Once all Obsidia members had gathered in the main tactical hall, the atmosphere of the base changed drastically. Gone were the casual voices, no more of the soldiers' boisterous laughter. All that could be heard was the scraping of weapons being rechecked, magazines being locked with a sharp click, and the clatter of boots neatly arranged like the echo of a newly revved war machine.

  Magnus stood on a meter-high metal platform. His massive frame made his combat vest look like a thin layer of cloth. He stared down at the thousands of troops below him with a look of confrontation.

  “Listen carefully!” his voice boomed through the room. “They came to our land. They infiltrated our island. They thought we were off guard.”

  Some soldiers clenched their fists.

  Seraphin stepped beside Magnus. His voice wasn't as loud as Magnus's, but it was sharper, more focused.

  "The enemy moved quickly and neatly. The outer guard point was lost without alarm. That means they are well trained. Don't think of them as ordinary troops."

  One of the sector commanders took a step forward. “Estimated numbers?”

  “A little over five hundred,” Seraphin replied calmly. “And that’s enough to kill you if you’re careless.”

  The room became silent.

  Magnus grinned. “Good. It’s been a long time since we’ve hunted prey that could fight back.”

  On the other side of the command room, Orion stood alone in front of a giant wall of screens. Dozens of monitors displayed thermal maps, internal satellite imagery, movement radar, and even a partially disrupted communications network.

  His face was expressionless, but his eyes moved rapidly, zooming in on each sector of the forest.

  “Where are their cores…” he muttered softly.

  He replayed the last ten minutes of footage. Three points of the guard force disappeared almost simultaneously. The pattern was neat. Too neat.

  An operator approached hesitantly. “Sir, the backup encryption system is trying to stabilize the signal, but there’s interference from the central hill.”

  Orion didn't turn around. “Raise underground radar gain.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Enlarge the northwest sector.”

  The view changed. Orion noticed a faint heat wave behind the trees.

  “It’s not this…” he said quietly. “It’s just bait.”

  He remembered Valen's bloody face on the floor. If the hacker hadn't been so careless, perhaps this pattern could have been read sooner. But now everything was in his hands.

  The tactical room door opened. Magnus entered.

  “Two thousand have already moved,” he said. "Perimeter ring two is active. We'll push them to the center."

  Orion finally turned his head. His gaze was cold.

  “Don't push too hard.”

  Magnus frowned. “We have the numerical advantage.”

  “And they have discipline,” Orion replied. “I want to know who their leader is. I’m not interested in their soldiers.”

  Seraphin joined in. “We can bait them by opening up the middle lane. Let them feel like they’ve penetrated the defense.”

  Orion nodded slowly. “Exactly.”

  In the hall, the troops began to move out in formation. Their footsteps sounded like an approaching storm.

  On the other side of the island, the forest began to feel denser and darker even though the sun was already rising. Large tree roots gripped the ground like giant snakes. The humid air clung to the skin.

  The Nox Aegis troops moved in several layers of formation.

  The ground team took the lead, forming a spearhead. Every five men maintained precise distances. There was no idle conversation. Only hand signals, shoulder touches, and eye contact.

  One of the soldiers knelt down, touching the ground.

  “Fresh tracks,” he whispered.

  The leader approached. Heavy shoe prints, heading towards the center of the island.

  "They're already aware."

  Above, the faint sound of propellers barely audible skies passed high in the thin clouds. The surveillance continued.

  From the coastal path, the marine team, having rejoined the main force, emerged from the shade of the trees. Their uniforms were still slightly damp, but their faces were dry from emotion.

  One of the members grinned faintly. “Two thousand, huh?”

  The leader answered shortly, “Just count those standing in front of you.”

  At higher elevations, long-range gunners began climbing trees and small hills to take up positions. Thermal scopes were aimed through the gaps in the trees.

  “Thirty… no, forty movements from the east,” a low report came through the internal channel.

  The main force moved deeper, each step slower and more cautious.

