“Tian Long, be advised. Enemy commander may pull a trick out from his sleeve. We have intelligence suggesting that Overlord Slandarma’an has some kind of fearsome power which his subordinates revere.”

The radio transmitted the Operation Room’s warning loud and clear.

Wang Xia stared at the nearing gates of Opolla from the battle-copter.

“Roger that, base,” his pilot responded coolly.

General Xue Wu took a glance at the heir of the Kingdom to make sure everything was alright.

“ETA to dropzone… Sixty seconds…” the pilot announced.

Wang Xia felt the rush of adrenaline overcome his senses as the battle between Phantasm Ground Troops and the Commando-trained Rangers commenced.

Eight copters zoomed into the city.

“Deploying in thirty seconds.”

General Xue Wu briefed his asset one last time, “my liege, stick close to me. You will be alright.”

“Yes, General.”

“Deploy now!”

The men rappelled down the helicopters into Opolla. A special team comprising of City Hunters, Rangers and Tian Long was cleanly deployed into the enemy’s base of operations.

As of now, everything was going according to plan.

With the City Hunters’ specialised knowledge of the urban landscape, Tian Long weaved through the dense urban maze effortlessly.

Delta Four leader, Pollux, guided the insertion team through buildings. He abandoned his cover from a deserted sedan to aim a shot at the last Phantasm soldier in the vicinity.

A rich BANG rang out from his assault rifle and the enemy dropped to the ground with a loud THUD.

As expected of a City Hunter’s squad leader and pointman.

He stopped at the main entrance of a skyscraper as the team entered the building one at a time. Pollux was vigilant, ensuring that no one alive was following their trial.

“In here, quick,” Pollux beckoned.

“Will we get lost?” Tian Long’s man asked as they scurried up the emergency stairwell.

“Buildings are great covers and serve as short-cuts if you know how to manoeuvre in them,” Pollux explained.

Almost immediately, he stopped in his tracks.

“Someone’s here,” he whispered.

Delta Squad Four assembled into their urban tactical ambush formation. Several leaned against the wall while the rest squatted down to avoid being seen at eye-level. Tian Long and the Rangers followed suit.

After a minute of silence, footsteps echoed down corridor. The first head emerged from the corner but was immediately shot down by Pollux. His second dunked a tear gas down the perpendicular corridor. Delta Four sprung into action, effectively eliminating a Phantasm patrol team.

Not before long, they were on the go once again.

“Pollux, how did you know there were people in the building?” a Ranger asked curiously.

Pollux pointed at several doors and windows.

“Look carefully. They’re rigged to blow when pressure is applied,” he explained, “but look at some of the opened doors. I have been noticing these recurring patterns for a while now. Doors and passageways which don’t seem to be meddled with? In a tactical operation, no one opens a door politely using a doorknob.”

“Not unless they are the hosts, who have perfect knowledge of which places are rigged to blow…” General Xue Wu completed the sentence, finally understanding the logic behind Pollux’s guidance.

“And since we are on the topic, listen up team. Don’t touch anything without first having my squad clear. We won’t know what surprises and booby-traps these suckers have for us,” Pollux warned.

“Sir, we’re cleared.”

Pollux acknowledged. He nodded to his team, signalling them to detonate the rigged wall.

BOOM!

Concrete slabs blasted out from the wall as the insertion team took cover. Delta Squad Four advanced into the opening while the rest followed.

Their target destination was the Central Monetary Administration of Opolla.

They travelled through tunnels, sewages and various building structures. Under the guidance of Head Architect Arnold Urbs, the City Hunters were second to none in terms of utilising urban structures. They weaved through the urban maze of Opolla seamlessly, emerging for the last time from a demolished wall.

Buildings are great covers and serve as short-cuts if you know how to manoeuvre in them.

General Xue Wu recalled the words of the veteran urban soldier.

“Once again, we cannot underestimate Oclia’s strength. Even without radiance, their troops are well prepared for their own type of battle…” Xue Wu thought.

The insertion team did not have the luxury to enjoy the fresh air. They had exited the tunnel right at the entrance of their target building.

Pollux gestured for his men to cover Tian Long as they rushed into the Central Monetary Administtation.

“We’ve done our part. Now it’s time to do your magic, prince. Let’s complete this mission and get the hell out of here!” a Ranger commented as the team split up to guard the building.

The prince nodded and beckoned, “Xue Wu, let’s go.”

Tian Long soldiers spread out and combed the skyscraper while the main fight persisted outside. Though the operation was to take control of the city-harbour, this was exactly where they needed to be. The seizure of control of Opolla was just a distraction. The real operation has began. WAR needed crucial information which could only be extracted from this bank.

Systems operator, First Sergeant Nickael, manned his station, like the rest of the Ops Command team, supervised by Colonel Husker himself.

So far, everything looked perfectly normal. The operation was proceeding on smoothly. His colleagues manning different systems pinged back green feedbacks. Yet that did not mean that he could slack on the job. Nickael was trained to read a very unique condition. His system was built to pick up traces of radiation. He specialised in radiance analysis. His job was to examine radiance readings on the ground and advise on hostile situations and if a Berserker was due for radiance invocation. Though trained Berserkers can feel the power surge themselves and make their own judgement, Nickael’s job was to serve as an objective adviser, prompting them if necessary.

The screen swept in a circular, clockwise direction and the readings re-calibrated once more. The Neutron Dispersal embedded deep within the core of Gaia caused drastic interference to radiance readings, jamming the signals. Only the most skilled and perceptive minds could operate this particular system. And First Sergeant Nickael was one of the best in Communications and Systems School.

“Everything should be under control,” thought Nickael. It was too early for an invocation. The First Sergeant leaned back on his roller chair and rested his eyes. But his eyes snapped wide open as he heard a soft jamming frequency in his headset. His vision was fixated on his visual display. For a brief moment, the display went sluggish. The system was detecting an anomaly.

“It’s too soon…” Nickael muttered under his breath in disbelief. He decided to observe for a while longer to pick up on a pattern. Confirmation of his analysis required strong and recurring signals. It was still too soon to lay judgement. Reading radiance density was one of the most demanding stations to man. Nickael could not afford a mistake. Grabbing his notepad on the right side of his station, he swiftly jotted down the readings. His pen ink filled pages of his notepad in seconds. Strings of equations were processing through Nickael’s brain like rapids gushing down river beds.

He finally reached the answer, underlining it twice in triumph. Next, he pulled out several reference charts to compare the data. Looking back and forth from the print-outs to his own solutions numerous times, Nickael was seemingly confused. He could not comprehend the data. Such numbers could not exist… The mathematician by training ran through his equations once more. The numbers checked out. The equations add up.

“Then why..? Why does it not make sense..? Is it even possible..?” Nickael thought. He took a look at the system once more. It was giving the same readings as before. Nickael closed his eyes and concentrated. “The numbers add up… The numbers add up… Then it must be something we cannot explain… Something not learnt in Systems Training. What is it? What is it!?” he rationalised.

Suddenly, as if being struck by a judge’s gavel on his head, his mind cleared up. “Slandarma’an…” he muttered as he exhaled, “a fearsome power which his subordinates revere…”

The answer was staring blatantly straight at him like a convict on a guillotine waiting to be executed. It took him a few seconds to register the urgency of the issue.

“SIR! THEY HAVE RADIANCE ABILITIES AS WELL!!” he yelled.