-Magnetism (Max Output).]
Ren didn't fight the gravity. He targeted her armor.
"Chrome," Ren projected his voice. "Is metal."
He clenched his Titan fist.
The Arbiter's armor seized up. Her limbs locked together.
"What?" she faltered.
Ren broke free of the gravity well. He spun the Warhammer.
"Batter up!"
WHAM.
The hammer struck her like a meteor. The impact broke the sound barrier.
The Arbiter was launched across the horizon, skipping off the water like a stone for three miles before crashing into a distant island.
Ren didn't wait. He dissolved the Titan form instantly to save stamina.
He landed on a piece of floating debris.
"Saeko! Saya! Hirano!" Ren shouted.
They were in the water, clinging to a crate.
"We're here!" Saya coughed, her glasses missing. "What the hell was that?!"
"A glitch," Ren said, pulling them onto his raft. "And she's coming back."
Ren looked at his System. It was glitching red static.
[System Rebooting... Anti-Virus Protocol Active.]
[Pocket Dimension: Locked (Under Siege).]
[Inventory: Accessible.]
[World Anchor: Offline.]
"We can't hide in the dimension," Ren realized. "And we can't fight her in the open ocean. We need cover."
He looked at the sky.
His dragons—Typhon, Raijin, and Wraith—were circling, confused by the sudden battle.
"Typhon!" Ren roared.
The black dragon dove.
He was still young, only the size of a horse, but strong enough to carry two people.
"Saeko, take Raijin! Saya, take Wraith! Hirano, hang onto Typhon with me!"
They scrambled onto the backs of the young dragons. It was a clumsy, desperate mount.
"Where are we going?" Hirano screamed as Typhon flapped hard, struggling to lift the weight.
"Volantis," Ren pointed to the hazy coastline.
"We disappear into the city. She tracks energy signatures. We need to go dark."
Volantis - The Long Bridge
They crashed-landed in an alleyway in the slums of Volantis, behind a fish market. The dragons were exhausted, panting smoke.
Ren slid off Typhon. He immediately recalled the dragons into his Inventory (stasis mode) to hide their heat signatures.
"Cloaks up," Ren ordered. "No magic. No tech. We are refugees."
They pulled hood over their heads. They looked like drowned rats.
"Ren," Saya whispered, shivering. "Who is she? She deleted the ship. Just... deleted it."
"She's an Arbiter," Ren explained his theory grimly. "Maybe multiverse has a defense mechanism. If a Traveler gets too strong too fast, or changes too much, they send a cleaner."
"So we're being hunted by God?" Hirano asked, checking his M4 which was now wet and sandy.
"By a janitor," Ren corrected. "And janitors can bleed."
Ren checked his balance. 5,850 Points.
He needed a weapon that could kill an entity made of energy and gravity.
"We need to get back to Daenerys," Ren planned. "The Arbiter is targeting me. If I stay away from the main army, they are safe. But I need to lead her into a trap."
"What kind of trap?" Saeko asked.
Ren looked at the massive Temple of the Lord of Light dominating the Volantis skyline. Red priests were chanting, fires burning high.
"Fire," Ren smiled. "She used gravity and energy beams. But let's see how she handles a god of shadows."
The Red Temple
They infiltrated the Temple. It wasn't hard; the doors were open to all.
Inside, the High Priestess Kinvara stood before a massive brazier. She turned as Ren entered.
She didn't look surprised.
"The Sovereign," Kinvara said, her voice echoing.
"The Lord of Light showed me your arrival in the flames. You bring a storm behind you."
"I bring a hunter," Ren said, walking up to the altar.
"And I need your fire to kill her."
"The Arbiter serves the Great Other," Kinvara intoned fanatically.
"She seeks to extinguish the light of change. So We will reluctantly help you."
"Good," Ren said. "Prepare a ritual. I'm going to draw her here."
An hour later. The sky over Volantis turned grey.
The Arbiter descended.
She was damaged—her chrome armor was dented from Ren's hammer—but she was repairing herself with nanomachines.
She scanned the city.
[Target Located: Temple of R'hllor.]
[Energy Signature: High.]
She flew down, crashing through the roof of the temple.
She landed in the center of the nave.
Ren stood alone at the altar.
"You run like a rat," The Arbiter said. "Submit for deletion."
"I'm not running," Ren said. "I'm positioning."
Ren raised his hand.
"Now!"
From the shadows,
Hirano fired an Incendiary Round (Dragon Scale tipped) at the braziers.
BOOM.
The braziers exploded, filling the room with magical smoke.
Kinvara and fifty Red Priests began to chant.
"Lord of Light! Defend us! The night is dark and full of terrors!"
Shadows began to lengthen. They detached from the walls.
The Arbiter fired a beam at Ren.
Ren activated flame of the Sovereign.
He caught the beam. It burned, pushing him back, melting the stone under his feet.
"Saeko!" Ren shouted.
Saeko dropped from the ceiling rafters.
She wasn't using the Murasame.
She was holding Blackfyre (which Ren had tossed to her).
Valyrian Steel drank magic.
Saeko slashed the Arbiter's back.
SCREECH.
The Arbiter screamed. The blade cut through her energy shield.
"System Override!" The Arbiter panicked. "Gravity Well!"
She tried to crush the temple.
"Not today!" Ren roared.
He tackled her.
He burned with the heat of the Fire Wyrm and the Sovereign Titan.
He pinned her to the ground.
"You want to delete me?" Ren snarled, his face inches from her chrome visor.
"I am the virus!"
Ren plunged his hand into her chest piece.
[Skill: Elementalist - System Hijack.]
He poured his own System's code into hers.
It was a brute-force hack.
[downloading Data...]
[Stealing Admin Keys...]
The Arbiter convulsed. "Error! Corruption detected!"
She exploded in a flash of white light.
The Aftermath
The dust settled.
The Arbiter was gone.Or was She?
doesn't want to think
Ren lay on the floor of the ruined temple.
[System Reboot Complete.]
[Threat Eliminated.]
[Loot Acquired: 'Admin Key fragment'.]
[Effect: Pocket Dimension Unlocked. Level Cap Removed.]
Kinvara looked down at him. " The Lord of Light is pleased."
Ren sat up, spitting out blood.
"Yeah, well," Ren groaned. "Tell him he owes me a new ship."
He looked at his hand. He held a glowing chip. The Admin Key.
"Now," Ren whispered. "I have the keys to the castle."