Blackbolt

Near the freshly sealed Category Two Gate, another rupture tore through the fabric of space. A jagged wound hung in the air, unstable and pulsing with ominous energy. Another Category Two Gate... In just a few minutes, it would begin spewing another horde of nightmare creatures into the world.

Driver noticed it first.

Her bloodshot eyes locked onto the pulsing red dot flashing on the holographic map. The muscles in her jaw tensed. Her fingers trembled slightly over the keyboard, stained with caffeine and stress.

She leaned back with a sigh, muttering bitterly under her breath.

"Just our luck..." Her voice was dry, cracked from exhaustion. Then louder, her voice spiteful and angry:

"Fuck!"

She hurled her screwdriver at the wall, sparks flying from a panel as it hit. The war room fell into a brief silence before red warning lights resumed their glow.

The Gate pulsed again on the screen.

Driver cursed in disbelief, her voice sharp and cracked with exhaustion.

"Hundreds of soldiers died just to seal that Gate... and now another one opens in the exact same damn place?!"

She slammed her fist against the table, coffee spilling across scattered schematics and half-eaten rations. The flickering red dot on the map pulsed like a heartbeat.

Across the room, Isaac exhaled deeply, dragging a hand through his messy brown hair. His aspect stirred in response, invisible gears of probability starting to shift in their favor. Luck—one of their only weapons now—was quietly gathering behind their backs, preparing to tip the scales.

"We just need a sliver…" he muttered. "Just enough luck to hold them back again."

The newly emerged Gate loomed on the eastern flank of the citadel, where the ground was already cracked and scorched from the last wave. Even if it was tens of kilometers away, both of them knew better than to feel safe.

For Awakened or fallen horrors, such distance did not mean thing.

At best, they had half an hour. Maybe less.

Driver snatched the comm, her voice sharp and breathless as she barked into it.

"All available mobile suits, move to intercept the Gate! I repeat, immediate engagement is priority one! If those bastards make it past the ridge, they'll flank the entire army!"

Her hand trembled slightly as she lowered the device... Nothing? No one answered.

Driver's jaw clenched. Her fingers dug into the edge of the console, her nails threatening to break.

"Why isn't anyone answering?! Where the hell are they!?"

She turned to her glowing screen, sweat beading on her temple. Red alerts blinked like dying stars, and the map offered no comfort—only a spreading cloud of doom.

"AI!" she snapped. "Search for any available channels. I don't care who or where. Just find someone—anyone!"

Her AI, a soft female voice devoid of emotion, responded a second later.

"Scanning open military and auxiliary frequencies now... Stand by."

Driver paced back and forth, her boots echoing against the steel floor. If the nightmare creatures reached the rear lines… if the army was sandwiched between two tides of death…

It would be a massacre.

Though before the AI could complete its scan, a voice crackled through the comm. Strained, raw, and barely above a whisper.

"S-sorry, Boss… All available mobile suits… have been destroyed."

Driver froze.

Her heart skipped a beat. Not from fear, but from hope.

Someone survived... Hell Yeah! Suck on that, you ugly bastards!

She slumped into her chair, gripping the comm like a lifeline as her drones whirred in the background, already adjusting their scan patterns to search for survivors.

"What's your name, soldier?" she asked quickly, her voice steadier than she felt.

A dry, bitter chuckle came through the speaker, laced with pain and exhaustion.

"It's Andrea, Boss."

Drones finally found her, lying on the battlefield. Her leg was missing, and her black hair was drenched in blood. All around her, blood and flames were spreading like an avalanche. Destroyed MBs lay scattered, smoke rising from their shattered remains into the sky.

Driver bit her lower lip, already one step away from nuking all the nightmare creatures without a second thought. Her soldiers were dying, and she was the one sending them to their deaths... Still, she had no choice—and they knew it as well.

If it weren't her own soldiers, maybe she wouldn't feel this furious about her powerlessness. But... they were her soldiers.

"Shit! No MBs? There has to be someone! Anyone! Come on! We need to buy the main units more time!"

Andrea laughed, throwing her head back. Then she looked down at her body—her leg was gone, her shoulder pierced, her skin bruised, and her whole being exhausted. She would die soon, either from blood loss or the fangs of the nightmare creatures.

So she began crawling across the cold, icy ground. Not even ground, really. What ground? This was Antarctica, nothing but endless ice and snow.

She felt her body growing numb from the cold, blood dribbling from the corner of her mouth. She coughed, wiped her lips, and kept moving forward.

She knew what lay beyond the battlefield. It was [Blackbolt]—an Assassin-class aircraft, primarily designed for black ops missions. Its sleek, ultra-black surface bent light itself, rendering it invisible. And since Antarctica hadn't seen sunlight in two months, it had remained perfectly hidden.

No visible weapons could be detected until they were activated.

Because of the existence of flying-type Abominations, and the sheer danger of aerial combat, Rachel had designed this aircraft for stealth and hit-and-run tactics. A ghost in the sky, built to strike fast and vanish faster.

But this time, Blackbolt wasn't going to hide.

This time… it would go out with a bang.

Crawling toward the aircraft, Andrea took deep breaths. She paused for a moment, letting the mist curl from her mouth as she exhaled. She was cold—practically freezing. And so damn tired...

It would've been so easy to just give up... So damn easy.

Fuck it. I ain't ducking the fade, she thought with an amused laugh, shaking her head and dragging her body into the aircraft.

Driver stared at the screen in disbelief, then shouted through the comms:

"Andrea! What are you doing!? Evacuation drones are on their way! Listen to my orders and wait, goddamnit! They will extract you soon!"

