?The sensation of weightlessness was not the peaceful drift Willis had imagined in the rare moments he pondered death. It was a violent, stomach-churning plummet through an atmosphere thick with the grit of pulverized obsidian.

  ?Around him, the Crystal Citadel was no longer a monument of power. It was a rain of jagged glass and white alloy, falling in slow motion alongside him.

  ?The Void-Eater let out a sound that bypassed the ears and vibrated directly into the marrow of Willis’s bones. It was a hollow, hungry groan that signaled the creature’s descent into the ruin to reclaim the mana-saturated debris.

  ?Willis forced his eyes open, the wind whipping tears across his temples. His vision was a fractured mosaic of violet sky and black shadows.

  ?

  ?He reached out with his right hand, but his arm felt like it was made of lead. The feedback from the void-siphon had left his nervous system screaming in protest.

  ?His mana pool was a dry well, showing only a flickering single digit in the corner of his mind. He couldn't weave a bridge. He couldn't even trigger a basic dampening field.

  ?[Mana: 4/250]

  [Status: System Shock]

  [Integrity: 35%]

  ?A massive slab of the Citadel’s outer wall tumbled past him. It was a piece of the white alloy, still humming with a faint, residual resonance from the Anchor-Point it had once protected.

  ?Willis threw his body weight to the side, fighting the air resistance to angle himself toward the falling debris. He slammed into the cold metal surface, his fingers clawing at the decorative grooves until he found a grip.

  ?The slab was falling faster than he was, acting as a crude heat shield as they entered the thicker air of the lower atmosphere. Below him, the emerald forest was no longer a soft carpet of moss.

  ?It was a jagged landscape of spear-like trees and grasping vines, all waiting for the feast of glass and meat to arrive. The Void-Eater was a massive, dark cloud above him, its tentacles trailing through the debris like fishing lines.

  ?

  ?Willis pressed his face against the vibrating metal, trying to minimize his psychic signature. He focused on the four points of mana remaining in his core.

  ?He didn't use them to fly. He used them to activate the on a microscopic level.

  ?He looked for the air currents, the invisible lines of pressure that were screaming around the edges of the alloy slab. He saw the silver threads of the wind, swirling in complex, turbulent vortices.

  ?

  ?He didn't have the mana to reshape the metal, but he had his physical strength and the knowledge of his past life. He shifted his weight toward the back edge of the slab, forcing the nose to tilt upward.

  ?The air caught the flat surface with a jarring thud that nearly dislocated Willis’s shoulders. The slab groaned, the aerodynamics of the heavy metal fighting against the gravity of the Wild Tier.

  ?[Skill Manifestation: Crude Aerodynamics]

  [Stamina: 15/100]

  ?The descent slowed from a terminal plummet to a steep, uncontrolled glide. Willis steered the slab with his body, his blue eyes fixed on a clearing near the edge of the hospital’s grounds.

  ?He could see the sapphire dome of the Cradle in the distance, a small, stubborn spark of blue in a world of violet and green. It looked so small from this height, a fragile bubble of humanity in an ocean of monsters.

  ?

  ?The Void-Eater sensed the change in his trajectory. A massive, shadow-tentacle lashed out from the clouds, its tip shattering a piece of the slab just inches from Willis’s feet.

  ?The impact sent the alloy into a frantic spin. Willis squeezed his eyes shut as the world became a blur of green and sky.

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  ?He lost his grip on the metal. For a heartbeat, he was back in the void, nothing beneath him but the howling wind.

  ?He slammed into the canopy of the forest. The branches of the titan-oaks didn't snap like normal wood; they were reinforced with mana-fibers that felt like iron bars.

  ?He tumbled through the leaves, the thorns of the trees tearing at his clothes and skin. Each impact was a fresh explosion of pain that threatened to plunge him back into unconsciousness.

  ?[Health: 18/100]

  [Internal Bleeding Detected]

  ?He hit a massive, moss-covered branch and stayed there, his body draped over the wood like a discarded rag. The air here was silent and heavy, the sunlight blocked out by the dense layers of the canopy.

  ?Willis gasped for air, each breath tasting of wet earth and ancient dust. He couldn't feel his legs, and his left arm was hanging at an unnatural angle.

  ?He looked up through the leaves. High above, the Void-Eater was still circling the remains of the Citadel, its massive form silhouetted against the bruised purple of the sky.

  ?

  ?He reached into his pocket and felt the small, hard shape of a mana-stabilizer he had taken from Dr. Aris before leaving. He pulled it out with trembling fingers and cracked the vial.

  ?The blue liquid tasted like ozone and bitter almonds. As it hit his stomach, a cool wave of energy spread through his limbs, numping the worst of the pain and jump-starting his mana recovery.

