The dawn of the full moon didn't bring light; it brought a heavy, suffocating fog that clung to the Silver-Claw valley. Rikae stood on the command balcony, his silver-grey eyes scanning the tree line.
"They're in," Silas whispered over the comms. "The backdoors are pinging. They've bypassed the perimeter sensors using the codes Lisra stole."
Rikae didn't flinch. He watched his monitors as the Iron-Fang strike teams, led by Valerius's personal guard crept into the "Main Hub." They thought they were invisible. They thought they had the keys to the kingdom.
"Wait for it," Rikae murmured.
On the screen, he saw two figures at the rear of the formation. One was massive, draped in tactical gear—Valerius. Beside him, a smaller figure in a dark hooded cloak. Lisra. She was watching the Silver-Claw headquarters with a look of mournful triumph.
"Now," Rikae commanded.
He didn't just close the backdoors. He triggered the Feedback Loop.
A high-frequency electronic shriek ripped through the valley, followed by a series of controlled explosions. The "Main Hub" which Rikae had emptied of his people hours ago, turned into a pressurized furnace.
The screams of the Iron-Fang soldiers were cut short by the roar of the collapsing infrastructure. Concrete and steel rained down, burying the elite guard in a tomb of their own making.
"Rikae! The Alpha and the girl!" Silas shouted, pointing toward the edge of the blast zone.
Through the smoke and fire, Rikae saw a flash... Valerius had thrown his body over Lisra, his Alpha strength absorbing the brunt of a falling support beam. With a roar of agony, Valerius surged upward, hauling Lisra into his arms and disappearing into the black maw of the forest just as the secondary gas lines ignited.
A final, massive explosion rocked the earth, sending a mushroom cloud of fire into the sky.