Kendall District.

Amid the sound of distant sirens, explosions, and the thunder of war that reverberated in the background as more and more people gradually made their way to the grand square, like a cancer, Leon infiltrated the crowd of believers.

The congregation looked fearful and exhausted, but they listened.

And to Lucian, this meant the world.

Standing behind him, Xena Rousey had a concerned expression on her face as she vigilantly observed her surroundings but she didn't stop him from preaching.

She already informed Ramirez and the others of Lucian's premonition, and now they were all on high alert.

They looked alert as they secretly paid keen attention to everything, looking out for any unusual movement in the crowd.

They were ready to do anything to protect Lucian.

Lucian's gentle voice echoed as finally, he changed the way that he addressed the crowd from just 'citizens of Leviathan Quay'.

"Beloved brothers and sisters," he called". I can finally see the piety of this city for God and it fills my heart with gladness". His eyes shone with a barely contained excitement.

"Welcome to the divine blueprint".

"Welcome to God's ideal plan for our world".

Lucian's face turned solemn. "Outside this grand square, your homes fall and voices cry out, voices that seek redemption and salvation. Fear walks openly in the streets but people of Leviathan Quay, God has not yet forsaken this city".

He grinned. "God has a plan for this city".

"This world may be wounded, our bodies may ache and our hearts may bleed, but God is not blind to our suffering". He patted his right chest piously.

"Sometimes, we suffer just so we can draw closer to God, like now".

"When you fulfill his mandate, when you kill the heretics in your midst and make yourself holy before him, he listens".

The smile on his face softened. "He hears every cry you choke back in the dark, he counts every tear that falls upon this broken ground".

"Even now, as the heretics invade and press upon your walls, the Lord is nearer than ever before".

He raised his right hand up high and chanted. "Gud er større!"

"GUD ER STØRRE!" The crowd responded.

Hearing the loud response of the congregation, Lucian couldn't help the big smile that curled up his lips as his face turned even more gentle.

"People of God," once again he changed the way that he addressed them. "Lift your eyes beyond the smoke".

"The darkness you see and the hopelessness you feel today is not permanent, God is in control".

"We've fought his jihad, now he'll fight for us!" He said loudly.

"Life is fleeting, temporary, but salvation is eternal".

"There is a Kingdom beyond the filth we currently live in".

"There is a Kingdom not built by mortal hands, a city no army can besiege, a throne no tyrant can seize".

"In that Kingdom," he smiled. "There are no sirens, no Synths, no heretic A.I Constructs, there are only pure and holy humans, and songs".

"In that Kingdom, there are no wounds, only healing".

"In that Kingdom, there is no hunger, only abundance".

"In that Kingdom, there are no Wastes, only pure divine cities".

"There is no fear," his expression was as gentle as a dove. "In God's Kingdom, fear has been cast out".

"Fear is what the heretic Omnicore Federation forced on us to control us, but in God's Kingdom, there is no fear".

His smile widened as he spread his hands towards the crowd. "Can you imagine such a world?" His dual-colored eyes gleamed in delight as he also seemed to be imagining it.

It was already a few minutes since Leon infiltrated the congregation.

Hidden in the crowd and listening to him preach, Leon confirmed his speculation that Lucian only had a few years left to live.

'He's seeking comfort in the conceptualized perfect kingdom of his God'.

This also confirmed that just like him, Lucian had no idea if Leviathan Quay would survive today's disaster or not.

His promise of God saving this city after the people fulfilled the so-called divine mandate was just a baseless hope on some divine intervention.

Lucian was just as deluded as the people who came to listen to him.

Leon knew he couldn't rush his observation. He stayed patient and observed for about 20 more minutes, and then he finally saw what he was looking out for.

When he saw Xena Rousey discreetly observe her surroundings and then move behind the erected altar, Leon's eyes gleamed, becoming sharp as his grayish white ADE flared in an imperceptible manner.

Bzzz!

