Just a few dozen meters away, the orange and yellow-cored hunters watch the scene before them unfold. They're secured behind the heavy silver door in the transparent hallway. I have a few fractions of a second where I can easily pull out a teleport crystal and make my escape; however, the instant the top of the dome cracks open, my perception is able to seep out much further than before. I'm able to see past the endless abyss of flames around us. Every moment that passes, and the dome above opens more, my gaze is able to surge further. This is exactly what Marcus told me would happen when he described the common protocol for violent deals gone bad, and said even True Cores cannot survive the flames. My initial hopes were that I would be able to stage an attack and that the wind mage would strike back, allowing me to stage them being struck in vital points and use another teleport crystal to run away and make it seem as if they died from this. In the confusion of it all, I could have even killed this last yellow core and absorbed even more essence. However, the order member here was a bit weaker than I predicted. I activate it and pull tens of thousands of stat points and a few dozen trillion MCP from the Crimson Army, my teammates, and many of the normal citizens I have access to. The mana control does not add much to me at all, but the rise in stats is similar to the full amount I received during my battle with Raven and the Bronze Earth Dragon, filling my body with newfound speed, strength, and endurance. The additional training I put the Crimson Army through has made quite the difference, but it is still nowhere near enough to make these divine flames' damage negligible. My rise through the flames becomes much faster, but the pressure of the divine energy all around me is hardly suppressed at all. It feels as if the breath is being squeezed out of me every moment I stay beneath these yellow flames, and the reality of the Big Three's true strength creeps into my mind. My blood-bonded armor begins to burn and melt while even my skin starts to become charred by the flames that roar around me. It feels like if I let up for even a moment, they'll all seep into my body and mind, turning me to ash just like the King and Queen I left behind. My purple ring glows bright, and I've only seen it do this one time before. It was when I faced Mr. Freeman before I had my True Core awakened when he attempted to use a mental attack on me tens of times stronger than I was able to handle, but my purple divine barrier managed to suppress the brunt of the blow. The same thing is happening now, and it only makes me push off the air harder with every step, using all my strength to finally escape through the top of the roaring fiery abyss with heavy breaths and far more fatigue than I expected. "I'm still not strong enough!" I yell to myself as the pressure starts to go away, and the extreme heat dies down, while the abyss of endless yellow fire gets further away and I continue my upward momentum into the night sky. The moment the hot burns and immense pressure cease, I reactivate my stealth skill and the purple ring around my finger stops glowing as well. While taking a deep breath, I deactivate my Rising Emperor's Domain's stat and mana control borrowing perk and stare up at the massive city that I approach. The mountain is truly massive. I could tell it was over 200 km wide and over 30 km tall while using my perception from below the flames, but seeing it with my own two eyes is a different experience. Paired with the realization that the being that created those flames below me makes my True Core look like a dimly lit candle, the futuristic skyscrapers that pierce the clouds above look magnificent. This is where the rulers of the world have created their city. They have been in control for centuries, growing in power before the system even existed here for humans. My eyes widen with awe and respect, granting me a new perspective on why Raven, the Saint, and all of the other Order members fear the Big Three so much. The massive yellow ring of fire below the mountain sends off so much heat and light, that it almost looks like it's daytime below the mountain. Then, even above, the city lights coming off the tens of thousands of windows on each tower, bright street lights that line the roads that are busy with cars and people even now in the dead of night, it looks as if this is a bright shining light of day that never goes out. With my enhanced perception, I hear and see millions of conversations taking place. Food, products, and services are being bought and sold. Some of the magical nature, selling gear for new hunters and buying loot from the hundreds of dungeon hubs all over the city. Others are unawakened businessmen and women with normal families going about their daily lives. There's music blaring at every street corner, and every citizen has their own transmission tablet blinking and giving off sounds of their own. There are massive parks full of wildlife that are as large as entire cities back in the 8 Great Regions, and dungeon hubs full of E,D,C, and B-Class portals that make the canyon of dungeons back in the Crimson City look very average. Huge warehouses, factories, and office buildings are scattered throughout the massive civilization, sustaining many pockets of culture that stretch hundreds of kilometers. It's like a world of its own. The vast amount of information to take in right now after such a brutal event is extremely overstimulating. I just stop and stare, floating over the sea of flames for almost a full minute to take it all in. My head slowly rises into the sky, looking up into the clouds to watch the skyscrapers fade away as they rise so tall. Though, my all-seeing eye does see further and catches something very odd slowly spinning around the city in a circle about 100 kilometers above even the highest tower. There are three large rectangular boxes, about the size of sports fields. No matter how hard I look at them, no readings come back. Even the energy that keeps them suspended above the massive city, endlessly rotating, is a mystery to me.