Nitchtron — Capitol Council
Accix hurried through the council corridors, clutching a stack of documents beneath one arm while several digital tablets and communication devices rattled in the other. His usually composed demeanor was gone. Every step carried a sense of urgency, his cloak fluttering behind him as he moved through the halls.
"This is bad... very, very bad."
His thoughts raced faster than his feet.
"We're finished. If any of this gets traced back to me, everything is over."
He rounded a corner and quickly entered a private office, slamming the door shut behind him. The moment he was alone, he dumped everything onto his desk. Tablets, files, and communication devices scattered across the polished surface.
For several seconds he simply stood there, breathing heavily.
"How...?"
His voice came out almost as a whisper.
"How could something like this happen?"
His eyes drifted toward the wall of monitors displaying live footage from Darant City. Fires consumed entire districts. Emergency broadcasts filled the screens. Military forces were mobilizing. Everywhere he looked, there was chaos.
The result of years of planning collapsing in a single evening.
"We had the perfect plan."
His hands slowly clenched into fists.
"Years of preparation. Years."
The frustration boiling inside him finally erupted.
"Damn you, Red Moon."
With a furious sweep of his arm, he sent several devices crashing to the floor. A chair followed. Then another monitor. Glass shattered across the office as months of carefully restrained emotion burst free.
All of it ruined.
The Ancients.
His plan.
Everything falling apart as he destroys the room, consumed by anger.
Eventually the rage left him. Exhaustion replaced it.
Accix sank into his chair and stared blankly at the wall. The office was a mess around him, but he barely noticed.
For the first time that night, reality settled over him.
The Ancients were finished.
Atrunt was likely already dead.
And there was nothing he could do to change that.
"I have nothing left..."
The words escaped him quietly.
Silence followed.
Then, slowly, Accix rose from his chair.
No.
Not everything was lost.
The dream remained.
The goal remained.
His expression hardened.
"I will make the Nitchtronian race the most powerful civilization in this galaxy."
His voice was low.
Determined.
"One way or another."
He knelt beside the pile of electronics scattered across the floor and picked up a damaged communication tablet. His fingers flew across the screen, deleting files, erasing records, severing connections. One by one, years of secrets disappeared.
When he was finally finished, he looked down at the device for a long moment.
Then he pressed a final command.
Click.
The screen went dark.
Accix dropped the tablet onto the floor.
The impact cracked the display.
For a brief moment, a fragment of text remained visible through the broken screen.
[Th--Hrt--of--Go]
Accix stared at it.
Then he brought his heel down.
CRUSH.
The screen shattered completely.
The office fell silent except for the sound of his heavy breathing.
The evidence was gone.
The plan had failed.
But Accix was already thinking about what came next.
—
Back at the Ancients' Fortress.
Lieutenant Lee, alongside Shiba and the soldiers of the Fifth and Seventh Battalions, continued carving their way through the Ancient forces. Despite being heavily outnumbered by soldiers and security robots, the Red Moon maintained complete control of the battlefield.
The Yama Twins coordinated their attacks flawlessly, cutting through defensive lines while Hiro supported them from behind. Nearby, Togo fought furiously, using his blue bubbles to swap wounded comrades out of danger before they could be overwhelmed.
"We need to find Captain Nury and Captain Levi and regroup!"
Lee shouted as dark doppelgangers emerged from the shadows of fallen enemies and rushed into battle.
"Understood!" Shiba replied.
She blocked an incoming strike, ripped the weapon from her attacker's hands, and immediately used it against him.
The battalions continued pushing deeper into the fortress until they finally arrived at Rumbler's chamber.
The moment they stepped inside, everyone stopped.
The room was devastated.
The operating table had been torn apart. Glass littered the floor. Electrical cables hung from the ceiling like vines. Above them, a massive hole stretched through multiple layers of the fortress.
Whatever had happened here had been violent.
"What happened?" one of the soldiers muttered.
Near the wall sat Ninax.
Defeated.
Broken.
Across from her stood Atrunt.
"Go away!" he suddenly screamed.
His voice echoed through the ruined chamber.
Shiba narrowed her eyes.
"Where are Captain Nury and Levi?"
Atrunt let out a dry laugh.
"Don't play stupid."
He pointed toward the ruined ceiling.
"You know exactly where your little Tasmanian devil is."
Shiba and Lee exchanged confused looks.
Then Atrunt's smile widened.
"And as for that bitch..."
His eyes looked hollow.
"She might be dead already."
He laughed again.
Not the laugh of a man with a plan.
Not the laugh of a man who still believed he could win.
It was the laugh of someone who had already lost everything.
Meanwhile, Ninax remained seated on the floor, absentmindedly scratching at her hair.
Neither of them looked like prisoners.
They looked like survivors of a disaster.
Whatever Levi had done here had crushed them completely.
Without wasting time, Lee ordered the two restrained. Electric cables were wrapped around their wrists before the battalion escorted them toward the control room.
By the time they arrived, other Red Moon soldiers had already secured the facility.
One of the operators immediately turned toward Lee.
"Sir, you need to see this."
He pointed toward the monitors.
Lee stepped forward.
The moment he saw the footage, his eyes widened.
The screen displayed Nury collapsing inside the cargo depot before the entire structure detached from the mountain and launched into space.
"How did this happen?!"
His voice came out sharper than intended.
The operator lowered his head.
"We don't know, sir."
"When we secured the room, the footage was already playing."
"We were too late."
Lee stared at the screen.
For the first time since the assault began, frustration broke through his calm demeanor.
His fist slammed against the console.
"I should've been there."
Shiba immediately stepped forward.
"We'll get her back."
She slid into one of the control stations and began working through the system.
A few moments later, a confident grin appeared on her face.
"I've got it."
Her fingers continued moving across the keyboard.
"I traced the cargo's trajectory. We know where it's heading."
Lee took a breath and slowly regained his composure.
"Good."
Then another thought hit him.
"Where's Captain Levi?"
The room immediately grew quiet.
Nobody answered.
Several soldiers exchanged worried looks.
One of them slowly switched the monitor feed.
The screen changed.
A live news broadcast appeared.
LIVE: DEMON RAMPAGE IN DARANT CITY
The room fell silent.
Entire districts had been reduced to rubble. Fires consumed the skyline. Bodies and debris littered the streets.
"Oh lord..."
Shiba whispered.
The footage shifted again.
Rumbler crashed into Levi and Kayo with a devastating moonsault, burying both of them beneath an explosion of concrete and debris.
Nobody spoke.
Everyone wore the same expression.
Confusion.
Concern.
Disbelief.
How had Levi ended up fighting Rumbler?
"We need to help them."
Lee straightened immediately.
"Prepare deployment teams."
"Send units into the city."
The room erupted into motion as soldiers rushed to carry out his orders.
Questions could wait.
Survival came first.
But just as the Red Moon began preparing to leave, every soldier suddenly froze.
Lee's body locked up.
Shiba's hands stopped moving.
One by one, everyone in the room grunted as their limbs refused to respond.
Panic spread instantly.
"What the hell—"
No one could move.
Slowly, their eyes turned toward the doorway.
Standing there was Geyko.
Silent.
Watching.
His expression was darker than before.
The same yellow dust drifted through the air around him.
The same virus.
The same ability he had used against Nury.
No words left his mouth.
He didn't need them.
One after another, the Red Moon soldiers collapsed to the floor.
Conscious.
Helpless.
And once again, Geyko had managed to turn what little fortune remained to the Ancients' side.