Chapter 835: The Domino Effect

Chapter 835: Chapter 835: The Domino Effect

The Divine Wind Empire’s modified fleet glided across the sky in formation, disguised beneath the mana signatures and credentials extracted from the previous base’s terminal. Combining the vanguard battleships with the three fleets captured from General Soren, the convoy had grown to an imposing scale.

Following Vaelen’s strategy, the fleet altered its course to head toward the adjacent stronghold of the perimeter defense line: North Crest Base.

As they approached the boundaries, the artillery turrets mounted along the mountain peaks triggered no alarms and raised no energy barriers. Soren’s clearance code, broadcasted in a loop by Crul, bypassed every interception protocol. Everything proceeded according to plan as the warships slowly descended onto the main landing strip.

On the ground, a group of airfield operators wielding runic beacons signaled directions to guide the vessels into a docking alignment. One of the veteran inspectors paused his instruments, furrowing his brow as he observed the shadow cast by the ships.

"Hey... aren’t they bringing in way more ships than when they left?" remarked the operator to his partner, narrowing his eyes. "And that ship over there... isn’t that part of General Soren’s guard? He wasn’t supposed to have a patrol route through this sector. Alert the fleet commander..."

"Old man, you’re being paranoid," mocked the other operator, patting him on the shoulder without pausing his signals. "Ever since the Capital issued the declaration of war, you’ve been acting like this. What do you know about high command ship assignments anyway? Stop daydreaming and hurry up; we need to perform reactor maintenance fast. Rumor has it the entire fleet departs for the Golden Dragon Empire at dawn to launch the main invasion."

The veteran operator grumbled but fell silent, dropping his guard and attributing the anomaly to the logistics of war mobilization.

From the viewport of the flagship, Ethan watched the enemy ground troops repositioning across the platforms below. Wearing Soren’s command robes and with his hand resting on the hilt of the Black Chaos Sword, he remained completely composed.

[Base arrays are fully cleared], reported Crul in his mindscape. [Access to the local network granted without resistance. I am ready to seal the hangars and exit gates the moment you give the word.]

Ethan formed a cold smirk as he felt the vibration of the Orb of Death against his chest, eager to add another fortress to his army.

"Initiate the lockdown, Crul," whispered Ethan. "Let the harvest begin."

Within seconds, a hum echoed through the fortress structures. The runic switching towers located along the base’s perimeter began to overload, deploying a dome of energy that rose until it sealed the airspace above the docking runways.

Inside the Headquarters Control Center, the lights flickered and the displays abruptly shifted from their interface to a blinking warning red.

"What on earth is the meaning of this?!" roared the Captain, lunging toward the primary console. "Engineers! Why are you raising the containment defensive formation?! Answer me!"

"Sir, the primary panels aren’t responding! The core’s mana flow has been diverted to the containment subsystems!" shouted the operator, typing across the runic panel. "Nothing is responding! Override commands are locked by an access signature of unknown hierarchy! Something is forcing us to activate the isolation barrier!"

"Damn it! You can’t do anything right!" roared the Captain, shoving the engineer out of his seat. "Get out of the way! Let me check!"

The Captain took control. He pressed the tactical override console and entered the emergency override code sequence reserved for territorial commanders. A beam of golden light erupted from the panel, scanning his retina.

—Command Biometric Verification Accepted—

—Command Execution Error: Override Protocol Denied by Central Node—

"Denied?! What do you mean denied?!" the Captain began slamming the touch panel, desperately inputting reset keys. "Cancel containment protocol! Override code Alpha-Seven-Nine! Cancel! Cancel!"

The interface flickered before freezing entirely.

"Sir, we’ve lost modulation on shortwave and broadband communication lines!" reported the communications officer, his forehead drenched in sweat. "The repeater arrays are down."

"Broadcast a top-priority distress alert!" ordered the Captain, his voice growing unstable. "I want to know what is going on! Only Imperial High Command could take remote control of our facility like this. If there is a response drill or a crisis we need to know about, I demand a direct link to the Capital!"

"Understood, Captain! Reconfiguring the auxiliary transmitter to the emergency frequency..." the comms officer plugged in the encryption algorithms and forced the transmission crystals. "Inputting authorization codes... Awaiting response..."

A silence hung over the command room for ten grueling seconds. The frequencies displayed nothing but a flat line of static.

"Sir... there is no signal. No carrier wave. Nothing...", whispered the comms officer, staring at the monitor with wide eyes. "We are completely blacked out. We cannot transmit messages beyond the dome."

"Sound the base-wide invasion alarm!" shrieked the Captain, losing his composure. "Base Captain direct authorization! Open the armories and deploy the garrison—!"

The Captain cut himself off mid-sentence. His eyes locked onto the panoramic viewport overlooking the landing strips.

The lower hatches of all the docked warships slammed open simultaneously. But no soldiers in pristine uniforms or field supplies poured out.

A black tide of necrotic shadows and bloodthirsty skeletons cascaded from the cargo holds, swarming the plaza’s pavement at a terrifying speed.

"What... what is that monstrosity?!" screamed one of the operators, falling backward out of his chair as panic erupted inside the command room. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ

"They’re not our troops! They’re not our troops!" raved officers in horror upon hearing the first screams of ground soldiers being torn apart by the claws of the void.

"Blast-shield the tower! Lock the doors! PLEASE, LOCK THE DOORS!!" shrieked the Captain, stumbling over his feet as the dark tide began scaling the command tower’s facade.

The engineers lunged at the hydraulic lockdown console, slamming the emergency switches with desperation.

However, across the room’s monitors, the progress bars turned purple before collapsing. Crul’s cold voice echoed directly through the Control Center’s internal loudspeakers:

—Access denied. Blast door control transferred to central unit—

"No! No, no, no!" howled the Captain.

With a metallic snap that shook the structure, the servomotors reversed. Far from locking down, the tower’s heavy steel blast doors and every security gate across the complex slammed open all at once.