Arthur stood on the edge of the sprawling Seattle shipyards.
The salty sea breeze was heavily tainted with the stench of rotting flesh. He looked at the endless rows of massive shipping containers. There were thousands of them, stacked high like colorful, giant building blocks.
Beyond the containers sat half a dozen massive cargo ships. They were silent steel leviathans resting in the dark, churning water.
This port processed millions of tons of cargo every single month. Now, it was completely abandoned, left to the mercy of the red rain.
"System, activate the Sovereign's Eye," Arthur commanded in a low voice.
[Sovereign's Eye activated. Scanning resources within a ten-mile radius.]
His vision shifted, turning the dark world into a glowing wireframe map.
Everything of value lit up with a specific color based on its utility.
Steel and building materials glowed a bright, heavy silver. Food and medical supplies pulsed with a warm, comforting green hue. Weapons and military-grade hardware radiated an intense, aggressive crimson.
The entire shipyard before him was an ocean of blinding silver and green. It was a treasure trove beyond human imagination. And there was not a single living survivor in sight to claim it.
Arthur walked slowly toward the first stack of shipping containers. He raised his right hand, the Ring of the Void Monarch catching the dim light.
"Let the harvest begin," he whispered to the empty night.
"Extract."
A massive vortex of dark energy erupted from the ring on his finger. It swept over a stack of fifty steel shipping containers in an instant.
There was no sound of metal scraping, no heavy crashes. The containers simply ceased to exist in the physical world. They were swallowed perfectly into the infinite space of his Vault.
[System: Acquired 1000 tons of high-grade construction steel.]
[System: Acquired 50 tons of processed rubber and electronics.]
Arthur didn't stop. He walked down the concrete pier at a steady pace.
Every time he took a step, another mountain of cargo vanished. He extracted cranes, forklifts, and industrial generators without hesitation. He took train cars full of coal and entire warehouses filled with lumber.
In less than twenty minutes, the eastern half of the port was a barren wasteland. It was wiped clean, down to the bolts anchoring the cranes to the concrete.
He stopped at the edge of the water, looking up at a colossal cargo ship. It was the Pacific Queen, a vessel capable of carrying ten thousand containers.
"Can the Vault handle something this massive in one go?" Arthur wondered.
He pressed his palm flat against the cold, wet steel of the ship's hull.
"Extract."
He commanded, pouring his mental energy into the system.
The air around the massive ship began to distort violently. The water below it churned as a void opened directly underneath the hull.
With a sound like a thunderclap, the entire ship vanished.
Millions of gallons of seawater rushed in to fill the massive empty space. The resulting wave crashed heavily against the concrete pier, soaking Arthur's boots.
[System: Acquired Titan-Class Cargo Vessel. Dismantling for raw materials...]
[System: Fortress Construction Material Requirement: 45% Complete.]
Arthur smiled coldly.
The efficiency was utterly terrifying.
He turned his attention to the remaining five cargo ships moored in the distance.
Suddenly, the Sovereign's Eye flared with a warning.
[Warning: Multiple hostile lifeforms approaching from the west warehouse.]
Arthur looked over his shoulder.
A group of roughly twenty men was walking out of the shadows. They were heavily armed with automatic rifles, shotguns, and machetes.
They weren't mutated monsters. They were human survivors. More accurately, they were the local dock gang who controlled the smuggling routes.
Leading them was a massive man with a jagged scar running down his bald head.
"Hold it right there, freak," the scarred man shouted, raising his rifle.
Arthur didn't raise his hands. He simply turned fully to face them.
"Did you do that?" the scarred man demanded, pointing his weapon at the empty water.
"Where the hell did the ship go? Where are the containers?"
Arthur looked at the men with absolute boredom.
"I moved them," Arthur replied flatly. "They belong to me now."
The gang members exchanged confused, angry glances. They hadn't awakened to the system yet. They didn't understand spatial powers.
To them, Arthur was just a crazy guy in a clean suit during the end of the world.
"You listen to me," the leader snarled, spitting on the ground.
"This port belongs to the Iron Vipers. Everything here is ours."
"We don't know what kind of magic trick you pulled, but you're going to undo it."
"And then you're going to give us that fancy sword and the clothes on your back."
Arthur slowly rested his hand on the hilt of his katana.
"In the old world, a gun made you a king," Arthur said softly.
"You think the rules haven't changed."
"Shoot his damn kneecaps off!" the leader yelled, losing his patience.
Five men raised their automatic rifles and pulled the triggers simultaneously. Gunfire shattered the silence of the docks.
Dozens of high-caliber bullets tore through the air, aimed directly at Arthur's legs.
Arthur didn't even blink. He didn't need to dodge. He simply let his domain expand.
Ten feet away from his body, the bullets suddenly hit an invisible wall of distorted space.
They didn't ricochet. They just stopped in mid-air, losing all momentum instantly.
The bullets hung there, suspended in the rain, perfectly still. The gunfire ceased. The gang members stared in absolute, paralyzed horror.
"What the fuck is he?" one of the men whispered, dropping his shotgun.
"The rules have changed," Arthur repeated. "And you are entirely obsolete."
Arthur flicked his finger forward.
The suspended bullets instantly reversed their trajectory. They shot back at the gang members at twice their original speed. The five men who had fired were instantly ripped apart by their own ammunition.
Blood painted the wet concrete. Screams echoed across the shipyard.
"Kill him! Kill the monster!" the scarred leader shrieked in panic.
The remaining fifteen men scattered, trying to find cover behind some empty barrels.
Arthur drew his katana. The black-gold blade absorbed the ambient light.
"Void Step."
He vanished from his spot by the water.
