Chapter 121 The silence after Thal’Vex collapse felt unnatural. The colossal biomechanical horror lay in a sprawling ruin of twisted metal chitin and leaking biomass that stretched across half the eastern district. Green ichor pooled in craters and slowly dissolved everything it touched while the few surviving lesser swarmers scattered into the deeper ruins like rats fleeing a sinking ship. Zarek stood at the edge of the massive impact crater his body a wreck of deep gashes torn muscle and burned skin. Blood dripped steadily from multiple wounds pooling at his feet but he remained upright through sheer iron will. His hammer rested heavy on his shoulder still humming with residual Overlord energy. Mira reached him first. She moved with obvious difficulty one hand pressed to her lower back while the other clutched her rifle like a lifeline. Labor contractions had begun in earnest during the final assault and now they rippled visibly across her swollen belly. Despite the pain she press

Chapter 123The inner core of the Last Bastion had transformed into a fortress within a fortress under Zarek unrelenting command. He spent the following days reshaping every inch of the surviving structure with his Apocalypse Overlord abilities. Walls thickened into impenetrable barriers laced with automated spike traps and energy vents that could flood corridors with core radiation at his command. Resource caches were locked behind biometric seals keyed only to him Mira and the children. Kael received a small isolated alcove deep within the central chamber equipped with monitoring systems that would alert Zarek to any unauthorized rift activity. The boy worked there in silence compiling data on Anchor stabilization while avoiding eye contact with the others.Zarek etched the new laws into the central console where they glowed with harsh crimson light for all to see. Rationing was absolute. Every scrap of food biomass and energy was allocated first to the children and Mira then to act

Chapter 125The Last Bastion had become a tomb that still breathed. Core stability clung desperately at twenty three percent while the mobile sections of the fortress groaned under constant strain. Zarek patrolled the outer perimeter alone at first his hammer dragging faint grooves through the ash covered ground. Fresh portals had opened during the night disgorging hybrid forces from the uneasy alliance between Celestial remnants and Eternal Archive entities. These new attackers were worse than the pure swarm or Dominion troops. Celestial soldiers moved with disciplined arrogance while Archive tendrils slithered through cracks in reality as living data streams attempting to rewrite the very structure of the Anchor into compressed code.Zarek met the first wave with cold mechanical fury. He activated his domain expanding the Bastion reach into a killing field of shifting spikes and energy vents. A squad of golden armored elites charged his position only to be impaled from bel

Chapter 127The whispers returned stronger that night, threading through Mira’s fractured sleep like silk laced with poison. She lay curled against Zarek’s side in the reinforced core alcove they called a bed, his arm heavy across her waist even in unconsciousness. The newborn Kael slept fitfully in the nearby pod, tiny fists clenched as if already bracing for the world. Lira had finally drifted off after Zarek’s low, rumbling stories of strength and family. But peace never lasted in the Last Bastion.Mira, my dear, the voice of Ghost-Mother breathed, warm and maternal, wearing the face of Lira Senior in the haze of half-dream. You carry so much. Another life already growing inside you from these desperate unions. The children deserve more than this endless flight. Zarek’s path leads only to ash. Drug the core suppressants into his ration. Surrender the Anchor. I can guide you to safety.Mira’s eyes snapped open. Sweat cooled on her skin. The apparition hovered at the edge of the cham

Chapter 129 The broadcast went out across the shattered horizons of the Convergence like a challenge carved in blood. Zarek stood atop the highest spire of the Last Bastion, hammer resting across his shoulders, the crushed remnants of Vorathian’s holographic emitter still smoking at his feet. His voice carried through every external speaker, cold and absolute. “Tell your emperor this. The Overlord does not kneel. Touch what belongs to me and I will burn your celestial thrones to ash. The Anchor stays. The children stay. Mira stays. Come if you dare.” The transmission cut. Silence followed, heavy and waiting. Inside the fortress, Zarek turned to the gathered survivors — the few automated sentinels still functional and the single living soul who mattered. Mira stood below the platform, one hand resting on the swell of her belly, the other holding Lira close. The toddler watched her father with wide eyes, absorbing every word. He descended and issued new orders without hesitation. Ha