Not even a second after Dreznor uttered the word surrender, a bullet shot toward his head, fired by a guard who had descended from a hidden panel in the ceiling, exploding it.
At least, that was the outcome the leader expected.
Instead, what he saw defied belief: Dreznor was still standing, completely unharmed, as if nothing had happened.
“Haaah,” Dreznor sighed. At least I tried, he thought, clutching a fold of his clothes tearing it as the torn piece started reforming into something else. He aimed and fired at the guard who was still midair, plummeting helplessly toward the floor. The shot struck him before he landed, ensuring he wouldn’t feel the pain of the fall. What a thoughtful man, Dreznor mused inwardly.
“Thanks for the answer,” he said coldly, and fired at the leader.
BAM!
The leader’s head slammed against the table, scattering a few items across the surface.
“Let’s take a look at your crimes before passing judgment,” Dreznor said, walking calmly toward the unconscious leader. The shot had been set to stun, unlike the one used on the guard, who now lay lifeless on the ground.
Dreznor retrieved a small VR device from his coat and placed it on the leader’s head, immediately beginning the data extraction from his brain.
“So, your name was Ukubun. What was so hard about introducing yourself with your actual name instead of demanding to be called His Excellency all the time?” he muttered, scrolling through the steadily updating data stream courtesy of the Little Protagonist.
BOOOOM!
The room trembled violently, as though caught in the middle of an earthquake, yet curiously, not a single speck of dust rose into the air.
“His Excellency!!!” A guard burst into the room, followed closely by an assistant, both trying to inform Ukubun of the sudden attack.
BAM! BAM!
“Shhh. He’s sleeping, don’t disturb him,” Dreznor said as both newcomers collapsed, stunned, into a heap on the floor.
He sighed again and holstered his weapon, allowing the nanomachines in his clothes to disperse and reset to their passive state.
“Let’s wait till they’re done,” he muttered, lowering himself to the floor and lying among the unconscious bodies. “I can’t be bothered shooting every single person who comes in to announce the obvious.”
……………….
Explosions erupted across various locations on the planet as chaos unfolded in every direction. Ship-to-ship dogfights lit up the sky, streaks of plasma fire and missile trails crisscrossing through the atmosphere. Overhead, the heavens were choked with civilian ships attempting to flee the carnage below.
But the invading forces had come prepared.
Military bases, mana-powered long-distance communication nodes, planetary defense systems, and anything capable of fighting back were being systematically targeted and neutralized. Precision strikes gutted defense platforms, and EMP pulses shorted mana cores and backup systems alike.
The situation grew even more desperate when the fleeing ships suddenly found themselves frozen in space. It was as if invisible tractor beams had seized them, stripping away their ability to maneuver. They floated helplessly above their burning world, forced to bear silent witness to the swift and brutal invasion.
Panic spread among the civilians aboard those vessels, their only hope now that the invaders deemed them too insignificant to destroy. For the moment, they were nothing more than sitting ducks, adrift, powerless, and afraid.
…………………….
“The communication nodes are out. We can go all out now, sir,” reported the communications officer aboard the command ship.
Zorath Varkuun, former pirate leader turned invasion commander, nodded at the update. His rise to command hadn’t been by accident. During training, he had demonstrated an exceptional tactical mind, a natural flair for leadership, and an unmatched grasp of underhanded tactics that came in handy when facing better-equipped enemies. Among all the pirates, he had been the obvious choice.
“Good,” Zorath said. “Where are we on the planetary scan?”
“Should be completed within five minutes, sir.”
“Make sure to watch for any nuclear launches. We need this planet as intact as possible. Remind everyone, capture the powerful and wealthy alive if you can.”
His eyes turned to the 3D hologram floating before him, displaying a dynamic, real-time representation of the ongoing battle with the planet, currently surrounded by a massive shield that had ships stuck in it. Data updated constantly, showing territorial control, ship formations, and resistance nodes.
It feels good to be on the better-equipped side for once, Zorath thought, a small smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. The contrast between their past as scrappy raiders and their current arsenal was like night and day. Back then, they barely scraped by. Now, they were the ones bringing overwhelming force.
At the rate things were progressing, the planet would fall in less than a week, possibly even faster. Dreznor’s decisive strike had shattered the chain of command, taking out the planetary leader and plunging the local leadership into disarray. The secondary command bases had also been destroyed, leaving the defenders directionless and scrambling.
All that was left was to finish the job before any outside force had time to respond.
………..
A ship darted through the sky, heading directly toward the residence of the planet’s leaders. Several frigates pursued it, attempting to intercept, but one by one, they were either blown out of the sky or forced to peel away under the relentless barrage of covering fire.
The planet’s anti-ship guns and defense systems should have activated by now, but an earlier EMP strike had already crippled them. Just to be thorough, those installations had been targeted and destroyed immediately after the EMP burst. The result: an open path through the airspace, almost entirely unchallenged.
Only scattered ground soldiers remained to oppose the incoming ship. They tried to open fire, but each time they exposed themselves, they were eliminated in real time by automated countermeasures tracking threats with surgical precision.
As the ship neared the target, it didn’t slow down. Instead, soldiers began dropping from its open bay doors mid-flight, descending with eerie precision right in front of the palace entrance. The ship itself adjusted its trajectory and weapons systems, switching from a transport role to direct assault, clearing the path for the troopers it had just delivered.
BAAAAAAM!
Dust exploded into the air as the soldiers landed. Without hesitation, they finished off the wounded enemies on the ground, those who had survived the initial bombardment, and moved swiftly into the palace-like structure. Room by room, they advanced, neutralizing any resistance. Combatants were shot on sight, while non-combatants were put into comas using weapons equipped with automatic lethality adjustment, each shot calibrated on the fly by built-in threat analysis.
The building was enormous and densely staffed, clearly a symbol of power and paranoia. But the objective was clear: capture the entire leadership family.
Similar operations were unfolding across the planet. Every key figure, government officials, wealthy elites, slave merchants, gang leaders, heads of commerce, and anyone else wielding real influence, was being systematically hunted down.
No one with power was to be spared.
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