POV: Chris Blackwood — Supreme War Room, Depths of the Citadel
The room was silent. Not even the usual hum of monitors or shuffle of boots. Just Chris, seated on his obsidian throne, eyes burning into the massive digital map that hovered in the air before him.
The red of Blackwood still painted the world… but there it was. A fracture. Small. Strategic. Sharp.
He leaned forward slowly.
> "Ko Lian."
His voice barely broke a whisper. But it echoed like thunder through the command center. One word. One name. That was enough.
Moments later, Amara stormed in, dressed in her silent-ops armor. Christiana followed, her face unreadable, her mind already analyzing.
> "They thought they could play me," Chris said calmly. "They planted ghosts. They stirred shadows. Let's turn the shadows into fire."
He pressed his finger to a crimson circle on the map.
> "Initiate Operation Echo Flame."
---
—Ko Lian's Convoy—
Underneath the cover of a moonless sky, their transports raced through the abandoned corridor of the Eastern Wastes, a route believed to be forgotten. Ko Lian smirked.
> "They never guard dead roads."
But they did. They always did. Especially if they were bait.
Suddenly—BOOM!
The lead transport exploded in a flash of white fire. The convoy screeched to a halt.
Too late.
From beneath the desert sand, Blackwood's silent tanks emerged. Dozens. Then hundreds. Their matte-black surfaces absorbed the light. Their engines didn't roar. They purred.
Ko Lian's guards scattered. But sniper shots rained from cliffs above. Each bullet embedded with sonic trackers.
> "We're surrounded!" a lieutenant screamed.
Ko Lian drew his blade, but a voice came through his earpiece.
> "This is not a battle, Ko. This is a lesson."
—Chris Blackwood.
Suddenly, holograms surrounded them—dozens of images of Chris, circling them like ghosts.
> "You thought you'd play me? You thought I didn't see? I wrote the damn script."
Ko Lian was grabbed, disarmed, thrown to the ground.
> "You wage war on gods and expect mercy?"
Chris's face appeared on a low-flying Blackhawk above them. The glass lifted and revealed himself, physically present.
> "No more games."
Then Chris descended from the chopper, surrounded by his personal elite—The B.A.M., each wielding soundless weapons.
Ko Lian was forced to kneel.
> "You want to make martyrs? I'll show you how gods bury them."
---