  ?[Mana: 25/250]

  [Health: 22/100]

  ?Willis pushed himself up, his boots slipping on the slick moss. He looked down the trunk of the tree. The ground was thirty feet below, covered in a thick layer of pulsing, violet fungus.

  ?He could hear something moving in the bushes below—a rhythmic, heavy breathing that didn't sound like a Scuttler or a Root-Walker.

  ?

  ?Willis pulled his fire axe from the leather loop on his belt. The crystalline blade was cracked and dull, its silver light almost entirely extinguished by the feedback.

  ?He closed his eyes, focusing on the golden thread that connected him to Silas. It was still there, but it was faint, vibrating with a low frequency of exhaustion and recovery.

  ?

  ?A low growl echoed from the base of the tree. A creature stepped out of the shadows, its body a nightmare of feline muscle and armored scales.

  ?It was a Shadow-Stalker, a Tier 2 predator that thrived in the dim light of the canopy. Its eyes were glowing yellow slits, and its tail ended in a stinger that dripped with a paralyzing neurotoxin.

  ?[Enemy Detected: Shadow-Stalker - Level 9]

  [Status: Hungry]

  ?Willis didn't have the strength for a direct confrontation. He looked at the surrounding trees, searching for a path through the branches.

  ?He saw a series of silver threads connecting the titan-oaks—ancient lines of resonance that the forest used to share nutrients. To a normal person, they were invisible. To a Weaver, they were a highway.

  ?

  ?The Shadow-Stalker began to climb the trunk, its claws sinking deep into the bark with a rhythmic, scratching sound. It was fast, moving with a predatory grace that Willis couldn't match in his current state.

  ?"Not today," Willis whispered, his voice a dry rasp.

  ?He didn't jump toward the next tree. He swung his axe at the branch he was standing on, but he didn't use a physical strike.

  ?He used his remaining mana to trigger a on the moss itself. The biological bond between the moss and the wood suddenly dissolved.

  ?The surface of the branch became as slick as ice. The Shadow-Stalker, which had been lunging for Willis’s throat, lost its footing.

  ?The creature let out a surprised yelp as its claws slid across the bark. It tumbled backward, falling through the air and slamming into the fungus-covered ground below with a heavy thud.

  ?Willis didn't wait to see if it got up. He threw himself toward the nearest resonance line, his fingers catching the silver thread.

  ?The energy was cold and humming, vibrating with the ancient life of the forest. Willis pulled himself along the line, moving from one tree to the next like a ghost in the canopy.

  ?Each movement was a struggle, his muscles screaming in protest. He kept his eyes fixed on the blue glow of the hospital in the distance.

  ?

  ?He reached the edge of the deep forest, where the titan-oaks gave way to the smaller, more aggressive vines of the hospital grounds. The air here was thick with the scent of the Cradle’s sapphire resonance.

  ?He was less than a mile away when he felt a sudden, sharp tug on his internal threads. It wasn't Silas.

  ?It was a new thread, one that felt cold and clinical. It was coming from the hospital.

  ?

  ?Willis redoubled his efforts, his heart hammering against his ribs. He slid down a long, sloping vine, his boots hitting the pavement of the hospital parking lot.

  ?The lot was filled with the twisted remains of cars and the white alloy debris from the Citadel. The sapphire dome of the Cradle was still active, but it was flickering rhythmically.

  ?He ran toward the service entrance, his axe held ready. He bypassed the Scuttlers that were picking through the rubble, his presence masked by the lingering scent of the void on his clothes.

  ?He reached the fourth-floor airlock and pressed his palm against the scanner. The plates slid back, but the interior of the ward was silent.

  ?Too silent.

  ?Willis stepped into the maternity ward. The sapphire heart of the Anchor-Point was glowing with a strange, orange light.

  ?Silas was lying on the floor, unconscious but breathing. Dr. Aris and Leo were nowhere to be seen.

  ?Standing in front of the Anchor was a man Willis had never seen before. He was wearing the uniform of a System Enforcement Officer, but his eyes were the same flat, abyssal black as Marcus Thorne’s.

  ?"Administrator Zircon," the officer said, not looking away from the crystal. "You are significantly late for your audit."

  ?"Who are you?" Willis demanded, his blue eyes burning with a tired rage.

  ?"I am the Balance," the man replied. "And your Safe-Zone has been flagged for immediate liquidation."

  ?The orange light in the Anchor flared, and the sapphire dome outside began to turn into a cage of burning sparks.

  ?Willis raised his axe, knowing that he had just traded one nightmare for another. The forest was behind him, but the System was finally knocking on the door.