The coordinates led them through abandoned streets littered with zombie corpses and overturned cars. Behind him, Hayze carried supplies while Tsuki padded silently at his side, still healing but insisting on moving. Kairo circled overhead, and Sylvia brought up the rear, her plant-arm coiling nervously with each step.
"How much further?" Hayze asked, adjusting the straps of his pack.
Samuel checked the system interface only he could see. "Two kilometers. Maybe less."
The mountain appeared gradually through the haze—a stubby, unimpressive thing that barely deserved the name. Three hundred feet at most, more hill than mountain. A faded sign at its base read "Teal Cloud Peak," though the clouds above were anything but teal anymore.
"This is it?" Hayze said, unimpressed.
Before Samuel could respond, the System's voice thundered through his skull:
⟦INITIATING CITADEL PLACEMENT⟧
⟦DEPLOYING: THE SPIRE THAT DEVOURS HEAVEN⟧
⟦WARNING: STAND CLEAR⟧
The sky tore open.
Space itself split like fabric, revealing an impossible darkness beyond. And through that wound in reality, something fell.
The Spire descended in complete silence—a blade of obsidian architecture that seemed to drink light. It was impossibly tall, impossibly narrow, and impossibly black. As it fell, the air around it warped and twisted, reality bending to accommodate its existence.
It struck the mountain's peak with zero sound.
No impact. No explosion. The Spire simply was, as if it had always been there and they'd only just noticed. Its base merged seamlessly with the stone, and its tip pierced the poisoned clouds above, vanishing into the gray.
"Holy shit," Hayze whispered.
⟦CITADEL ESTABLISHED⟧
⟦THE SPIRE THAT DEVOURS HEAVEN: ACTIVE⟧
⟦CURRENT FLOORS ACCESSIBLE: 3⟧
⟦TOTAL FLOORS: UNKNOWN⟧
Samuel approached the structure, hand outstretched. The surface was cold—colder than ice, colder than death. Patterns swirled across the obsidian like oil on water, forming and reforming in configurations that hurt to look at directly.
A door manifested as he touched it. No handle, no hinges. Just an opening that led into darkness.
"Sylvia," Samuel said. "Stay here. Guard the entrance. We'll be back."
The girl nodded, her plant-arm already extending into the earth, preparing defensive measures.
Samuel, Hayze, Tsuki, and Kairo entered the Spire.
The interior was vast—far larger than the exterior suggested. The first floor was a circular chamber with walls of the same reality-warping obsidian. At its center, a spiral staircase ascended into shadow.
But Samuel's attention fixed on something else.
In the corner, half-hidden behind a pillar, something moved.
Samuel's hand crackled with electricity. "Show yourself."
A blue shell emerged from the darkness. Then a head—scaled, ancient, with eyes that held surprising intelligence. The turtle was massive, easily three feet across, its shell ridged with crystalline growths that pulsed with faint light.
⟦ANALYSIS COMPLETE⟧
⟦SPECIES: MUTANT TURTLE - CRYSTALLINE VARIANT⟧
⟦CLASSIFICATION: TANK SPECIALIST⟧
⟦THREAT LEVEL: MODERATE⟧
⟦MENTAL FORTITUDE: OUTSTANDING⟧
The turtle's eyes narrowed. Then it charged.
For something so heavily armored, it moved with shocking speed. Its head snapped forward like a striking snake, jaws aimed at Samuel's knee.
"Electro Ball!"
The sphere of concentrated lightning caught the turtle mid-lunge, catching it square in the head and sending it tumbling backward. Smoke rose from its scorched scales, but it shook itself and charged again—this time aiming for Hayze.
"Persistent little bastard," Samuel muttered, forming another Electro Ball. This one hit dead center, blasting the turtle across the chamber.
It lay on its back, legs twitching, shell scorched but not broken. After a moment, it stopped struggling.
"I yield," a voice croaked—rough and ancient. The turtle's voice.
Samuel blinked. "You can talk?"
"I can do many things." The turtle righted itself with difficulty. "But I cannot defeat lightning twice in one day. You are strong. I am wise. I will follow."
⟦CREATURE SUBJUGATED⟧
⟦REWARD: DEFENSIVE BONUS TO CITADEL⟧
"What's your name?" Samuel asked.
