Chapter 543: Path of Destruction

Xavier walked over to the console and ripped the data drive straight out of the port. The transmission progress bar on the screen flashed red and failed instantly.

He tossed the drive to Rin, who pocketed it securely inside his coat.

Xavier looked down at the bleeding lieutenant and raised his heavy boot, stomping down to crush the man's skull against the metal floor.

"We have the vault coordinates," Xavier said as he turned and walked out of the ruined command center. Klatos was already limping his way up the stairs while leaving a trail of dead scavengers behind him. "Let's get back to the surface. We have the Strider waiting for us in orbit, and we have a galactic conquest to begin."

Xavier stepped over the crushed skull of the lieutenant and walked out of the ruined command center.

Klatos was leaning against the railing of the metal stairs, clutching his injured ribs while Rin moved past him without a word. They headed down to the main drydock floor where the AIL carrier sat anchored beneath the magnetic scaffolding.

"Where did they put the engine block?" Xavier asked as he approached a group of abandoned cargo lifters.

"They loaded everything onto the primary hauling skiffs by the eastern tunnel," Klatos grunted and pointed a bloody finger toward a row of transport sleds. "They were preparing to move the salvage deeper into the AIL's territory before we interrupted them."

Xavier walked over to the skiffs and found their stripped navigation consoles alongside the melted engine block sitting in the back of a rusted sled. He grabbed the machinery and tossed it over his shoulder. He turned back to look at the AIL carrier and the cavern holding it.

"We cannot leave this place intact for the rest of those scavengers to find," Xavier said as he walked toward the primary generator rigs powering the entire drydock. "Rin, take Klatos and the transport sled up to the surface. I will be right behind you."

Rin nodded and grabbed the controls of the hauling skiff. He hoisted Klatos into the passenger seat and engaged the thrusters to steer the vehicle up the steep incline of the maintenance tunnel.

Xavier waited until they were completely out of sight before he stepped right up to the towering generator rigs.

"Golden Authority," Xavier muttered under his breath.

A blinding, brilliant gold light erupted from his hand, casting an unnatural and terrifying glare across the grimy cavern. The sheer magnitude of the divine energy was incredibly volatile, and it immediately began tearing his physical form apart.

The skin and muscle of his forearm split open in deep lines as dark blood poured down his wrist, accompanied by a massive spike of pure agony shooting straight up his arm.

However, the Axiom compound coursing through his veins reacted instantly to the massive damage. His flesh regenerated on the spot, violently knitting the torn muscle and skin back together just as quickly as the divine power ripped it open again.

He ignored the excruciating cycle of destruction and rapid healing while driving his glowing fist straight through the central cooling cylinder of the main generator.

The golden force completely obliterated the reinforced metal casing to spray superheated plasma across the rusted deck. He pushed the divine energy directly into the exposed reactor core and forcefully overloaded the system beyond its maximum capacity before withdrawing his arm and letting the golden light fade away.

Warning sirens blared across the cavern as the core went critical. Xavier turned around and sprinted toward the exit tunnel as the first explosion tore through the drydock.

The blast wave shattered the magnetic scaffolding and sent hundreds of tons of metal crashing down onto the AIL carrier.

A chain reaction ignited the carrier's remaining fuel reserves, causing a massive detonation that completely vaporized the remaining Scrap Hounds and shattered the concrete pillars holding the ceiling up.

Xavier charged up the incline as the cavern collapsed entirely behind him, with millions of tons of rock and industrial debris caving in to bury the stolen carrier and the entire salvage operation deep beneath the crust of the Glassreach Basin.

He burst out of the sinkhole and landed in the abandoned plaza just as the ground caved inward to seal the subterranean drydock forever, finding Rin waiting by the prepped transport shuttle with the hover parts already loaded in the cargo bay.

The transport shuttle broke through the final layer of Jupiter's atmosphere as the massive storms faded into the black void of space. Rin kept his hands on the primary flight controls while navigating the orbital debris field, and he casually tossed the bloodstained data drive backward over his shoulder.

Klatos caught the small metal device with his good hand and limped over to the auxiliary decryption console situated behind the pilot's seat. He wiped a smear of dirt off the casing before plugging the drive directly into the terminal, bypassing the security protocols left by the Scrap Hounds to initiate the decryption sequence while Xavier leaned against the cabin wall to watch the monitors.

A holographic star map flared to life in the center of the cabin and illuminated their faces in a pale blue glow as the extracted coordinates locked into a specific system. Klatos stared at the blinking red beacon on the projection, and his avian features twisted into a deep scowl when he recognized the exact destination.

"Those scavengers had absolutely no idea what they were holding," Klatos said while pointing at the holographic projection. "This map leads straight into the Tartarus Sector, which is a completely quarantined dead zone that even Director Hale's Vanguard fleets refuse to enter."

Xavier crossed his arms and looked at the map. "Seems like a perfect place for Bull to hide his vault inside a graveyard."

"It is much worse than a graveyard," Klatos replied as he typed on the console to zoom in on the massive asteroid fields surrounding the coordinates. "The Demonic Society uses the Tartarus Sector as a primary staging ground for their Vanguard Fleet, meaning there are millions of high-level demons and fully armed dreadnoughts patrolling that exact grid right now. Jumping a single ship into those coordinates is absolute suicide."

Xavier let out an amused laugh and pushed himself off the wall to step closer to the projection. He stared directly at the blinking red marker as a predatory grin spread across his face, entirely unbothered by the deadly warning.

"That just means we do not have to waste our time hunting them down one by one across the galaxy," Xavier said as he tapped the console. "Transmit these coordinates to Reva and Kylus right now."