SSS-Rank Skill Copy: I Can Steal Every Class

The Azure Spire was a monument to the absolute, unchecked power of the Astra Guild.

Located in Sector 12, deep within the pristine, climate-controlled Inner Sectors of Neo-Kyoto, the skyscraper was a needle of white composite and blue glass that pierced the artificial twilight of the Mega-Sanctuary. It was a fortress of corporate wealth, insulated from the grime, the rain, and the suffering of the Outer Rings by layers of localized energy shields and private security armies.

On the penthouse level, the air smelled of synthesized pine and expensive, pre-Awakening coffee.

Regional Director Kaelen paced frantically across the plush, white carpet of his massive office. He was a man who had spent his entire life climbing the corporate ladder, stepping on the throats of his rivals and exploiting the desperate scavengers of the slums to secure his position. He wore a bespoke suit woven from the silk of high-tier arachnid variants, and his left eye was a flawless, cybernetic implant that fed him a constant stream of real-time market data.

Right now, that data was a catastrophic sea of red.

"Read it to me again," Kaelen snapped, stopping in front of his massive, panoramic window that overlooked the glowing city below.

His chief of security, a heavily scarred veteran named Vance, stood rigidly at attention near the mahogany desk. Vance looked deeply uncomfortable in the pristine office, his hands resting nervously on the hilt of his energized broadsword.

"Sector 44-Junction has fallen, sir," Vance read from a glowing datapad, his voice tight. "A platoon of fifty elite operatives, supported by four heavy combat mechs. Total operational failure. The barricades were shattered, the mechs were bisected, and the surviving personnel have completely routed. They are refusing orders to return to the perimeter."

"Bisected?" Kaelen repeated, turning around, his cybernetic eye whirring as it tried to process the impossibility of the report. "Those mechs are plated in reinforced plasteel. It takes a coordinated strike from an A-Rank team to even dent them. You’re telling me one Independent did this?"

"He didn’t just do it, sir," Vance said, swallowing hard. "He did it in under three minutes. The survivors... they’re calling him the Wraith. They say his mana isn’t normal. It suffocates their equipment. It rots their armor. Sir, the casualty reports from the Outer Rings over the past three weeks are staggering. He’s dismantled six of our extortion hubs, burned the Site 4 black-site to the ground, and now he’s broken the primary blockade."

"He’s just a boy!" Kaelen yelled, slamming his fist onto his desk. "The security footage from the Celestial Tower vault showed a teenager with a broken arm! How is he tearing through our military infrastructure like it’s made of paper?"

"Because he is an S-Rank anomaly."

The voice didn’t come from Vance. It came from the shadows near the entrance of the office.

Kaelen and Vance both spun around, their hands instinctively reaching for weapons they didn’t have drawn.

Stepping out of the shadows was a man who commanded a presence that made the opulent office feel suddenly very small. He wore the heavy, ornate samurai armor of the Imperial Vanguard, forged from dark, iridescent metal. But unlike the guards Glen had slaughtered in the vault, this man didn’t wear a demonic menpo mask. His face was exposed, revealing sharp, aristocratic features, long black hair tied back in a strict topknot, and eyes that burned with a cold, disciplined cyan light.

He carried a long, curved nodachi resting casually over his shoulder.

"Captain Akira," Kaelen breathed, the blood draining from his face. He quickly stepped away from his desk, bowing deeply. "I... I didn’t realize the Empress had dispatched the Vanguard to my sector."

"Empress Ryun does not concern herself with the financial losses of the Astra Guild, Director," Akira said, his voice smooth, cultured, and utterly devoid of warmth. He walked slowly across the office, his armored boots making no sound on the plush carpet. "She concerns herself with the security of the Celestial Tower. This ’Wraith’ breached her personal vault. He stole a pre-Awakening artifact of immense significance. That makes him an enemy of the crown."

"We have the situation under control, Captain," Kaelen lied smoothly, straightening his posture. "My security forces are mobilizing a massive counter-offensive. We will have the boy’s head on a pike by morning."

Akira stopped in front of the panoramic window, looking out at the city. He didn’t look at Kaelen.

"Your security forces are currently weeping in the gutters of Sector 44," Akira said softly. "You sent A-Rank operatives to fight an S-Rank predator. It is like sending paper soldiers to fight a forest fire. You are embarrassing the Eastern Spire, Director."

Kaelen bristled, his corporate pride momentarily overriding his fear of the Vanguard. "With all due respect, Captain, there hasn’t been a new S-Rank Champion crowned in a decade. The boy is strong, yes, but he’s likely just wielding a highly volatile, unstable Unique Class. If we overwhelm him with numbers—"

"He is S-Rank," Akira interrupted, turning his head slightly to fix Kaelen with a paralyzing stare. "The ambient mana sensors in the Celestial Tower recorded the exact moment his core density crossed the threshold. It happened three days ago, deep in the unmapped fractures of Sector 99-Sub. The energy signature was so massive it caused a localized spatial tear. He didn’t just break his limits, Director. He shattered them."