"I have forgotten it. Give me a new one, if you wish to keep me."
Samuel considered. "Azelf. You'll be Azelf."
The turtle—Azelf—bowed its head. "As you command."
Before Samuel could process this development, the System chimed again:
⟦NEW MISSION AVAILABLE⟧
⟦OBJECTIVE: SUBJUGATE THE TROOP OF MONKEYS⟧
⟦LOCATION: MOUNTAIN PEAK⟧
⟦REWARD: RUYI GOLDEN-SILVER ROD⟧
⟦REWARD: INCANTATION OF ABSOLUTE CONTROL (SINGLE TARGET)⟧
⟦NOTE: THE ROD MAY ONLY BE WIELDED BY MONKEY-KIND⟧
Samuel read the mission twice. "A golden-silver rod? Is the System making Journey to the West references now?"
"What's Journey to the West?" Hayze asked.
"Old story. Doesn't matter. We've got monkeys to hunt."
They left Azelf to guard the Spire's entrance and began their ascent.
The mountain's interior was hollow—a massive cavern system that spiraled upward through the stone. And it was alive.
Roots covered every surface, pulsing with sickly green light. The air was thick and humid, smelling of rot and vegetation. Water dripped somewhere in the darkness.
"Stay close," Samuel warned. "Something's—"
The attack came from above.
Vines lashed down like whips, each one tipped with a mouth—a massive maw filled with needle teeth. There were dozens of them, maybe hundreds, all connected to a central mass deeper in the cavern.
"Carnivorous plant!" Kairo screeched, diving out of the way.
"Earth Chain!" Hayze roared, slamming his palms against the ground. Stone erupted upward, forming shackles that caught three of the vine-heads, holding them in place.
But more kept coming.
Tsuki became a blur of shadow and claws, her doppelganger splitting off to attack from two angles simultaneously. Each slash severed a vine-head cleanly, sending it tumbling to the cavern floor.
Samuel's Electro Balls exploded through the mass of plant matter, each detonation filling the air with the stench of burning vegetation.
But for every head they destroyed, two more grew back.
"It's regenerating!" Hayze shouted, straining to hold his chains as more vines wrapped around them. "We can't kill it like this!"
Samuel looked around, trying to find the source. There—deep in the cavern floor. A root system. And at its center, something that pulsed with corrupted life.
"Cover me!" Samuel ordered. "I need to reach the core!"
Kairo's eyes turned pure crimson. "Curse of Withering," the crow hissed, and black energy poured from his beak like smoke.
The plant's movements slowed. Its regeneration faltered. The vine-heads began to sag, losing their vigor.
Hayze created a wall of stone between Samuel and the attacking vines. Tsuki and her doppelganger became a whirlwind of slashing claws, cutting down anything that got too close.
Samuel ran.
He reached the thickest concentration of roots and dropped to his knees, digging with lightning-wreathed hands. The electricity carved through plant matter like a hot knife through butter. Deeper. Deeper. Following the pulse of corrupted life to its source.
His fingers touched something smooth. Human-shaped.
Samuel cleared away the remaining roots and found him—a boy, maybe three years old, with skin the color of fresh leaves. His eyes were closed, and stems connected his body to every part of the massive plant system above. He wasn't controlling the plant. He was the plant. The Death Sun's mutation had transformed him completely.
The vine-heads stopped attacking, swaying uncertainly.
⟦ANALYSIS COMPLETE⟧
⟦ENTITY: TRANSFORMED HUMAN - PLANT HYBRID⟧
⟦CLASSIFICATION: WORLD-CLASS DEFENSE POTENTIAL⟧
⟦MISSION UPDATE: COMPLETE THE WORLD'S BEST DEFENSE⟧
⟦OBJECTIVE: TAME THE GUARDIAN PLANT⟧
Samuel sat back, considering his options. Violence wouldn't work—the creature was too powerful, too regenerative. He needed something else.
"Hey," Samuel called out to the plant-boy. "Can you understand me?"
The green eyelids flickered. Opened. The eyes beneath were solid emerald, without pupils.