Drone Control Matrix!

Unknown to the congregation and the terrorists, an invisible drone rose into the sky, floating above the congregation and watching the altar from above.

Through the footage from the C-5 drone, Leon saw Xena lift the purple curtain that was used to veil the altar as she pulled out an armored crate from under the altar.

It was a thick brown military-style crate.

Staring at the crate, Leon realized. 'That's heavily armored'.

Xena observed her surroundings discreetly again, clearly wary of any secret observers spying on her. Only when she was convinced that she was alone did she look at the lock system on the crate and quickly inputted a few numbers.

The C-5 drone tracked her fingers as she typed the numbers.

[6/0/7/7/9/6]

Click!

The crate opened with a hiss, revealing a small square-shaped black box with golden patterns inside.

Leon immediately locked in on his target. 'Is that it?'

In that moment, he had a sudden idea and felt some regret for not having a tiny spider-like robot. With a tiny spider-like robot, he could easily sneak under the altar without being seen to retrieve the box's contents.

A tiny spider-like robot could input the passcode.

As he watched, Xena confirmed his suspicions as she carefully opened the box, revealing multiple compartments filled with tiny bottles with yellowish green fluids on one part, and a bunch of syringes on another side.

She picked one of the syringes and filled it up with the content of one of the tiny bottles, then she carefully closed the box back and finally locked the crate.

After that, she pushed the crate under the altar again before climbing back on top the altar while hiding the syringe.

The invisible C-5 drone quietly followed her.

As Lucian's sermon continued, she approached him, then she grabbed his right hand and whispered something to him before discreetly administering the injection as she injected the syringe's content into his body.

When the fluid entered his body, Lucian's body visibly stiffened for a second as he let out a long exhale.

Seeing this, Leon's black eyes narrowed as he thought. 'Confirmed'.

'Now, the next step is confirming the duration between shots'.

He left the C-5 drone to hover directly above the altar but he didn't stay still.

He moved, quietly shuffling his way unseen to the edge of the congregation without attracting attention as his eyes gleamed.

With the C-5 drone monitoring the terrorists, he commenced the next phase of his plan.

A minute later…

Hidden inside a damaged building as a result of the ongoing invasion, with the help of his C-5 drones and Davis, Leon finally locked on the location of all the clinics nearest to this grand square.

In his digital board, he drew lines connecting all the clinics to the grand square where Lucian picked.

"Davis, project a detailed map of the surrounding terrain for me, don't skip any detail".

DING!

"Yes master".

Davis understood the assignment as a hologram soon appeared in mid-air in front of him showing a comprehensive map of the surrounding terrain.

Going through it was going to be a lot of work but undeterred, Leon sat down and took his time to go through the map, study and understand it.

He embedded every minute detail in his head.

By the time he was done, he felt like his brain was on fire but Leon didn't stop as only after this did he finally stand up to leave.

He left with the new backpack he picked from an abandoned store during the commotion and entered the next phase of his plan.

Leon paid a visit to all the major landmarks in the surrounding terrain, getting himself familiar with the terrain even as Lucian's sermon continued.

…

About 30 minutes earlier, Megabase 024.

Inside the Megabase with the highest concentration of NetRunners and Mechanists in the city, Major Roshfield had a video call with Captain Holloway, the leader of Megabase 025 and Captain Tank, the leader of Megabase 024.

This was after she reminded Captain Holloway, the intelligence leader in the city to call for reinforcements and he did. This was also before she joined the battle in Megabase 023.

With two of the highest-ranking soldiers in the city before her, both in charge of intelligence and the city-wide energy shield, she went straight to the point.

She looked at Captain Holloway's projection in the video call. "How long before reinforcement comes from Sprawl Delta?"

"2 hours".

Major Roshfield's face scrunched up slightly on hearing that figure but knowing just how far the Federation went today in their preparations for the invasion, she didn't inquire about why reinforcement was going to take so long.

