Chapter 833: The Calm Before the Gale

Chapter 833: Chapter 833: The Calm Before the Gale

The entire garrison at Iron Falcon Fortress stood aligned across the platforms and walkways, imitating the military formation of the Divine Wind Empire they had witnessed upon arrival.

As the three enemy fleets emerged from the interspatial jump, completely blotting out the sky, their comm systems broadcasted a warning message that echoed through the base’s loudspeakers:

"Attention, Iron Falcon Fortress! Deactivate your defensive shields immediately and prepare for a security inspection. All personnel must report to the main plaza without exception."

Ethan gave Crul a subtle nod, and Crul brought down the mana barriers. All the false soldiers and inspectors stood still. From a distance and at the altitude the warships hovered, optical scanners prevented the enemy from noticing that the armors of much of the garrison were filled by necrotic skeletons.

On the command bridge of the invading flagship, General Soren observed the base through the main viewport.

"Descend," commanded Soren in a heavy voice.

"General... doesn’t this strike you as odd?" chimed in his deputy, staring at the holographic readouts. "We received reports that the base was under attack and requesting emergency reinforcements. Yet everything looks too clean. There isn’t a single point of structural damage or any sign of battle."

"Yes, it is strange...", muttered Soren, furrowing his brow. "Perhaps it was merely a false positive in their alert systems."

"I don’t think so, General," insisted the deputy. "Over twenty distress signals were received almost simultaneously. It’s impossible for it to be a technical glitch."

"Whatever happened, we will find out the moment we set foot below," declared Soren. "Keep your guard up."

As the three fleets began their slow descent toward the docking bays and the central plaza, Ethan remained concealed within the shadows of the command tower.

"Crul, how is the hack coming along?" asked Ethan mentally.

[I need a couple more minutes, Master], answered Crul in a calculating tone. [I am executing it as stealthily as possible so as not to trigger red flags in their central network. Everything is going according to plan; no secondary alarms have been tripped. I just intercepted an outgoing message: they are requesting the capital to corroborate the emergency signal, noting that upon arrival everything appears normal.]

"Good...", whispered Ethan, his purple eyes glowing in the gloom. "Intercept everything. If they send anything unusual, alter it immediately. Everything must appear perfect."

[Understood, Master. Nothing will go wrong.]

The three flagships touched down upon the primary docking bays, unleashing a blast of air and dust across the plaza. The landing hatches opened with a snap, and dozens of elite guards descended, forming a security corridor.

In the center, General Soren stepped down with a firm stride, wearing the ornate armor of an imperial high commander.

Ethan stepped forward with a calm pace, dressed in the Divine Wind officer’s uniform, and executed a military salute.

"I am General Soren," introduced himself the commander in an imposing voice, locking his eyes onto Ethan. "I demand an immediate explanation. We received over twenty top-priority distress signals originating from this fortress. What on earth happened here?"

In his mind, Ethan issued an inquiry:

"Crul, how is it going?"

[Buy me thirty more seconds, Master...], answered Crul in his consciousness.

"I don’t understand what happened, General," replied Ethan, maintaining a bewildered expression. "Everything is completely fine here. We haven’t suffered any attack or received any visits, except for yours."

General Soren narrowed his eyes, suspicious of the response as he surveyed his surroundings.

"Where is Commander Karr?" demanded Soren in a cold tone. "Why hasn’t he come out to present himself properly before a superior officer?"

At that exact moment, Crul’s voice echoed with a victory cadence:

[Time’s up. Every single ship across all three fleets has been hacked and integrated into the system.]

A cold smirk carved across Ethan’s face.

"Well... I sent him to hell," the youth said.

Without giving him time to digest the answer, Ethan unsheathed the Black Chaos Sword, unleashing his full Sword Heart. A purple beam cut through the air at terrifying speed.

General Soren reacted out of military instinct, throwing himself backward. However, the elite guards escorting him didn’t have time to blink before being bisected by the shockwave sweeping across the plaza. Soren himself failed to dodge the attack entirely: the invisible edge severed both of his arms at the shoulders, sprouting torrents of blood onto the pavement.

"Ambush!!" shrieked Soren in agony, collapsing to his knees. "Everyone back to the ships!! It’s a trap!!"

Panic seized the thousands of soldiers who had disembarked. Desperate, they sprinted back toward the landing ramps to board the battleships, but the engines of all three fleets roared in unison. The access ramps sealed remotely, and every ship began rising into the air on its own, leaving the ground troops completely exposed.

"What is going on?! The hatches won’t open!" screamed an officer, slamming against the metal.

"Hey! What are you doing up there?! Open the doors, damn it!" shrieked a soldier as the crowd surged in panic.

"The system isn’t responding! We lost control of the command bridge!" echoed frantically from the captains’ earpieces.

At the moment the ships ascended, leaving the enemy troops stranded, hundreds of Divine Wind Empire uniforms sloughed off, revealing the true nature of the garrison: hundreds of thousands of undead clad in necrotic armor, their burning gazes surrounding them from every corner of the plaza.

Upon realizing that their supposed comrades were a host of living corpses, the enemy soldiers plunged into unadulterated panic.

"Kill them all!" commanded Ethan in a cold voice, pointing at the frantic crowd. "I only need this one alive."

With a roar, the tide of shadows and skeletons surged forward upon the trapped soldiers, unleashing a slaughter while the warships above provided coordinated fire from the sky.

Ethan strolled calmly through the agonizing screams and the rain of blood, coming to a halt directly before General Soren, who lay pale on the ground, bleeding out from the stumps of his severed arms. A cold smirk played across the youth’s face.

"You and I have a lot to talk about," Ethan said, looking down at him with condescension. "While my friends take care of your fleet... why don’t we have a drink, General?"