He appeared instantly behind the scarred leader, perfectly silent. The man didn't even have time to turn around.
"Spatial Rend," Arthur said, his voice directly next to the man's ear.
Arthur swung the blade horizontally in a wide arc. A massive wave of compressed spatial energy burst outward from the blade.
It wasn't just a thin line this time. It was a crescent moon of absolute destruction. The black wave tore through the barrels, the concrete pillars, and the remaining men.
Everything caught in the path of the Spatial Rend was perfectly bisected.
Silence fell over the docks once again, save for the sound of the rain.
Arthur flicked the katana, shedding a few drops of blood before sheathing it. He didn't bother looking at the bodies. They were just trash blocking his road.
[System: 20 hostile humans eliminated. Evolution Points are not awarded for non-mutants.]
"A pity," Arthur muttered. "They were completely worthless in life and death."
He continued his walk down the pier, resuming his massive extraction process. The second cargo ship vanished. Then the third.
Within an hour, the entire Seattle port facility was wiped off the face of the earth.
[System: Fortress Construction Material Requirement: 100% Complete.]
[System: Sovereign's War Fortress is ready for materialization.]
Arthur checked his internal map. He needed a location that was strategically perfect.
High ground, defensible choke points, and a clear view of the entire ruin of Seattle.
He found it immediately. The Mount Rainier Observatory grounds. It was miles outside the city, isolated, and incredibly secure.
With unlimited use of Void Step thanks to his Mythic ring, distance was meaningless. He began to teleport. A series of rapid, staccato flashes carried him out of the industrial district.
He bypassed the burning highways where thousands of infected were currently swarming trapped cars.
He saw military barricades falling in real-time, soldiers screaming as they were torn apart. He felt nothing for them. His humanity had burned away in his previous life.
He finally reached the summit of the mountain. The air here was thinner, and the red rain had turned into a toxic crimson snow.
He stood in the center of the large, flat parking area of the observatory.
"System. Deploy the Sovereign's War Fortress right here," Arthur ordered.
He unrolled the God-Tier scroll and tossed it into the air. The scroll burst into a blinding pillar of golden light that shot up into the clouds. The ground beneath his feet began to shake violently.
It was a localized earthquake, specifically tailored to reshape the mountain. Millions of tons of processed steel and concrete materialized from the Void. They didn't fall; they assembled themselves like a massive, organic puzzle.
Massive outer walls made of reinforced black steel rose fifty feet into the air. Watchtowers formed at the four corners, bristling with automated defense turrets.
The observatory building itself was swallowed and replaced by a dark, gothic-style citadel. The fortress gates slammed shut with a boom that echoed for miles.
[System: Sovereign's War Fortress (Level 1) successfully deployed.]
[Features: Absolute Climate Control, Tier-3 Energy Shield, Automated Hydroponics Farm.]
[Notice: The Fortress requires daily bio-energy (Mutant Cores) to maintain the energy shield.]
Arthur walked through the grand entrance of the main citadel.
The interior was magnificent, a blend of brutalist military efficiency and extreme luxury. The floors were polished black marble, and the air was perfectly warm and pure.
He walked into the master control room and sat down in the heavy command chair.
A massive panoramic window gave him a perfect view of the burning city of Seattle below. It looked like a massive pit of glowing embers.
Arthur pulled a bottle of vintage 1945 Romanée-Conti wine from his Vault. He opened it, poured himself a glass in a crystal goblet, and took a sip.
It tasted like victory.
Meanwhile, miles away in the city center. The sun was finally rising, casting a grim light over the ruined streets.
Julian Vance was sitting on the floor of a dark, barricaded closet. His expensive suit was ripped, and he was bleeding from a shallow scratch on his arm.
Beside him, Elena was curled into a tight ball, sobbing quietly.
They had managed to escape the penthouse, leaving the other residents behind as bait. They were currently hiding in the storage room of a ruined pharmacy.
"I'm so hungry, Julian," Elena whimpered.
"We haven't eaten in thirty hours. My stomach hurts."
Julian gritted his teeth, his handsome face contorted in anger and desperation.
"Shut up, Elena," he hissed. "Just shut up for one minute."
"Arthur did this. He knew this was going to happen."
"He took everything. He took the food, the building's steel, everything." "He's a monster. A selfish, psychotic monster."
Elena looked up, her eyes wide and bloodshot. "But he was right, Julian. We treated him like a dog."
"If you hadn't insulted him... if I hadn't agreed with you... we would be safe right now."
Julian slapped her across the face.
The sound was sharp in the cramped, dark room.
"Don't you ever defend that piece of trash again," Julian growled.
"I'm a Vance. I'm a natural born leader."
"When the military finally comes, I'll take control of the survivor camps."
"And when I find Arthur Thorne, I'm going to make him beg for death."
Suddenly, the door to the pharmacy outside splintered with a heavy crash. Heavy, dragging footsteps echoed on the broken tile floor.
Someone—or something—was sniffing the air loudly.
Julian and Elena froze, holding their breath in absolute terror. The footsteps stopped right outside their closet door.
Back in the War Fortress, Arthur was watching them on a holographic monitor.
His Sovereign's Eye could tap into the local surveillance networks effortlessly. He saw the Tier-1 Hunter mutant standing outside the pharmacy closet.
Arthur smiled, raising his glass of expensive wine to the screen.
"To natural born leaders," Arthur mocked quietly.
"Let's see how well you negotiate with teeth."
He took another sip and closed the video feed. He had more important things to do than watch insects struggle in the dirt.
He needed to check his evolution paths and prepare for the second wave of the Crimson Rain. The apocalypse had only just begun.
The Sovereign was home.