At the apex of The Foundation Council's central corporate tower, the night air felt vastly colder and more suffocating than down on the burning city streets. The massive glass dome ceiling overhead stood blasted wide open, allowing the howling, high-pressure night wind to rush in and lash against the sprawling black stone altar spanning the center of the chamber.

Here lay the epicenter of the city's cascading chaos.

The air around the altar teemed with wild, hissing particles of pitch-black purple cosmic energy, generating a low-frequency hum that set teeth on edge and pounded eardrums with throbbing pain. Ringing the altar, dozens of towering bio-electric energy tubes cast a dim luminescence; within them, the consciousness and remaining vital life force of thousands of humans were slowly drained, channeling through transparent cable networks toward the center of the primary platform.

A single figure stood tall at the heart of the ritual altar. The man wore a long executive robe accented with silver threads that glittered beneath the cosmic glare. His face remained calm, nearly expressionless, yet his eyes betrayed a searing ambition transcending the limits of human sanity.

He was the syndicate's supreme leader—the grand puppeteer behind The Foundation Council.

Hovering directly above the master's head, an alien satellite relay sensor disc spun slowly, broadcasting high-frequency data waves straight into outer space. The man swept his arms wide, allowing the cosmic energy storm to enshroud his frame. His cold, commanding laugh echoed across the silent heights of the tower's summit.

"Ah... it feels extraordinary," the master murmured softly, savoring the infinite energy flooding through the biological circuits woven into his body. "The world down below is busy weeping in terror, oblivious to the fact that they are witnessing the birth of a new civilization's dawn."

An elite black-armored guard approached the altar with deferential posture, bowing deeply. "Supreme Master, the perimeter defense systems at the central bridge and underground tunnel zones just detected a shield breach by the resistance cell led by Zulfa Arditama. They are currently en route to this tower."

The master didn't even bother glancing at his guard. He kept his eyes closed, basking in the surging pulse of cosmic energy amplifying all around him. The corners of his lips quirked upward into a subtle, mysterious smile.

"Zulfa Arditama... the last descendant of that foolish Architect," the master spoke in a tone casual yet chillingly cold. "Let them come. Let the boy claw his way up through the ruins of this building right to my feet."

The master opened his eyes slowly. His irises had warped entirely into a brilliant, pupil-less purple, radiating a lethal dimensional glare.

"The presence of the Architect's bloodline upon this altar will serve as the final catalyst perfecting my transcendent resonance," the master continued, his voice swelling into a heavy rumble. He glanced toward the bio-electric energy tubes ringing the platform, where thousands of humans suffered in eternal silence. "Mankind has lived in ignorance for too long, trapped within a weak, mortal biological chain. They fear pain, they fear death. Yet through this ritual, I shall elevate their consciousness—uniting millions of souls into a single immortal god entity ruling the cosmic expanse."

Around the altar, the energy agony intensified. Cosmic radiation waves radiated skin-scorching heat, making the air in the chamber vibrate violently.

The master raised his hands higher into the air, beginning to chant ancient strings of cosmic passcode synchronized directly with the alien satellite in outer orbit.

Bzzzt—Whoosh!

Instantly, the core of the altar erupted with a massively heavy energy pulse. Spectral shrieks echoed off the chamber walls, as though the universe itself were tearing its dimensional boundaries to obey the syndicate leader's command.

In the distance, from the city streets and ruined districts blanketed in purple fog, citizens and the remaining guerrilla fighters gazing up toward the central tower froze in sheer horror.

From the apex of the corporation's highest tower, the overwhelming shockwave of the ritual cast a colossal pillar of purple light soaring high into the air, piercing the atmospheric layer straight through the earth's ionosphere.

The pillar of light tore the night sky asunder, forging a massive, rapidly spinning cosmic vortex that cracked open the first dimensional gate in the heavens—marking the opening seconds of the real world's final collapse toward total extinction.