Darkness. Dead silence.
A sight never before seen in the Upper District.
Valerius stood before the enormous floor-to-ceiling windows of his office, overlooking the city whose lights he had personally extinguished.
The clamor of the Lower District rumbled faintly like distant thunder behind a thick sheet of glass.
The revelry of ants.
Yet his face bore no anger, no panic, not even the slightest hint of surprise.
In its place was an almost fanatical excitement, a morbid pleasure.
"Fascinating… truly fascinating."
He turned and spoke softly into the empty darkness.
"You think pulling the plug can invalidate the chessboard?"
A cold, cruelly beautiful smile slowly curved at his lips.
"No. You have merely… uncovered the real trump card."
"At last, you've forced me to this."
Valerius walked to the farthest wall of his office and pressed his palm against the smooth obsidian surface.
No fingerprint scan. No iris recognition.
As if sensing his will, the wall slid soundlessly apart, revealing a descending lift platform glowing with a dim blue light leading even deeper.
He stepped inside, and the platform plummeted.
It cut through thick strata, past layers of classified agreements and physical barriers, finally reaching the very heart of the Parliament Building—the Central Strategic Command.
This place was nothing like the darkness above.
Countless massive holographic screens hovered in the air, and torrents of data flowed silently across them like cascading waterfalls.
The entire space was bathed in a cold, utterly rational radiance.
"Initiate emergency protocol. Highest authority. Code name: Terminus."
Valerius's voice echoed through the empty command center.
An emotionless female mechanical voice responded:
"Authority confirmed. Councilor Valerius. Initiating Terminus protocol will activate the city's ultimate defense system, Eye of Judgment. Once activated, control of all city-scale weaponry will be transferred. This process is irreversible. Confirm?"
"Confirm," Valerius replied without hesitation.
"Secondary confirmation. Activation of Eye of Judgment may result in catastrophic damage to over seventy percent of the city, including the Upper District. Confirm?"
"Confirm." A mad light blazed in Valerius's eyes.
"Final confirmation. Please enter highest authority passcode."
Valerius closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and slowly spoke the word.
"Rebirth."
"Passcode accepted. Eye of Judgment central AI activating. Estimated time: thirty seconds. Transferring control of city defense systems…"
At the center of the command center, a colossal blue eyeball forged from pure energy slowly opened.
It had no pupil, only an endless expanse of cold data and logic.
It gazed down at the holographic map representing the entire city, as if inspecting a vast and intricate chessboard.
"Eye of Judgment activated. Assuming control of orbital cannons, aerial defense arrays, sector lockdown systems…"
With each announcement from the AI, icons representing weapons of mass destruction across the city map shifted from gray to glaring crimson.
Valerius stared at the giant blue eye, an obsessed smile spreading across his face.
This was what he truly desired: absolute order, absolute control.
To preserve such order, sacrificing some unruly components was entirely worthwhile.
"And…" He seemed to remember something, walking to another console and pressing his palm against it once more.
"Awaken them. All of my treasures."
The mechanical voice spoke again:
"Command confirmed. Unlocking Warehouse Zero. War Golem Legion awakening in progress."
Beneath the Parliament District, even deeper underground, a colossal warehouse sealed for decades slowly flickered to life.
Inside, hundreds of massive mechanical constructs stood in perfect formation.
Their forms varied: some resembled hideous metal spiders, others stood like towering steel behemoths. Dusted thickly, they looked as though they had slumbered for centuries.
Suddenly, in the eyes of every mechanical construct, cold blue light ignited simultaneously—identical to that of the Eye of Judgment.
A low, heavy hum began to resonate beneath the city's foundations.
Meanwhile, inside the Geothermal Terminal.
Tidal cheers erupted from every direction, contrasting sharply with the darkened Upper District displayed on the screens.
The joy of victory had clouded everyone's minds.
People embraced, wept, and shouted Jin Wanchao's name.
Yet at the core of the control room, the atmosphere was heavy as iron.
"Hurry! Medical team!" Spanner rushed to the Resonance Framework, staring at Jin Wanchao, who had slipped from it, unconscious, blood seeping from his seven orifices. Her voice trembled with suppressed panic.
Old Zhong shakily checked Jin Wanchao's breath. His weathered face blanched instantly.
"His life force… is fading like a candle in the wind…"
Several workers with basic medical knowledge rushed over and began scrambling to administer first aid.
Spanner stared fixedly at Jin Wanchao's deathly pale face. For the first time, she felt a surge of something called fear.
They had won. But if Jin Wanchao died, this victory would be meaningless.
He was everyone's banner, the only light in this darkness.
If the light went out, everything would return to silence.
"Carry him inside! Hurry!"
As the group frantically lifted Jin Wanchao onto a stretcher, his unconscious body suddenly convulsed.
His eyes remained tightly shut, but he began muttering incoherently, as if in a nightmare.
"Eyes… so many eyes…"
"The city… is watching us…"
"It… has awakened…"
His voice was weak, filled with agony and dread, as if trapped in a terrifying dream.
Spanner's heart plummeted. Before she could decipher the meaning of his words, the Resonance Framework beside them let out a sharp, unprecedented alarm!
Beep—beep—beep!
The enormous resonant crystal began flashing violently, its soft white light tainted by an unsettling blue.
"What's happening?" Spanner dashed to the console, staring at the rapidly scrolling data she could not comprehend.
"Unknown high-dimensional energy source intervention… city network underlying protocols compromised… defense system authority… being forcibly seized by an unknown will!"
Spanner read each word of the system's automated analysis, the blood draining from her face.
She snapped her head back to the man on the stretcher, still whimpering in pain. Her mind exploded as everything clicked into place.
They were no longer fighting Valerius. No longer the Black Iron Guard.
A far more terrifying, far colder enemy had awakened.
The entire city had turned against them.