  Suddenly the birds in the distance flew away in a scattering.

  Everyone stopped immediately.

  Hand signal: large contact approaching.

  A few seconds later, the faint sound of twigs snapping could be heard from all directions. Not just one or two, but dozens.

  Someone whispered softly, “They are surrounded.”

  The answer came calmly, almost flatly, “Let them come closer.”

  In the distance, among the tree trunks, black shadows began to appear, moving quickly and in a coordinated manner. Weapons were raised. The enemy formation widened, trying to block off any escape routes.

  At the headquarters, Orion stared at the screen which was now starting to fill with red and blue dots approaching each other.

  “Yes…” he murmured softly. “Go deeper.”

  In the woods, fingers begin to press the trigger with half pressure.

  The air felt heavy, like before lightning struck.

  The two great powers were now separated by only a few dozen meters of trees and a decision on who would shoot first.

  A light breeze blew over the hill, carrying the salty scent of the sea mixed with wet earth. The eagle descended with precision, his combat boots clicking against the rocks without a sound . The spot wasn't a random choice—from there, he could see the forest clearing leading to the beach, while also maintaining a signal to the mother ship offshore.

  He immediately knelt down.

  His black bag was opened. One by one, the equipment was arranged in a ritual he had repeated hundreds of times: a thin ghillie suit lined with green-brown fiber, tactical gloves, a long silencer screwed gently onto the end of the barrel, and a thin tablet with a small, fold-out antenna.

  The tablet turns on.

  The signal indicator bars are up—one, two, three.

  “It's locked,” he muttered.

  He connected the external hack module, his fingers quickly opening the tactical map Alpha had previously marked. The blue dots were scattered in five small groups.

  Elang took a deep breath and then lay down half-prone behind a large, flat rock. He slowly positioned his long-range sniper rifle, his bipod firmly planted.

  He raised the thermal reading scope— the Vulcan-9 Thermal Optic .

  The lens lit up in an orange-red spectrum. The world transformed into a silhouette of heat and cold.

  The trees were gray shadows. The damp ground was dark. And among them—moving red dots.

  The eagle zooms in.

  “One… two… fifteen… twenty…” he whispered.

  He moved again.

  More.

  Dozens.

  Neat formation, heading towards the beach.

  The eagle pressed the communication button.

  “Alpha, this is Eagle. Visual confirmation. Enemy moving toward the coastline.”

  Alpha's voice sounded calm, deep, without the slightest tremor.

  "Amount."

  “The eagle counts. The ghost counts twenty. The wolf counts ten. The hammer counts twenty-five. And the alpha counts fifty.”

  Silence for a split second.

  In the field command center, Alpha stood behind a large tree trunk, his face half hidden by the shadow of his helmet.

  “All units on standby,” he said quietly but firmly.

  Ghost, the advance infiltration team, hid behind dense roots and bushes.

  The Wolves, a fast assault unit, waited on the right side of the slope.

  Hammer, a heavy pressure team, wields light automatic weapons and grenade launchers.

  Alpha raised his hand.

  “Eagle, priority?”

  “Target the middle officer. Three men with commando movements. I mark.”

  A small dot blinked on all members' tablets.

  Alpha took a deep breath.

  “Okay,” he said softly.

  Then his voice turned cold as steel.

  “We are not shadows today.”

  He stared at the forest filled with enemy silhouettes.

  “We are the night that closes their eyes.”

  He pressed the communicator.

  “Count down five seconds.”

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  All guns raised.

  "Five."

  Fingers tightened on the trigger.

  "Four."

  The eagle locked onto one commander's head in the middle of the formation.

  "Three."

  Holding your breath.

  "Two."

  The wind stopped as if waiting.

  "One."

  Alpha whispered softly,

  “Welcome to the end of your journey.”

  The signal is released.

  BOOM!

  Five sniper shots from the Eagles team went off almost simultaneously—the sound was muffled, but the impact was brutal.

  Twenty enemy troops on the front line fell in seconds. Heads, necks, chests—all precision.

