2025-08-03 08:56:00The deafening blast of the explosion still echoed through Ethan’s skull as he pushed himself up from the fractured steel floor of the Nova Chamber. Dust and smoke clung to the air like ghostly fog, the walls scorched with debris from what had once been the power core of the Citadel. Sirens wailed in the distance, and emergency lights cast the corridor in a bloody hue.
“Cross, do you copy?” Alina’s voice crackled in his comms, warped by interference but blessedly alive.
“I’m here,” Ethan coughed, dragging himself to a crouch. “Status?”
“Battered, but breathing. Jace and Arden are heading toward the south sub-core. I’m rerouting to find you now. You’re closest to the control vault.”
Ethan’s eyes narrowed. The vault. The final piece of the Dominion’s command system.
“Forget me. Get to the data spine,” he ordered, limping toward the passage that had cr
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Chapter 254 – Reckoning in the Quiet
The rebuilt plaza in front of Geneva’s Council Hall was already filling with people before dawn. Protesters, families, survivors—all gathered in solidarity. Above, drones streamed live coverage: the first public hearings of the Consortium Architects Tribunal would begin inside the hall shortly. A historic moment.Ethan Cross stood just outside the media cordon, watching the crowd swirl around placards reading Truth, Justice, Never Again. His commlink buzzed. It was Ilyana.“Ethan—I’m at the Commission Hearings. I. Need. You.”He stepped forward, slipping under the tape with ease. He understood: this day would shape the future. And she wasn’t alone.Inside, the chamber benches were packed. World leaders, once puppeteered by the Dominion’s influence, now fidgeted in suits too large, faces drawn with uncertainty. Journalists clicked cameras in every corner.Ilyana sat at the witness stand. Behind her wai
Chapter 253: The Final Cipher
The door groaned open with a reluctant hiss as Ethan stepped into the chamber buried beneath the Arkhangelsk Citadel—ground zero for the Consortium’s genesis. Every step forward echoed against cold stone and rusted steel. The others followed close behind—Sera with her fingers hovering over her sidearm, Marshal Dane with his narrowed eyes scanning every shadow, and Ilyana clutching the Cipher Key that had brought them here.This wasn’t just another vault. This was The Prime Node—the original interface where the Silent Dominion was born. The atmosphere inside buzzed with faint electricity, and in the center stood a pillar of obsidian metal riddled with data ports, blinking glyphs, and a faint, ominous hum.“What is this place?” Sera whispered.“The throne,” Ilyana murmured. “Where the first Operator uploaded himself. Where he… became more code than man.”Ethan approached the pillar. It
Chapter 252: Through the Breach
The dead quiet that fell over the battleground after the Aetheric Storm silenced the sky was unnatural—thick, suffocating, ominous. Ethan stood at the edge of the broken bridge that once led into the inner sanctum of the Dominion Core. Around him, what remained of his team regrouped, battered but not broken.The wind moaned through the fractured steel arches overhead. Sparks still danced across the shattered circuitry of the bastion walls. The once-impenetrable gate now hung open, melted at its hinges, an invitation that reeked of a trap.Ava clutched her side, her suit’s self-seal function struggling to patch the plasma gash. “Whatever they did in there… it ripped the leyline wide open. I’ve never seen a current behave like that.”Ethan gave her a tight nod. “That wasn’t a defensive burst. That was a call—someone or something inside wanted to be found.”Zai’s drone circled above, scanning
Chapter 251: The Celestial Descent
Ash still clung to the skies over the broken capital, casting the ruined skyline in a permanent dusk. Ethan Cross stood atop the crater where the Citadel once reigned. Around him, the survivors of the Resistance emerged one by one from the crevices and underground passages, dust-covered and hollow-eyed—but alive.The echoes of battle still lingered in the silence. Somewhere in the distance, alarms crackled and failed. The city’s AI grid was down. The sky, once embroidered with surveillance drones and Consortium warships, was now clear.But Ethan knew better. This wasn’t the end.It was the eye of the storm.Isadora stepped beside him, her once-pristine coat stained with soot and blood. Her sword, scorched along the blade’s edge, remained unsheathed.“They’re regrouping,” she said without preamble.“I know,” Ethan replied.Below the crater, Vanguard Commander Myles paced in front of
Chapter 250: The Heart of the Dominion
The blast echoed like a dying god’s scream through the hollow remains of the Citadel. Dust and debris clouded the remnants of the chamber as Ethan Cross slowly pushed himself to his feet, coughing through bloodied lips. His ears rang. The air stank of ozone and scorched stone.He blinked, trying to orient himself.“Team status?” he rasped into the comm, voice barely audible.Crackling static greeted him at first. Then—“Alive,” came Selene’s voice, hoarse but clear. “Barely.”“I’ve got Reyes,” Grey called out from somewhere above. “Pulling him free from the rubble.”Ethan turned slowly, muscles screaming. The obelisk at the center—the one they’d fought so hard to reach—now stood fractured but intact. The pulse of its dark energy was erratic, weaker. But not gone.Behind him, the shattered remains of Aleron Drex smoldered on the floor.
Chapter 249 – Through the Gate of Echoes
The chamber beneath the Citadel trembled as the last node of the Algorithm deactivated. The ancient glyphs etched into the walls dimmed, flickering like dying embers in a furnace. Ethan stood frozen, the resonance of the Parallax Key still humming in his bones. Every breath he took felt like inhaling static.Kael stepped forward, eyes wide with awe. “It’s done… The core is offline.”“No,” whispered Lydia, her gaze fixed on the central spire. “It’s not over yet. Look.”The spire, which had appeared dormant just moments ago, began to shift. The crystalline structure at its peak unraveled, each shard rotating around a blinding center. A pulse of silver light surged outward, passing through them like a cold wind. From the corner of the chamber, a low, guttural sound echoed — mechanical, primal.“Is that—” Eden stepped back instinctively.“The failsafe,” Ethan mut
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