The air around the Apex Eradicator completely warped. The sheer amount of digital energy gathering inside its massive cannons defied all established game logic.

It didn’t sound like a gun charging up. It sounded like the entire server was screaming in physical pain.

A high-pitched deafening whine filled the ruined streets of Sector 7. The toxic puddles of mud around Declan’s boots began to violently boil and evaporate from the ambient heat alone. The atmospheric temperature spiked to an unbearable degree in a matter of seconds.

Declan stood his ground. He planted his Spiked Striders firmly into the asphalt, cracking the pavement beneath him. He raised his left arm, angling the massive +20 Black Aegis perfectly in front of his chest.

He didn’t try to run. He didn’t try to dodge. He wanted the hit.

Up on the wall, behind the safety of the red energy dome, Richter and Nova watched in absolute horror.

"He’s just standing there," Richter gasped, his hands gripping the stone battlements so hard his gloves creaked. "He’s going to try and tank it! He’s literally trying to face-tank eight million damage!"

"He’s dead," Nova whispered, turning her face away from the glaring light. "No shield in the game can hold that. He’s going to be vaporized."

High above the city, the Eradicator unleashed its payload.

It wasn’t a single laser. It was a screen-wide barrage of pure super-heated anti-matter.

Hundreds of massive blinding white beams erupted from the machine simultaneously. They rained down like a catastrophic meteor shower, completely covering the entire city block where Declan was standing.

The light was so intense it turned the pitch-black sky into pure blinding day.

The anti-matter lasers didn’t just hit the ground. They melted the physical reality before they even made contact. The ruined concrete buildings surrounding the street instantly vaporized into white ash. The rusted cars completely ceased to exist, deleted from the server entirely.

The apocalyptic attack slammed directly into Declan!

BOOM!

The sound was beyond deafening. It was a physical shockwave that violently shook the entire Iron Bastion. Inside the city, players were thrown off their feet, clutching their bleeding ears. The massive iron forges rattled dangerously.

The anti-matter lasers hit the matte-black surface of the Black Aegis.

The Kinetic Repulsion trait triggered instantly!

The shield tried to absorb the physical momentum. It tried to eat the sheer force of the eight million damage attack and bounce it back.

The dark titanium glowed white-hot. The +20 shield groaned loudly, emitting a horrible shrieking noise as it desperately fought against the game’s core deletion code.

Declan gritted his teeth. He felt the intense burning heat bleeding through the metal. His boots dug deep trenches into the boiling mud as he was pushed backward inch by inch, his muscles straining against the impossible force.

The shield was a Sovereign-tier item. It was pushed to plus twenty. It was an absolute wall of defense that had previously crushed a Level 50 Juggernaut’s ultimate attack.

But it wasn’t enough.

The math of the game engine finally caught up to reality. You couldn’t block a Level 100 server wipe with a riot shield.

CRACK!

A massive fissure split right down the center of the Black Aegis.

"Uh oh," Declan muttered.

The shield violently shattered! The thick titanium exploded into thousands of useless blue pixels that were instantly incinerated by the heat.

The remaining force of the anti-matter barrage slammed directly into Declan’s chest. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

The impact was absolutely catastrophic. It felt like a commercial airliner had just crashed into his ribs at supersonic speed. He was launched backward through the air, completely swallowed by the blinding white light of the laser blast.

The system interface in his vision exploded with glaring red text.

[System Warning]

↳ Shield Integrity: 0%

↳ Item Destroyed.

[Warning: Lethal Damage Detected]

↳ True Damage Taken: 1,500,000 HP

A million and a half points of raw unblockable damage completely bypassed his Predator’s Coat. It bypassed his Abyssal Sovereign physical density.

His health bar plummeted from 6,600,000 straight down.

Then, the second wave of lasers hit him while he was tumbling in mid-air.

[System Warning]

↳ True Damage Taken: 2,000,000 HP

↳ True Damage Taken: 3,500,000 HP

His health bar instantly hit absolute zero!

The white light faded. The deafening roar of the cannons stopped.

The street was completely gone. Where Declan had been standing, there was only a massive smoking crater of melted black glass that stretched for three entire city blocks.

Absolute silence fell over the Iron Bastion.

Richter stared at the empty smoking crater. His shoulders slumped. His heavy armor suddenly looked entirely useless.

"He’s gone," Richter said, his voice completely hollow. "The Warlord is dead. We’re next."

Sloane dropped her clipboard. It shattered against the stone floor. She fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face. Kendra just stood there completely frozen, staring at the spot where Declan had vanished.

The players in the courtyard started screaming again. Without the Warlord, the city was doomed. They were just waiting for the dome to fall.

High in the sky, the Apex Eradicator hummed loudly. Its red lens shifted toward the Iron Bastion. It prepared to fire its second volley.

Down in the massive smoking crater, a tiny blue pixel floated up from the melted glass.

Then, another one.

A golden system prompt quietly popped up in the center of the smoke.

[System Notification]

↳ Fatal Damage Registered.

[Item Passive Activated]

↳ Conceptual Save State: Triggered

↳ Death Penalties: Nullified

The blue pixels suddenly stopped floating. They aggressively rushed back down toward the center of the crater.

A bright blinding crimson light erupted from the melted glass!

It wasn’t the sterile white light of the lasers. It was the dark violent red of raw digital blood.

The Sanguine Engine in Declan’s chest violently restarted. The massive mutated heart pumped an absurd amount of true healing directly into his physical vessel.

The smoke was violently blown away by the sheer force of his respawn.

Declan stood in the exact center of the crater. His pitch-black Predator’s Coat was slightly singed at the edges, but his physical body was completely flawless.

He didn’t have a single scratch on him!

His health bar shot straight back up to 6,600,000 in a fraction of a millisecond!

Swirling around his entire body was a thick bubbling barrier of dark red energy. The Sanguine Engine had converted the millions of points of incoming laser damage directly into his over-heal blood shield.

The shield was so thick it looked like a solid wall of flowing lava made entirely of blood.

Declan cracked his neck. The sound echoed clearly across the silent crater.

He looked up at the massive machine hovering in the sky. He brushed a speck of ash off his sleeve and smiled.

"My turn," Declan laughed.

He reached out his right hand into the empty air. The space warped and tore violently. The +40 Eclipse Severance halberd materialized into his grip. The tiny black hole in the blade hummed hungrily, eager to eat the world.

Up on the wall, Richter’s jaw physically dropped.

"He tanked it," Richter gasped, grabbing his helmet in pure disbelief. "He literally tanked a server wipe!"

The players in the Iron Bastion erupted into absolute manic cheering.

Declan gripped the heavy dark matter shaft with both hands. He bent his knees, his Spiked Striders digging deep into the melted glass.

He was going to cut a Level 100 boss out of the sky.