"Hungry," a voice whispered—not from the boy's mouth, but from every vine-head at once. "Always hungry."
Samuel pulled a can of Coke from his Sacred Realm. The carbonated hiss echoed through the cavern.
Every vine-head turned toward the sound.
"You want this?" Samuel held up the can.
The boy's expression shifted—the first sign of emotion. Desire. Need.
"Give," the plant-voice whispered.
"Work for me," Samuel countered. "Protect my people. And you'll get all the Coke you can drink."
The silence stretched. Then:
"...How much Coke?"
"Cases of it. Every day if you behave."
The vines retracted. The root system relaxed. The green boy smiled—a strange, inhuman expression.
"Deal."
⟦MISSION COMPLETE⟧
⟦CREATURE TAMED: GUARDIAN PLANT⟧
⟦REWARD: UXIE - THE WISEST MONKEY⟧
⟦REWARD WILL BE DELIVERED UPON MISSION COMPLETION⟧
Samuel tossed the Coke to the plant-boy, who caught it with a vine and absorbed it directly into his stem. The expression of bliss on his face was almost comical.
"You need a name," Samuel said. "How about... Cokezer?"
Hayze burst out laughing. "Cokezer? Dude, your naming skills are terrible. Like, one out of ten. That's the worst—"
"Cokezer," the plant-boy repeated, testing it. His emerald eyes gleamed with satisfaction. "Yes. I am Cokezer. This is my name."
"Wait, seriously?" Hayze tried. "What about something cooler? Like Verdant or—"
"No." Cokezer's vines bristled defensively. "I am Cokezer. Only Cokezer. I will not answer to other names."
Samuel grinned. "Looks like it's settled then."
Hayze shook his head in disbelief. "Of course the plant likes the terrible name."
"Alright, Cokezer. We're heading up the mountain to deal with some monkeys. Know anything about that?"
Cokezer's emerald eyes gleamed. "The loud ones. The violent ones. They throw stones at my heads." A vine-head snapped its jaws viciously. "I do not like them."
"Can you show us the way?"
"Follow."
Cokezer led them up through the cavern system, his roots creating handholds and pathways as needed. They emerged near the mountain's peak, where the vegetation gave way to bare stone.
And noise. So much noise.
Screeching, howling, the sound of flesh hitting flesh. A fight.
Samuel crept to the edge of a rocky outcrop and looked down into a natural arena formed by the stone. Two monkeys—each easily the size of a large dog—were tearing into each other with savage intensity.
The first was yellow-furred and brutal, each punch sending shockwaves through the air. Wind burst from its fists with each strike, adding devastating force to already powerful blows.
The second was black-furred and agile, moving like liquid shadow. It used its tail, its feet, its hands—every part of its body was a weapon, flowing from strike to strike with practiced grace.
Around them, dozens of smaller monkeys shrieked and howled, watching their leaders battle.
"The black one's winning," Hayze observed.
He was right. Despite the yellow monkey's raw power, the black one was simply too fast, too precise. It dodged wind-enhanced punches and retaliated with combinations that left the yellow monkey bleeding and stumbling.
Then the yellow monkey did something desperate.
It grabbed one of the small monkeys from the crowd and held it up as a shield.
The black monkey's kick connected—right through the small monkey's body, pulverizing it. The black monkey froze, horrified by what it had done.
The yellow monkey didn't hesitate. It threw the corpse aside and unleashed a brutal combination that sent the black monkey crashing into the stone.
But something was changing.
The yellow monkey's fur began to darken—shifting from yellow to crimson red. Its muscles swelled. Its eyes turned completely white. Steam rose from its body.
⟦PHENOMENON DETECTED⟧
⟦STATUS: RAGE MUTATION⟧
⟦EFFECT: ATTACK DOUBLED, PAIN NULLIFIED, REASON SUPPRESSED⟧
The now-red monkey fell upon the black one with animalistic fury. Each punch cracked stone. Each kick shattered bone. The black monkey tried to defend itself, but rage made the red one unstoppable.
"Now," Samuel said.
They dropped into the arena.
Kairo's curse exploded outward, invisible tendrils of black energy wrapping around every small monkey. They froze mid-screech, eyes rolling back as the curse suppressed their will.
