The entire horizon turned white.
The recording ended.
Adrian remained in front of the crystal column as the final image of the woman disappeared. The record claimed she had defended Meridian alone for seven days, but it didn’t show what happened after she raised her spear.
"Continue playback."
[No subsequent combat record available.]
"Search for any files related to Commander Lyra Arden."
The column flickered.
[Searching.]
[2,741 damaged references detected.]
[14 partially recoverable records detected.]
[1 restricted record detected.]
Adrian selected the final one.
[PROJECT: LAST GENERAL.]
[Security classification: Humanity Extinction Protocol.]
[Access restricted.]
[Required authorization: Central Defense Command.]
An alarm continued sounding behind the armored door. His soldiers were holding off the drones, but the impacts against the metal were becoming more frequent.
Adrian checked the condition of his units.
[Unit 01 — Integrity: 74%.]
[Unit 02 — Integrity: 81%.]
[Unit 03 — Integrity: 68%.]
[Unit 04 — Integrity: 59%.]
[Unit 05 — Integrity: 62%.]
He couldn’t open the door from the inside without destroying the console controlling the archive. He also didn’t want the drones to inflict further damage on his first units.
He opened the Unit Archive.
All five silhouettes remained active.
"Return."
The soldiers disappeared from behind the door.
[Five units recalled.]
The spaces in the archive filled again. Adrian selected the deployment option, and five blue circles appeared around him.
The soldiers materialized inside the chamber.
Several deep marks covered the shield bearer’s armor. One unit’s rifle had lost part of its barrel, and the swordsman’s left arm bent in the wrong direction.
Even so, all five assumed defensive positions as soon as they appeared.
"That’ll be useful."
He could withdraw them from combat and deploy them beside him regardless of any barriers between them. As long as they remained within Infinite Sovereign’s range, no door could separate them.
Adrian pointed toward the column.
"Do any of you possess Central Defense Command authorization?"
The soldiers examined the archive. The spearswoman approached and placed her hand against the crystal.
[Military identification detected.]
[Rank: Meridian Defense Infantry.]
[Authorization insufficient.]
The swordsman tried next.
He received the same result.
Adrian had expected that.
Five ordinary soldiers were unlikely to possess access to a project created for a commander of unknown rank.
He looked at the name again.
[PROJECT: LAST GENERAL.]
The Unit Registration function had unlocked only a few hours earlier. Infinite Sovereign could preserve defeated soldiers, but its current capacity was five.
Perhaps the system didn’t distinguish between common and exceptional combatants solely through the rewards they provided.
"Infinite Sovereign, analyze the file."
The crown formed from rings appeared above the column.
[Authority analysis initiated.]
[External command structure detected.]
[Attempting compatibility override.]
[Access protocol recognizes sovereign-level military authority.]
[Current authority incomplete.]
Adrian studied the final line.
"What’s missing?"
He received no answer.
The system only answered questions related to specific functions. It wasn’t going to explain a condition he had yet to fulfill.
He looked at the soldiers.
"Command formation."
All five reacted.
The spearswoman moved to Adrian’s right, the shield bearer to his left, and the other three formed a line behind them. The lights on their armor connected through blue threads that converged over Adrian.
[Registered unit formation established.]
[Command authority recognized.]
[Authority analysis updated.]
Infinite Sovereign’s crown descended over the crystal.
[Five registered units detected.]
[Provisional commander status confirmed.]
[Minimum access requirement satisfied.]
[Restricted record unlocked.]
The column projected a map of the building. Hundreds of levels appeared beneath the Unified Combat Center, far more than should have been possible based on the size of the surface structure.
The deepest section was surrounded by seven barriers.
[PROJECT: LAST GENERAL.]
[Preservation chamber location confirmed.]
[Depth: 6,365 feet.]
[Emergency route available.]
Part of the floor opened behind the column.
The hidden elevator was still there.
The platform descended for almost six minutes.
It had no walls. Adrian could see the ruined levels on both sides as they passed through the underground facility. Training halls, armories, and laboratories moved past them before disappearing into the darkness.
Some facilities still had power.
Others contained bodies.
Thousands of people had attempted to take shelter beneath the training center during Meridian’s fall. Entire families remained huddled behind barriers that had never opened again.
Adrian didn’t stop to count them.
The platform continued descending.
[Depth: 3,937 feet.]
The temperature dropped. The black roots covering the city had also penetrated the ground, but they stopped whenever they reached the white walls of this section.
There was something below that the corruption avoided.
[Depth: 5,577 feet.]
The soldiers raised their weapons.
The spearswoman struck the emblem on her chest and pointed into the darkness.
"Enemies?"
Her visor flashed once.
Yes.
The platform stopped at 6,365 feet.
