A suffocating crimson web spread across the upper atmosphere, blotting out the midday sun.
From the five-hundred-foot obsidian spire atop Void Lotus Prison Isle, twenty-four thick cables of blood-red starlight shot across the sky.
Each cable plugged directly into the primary keel arrays of the twenty-four Sanctuary warships.
The ocean beneath the fleet began to boil, churning into white froth as thousands of ancient runes ignited in the clouds.
On the flagship’s quarterdeck, Elder Sterling drew his broadsword, his newly healed frame braced against the vibration of the deck.
“Shields to maximum!” Sterling bellowed to the engine crew below. “Angle all sixteen deflectors skyward!”
Linnea worked the brass dials of the defensive array console, her brow glistening with cold sweat.
“The celestial grid is drawing power directly from the island’s tectonic core,” Linnea warned, her voice tight. “Their eradication yield is over eight hundred thousand units. Once its beam strikes, our warship hulls will melt in four seconds.”
