…The next day…

Micheal leaned over the edge of a random skysc.r.a.per, taking in a deep, relaxing breath . The morning light was starting to creep over the horizon, the dawn starting its ceaseless a.s.sault on the night .

He looked out at the surrounding skysc.r.a.pers, his eyes peaceful .

He could see the figures of a few shambling Morenkai moving across a bridge that connected to a skysc.r.a.per opposite him . He didn't see any teams hunting Morenkai, the early morning and relatively uncrowded state of the Main Cl.u.s.ter meaning that few people were near him .

'Uncrowded for now, anyway . ' He thought, a rueful smile appearing on his face .

He tapped on his Spatial Ring, bringing out a sleek, metal object that was painted black . Two cylindrical tubes were connected by a thick piece of metal, with a short, looped rope attached to its back end .

A pair of modern binoculars .

Micheal slung them around his neck, making sure they were secured . He had bought them from the Shop yesterday for a small number of Points .

Right after that, he pulled out a long set of white robes . The edges of these robes were decorated with a specific design, a large circle with three smaller circles lined up inside, spread horizontally .

He had spent a couple of hours last night painstakingly making it . At the same time, he pulled out a specially prepared mask .

It was a featureless white mask that would cover his face completely . A mask that no major power or force was known to use, Micheal had chosen it for simplicity .

His Heron ident.i.ty was compromised by this point, for certain . Commander Kenneth would've reported the fact that he killed Leila to the Angels Arcadia and, after they checked, they would know he was a fraud .

Beyond that, Micheal was certain that the leader of the Nightrunners, Director Prime, would have been infuriated by his actions . The man would have an entire investigation team running on him .

After donning his mask and the robes, Micheal took a deep breath .

Then, with a grunt, Micheal stepped off the edge of the skysc.r.a.per and jumped up into the air .

He soared a full 3 meters high, his superhuman strength propelling him . A burst of wind brush past him as his leap disturbed the nearby air . His muscles bulged slightly as he stretched, extending himself fully .

Just as he reached the peak of his arc, he stepped onto thin air for a split second, and then jumped again . His Cloud Stepping Shoes felt like a part of his body and were just as easy to operate, following his mental commands . The feeling of stepping on air was a wondrous one that never got old, in Micheal's eyes .

He repeated this process until he had jumped more than 300 meters high into the air . By this point, he was starting to feel a serious bit of strain on his Soul . His body was lathered in sweat and his legs and core were sore .

While the energy the shoes used was almost unnoticeable, if used in quick succession for an extended period, it took its toll . In addition, jumping more than 100 times in quick succession was difficult, even for someone with superhuman strength .

After jumping 113 times, Micheal had reached a height that gave him a very expansive view of the area around him . He could see thousands of skysc.r.a.pers, with tiny figures moving to and fro on each one . The wind brushed by him at a relatively slow pace this high, cool and relaxing .

A moment later, two Life Orbs flew out of Micheal's hands, zooming down and landing under his feet as stepped onto them . He breathed a sigh of relief as he relaxed, letting his Soul recover from the extended use .

His Life Orbs needed to be within range of a stable, grounded object in order to let Micheal fly freely . Lacking that, they were only capable of gliding .

For Micheal's purposes, that was more than enough .

His Life Orbs glided at a very slight angle, meaning he could fly for a very long time, albeit slowly getting closer to the ground .

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Whenever he dropped too far down, all he needed to do was use his Cloud Stepping Shoes to jump up .

As long as he did everything at a moderate pace, he would be able to maintain this for at least several hours before needing to take a break .

With that in mind, Micheal pulled up his binoculars and began to search .

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Asim Al-Atrash, known to some as the Arabian General, was having an awful day .

He currently stood atop one of the gun cannons of a full-scale military battles.h.i.+p . This particular s.h.i.+p had been a new, premier version, with a sleek, metal hull and a veritable war fleet's worth of cannons on it .

Asim cut a heroic figure . He wore a set of loose, white leather pants and a brown vest, with long brown hair that was wrapped up in a bun . His blueish green eyes gleamed with intelligence and the energy from his Ki Cultivation . At his waist was a long saber, giving him a rather exotic look . His tanned skin was light brown, showing off his powerful physique .

As he looked around atop this turret, he sighed, his eyes twitching .

"Why . . . " He muttered as he raised up to his hand to his face .

He then tapped on a hearing aid he wore in his right ear, frowning slightly . He adjusted it, and then tapped on the one in his left ear . After fiddling with the two for a few moments, he finished adjusting them, settling them comfortably in each ear .

Each one of these hearing aids was something he purchased from the Shop's Miscellaneous Earth Objects section, costing him 300 Points each, rather pricey for their size .

Despite all the miracles things that had happened, despite the fantastic Abilities he'd gained… Asim was still mostly deaf .

He had been born this way, and as a result of that, it seemed it was something the Shop couldn't fix, not yet .

When he was first transported away from Earth and got to gaze upon this mysterious Shop, he had been both horrified and ecstatic .

His little brother had been taken away just the month before back in the real world, though a year prior in the accelerated time of the 7 Layers . Asim was 28 years old, while his younger brother was only 17 . Both of them lived together, and had for years, after their parents pa.s.sed away .

