Chapter 122: Chain of Events
People stood in the streets watching the sky thin with distant trails of fire. Few pointed phones upward, trying to capture proof that the government abandoned them.
Then disorder followed, along with the truth about the nation's condition.
The military was still present, still trying to hold order in place, but even they seemed uncertain now.
Inside one of the capital DEFENSE FORCE HQ, voices rose over a long table lined with inactive displays.
"GOD DAMMIT!" Kane slammed his hand down hard enough to rattle the equipment. "They started this war, and now they're abandoning us."
No one corrected him. Most of them feel the same.
The Defense Force had been holding back the beast attacks for years. Despite occasional losses, humanity had managed to survive and thrived.
Everything changed when the NET was established.
Not long afterward, the Kings began appearing one after another.
It didn't take a genius to connect the dots.
What many considered a coincidence now looked like a warning that had been ignored.
The higher-ranking officers knew it better than anyone.
Years ago, the Covenant had warned humanity that continued development of weapon of mass destruction could provoke a response from forces beyond their understanding.
The warning had been dismissed outright. Politicians branded the Covenant as anti-human extremists trying to slow humanity's progress. Most people believed it.
Now, as cities fell and Kings emerged across the planet, that warning became reality
The Covenant had predicted the arrival of the Kings.
They had predicted the collapse of human civilization.
They had even warned that humanity was not prepared for what would follow.
Kael leaned back slightly, rubbing his temple. "It's not that they abandoned us. You know we can't leave this plane—"
"BULLSHIT." Kane's chair scraped as he stood.
"You really believe those explanations?" His gaze swept across the room. "They just don't care. No matter what they say, we were never part of what they were saving."
"They don't see us as the same," he continued. "Not pure humans. Just like the hybrids from the Covenant. Maybe worse."
At the mention of the Covenant, everyone's face turned sour.
Only a few days ago, they had been fighting Covenant forces across multiple fronts. They won the battle in the end, forcing them to retreat, but the memory remained fresh.
"Aren't you going overboard, Kane?" A woman with purple hair stepped forward. "You're ruining the mood for everyone."
"FUCK OFF, KARIN. You've done nothing but kiss Senator Ronald's feet, but I'm pretty sure he already left your sorry ass."
"You—"
Her aura flared.
Before she could move, Kane was already in front of her. He struck her across the face, sending her body crashing backward.
"I'm done with this. And I'm done listening to the government," Kane said, raising his arm. "Let's get out of here and look after ourselves. Those of us with abilities should stick together. We can still survive."
The sound of Karin's body hitting the floor lingered longer than it should have.
No one rushed to help her. Someone looked like they wanted to, then stopped halfway through the motion.
Kane didn't lower his arm. He kept it raised as if waiting for someone to challenge him again.
Karin wiped blood from her lip and stayed down. No one moved to step in. Kane was one of the nation's top five strongest. His temper was known, but so was his strength.
Kael stood up slowly from the far end of the table. His chair scraped softly across the floor.
"This isn't just a room argument," he said. "You hit a fellow elite agent inside DEFENSE HQ."
Kane glanced at him. "Then arrest me."
No one moved.
Kane raised his hand. "Who among you wants to come with me? Let's leave this city and take an airship for ourselves. If people like us stick together, we can at least survive this."
Kael expected silence.
Instead, the top-ranked agents and the tenth both raised their hands.
"Rajin… are you really serious?" Kael asked.
The man he looked at had short black hair and carried a katana at his side. He was the strongest Special Category in the nation.
Him agreeing with Kane was a big deal, and it made the others hesitate. The idea that had sounded reckless only moments ago became a good one.
"He is, because unlike you, Rajin has a brain," Kane said with a short laugh. He turned toward the door and walked out.
The others followed quickly, falling in behind him as they moved to gear up.
The airships were still property of the Federation. If they refused to hand them over, they would take them by force.
Within hours, the decision triggered a chain reaction. What started as a breakaway group spread through the Special Category ranks.
