All Chapters of The Evolution System of the Drowned: Chapter 111
- Chapter 120
179 chapters
Chapter 111: The First Scout
The shadow in the sky stopped moving. It sat there, blocking the stars like a dead tooth. Then, the blackness peeled away. The thing wasn't a rock. It was a ship made of dark, sharp glass. It caught the red light of the moon and glowed like a coal."Kael, tell me you’re seeing this," I said. My voice was low."I’m seeing it, Osric," Kael whispered. "The sensors are screaming. It’s huge. It’s a crystalline hull. I’ve never seen tech like this.""It’s beautiful in a scary way," Jax added. "It’s a target," I snapped. "Try to talk to them. Use every channel we have. System, can you send a telepathic link?"[INITIATING CONTACT][HAILING CRYSTALLINE VESSEL... NO RESPONSE. SIGNAL REFLECTED.]"They’re ignoring us," I said. I tightened my grip on the ring I took from Mordecai. "Try the digital codes. Use the Aethelgard emergency band. Tell them we are the owners of this sector.""I’m sending it now!" Jax yelled. "I’m blasting them with every greeting in the book. Still nothing, Osric. They a
Chapter 112: The Kinetic Strike
"Osric, the beam hit!" Jax screamed through the comms. I leaned against the crater edge and stared at the blue ball below. The light from the glass ship was a needle of fire stabbing the world."Talk to me, Jax!" I yelled. "What’s the damage?""The sensor readings are gone!" Jax cried. "The whole Pacific Trench just turned into a wall of steam! A thousand miles of water is gone. It just vanished!""Is it a nuke?" I asked. "No," Kael cut in. "It’s a kinetic rod. It’s pure mass. It hit the floor of the ocean and kept going. The shockwave is moving at Mach 10!""My kingdom," I whispered. "Where is the wave heading?""It’s heading everywhere!" Jax yelled. "The Abyss Kingdom is right in the path! The Drowned near the trench are being vaporized!""System! Status of the Drowned!" I roared.[WARNING: MASSIVE BIOMETRIC LOSS. TEN MILLION DROWNED TERMINATED. TWENTY MILLION SUSTAINING CRITICAL DAMAGE.]"Ten million?" I choked. "In one second?""They’re dying, Osric!" Kael shouted. "The water boi
Chapter 113: The Intercept
"Osric, get back!" Jax screamed through the comms. "You're going too fast, you're going to burn up!""I'm not getting back, Jax!" I snapped.I was a streak of black and blue energy cutting through the dark void. The moon was behind me. The massive glass ship was right in front of me.The friction of the thin atmosphere began to cook my skin. I didn't care. I felt the Pearl in my eye pulsing with pure hate. "System! Bring them up!" I ordered. "All of them!"[COMMAND RECEIVED. SUMMONING THE ABYSSAL LEGION TO ORBITAL COORDINATES.]"What are you doing?" Kael yelled. "You can't bring the Drowned into space! They’ll freeze!""They have the vacuum adaptation!" I barked. "Look at the horizon, Kael!"Below me, thousands of black dots shot up from the surface of the Earth. They looked like a swarm of locusts. My Drowned legion didn't need ships. They moved on pillars of dark water and gravity energy. They were coming for blood."They're actually doing it!" Jax gasped. "They’re entering low or
Chapter 114: Crystalline Warfare
I hung onto the smooth glass hull. My fingers were raw. I looked for a gap or a thin spot. There was nothing. The surface was as flat as a mirror."Osric, move!" Kael’s voice cracked in my ear. "The fighter is firing!"The orange light from the ship above me flashed. I let go of the hull and dropped an inch. The beam hit the glass where my head had been. It hissed. "I can't stay here!" I yelled. "I’m a sitting duck!""The legion is taking heavy hits!" Jax screamed. "Look to your left!"I turned my head. My elite squad was trying to swarm a group of smaller crystal ships. They moved fast. They were brave. But it didn't matter. The gray aliens on the main bridge pointed their spears. Thin lines of white light shot out."No!" I roared. The light didn't hit like a bullet. It sliced. It went through Abyssal bone like a hot wire through wax. One of my brutes had his arm lopped off. He didn't even have time to scream before the next beam cut him in half. "They’re being slaughtered, Osric
Chapter 115: The Sound of Light
The metal rod of light burned through my shoulder like a hot poker. I grabbed the glowing stake with my right hand. The heat melted my glove, but I didn't care. I needed to get loose."Don't do it!" Jax yelled. "You'll rip your arm off!""I'm already stuck!" I screamed.I planted my boots against the glass and shoved. My teeth ground together. The skin around the wound snapped. I fell back, away from the hull. A piece of my shoulder stayed pinned to the ship. I didn't look at it. I just clutched the hole in my chest and gasped."You're bleeding out, man!" Kael shouted. "Get back to the moon!""No," I said. "I found something.""You found a way to get killed!" Jax barked. I ignored him. I looked at the lead alien on the ledge. He raised his spear again. I watched the tip. The glass around the spear tip hummed a very specific note."Did you see that?" I asked. "See what?" Jax asked. "The gun aimed at your head?""The shaking," I said. "Right before they fire, they hit a high note. T
