Chapter 14: The Hollow Crown Rises
Dawn broke with an eerie silence.
Alex stood at the edge of the Kael estate's rooftop garden, staring at the first rays of sunlight piercing the fog. Behind him, the Dominion Cube hovered silently, rotating with a dull blue glow. The air was charged with anticipation—every thread of the Dominion circuit now pulsed through the city like an invisible current. The Nexus Core had revealed itself, but it had also awakened something long dormant.
The Hollow Crown.
Their first encounter had been brief—a name, a symbol, a breach in the system's internal framework. But even a whisper carried weight. The Dominion System acknowledged it as a threat, and that meant only one thing: it was real, and it was powerful.
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Mission Briefing: Operation Nexus Ascension
Objectives:
1. Secure the Dominion Nexus Core beneath the ruined inner sanctum of Old Core City.
2. Defend against Hollow Crown incursion.
3. Stabilize Iris's fragmented consciousness.
4. Upgrade Base Protocol to Dominion Level 2.
Rewards:
Unlock Nexus Authority Skill Tree
Formation of Elite Squad: Sovereign Guard
Access to Personal Territory Expansion (Outer Zones)
Time Limit: 72 Hours
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The team gathered in the war chamber, maps spread across the central table, each detail glowing with light from the Dominion Cube.
Naomi pointed to the subterrain tunnel entrances. "We take three routes. Main force through the southern trench. Recon and stealth to the west and east. Hollow Crown is already there—we can't underestimate them."
Ryssa checked her rifle. "I've seen what Crown does to people. They don't just kill—they convert."
"Convert?" Lira asked.
"They pull your spirit into a corrupted astral thread—strip your soul of resonance, then rebind it with forbidden sigils. You're still alive... just not you anymore."
Silence followed.
Alex broke it. "We go in full force. We don't stop until the Nexus is ours."
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Infiltration: Old Core City
The city ruins were haunted. Skyscrapers long collapsed formed jagged canyons. Streets were littered with ash and machines fused with bones—memories of the Dominion War. Alex led the main team, while Naomi and Goro handled the eastern flank. Reed and Ryssa maneuvered the west.
The descent began with resistance—automated defense drones still operational from centuries ago. Alex's team had to hack, reroute, and destroy them all while conserving mana and system energy.
Deeper in, spectral anomalies appeared.
Not illusions—echoes of the dead.
Lira whispered as they passed a group of children laughing, running through a school courtyard, now overtaken by vines and concrete. "Residual emotion. This place remembers."
In the Nexus chamber's antechamber, the Hollow Crown made its move.
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The First General of the Hollow Crown Appears
A figure stepped from the shadows—tall, lean, draped in robes of glass and shadow. His face was masked, but his voice was sharp.
"You brought the blood of Kael to the doorstep of gods. Admirable. Suicidal."
Alex raised his blade. "Who are you?"
"Varinth. First Sovereign of the Crown. Herald of Reclamation."
He snapped his fingers. The dead rose—not zombies, but warriors made of bone and cosmic light. Dominion soldiers twisted into Crown vessels.
Battle erupted.
Goro unleashed quake bursts, collapsing walls on enemy formations. Naomi used vector blades to carve through void armor. Alex activated Dominion Edge, a new system-enhanced swordplay that altered time by milliseconds.
Lira clashed mentally with a Crown telepath, forcing psychic reality against psychic distortion.
And then—Varinth moved.
His hands shaped sigils mid-air, and the Nexus Core responded, pulsing red.
"You can't unlock what we already own!" he snarled.
Alex countered with his own sigils, drawn from the Dominion cube's deep memory.
The Nexus trembled.
Iris screamed from the comm-link.
"She's being pulled again!" Naomi cried.
Alex made a snap decision—he stabbed the Dominion Cube into the Nexus port.
[Core Interface Established] [Emergency Override Engaged] [Neural Transfer Initiated]
Alex was pulled inward.
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Inside the Nexus
It was a realm of pure data and light. Streams of golden code flowed like rivers. Towers made of thought rose endlessly.
And at the center—another version of Alex. Or rather, the echo of Sovereign Kael, the man whose bloodline he shared.
"You're not ready," the echo said.
"I don't care."
"You don't understand the cost."
Alex raised his arm. "Then teach me."
The echo moved. So did Alex.
A duel of inheritance began—pure will against pure memory.
Outside, the team held the line. Naomi was bleeding. Reed's gun arm was shattered. Lira collapsed next to Iris.
And then—a shockwave.
The Nexus glowed gold.
Alex stepped out.
His armor was no longer the patched-up Dominion uniform.
It was full Sovereign Regalia.
And behind him, the Dominion Avatar—a sentient warframe of light—hovered, armed and waiting.
Varinth hissed. "Impossible."
Alex smiled. "I'm Kael reborn."
He raised his hand. The Avatar mirrored him.
[Dominion Ascension: Phase
One Complete]
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As the Hollow Crown forces scattered, Alex stood at the heart of the Nexus.
They had won this battle.
But the war had just begun.