  The enemy formation is in disarray.

  "Direction of fire! Hill!" shouted one of them.

  But before they could reply—

  A barrage of bullets from the Palu team rained down on the left flank of the formation. The ground exploded, and leaves and wood chips flew.

  The wolf came out like lightning from the right side.

  “Push them down!” shouted the Wolf leader.

  Two members slid down the slope, firing as they moved quickly. One enemy tried to aim—the Wolf's bullet first penetrated his shoulder.

  On the hill, the Eagle shifted his barrel.

  New target.

  An enemy shooter tries to aim at the Ghost's position.

  Click.

  Smooth trigger pull.

  The body was thrown backwards.

  “Eagle to Ghost. Your left is clear for three seconds!”

  “Thank you!” replied the Ghost.

  The Ghost Team moved like smoke. They moved from tree to tree, now at close range. Knives and short guns began to speak.

  One enemy turned too slowly—a quick slash severed his jugular artery.

  On the other side, Palu took three steps forward, knelt down, and fired a light grenade launcher at the group of enemies trying to form a defense.

  The explosion shook the ground.

  The wolf laughed briefly into the communicator. “They’re panicking!”

  Alpha remains calm.

  "Don't chase too deep. Maintain formation."

  Suddenly, a barrage of retaliatory shots came from behind a large tree. Two of the Wolves narrowly missed being hit.

  “Eagle!” shouted one.

  “I saw him.”

  The Vulcan-9 telescope highlights the heat behind the thick shaft. Only half of the shoulder is visible.

  That's enough.

  BOOM.

  The tree was splashed with wood chips, and the hot body was instantly extinguished.

  The battle is now total.

  Bullets flew from both directions. The ground was torn apart. A thin plume of smoke began to rise from the trees.

  A Ghost member fell to the ground, a bullet grazing his arm.

  “I got it!”

  “Stable blood pressure?” Alpha asked quickly.

  “Just an external wound!”

  “Keep moving!”

  The wolves circled from the right flank, cutting off the enemy's path of retreat.

  The hammer presses from the front.

  The Eagle and his four snipers continued to pick off high-value targets one by one.

  The five people on the hill were like invisible angels of death.

  One of the Eagles' snipers whispered, "The wind's changed, two degrees left."

  “Correction eagle.”

  The next shot was again precise.

  The enemy is trying to spread out.

  Alpha saw a gap.

  “All units, push thirty meters. Don’t give them time to consolidate.”

  They move in unison.

  The wolf charged at brutal speed, shooting at close range.

  A ghost appeared from the shadows, knocking out two enemies without a sound.

  The hammer stood half open, a long barrage forcing the enemy to lie down.

  On the hill, Elang saw the red dots rapidly diminishing.

  But amidst the chaos, he saw something.

  New formation.

  Neater.

  Quieter.

  “Alpha,” he said quietly, his tone turning serious. “The second wave. They didn’t panic. They fell back to form a circle.”

  Alpha stared ahead, realizing that the twenty fallen were just the opening.

  A thin layer of smoke hung in the air.

  Corpses were strewn among the roots and bushes.

  And from behind the shadows of the trees, the enemy began to rise with a different discipline.

  At Legion headquarters, the steel walls of the command room vibrated slightly with the echoes of distant gunfire. Tactical alarms blared red throughout the corridor. Magnus stood in front of a holographic desk, the image of a map of the island spinning slowly in the air.

  “That’s the western sector,” Seraphin muttered, his gaze fixed on a rapidly flashing dot. “They’ve gone too deep.”

  The sound of gunfire was heard again, this time clearer.

  Magnus grinned. “Finally.”

  He pressed the internal communicator. “All core units are ready. Full battle formation.”

  In the main monitoring room, Orion stood alone in front of a large control panel hidden behind a layer of dark glass. The blue light from the screen reflected off his expressionless face.

  “Enemy communications disruption level?” he asked flatly.

  The operator quickly replied, “Their signal is still active, but it is weakening.”

