Arthur Sterling stood before the jagged and glowing tear in the fabric of the universe.

The gateway to the Celestial Court bled a terrifying blinding white light that threatened to scorch the very concept of the Ebon Citadel.

The air around the rift felt incredibly heavy.

He did not step through immediately.

He turned to the four impossibly powerful women standing behind him. Sylvia Thorne, Morwenna, Lyra, and Aurelia.

They were draped in pristine and newly forged divine tier battle regalia. Their auras hummed with lethal intent.

Arthur reached into his dark coat and pulled out four heavy bands of metal. He had forged them during the final days of his absolute peace.

"Take these," Arthur commanded. He tossed a ring to each of his Queens.

Sylvia caught hers effortlessly. Her icy blue eyes inspected the glowing runes etched into the starlight metal. "What are they, Emperor?"

"Celestial Anchor Rings," Arthur replied with a dark smirk playing on his lips.

"The physical pressure of the Celestial Court is designed to completely crush the soul of anyone ascending without their designated Divine Merit. You four do not have their merit. You have mine."

He paused for a moment and continued.

"Those rings bind your souls directly to my Dimensional Breaker Physique. They will shield you from the higher dimensional pressure."

Morwenna slid the ring onto her finger. Her liquid gold eyes flashed with abyssal heat. "You are tying our very existence to yours."

"I told you," Arthur said smoothly. "I do not leave my assets unprotected. We are breaking into the corporate headquarters of the multiverse. Stay close. Hold onto me if you have to."

Arthur turned back to the rift. He did not hesitate at all. He stepped straight into the blinding white light.

"Whoosh!"

The transition was violent, nauseating, and entirely broke the laws of physics.

For the first few seconds, Arthur existed in a void of pure rushing energy. It felt like being shoved into a cosmic meat grinder.

The dimensional pressure of the Celestial Stairway slammed into him from all sides. It was not just gravity. It was the absolute fundamental laws of the upper universe actively trying to reject a foreign anomaly.

[Ding!]

[Warning: Extreme Dimensional Pressure Detected.]

[Host Grand Sovereign core is exceeding local dimensional weight limits.]

Arthur gritted his teeth as a crushing weight settled over his chest. His Grand Sovereign power was the absolute peak of the lower multiverses. Yet, it was violently pushed back.

The ambient energy of the Celestial realm was so absurdly dense that it actively

compressed his aura.

He felt his boundless and infinite energy reserves being forcefully condensed.

They were shoved down into a tightly packed singularity within his core.

He was not losing his power. He was being reformatted.

[System Recalibrating...]

[Host power baseline has been compressed to: Celestial Mortal.]

[Notice: Flawless foundation retained. Explosive power reset to accommodate

higher dimensional laws.]

"Perfect," Arthur grunted. A genuine laugh escaped his lips despite the agonizing pressure.

He had hit the absolute ceiling of the Apex Realm. It had gotten boring. Being an omnipotent god with nothing left to conquer was a terrible business model.

But this? This was a fresh market. He was an underdog all over again. That just meant the profit margins on his next kills were going to be astronomical.

[Ding!]

[The 10,000x Infinite System has successfully rebooted for Celestial Environment.]

[System Notice: Binding Celestial entities will yield unimaginable multiversal returns. Restrictions lifted.]

Arthur’s dark eyes gleamed. He was going to bleed this dimension dry.

But behind him, a sharp gasp broke his concentration.

Lyra was struggling. The rogue thief’s violet eyes were wide with sheer panic as the cosmic storm battered against her.

Even with the Celestial Anchor Ring glowing brightly on her finger, the ambient pressure of the tunnel was threatening to tear her physical form apart.

Sylvia and Morwenna were faring slightly better. Their foundations fought back against the rushing void. But their faces were pale, and sweat beaded on their foreheads.

Aurelia was gritting her teeth. Her remaining golden light flickered erratically.

"Hold on!" Arthur barked.

