Chapter 224: The Three-Prism Tower

"Let's see you bite anything now," Skygnaw muttered, sheathing his sword as he looked down at the disarmed, jawless frame.

He was unsure if disabling the jaws would completely neutralize the infection risk, but taking preventive measures was far better than managing an outbreak after the fact.

Before long, the Decepticon fleet touched down along the surrounding plains. The Nemesis, piloted by Headstrong, settled directly above the Three-Prism Tower's main courtyard.

"Lord Skygnaw," Razorclaw called out as he entered the central hall with his unit. Through the entrance, native infantrymen and Decepticon troops could be seen securing the perimeter around the spire.

"Have the troops return to the ships," Skygnaw ordered, frowning slightly. The threat had already been dealt with, making a heavy ground force unnecessary.

"Understood, my Lord," Razorclaw nodded, waving his hand toward Tantrum, who turned to relay the order.

"You arrived on time," Skygnaw continued, pointing to the motionless frame at his feet. "Find a secure compartment aboard the Nemesis to hold him. You and the Predacons will oversee his containment personally."

"No one is to make physical contact with him under any circumstances. Am I clear?"

"Understood, my Lord."

Skygnaw's stern tone cut off any questions Razorclaw might have harbored about the ruined frame lying on the floor.

Scanning the target briefly, Razorclaw noted the general outline resembled a Cybertronian, yet his sensors picked up no recognizable identification codes.

It looked like a pile of scrap metal, yet it retained the structural layout of their species.

Razorclaw found the sight strange, but kept his thoughts to himself.

During the civil war on Cybertron, Razorclaw had been an efficient operative who valued practical results. He despised wasted energy and preferred to act only when the situation required it.

Those unfamiliar with him often took his patient nature for laziness, but his team knew he was simply waiting for the right moment to strike.

However, that calculated habit had faded the moment Skygnaw assumed absolute command over the aerial corps.

Skygnaw had no use for officers who spent time guessing his motives; he required subordinates who executed direct orders without hesitation.

Carrying secrets that defied conventional understanding, Skygnaw frequently issued directives that seemed unusual to ordinary soldiers. If every officer stopped to demand an explanation, operations would grind to a halt.

Razorclaw possessed a massive, heavily built frame. In robot mode, his hands could shift into sonic claws capable of generating high-frequency shockwaves.

These claws could tear through thick armor plating, while the sonic vibrations shattered structural joint connections on impact, rendering enemy armor brittle.

As the core frame and head component of Predaking, Razorclaw was also equipped with twin-barreled impact cannons capable of firing heavy ordnance.

As the Predacons dragged the crippled frame of Cyclonus out of the hall, Skygnaw's expression softened slightly. "Razorclaw, one more thing."

"Your orders, my Lord," Razorclaw replied, bowing his head.

"Did you notice Blackarachnia's Insecticons on your way here?"

Razorclaw hesitated. "My apologies, Lord Skygnaw. I was focused on bringing the lead cruiser down as quickly as possible and did not scan the surrounding surface."

Skygnaw did not press the matter. Instead, he tossed a smooth metal sphere toward him.

"What is this, my Lord?" Razorclaw asked, catching the dark metal sphere.

"A lure," Skygnaw explained calmly. "Once activated, it emits a specific sub-audible frequency that attracts the Insecticons."

"The broadcast range is limited, so take a detachment and sweep the sector. Round up every wild Insecticon on the planet."

Herding feral Insecticons could not be done by brute force alone. Fortunately, Blackarachnia understood this and had provided the device beforehand.

The wild Insecticons on Planet Chiren usually stayed underground when not hunting. Without a way to draw them out, locating them across the vast plains would be nearly impossible.

While Insecticons lacked typical organic instincts like light attraction, they reacted strongly to specific sonic signatures.

Though Skygnaw was unsure how Blackarachnia maintained long-distance control over her swarm, the transmission range clearly had its limits. From Planet Kugrage, she could no longer direct the units left behind on this world.

"Also," Skygnaw added, "if you encounter any remaining Haina, eliminate them."

"They were brought into existence through Cybertronian experimentation, and their line ends here."

"Understood, my Lord."

Razorclaw was familiar with the native Haina species and had fought alongside Blackarachnia's Insecticons during the siege of Tas City. He knew how dangerous those creatures could be in large numbers.

While a single Insecticon posed little threat to his claws, facing hundreds or thousands of them in open terrain was a different matter entirely.

With unknown numbers scattered across the surface, gathering them would require a sustained effort.

Watching Razorclaw depart, Skygnaw turned and walked toward the inner sanctuary of the spire.

Deep within the main hall, he located a flight of stairs sloping downward at a steep forty-five-degree angle into the darkness below.

Expecting to find something beneath the floor, Skygnaw stepped down the stairs.

During Dirge's previous search of the spire, the upper levels had yielded no ancient artifacts, but the lower levels had revealed an underground laboratory facility.

At the time, Skygnaw had been unable to deal with Cyclonus directly, making the subterranean layout secondary. Now, that intelligence served its purpose.

This must be the laboratory Cyclonus established, Skygnaw thought.

At the base of the stairs stood a heavy blast door, marred by a large, human-shaped breach torn through the metal frame.

During his first visit to Planet Chiren, the sudden tremor he had felt upon entering the spire had likely been caused by Cyclonus smashing through this very door during his initial frenzy.

Skygnaw touched the jagged edges of the breached metal before stepping through into the room beyond.

Inside the lab, scorch marks and structural damage littered the chamber.

It was clear that Cyclonus's exposure to Dark Energon had been an accident. Had he known the volatile nature of the substance, he would have prepared his research team beforehand.

The overturned equipment and shattered containment vessels scattered across the floor pointed to a sudden crisis.

Cyclonus's transformation into an undead frame had caught his crew completely unprepared.

By the time they realized something was wrong, the gap in combat capability had left them helpless against his frenzy, ending with the entire team destroyed inside the facility.

Ignorance is fatal, Skygnaw thought, scanning the wrecked laboratory with a calm gaze before beginning a deliberate search.

His objective was twofold: gather data regarding Dark Energon and check if Cyclonus had left behind any traces or records of other Cybertronian artifacts.

Even during Cybertron's ancient eras, high-tier relics were exceptionally rare and strictly guarded.

The fact that Cyclonus had carried an artifact like the Aperture Staff and commanded an elite unit proved he had held significant standing before his downfall—ranking among the top elite warriors just below high command.

As for why Cyclonus had come to Planet Chiren, the reason was obvious.

Establishing a hazardous research facility on a distant, secondary world was standard practice for deep-space expeditions, as evidenced by the created Haina species.

No spacefaring faction risked volatile biological or chemical tests on their home world when an uninhabited planet was available. In their pursuit of technical advancement, ancient Cybertronians had been just as uncompromising as the Quintessons.

Whatever secret mission Cyclonus had originally carried out, thirty thousand years of isolation had rendered those ancient objectives irrelevant.

Let's see if there is anything useful left behind, Skygnaw thought, stepping toward a relatively intact section of the lab.

Communicating with Cyclonus in his current state was impossible, and whether his memory core remained readable was uncertain. The only option was to piece together clues from whatever records remained inside the chamber.

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