"Earth Chain!" Hayze roared, and stone shackles erupted around the paralyzed monkeys, capturing dozens at once.
Cokezer's vines burst from the ground, forming a cage around the smaller captives.
The red monkey stopped mid-punch, turning to face them. Without the small monkeys to intimidate, it would have to fight on its own.
It charged Samuel with a roar of pure rage.
Samuel met it with Lightning Surge, his body becoming a conduit of electricity. The first wind-bursting punch missed by inches—Samuel's enhanced reflexes barely keeping him ahead. He retaliated with a lightning-wreathed fist that caught the monkey's ribs, sending it skidding backward.
But the rage-mutation made it feel no pain. It came again, faster.
"Kairo!" Samuel called.
The crow's curse wrapped around the red monkey, sapping its strength. Its movements slowed—not much, but enough.
"Hayze! Cokezer! Restrain it!"
Stone chains and vine tentacles erupted simultaneously, catching the red monkey's limbs. It strained against them, muscles bulging, but couldn't break free.
Samuel approached carefully. This thing was peak Basic 4—one of the strongest non-Awakener creatures he'd faced. Even weakened and restrained, it was dangerous.
"Electro Ball," he whispered, forming the sphere in his palm. Then he drew his fist back. "Thunder Punch."
He combined them—electricity wrapping around his knuckles as he thrust forward. The punch connected with the monkey's right side, lightning exploding on impact.
The red monkey's right arm disintegrated. Then its head followed, blown apart by concentrated electrical energy.
The corpse collapsed, red fur fading back to yellow.
⟦VICTORY⟧
⟦ENEMY DEFEATED: GRYPHOON KONG (NAMED POSTHUMOUSLY)⟧
The black monkey struggled to its feet, battered and bleeding. It looked at Samuel, then at its fallen rival, then back at Samuel.
Slowly, it knelt.
"You are stronger," it said—voice surprisingly clear. "I am Zephyr Kong. I offer my service."
Samuel smiled. He pulled the Ruyi Golden-Silver Rod from his Sacred Realm—a weapon of impossible beauty. Gold on one end, silver on the other, covered in ancient script that seemed to shift and change when viewed directly.
"Then take this," Samuel said. "And lead your troop in my name."
Zephyr Kong's hands trembled as it accepted the rod. The weapon shrunk to fit its grip perfectly, then extended again, responding to its new wielder's will.
"I will serve," Zephyr Kong pledged. "My troop will serve. We are yours."
The captured monkeys, freed from Kairo's curse but still restrained, began to screech in agreement. They had a new alpha. A new purpose.
"Good," Samuel said. "Now let's go home. We've got work to do."
While Samuel and his team were subjugating monkeys, Sylvia was discovering something troubling.
The Spire's first floor had a small kitchen area—or at least, something that resembled one. Shelves, a counter, and most importantly, a freezer.
Sylvia opened it, hoping to find food to prepare for Samuel's return.
Inside: a single cup of instant noodles.
Her heart sank. He's broke, she realized. He's been feeding us, protecting us, and he can barely feed himself.
Guilt washed over her. She'd contributed nothing. Eaten their food. Been a burden.
"I'll save half for him," she decided, pulling out the cup. It was the least she could do.
She was filling a pot with water when she heard footsteps behind her.
Sylvia turned to find a man standing in the entrance—gaunt, desperate-looking, with a rusted knife in his hand.
"Don't scream," he warned. "I just want food. Give me what you've got, and I'll leave."
Sylvia's plant-arm coiled protectively. "This isn't yours. Leave. Now."
The man's eyes fixed on the cup of noodles. "Is that... actual food? Real food?"
"It's not for you!"
He lunged.
Sylvia barely dodged the knife, stumbling backward against the counter. The man grabbed the cup of noodles triumphantly, ripping it open and shoving the dry noodles into his mouth.
"Finally," he gasped between bites. "Real food. Real—"
Something inside Sylvia snapped.
That was Samuel's food. His only food. And this man was stealing it.
Her plant-arm lashed out faster than thought, wrapping around the burglar's throat. But it didn't squeeze. Instead, it drank.