Vance, the security chief, took a nervous step backward. "If he’s S-Rank... then standard weapons won’t even scratch him. His aura alone will crush our operatives."

"Precisely," Akira said, turning fully to face the two corporate men. "Which is why Empress Ryun has authorized me to take command of this operation. The Astra Guild will stand down. You will pull your surviving forces back to the Inner Sectors and lock down the civilian populace. The Imperial Vanguard will handle the Wraith."

"You’re going to fight him yourself?" Kaelen asked, a mixture of relief and skepticism in his voice. "Captain, I know your reputation. You are the pinnacle of A-Rank. But if what you say is true, if he really is an S-Rank anomaly..."

Akira smiled. It was a cold, terrifying expression that didn’t reach his glowing cyan eyes.

"I am not going to fight him alone, Director," Akira said, resting his hand on the hilt of his nodachi. "The Empress has authorized the deployment of the Shogun Protocol."

Kaelen gasped, his cybernetic eye whirring frantically as his heart rate spiked. "The Shogun Protocol? But... that requires the mobilization of the entire Vanguard elite. You’re going to turn the mid-levels into a warzone!"

"The warzone is already here, Director," Akira said, walking toward the door. "The Wraith is currently riding a heavy freight elevator up from Sector 44. He will arrive in the mid-levels in exactly twelve minutes. I suggest you pour yourself a drink and watch the broadcast. It will be a very educational demonstration of Imperial power."

Akira stepped into the shadows of the corridor and vanished, leaving the two Astra executives standing in stunned silence.

Kaelen walked over to his desk and collapsed heavily into his leather chair. He looked at the glowing datapad, the sea of red casualty reports reflecting in his cybernetic eye.

"Sir," Vance said quietly, his voice trembling. "If the Vanguard fails... if the Shogun Protocol isn’t enough to stop him..."

"Then God help us all," Kaelen whispered, staring blankly at the panoramic window. "Because if he reaches this spire, there isn’t a vault deep enough to hide in."

***

Deep below the pristine penthouses of the Azure Spire, in the massive, industrial transit shafts that connected the Outer Rings to the Inner Sectors, a heavy freight elevator was slowly grinding its way upward.

The elevator was a massive, open-air platform of grated steel, designed to haul tons of raw materials and refined cores from the slums to the corporate factories. Right now, it carried only one passenger.

Glen stood in the exact center of the platform.

The wind whipped around him as the elevator ascended through the dark, cavernous shaft. The neon lights of the Outer Rings faded below, replaced by the sleek, sterile cyan glow of the mid-level transit hubs approaching above.

He didn’t look up. He stood with his eyes closed, his breathing slow and even.

He was meditating. Not to calm his mind, but to synchronize it perfectly with the void fragment in his chest. He was mapping the mana currents of the Eastern Spire, feeling the massive, structured energy grid of the Celestial Tower pulsing like a heartbeat in the distance.

He could feel them waiting for him.

At the top of the transit shaft, where the elevator would dock in the mid-levels, the mana density was staggering. It wasn’t the chaotic, terrified energy of the Astra enforcers. It was disciplined, cold, and incredibly lethal. Dozens of high-tier A-Rank signatures, arranged in a perfect, tactical formation.

They weren’t trying to hide. They were projecting their power, a silent challenge echoing down the shaft.

Glen opened his eyes. They were pitch-black, devoid of any white, reflecting the dim cyan light of the approaching transit hub.

He reached over his shoulder and drew the Abyssal blade. The heavy black iron hummed, eager for the slaughter.

He wasn’t fighting scavengers anymore. He wasn’t fighting corporate thugs. He was about to face the true military might of an SSS-Rank Champion.

The elevator ground to a halt with a heavy, metallic clank. The massive blast doors in front of the platform hissed open, revealing a sprawling, pristine transit plaza bathed in artificial twilight.

Standing in the plaza, blocking the path to the Azure Spire, were fifty warriors of the Imperial Vanguard. They wore the dark, iridescent armor of the Empress’s elite, their demonic menpo masks locked onto the boy on the elevator.

At the front of the formation stood Captain Akira, his nodachi drawn, the blade crackling with intense, cyan lightning.

"Wraith," Akira called out, his voice echoing across the silent plaza. "Your ascent ends here."

Glen stepped off the elevator, his heavy boots clicking against the polished white tiles. He didn’t say a word. He didn’t need to.

He raised the Abyssal blade, and the S-Rank aura of the Apex Sovereign exploded outward, plunging the pristine plaza into absolute, terrifying darkness.

The true war for Neo-Kyoto had begun.

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