The 24 hours inside the dojo felt less like a training session and more like Su Chen had lived an extra year inside his own skull. The reinforced room still carried the faint electric tang of ozone—evidence of how many times he'd overloaded his body.
He stood at the center of the chamber, shirt discarded, breath steady. His skin had finally stopped flashing like a broken LED panel. Instead, it held a pale bronze glow, warm and alive. But whenever he shifted his stance, a thin silver ripple traveled along his muscles, and faint green sparks pulsed in the veins of his arms—controlled now, not chaotic.
Across from him, Saeko Busujima braced herself on her chipped Mantis Bone Blade. Sweat ran down her jaw and soaked through her gi. She was breathing hard enough that her ribs visibly shook.
"Again," Su Chen said—not harsh, not gentle, just a steady command.
Saeko's eyes bled into crimson. Blood Asura awakened.
And then she was gone.
The shockwave from her launch cracked the air like a whip. She reappeared behind him with a killing stroke aimed cleanly at his neck.
Su Chen didn't dodge. Didn't blink. Didn't even tilt his head.
He inhaled.
The room hummed, as if the walls themselves recognized what was coming.
"Breath of Thunder-Water—First Form."
He didn't draw a sword. He simply snapped his fingers.
A bead of Asgardian lightning leapt from his skin and fused with the liquid, flowing rhythm he'd drilled into his Water Breathing. The two elements merged—electricity shaped like a tide.
CRACK—BOOM!
A lash of flowing plasma struck Saeko's weapon mid-swing. Instead of clashing, the force rattled through her bones and sent her flying into the padded wall like a ragdoll.
The shockwave faded. The ozone didn't.
"Good," Su Chen said with a small nod. The last threads of lightning crawled off his skin like reluctant snakes. "Water flows. Thunder strikes. But if I make lightning flow like water… I make plasma."
He walked over and offered Saeko a hand. She took it without hesitation.
"You're stabilizing," he said. "Your Blood Asura isn't dragging you anymore. You're the one holding the reins."
Saeko stared at her trembling hands—half fear, half thrill.
"It's terrifying," she admitted. "And addictive."
---
The Engine Room
The fighters trained while the geniuses built the impossible.
The truck's old garage had transformed into an engineering bay—half Stark Industries, half alchemist laboratory. Pipes, runes, insulation seals, and glowing crystal filaments lined the walls.
At the center sat a massive cylindrical device pulsing like a restrained star. It resembled an Arc Reactor, but instead of the cold blue glow of Palladium, this one shimmered with a soft white luminescence—alive, rhythmic, almost breathing.
Saya Takagi adjusted her goggles as she hovered over the calibrations.
"Palladium poisoning was unacceptable," she said matter-of-factly. "So Xiao Yi Xian dissolved the High-Grade Spirit Stones into a stabilized liquid matrix. It's non-toxic, and it holds fifty times the energy density."
Xiao Yi Xian rested a palm on the glowing surface, expression softening.
"It feels… like a heart."
Su Chen entered, wiping lingering sweat from his neck.
"Is it ready?"
Saya snorted. "Ready? Su Chen, this thing generates five hundred gigajoules per second. That's enough to keep a city running. Or—"
She pointed at the floating schematic of the truck.
"—keep our anti-gravity runes and kinetic shields active permanently."
Su Chen placed his hand on the reactor.
[Target: Spirit-Fusion Drive (Unique)]
[Grade: S-Rank Technology]
[Status: Online]
"Good," he said. "Hook it to the Dungeon Core. Time to expand."
---
The Launch
Ten minutes later, the team assembled in the bridge—formerly a living room, now a Stark-style cockpit full of holographic panels and floating interfaces.
Jiang Rou sat in the driver seat like a pilot born for it.
"Systems green," Lin Xiya called out. "Psychic radar range extended to fifty kilometers."
"Take us up," Su Chen ordered.
A deep thrum filled the fortress.
The Black Behemoth didn't rise this time—it ascended. Blue ion thrusters roared, anti-gravity runes lit up in golden arcs, and the forty-ton fortress shot skyward like a missile.
Clouds tore apart around them.
Natasha pressed a gloved hand to the window.
"…Holy hell."
Earth no longer looked familiar.
To the east: an ocean black enough to swallow light.
To the north: mountains so tall the bottoms were snowy and the peaks were inside thunderstorms.
To the west: forests glowing purple with bioluminescent trees.
"This world…" Natasha whispered. "New York feels like a bathtub compared to this."
"We're heading south," Su Chen said. "To the Thunder Islands."
The radar pulsed.
[Warning: Hostile Airspace]
[Multiple Aerial Signatures Incoming]
[Speed: Mach 2]
Lin Xiya stiffened. "Master! A flock is intercepting!"
On the screen, a storm of winged creatures dove out of the upper atmosphere—pterodactyl silhouettes made of jagged rock and slicing winds.
[Wind-Blade Wyvern | Level 18]
[Flock Size: 50+]
"In the old world, Level 18 was boss-tier," Su Chen said. "Here? They're pigeons."
Esdeath rose with predatory delight. "Shall I?"
"No." Su Chen waved her down. "Let the ship stretch its legs."
"Saya," he said. "Defense system."
"Gladly."
Panels slid open on the Behemoth's roof.
Four laser turrets rose like awakening beasts.
A railgun unfolded with a mechanical growl.
"Target lock confirmed," the feminine AI voice announced.
PEW—PEW—PEW!
Surgical beams of spirit energy sliced across the sky, severing wings with clinical precision. Wyverns spiraled helplessly downward.
The railgun aligned—
BOOM.
The Alpha Wyvern simply ceased to exist.
Thirty seconds.
Fifty monsters.
Zero damage.
"Shields at one hundred percent," Saya bragged. "Not even a smudge."
Su Chen leaned back.
"This is why logistics wins wars."
---
The Thunder Islands
Two hours later, darkness swallowed the sky.
Not night—something heavier.
The air vibrated with static. Purple and red lightning shredded the clouds in ceaseless arcs, boiling the ocean surface into steam.
Metallic islands floated in the storm, held aloft by such intense magnetism that rocks hovered inches above the ground.
[Thunder Islands – Forbidden Zone]
[Environmental Hazard: Eternal Lightning Storm]
[Danger: High]
"We can't fly through that," Jiang Rou warned. "Navigation systems will fry."
"Land outside," Su Chen said. "I'll go in on foot."
The Black Behemoth landed on black, crackling sand. Everyone's hair lifted from static.
Su Chen stepped forward.
"My Indestructible Diamond Body is stuck at the peak of Silver. To reach Gold, I need energy that can break me."
He looked at the red lightning dancing like serpents over the peaks.
"That'll do."
He turned to Natasha.
"You want power? Come. The static here will refine your Shadow Walk. It'll force you to move faster than your own outline."
Natasha stared at the storm, quietly horrified.
"You want me to walk into that?"
"I'll be your lightning rod."
He said it like he was offering to hold her bag.
Then he faced Esdeath.
"You too. Your ice lacks explosive force. Watch how lightning behaves."
The moment he stepped out—
CRACK!
A bolt hit him dead-on.
He didn't flinch.
His Silver Body glowed brighter, absorbing the charge like he was sipping from a cup.
"Delicious," he muttered, tasting the burn of ozone on his tongue.
He walked straight toward the storm.
"System," he said.
"Start the cultivation timer. I'm not leaving until I reach Gold."