Elijah's gentle smile seemed to be an anchor for Ky in a sea of confusion. The genuine warmth behind the cold helmet calmed her slightly. Seeing the interaction, Evelyn and Crowe stepped closer.
"I'm Evelyn Voss," Evelyn said, her voice softer than usual. She didn't extend her hand, aware that the girl might still be wary. "And this is Crowe Mantell."
Crowe gave a friendly nod. "It's good to finally see you awake, Miss Ky. You had us all quite worried."
Ky only managed a small, shy nod in return, her eyes darting from one face to the next.
"Ky," Elijah began again, his tone cautious. "We found you inside a strange blue energy sphere, in the middle of a crater from a meteor impact." He paused, letting the information sink in. "Do you… remember anything? Anything at all, before you woke up in there?"
The question, though spoken gently, was like a key that unlocked a cursed door in her mind. The color drained from Ky's face. She flinched, her hands flying to her head as if to keep her skull from splitting apart.
"Ah!" she gasped, a small, choked cry. Her eyes squeezed shut, her body trembling.
And then, the darkness behind her eyelids exploded into painful, blurry fragments of images.
The sky of a planet fractured with flashes of green plasma. On the bridge of a colossal warship made of gleaming black metal, a woman stood tall. The air around her was cold and sterile, filled with the quiet hum of the ship's engines. Her face was unclear, just a regal silhouette against a panoramic window displaying an endless armada. Her voice echoed through the communication system, as sharp as shattered glass, yet it carried the dignified weight of a queen. "Leave nothing behind," she commanded. "Burn this planet to ash and bring me its core." A subordinate at her side reported, "Commander, their resistance is stronger than anticipated." The woman let out a short, cold laugh devoid of warmth. "Their resistance is a momentary amusement. Proceed. Weakness will not be tolerated under my banner." The order was cruel, yet spoken with an undeniable finality that made every soldier on the bridge bow their head in absolute obedience.
The image swirled, shifting to a vast, dark throne room, lit only by the light of a distant nebula seeping in. The throne itself was made of a material that seemed to absorb light, like a solid black hole. The same woman, now without her helmet, knelt on one knee. Her long, silver hair cascaded down the back of her jet-black armor. Before her sat a figure shrouded in shadow so dense that no shape could be discerned. Yet, Ky could feel an overwhelming aura of power from the shadow, a power that made the mighty woman seem small and fragile. A deep voice that seemed to vibrate the very air emanated from the shadow, "Report."
"Three star systems have been conquered this month, my Lord," the woman reported, her head bowed. Her gaze, once as cold as ice, was now filled with an almost fanatical admiration and loyalty. "Rigel, Cygnus, and Proxima Centauri now submit. The Orion Sector will be ours before the next cycle ends. All is according to your will."
Flash! The image shattered again, throwing her into the most painful scene of all. Acid rain poured down over the ruins of a magnificent alien city. Two energy swords—one silver, one gold—clashed with a deafening hiss, creating small bursts of light with every impact. The silver-haired woman was now clearly visible, her impossibly beautiful face wet with tears that mixed with the rain. She fought with deadly precision, yet every parry was filled with hesitation and profound pain.
Facing her, a man with hair as black as night and eyes that burned with passion met her attacks. Every slash of his golden sword was driven not by hatred, but by desperation. "Stop this!" he yelled, his voice hoarse amid the roar of the storm. "Please, just stop all of this! I love you! I would give up everything! Let me be an enemy to the entire universe, as long as I can be with you!"
The woman sobbed, a pitiful sound escaping her lips. She parried the man's strike with full force, pushing them both several meters apart. "Why don't you understand?!" she countered, her voice broken by sorrow. "You know it's impossible!"
"Why?! Give me one reason why we can't just walk away from all of this!" the man pressed, stepping forward.
Tears streamed freely down her cheeks. "Because we can't!" she shrieked. "Our destiny, our oath… If we were together, if we chose that path, it wouldn't just be this galaxy… the entire world would be destroyed! Don't you understand?! Annihilation would follow us!"
The flashback ended as quickly as it began.
Ky gasped her way back to reality, panting as if she had just run a marathon. Cold sweat beaded on her temples. She opened her eyes to find herself surrounded by faces looking at her with concern. Not just Elijah, Evelyn, and Crowe, but also Felicia and two soldiers carrying medical kits.
"Are you okay?" Elijah's voice was the first to cut through the ringing in her ears.
Ky nodded quickly, trying to regulate her ragged breathing. "Yes… yes, I'm fine," she said, her voice trembling slightly. "Just… a little dizzy." She deliberately gave a shallow excuse, hoping no one would ask further about what she had just seen. The memories felt too private, too painful to share.
Elijah looked at her for a moment, and from the look in his eyes, Ky knew that he understood. He wouldn't push. He turned to Felicia. "She's fine. We can leave now."
Felicia nodded, her usually stern expression softening slightly at Ky's condition. "Alright. Everyone, into the Humvee. We're heading back to Sector-9."
The journey back felt different. They were now riding in a spacious, armored Humvee, leaving the silent battlefield behind. The heavy rumble of the engine provided a strange sense of security. Elijah, Evelyn, Crowe, and Ky sat facing Felicia in the main compartment. A few moments after the vehicle started moving, steadily navigating the city ruins, Felicia decided to fulfill her promise.
"About that crystal," she began, her eyes on Elijah. "The one you're holding is a Grade-C Crystal. It's just a provisional name we've given them."
"Grade-C?" Elijah repeated, studying the purple stone in his hand. "So there are other grades?"
