Meanwhile, on the bridge of the Intercessor, chaos erupted all over Incandestine channels. Lucina, dressed in the armour she had been wearing in Sarigold, struggled to make sense of the situation.

“Empress! The enemy- zombies! The entire second division is being wiped out as we speak!”

“Bloody hell, General Marcellus. Slow down and describe the situation.” Lucina demanded fiercely.

“The storm clouds began raining blood, and a floating city appeared in the sky. Then… the dead were raised. It’s just like the history books, a single bite is enough to turn the living!” The General rambled.

A cold sweat broke out on the resolute Lucina’s brow. An exceptionally rare occurrence of her composure being shaken.

“What is the Xeta level?” she asked.

Everyone in the Incandestine Empire knew of Xeta-370. It was the infamous planet where a zombie apocalypse occurred in the wake of research on endemic alien life. An astounding 97% of Xeta-370’s population had been lost to the disaster. The entire planet had been quarantined and researched to prevent similar disasters from occurring in the future. As a result of Xeta-370, numerous technologies had been developed to deal with the possibility of future outbreaks. It was even the norm in modern times for each spacefaring vessel to have anti-zombie protocols, called Xeta protocols, and weapons to deal with such a threat. Even a ship such as the Intercessor would be scuttled if the protocols demanded it.

“The situation is evolving but… Xeta Level 3. But it’s far worse than that, the entire horde is enhanced. Enhanced individuals, mutant variants… Xeta protocols are insufficient to describe the situation. Additionally, the Z’s seem to be obeying someone’s orders. Large parts of the horde seem to be organising themselves into formation as we speak.” The general stammered out.

Xeta Level 3 meant that the threat was significant, large in number and in strong condition, but contained to a localised region.

“Do you know who is in control?” Lucina asked.

“We have no direct evidence, but I would bet that it has something to do with that floating city that suddenly appeared with the unnatural weather.”

“Tenebria Coronum, General. That’s what the locals call it if I am correct about what we are dealing with. Await assistance and follow the Xeta protocols. We will send reinforcements as soon as we can. That will be all. In her memory.” Lucina said to the general, closing the communication line.

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Then, to a worn-looking man wearing a sharp, high-tech lab coat, she spoke.

“Doctor Hagley, I require the Bloodfire Blade. And have the Twins sortied as soon as possible to assist on the surface.”

“Understood, Empress. They’re all yours.” Hagley replied wryly.

The Incandestine’s Chief Scientist entered commands into a holographic display that appeared before him. A table grew from the floor beside Lucina’s throne on the Intercessor’s bridge, revealing a long, segmented sword.

The sword’s many segmented blades were bright orange and sharper than what should have been reasonably expected; the fruits of research conducted on Sophia’s Aegis-Scorn ability. But besides that, the blades also had a strange coat of oil, perpetually burning.

The oil was known as Prime Bloodfire, a chemical created to destroy the zombie threat on Xeta-370. Bloodfire was a miraculous, or perhaps more accurately, hellish substance. Upon contacting blood, it would explosively convert it into more bloodfire.

As such, only a tiny scratch was required from the Bloodfire Blade to turn a zombie into a bloodfire-filled bomb. The zombie would then explode into a fountain of bloodfire, often causing a chain reaction of explosions as bloodfire melted through the skin of those it encountered. Bloodfire itself would quickly degrade when exposed to air, unlike the Prime Bloodfire that coated the Bloodfire Blade. An area cleared by bloodfire would become relatively safe after a short time. The only issue with the Bloodfire Blade was the weapon’s excessive lethality. The slightest mishandling of it could result in catastrophic loss of life. Only a handful of individuals in the Incandestine Empire were even authorised to use bloodfire-related chemicals.

Lucina took the blade, carefully stretching it out with a gauntleted metal hand. As the weapons’ segmented form suggested, it was a whip-sword. Neurologically linked to the user, the sword would go limp with just a thought, extending and bending like a whip when swung. Another thought would retract the extended segments, returning the blade to sword form. As commander and reagent of the militaristic Incandestine Empire, Lucina was well versed in all methods of combat, with the authority to directly brain-load all restricted knowledge and training. And of course, she had the highest clearance in the entire universe, able to freely use the Empire’s endless arsenal of weapons.

Lucina considered their next course of action. A zombie threat was not to be taken lightly. She already knew that it could devastate an entire planet.

So, The Empress made up her mind.

“I order an orbital strike on Tenebria Coronum. I want it destroyed. The zombies must be eliminated at their source.”

“What of the rest of our ground forces?”

“Give them fifteen minutes to get clear and confirm the coordinates. I myself will be assisting in the clean-up operation afterwards.”

The supernatural weather made it impossible for Necropolis to be targeted purely from space. Someone would have to be sacrificed in order to relay the floating city’s precise location.

“Yes, Empress. In her memory.”

“In her memory.”