Andrea grimaced as she slumped into Blackbolt's pilot seat. She knew exactly what was in there—Rachel had stashed it for moments like this, for when everything went to hell.

She smiled faintly.

At least her boss always had a plan.

She wasn't as reckless as the rest of them.

"I ain't a pilot for mobile suits, boss... but I am the PILOT! And what I'm piloting? Those beasts won't even see it coming! Don't worry about a thing—I'll send those ugly fuckers straight to hell!"

She said with deranged laugh as Driver kept shouting into the comm, trying to stop her, but Andrea had already made up her mind.

Meanwhile, Isaac stayed silent. He took a deep breath and stepped back, sinking into his seat with a tired expression.

He had already performed the divination. He knew what was coming… and by now, he had grown used to it. He had done what he could—amplified the luck on their side.

This was it.

Their one chance to stop the Nightmare Creatures from flanking them and tearing through their forces from behind.

Andrea… Andrea was their luck.

Meanwhile, the Nightmare Creatures had already emerged from the gate. Bestial horrors growled and charged toward the army, the scent of human souls immediately pulling their attention. They ignored Andrea and the Blackbolt completely.

That would be their fatal mistake...

Andrea grinned darkly, eyes burning with resentment as she circled above the creatures. She didn't attack right away—no, she waited. She let the gate empty first. Let all those bastards crawl out into the open.

Then, she accelerated.

The aircraft roared as she surged forward at full speed. Her gaze briefly flicked to the Oxygen Destroyer onboard. It didn't have the same blast radius as a nuke, but it was far more lethal. That was its true advantage—it annihilated all life, organic or otherwise. Even the Fallen Nightmare Creatures, were nothing in the face of the Oxygen Destroyer.

She grimaced as the Blackbolt climbed higher and higher, cutting through the frigid sky. When she reached the right altitude, she activated the bomb's timer… and let the aircraft dive.

Straight toward the horde.

Andrea exhaled, steadying her breath as the ground rushed up toward her.

Just a few more seconds… and she would die with the beasts.

Andrea felt her life flash before her eyes—but this wasn't the time for nostalgia.

This was the time for glory.

Grabbing her comm, she laughed, her voice hoarse but blazing with fire, and shouted back at Driver:

"What's our number one rule!? Never duck a fade! For the Glory of Chaos Ascendancy! Hahahaha—"

BOOM!

The Oxygen Destroyer detonated.

Andrea had been a great pilot to the very end. She had calculated the exact timing of her descent, set the bomb's timer with precision, and upon impact—it activated.

A massive shockwave ripped across the land. Then, everything was sucked toward the center of the blast. The Oxygen Destroyer did what it was made for: it liquefied every Nightmare Creature within range, atomizing them with terrifying efficiency. No life could survive. Not even the Fallen ones, no matter what their class were.

Silence followed the eruption—thick, heavy, absolute.

But the crisis… was over.

Andrea had won...

A few hours later, the battle was over.

The human citadel that sheltered countless civilians still stood, battered but unbroken.

Luckily, Diego had managed to defeat the Gate Guardian and return just in time to annihilate the last of the abominable horrors.

But the cost had been high.

Many brave soldiers had fallen.

Chaos Ascendancy didn't care what the great clans or the government did with their own dead—but when it came to their own, they had rules.

And so, the next day, they did nothing else. They gathered the bodies of their comrades—what was left of them—and began the solemn task of burial.

Some cried as they saw the mangled, devoured, torn-apart corpses of friends they'd shared laughs and meals with.

Some remained cold and silent, their grief buried under discipline or numbness.

Others were simply too exhausted to react at all, staring blankly as the dead were laid to rest.

Chaos Ascendancy suffered more losses than the government or the great clans. Yet, their deaths saved millions of people; none of them turned their backs on the enemy.

They weren't like the others. All of them were cold-blooded killers who couldn't be held back by fear. Sure, they were all afraid of dying, but being fearless isn't courage—it's still taking action despite being afraid.

And thus, many courageous men and women died today just to spite the nightmare creatures. To slaughter them like pigs. To step on their rotten bodies and spit on their corpses.

Chaos Ascendancy solidified its reputation as a deranged group of murderers from this battle. Their attitude made many wary of them, which only further angered the members of the Ascendancy. Their brothers and sisters died for them—and what? People were afraid of them just because they were different? Just because they were drenched in blood and gore?

"Look… it's those madmen."

"I heard they were released from prison because the government lacked manpower."

"Seriously? What if those lunatics start killing people?"

Many were bitter about these reactions, but Isaac understood what was really happening. His expression darkened as he observed the crowd. Someone was spreading all sorts of nasty rumors about them… Was it the government? No, the Ascendancy and the government had an alliance. Tatiana was engaged to MoonVeil, the princess of the Song Clan. That left only the Valor Clans warriors…

So that's how they play… he thought bitterly. But for now, he remained silent. It wasn't time to act yet.

***

Man, that was rough... Andrea was the GOAT. She fought tooth and nail till the bitter end and never gave up. That's right, folks. Never forget the number one rule of Ascendancy:

WE. DON'T. DUCK. THE FADE. 😤🔥

I wrote this chapter because I wanted to show you something important:

How much one soldier's courage can change everything. Throughout our history, we've seen it again and again when one person, armed with nothing but grit and willpower, tips the scales. Even the powerless can make a difference. And Andrea? She proved that.

That's all for now.

Rest easy, Queen. You'll never be forgotten.

Enjoy the chapter, legends.

***