He was horrified that his little brother had to deal with all of this on his own, but delighted with the unique Abilities and powers he could, and did, gain .

Over the past month and some change, Asim had rapidly grown in strength and formed his own team . He became a veritable powerhouse, partly by relying upon the special Limited Type Ability he'd chosen before his arrival, thanks to his status as an Irregular .

The Arabian Knights, as they decided to call themselves, were a group of 18 men and 7 women that banded together under a common purpose .

They were all looking for lost loved ones .

Asim's experience as a manager of multiple construction sites, and a leader that gave multiple talks on managing groups, came into play . He carried himself like a leader because he believed he had the qualities to be a leader, and it showed .

His favorite, and pretty much only, hobby as a black belt martial artist had ended up proving a huge boon to him as well .

Because of these things, and his undeniable strength, he was the leader of their group . He was emotional and proud, a natural draw to those looking for leaders.h.i.+p .

Their team had allied themselves with the G.o.dfather Organization . This single group had earned a huge amount of respect from Asim . An entire organization dedicated to helping protect children and infants, he would absolutely help them whenever they needed help .

According to them, his strength after such a brief period put him within the Top 10,000 A Rankers, though at the lower end, while all his comrades were weaker to decently strong B Rankers . Asim was confident he could b.u.mp his own Rank up rapidly, as long as he continued to focus on training and practicing with his new Abilities, and picking up a few more .

Apparently some Seer would be releasing a list of all the strongest A Rankers very soon, in just a couple of days after he reached the Main Cl.u.s.ter .

The calendar of the 7 Layers mimicked that of Earth . According to them, it was only a couple of days until the end of June .

Asim shook these thoughts from his mind as he jumped down from the cannon, falling through the air .

He landed on the surface of the boat with a resounding thunk . The only other beings on the boat he stood upon were a pair of shambling Morenkai . When they heard the noise he caused, the two gaunt figures twisted, their faceless features zeroing in on Asim .

He ignored all of that, however, back to being lost in his thoughts .

Today… today was a bad day .

He and his team had just arrived in the Main Cl.u.s.ter when he got the news . In fact, he'd found out just fifteen minutes ago, and had returned to the Great Bridge for a few minutes for to grieve .

His little brother was dead .

The G.o.dfather Organization's resources, when it came to finding people, were something else . They couldn't answer everyone's query, and, indeed, Asim had been lucky to get a response at all . It was only because of the respect and friends.h.i.+p they'd built up with the G.o.dfather Organization's local Branch in his Cl.u.s.ter .

His brother had died within the first week of his arrival, last year, killed by a Morenkai .

He didn't even have a target for revenge . His brother's death was an accident caused by the vile, zombie-like creatures that haunted the First Layer .

"Hayder…" Tears leaked from Asim's eyes as he took a ragged breath, his shoulders heaving .

By this point, the two Morenkai had charged across the battles.h.i.+p's deck, bearing down upon Asim .

Right before they reached him, Asim clenched his right fist .

A flash of white light blasted out, touching everything within 5 meters of Asim . At the same time, a glowing symbol appeared, imprinted on his hand . The symbol was shaped like a rather fancily written letter M, two inches wide and tall .

The instant the two Morenkai entered within 5 meters of Asim, both creatures twitched .

They immediately tripped and stumbled to the floor, flailing about in confusion . Their bodies convulsed as they tried to stand and fail, tripping again and again .

Asim slowly drew his saber from his sheath as he turned, his tearstained face twisting in rage .

"What did he do to deserve this fate?"

Black blood spattered out as Asim expertly beheaded both twitching Morenkai, killing them cleanly . A thin, clear layer of Basic Tier Sword Energy coated his saber, enhancing its cutting power as he attacked .

He then flicked his blade to the side, wiping it down and sheathing it . He stared at the two dead Morenkai, taking several deep, wheezing breaths .

"I will carry on, little brother . I know it's what I should do . You were my only family in this world… and I could not be there for you . But I will do my best to eradicate the beings that killed you . " Asim made a grim promise, his body s.h.i.+vering with energy as he turned away from the dead Morenkai .

He marched towards the Main Cl.u.s.ter, his eyes hardening with determination . He mentally began to plot their plan of travel, deciding they would visit the headquarters of the G.o.dfather Organization first .

He did not look back .

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Vladimir Ivanov, known to some as the Wonder King, was having an awful day .

His short blonde hair was ruffled as he stood in front of a trio of corpses . He wore a set of dark red armor, covering both his arms, chest, and legs, and had a large spear tied into place on his back . His brown eyes narrowed as he looked down at the dead bodies, his towering, nearly 2 meters of height giving him a solid vantage point .

"Your deaths were deserved . Scavenging murderers . " His voice cracked slightly as he spoke, full of emotion . Beneath his armor, his lean, but muscular, chest heaved slightly .

He turned around without a second thought, not even searching the corpses of the men as he left them on the rooftop . Anything left unattended for long periods on the rooftops or outside would eventually vanish, either spirited away by Morenkai or disposed of by the mysterious First Layer .

