​The silence in the courtyard was thick enough to choke on. The American soldiers, men and women who had faced the collapse of civilization with grit, found themselves holding their breath as they stared at the young woman who had just issued a command to the most powerful military officer in the country.

​"Ok. All of you wait here... I will go and see the gateway above us."

​Mirabella didn’t wait for a rebuttal. Before Reed could even part her lips to warn her of the atmospheric toxicity, Mirabella’s form blurred. With a sonic boom that shattered the remaining windows of the nearby faculty buildings, she shot into the air, a streak of golden light piercing through the heavy, charcoal-colored ash clouds.

​"This?! What the hell is she doing?!" a female officer behind Reed screamed, shielding her eyes from the debris kicked up by the takeoff.

​"Are you worrying about that? At least worry about how she can fly!" Captain Justin barked, his face a mask of pure cognitive dissonance. "Physics doesn’t work like that!"

​"Yeah, you are right. Is she... is she a monster?" another soldier whispered, his hand trembling on his holster.

​"Or a god," Reed murmured, her eyes fixed on the hole in the clouds. "Even a fighter jet can’t achieve that kind of vertical velocity."

​"Just wait patiently. The Captain will be back," Cupcake snapped, her tiger form pacing the pavement. Her voice, resonant and feline, carried a sharp edge that instantly silenced the murmuring soldiers. To the Dragon Academy, this was merely a Tuesday; to the military, it was a religious experience.

__

​As Mirabella breached the lower atmosphere, the sky turned into a suffocating shroud of gray. The ash wasn’t just soot; it was a refined, magical toxin designed to melt lungs from the inside out.

​{Poison Damage taken: -10,000.}

{Host is Immune to Poison.}

{Poison immunity activated - All poison Damage has been converted into spirit energy.}

{Spirit energy: +10,000.}

​’I could stay here and absorb all this ash to top off my reserves,’ Mirabella mused, her eyes glowing through the haze. ’But I need to see the source.’

​She pushed her Agility to the limit. The air grew thinner, the toxicity more concentrated as she ascended into the mesosphere.

​{Poison Damage taken: -100,000.}

{Host is Immune to Poison.}

{Poison immunity activated - All poison Damage has been converted into spirit energy.}

{Spirit energy: +100,000.}

​’Wow! This ash is dense. It’s a literal wall of death for anyone under Level 400.’

​She accelerated again, her body glowing with a divine friction as she crossed into the thermosphere. Here, the sky was no longer blue or gray—it was a void of deep indigo, dominated by a gargantuan, bleeding-red Gateway. Green, eerie energies spiraled out of the rift like cosmic bile, churning with the black ash that rained down on the world below.

​"So this is the gateway she talked about," Mirabella whispered. She hovered toward the rift, but the moment she crossed the thousand-meter threshold, the very fabric of space began to vibrate with a low, guttural hum.

​The gateway pulsed. From the swirling green mists of the rift, a figure emerged. He stood eight feet tall, a mountain of muscle encased in jagged, black scales that shimmered like obsidian. His eyes were a piercing, reptilian green, and two massive horns curved upward from his forehead like ivory scimitars. In his hand, he gripped a broadsword carved from the bone of something ancient and terrible.

​’A God-class weapon,’ Mirabella noted, her eyes narrowing. ’I’ve never seen a creature like this. Not in my past life, and certainly not in the Academy records.’

​{Warning - An Ancient Dragon Race discovered.}

{Be Careful Host.}

​’The system is actually warning me? Ancient Dragon Race... how did a powerhouse like this end up in a lower-realm gateway?’ 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

​She focused her gaze, forcing the system to reveal the entity’s stats.

{Name: N/A.}

{Rank: Mid-Great Celestial Stage.}

{Physical Attack: 200,000,000.}

{Agility: 135,000,000.}

{Defense: 200,585,800.}

{Health: 205,751,200.}

{Magic Attack: 200,000,000.}

{Intellect: 100%.}

{Divine energy: 200,000,000/200,000,000.}

​’What the hell?!!’ Mirabella’s heart skipped a beat—not out of fear, but out of pure, calculated shock. This was the single strongest entity she had ever encountered. A Great Celestial stage being was a powerhouse even in the Third World.

​"Mirabella Sunny," the Dragon spoke, his voice like grinding tectonic plates. "Daughter of Genevieve, and the last Heir of the ancient Sun family."

​Mirabella raised an eyebrow. "You know me? How?"

​"Anyone from the Fourth World knows the scent of the Sun family! It is a scent of fading glory and old blood!"

​"Fourth World?!!!" Mirabella was dumbfounded. The world-building she knew was being rewritten in real-time.

​"Hahaha!! Seems you don’t even know about the Fourth World! The Sun family has been reduced to such a state of ignorance? My Lord will be pleased!!" He slammed the flat of his bone sword against his shoulder.

​"If I may ask," Mirabella said, her voice dropping into a cold, dangerous tone, "who is your Lord?"

​"You aren’t qualified to know anything about the ancient Aethelgard family! At least get to the Third Realm before asking such a question!"

​The Dragon roared, a sonic shockwave of pure Divine Energy exploding from his lungs. The force of it would have leveled Manhattan had it been aimed downward.

​{Damage taken: -10,000,000 (Absorbed by Defense)}

{Skill activated: +10,000,000 in defense.}

​The Dragon paused, his green eyes widening. ’My shockwaves should have turned her into red mist. A mere Level 500 shouldn’t have the capacity to tank a Great Celestial’s roar... and yet she hasn’t even flinched.’ He looked at the ten shimmering, semi-transparent clones that had suddenly materialized around her. ’Are those... Celestial Guardians? I have underestimated this child.’

​"You actually think such a weak attack can kill me?" Mirabella smirked. She slowly raised a single finger, pointing it directly at the Dragon’s throat. Her golden aura flared, eclipsing the green glow of the gateway.

​"Let me show you true power."