Chapter 43: The Mountain That Rose to the Stars

The white needle of the Creator’s scout-ship didn't just hover; it hummed with a frequency that shattered the ancient stone tablets of the Kunlun entrance. From its hull, a beam of pure, clinical white light scanned the mountain, searching for the "biological property" it had come to reclaim.

"System," Scarlett commanded, her voice amplified by the Stellar Navigator until it shook the very foundations of the sect. "Initiate the Kunlun-Prometheus Integration. Redirect all Qi-Stone energy to the sub-surface thrusters."

"Warning: Planetary crust stability at 40%," the AI responded. "Lifting the mountain will cause permanent geological realignment."

"Do it," Scarlett snapped. "I'm not leaving this world to be recycled."

The world groaned. For miles around, the earth buckled and cracked. From beneath the floating islands, massive, ancient engines—buried by the original crew three thousand years ago—re-ignited with a roar that drowned out the thunder. The entire Kunlun mountain range didn't just vibrate; it lifted.

The white scout-ship attempted to fire its "Sleep Ray," but the beam was swallowed by the shimmering golden barrier Scarlett had woven into the mountain’s atmosphere.

"My turn," Caleb growled.

He didn't stay on the ground. He stood on the highest balcony, his silver-white fur bristling as he fully synchronized with the mountain’s weapons systems. Because he had deleted his "Backdoor," he was no longer a puppet; he was the Central Processing Unit of the entire fortress.

"System Command: Kinetic Railguns—Online. Target: The Needle."

From the side of the 10,000-foot peaks, massive barrels of spirit-conductive alloy emerged. They didn't fire shells; they fired boulders of compressed jade, accelerated to Mach 20.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

The scout-ship’s shields flickered under the relentless physical bombardment. The Creators had prepared for energy weapons, but they hadn't prepared for a mountain throwing pieces of itself at them with the force of an asteroid.

"Julian! Valerius! Secure the lower bays!" Scarlett’s voice echoed through the mental link.

Down in the forest, Julian—now a hulking war-machine of Void-tech—led the cyber-Lycan warriors in a frantic defense against the Creator’s robotic drones that were pouring from the scout-ship’s belly. Valerius moved like a shadow among the machines, his sonic flute shattering their internal processors before they could even aim.

"This is poetry!" Valerius laughed over the comms, his red eyes blazing. "The gods are bleeding, and the rats are biting back!"

But the scout-ship was only a scout.

High above the atmosphere, a massive shadow began to blot out the stars. The Ark—the five-mile-long mother-ship of the Creators—was entering the orbit. Its size was so immense that it caused the tides of the world below to rise in a chaotic swell.

"Subject 001-Alpha," the voice of the High Scientist boomed from the sky, cold and disappointed. "Your sabotage three thousand years ago cost us centuries of data. Your current resistance will cost you your soul. We will now initiate the 'Planetary Purge' protocol."

A red light began to gather at the center of the Ark. It was a weapon designed to boil the atmosphere.

"Scarlett, they're going to burn the world to get to us," Caleb said, his golden eyes looking at the Ark. He looked at the Stellar Navigator in her hand, then at the sky.

"We have to take the fight to them," Scarlett said, her face set in a grim mask of determination. "Caleb, can you handle the G-force?"

"I was born for this," Caleb smirked.

Scarlett slammed her jade brush into the Navigator’s core. "Full Power to the Warp-Drive! Kunlun... ENGAGE!"

The mountain didn't just fly; it vanished in a fold of space-time, reappearing directly in front of the Ark’s main cannon.

The collision of two worlds—one of ancient stone and spirit, one of cold steel and science—began with a flash of light that turned night into day across the entire planet.