Chapter 6: The Sky-Dock Ambush
The Mag-Lev train shrieked as its superconducting brakes fought against the momentum Jin had forced upon it. Sparks of blue and gold static danced across the cargo container's walls as the train veered into the Sector 7 Sky-Docks—a dizzying network of platforms suspended thousands of feet above the city's glowing core.
In the year 2300, the Mid-Tier was a world of perpetual twilight, lit by the neon advertisements of the megacorporations and the constant stream of flying traffic. The air here was thinner, colder, and tasted of expensive synthetics.
"The container is opening! Jump!" Jin shouted.
He grabbed Mei's wheelchair, his muscles tensing. With the [Neural Reflex] still surging in his veins, he timed the leap perfectly, landing on a metal grate that vibrated with the hum of a thousand cooling fans. Seraphina tumbled beside him, her face pale, her eyes darting toward the shadows of the docking cranes.
"Something's wrong," she whispered, her hand instinctively reaching for a sword that wasn't there. "The Mid-Tier is never this quiet. The automated drones should be everywhere."
She was right. The docking bay was a ghost town. The usual swarm of loading robots stood motionless, their optical sensors dark.
Suddenly, a high-pitched whistle sliced through the air.
Clang!
A metallic disc, etched with glowing azure circuitry, slammed into the crate inches from Jin's head. It didn't explode; it began to hum, emitting a high-frequency pulse that scrambled Jin's Runic Eyes.
"So, the little mouse has a bit of 'Old Code' in him," a voice drawled from the rafters.
A figure descended, silhouetted against the massive, artificial moon of the Sector 7 skyline. He was wearing a sleek, matte-black exoskeleton that looked more like an insect's shell than armor. In his hands, he twirled two daggers that hissed with a constant discharge of Runic energy.
"Bounty Hunter," Seraphina spat, her voice trembling with hatred. "That's 'Viper' Vance. He's a 'System Assassin.' He doesn't just kill you; he wipes your DNA from the corporate databases."
Vance landed gracefully, his visor retracting to reveal a face scarred by neural-overload burns. "The Thorne Corporation wants the girl. The 'Architect' wants the boy. I just want the credits."
He moved.
Vance wasn't just fast; he was using Runic-Tech. His boots were equipped with [Blink] runes, allowing him to teleport short distances in bursts of static. He appeared behind Jin in a heartbeat, his daggers plunging toward Jin's kidneys.
"Jin, look out!" Mei screamed.
The thrum in Jin's blood reached a boiling point. The Primordial Bloodline, sensing a threat to its host, finally dropped its first veil.
[Bloodline Awakening: 0.12% -> 0.95%]
[Active Skill Unlocked: 'Sovereign's Domain' (Partial)]
Time didn't just slow down; it fractured. Jin saw Vance's movements not as a physical body, but as a series of projected vectors. He saw the "recharge" time on the Hunter's blink-boots. He saw the "Runic Fatigue" in the assassin's daggers.
Jin didn't use a weapon. He stepped into the attack, his palm hitting Vance's chest with the force of a hydraulic press.
BOOM.
Vance was sent flying, but he flipped in mid-air, his boots sparking as they latched onto the side of a massive cargo crane. "A physical combat bloodline? Interesting. But can you fight the environment?"
Vance slapped a device onto the crane. Instantly, the massive machine—a 50-ton steel behemoth—began to glow with a malevolent red light. The crane's "Source Code" was being overwritten. It swung its massive arm toward them, moving with a speed that defied its weight.
"He's a 'Script-Hacker'!" Mei shouted, her tablet beeping frantically. "He's slaving the Sky-Dock's local AI to his exoskeleton!"
Jin looked around. They were trapped on a narrow platform. Below them was a three-thousand-foot drop. To the left, the crane was swinging. To the right, Vance was preparing another blink.
"Seraphina, take Mei and get behind that reinforced pillar!" Jin commanded.
"What about you?"
"I'm going to take his 'toys' away."
Jin closed his eyes, focusing on the vibration in the floor. He didn't look at Vance. He looked at the Runic Network of the Sky-Dock itself. The thousands of miles of fiber-optics and power lines were like a nervous system.
He knelt, slamming his fist into the metal grate.
"Extraction: [Silence]."
He didn't pull a rune from an item this time. He pulled the [Energy] rune directly from the platform's power grid. A massive surge of electricity flowed through Jin's body. In the real world, his Sync-Pod in the slums would have melted, but his bloodline acted as a celestial lightning rod.
The lights of the Sky-Dock flickered and died. The massive crane groaned, its red glow fading as it lost power, its arm stopping mere inches from Jin's face.
Vance's exoskeleton hissed, his blink-boots sputtering out. "You... you drained a Sector-grid? That should have fried your brain!"
"I'm not using your electricity," Jin said, his voice echoing with a dual-tone—his own voice and a deeper, more ancient resonance. "I'm using the 'Law' behind it."
Jin lunged. Without his tech, Vance was just a man. Jin's fist, wrapped in a faint, golden runic glow, struck Vance's visor. The reinforced glass shattered. The Hunter fell back, dangling off the edge of the platform by a single magnetic tether.
"Wait!" Vance gasped, blood leaking from his nose. "I was just... just the scout. The Architect... he's already in the Higher Dimension. He's waiting for you at the 'Heavenly Pillar'. He knows who your father is!"
Jin stood over him, his golden eyes cold. "Tell the Architect I'm coming. But I'm not coming to talk."
He cut the tether.
Vance plummeted into the neon abyss, though a small emergency parachute deployed a few hundred feet down. He would survive, but his message had been delivered.
Jin turned back to the girls. His golden eyes faded, and he stumbled, the massive energy drain finally hitting his system. He felt a warm hand catch him.
Seraphina was holding him, her icy blue eyes searching his. For the first time, the "Fallen Star" didn't look like a proud warrior. She looked like someone who had found a reason to hope.
"You saved us again," she whispered.
"We're not safe yet," Jin rasped, looking at Mei. "Mei... the message about the second rune in the sky. It wasn't about the real world. It was about the game, wasn't it?"
Mei nodded, her face grim. "The 'Sky-Rune' is an ancient relic. It's located in the Cloud-Palace Sect... the same sect that Seraphina's family betrayed. We have to go back in, Jin. But this time, we aren't going as players. We're going as invaders."