They reached the Golden Palace. The massive doors, fifty feet high and made of solid amber, swung open on silent hinges.

Inside, the banquet hall was a nightmare of excess. Long tables groaned under the weight of golden fruit, crystalline wines, and roasted beasts that still breathed steam. At the far end of the hall, sitting on a throne that seemed to be made of frozen light, was the Emperor.

He was a man of indeterminate age, dressed in robes so complex and intricate they seemed to shift and change color every time a climber blinked. He held a scepter that pulsed with the power of a dying star.

And around him stood a hundred Royal Guards. They were visible now because the climbers were "unfit" to see their invisibility. They were lean, terrifying warriors with blank, porcelain masks and rapiers made of thin air.

"Welcome," the Emperor said, his voice a melodic chime. "You have arrived... underdressed. My guards tell me you have discarded the gifts of the Stars. Why?"

Kang Min stepped forward, his bare feet slapping against the marble. "Because your gifts are chains. And your ’finest’ is a lie."

The Emperor’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. "A bold claim for a man with no shield. Guards. Teach them the value of ’Proper Attire’."

The Royal Guards moved.

This was the true test of the 18th floor. It wasn’t a stat battle. It was a battle of pure martial skill. Without skills, without mana-bursts, and without weapon reach, the climbers were forced to rely on the raw mechanics of combat.

"Don’t try to use your mana!" Kang Min shouted, ducking under a rapier thrust. "If you channel, the guards will get faster! Use your eyes! Use your muscles!"

The hall became a scene of visceral, high-stakes combat. Kaelen, stripped of his shield, found that his years of military training were more useful than any ’Holy Shield’ spell. He parried a guard’s strike with his bare forearm, sliding the blade off his bone and countering with a heavy, un-buffed punch to the guard’s porcelain mask.

Zoya, the alchemist, used her knowledge of anatomy. She didn’t have her vials, but she had her hands. She dodged a thrust and drove her thumb into the pressure point of a guard’s neck, causing the entity to stagger.

Kang Min was a whirlwind of motion. In the Old World, he had spent years practicing ’System-Less’ combat in the dark corners of the Tower. He moved with a terrifying economy of motion. He didn’t waste energy on flashy jumps or power-strikes. He moved in straight lines, his hands striking like vipers.

A guard thrust at his heart. Kang Min didn’t retreat. He stepped into the guard’s reach, his palm striking the guard’s elbow to redirect the force, while his other hand drove into the guard’s throat.

The guard dissolved into white silk.

"He’s doing it..." Sora whispered, tripping a guard with a well-timed sweep. "He’s clearing a high-rank trial with just basic punches and kicks."

The fight lasted for what felt like hours. One by one, the climbers were pushed to their limits. They were bruised, bleeding, and exhausted. Without their ’Endurance’ stats, every hit hurt. Every breath was a struggle. But they were winning. Because they were "small," the guards were also "small." The battle was balanced on the razor’s edge of human capability.

Finally, only the Emperor remained. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

He stood up from his throne, his intricate robes rustling. "Impressive. You have shown me the beauty of the struggle. But can you face the Emperor himself without your borrowed stars?"

The Emperor raised his scepter. He didn’t use a spell. He used the scepter like a staff.

Kang Min met him in the center of the hall.

It was the most unusual boss fight in the history of the Tower stream. No explosions, no glowing runes, no massive HP bars filling the sky. Just two men in a golden hall, moving with the precision of master martial artists.

The Emperor was fast—faster than any human should be. But Kang Min was "empty." He had no intent, no mana for the Emperor to read. He moved based on the displacement of air, the shift in the Emperor’s weight, the dilation of his pupils.

The Emperor swung the scepter in a wide arc. Kang Min dropped to the floor, the golden head of the weapon whistling over his hair. He surged upward, his fist connecting with the Emperor’s solar plexus.

The Emperor gasped, his "vanity" robes flickering.

Kang Min didn’t stop. He unleashed a barrage of strikes—a palm to the chin, a knee to the ribs, a strike to the temple. Every hit was a rejection of the Tower’s systems.

"This..." the Emperor coughed, blood trickling from his lip. "...is the truth?"

"This is the truth," Kang Min said. He delivered a final, spinning back-kick that sent the Emperor flying back into his throne of light.

The throne shattered.

The moment the light died, the Golden Palace began to fade. The diamond streets turned back into gray stone. The violet sky turned into a dark, cavernous ceiling. The hyper-advanced city was revealed for what it truly was: an illusion maintained by the vanity of the climbers.

The Emperor sat on the floor, now dressed in nothing but a simple, tattered white sheet. He looked like a tired old man.

"The banquet is over," the Emperor whispered. "You may pass."

『Main Scenario: The Emperor’s City of Vanity - COMPLETED』

『Clear Result: The Truth is Revealed.』

『Condition: Defeated the Emperor with ’Naked Skill’.』

『Player Kang Min has acquired the ’Emperor’s Unseen Threads’.』

『Hidden Reward: Permanent +10 to all base stats (Non-Equipment).』

The climbers stood in the ruins of the "city," gasping for air. Their gear returned to them, appearing in their inventories or lying on the ground where they had dropped it. But as they put their armor back on, they felt different. The weight of the steel felt heavy. The glow of the artifacts felt gaudy.

Kang Min picked up his sword. The blade felt familiar, but he didn’t sheath it immediately. He looked at the chat.

" -I can’t believe I just watched a man fight a God in a T-shirt and win.-"

" -Valerius getting stepped on by a 100ft shadow titan is the funniest thing I’ve seen all year.-"

" -Did you see Kang Min’s movement? That wasn’t a skill. That was pure martial arts mastery.-"

" -The ’Invisible Guards’ were literally just our own gear hitting us... that’s deep.-"

" -Singularity just proved that even without the ’System’, he’s the strongest.-"

" -Look at the other players... they’re actually looking at themselves for once instead of their gear.-"

Kang Min sheathed his weapon. He looked toward the next gate.

’I need to reach the 20th floor before attending the Demons banquet...uggh...I know alot of the stars that will be there have a crazy grudge on me...’