The dome around me trembled violently as the shockwave crashed into it. The force of it was immense, shaking the very ground beneath our feet. I kept my will focused and the violet Essence flowing steadily, reinforcing the dome to make sure it held strong.
Every second felt like an eternity.
Finally, the rumbling stopped. The pressure eased.
I let go of the Essence, and the dome cracked, then crumbled around us, snow falling in chunks at our feet.
Slowly, the members of Unit 02 stood up, dazed but alive. We looked around.
And what we saw left us speechless.
The forest around us was completely destroyed.
For miles in every direction, there were no trees—only broken stumps, shattered trunks, and splinters scattered across a wasteland of blackened earth.
Even the snow had vanished, turned to vapor by the sheer force of the blast. A massive crater had opened up where the shockwave had hit the hardest.
It looked like the end of the world.
And then we saw why.
