Unbeknownst to Victor, their frantic preparations were being watched. Inside Aegis, Zack observed the chaos through a live feed from the LSI satellite. He smirked, shaking his head. "A little late to start scrambling fighters, don't you think?" he muttered.
Turning to Ava, he gestured toward the screen. "The fighter planes are yours."
"Yes, sir!" Ava stood at attention and saluted before hurrying out of the control room. Taking the metal stairs, she returned to the hangar where the Avalon-II was docked.
The cockpit display lit up as she strapped in, a notification appearing:
[Pilot: Ava]
[Authorization: Granted for departure from Aegis]
With a mechanical hiss, the Avalon's docking clamps released. Boom! The aircraft shot out of the hangar, propelled into the sky like a sharp arrow.
"Where did that plane come from?!" Victor's roar echoed through the command room as he spotted the Avalon-II slicing through the air. His expression turned pale when he realized its trajectory.
"No… Stop that plane! NOW!" But it was already too late. Flying low over the base's ruined defenses, Ava guided the Avalon-II toward the airfield. Beneath its hull, the 20mm Vulcan cannon spun to life.
Brrrrrrrrrttt!
The sound of rapid-fire gunshots roared across the base as streams of depleted Graphene rounds tore through the parked fighter jets.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions erupted in quick succession. Flames consumed the airfield as planes burst apart, one after another. Pilots who had barely reached their cockpits were caught in the blasts, their efforts to fight back reduced to ashes. The chain reaction of explosions engulfed the entire airfield in a sea of fire, sending debris flying in all directions. "Mission complete. Visual assessment… target neutralized," Ava reported calmly as she flew over the devastated airfield, flames still rising in her wake.
"Well done," Zack's voice came through her earpiece. "If there are no enemy planes left, return to base."
"Understood," Ava responded. She banked the Avalon for another pass, scanning the airfield below.
"Damn it, it's coming back!" Victor's voice trembled as the Avalon-II descended for another sweep. On the runway, one lone plane—a Su-57 fighter—had managed to start its engines. The pilot was desperately accelerating for takeoff, trying to escape the chaos.
Ava narrowed her eyes at the scene. "Tempting as it is to test my skills in a dogfight…" she muttered, locking onto the fighter. "The mission comes first." With a flick of her controls, the Vulcan cannon roared to life once more, sending a devastating spray of rounds toward the fleeing plane.
Boom!
A mini-missile shot out, striking the Su-57 squarely on the runway. The explosion engulfed the jet in flames, reducing it to smoldering wreckage. "Mission accomplished," Ava reported calmly, steering the Avalon back toward Aegis.
At the same time, the ten unmanned armors, having efficiently destroyed the air defense systems, returned through the drop windows of Aegis. Inside the aircraft, small maintenance drones scurried out, tending to the damaged armors and reloading their weapons. As the Avalon and unmanned armors disappeared into the stealth aircraft, the chaos on the ground reached a fever pitch.
Though they couldn't see Aegis, the survivors at Nunavut base realized the terrifying truth: a massive aircraft was hidden somewhere above them. But by the time they pieced it together, it was too late. Their anti-aircraft defenses were obliterated.
"A horned demon… descended from the heavens…"
"We're doomed. It's over…"
Blind old Charlie clung to a wooden post, his trembling voice cutting through the panic. Though he couldn't see anything, his words carried an eerie weight—as if he understood the inevitable fate awaiting them.
Inside Aegis, Zack observed the unfolding chaos below through the panoramic window. As the Avalon docked, he issued a single, cold command: "November, disengage stealth."
At his words, the air around Aegis shimmered and distorted. The enormous aircraft slowly became visible, its colossal frame blotting out the sun. The shadow it cast stretched across the base, swallowing the high walls and the terrified soldiers standing atop them. "Holy shit!"
The stunned soldiers on the walls could only stare in horror. The sheer size of Aegis left them speechless. Even the most battle-hardened among them couldn't muster the courage to fire the first shot. "What… what the hell is this?!"
Victor, watching from the safety of the command room, stared at the screen in disbelief. His hands trembled as he tried to comprehend the monstrous craft that had appeared out of nowhere. "How can something that massive… even fly?"
Victor's voice faltered with every word, his confidence shaken to its core. Back inside Aegis, Zack's expression remained cold and emotionless. He glanced at the command display and gave the next order. "Deploy the mechanical legions and Fearless warriors. Anyone who resists… eliminate them."
The massive tail hatch of Aegis opened slowly, revealing rows of hulking Fearless Warriors. With a thunderous crash, the first Fearless warrior dropped from the aircraft, landing on the base's high wall. The impact left a massive dent in the reinforced concrete, sending shockwaves through the structure. The unlucky soldier standing at the point of impact was reduced to a smear of blood and mangled flesh. Those nearby were hurled into the air, their bodies slamming against the ground far below. And yet, the Fearless Warrior stood unscathed. The four-meter-tall steel giant shook off the debris and roared: "For glory!" Chainsword in hand, its teeth spinning at a brutal 4,600 RPM, the warrior charged into the stunned soldiers.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
One by one, more Fearless Warriors leapt from Aegis. Each landed like a cannonball, creating craters in the walls or the ground below. Wherever they landed, destruction followed. The soldiers on the walls finally snapped out of their shock.
"Shoot! Don't let those things advance!" Gunfire erupted as the defenders unleashed a hailstorm of bullets. But their attacks were futile. Regular ammunition ricocheted harmlessly off the power armor of the Fearless Warriors, leaving only scratches.
The Vanguard soldiers' experimental rifles were the only weapons capable of any damage. Their strange, biomechanical design pumped a dark, viscous liquid through the weapon, each shot spraying a red, laser-like beam. But even these advanced rifles struggled to penetrate the armor. It took two or three consecutive shots at the same spot just to leave a significant dent.
The Fearless Warriors pressed forward, unrelenting. Swinging their roaring chainswords, they carved through the defenders like a knife through butter. With each swing, another soldier fell—split in two or shredded into an unrecognizable mess.
"Regular ammo's useless!"
"Switch to armor-piercing rounds! Now!"
Despite the order, the defenders' efforts barely slowed the Dreadnoughts. Their towering steel frames moved like tanks, shrugging off the desperate attacks.
Above the chaos, Aegis descended further, opening additional drop bays. From these bays emerged the mechanical legions: twenty sleek mechanical dogs and ten combat-ready robots. The mechanical dogs, equipped with sharp claws and compact machine guns, darted through the battlefield with lethal agility. The robots, standing over two meters tall, unleashed suppressive fire with their built-in autocannons.
"Fall back!"
"We can't hold them!"
In contrast to the mechanical dogs' agility, the Terror Spiders landed with brute force, much like the Fearless Warriors. Each impact sent tremors through the ground.