The colossal pillar of purple light piercing the earth's ionosphere from the main tower's apex cast a blinding luminescence, painting the city's night sky in an increasingly oppressive, dystopian hue. Behind the logistics archive basement directly at the foot of the corporation's highest tower, Zulfa, Naya, and Captain Danu stood tall in hybrid tactical vests equipped with Aether-Tech climbing gear.

Though Captain Danu's ribs remained tightly bound in bandages from his earlier psychokinetic beating, the war veteran refused to stay behind. He racked his rifle, fixing a sharp glare upon the tower's exterior glass walls soaring hundreds of meters into the sky.

"Listen to our operational brief," Captain Danu said in his raspy yet commanding baritone, regulating his breath amid the howling night wind. "The main entrance and internal tower lifts are completely locked down by enemy biometric defense systems. Our only path to the ritual altar on the summit floor is a vertical guerrilla operation—scaling the tower's outer walls from the outside."

Zulfa nodded in agreement. He checked the magnetic anchor clips and Aether-Tech gloves on both hands, verifying the ancient crystal grip functioned perfectly. "Right, Captain. We'll scale via the eightieth-floor exterior protective glass route. At that altitude, the dimensional storm waves from the light pillar above will create extreme wind turbulence. So make sure your safety tethers are locked tight to one another."

Naya pulled her backpack straps snug, glancing toward the tower summit smothered in purple storm clouds. The girl's face looked pale, yet her gaze betrayed an iron resolve matching the male soldiers beside her.

"I'm ready, Zul," Naya stated firmly, flashing Zulfa a brief, encouraging smile. "Don't worry about me, just focus on leading the climbing line."

Zulfa returned the smile with a look of absolute confidence. "Stay right behind me, Naya. Whatever happens, don't unclip your safety tether."

"Alright, core team moving out now!" Captain Danu commanded.

Using a portable magnetic anchor launcher, Zulfa fired the first piton straight through the thick exterior glass wall of the tower's tenth floor. Clank! The anchor bit deep into the concrete and glass structure, serving as their initial anchor point to begin scaling upward.

One by one, the core resistance squad—comprising Zulfa, Naya, Captain Danu, and four elite Arkian warriors—began creeping vertically up the outer walls of the city's tallest skyscraper.

The extreme altitude instantly greeted them with terrifying natural terror. The higher they climbed past the fiftieth floor, the more violently the dimensional storm winds howled, tearing through the air and whipping at their tactical gear. The shriek of gales scraping against the tower's iron framework sounded like a giant monster trying to rip their handholds away.

"Ugh... the wind's too strong!" screamed an Arkian soldier behind Naya, his body swinging wildly in the air from the cosmic storm's lash.

"Hold your magnetic glove grip! Don't look down!" Zulfa shouted at the top of his lungs over the roar of the wind, leading the vanguard while firing the next magnetic anchor upward.

Naya clenched her jaw tight, mustering every ounce of strength in both arms to pin her body against the tower's glass facade. Beneath their boots, millions of city lights twinkled like fireflies inside a yawning, pitch-black abyss. Each time a purple flash from the pillar above pulsed out, shadow entities flickered wildly behind the office windows, watching their progress from empty rooms.

"Engineer! We're approaching the eightieth-floor exterior balcony!" Captain Danu called out, pointing toward an open concrete terrace jutting outward before them. "That level's usually used as an exterior watch post by the mutant troops!"

True to his word. Before they could reach the balcony's edge, a searchlight laser from the eightieth-floor watch post flared to life, sweeping the glass walls where they hung.

"Intruders on the eastern exterior wall! Shoot them down!" a guard commander's voice roared from behind the balcony terrace.

Bzzzt—Rat-tat-tat-tat!

A rain of plasma fire tore from the balcony, hammering the window glass around Zulfa and throwing off blinding electrical sparks.

"Return fire! Secure the climbing path!" Captain Danu growled without hesitation. He unclipped one hand from his safety tether, raised his rifle, and fired back at the guard detail on the balcony, dropping two enemies instantly in a lethal, close-quarters firefight at an altitude of hundreds of meters.

Zulfa leveraged the firefight to accelerate his ascent. "Move, get onto the balcony terrace before they call air support!"

Yet just as they neared the edge of the balcony floor, the high-pitched whine of metal rotor blades droned loudly from above the clouds.

Whoosh—Bzzzt!

A corporate combat drone swooped sharply out of the gloom of the tower dome, training its mini plasma cannons straight at the primary safety line linking Zulfa's group.

"Watch above! Hunter drone!" Naya panicked, pointing toward the balcony ceiling.

Rat-tat-tat-tat!

Plasma rounds hammered the main safety tether stretching between the magnetic anchors.

Before Zulfa could warn the others or trigger a defense shield, one of the primary support lines snapped instantly under the direct drone strike.

Kr-r-ack—snap!

"Kyaaa!" Naya gasped softly.

The broken safety line shattered their group's equilibrium instantly. The dimensional storm blast slammed squarely into Naya's frame, wrenching her safety tether free from the primary axis and sending Naya sliding into a terrifying near-freezelall toward the city abyss far below.