Apocalypse Regression: I Am the SSS-Rank Nightmare

Chapter 83: Chapter 83: The Authority Node

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The transit channel ran straight and perfect across the dark metal plain.

Leon walked its length without hurry. Violet light rose in soft walls on either side, high enough to block the view of the surrounding spires yet not so dense that he could not see the angular fortress growing larger ahead. The Aura of the End-Game moved with him, brushing the luminous barriers and leaving temporary streaks of gray where Finality touched the structured energy.

The channel eventually opened onto a wide hexagonal plaza. The fortress rose from its center—an imposing mass of black alloy plates and layered circuitry that climbed more than two hundred meters into the starless sky. Its surfaces were never still. Circuits flowed in constant rivers of silver and white light, forming and dissolving geometric patterns faster than the eye could follow. Multiple rings of floating barrier nodes orbited the upper levels at different speeds, each one projecting thin, intersecting planes of defensive energy.

No constructs stood guard at the base.

The plaza was empty, the metal underfoot marked only by faint residual heat trails of previous mechanical movement. The fortress itself was the guardian.

Leon stopped at the edge of the plaza and let the Ashen Fog expand fully. The mapping returned dense, layered readings—power cores buried deep within the structure, overlapping barrier matrices, internal transit shafts, and a single concentrated authority signature located near the highest occupied level. The signature was cleaner and heavier than the command unit he had destroyed on the response platform. It carried the weight of actual administrative control over this sector of the Iron Circuit.

He opened his status once.

[STATUS MENU]

Name: Leon Graves

Class: Sovereign of Finality: Apocalypse Monarch (Rank: SSS)

Level: 48

Health: 17,940 / 17,940

Mana: 10,820 / 10,820

[ATTRIBUTES]

Strength: 705

Agility: 498

Constitution: 716

Mana: 612

Perception: 139

Still stable. The earlier fights had cost little. He closed the panel and started across the plaza.

The fortress reacted when he reached the halfway point.

A deep, resonant tone rolled across the metal surface, more felt than heard. The orbiting barrier nodes accelerated, aligning into a tighter defensive lattice. Sections of the lower walls slid aside, revealing ranks of recessed bays. Constructs began to emerge—larger than the previous enforcement units, their frames reinforced, their sensor bands glowing a colder white. At the same time, multiple weapon emplacements along the mid-level terraces rotated into firing position.

Leon did not wait for the full deployment.

He expanded the Aura of the End-Game to its maximum radius and advanced directly toward the main entrance. Absolute darkness washed across the plaza. The first wave of emerging constructs staggered as their systems registered the sudden drop in operational efficiency. Silver barrier planes that intersected the domain flickered and developed spreading patches of gray ash.

The fortress opened fire.

Concentrated beams and rapid pulse lances rained down from the mid-level emplacements. Leon moved through the barrage under the protection of the domain, each projectile that entered his Aura unraveling before it could strike. When the first line of heavy constructs tried to form a blocking wall across the entrance, he met them head-on. The Abyssal Stinger found the gaps between reinforced plates with the same precision as before, but the resistance was noticeably higher. These units had been built to withstand greater punishment.

He adapted without slowing. Short, controlled bursts of Calamity Tide opened weak points. Necrotic Injection finished the work once the dagger penetrated critical systems. One construct managed to land a glancing blow across his shoulder with a vibrating energy blade; the Void Monarch Set absorbed the impact, leaving only a shallow scoring on the outer plate that sealed itself within seconds.

The entrance gates themselves were massive sliding slabs of layered alloy. As Leon approached, they began to close. He reached them before the gap narrowed too far, placed both hands against the moving metal, and drove a focused pulse of Finality into the central seam. Gray cracks raced outward. The gates seized, shuddered, and then partially disintegrated, leaving an opening large enough for him to pass.

He stepped into the fortress.

The interior was a cathedral of moving light and precise geometry. High corridors stretched in multiple directions, their walls covered in the same living circuitry as the exterior. Transparent panels showed internal shafts where smaller maintenance constructs moved along magnetic rails. The air hummed with controlled power.

Leon chose the path that climbed.

The Ashen Fog guided him through branching corridors and upward transit shafts, always angling toward the concentrated authority signature above. Twice more he encountered internal security teams—smaller groups of specialized constructs designed for close-quarters defense. Both encounters ended quickly. The domain suppressed their coordination, and the Stinger ended them before they could fully adapt.

As he climbed higher, the pressure of the local authority signature grew sharper. The circuits in the walls pulsed faster when he passed. Sections of flooring attempted to reconfigure into temporary barriers or drop-away traps; the Aura of the End-Game ruined each attempt before it could complete.

At last the corridor opened onto a wide internal platform that looked out over the central core of the fortress. Far below, massive power columns rose through multiple levels, sheathed in rotating rings of silver light. Above, a suspended command chamber hung in the open space, connected by narrow bridges of pure energy. Inside that chamber the authority signature burned brightest.

Leon stood at the edge of the platform and studied the distance.

The bridges of energy would not support him in the normal way—they were calibrated for the fortress’s own units. He would have to cross under his own power.

He tightened his grip on the Abyssal Stinger, expanded the domain once more, and stepped out into the open air of the core shaft, using a combination of physical strength and controlled bursts of power to move from one structural support to the next.

The command chamber waited above.

And the true authority of this sector of the Iron Circuit had nowhere left to retreat.

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