He did not rely on the system. He relied on his own raw willpower.

Arthur expanded his suppressed aura. He forced the Primordial Flame and his Sword Intent to erupt from his body.

"FWOOSH!"

A sphere of absolute heat and invisible blades expanded outward. It wrapped

around his four Queens like an impenetrable blanket.

Arthur physically reached out. He grabbed Lyra by the waist and pulled her flush

against his side.

Morwenna pressed her back against his chest. Her abyssal tattoos flared as she

anchored herself to his impossible stability.

"I have got you," Arthur growled. His voice was a low rumble that cut through

the roaring storm. "Just breathe."

They moved as a single heavily shielded unit through the chaotic tunnel of rushing light.

The space between realms was littered with the massive floating corpses of ancient beasts and failed ascenders.

Suddenly, the rushing void ahead of them darkened.

"ROOOAAAR!"

A sound like grinding tectonic plates echoed through the dimensional tunnel.

Blocking their path to the exit was a colossal serpentine horror. It was a Dimensional Leviathan.

The beast was easily the size of a mountain range. Its scales were made of pure condensed dark matter.

Its massive maw opened. It revealed rows of jagged teeth designed to completely shred the souls of ascending mortals.

"What is that?" Lyra yelled over the storm, her hands flying to her daggers.

"A guard dog," Aurelia shouted back with narrowed golden eyes. "A Dimensional

Leviathan! The Celestial Nobles place them in the ascension tunnels to feed on

unwanted mortals!"

Arthur locked his eyes onto the beast.

Right in the center of its massive armored forehead was a glowing and intricate brand. It was a symbol of ownership. A lesser Celestial Noble pet.

The Leviathan lunged. Its jaws snapped forward to swallow Arthur and his entire

team whole.

"Stand behind me," Arthur ordered calmly.

He did not draw his sword. He did not even drop his protective hold on Lyra’s waist.

Arthur simply raised his right fist.

His knuckles popped as he channeled the

newly compressed and hyper dense Celestial Mortal energy into his arm.

He combined it with the raw conceptual weight of his Dimensional Breaker Physique.

"Down boy," Arthur whispered.

He punched forward.

"BOOM! CRACK! SQUELCH!"

Arthur’s fist did not just hit the beast. It hit the very concept of physical space between them.

A compressed shockwave of pure kinetic force erupted from his knuckles and

traveled at the speed of light.

The shockwave slammed directly into the center of the Leviathan’s branded forehead.

The supposedly indestructible armor of the beast shattered like cheap and brittle glass.

The kinetic force tunneled straight through the monster skull. It liquefied its brain and blew a massive bloody hole straight out the back of its head.

The Leviathan went entirely rigid. Its lifeless massive eyes rolled back into its ruined skull as the colossal corpse drifted lifelessly into the void.

"Nice dog," Arthur smirked. He shook the dark and corrosive blood off his knuckles. "I wonder who owns it. I am going to have to send them a bill for getting in my way."

The path was clear. The blinding light of the tunnel exit rushed toward them.

Arthur tightened his grip on his Queens. "Brace for entry. We are crashing heaven."

They burst through the end of the tunnel. The violent chaotic void instantly vanished.

Arthur’s heavy boots slammed onto solid ground. The sound was a dull metallic thud.

The blinding light faded. It was replaced by a soft ambient glow.

They had arrived at the Celestial Court.

Arthur stood up straight. His dark eyes instantly scanned his new market.

They were no longer in a void. They were standing on a vast and seemingly endless expanse of clouds.

But the clouds were not made of water vapor. They were solid. They were made of pure sparkling gold.

The sky above them was a breathtaking pristine azure. It was completely untouched by smog or war.

In the distance, towering spires of white marble and crystal pierced the heavens. They radiated an aura of absolute and sickeningly perfect purity.

It looked like paradise. It looked like the ultimate utopia.

Arthur took a deep breath. A cold and ruthless smile stretched across his face.