The "White Void" was gone, replaced by a sky that looked like spilled oil on a highway—swirling purples, deep blacks, and stars that felt uncomfortably close.
Kane hit the "ground" hard. It wasn't stone or cloud; it felt like walking on cold, solid glass. He groaned, the taste of copper in his mouth. Every inch of his skin felt like it was being squeezed by an invisible hand.
"Sarge... I think I'm gonna puke," Vance rasped.
The big man was on his knees, his iron skin flickering like a dying lightbulb. Beside him, Doc was curled in a ball, clutching her head, while Sully was staring at the horizon with pupils so wide her eyes looked entirely black.
"Deep breaths," Kane said, his voice sounding weirdly hollow in the thin air. "The pressure... it's not physical. It's the mana. It's too thick for us."
[SYSTEM ERROR: ENVIRONMENT UNCOMPATIBLE]
[RANK 6 INSUFFICIENT FOR COSMIC OCEAN]
"No kidding," Sully whispered, pointing up.
One of those "bubbles" they'd seen—a whole world—was floating a few miles above them. It looked like a marble. And circling it was a creature that looked like a deep-sea eel, if an eel was the size of a mountain range and made of blue fire.
"We're baggage, Kane," Doc said, her voice trembling as she looked at her shaking hands. "In the Seven Realms, I could stitch you back together. Here? I can't even catch my breath. We're gonna get you killed."
Kane walked over, his heavy boots clunking on the glass floor. He didn't look at his stats. He looked at his friends.
"I didn't bring you this far to watch you suffocate," Kane growled. He reached into his chest, where the Seed of Earth was still pulsing with a raw, green heat. "The Gods used this to power a world. I'm gonna use it to power you."
"Sarge, wait—" Vance started, but Kane was already moving.
He didn't "transfer essence." He grabbed Vance's collar and slammed a fistful of green-black energy directly into the man's chest.
"Scream if it hurts!" Kane yelled.
Vance didn't scream. He roared. His iron skin didn't just glow; it cracked, and molten gold began to pour through the fissures. He grew, his muscles densifying until he looked less like a man and more like an armored statue.
[SQUAD EVOLUTION: VANCE \rightarrow THE ASTEROID JUGGERNAUT]
Kane turned to Doc and Sully. "Your turn. Don't fight it. Eat it."
He funneled the Seed's remaining "Earth" energy into them. Doc's plague-aura turned from a sickly green to a vibrant, predatory emerald. Sully's eyes stabilized, her vision cutting through the cosmic mist like a laser.
"Better?" Kane asked, sweating through his armor.
Vance stood up, cracking his neck. The sound was like two boulders grinding together. He looked at his fist, then at the giant eel-thing in the sky. "Yeah. I feel like I could punch a hole through a moon."
"Good," Kane said, drawing the Twin Fangs. The obsidian blades were vibrating, sensing something coming through the dark. "Because we aren't alone."
Out of the purple mist stepped a figure. It looked human, but it was wearing a suit of sleek, white polymer armor and carrying a rifle that hummed with a clean, terrifying blue light.
"Well, look at that," the stranger said, their voice coming through a speaker. "A bunch of feeder-fish actually broke the jar. You guys lost, or just looking to get turned into stardust?"
Kane stepped forward, his shadow stretching out across the glass floor like a hungry beast. "We're the ones who closed the shop downstairs. Who are you?"
The stranger laughed. "Downstairs? Kid, you're in the Interstellar Scavenger Lanes now. And I'm the guy who's gonna decide if you're worth a bounty or just scrap metal."
Kane didn't wait for the "System" to give him a prompt. He blurred.
"Wrong answer," Kane hissed, his axe whistling through the air toward the stranger's throat.