  Orion raised his hand, signaling for them to step back. He himself stepped to the main console. His finger tapped the layered authorization code.

  The screen changes.

  A system emerged with the name:

  OBLIVION VEIL – Satellite Disruption Array

  Orion whispered softly, almost like a mantra, “Now… this is my territory.”

  He pressed activate.

  Above the island, in a hidden spot atop a steel tower, a large antenna rotates slowly. Invisible electromagnetic waves spread out like ripples on water.

  In the forest-

  The Alpha communicator hissed.

  “Eagle? Status?”

  Just static sound.

  “Ghost, report position.”

  Lonely.

  The eagle on the hill saw his hacked tablet suddenly lose signal. The screen flickered, then the connection went dead.

  “Damn…” he hissed.

  He tried again. No network. No frequency.

  At headquarters, Orion smiled faintly.

  “Welcome to the game.”

  He moved on to the next screen. Nox Aegis's thermal coordinates were now clearly visible from Legion's internal scans.

  “Confirm target lock,” said the launch operator from the underground bunker.

  “Confirmation,” Orion replied.

  An open silo space lies far to the east of the island. The ground is slowly splitting apart.

  A tactical missile of limited nuclear yield—enough to destroy a sector of forest without obliterating the island—rose to the surface.

  “Launch.”

  Fire bursts.

  The missile shot into the sky, leaving a white trail that cut through the clouds.

  The eagle saw the line of fire first.

  His eyes narrowed.

  “That's not artillery…”

  He shifted the Vulcan-9 telescope.

  High temperature in the air.

  Ballistic trajectory.

  His face tensed.

  “Take cover!” he shouted reflexively, even though he knew no one would hear him.

  Alpha, standing in the middle of the forest, looked up. His fighting instincts were screaming faster than logic.

  “All units deploy! Now!”

  The heat wave came in seconds.

  The white light was blinding.

  The explosion shook the ground like the world was cracking in two. Trees were uprooted. The ground heaved and fell back. Bodies were thrown around like rag dolls.

  The eagle was thrown from its position, the large rock in front of it shattered into fragments.

  Sound is lost.

  Just a long ringing in the ears.

  A small mushroom cloud of smoke rose among the now burning trees.

  Several Nox Aegis members who were closest to the detonation point immediately disappeared in a flash of light.

  Alpha rose slowly from the scorched ground, his face bleeding, his breathing heavy.

  “Ghost!” he shouted.

  No answer.

  The wolf emerged from behind a burning tree trunk, his shoulder badly injured but still standing.

  “We’re still alive,” he gasped.

  But before they had time to catch their breath—

  Heavy footsteps could be heard from all directions.

  Magnus appeared from behind the smoke, followed by dozens of fully armed Obsidian troops. Their black armor gleamed in the still burning fire.

  Seraphin walked on the other side, his gaze as sharp as a knife's blade.

  Magnus raised his weapon high.

  “Come on,” he shouted loudly, his voice cutting through the chaos. “Meet in the middle!”

  The Obsidian troops invade.

  The battle turned into a brutal melee.

  Alpha shot two enemies before his gun emptied. He threw it away and drew a tactical knife.

  An Obsidian attacks with a short axe.

  The clash of metal sparked a small fire.

  Alpha spun around, his elbow slamming into his opponent's jaw. A loud crack was heard. He kicked his opponent's knee, knocking him upside down, then stabbed his knife right under his helmet.

  Blood spurted warmly on his hand.

  On the other hand, the Ghost fought in deadly silence. He dodged a short sword slash, spun low, and severed the tendons in his opponent's leg. A brief scream, then a second slash, finished him off.

  The wolf fought even more wildly. He shoulder-butted one enemy, knocking him to the ground, then repeatedly struck him in the face with the butt of his weapon until his helmet cracked and blood poured from the gap.

  The remaining hammers fired at close range, but the Obsidians were too numerous. One by one, the Nox Aegis members began to fall.

