Shrouded Seascape

"Hmm... One of the Thirteen is down," Anna commented, and the corners of her lips curled up into a satisfied smile. Upon scanning the man's memory, she discovered how many of them formed the upper echelons and obtained knowledge of their names as well as their exact locations.

With a thought, she instantly disseminated the information to all her fellow allies. Like an infectious plague, her thoughts rippled out into the minds of the others.

"Find them. They're our targets. Kill them all and it's our victory," Anna's voice rang out in the minds alongside the newly acquired intel.

Her words were like an instant trigger; everyone entered a crazed state as they rushed toward the enemy. Every single one of them understood the significance of the information.

Those thirteen—now twelve—were the core of the IMF's command center. With them gone, the remainder of the IMF had no authority to deploy or rearrange their forces. Surely, that was a win for Anna and her allies!

With Anna and her group joining the fray, the rebellion forces moved at a faster pace than before, gaining more and more territory at an increasing speed.

Soon enough, the Phoenix and the other mobile task forces finally caught wind of the situation and turned back toward the IMF command center.

Yet, it was too late. One by one, the pillars of the IMF were rooted out and slain.

With each kill, Anna harvested their memories and added them to the intel database that she already had of the IMF. Secrets were revealed with great clarity. Nothing was hidden from her at this point.

The shrill wail of emergency alarms howled throughout the underground stronghold. Red warning lights flashed and flickered, seemingly signaling the final moments of the IMF.

However, the situation didn't last long. The death toll of the IMF operatives was spiking uncontrollably. Collapse was imminent.

Before absolute power, nothing else mattered. All the IMF personnel could do now was to continue their futile resistance in hopeless desperation.

Splurt!

A sickening pop sounded as one of Anna's tentacles pierced into a containment chamber and writhed around. The skull of a translucent-headed creature inside had burst apart.

Another one of the Thirteen had fallen.

A trace of doubt flickered across Anna's gaze as she pondered over the situation.

What's going on? This is...too easy. I haven't even utilized any of my contingency plans?

To Anna, it would be worrisome if things were going wrong. But it was a totally different kind of worry if things were going too smoothly. She still remembered clearly the layers of fail-safes that the Foundation had in the Subterranean Sea.

They were the Foundation, after all. As the guardians of humanity, they couldn't possibly be this weak and fragile.

Just then, the ground beneath her trembled, the afterwaves causing the buildings to rock as well. Moments later, the group was hit by surprise.

A corner of the war-torn city began to tilt. With each passing second, the angle increased further.

Eventually, like a pancake, the entire city flipped over with a woosh.

This particular stronghold was actually a double-sided city.

The city above the ground was now inverted; the buildings hanging upside-down like mechanical stalactites.

Meanwhile, the underground buildings were now bathed in sunlight. Those who had been fighting in the city, along with every Anomaly caught by the sun's rays vanished in an instant.

Built almost entirely of metal and gray concrete, a fortress that was armed with all sorts of weaponry down to the teeth appeared before everyone's eyes.

Silence hung in the air for a brief few seconds before a deafening roar echoed.

The next moment, every weapon mounted on the fortress unleashed a furious barrage, raining destruction on the enemies surrounding the city.

In an instant, its sheer might forced everyone to duck for cover.

Anna, who was supposed to be in an underground facility, now found herself standing on the upper floors of a building, after the city was inverted.

Watching the scene unfolding outside through the window, she let out a sigh of relief.

No matter what, the IMF had finally made its move. The first piece had been played—and to Anna, it was the unknown that was always the deadliest.

"Drop those things," Anna instructed. "Bomb this tin bastard into scrap!"

Anna’s command was instantly relayed to the squadron of warplanes circling thousands of meters above.

In perfect formation, the aircraft dove sharply as their bomb bay doors slid open with a hiss.

Whoosh!

A missile—clearly heavier than anything deployed before—plummeted straight toward the heart of the military fortress.

The enemy's air defense systems immediately responded. Interceptors shot up in an attempt to stop the missile midair.

The moment they came into contact...

An explosion thundered, and a new sun bloomed in the sky.

The dropped shells weren't like any of their predecessors. They were the latest, most advanced weapons on the surface world.

Anna tilted her head up to take in the view of the rippling explosion, her lips curling up into a grin.

"Bring it on. Don't worry, there's more coming. Give me one, and I'm going to give you ten in return!"

Fwoom!

A ball of flame abruptly streaked past Anna before latching onto her thigh.

Clearly, this was no ordinary fire. No matter how hard Anna slapped at it, it refused to be extinguished. Even worse, her hand caught fire.

With a snarl, Anna lashed out with a tendril, tore the burning chunk of flesh away, and tossed it to the side.

The moment the burned flesh left Anna's body, the flames roared with fiercer intensity.

The fire bloomed into an inferno, and four figures soon emerged from within. Clad in crimson uniforms, the phoenixes on their shoulders marked their identity.

The Phoenix Mobile Task Force had finally arrived, and they stood in front of Anna.

Boom!

Another thunderous explosion ripped through the air as yet another miniature sun bloomed in the sky, 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

The shockwave, saturated with lethal radiation, whipped Anna's long hair into a wild dance.

A cold sneer appeared on Anna's visage. "So you have finally shown up? But isn't it a bit too late now? There are only seven of the Thirteen left."

Staring at the origin of all evil before him, the Phoenix Mobile Task Force Leader replied in an icy tone, "You don't actually believe that there's an Anomaly that can reset the world, do you?"

Next to Anna, Gao Zhiming's pupils contracted sharply, and his heart skipped a beat.

Flanked by her allies, Anna stood in her spot.

Suddenly, the surrounding buildings around them shifted and transformed like steel titans waking up from their sleep. Armored fortresses rose from the earth and encircled Anna and her group.

A searing laser shot out from one of the steel titans and struck the crowd. It then ricocheted off a couple of mirrored surfaces in rapid succession, striking the crowd again and again.

The sizzling sound of burned flesh and screams of agony filled the air. The blast had a significant impact on Anna's ranks.

Then, something stranger happened. For some unknown reason, they were shrinking, their forms getting smaller.

"This is a trap! We've been ambushed!" Jackal roared, the veins on his forehead bulging as he gritted his teeth in fury.

The very next second, a battle broke out.

Bullets tore through flesh, and a cacophony of sounds—screams, explosions—resonated throughout the battlefield.

At the same time, the IMF's execution squad arrived. However, their target wasn't Anna this time. Rather, it was Gao Zhiming, who was right beside her.

"Gao Zhiming is 315's weakness! Initiate Plan C-3! Capture him at all costs!" A female voice rang out through every comm unit worn by the IMF mobile task forces.

In a mountain bunker five hundred kilometers away, intel analysts and tactical staff packed the place.

Rows of supercomputers beeped and blinked.

This was the IMF's command center. Here, the upper echelons of the IMF watched the live footage transmitted back from the mobile task forces. Their faces were grim as they tracked the war playing out in real time.