Jachin Due Fortress, Command Center.
Patrick Zala stared grimly at the screen ahead. A silver meteor had emerged from the space minefield and was hurtling straight toward GENESIS.
It was not as fast as a beam weapon, but it was still moving far too quickly to intercept.
It appeared to be a shell of some kind, a physical projectile.
If it were an ordinary warhead of the sort Patrick knew, there would be no need to worry about it damaging GENESIS. However, that mysterious faction was among the attacking forces, and there was no telling what other unusual weapons they possessed.
"Impact with Sector C1 in three seconds!"
Those three seconds passed in the blink of an eye.
A faint impact seemed to echo through the command center, transmitted through the fortress itself.
The surveillance cameras showed a silver metal sphere embedded in GENESIS, more than half of it buried in the surface.
Compared to GENESIS as a whole, however, the damage was no worse than a mosquito bite.
Everyone stared intently at the metal sphere, but nothing else happened.
As soon as a maintenance unit reached the impact site, it began cutting into the sphere with a laser.
The instant the laser struck, everyone watching was stunned. The metal sphere was shockingly fragile. The laser penetrated its surface with ease, then sliced through it as though it were even softer than tofu.
When the unit's mechanical arm reached out and touched it, the result was even more startling. The metal surface collapsed under the slightest pressure.
As the mechanical arm stirred through it, they finally realized that the sphere was nothing more than countless particles of fine metallic powder somehow held together in a solid shape.
But if it was only powder, how had it survived being fired across space without scattering?
As the maintenance unit continued clearing the debris, it exposed a passage leading into the fortress.
"Seal off Sector C1 immediately!" Patrick shouted, his expression changing sharply.
Another screen displayed dozens of surveillance feeds from across Sector C1. Massive metal bulkheads slammed down one after another.
"Conduct a deep scan of the entire sector!"
Patrick had barely given the order when his face stiffened in shock.
The intruder had already appeared on camera.
The figure stood before one of the sealed bulkheads and raised the gun in his hand.
With a single shot, he pierced straight through a metal barrier that normally required an MS beam rifle to breach.
The next instant, a storm of bullets greeted the uninvited intruder.
An armed security unit had already taken position on the opposite side of the bulkhead the moment he shot through it. Their weapons flashed with furious orange light as the sharp stench of gunpowder flooded the corridor.
Boom!
A rocket hidden within the torrent of gunfire exploded against the opening. Fire engulfed the hole and blasted through to the other side, seemingly swallowing the intruder whole.
At last, the orange flashes stopped. Every magazine had been emptied, leaving only the metallic clatter of spent shell casings bouncing across the floor.
What had happened to the target?
Had they killed him?
Without warning, something horrifying occurred.
"Wh-What was that?!"
A nearly hoarse, trembling voice rang through the command center. Eyes widened and quivered as fear began to spread.
The ten-man security unit had exploded into a shower of blood and flesh in a single instant. Chunks of their bodies lay scattered across the corridor.
It was as though they had been assembled from building blocks, only to be struck by a violent gale and torn apart all at once.
"Slow down the footage!" Patrick ordered, the first to recover his composure.
He had vaguely glimpsed something like a black gust sweeping past them.
The recording was processed, rewound, and played back in slow motion until the truth was finally revealed.
It was enough to make every scalp prickle and send a bone-deep chill through the room.
A figure clad in metal armor had streaked through the security unit at nearly the speed of sound, slicing them apart with the short blade in his hand.
He had moved so quickly that the naked eye could barely track him.
"Drop every isolation bulkhead!" Patrick ordered immediately.
"Incinerate the entire sector!"
"W-Wait, Chairman! Some of our people are still in there. They…"
"Do you honestly believe they can survive against that monster? Carry out the order!"
The soldier responsible for executing the command went even paler.
He wanted to protest. The monster would not necessarily pass through every corridor in the designated sector, which meant some of their personnel might still escape.
If the chairman incinerated the entire area, however, every last one of them would die.
"What are you waiting for? Do you want that monster to reach this room and kill us?"
"Yes, sir!"
With trembling hands, the soldier activated the incineration system.
A massive quantity of highly combustible material flooded the designated sector. The instant it ignited, the entire area became a blazing hell.
Their own comrades screamed as the flames consumed them, their bodies visibly melting under the horrific heat.
"The mirror module will be ready in one minute!"
"Our vanguard has begun engaging the fleet under Chairman Clyne's command!"
"Show them no mercy. They're the real traitors!" Patrick ordered coldly.
His fists clenched. Even he found it difficult to accept that someone who had once been his friend now stood against him.
It was true that his decision to build GENESIS had been motivated by personal desires, especially his hunger for revenge. But once his plan succeeded, it would also bring peace to P.L.A.N.T.
Once humanity had been wiped from the face of Earth, there would be no one left to envy and hate the Coordinators. There would be no one left to threaten P.L.A.N.T with another war.
As a thought occurred to him, Patrick entered several commands into the console before him, rejecting all incoming communications from the opposing fleet. He could not allow their words to shake the resolve of anyone in this command center.
"Ch-Chairman, the intruder is still alive!"
Patrick froze at the terrified report and looked back at the surveillance feeds.
The armored figure had survived the inferno without being burned or melted. He blasted through another isolation bulkhead and continued advancing toward the control room.
"In that case…"
Patrick immediately entered another command, activating the fortress's compression system around the intruder's current location.
The walls of the blazing sector withdrew. Then the ceiling and floor began closing in on each other.
In effect, Patrick had turned the entire section into a giant hydraulic press.
He refused to believe the intruder could withstand such crushing force.
"Chairman?"
"We should warn the personnel on the levels above and below to evacuate first."
Several officers pleaded with him, unable to stand by in silence. Converting the sector into a hydraulic press would draw the upper and lower levels into the mechanism as well, and half the personnel there would never escape in time.
Patrick showed no reaction to their pleas.
Without hesitation, he activated the system.
Bang!
A violent impact shook the fortress.
Patrick stared at the two enormous masses of metal that had been compressed together. Flames seeped from the narrow seam between them.
If the monster could survive even that, then there truly was nothing more Patrick could do.
"Chairman, the mirror module is ready!"
"Then what are you waiting for? Activate it!"
The officer at the controls fell silent. His hand trembled over the console.
"Useless!"
After snarling the word coldly, Patrick stepped forward and took over the controls himself.
He pressed the activation button without hesitation.
The fortress immediately began to tremble. In ten seconds, the mirror would focus the released nuclear energy, unleashing the light of creation that would finally bring peace to P.L.A.N.T.
Boom!
An explosion left Patrick staring blankly at the screen.
A beam had blasted straight through the mirror module.
Worse, the shot had not come from outside. It had pierced the fortress from within.
The beam had originated from the very sector Patrick had transformed into a hydraulic press.
An explosion erupted there as well. When the surveillance cameras captured the scene, they revealed a machine unlike anything Patrick had ever seen.
Three cannons mounted on its back were positioned above its head. They gathered energy once more, then erupted with ultra-high-energy beams that tore through everything in their path and punched straight through the mirror.
That final barrage utterly destroyed the firing unit.
It also destroyed Patrick's last hope.
He could not understand how that machine had appeared inside the fortress.
(End of Chapter)
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