​Chapter 34: Dragon God's Domain

The second Phoenix’s palm slammed onto the SSS-rank Dragon Sovereign Core, the ancient vault didn't just heat up—it exploded like a dirty bomb filled with red lighting and pure, unadulterated violence.

BOOM!

The shockwave blew weapon rack doors off their hinges and sent half-ton crates flying like styrofoam.

Killian was moving before the blast even hit. He threw his massive frame in front of Valerie and Toby, slamming his broadshield into the obsidian floor with an SS-rank roar. "BRACE!"

"Jesus fucking Christ!" Jax screamed, ducking behind a pillar as her buzz-cut hair blew straight back in the superheated gale. "Is she absorbing a core or nuking the continent?!"

At the epicenter, Phoenix floated three feet off the ground, her dark eyes lit up with liquid crimson fire. The red jewel in her grip liquefied, pouring straight into her pores, coiling around her ribs, and burning through her tactical vest like a brand.

Ancient, glowing draconic runes flared down her throat and across her collarbones, searing into her skin with a sizzle that smelled like ozone and sweet burning sugar.

[SYSTEM ALERT: MAXIMUM OVERLOAD REACHED] [SSS-RANK DRAGON SOVEREIGN CORE ABSORBED] [STAT MULTIPLIER: 500%] [SYSTEM MESSAGE: STOP CHEATING, YOU UNHINGED MONSTER]

Phoenix dropped back onto her boots with a heavy, satisfying THUD, the crimson flames snapping back into her chest like a whipped leash. She took a deep, shuddering drag of air, her eyes snapping open.

The aura radiating off her was so thick, heavy, and hot that Valerie’s knees visibly buckled, her sniper rifle clattering against her knee-pad.

"Holy shit," Valerie wheezed, wiping sweat from her forehead. "Her aura feels like standing next to a jet engine."

Phoenix stretched her neck, her spine popping like firecrackers. A filthy, predatory grin spread across her lips as she looked at her glowing hands.

"Fuck me," Phoenix purred, her voice vibrating with a twin dragon-echo that made every metal fitting in the room rattle. "That is the good stuff."

"Boss!" Toby yelled from behind Killian’s shield, staring at his handheld terminal as the screen burst into actual sparks and caught fire. "Your power reading just melted my hardware! You're literally off the fucking chart!"

"Phoenix—" Killian was at her side in a split second, his stormy blue eyes scanning her body for burns. His massive, gloved hand hovered over her waist, trembling slightly with raw adrenaline. "Are you whole?"

Phoenix cackled, reaching out and grabbing him by his tactical vest, yanking his broad, six-foot-four frame down until his lips were inches from hers. Her breath was pure heat.

"I'm better than whole, handsome," Phoenix whispered, winking as Killian’s face flushed a deep, magnificent red all the way to his throat. "I feel like I could snap Sterling’s neck using only my left pinky."

"Save the neck-snapping for tomorrow, Grand Commander," Valerie groaned, shaking off the vertigo and stepping up to a rack of experimental plasma launchers. "We’ve got a mountain of pre-collapse military gear to loot before the rest of the Viper Syndicate realizes their bosses got cooked."

Soren slouched past them, casually slinging a sleek, silver railgun over his shoulder while tapping his neck-port. "Relax, Val. I already jacked three heavy automated cargo-transports from their secondary depot. They're auto-piloting into the trench right now."

"Good boy, silver-hair," Phoenix approved, clapping him on the back hard enough to make him choke on his cigarette. "Jax, Toby! Pack up every core, every gun, and every chunk of star-iron in this tomb! We're stripping this joint down to the drywall!"

"Hell yeah!" Jax barked, tossing a four-hundred-pound crate of anti-matter warheads onto her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

Twenty minutes later, the three massive cargo haulers were stuffed to the brim with priceless loot, and Squad Outcast was roaring back up toward Outpost 79, leaving the Abyssal Trench hollowed out and burning behind them.

Inside the transport, Valerie popped the cork on a bottle of top-shelf military bourbon they'd salvaged from the vault and passed it straight to Phoenix.

"So, Grand Commander," Valerie smirked, taking a long swig. "You got the Sovereign Core. You got enough firepower to start a small world war. What's the plan?"

Phoenix took a massive swig from the bottle, wiping her mouth with the back of her glove. Her eyes glowed with pure, unadulterated draconic malice as she looked out the armored window toward the distant, glowing spires of the Academy.

"The plan?" Phoenix chuckled, a wicked sound that made Killian’s heart slam against his ribs. "Sterling wanted a war in Sector Seven. Tomorrow, we take our new toys and deliver the war straight to his fucking front porch."