The Treasury was not a room filled with gold. It was a prison cell built for a god.
Kaelen walked into the darkness. The heavy steel door groaned shut behind him, leaving him alone with the breathing silence.
The air here was heavy. Not just gravity—it was dense with **Killing Intent**.
In the center of the void, suspended by chains thick as tree trunks, floated two artifacts.
They weren't skeletal bones like the Ribcage. They were massive, segmented gauntlets that extended up to the shoulders. They were forged from a metal that swallowed light—**Abyssal Star-Iron**.
They pulsed with a violent, rhythmic red light.
*THUMP-THUMP.*
The chains rattled as the arms twitched, struggling against their bonds. They wanted to kill. They wanted to crush.
"So," Kaelen walked closer, the **Nameless Slab** scraping on the floor. "You're the hands of the Sovereign."
**"LEAVE."**
A voice slammed into Kaelen's mind. It wasn't the regal voice of the Ancestor from the cave. It was a chaotic, screaming roar of pure violence.
**"WE ARE THE BREAKERS. THE SMASHERS. FLESH IS WEAK. YOU WILL SNAP LIKE A TWIG."**
Kaelen stopped five feet away. The pressure radiating from the artifacts was enough to turn a Foundation expert into paste.
He tapped his chest. The golden **Titan's Ribcage** under his skin flared.
"I have the heart cage," Kaelen said. "I need the fists."
The gauntlets froze. They sensed the familiar aura. Then, they laughed. A screeching metal sound.
**"THE CAGE IS FOR DEFENSE. WE ARE FOR RUIN. PROVE YOUR WORTH, MAGGOT. TOUCH US AND DIE."**
Kaelen dropped his Slab.
He stripped off the tattered remains of his arm wraps. He revealed his bare arms, etched with blue lightning runes.
"Test me."
He reached out.
He grabbed the floating gauntlets.
*CLANK.*
The trap sprung.
The gauntlets didn't just sit there. They *snapped* shut around Kaelen's arms.
*CRUNCH.*
Pain. Absolute, blinding white pain.
The metal didn't sit on top of his skin. It drove spikes *into* his flesh, seeking to fuse with his bones. The artifacts tried to crush his radius and ulna to dust.
**"WEAK! YOUR BONES ARE GLASS!"** The voice screamed in his head.
Kaelen fell to one knee. Blood sprayed from the connection points. His **Storm-Demon** regeneration fought against the destruction, healing and breaking in a loop of agony.
"System!" Kaelen roared through gritted teeth. "Dominate them!"
> **[Alien Artifact Detected.]**
> **[Hostile Will: 100%.]**
> **[Solution: Consume the Will.]**
Kaelen didn't try to pull them off. He pushed his hands deeper into the metal.
"You think I'm stuck in here with you?" Kaelen laughed, blood dripping from his mouth.
"**Heaven-Devouring Scripture: Soul Bite.**"
Black tendrils of energy erupted from Kaelen's shoulders. They wrapped around the Star-Iron gauntlets.
Kaelen began to eat the artifact's consciousness.
**"WHAT?! NO! STOP! WE ARE ETERNAL! YOU CANNOT—"**
"I am the Calamity!" Kaelen shouted. "Obey!"
*SNAP.*
The resistance broke.
The red light of the gauntlets flickered and turned a deep, obedient blue. The spikes retracted, and the metal shifted, becoming liquid. It flowed over Kaelen's arms, replacing his skin with living Star-Iron.
The pain vanished, replaced by a surge of power so immense Kaelen felt like he could punch a hole in the moon.
> **[Assimilation Complete.]**
> **[Artifact: The Titan's Arms (Integrated).]**
> **[Strength Attribute: Unmeasurable.]**
> **[Passive: Star-Crusher (Attacks ignore 50% of enemy defense).]**
Kaelen stood up.
He looked at his new arms. They were black, sleek, and pulsed with blue veins of energy. He clenched his fist. The air inside his palm detonated from the pressure.
The chains holding the artifacts were still attached to the walls.
Kaelen grabbed the chains.
"Let's see."
He pulled.
He didn't use Qi. Just muscle.
*CREAAAK-SNAP.*
The massive iron chains snapped like thread.
The Treasury door opened.
Light flooded in.
The Dean stood there, looking pale. He saw the broken chains. He saw the black metal fused to Kaelen's limbs.
"You..." The Dean whispered. "You tamed them? In five minutes?"
Kaelen walked out. Every step cracked the jade floor. He felt heavy. Grounded.
"They were just lonely," Kaelen smirked.
He walked past the Dean to the edge of the Summit.
He looked down at the clouds, at the Empire below.
He raised his right fist toward the horizon.
"Hey, Dean."
"Y-yes?"
Kaelen punched the empty air.
**"Nine-Fold Collapse: Third Fold."**
*THWUMP.*
Space distorted. A shockwave shot out from his fist. It traveled three miles, hit a passing cloud bank, and obliterated it. A hole the size of a city appeared in the sky.
The Dean fell to his knees. That was power that touched the **Nascent Soul** realm.
Kaelen looked at his fist.
"I think I'm ready for war."
He turned back to the trembling old man.
"Now," Kaelen said, his eyes burning with ambition.
"Tell me where the Legs are."