Chapter 82: Battle begins
Chapter 82: Battle begins
"Who are you?" the woman asked, her icy voice cutting through the tense silence of the marketplace. Even the distant sound of water pumps from the deep city seemed to dull under the weight of the confrontation.
Beneath her composed exterior, a faint instability lingered in her perception. She was a Sage standing at the uppermost tier of Atlantis, yet something about the man in front of her made her instincts tighten. He appeared ordinary at first glance, but the deeper she observed, the more the sense of danger refused to leave her mind.
Victor did not react to her hostility. He stood still, his expression calm and controlled as if the situation did not require emotional investment. His gaze remained steady, and when he spoke, his voice carried a quiet certainty that did not rise or fall in tone.
"Are you really going to launch an all out war against the humans on the surface?" he asked.
The silver haired woman’s thoughts halted for an instant. The question struck her like a breach in sealed space, because the information it referenced should not have existed outside the highest command structure. Only the emperors and a handful of sages were aware of the plan to eradicate surface humanity entirely.
She forced her expression to remain unchanged, though her internal composure had already shifted. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she reassessed him. The possibility of coincidence was no longer acceptable, and the possibility of ignorance had already been discarded. That left only intrusion, which should have been impossible.
"You are not worthy of asking questions to me," she said coldly. Her aura expanded outward in subtle pressure, distorting the space around her like heavy water currents. "Surrender or die."
Victor did not respond immediately. Instead, a faint and restrained smile appeared on his face. It carried no warmth or hostility, only a sense of observation, as if he had already concluded the outcome of the conversation long before it began. He shifted his focus slightly, as though addressing something beyond visible reality.
"Nova, proceed," he said.
At that command, the world changed its behavior in ways no one in Atlantis could have predicted. Artificial intelligence systems embedded throughout the empire began to react without authorization. Security layers that had been designed over centuries were bypassed in moments that felt too short for comprehension.
Across cities suspended in the abyssal ocean, every screen flickered at once. Public billboards, private communication devices, military monitors, and civic displays all synchronized into a single signal. The image of Victor appeared everywhere simultaneously, as though the entire empire had become a unified display under his control.
He did not appear like an intruder trying to force attention. He appeared like a presence that had always been allowed to speak, as though reality itself had briefly acknowledged him as a governing voice. His expression remained calm as he looked through every projection as if addressing all citizens at once.
"Atlantians," Victor’s voice spread through the empire, resonating through every communication channel. "Your emperors and sages intend to begin an all out war against the humans on the surface. Their goal is total extermination. I want you to consider whether this decision is justified."
The effect was immediate. Shock spread through populated districts, military zones, and elite sectors. Officers froze mid command as systems they trusted more than people began broadcasting a message they had never authorized. Confusion escalated into disorder within seconds.
The silver haired Sage narrowed her eyes further as she watched the broadcast continue. Instead of panic, she displayed irritation, as if the entire event was a meaningless interruption. Her lips curled slightly as she prepared to dismiss it entirely, but the scale of the interference still registered in her awareness.
"What can those weak creatures do even if they disagree?" she said aloud, her voice carried across local systems that were still partially under her control. "The weak do not determine the actions of the strong."
Victor did not acknowledge her statement. His attention remained focused elsewhere, as if her presence had already been categorized and filed away as irrelevant noise. Instead, he spoke once more to his artificial intelligence system.
"Nova, analyze the population response and provide a breakdown," he said.
The response came instantly. The artificial intelligence processed emotional data, communication patterns, and behavioral shifts across millions of individuals simultaneously. The calculation required no visible delay, as if the system existed beyond conventional time constraints.
Across Atlantis, society fractured into two dominant responses. The elite class expressed support for the war with enthusiasm and pride. They viewed surface humanity as inferior and disposable, an obstacle to expansion rather than a civilization. Their confidence in domination was absolute and unquestioned.
The common population reacted differently. Fear spread through families and workers who had no connection to political ambition. Many of them had lived ordinary lives without engaging in imperial decisions. For them, the idea of total war carried the weight of personal loss rather than abstract strategy.
Moments later, Nova delivered its conclusion directly into Victor’s perception. The result appeared as structured data that only he could interpret with full clarity. The analysis confirmed a significant division within the population, with a majority expressing opposition or discomfort regarding the war.
Victor closed his eyes briefly as he processed the result. When he opened them again, his expression had become slightly more defined, as if a boundary had been set within his understanding. The existence of dissent among the common population carried measurable significance in his judgment.
"Then they should not be involved further," he said quietly.
At that moment, a crimson sword formed within his grasp. It radiated concentrated power that distorted surrounding energy currents. The weapon itself was classified as Epic rank, yet even that designation felt insufficient compared to the pressure it emitted in close proximity to Victor.
He expanded his internal power without hesitation. Mana surged outward in an overwhelming wave that destabilized the surrounding environment. The marketplace structure began to tremble as energy density increased beyond normal tolerance levels. Even space itself appeared to strain under the pressure.
From a spatial storage device, a massive structure emerged into physical reality. It was a towering mechanical construct shaped like a battle machine of immense scale. Its design resembled a fusion of ancient engineering and advanced technology, with the appearance of a colossal war entity.
The machine resembled Optimus Prime in structure and presence, though its construction was adapted for magical integration. Every segment of its frame was reinforced with layered systems designed to support overwhelming power output. It hovered in place as it fully materialized above the city sector.
Victor then activated a forbidden technique that altered temporal flow itself. Time stopped entirely across the surrounding region. Motion ceased in an absolute sense, not merely slowed but completely halted. Even thought processes of observers were suspended within the frozen interval.
The cost of this intervention was severe. Years of life were consumed within seconds of effect, yet Victor moved without hesitation. Within this frozen interval, he ascended into the cockpit of the massive machine and entered its central command chamber.
Inside the control deck, multiple pilot seats were arranged in a structured formation. Victor ignored all auxiliary positions and proceeded directly to the central command seat. The moment he sat down, his consciousness extended into the machine’s control network.
His infinite mana began to synchronize with the mechanical systems. Normally, such a connection would destroy the mind of any operator due to overwhelming feedback pressure. However, Victor’s mental structure remained stable due to his mastery of a foundational meditation technique that stabilized his consciousness beyond normal limits.
Outside the machine, the crimson sword expanded in proportion to the mechanical body. Its scale increased until it matched the weapon configuration of the machine itself. The battlefield presence of the entity intensified, suppressing all surrounding movement.
Time resumed without warning. The frozen world returned to motion as if nothing had happened, yet everything had already changed. The machine now stood fully active, its eyes igniting with a deep crimson glow that illuminated the surrounding depths.
The silver haired Sage felt her composure collapse for the first time. Her breath tightened as she attempted to process what had occurred within the missing instant. One moment the man had been standing alone, and the next, a colossal war entity stood in his place.
She reacted immediately, raising her voice through communication channels that connected to nearby military units. Her command structure activated without delay as she ordered a full assault on the unknown entity. Her confidence had been replaced with urgency and instability.
Victor did not respond to the attack preparations. The machine lifted one massive mechanical arm and met the incoming energy strike directly. The attack was dismissed with a single motion, scattering into harmless fragments of dissipated energy.
A second later, the machine brought its expanded crimson sword downward. The strike carried immense force that split the surrounding terrain and destabilized structural foundations across the marketplace. The shockwave alone created a vast rupture in the ground.
The Sage narrowly avoided the blade by accelerating her movement to its limit. Even so, the pressure from the strike forced her backward violently. The confidence she had displayed moments earlier was gone, replaced by a clear understanding that she was no longer in control of the situation.