My Charity System made me too OP
Chapter 362 - 362: Forgebinder

The platform shimmered and groaned as the team's ascent activated. Blue rings of light spiraled up their bodies, warping matter and pressure as they rose.

A lurch—then weightlessness.

The moment the transition completed, they stood on a suspended platform—one of dozens drifting in the clouds. Above them, floating citadels gleamed like distant moons. Below… was nothing but endless sky.

A powerful downward pressure surged briefly.

GRAVITY SPIKE.

Naval grunted, adjusting his stance. "This place hits different."

Milim floated slightly, her wings fluttering. "Is this even still the tower? Feels like another world."

Leon stepped forward. Echofang retracted along his forearm, humming softly. The weapon's pulse adjusted to the warped environment, synchronizing with fluctuating gravity fields.

A projection flared before them.

[You have entered: Sky Vault Reaches]

Anti-Gravity Zone Detected.

Storm Citadel Proximity: 14.3 km

Objective: Reach and clear the Citadel Lord of Vault 1.

(Optional): Stabilize three anchor platforms to enable fast-travel across the sector.

Liliana pointed toward the horizon. Three platforms spun slowly in midair, chained by twisting wind tunnels and silver lightning veins. Between each platform? Open sky… and hostile zones crawling with airborne monsters.

Roselia drew her blade. "We'll have to fight just to travel."

Leon nodded. "Then we go."

They leapt—using kinetic boosters, glide magic, and sheer will. As soon as they crossed the safe zone, the gravity field inverted. Up became down. Down became sideways. Space bent.

Dozens of flying creatures, known as Vaultshades, emerged from the fog—serpent-winged beasts made of static mist and plasma.

Roman immediately deployed his Mana Stabilizer Core. It synced with Leon's Echofang pulse, allowing safe footing for Liliana and Roselia to anchor strikes mid-air.

Leon launched forward, Echofang extending into blade mode, spiraling with Reverb energy.

He struck once.

—and the air rippled.

His slash didn't just cut—it echoed a second and third time in perfect delay. Each echo chased the fleeing Vaultshades, cleaving through their tailwind trails.

Milim blitzed past, using a gravity-twisted kick to slam three into each other. Naval summoned force orbs that bent the distorted pressure zones, hurling enemies into the void.

Within minutes, the first anchor platform was cleared.

Leon stepped to the core and placed his palm on it.

[Anchor Activated – Vault Bridge One Now Accessible]

A bridge of spiraling wind materialized ahead, leading deeper into the floating maze.

The team moved through the bridge—but were quickly caught in a gravity funnel. A cylindrical vortex of downward force twisted sideways, forcing the team to split.

Leon and Roman were pulled left, while the others drifted right.

"Regroup at the citadel!" Leon shouted.

As he and Roman fell sideways through layers of storm pressure and lightning walls, more Vaultshades appeared—larger, armored variants with storm-infused bone helms.

Midair battle began.

Roman held stabilizers in both palms, reducing gravity drag. Leon adjusted midflight, Echofang now in recoil staff mode—he spun it to generate controlled momentum, bouncing between stone shards and using each impact to send out Shell Reverb pulses.

He struck one of the alpha Vaultshades.

The blade hit.

One echo.

Two echoes.

Absolute Return pulse.

The strike came back to him, and Leon caught it—then redirected it midair, sending the echo spiraling into a second Vaultshade.

They fell through the vortex, landing hard on a hanging platform.

Leon exhaled. "We need to stabilize the storm node below us."

Roman nodded. "And fast. That gravity spike's cycling—next surge could collapse this whole section."

Milim, Roselia, Naval, and Liliana reached the far side platform—where a vault guardian waited: a construct of floating blades and storm shields. Its form was humanoid, but hovered, encased in lightning armor.

Milim grinned. "Finally! Something fun."

They made the final jump—falling upward into the floating citadel's central platform. A massive storm barrier encircled it.

Inside, stood the Vault Lord: a towering storm entity with three rotating gravity cores.

Leon readied Echofang.

"Let's see if you can keep up."

He stepped forward—Reverb pulsing, blade humming, Shellfire coursing through his gauntlet.

The storm screamed in reply.

The moment Leon and Roman passed through the storm barrier, the world shifted again. The very laws of gravity unraveled within the ring-shaped citadel core. Above was below. Below spun sideways. Even the ground itself rotated like the inside of a broken gyroscope.

At the heart of this vortex hovered the Vault Lord.

It stood nearly three stories tall, shaped like a humanoid war-golem—except its body was made entirely of whirling stormsteel plates, spinning cores of concentrated gravity, and radiant storm-light veins. Three orbiting gravitational reactors circled its body—red, blue, and gold.

[VAULT LORD: TEMPORAL-CORE ASCENDANT]

Phase 1 Objective: Disrupt Gravity Core Rotation Sync.

Phase 2 Objective: Neutralize Phase Return Strike.

Phase 3: Survive Absolute Inversion.

Roman's eyes scanned the vault floor. "We'll need to destroy or realign the three gravity cores, or else it'll just reset all our damage."

Leon cracked his neck and raised Echofang, its blade now extended, humming with anticipation.

"Then we time it right. Let's make every echo count."

The Vault Lord moved. Instantly.

A lurch of wind and gravity shot outward—Roman was thrown to the far wall. Leon skated across the pressure waves, boots twisting with counter-force.

The enemy summoned a barrage of gravitic spears, each bending space behind it, distorting sound and light. Leon weaved between them with tight movements—then struck the red core as it passed close.

CLANG!

The moment of impact—Leon triggered Tripart Echo.

The first echo struck the core directly.

The second curved behind it.

The third was angled deliberately—to intercept the blue core a second later as it came around.

Leon's Reverb mastery sang through the chamber.

The Vault Lord jolted—its rotation faltered.

Roman activated a burst from his Stabilizer Gauntlet, forcing one of the platform's magnetic pillars to align with the golden core. The resonance stalled its orbit.

[SYNC DISRUPTED – CORE ROTATION ERROR – Phase 1 Complete]

The floor leveled slightly.

Leon's boots hit solid ground for the first time.

With its balance disrupted, the Vault Lord roared. Its body split open—and out poured temporal phase echoes, distorted clones of Leon himself, mimicking his past moves, replays of his own Reverb forms.

They moved with perfect timing—because they were him, from previous fights.

Roman looked up. "It's copying you. Echoes of your style."

Leon narrowed his eyes. "Then I fight myself."

He surged forward, clashing with ghost-Reverbs—his old self using Spiral Rebound, Shell Tripart, even Absolute Return.

But Leon didn't fight harder.

He fought smarter.

Instead of countering his old patterns, he shifted timing.

Instead of matching tempo, he disrupted flow.

He changed the beat—the rhythm the Vault Lord depended on.

With a spinning vault dash, Leon used Echofang's recoil staff mode, deflecting one echo, redirecting another, and absorbing a delayed echo into his own blade—then launched it into the core with Absolute Return.

The true Leon struck forward—and the Vault Lord's temporal frame cracked violently.

[Phase 2 Cleared – Phase Loop Severed]