**Chapter 112**Zarek stood alone on the highest remaining section of the outer wall as the twin portals burned in the sky above the ruins. The Xar’Thul ship continued pulsing in the east, growing slightly larger as it processed the fresh biomass from the fallen. The Iron Dominion camp remained quiet for now, but Sarya’s soldiers moved with purpose. They were preparing something bigger.Only twenty-eight people were still breathing inside the Last Bastion Core. Twenty-eight out of hundreds who had once called Sanctuary City home. Zarek felt no sadness anymore. Only cold calculation.The system messages appeared one after another.**[Core Stability: 24%]****[Xar’Thul Swarm Reinforcement Incoming]****[Iron Dominion Portal Energy Signature Rising]****[Apocalypse Overlord Path: 91% Unlocked]**He turned and walked back down to the survivors. They gathered in the central courtyard of the bastion, faces gaunt and eyes hollow. Lir

Chapter 114The air inside the Last Bastion reeked of charred flesh and acrid alien bile. Zarek stood at the fractured barricade of the inner core chamber, his reinforced hammer dripping with thick greenish ichor that sizzled against the cracked stone floor. Only eight souls remained alive in this dying fortress. Eight broken, bloodied fighters clinging to a Planetary Anchor that now pulsed at a pathetic twelve percent stability. The walls shook with every impact from outside. The Xar’Thul swarm had returned in force, their biomechanical horrors crawling through the ruins like a living tide of chitin and stolen human meat.Mira crouched beside him, one hand gripping her upgraded rifle while the other rested protectively over her swollen belly. She was heavy with their second child, yet she refused to stay hidden in the core nursery with little Lira. “They are coming through the eastern breach again,” she growled, her voice hoarse from hours of shouting orders and breathing toxic fumes

Chapter 116The Last Bastion shuddered under the weight of the Xar’Thul onslaught like a dying beast convulsing in its final throes. Alarms blared through the core chamber in a ceaseless wail that grated on what little sanity remained among the survivors. Zarek burst from the shielded alcove where he had been tangled with Mira moments before their bodies still slick with sweat and the remnants of desperate release. His hammer felt like an extension of his fury as he charged toward the main breach points. Mira followed close behind fastening her combat vest over her swollen belly her rifle already barking shots into the shadows.The intelligence the swarm possessed was uncanny. They struck at every weakened joint in the fortifications striking load bearing pillars that Zarek had reinforced himself only days earlier. Acid sprays melted through armor plating with horrifying efficiency and larger warrior drones smashed aside barricades as if they were kindling. The few remaining defenders

Chapter 118The colossal presence of Overseer Thal’Vex dominated the shattered horizon like a living apocalypse given form. Its biomechanical bulk blotted out the sickly sky casting long shadows that crawled across the ruins of what was once Sanctuary City. The air vibrated with its approach each thunderous step sending tremors through the Last Bastion core chamber. Lesser Xar’Thul swarmers boiled around its base like loyal parasites feeding on the aura of their true master. The mental pressure from its voice hammered relentlessly inside every skull promising harvest and assimilation.Zarek stood frozen for one heartbeat his hammer heavy in his grip as the full scale of this new horror registered. Then his eyes snapped to Kael. The boy remained slumped against the wall where Zarek had released him moments earlier. The pieces locked together with sickening clarity. The precise strikes. The intimate knowledge of their defenses. This was no random escalation. This was betrayal made flesh

Chapter 120The death of Commander Sarya sent ripples through the fractured battlefield. Her elite guards faltered for a critical moment witnessing their noble leader reduced to a headless ruin splattered across the rubble. Some Dominion soldiers turned tail retreating toward their distant lines while others seeing opportunity in the chaos pivoted to seize the core for themselves. Zarek cared for none of it. He stood over her corpse hammer still dripping with the mix of her blood and his own his chest heaving as fresh wounds burned like fire across his body. Mira pressed close to his side one arm wrapped around his waist steadying him while her other hand gripped her rifle. Her pregnant belly pushed firmly against his hip a living reminder of everything at stake.“You ended her” Mira said her voice low and fierce with pride. Blood trickled from the sniper graze on her shoulder but she ignored it completely. “Now finish the rest of this nightmare.”Zarek nodded once his eyes already lo