"As far as we know, yes," Felicia replied. "The common red crystals you get from normal mutants, we call those Grade-D. Their energy is stable and easily absorbed. Grade-C comes from a much stronger mutant, which we call an Elite Grade. Like that octopus. Its energy is wilder and more potent, but also harder to control."
"How do you know all this? Who named them? Is this data accurate?" Elijah asked in a rapid-fire burst, his information-hungry brain going into overdrive.
Felicia sighed, a gesture that showed a hint of exhaustion. "Like I said, this is all provisional. This cataclysm only happened about three days ago. All the information we have comes from sporadic field reports and brutal trial-and-error. There's no centralized research body, no validated data. For now, this is all we have."
Evelyn, who had been listening silently, interjected with a sharp question. "There must have been a first. A grading system wouldn't just appear without a point of comparison. Who was the first to successfully defeat an Elite mutant and discover a Grade-C Crystal?"
The question made Felicia pause for a moment. She looked at Evelyn with a flicker of appreciation. "A good question. The answer is Lian Zhao."
The name made the air inside the Humvee feel heavier. One of the Nine Dragons.
"The day after the cataclysm," Felicia continued, "Lian Zhao led his forces from Astra Armory on a massive hunt. He didn't defend, he attacked. With his renowned brutality, he managed to slaughter the first recorded Elite mutant. Of course, he wasn't alone. His right-hand man, Yang Jinlei, is always by his side." Felicia said the name with a cold tone. "That man isn't human; he's a cold-blooded killing machine. He'll carry out Lian Zhao's orders without question, even if it means sacrificing his entire battalion."
Sensing the conversation was becoming too heavy, Crowe tried to steer it elsewhere. "So… if the crystals have grades, does that mean the mutants do too?"
Elijah followed up, "Right. There should be Grade-D and Grade-C Mutants?"
This time, Felicia shook her head. "There's no official grading system for the mutants yet. There are too many variations, too many bizarre mutations. For now, we just divide them into two simple categories: Normal and Elite."
A few minutes later, the Humvee slowed and entered a hidden tunnel behind the wall of a collapsed warehouse. A steel door several meters thick slid open, revealing an entirely different world. Sector-9 Bunker.
The place was immense. Its high ceiling was illuminated by artificial lights that mimicked the sun, giving the impression of being under a permanent twilight sky. Wide, clean streets were filled with disciplined soldiers and hundreds of civilians bustling with activity, creating the scene of a small, living city. As their Humvee stopped at the main checkpoint, dozens of people who saw their commander's return greeted her with smiles and respectful nods. A little girl even ran up and gave Felicia an artificial flower before being pulled back by her mother.
"Welcome back, Commander!" a soldier saluted.
Felicia returned it with a short nod. "Come on, follow me to the command center," she said to Elijah's group.
While walking through the bunker's main thoroughfare, Felicia pointed out several areas. To the left lay a hydroponic farm the size of a football field. The scent of damp earth and fresh vegetation—an invaluable luxury—wafted from it. Civilians diligently tended to rows of lush green vegetables thriving under UV lights. To the right, a beautiful little park had been created, complete with a few artificial trees, synthetic grass, and a small, trickling stream of recycled water that provided a calming sound. There, children ran and laughed, their voices a musical contrast to the deathly silence of the world above. They also passed a large workshop where technicians were busy repairing vehicles and equipment, as well as a well-organized emergency clinic.
Elijah gazed around in amazement. "How… when did you build all this? The invasion was only three days ago."
Felicia turned to him, and for the first time, Elijah saw her let out a small laugh. It wasn't a loud laugh, just a slight tremor on her lips, but it was enough to make her cold face more human. "I'll tell you when we get to the command center," she promised.
Several soldiers nearby who witnessed the rare moment looked stunned. They whispered among themselves, never having expected their famously cold-blooded commander could smile with such warmth.
The Sector-9 command center was on the bunker's highest level, a spacious room with a large holographic table in the middle. After inviting them to sit, Felicia got straight to the point.
"First, to your question from before, Elijah," she said. "About how this bunker came to be." She looked straight at him, her green eyes seeming to pierce his very soul. "The answer is simple. Because your father, Benedict Voss, built it."
Silence. The single sentence seemed to suck all the air out of the room. Elijah was frozen in his chair, his mouth slightly agape. Shock. It was the only word to describe what he felt. His father?
Beside him, Evelyn was just as stunned. Her pale face turned even whiter. The only one who showed no reaction was Crowe. He just let out a soft sigh.
"You knew about this?" Evelyn asked Crowe.
"I knew Master Benedict had dozens of secret bunker projects across the planet," Crowe answered quietly. "But he built so many, even I can't remember all the locations. He always had a contingency plan for his contingency plan."
Felicia let them process the information for a moment before continuing. "After his death was confirmed, the military took control of VOSS Industries' emergency assets in accordance with national disaster protocols. And this bunker was the largest and most well-equipped."
After that topic was settled, Felicia changed the subject. Her face became serious again. "The world we knew is gone. The old governments have collapsed, the other Dragons only care about their own territories. This is the beginning of a new era, an era where power will be redefined."
She pointed to the crystal in Elijah's hand. "That. That is the future. The ability to absorb energy, to transcend human limits. For now, only a handful of people know the true potential of these crystals, and I'm sure you are among them."
She stood, walking over to an observation window that overlooked her entire bunker.
"I called you here not just to bolster my forces," she said, her voice now filled with a powerful passion. "I called you here because I have a purpose. I will not stand by and let this new world fall into the hands of greedy men like Lian Zhao or other tyrants. I will use this power, our power, to create something better from the ashes of the old world. A civilization that is strong, that is just, and that is worth fighting for."
She turned back, looking at each of them in turn. "I want to build a new world. And I want you to help me."