Zane lay face-first in the crater, twitching slightly from the slap of the century. Dust still floated in the air like the remnants of his pride.
Then, just as he was contemplating if crawling into the ground forever was a valid life choice…
> [SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: SCANNING COMPLETE]
Unidentified Object Detected.
Object: Linked.
Processing… 50%… 79%… 82%… 97%…
100%
[ACTIVATING: Artifact Mana Absorption Protocol]
"Huh?" Zane muttered, raising his head.
Suddenly—his body jerked upright.
A violent surge of energy shot out from the ground around him. Cracks webbed across the battlefield like lightning, and the red-flame figure took a sharp step back, narrowing his eyes.
Zane's body began to float, suspended midair. A whirlpool of raw mana wrapped around him like a vortex of shadow and golden light. Then, without warning—
BOOM.
The ground beneath Zane exploded outward, debris launching like shrapnel as something ancient and glowing burst from the stone floor.
A golden key.
But this wasn't any ordinary key. It hovered like it was alive, orbiting Zane in wide arcs—its surface engraved with pulsing runes older than time, burning with ancient energy. The moment it appeared, the entire realm shifted.
> [Artifact: ??? Acquired]
Artifact Type: Key of Worlds (Status: Unknown)
Warning: Foreign Entities Detected. Proximity Increasing.
Far in the distance, the moment the key pulsed in the air, dozens—no, hundreds—of entities suddenly froze mid-fight, their heads turning toward the mana surge like predators sniffing blood.
One snarled, its body a swarm of moving limbs.
Another cracked its neck with skeletal fingers and hissed.
"The key has been found," one of them said with hollow reverence.
"The seal can be undone," growled another.
"The Key… must be taken!"
Like a swarm of nightmares, they charged—racing across the desolate terrain, magic bursting from their limbs, wings, and broken bodies.
Meanwhile, Zane, still floating, was just starting to process everything.
"What... the ACTUAL Void is going on?!"
Link blinked from inside Zane's mind. "Uh... congratulations. I think you just became the VIP of this realm."
"VIP? That doesn't sound too bad—"
"—Very Instantly Punched. Just run."