A corridor wide enough for armored vehicles extended before them. There were no lights, but a silver line ran along the floor and ended at a door several hundred yards ahead.
The first corpse lay beside the elevator.
It belonged to a creature nearly thirteen feet tall. It had six arms, a head covered in horns, and armor that appeared to have grown directly over its flesh.
Its torso had been split in two.
Adrian approached.
[Void Marauder.]
[Level at death: 83.]
[Time since death: Unable to calculate.]
[Class Soul: Destroyed.]
A single wound had cut through the creature from shoulder to hip.
The slash continued across the floor.
Adrian followed the line with his eyes and found more bodies.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
The entire corridor was covered in corpses.
Some belonged to similar creatures. Others possessed forms Adrian couldn’t connect to any known species. There were beasts several stories tall, humans in black armor, and masses of flesh fused with war machines.
All of them had died while advancing toward the door.
All of them bore a single wound.
The soldiers began walking along the silver line. Adrian followed.
Windows appeared above the bodies as he advanced.
[Corrupted War Beast — Level 61.]
[Deceased.]
[Abyssal Knight — Level 97.]
[Deceased.]
[Unknown species.]
[Estimated Level: 104–119.]
[Deceased.]
Adrian stopped in front of a kneeling giant. A spear entered through its mouth and protruded from the back of its head.
It wasn’t the weapon that had created the other cuts.
The shaft remained trapped between the giant’s teeth.
Adrian recognized the design of its tip.
It was the same broken spear Lyra had held in the recording.
A nameplate remained attached to the weapon.
[Weapon: Dawn of Meridian.]
[Owner: Lyra Voss.]
Adrian read the surname.
"Voss."
The archive had identified the woman as Lyra Arden.
Infinite Sovereign reacted to the intact information on the nameplate.
[Verified identity record detected.]
[Comparing with damaged tactical archive.]
[Identification error found.]
["Lyra Arden" was generated by incomplete linguistic reconstruction.]
[Record corrected.]
[Commander Lyra Voss.]
The archive’s image had also shown her with dark hair, but the recording had lost almost all of its color during reconstruction. Adrian no longer trusted any detail recovered from data with only eight percent integrity.
He continued walking.
The bodies grew more numerous near the door. Some were piled against the walls. Others had died attempting to crawl over the corpses ahead of them.
Adrian stopped counting after two thousand.
The chamber wasn’t protected by guards, turrets, or visible barriers.
It was protected by the remains of the final army that had tried to enter.
The shield bearer stopped.
The blue strip across his helmet turned orange.
The corpses began to move.
They didn’t stand.
Each one slowly turned its head toward Adrian.
Thousands of dead eyes opened throughout the corridor.
[Residual corruption detected.]
[Hostile reactivation beginning.]
The riflemen raised their weapons.
"Don’t fire."
Their remaining energy wouldn’t be sufficient to destroy even a fraction of those creatures. Even if Adrian completely filled his Unit Archive, most of the corpses were too powerful for him to defeat.
An invisible pressure descended upon the corridor.
The bodies stopped moving.
Adrian felt the weight on his shoulders an instant later. His legs bent, and one knee nearly touched the floor.
All five soldiers dropped to their knees.
[Unknown Dominion detected.]
[Source: Preservation chamber.]
[Registered units suppressed.]
[Warning: Difference in rank exceeds analysis range.]
Adrian activated Starforged Body.
The skill distributed the pressure throughout his muscles and bones. A blue line traveled down his back, passed through his legs, and entered the floor.
[Starforged Body activated.]
[External pressure distributed: 6%.]
It wasn’t enough to eliminate the pressure.
It was enough to remain standing.
Adrian advanced.
The weight increased with every step. The presence behind the door didn’t distinguish between a visitor and an invader. It pressed down on everyone equally, forcing them to kneel before approaching.
The bodies throughout the corridor hadn’t died solely from their wounds.
Some of them had never managed to raise their heads.
Adrian reached the spear embedded in the giant. He pulled it free with both hands and rested it on his shoulder.
The pressure decreased.
[Weapon signature recognized.]
[Dominion hostility reduced.]
The soldiers managed to stand.
Adrian looked at the broken spear.
"You could’ve mentioned that we needed a key."
The spearswoman tilted her head slightly.
"I’d take criticism better if you could talk."
They continued toward the door.
There were no controls or locks. Only a recess matching the shape of the missing spearhead.
Adrian inserted the spear.
The door recognized its signature.
[Weapon: Dawn of Meridian.]
[Identity: Confirmed.]
[Preservation chamber opening.]
The seven seals deactivated one by one.
The door split down the center.
The air inside was completely clean.
After breathing dust, blood, and corruption since arriving in the future, Adrian needed several seconds to adjust.