Chapter 116: The Resonance Shatter
I slammed my palms onto the cold glass. I looked the lead alien in the eye and pushed the last bit of my essence into my chest."You want to hear a real song?" I wheezed."Stop him!" The alien's thought screamed. "He is breaking the harmony!""The harmony is dead!" I roared.I didn't make a sound you could hear. I released a subsonic pulse. It was a low, heavy vibration that went straight into the hull. The glass under my boots didn't crack at first. It turned white. The whole ship began to shake with me."Osric, you hit it!" Kael yelled through the link. "That’s the frequency! The hull can't take the resonance!""Keep going!" Jax shouted. "The energy readings are spiking! You're turning the whole ship into a tuning fork!""I... I can't... hold it..." I gasped. "You have to!" Kael screamed. "Look at the fighters!"I looked over my shoulder. The smaller crystal ships had frozen in the dark. They weren't dodging the Drowned anymore. They were stuck, vibrating so hard they looked blurr
Chapter 117: The Fleet Arrives
I hit the gold wall of energy and felt my ribs crack. I went flying back into the dark. The moon looked like a small gray marble as I spun. "Osric, stay with me!" Kael’s voice yelled in my head. "The sensors... they're everywhere!""How many?" I croaked. I stopped my spin with a gravity pulse."A thousand," Jax whispered. "Maybe more. They just came around the dark side. They’re blotting out the sun, Osric. We’re done. We’re dead.""Shut up, Jax!" I barked. "Kael, get the queens on the line. Now!""I have Queen Sora and the Abyssal Lords," Kael said. "They’re looking at the sky. They’re terrified.""Don't look at the sky!" I roared into the mental link. "Sora, listen to me! Get every human into the deep trenches. Move the civilians to the hydrothermal vents. I want them three miles down!""Three miles?" Sora’s voice was shaking. "The pressure will kill half of them!""Then the other half will live!" I snapped. "The surface is a kill zone. If you stay on the islands, you die. Move!"
Chapter 118: The Global Defense
The sky was gone. There was only a wall of white fire pressing down on the world. I hit the water hard. The impact felt like hitting a slab of rock. "Osric! You’re alive!" Kael’s voice screamed in my head. "Barely," I wheezed. I floated in the boiling surf. "The net... it’s still closing. How long until it hits the water?""Minutes," Jax said. He sounded like he was losing his mind. "The air is already burning. If that light touches the ocean, it’s over. Every living thing will be cooked.""Not on my watch," I said. I dived deep. The cool water felt good against my burnt skin for a second. Then I felt the heat coming from above. It was moving fast. "Sora! Can you hear me?" I yelled through the mental link."I hear you!" The Queen shouted. "The sharks are panicking. The whales are diving so deep their lungs are bursting. We can't hide from this, Osric!""We aren't hiding," I said. "We’re going to push back.""Push back against what?" Sora asked. "It’s a net of stars! We are just f
Chapter 119: The Burning Sky
The gold ship slammed into the bio-shield. The sky turned into a sheet of fire. The air screamed. It sounded like metal grinding against metal, but a thousand times louder."Osric! The shield is buckling!" Jax screamed. He was gripping the edge of a console, his knuckles white."I can see that!" I yelled back. I braced my feet against the floor. The ground was shaking. "Keep the power steady!""Steady? The whole sky is on fire!" Kael shouted. He pointed through the glass. The light from the enemy fleet hit our dark water shield. It exploded. Huge clouds of steam rushed out, turning into storms that circled the world. Lightning ripped through the clouds."The Drowned are moving!" Sora called out. I looked down. Thousands of black shapes were leaping out of the ocean. They looked like bullets against the gold ships. "Wait! It’s too early!" I barked."They aren't waiting for orders!" Sora yelled. "They’re fueled by the System now. They want blood!"One of the Drowned slammed into a
Chapter 120: The Death of a General
The white beam hit the water. The ocean boiled. Steam rose in a wall that blocked out the sky."The base is melting!" Jax screamed. He was hanging onto a broken pipe as the Spire tilted. "We’re going down! We’re actually going down!" Sora yelled. She looked at the white glare."Not yet!" A voice roared. It was Flint, a veteran soldier who served as a General under me. He was standing on the lower ledge. His feet were planted in the cracking stone. His skin was turning red from the heat. "Flint! Get back here!" I shouted. I leaned out the shattered window."Osric! Keep the System alive!" Flint looked back at me. He was grinning. His teeth were covered in blood. "I’ve got this!""You can't stop that beam!" I yelled. "Watch me!" Flint barked.He jumped right into the middle of the pillar. The white light swallowed his legs. His armor started to melt. "He’s crazy! He’s going to turn into a crisp!" Jax cried out. "Flint! Move!" I roared. "Shut up and watch the Spire!" Flint’s voice