The three corpses he left each had huge basketball-sized holes in their chests, as if an extremely powerful force had blasted through and killed them . Each one had a shocked and horrified expression on their faces, indicating that their deaths had been near instant .

Each corpse also had something unique about them . One body was covered in thousands of tiny red b.u.mps, while another seemed to have been twisted, as if gravity had warbled and twisted his limbs . The third body was unique in that the hole in its chest was an absolutely perfect circle, wrinkled only by how the man's corpse had fallen .

Vlad walked over to the edge of the skysc.r.a.per he stood upon, trying to clear his head . His mind flashed back, to when he first arrived .

Vlad had come to the First Layer with a single mission .

He needed to find his twin sister . She had vanished last month, disappearing from Earth alongside all the other mysterious disappearances that shocked reality . While they were both 31, and not children, they were both unmarried and had little other family . They were close, and he still couldn't help but worry terribly about her .

When Vlad discovered the truth of these disappearances, he couldn't have been more pleased .

It meant he had a chance to find his twin, Natasha .

He spent every waking moment he had in the Fallen Rock Cl.u.s.ter, growing as strong as he possibly could . When he first arrived, he had started with 86,000 Points, a well above average amount, but not enough to make him an Irregular .

The collection of Abilities he'd picked, however, ended up making the difference, especially when combined with his raw determination .

Before the arrival of the 7 Layers, Vlad had been a baker .

Before even that, however, he served in the Russian Armed Forces for 9 years, 3 of them as a combat instructor . His commanding officer had been nicknamed 'Dragon,' and was a right b.a.s.t.a.r.d, but a good man .

His vast array of combat experience helped him a great deal when it came to adapting and creating his own team . His rapid increase in power, to what was labelled now as an A Ranker, had helped even more .

And finally, after his more than a month of work and effort, he'd found out the information he most desired .

His twin sister… was alive!

He learned this from the contacts he'd made with the G.o.dfather Organization's Branch in his Cl.u.s.ter, a powerful leviathan that held a huge amount of influence, and was alright in his book . He strongly approved of their mission .

The news about his twin sister should make him incredibly happy . And it did .

But what he learned after ruined that .

His twin sister was alive . She was living in one of the charitable shelters the G.o.dfather Organization put up after she was transferred to the Main Cl.u.s.ter by one of their teams .

A shelter for abused women and children .

Vlad's arms shook with fury, his eyes blazing red as he remembered what he had been told, around 30 minutes ago .

When Natasha first arrived, she'd landed in the Cobalt Sky Cl.u.s.ter .

She had arrived in the north side of that Cl.u.s.ter, in the territory of a group called the 'Arabian Kings . '

She'd ended up joining up with them, as most new Chosen did in each area, looking for safety in this great unknown .

And a B Ranker in that group, one whom she had refused to name, took her aside for what he claimed was one-on-one training, because he approved of her spirit .

And then he beat and raped her .

The skysc.r.a.per roof beneath Vlad s.h.i.+vered, ever so slightly, as he stamped his foot down on it . His entire body glowed with white light, raw energy flooding in his veins as he, just barely, seized control of his anger .

"Natasha…" After a few seconds, his anger fled from him as he fell to one knee, tears falling from his face,

"I am so sorry . " He whispered quietly to himself, looking over the edge of the skysc.r.a.per he stood upon . Down below, the shambling figures of Morenkai could be seen, moving about in the early morning light .

"I will avenge you . And I will never let anyone hurt you again . " He took several deep breaths that seemed to wrack his very soul, slowly gaining control of his emotions .

Gradually, his face became a frozen mask, every hint of sorrow or anger vanis.h.i.+ng as he used an old mental trick he'd picked up in the army .

He wiped his face off, rapidly gaining the image of a powerful commanding officer . He glanced around, gathering his bearings . After a few seconds, he pivoted towards one specific skysc.r.a.per .

He had a very small team . There were only four other members in it that were powerful, very strong B Rankers that were, according to what he learned, right at the edge of being an A Ranker .

All of them were men, and they were waiting in the temporary command room he had set up in the skysc.r.a.per just a few bridges over . He'd left them to blow off steam after he learned the truth of what happened to Natasha .

His team name, the Dragon Slayer Guild, had been inspired in part by his old Commander Dragon, back on Earth . He wanted a name that was majestic and inspired a sense of power, and what better than a group that slayed Dragons?

Vlad hesitated for a single second as he looked back at the dead bodies before he turned away, flexing his hands . In his head, he began to plan what they would do now .

"We need to pick up Natasha immediately . Right after that… I will build the greatest defensive force this Cl.u.s.ter has ever seen . " A feeling of purpose settled into his shoulders .

"And I will kill every criminal I see . "

He walked away from the skysc.r.a.per, his shoulders hunched as if he was carrying a heavy burden .

He did not look back .

. . . . . . . . . . . .

…Some amount of time later…

Far up in the sky, Micheal was sweating bullets as he spun his binoculars to the left and right . He looked out in front of him and back behind, scanning over dozens of skysc.r.a.pers as his Life Orbs shot through the air, gliding effortlessly .

"Come on…" He muttered,

"Where are these blasted troublemakers?"

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