  The eagle on the hill tried to help. He aimed at Magnus.

  But before the bullet was fired—

  An Obsidian emerged from behind a rock and shot the sniper beside Eagle in the head. The body collapsed without a sound.

  “Eagle! Right!” shouted the last member of his team.

  Late.

  A barrage of bullets struck his comrade in the chest, causing him to fall back down the slope.

  The eagle is now alone in a high position.

  He gritted his teeth, firing rapidly—two Obsidians fell. But their position was already known.

  Below, Alpha was now being attacked by three men at once. One struck him in the ribs with a metal bat. The air was knocked out of his lungs.

  He fell, but got up again, his face covered in blood and ashes.

  With his bare hands, he caught one enemy's arm, twisting hard until a snapping sound was heard. He pulled the body as a shield, the bullet penetrated his back.

  The ghost jumped to help, slashing one, but was stabbed in the side of the stomach by the other.

  The wolf screamed in anger, shooting at zero range into the enemy's chest, but his last bullet was used up.

  Magnus is advancing alone now.

  He threw down his weapon, opting for bare hands.

  “I want to feel this,” he said heavily.

  Alpha stood in front of him.

  Two leaders.

  Magnus struck first—a sledgehammer-like blow to the Alpha's face. Blood spurted.

  Alpha retaliated with a kick to the stomach, but Magnus only took half a step back.

  Clash after clash was brutal. Bone against bone. Flesh against steel.

  Around them, one by one the members of Nox Aegis fell.

  The ghost fell to his knees.

  The wolf was still standing, but surrounded by five people.

  On the hill, Eagle shot his last bullet.

  Click.

  Empty.

  From below, dozens of barrels were now pointing towards him.

  Smoke billows.

  The fire spread.

  And the battlefield turns into an open hell where only the strongest will remain standing.

  Night slowly descended like a black curtain, swallowing the remaining light. The forest, which had been filled with explosions since morning, was now a labyrinth of shadows, small embers burning in various spots, and a thin layer of smoke hanging low.

  The shots were still heard.

  The screams are still there.

  And the blood was too much to count.

  Of the thousands who came, Nox Aegis now has only about two hundred remaining. The rest fell on the same ground they had walked with such conviction that morning.

  But no one backed down.

  On the east side of the forest, Magnus noticed something.

  “They're narrowing us in,” he said quietly to his troops.

  Seraphin stood beside him, his face calm but his eyes sharp, watching the movement of shadows among the trees.

  “We're in too deep,” Magnus continued. “If we stay here, they will lock the exit route.”

  Seraphin nodded slightly. “Tactical retreat. Collect the remaining cores.”

  Magnus gave a hand signal—the formation broke into two retreating waves.

  However-

  The bullet fired from the left side.

  Three Obsidian members collapsed instantly.

  From behind the darkness appeared the Wolf and his army.

  From the opposite side, a shadow moved almost unseen—Ghost and his team were blocking the rear path.

  Magnus hissed. “Too late.”

  Seraphin stepped forward, raising his black short sword.

  "Go," he said to Magnus without turning around.

  Magnus narrowed his eyes. “Are you sure?”

  Seraphin smiled faintly. “I’ve been waiting for this for a long time.”

  Magnus didn't argue any further. He signaled a swift retreat. Several core troops followed him through the remaining open forest, though some felled to the Elang bullets from a distance.

  Now Seraphin stood with about thirty of his elite troops.

  Before him, the Wolves and Ghosts advanced slowly, each followed by the rest of their troops.

  The night wind rustled through the leaves.

  Seraphin looked at both of them in turn.

  “Finally,” he said softly but clearly, “the episode I’ve been waiting for has happened.”

  The wolf grinned, blood pouring from his temple.

  “A lot of talk for a trapped person.”

  The ghost said nothing. His eyes were cold behind the shadow of his mask.

  Seraphin raised his sword to shoulder height.

  “Get ready.”

  There is no countdown.

  Suddenly the two sides charged at each other.