Soon, nearly eighty percent had defected and formed a new faction.
They called themselves the "NEOMANS."
To the remaining government forces, the coalition looked like an organized rebellion. It was quickly labeled terrorism.
Tension escalated almost immediately.
What followed was the beginning of a civil war.
Military barricades went up within hours.
Highways were sealed with armored vehicles. Concrete blocks were dragged into place, forming tight choke points around every known military field and airship depot.
The order was simple: Special Categories were not to enter under any condition.
From the ridge above the eastern airfield, Kane watched the layout settle into place.
Tanks had already taken position near the gates, barrels angled outward.
Inside the fence, soldiers moved in coordination, checking weapons, reinforcing positions, keeping distance between units as if expecting internal collapse as much as external attack.
It was obvious even the military forces were growing upset at the situation.
Still, most of the generals remained loyal to the current government. Not out of agreement, but because the structure itself held them in place.
Orders still flowed through the same chain of command, and Lucien's voice carried across secured channels, feeding them confidence—or maybe lies—to keep morale high.
They would stop the Kings before they reached the capital. That was his declaration.
It wasn't new, but it was said with enough confidence to keep the government from falling apart completely.
For the generals, it narrowed every other option.
The NET.
It was the only technology still showing results against the Kings. Two were already dead, and only two remained.
Unfortunately for them, the gap between the military and the Special Categories was too wide.
What was meant to be a defense operation collapsed into a series of rapid losses. Soldiers could not keep pace with the movement, adaptation, and raw power of Special Category abilities.
Defensive lines broke in fragments rather than a single decisive failure, each one creating openings that were exploited almost immediately.
Within an hour, the command centers were forced to acknowledge what the field reports already showed.
They were being outmatched.
The Special Categories pushed through critical zones, disabling armored resistance and bypassing fortified positions that were never designed to hold against opponents of their level.
Even coordinated fire and reinforced barriers only slowed them down briefly before being rendered ineffective.
In the confusion, the Federation lost more than ground.
Two airships were taken from secured hangars. Security systems were overridden under pressure, guards were neutralized, and launch protocols were forced open in the span of minutes.
By the time reinforcements arrived, both ships were already in the air.
They rose above the sky and vanished into the horizon.
While all of this was unfolding above ground, another event was taking place far below the surface.
Unlike the rest of the nation, the founding clans did not panic. They had always operated with a longer view of the world.
Over time, they had constructed an underground complex designed as both shelter and long-term refuge.
It was massive enough to hold well over a hundred thousand people, built in layered sections that stretched deep beneath a mountain.
This was not a simple bunker.
It was an engineered underground city.
Multiple levels were reinforced with layered shielding, independent power systems, and sealed transit routes that could operate even if the surface world became completely inaccessible.
Entire districts were carved into the rock, connected by wide corridors designed for mass movement rather than narrow emergency passages.
The deeper it went, the more controlled and self-contained it became, as if the structure had been built to function without ever needing the world above it again.
And now, as chaos spread across the surface, the clans began activating the final phase of their preparations—quietly securing entry points, moving personnel below ground, and sealing sections that were no longer needed.
Regardless of the outcome of the war between Lucien and the Kings of Beasts, they intended to survive long enough to see whatever came after.
"That Lucien kid has done it. I told him not to poke the hornet's nest," an old man in his eighties said.
"But you still supported him, right?" another old man replied. This one had longer gray hair.
"I supported him because he told me he would only use the NET to defend the airspace around our country. I never told him to start a war against the Kings."
The longhaired old man shook his head. "Regardless, you are still responsible for funding his projects. I told you that kid is too ambitious for his own good. He is filled with thoughts of vengeance."
"I'm not the only one. Don't forget the individuals who bought tickets for the space station. That alone funded over eighty percent of the project."
Both of them looked at each other and sighed. The more they thought about it, the clearer it became that the orbital cannons had only been possible because of human greed and self preservation.