Chapter 12 The Foundation of the Void Empire

"Killian, they've locked onto these coordinates! In a matter of minutes, annihilation drones will flatten this place!" Bianca shouted, her voice nearly swallowed by the roar of engines beginning to echo across the horizon.

Bianca screamed hysterically, her voice almost drowned out by the thunder of jet engines that now made the sky tremble. Her breathing came in ragged bursts, while fear and despair once again clouded her beautiful eyes.

The blue points of light scattered across the night sky were no longer stars. They were the Eye of Heaven, the Grand Titan's most advanced scanning technology, capable of detecting energy signatures even deep within the Earth's crust. Bianca Valenti stared at her tablet with violently trembling hands.

"Grand Titan? We're dead... we're all going to die! Nobody survives the Eye of Heaven!" Silas, the leader of the Rust-Eaters gang who had been kneeling moments ago, now stood frozen in terror, having completely lost control of himself.

Killian Moretti did not move.

He stood in the center of the warehouse, gazing through the hole in the roof. His golden eyes pulsed slowly, processing millions of streams of data invisible to any radar system. Perched on his shoulder, Giz released a high-frequency hiss that made the air around them appear fractured.

"Bianca, how long would you need to sever that satellite transmission link if I gave you an entry point?" Killian asked in an unusually calm voice.

"What do you mean? That's military-grade encryption! It would take hours to break through it!" Bianca replied immediately.

"I'll give you the key. Giz, Void Distortion: Sky Piercer!"

Giz leaped into the air.

Its tiny body suddenly emitted a dense wave of purple energy that shot straight into the sky, directly toward the blue core of the Eye of Heaven. The wave did not explode. Instead, it spread through the atmosphere like a colossal spiderweb, wrapping itself around Grand Titan's transmission frequency.

"Now!" Killian commanded.

"This... an open data channel? How is that possible?"

She wasted no time. Her fingers danced across the virtual display.

"The link is severed! I'm redirecting their signal to the industrial waste zone in the neighboring district!"

Bianca watched as her tablet screen suddenly filled with unfamiliar golden code. In the sky, the blue light flickered before shifting away, pursuing the false signal Bianca had just created. The thunder of helicopters and drones gradually faded into the distance as they followed the bait. Silence reclaimed the warehouse. Silas stared at Killian as though the young man before him were a god of death who had just postponed the apocalypse.

"They left?" Silas whispered in disbelief.

"For now."

Killian turned and looked across the vast warehouse, now littered with the corpses of Rust-Eaters gang members.

"Bianca, you said we needed a place to start. This is it."

"But Killian, they'll come back. Grand Titan never lets go of a target. We need to find a safer hideout immediately." Bianca stepped closer, anxiety still etched across her beautiful face.

Killian shook his head.

He walked toward a towering stack of shipping containers and climbed to the top, surveying the vast interior of the warehouse. Moonlight streamed through the damaged roof, illuminating his figure and making him appear overwhelmingly dominant.

"There will be no more hiding, Bianca," Killian said.

His voice was not loud, yet it carried unquestionable authority.

"What do you mean? There are only two of us... three if we count that bug. Against a global conglomerate?" Bianca frowned.

"For too long, the System has taught us to fear. Fear rankings, fear power, and fear death. They want us hiding in the shadows so they can continue ruling from above."

Killian clenched his fist.

"Starting today, the Void Faction will never retreat."

"You're insane," Bianca muttered, though an unusual excitement sparkled in her eyes. "So what's your plan? Challenge them openly?"

"Domination," Killian answered simply.

"We will dominate this territory. We will take everything they ignore, and we will build something so powerful that they will have no choice but to kneel."

Killian pointed at Silas.

"You, sewer rat. What's your name?"

"S-Silas, sir," the gang leader replied with a trembling voice.

"Silas, you have one hour to gather whatever remains of your men in this district. Tell them the Rust-Eaters Gang is finished. From this moment forward, this warehouse belongs to the Void Faction. Anyone who wants to live, come and work. Anyone who refuses will end up like your friends on that floor."

"B-But... what should I tell them about... about you, sir?" Silas asked, pointing at Giz, who had returned to Killian's shoulder.

"Tell them the Supremacy has arrived."

A cruel smile spread across Killian's face.

"And the era of arrogant elites is over."

One Week Later

The warehouse that had once been filthy and reeking had undergone a complete transformation. Through Bianca's managerial brilliance and Killian's evolutionary powers, it had become a fully functional fortress.

The concrete walls had been reinforced with layers of Void Glass, a material synthesized by Killian from discarded glass and waste energy collected throughout the district. At the center of the facility stood a makeshift laboratory filled with equipment that Silas had "borrowed by force" from various Grand Titan logistics warehouses.

Bianca stood before a row of monitors displaying a digital map of the Ash District. Her appearance had changed significantly. She now wore a sleek black tactical suit, and although dark circles lingered beneath her eyes from lack of sleep, her face looked far healthier than before.

"This week's logistics are secure, Killian," Bianca said without taking her eyes off the monitors. "Silas and his team managed to acquire two thousand low-grade energy crystals from the black market. I've already laundered them through several dormant accounts belonging to my family."

Killian emerged from the meditation chamber at the rear of the warehouse. His clothing had been replaced by a long black robe accented with deep violet. Giz, now slightly larger and covered in darker scales, followed beside him.

"How many people are waiting outside the gate today?" Killian asked.

"Around twenty."

Bianca sighed, twirling a silver pen between her fingers.

"They're all discarded Pet Tamers. Some have defective Pets. Some don't have sufficient energy rankings to join the military. Others escaped forced labor in corporate mining operations."

"Bring them in," Killian ordered.

"Are you sure? We just achieved stability. Feeding twenty additional mouths will drain our energy reserves in no time," Bianca warned in her usual practical tone.

"I don't need additional mouths, Bianca. I need soldiers."

Killian walked toward the second-floor balcony overlooking the warehouse's main hall.

"The world calls them trash. The System calls them failures. But to me, they are the perfect raw materials for evolution."

Creeeeak.

The giant iron warehouse doors swung open with a harsh groan, shattering the silence. Silas stepped inside, leading a group of people whose appearance was utterly pitiful.

Yet none of them realized...

That from the balcony above, a pair of golden eyes belonging to the supreme predator watched them with terrifying hunger, ready to transform the world's discarded refuse into the greatest nightmare the universe had ever known.