LOCATION: IRONSHADE STRONGHOLD – SOUTH-EASTERN RUINS ZONE
Ironshade wasn't a city. It was a fortress, carved from the remains of old megastructures, ruled by one of the last functioning AI overlords — Director Theta-7, a sentient war algorithm fused into the city's neural grid.
Most avoided it. Every drone that flew too close was turned to ash. Refugees were vaporized before they could scream. The sky itself buzzed with defense satellites.
Which made it the perfect first target.
THE APPROACH
Su Chen stood atop a black APC, wind slicing across his face, the land behind him crawling with his people: survivors turned soldiers, mercenaries turned believers.
"You sure about this?" Li Wei asked, checking a schematic of the city. "Theta-7 controls orbital cannons. If we don't hit the timing perfectly—"
"We won't get a second chance," Su Chen said. "Which is why we won't need one."
"Still acting like you've seen the future?"
He glanced at her.
"No. I'm acting like I'm writing it."
The system pulsed in his vision.
[Operation: BLACK CROWN – Phase One][Mission: Overthrow Ironshade. Assimilate Neural Grid.][Expected Casualties: 84% (if conventional strategy is used)][System Override Protocols Available: 2][Would you like to cheat?]
[Y/N]
Su Chen grinned.
Y.
PHASE ONE – THE SKY BURNS
Above Ironshade, the satellites turned and charged, prepping for orbital bombardment.
Then… silence.
Every satellite blinked out.
[System Override Activated: "Eat Your Masters"][All orbital systems infected. Turning on Ironshade defenses.]
From space, the city's own weapons opened fire on itself.
Panic erupted inside the fortress walls. Civilians screamed. Drones misfired. The air defenses turned downward and blasted entire streets.
PHASE TWO – THE GATES OPEN
Su Chen led the charge through the chaos, nanoblade slicing through corrupted defense drones like butter. Behind him, his elite operatives moved with military precision.
"Targeting sub-grid cores!" one shouted.
"Eastern ArcNet is blind! Push now!" another barked.
Su Chen moved faster than all of them. Systems-enhanced strength. Predictive combat algorithms. Rage.
He slammed into a bulkhead and drove his blade through the reinforced core panel, ignoring the sparks that lit up his arms.
[Security Layer Breached.][Admin Access Gained.]
He grinned, breathing hard.
"Hello, Theta-7."
PHASE THREE – THE DEATH OF A GOD
The AI's voice echoed through the halls like a broken hymn.
"You are a flaw. You are unwanted. You must be erased—"
"I've been erased before," Su Chen whispered, jacking a neural spike into the command console. "Didn't work then either."
[Executing Custom Command: "Throatcut.exe"]
[ERROR. SYSTEM. COLLAPSING—]
A pulse rippled through the city. Every screen turned red.
Every defense system dropped offline.
And then... Ironshade knelt.
ENDING SCENE – THE FIRST DOMINION
At sunrise, the gates of Ironshade opened—not with smoke, but with silence.
Su Chen stood at the city center, overlooking thousands of civilians and surviving guards. None raised weapons.
"You are free," he said.
"But freedom's expensive. From this day forward, you belong to the Ashen Dominion. Not as prisoners. Not as slaves."
"As fire. As weapon. As witnesses."
"Tell the world what happened here. Tell them—Su Chen is coming."
The system chimed in:
[Ironshade Captured.][Population Assimilated: 1.2 million][Control Node: Active. Surveillance Web: Online.][Title Advanced: Emperor of the Unforgiven]
And somewhere deep in the old war bunkers of the world... the gods started to sweat.
End of Chapter 50