  The first impact sounded like wood breaking.

  The troops behind them fought brutally at close range, the flash of gunfire the only light in the darkness.

  The Wolf charged straight at Seraphin, slashing quickly and aggressively. Seraphin twisted his sword, blocking with precision, then countered with a straight thrust that nearly pierced the Wolf's shoulder.

  The ghost entered from the right side, his knife sweeping low aiming for the leg tendon.

  Seraphin jumped back half a second before the blade touched him.

  “You guys are in agreement,” he said coldly. “Good.”

  He spun swiftly, his movements as light as a dancer amidst carnage. His sword grazed the Ghost's arm, blood dripping darkly into the night.

  The wolf growled and struck with a hard blow to the face.

  Seraphin caught his wrist, twisting sharply—bones cracked. But the Wolf didn't scream. Instead, he slammed into Seraphin, knocking them both to the ground.

  The ghost immediately jumped in, kicking Seraphin in the jaw as the man tried to get up.

  Around them, troops stabbed and shot each other from a distance. Some fought with their bare hands after their ammunition ran out.

  Seraphin got up with a bloody face, laughing softly.

  “This is more fun than I imagined.”

  It moves faster now.

  The horizontal slash forced the Ghost back.

  The vertical stab nearly penetrated the Wolf's chest—stopped just centimeters by the knife block.

  Metal sparks clash.

  Sweat, blood, heavy breathing mixed in the cold night.

  Seraphin kicked the Ghost in the chest until it crashed into a tree trunk. He turned quickly and hit the Wolf's stomach with the hilt of his sword.

  But the Ghost was back on his feet, attacking from the shadows.

  Two opponents.

  One against two.

  And no one wants to fall first.

  Meanwhile-

  At the height of the hill in almost total darkness, the Eagle still persisted.

  He replaced his last magazine.

  Vulcan-9's scope caught a hot silhouette running away from the main field—an Obsidian member trying to escape with Magnus.

  The eagle whispered softly to himself, “No one gets off this island.”

  He raised two fingers—a signal for the two remaining snipers on his team.

  Silent signal.

  Two invisible laser points locked.

  Three muffled shots.

  Three bodies fell before reaching the outer tree line.

  But one of the Eagle snipers was suddenly shot from the side—the enemy had circled further than expected.

  "Hawk-!"

  His partner collapsed before finishing the sentence.

  Now Elang is alone again.

  He didn't get off.

  He kept aiming.

  One by one the bullets were fired with cold discipline.

  On the other side of the forest, Alpha and Palu moved like war machines that had not yet run out of fuel.

  Alpha made a quick hand signal—a narrow triangle formation.

  Palu nodded, dividing his forces into two pressing wings.

  Without radio communication, they relied on the small light codes from partially covered tactical flashlights—one short flash meant advance, two meant spread out.

  They swept through the forest meter by meter.

  Every shadow is examined.

  Every sound of a leaf being stepped on was met with precision gunfire.

  An Obsidian leaped from behind a rock—Alpha was faster. He shot his opponent twice in the chest, then continued on without looking back.

  Hammer used a stun grenade to force five enemies out of hiding, then finished them off in short bursts.

  Alpha paused for a moment, hearing the distant clash of metal.

  Seraph.

  He knows.

  He made a hand signal to Palu—a circle of two fingers, priority target.

  Palu nodded.

  They move towards the center of the sound.

  In the middle of the almost completely dark forest, only the light of small fires and the flash of guns illuminated the blood-covered faces.

  Seraphin was still standing.

  The wolf panted, his knees slightly wobbly.

  The ghost was bleeding on the side of the stomach but still pressing.

  Seraphin wiped the blood off his lips with his thumb.

  “Good,” he said softly. “You guys made this night worthwhile.”

  The wolf grinned faintly despite his heavy breathing.

  “Tonight is not over yet.”

  From behind the trees, additional footsteps began to be heard.

  Alpha is getting closer.

  And the night on the island has not yet shown who will greet the dawn.