The sky above the Pacific had turned into hell.
The Silver Eagles moved like a swarm between the Kartnod ships, dodging energy beams and retaliating with blasts that tore through enemy shields.
Victoria had achieved the unthinkable: breaking the enemy vanguard's formation.
—Unit Three, attack the exposed flank!
From her position, Victoria watched the battle map projected inside her helmet visor. The twenty Kartnod ships had fallen into disarray after the initial assault. Five were already heavily damaged, and two more had lost offensive capability.
—Direct hit confirmed! —Melina shouted—. The flagship is burning!
—Melina, excellent work. Now everyone ascend and regroup —Victoria ordered.
But the battle gave no respite. The anti-air cannons aboard the Kartnod ships began saturating the sky with an increasingly dense web of fire. The agile silver aircraft moved between the blasts, but the pressure kept rising.
Victoria clenched her fists and said to herself: We almost have them. Just a little longer.
Suddenly, the ocean in front of them began to stir without any wind.
First came a vibration. Then a deep sound, like the heartbeat of a massive creature beneath the water's surface. The aircraft screens became flooded with interference.
—Commander —Valeria said with a tense voice—, my sensors are collapsing. There's something enormous beneath the water.
—It's not beneath the water —Victoria replied—.
The space in front of them seemed to tear apart.
Then, from inside that breach, tentacles emerged.
They were enormous, blacker than the night itself.
Each tentacle measured dozens of meters long and moved with a speed that contradicted its massive size.
The first strike came before anyone could react.
—All units, evade! —Victoria shouted.
It was too late.
The tentacle wrapped around pilot Lara Fuentes's aircraft and crushed it like aluminum foil. The explosion lit up the sky for a second. Then only burning debris fell into the sea.
—Nooooo, sister! —Melina screamed.
A second tentacle lashed toward the left side. Pilot Jimena Castro's ship tried to dodge, but another limb emerged from a second rift that opened directly behind her. It struck the rear of the aircraft. The ship lost control and crashed into the ocean, creating a massive column of water. All that remained visible was a twisted mass of metal.
—Fall back and climb as high as you can! —Victoria ordered—. Gain altitude now!
The Silver Eagles ascended at maximum speed, their formation completely scattered as they barely avoided a third tentacle sweeping through the sky where they had been seconds earlier. But the third ship hit belonged to pilot Camila Rojas. The tentacle did not grab her; it struck the aircraft with such force that it split in half. The cockpit spiraled downward while the rear section exploded.
—Camila! —Melina screamed.
A complete silence covered everything. In less than a minute, Melina had lost her younger sister and her best friend.
Victoria felt a knot in her stomach. Three ships. Three pilots. In less than a minute.
—Commander, look! —Valeria exclaimed.
The entire horizon began filling with cracks.
Not two. Not three.
Dozens.
Dimensional portals opened in a circle around the battlefield, each one larger than the last. And from them, ships began to emerge.
Victoria lost her breath for a moment. They were the same ships that had devastated the Sevianko base in Anadyr. The same ones that, according to Irina's reports, had annihilated the Russian fleet without mercy. Ships that looked as if they had come straight from the depths of hell itself.
One after another, the ships appeared.
Five.
Ten.
Fifteen.
When the portals finally began closing, more than forty ships formed the Kartnod fleet. The horizon, once clear, had become a black wall of steel and murderous magic.
Inside the flagship of the newly arrived fleet, Kael Draxor observed the battlefield with cold satisfaction. Beside him, Ilyan Sereth adjusted the parameters of the attack systems.
—The Sevianko fell in less than a single night —Ilyan said—. These silver flies won't last even half as long.
—Do not underestimate the women of this family —Kael replied—. Or have you already forgotten everything they made us suffer through? They may not be the same warriors, but I'm certain those are the same damned ships.
Kael activated the open communication channel.
—All units. Full assault. Do not allow a single one of those aircraft to return to land.
In the sky, Victoria watched the enemy deployment with a mixture of rage and determination. Her fingers trembled over the controls, but her voice remained firm.
—All ships, listen to me. We are facing the fleet that destroyed the Sevianko.
She paused before continuing.
—They possess weapons we've never seen before, so stay alert and fly carefully. Do not lower your guard.
We have a home to defend.
And we will not allow them to touch our shores.
Victoria's words ignited something within the pilots. Desperation transformed into determination.
—Unit One ready for attack —Melina said firmly.
—Unit Three ready as well —Valeria added.
