Chapter Title : The Lines Are Drawn
The arrow had not yet stilled.
Its shaft, still quivering in the broken ribs of the fallen soldier, cast a long shadow under the copper light of the sky. Blood seeped into the cracked ground, steaming faintly where it met the cold. And in front of the corpse, the last man standing from their unit fell to his knees. His weapon clattered beside him. Tears spilled freely—down his soot-lined cheeks, into the grit of war.
He didn't sob. He didn't scream. Just knelt there.
Behind him far away, the monstrous silhouette of the Red Walker that had fired the arrow stood as if rooted to the soil, its face—a jagged mask of charred crimson bone—glaring silently, watching.
In the sky above, the storm of war was still rising.
In the heart of Suha Command Base, lights flared to crimson.
Screens blinked to life, control boards humming like awakened beasts. Dozens of officers leaned over terminals, hands flying across holographic keys, data streams rushing down every screen.
The heavy metal doors opened with a hiss.
Minister Tenzy walked in, adjusting the knot of his silver tie. His long black coat swirled slightly as he moved toward General Soren, who stood before the central operations display like a statue carved from war itself.
Soren barely turned his head.
"How are we approaching this?" he asked.
Tenzy didn't hesitate. "Just the way we planned on doing it."
The Minister snapped his fingers. A nearby officer jumped.
"You," Tenzy pointed, "Initiate a global Shen indicator sweep. I want every place these bastards are crawling out from. Now."
"Yes, Minister!" The officer typed in commands rapidly, lips pressed tight. His screen began to pulse, feeding lines of code into the processor.
A moment passed.
Then the officer's eyes widened. "Minister Tenzy… General Soren… you need to see this."
He swiveled the screen toward them.
And what they saw was impossible to ignore.
The entire region lit up in blood-red markers. A storm of indicators—each one signaling a Shen-afflicted enemy—blanketed the continent. The map pulsed with malignancy. Greenland's southern border, its north, even the remote corners of the west—everywhere was crawling with them.
General Soren's brow twitched. "Find who we stationed at each sector. Use the drones."
The officer gave a sharp nod and began the process. Screens split into multiple feeds. Drone cams buzzed into view—one after another, feeding back real-time visual from every hot zone.
What they saw next sent a cold chill through the control room.
Red Walkers.
Hundreds of them.
Each force was led by a different face—members of the Ten.
"Southern front," the officer narrated, zooming in, "Jabari and Silas. Flanked by two full platoons of Walkers, marching directly into our lower perimeter."
"North," he continued, "Hirito and Kazuki. They've already breached the ridge."
Then the feed panned again—and the room quieted.
At the far western flank region—standing amidst a field of blood mist and frost—came giants. Red Walkers the size of buildings, each footstep a minor earthquake. At their lead was a single mounted figure: a humanoid Red Walker on a twisted, sinewed steed, its bone horns gleaming.
Minister Tenzy crossed his arms. "Are our forces still stationed in each region?"
"They are, sir," came the reply from
Soren.
"Good." He turned toward the adjoining chamber. "Then we're sending in the strike teams—now."
He strode through the doors into a chamber that hummed with unstable energy.
A domed teleportation machine sat at the center of the room, arcing electricity between its metal plates. Four concentric circles were etched into the ground. Around each stood elite teams, already suited for war, their faces a mixture of focus and fury.
Minister Tenzy entered behind him and raised his voice.
"We've been attacked," he declared. "We will not hold back against these bastards."
He pointed toward the first group.
"Team One—you're taking the southern border. Sir Caelum leads. Osiris. Madagascar. Asger. You hold the line."
The men stepped forward, expressionless, already aware this was a one-way ticket.
"Team Two—northern front. Drondaya. Vincent. Chiro. Wei."
The four nodded as one, all weapons already affixed, eyes sharp with vengeance.
"Team Three—direct center, the heart of the onslaught. Mujin, Zichen, Andrei," Tenzy paused briefly, "the Associate President team. You face Huey and his cohort directly. Kill them."
Each of the three merely gave a solemn nod. Not a single word was said.
"Team Four—the west border. Marcus. Boris. Reinforcements await. You are the last wall."
The low thrum of the teleportation device intensified.
Minister Tenzy closed his eyes for a brief moment. When he opened them, his voice dropped to a low, savage growl.
"I cannot guarantee there will be no losses in this war. But I know one thing—this is our night. And we will not surrender it to brats who rob us of sleep. Go out there. Rip them apart."
He turned toward the control deck behind glass. The officer nodded and pressed the activation key.
Light exploded across the room.
Each team stood within their designated circle. The rings lit up one by one white, then blue, then violet. Lightning cracked through the air as the walls trembled. With a single unified flash, the teams vanished—teleported into the carnage ahead.
The wind at the southern border howled with ash.
Sir Caelum and his team appeared in a blaze of energy, the teleportation flash still sizzling in the grass. Osiris, Asger, and Madagascar materialized beside him, weapons drawn. Before them, across a wide valley of firelit ground, Jabari and Silas waited—alongside a seething horde of Red Walkers.
In the north, snow hissed around Drondaya's team. The temperature dropped in seconds as Hirito and Kazuki approached—dark figures moving silently amid the storm.
In the center zone—the battlefield known only as the Hollow—Mujin, Zichen, and Andrei appeared in the burned ruins of a temple ground. Standing in the distance, atop a broken staircase surrounded by ruined banners, Huey was waiting.
He cracked his neck and grinned.
"Oh," Huey said, arms spread like he was greeting guests at a party. "The big boys have arrived, huh?"