Thin rootlets pierced his skin. The man's scream cut off as his nutrients, his moisture, his very life force was pulled through those roots directly into Sylvia's plant-arm.
He withered. Skin tightening against bone. Eyes sinking. Lips pulling back from teeth. In seconds, he went from gaunt to skeletal to worse.
When Sylvia finally released him, a dessicated corpse clattered to the floor—dry as ancient paper, empty as a discarded husk.
She stared at her plant-arm in horror. It pulsed with stolen vitality, healthier and stronger than ever before.
"What did I..." she whispered.
The door burst open.
Samuel, Hayze, Tsuki, Kairo, Cokezer, Zephyr Kong, and several dozen monkeys flooded into the Spire's first floor. They stopped, taking in the scene: Sylvia standing over a withered corpse, her plant-arm still dripping with absorbed nutrients.
Silence.
Then Samuel started laughing.
"Sylvia," he said between chuckles, "that is the most metal thing I've seen all week. And I just exploded a monkey's head."
"I... he ate your noodles," Sylvia said weakly. "Your only food. I thought... I thought you were broke, so I was trying to save half for you, but he—"
Samuel waved dismissively. "Broke? I have enough pizza in my Sacred Realm to feed a small army. That cup noodles was just there because I forgot about it."
"Oh."
"But seriously," Samuel said, his expression growing more serious. "That absorption ability? That's powerful. Really powerful. Speaking of which—" He gestured to Cokezer. "Sylvia, meet Cokezer. Cokezer, meet Sylvia. You two are going to work together."
The plant-boy emerged fully from the shadows, vines trailing behind him. His emerald eyes studied Sylvia with interest.
"You are like me," Cokezer said. "Plant and flesh. Hybrid."
"I... yes," Sylvia said, holding up her plant-arm.
"Good," Cokezer said simply. "We will grow strong together."
Samuel nodded approvingly. "Cokezer can access anywhere his roots can reach—which means pretty much everywhere. Sylvia can communicate with plants naturally. Together, you two are going to build us a defense system that'll make this place a fortress."
⟦ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED⟧
⟦WORLD'S BEST DEFENSE: FOUNDATION ESTABLISHED⟧
⟦SPECIAL REWARD GRANTED⟧
⟦UXIE HAS BEEN DELIVERED TO YOUR COMMAND⟧
A new presence made itself known—not with sound, but with a weight in the air. From the shadows near the Spire's staircase, something descended.
A monkey. But unlike any they'd seen.
Its fur was pure white, almost luminous. Its eyes were closed, but Samuel got the impression it saw more with them shut than most creatures did with them open. It moved with perfect grace, each step measured and precise.
"I am Uxie," it said, voice resonating with ancient wisdom. "Born from the crystallization of knowledge itself. The System has assigned me to you, Samuel. I will serve as advisor, strategist, and keeper of forbidden wisdom."
The monkey's eyes opened—just for a moment.
Samuel saw infinity behind those eyes. Saw the accumulated knowledge of civilizations that rose and fell before humanity drew breath. Saw equations that could unmake reality and truths that would shatter minds.
Then the eyes closed again, and the weight lifted.
"Welcome to the team," Samuel managed, slightly shaken.
Uxie bowed. "We have much work ahead of us. The Death Sun was merely the beginning. Greater threats are coming."
Samuel looked around at his assembled forces: Hayze, his loyal friend with earth-shattering fists. Tsuki, the shadow-walking cat. Kairo, the cursed crow. Azelf, the crystalline turtle. Cokezer, the plant-boy guardian. Sylvia, still learning her dark gifts. Zephyr Kong and his monkey troop. And now Uxie, keeper of forbidden knowledge.
"Then we'd better get ready," Samuel said.
Outside, the Death Sun's corpse-light painted the wasteland in shades of decay. Somewhere in the distance, worse things stirred. Vorthanos was coming. The world was still ending.
But for the first time since his nightmare of Joe's death, Samuel felt something like hope.
They had a Spire. They had a team. They had a chance.
"Alright everyone," Samuel announced. "Rest tonight. Tomorrow, we start building something that'll last. Something worth protecting."
The Spire That Devours Heaven hummed in agreement, its obsidian walls pulsing with impossible light.
Chapter 4: End