—I do not want suicides —Victoria responded—. I want everyone to switch to maximum dispersion formation. Do not present a concentrated target. Attack in waves, strike, and retreat. We are going to wear them down.
—Commander —an operator interrupted from the ground—, confirmation received: the United States fleet departed thirty minutes ago.
Their arrival is estimated in approximately one hour. The Lefebvre family ships will arrive in around fifteen minutes.
—That sounds like an eternity —Victoria replied—. But it's better than nothing. Hold until then.
All the ships scattered like shooting stars in every direction. The Kartnod cannons opened fire immediately, filling the sky with blue and red beams. The silver aircraft danced between them, impossible to predict.
Melina led the first assault wave. Six ships dove toward the enemy fleet's left flank, firing missiles in short bursts. Two Kartnod ships took direct hits to their turrets. They did not explode, but their systems were disabled.
—Keep the pressure on! —Melina shouted.
Valeria attacked from the opposite side. Her eight ships unleashed a barrage of hypersonic projectiles that overloaded the shields of three battleships. One began to smoke. The second lost stability. The third retaliated with a blast that struck one of the aircraft: pilot Andrea Ponce's ship.
—Andrea is down! —someone reported.
—Ejection? —Victoria asked.
—...Negative. No signal.
Victoria clenched her fists. Fourth casualty.
—Maintain formation —she said, forcing herself to stay calm—. We cannot afford to mourn right now.
From the flagship, Kael Draxor observed the losses with irritation.
—These flies are faster than I expected. Ilyan, deploy the Claimoor.
—In the air?
—Yes. Send them directly into their flight paths.
—Multiple airborne contacts! —Valeria shouted—. They're portals! What are those things?! —one of the pilots screamed.
—Break formation —Victoria ordered—. Do not let them touch you.
The battle descended into chaos filled with energy blasts, claws, and explosions. Despite their technological superiority, the Silver Eagles were forced to divide their attention between enemy ships and the creatures clinging to their fuselages like parasites.
Melina shot down three Claimoor with a burst from her side cannons, but a fourth managed to latch onto her left wing. Her aircraft began losing stability.
—Damn it! —she shouted while performing a violent maneuver to shake the creature off.
From her position, Victoria watched the battle with growing despair. They had destroyed five enemy ships, but they had lost four of their own, and now the Claimoor were wearing the pilots down. And the Kartnod main fleet had not even entered true combat yet.
Then, from the largest portal still open, a colossal structure emerged.
It was beyond imagination. The vessel was the size of three aircraft carriers, covered in turrets and magical seals. Across its prow, engraved in runes glowing like the fire of hell itself, were the words: The Annihilator.
—That must be their main ship —Victoria murmured—. The one that killed Mikhail.
An open transmission invaded every frequency.
—I am Kael Draxor, second admiral of the Kartnod fleet. I speak to your commander; you have fought well. But your time has come to an end. Surrender and you will be treated as prisoners of war. Resist, and you will be annihilated just as we annihilated the Sevianko.
Victoria did not hesitate for even a second.
—Kael Draxor —she replied with the coldest voice she could muster—. This is what I think of your offer.
She fired all her remaining missiles directly at him.
The projectiles slammed into the colossal ship's shields, which flared violently and even caused the vessel to stagger slightly. Kael smiled and spoke calmly.
—So this is how it will be. A poor decision.
The Annihilator activated its main cannons. Eight enormous concentrations of energy aimed toward the sky.
Victoria saw it and immediately understood what was coming.
—All units, maximum dispersion! Now!
The eight beams fired simultaneously, followed by volleys from every other ship.
They were not aiming at specific targets.
They fired in every direction, sweeping across the sky in massive arcs and creating a web of energy impossible to evade completely.
Three more ships were hit.
They exploded in midair before their pilots even had time to eject.
Victoria felt pain and rage mixing with the taste of blood in her mouth. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from screaming.
—Melina —she said through the private channel—. How many do we have left?
A pause. Then Melina's broken voice answered:
—...Thirty-two. We started with fifty.
Victoria closed her eyes for a moment.
When she opened them again, the fire in her gaze burned more intensely than ever.
—Prepare them for the next assault wave. And someone pray the reinforcements arrive before they kill us all.
On the horizon, The Annihilator slowly advanced toward the Mexican coast.
And behind it, the rest of the Kartnod fleet began deploying into full assault formation.
The battle for Mexico had just entered its darkest phase.