The chamber was circular. There were no corpses or signs of damage. The white walls remained intact, and hundreds of conduits carried energy toward a capsule installed at the center.
Adrian approached.
A woman slept behind the glass.
Her hair was silver.
Not gray with age or pale from the lack of light. Every strand retained a metallic sheen and floated in the transparent liquid filling the capsule.
She appeared to be in her early twenties.
She wore fitted white armor marked by golden lines and several repaired cracks. Her hands rested over her abdomen. A scar crossed her face from her left eyebrow to her cheek, but the rest of her body showed none of the wounds she must have suffered during the final defense.
Adrian placed one hand against the glass.
It was cold.
A line of light appeared across the woman’s neck.
Then it pulsed.
"You’re still alive."
Infinite Sovereign’s crown manifested without Adrian summoning it. Every ring rotated toward the capsule.
[Legendary individual detected.]
[Lyra Voss.]
[Title: Humanity’s Last Goddess of War.]
[Rank: SSS.]
[Level: Unable to determine.]
[Class: Protected by Legendary Authority.]
[Status: Suspended animation.]
[Time preserved: 9,134 years.]
Adrian read the information again.
SSS-rank didn’t exist in the present-day evaluation system. Even legendary classes were rated according to their potential, not by a rank no modern database recognized.
Lyra had remained inside that chamber since humanity’s extinction.
Waiting.
A second section appeared.
[Exceptional combatant detected.]
[General Registration conditions available.]
[General Archive unlocked.]
[Current General capacity: 0/1.]
The new space wasn’t part of the five positions occupied by his soldiers. It was a much larger ring placed at the center of the formation.
[Generals do not consume standard Unit capacity.]
[Generals retain independent growth, advanced intelligence, and command authority.]
[Registered Generals may command subordinate units.]
[Exceptional reward rule applies.]
[Class Soul and General Registration may both be acquired.]
Adrian looked at the woman inside the capsule.
If he could register her, he wouldn’t have to choose between Lyra’s class and turning her into a unit. He would receive both rewards.
There was one important difference.
Lyra wasn’t dead.
[General candidate is currently alive.]
[Registration cannot be forced.]
[Requirement: Obtain recognition or defeat the complete combat imprint.]
"That seems fair."
A console activated beside the capsule.
[Preservation energy remaining: 0.03%.]
[Estimated system failure: 19 days.]
Adrian stopped smiling.
The capsule had kept Lyra alive for more than nine thousand years, but only nineteen days remained. He didn’t know whether time passed at the same rate when he returned to the present or how often he would be able to access the future.
He selected the option to open it.
[Release request detected.]
[Combat verification required.]
[Reason: Subject Lyra Voss authorized preservation release only to a qualified successor.]
[Initiate verification?]
Adrian checked his remaining connection time.
[Remaining connection time: 00:58:41.]
He had almost an hour.
"Initiate."
The chamber changed.
The soldiers disappeared behind a transparent barrier. Adrian attempted to withdraw them into the Unit Archive, but the system blocked the command.
[External trial space established.]
[Registered units excluded.]
[Candidate must complete verification alone.]
The liquid inside the capsule began to glow.
The silver-haired woman didn’t open her eyes.
A second figure appeared in front of Adrian.
At first, it was a silhouette formed from light. Then it acquired skin, armor, and the same silver hair floating inside the capsule.
The copy held an intact version of Dawn of Meridian.
Infinite Sovereign analyzed her.
[Combat Imprint: Lyra Voss.]
[Power restricted to candidate-compatible parameters.]
[Current Rank: Unable to determine.]
Adrian synchronized Starbreaker.
The blue ring closed around his wrist. Starforged Body spread lines of Reinforcement beneath his skin, and his stabilized wounds began to burn again.
Lyra’s copy opened her eyes.
They were golden.
She looked at Adrian, then at the five soldiers behind the barrier, and finally at the capsule containing her true body.
"You aren’t human," she said.
Her voice was calm, but the spear was already pointed at Adrian’s heart.
"That’ll come as a surprise to my parents."
"You’re a temporal projection sustained by an authority I don’t recognize."
Adrian hadn’t expected a copy capable of analyzing him.
"Then we can introduce ourselves after you open the capsule."
"No."
A window appeared between them.
[VERIFICATION TRIAL]
[Defeat is not required.]
[Survive the combat imprint for three minutes.]
[Leaving the trial boundary will count as failure.]
[Death of the temporal projection will count as failure.]
Adrian assumed the Starbreaker stance.
"I’ve survived worse things since yesterday."
Lyra rotated the spear.
The tip vanished from his sight.
Adrian barely managed to tilt his head before a golden line passed beside his face and opened a crack in the wall a hundred feet behind him.
The copy watched him without expression.
"Survive for three minutes."
[02:59]