Instead, she looked at Captain Tank and asked. "How long is the shield going to last?"

The Captain took a deep breath. "The disruptor torpedoes being used by the Federation are targeting the very nature of the shield, and because of this it's expending 5 times more energy than normal to stay stable".

"The Category 3 Beast Tide in the Southern Wall already revealed about 3 D Rank Neon Beasts, and we don't know if this number is going to increase".

"Give me numbers". Major Roshfield demanded.

Captain Tank nodded then he said. "Theoretically, the shield should still last 2 hours but if the damage figures increase, let's say an hour and 30 minutes, an hour and 20 minutes at least". He said confidently.

"Good, that's what I need". Major Roshfield nodded. "Make sure the shield doesn't fail us before this time".

"Yes Major". The 2 Captains acknowledged with a salute.

After that, Major Roshfield finally left to join the battle at Megabase 023.

But things don't always go according to plan.

…

Back to present time.

While Lucian continued preaching in Kendall District, the situation in Leviathan Quay finally took a turn for the worse.

09:56am.

About 40 minutes after the invasion by the Omnicore Federation started, despite the joint assault by the Omnicore Federation forces and the Beast Tide on the energy shield, against all expectations that Captain Tank had, Leviathan Quay's energy shield finally succumbed!

CRACKKKKK!

The shield cracked, then it shattered!

The sound reverberated through the city like thunder!

…

Megabase 023.

The epic battle for aerial superiority in one of the major military megabases of Leviathan Quay continued at a high intensity.

Military transports exploded like fiery fireworks on both sides as soldiers died in thousands. The sky rained fire!

After Major Agakin's crazy stunt where he took out 3 warships of the Federation Army at the same time, the invading force regarded him as a priority target as they protected the last warship above Megabase 023 against him.

It was hard but they managed to pull it off.

Despite the chaos of this battle though, 2 battlefields were especially eye-catching as they stole all the show and attention for the past 40 minutes.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The enigmatic duo of Major Roshfield and Major Agakin took on the E Rank Storm Striker Cyber Gladiator of the Federation, preventing the swift Ascended from going loose and assaulting the transports of the Megabase.

But the 2 Majors were not content with just stifling his impact in this battlefield though since they could hardly hit him to kill him.

Instead, they employed a strategy where they distracted him long enough for one of them to take action on the Federation forces around them.

And when he tried to escape and also assault the city forces, the 2 D Rank Gene Augurs would combine again to stifle his impact.

This time, it was Major Agakin's turn.

Just as Major Roshfield attacked aggressively and drew the attention of the Federation soldier, Major Agakin flapped his mighty wings and accelerated.

Whoosh!

He flew with rapid speed across the nearest Federation transports and as he passed them, his orange ADE ignited, converting into a different form!

Toxic Burst!

A large miasma of a corrosive purple cloud detonated from his ADE, invading multiple transports of the Federation army as over a hundred soldiers were infected by the toxic cloud as they instantly began to suffocate.

Over a hundred Federation soldiers were killed in that single attack!

When the Federation Cyber Gladiator realized what was happening for the umpteenth time again since he started clashing with the 2 Majors, he was livid but this time he didn't react.

This was because his ADE was already dropping low after fighting at such high intensity for about 30 minutes straight.

Compared to him though, the 2 D Rank Gene Augurs were still stacked.

This was another advantage of Gene Augurs in prolonged battles. Compared to other Classes at E and D Rank, D Rank Gene Augurs were cardio monsters with enough ADE to sustain battles for days if not even weeks!

They were freaks of nature.

At the same time that this happened, on the other battlefield, Colonel Bam-Bam fought against the Supreme Commander of the invasion force, the D Rank Mindbreaker NetRunner who was as slippery as an Eel.

And that was when it happened.

CRACKKKKKKKKKKK!

The city-wide energy shield suddenly shattered!

Leviathan Quay was exposed!

Major Roshfield's eyes widened in shock. 'W-what???'

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