While Akachi's group was invading the Judgement Stone, General Luena's Falangettes were advancing. Nebula No. 4 kept its distance from the infiltration site. It watched the initial combat between the mediums unfold, until a large flaming mass flew towards it. It retreated with speed, leaving a crack in the sand. The burning mass hit a huge rock.

From the middle of the flames, Hakim stood up. With his fingertips, he extinguished an insistent flame that stubbornly burned the tunic on his left shoulder. He lifted the hem of his cloak as if it were a skirt and shook off the rock debris stuck to his clothes. He twisted his neck. He muttered a few words between his teeth. He groped his body weakly.

“What the fuck! I get a little distracted and I'm blown up. My back hurts. Damn! I'm not that old.”

The soldier couldn't believe it. A wise man had been caught unawares in a trap as vulgar as that?

Perhaps the Phalanx had exaggerated the capabilities of our enemies.

Seeing the Sage of the Law twisting his limbs and gasping, he became self-confident. She had been ordered not to interfere in the fighting, but she was not prevented from taking advantage of an opportunity like that. She would strike him in the back, with fulmination. A clean kill, with no room for a counter-attack.

The blades slid silently out of the handles. It would sever Hakim's head. He leapt at him, with the camouflage system still active.

“Gravitational Constitution!”

Nebula No. 4 executed the attack, but there was another ten meters between it and Hakim. He saw the world like the fish-eye effect of a digital camera. Everything seemed distorted, she felt nauseous. Her sense of space was so shaken that she could no longer understand her own movements. She groped around in confusion.

“What have you done to me, you bastard?”

“I've curved the space-time between you and me. I can push away and bring closer to me whoever or whatever I want.”

The voices sounded like echoes inside a cave. Hakim was still on his back with his hands clasped in front of him. He was not worried about being attacked from behind. He turned to his opponent.

“Stop that!”

“Right away, sir.”

Tunp! The sage clapped his hands. It was as if the physical-chemical nature of reality was coming back into place. The phalanx felt the slingshot effect of time-space returning to its place of origin. It was as if his body had received a collision. The energy accumulated in his body was released all at once, bursting his internal organs. His cybertech-reinforced bones broke. A metallic sound rang through the air.

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The woman struggled on the ground. She no longer had the strength to fight. The internal structure of her body was in pieces. Only death could lessen her suffering. However, the last remnant of life inside her still resisted, a vain hope. Her epileptic body and nosebleeds didn't stop her from begging for life.

“Please, no… I don't want to die… no…”

“You Ilu Nla Cyber Troop, always opportunistic. I bet you created this perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. You picked the wrong day! I'll give your bitch superior a little warning.”

Nebula No. 4 was still on the ground. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't move a muscle. Her body wouldn't obey her. A high-pitched noise rose in the air. She screamed, but couldn't hear her own voice. In Hakim's hands, he saw a mass of energy accumulate, grow and spin like a massive, unstable sphere.

The radiation emitted by the energy sphere shot out sparks like a small star. A tear trickled down the corner of her cheek. The soldier would know that after receiving that blow, not even her remains would be found. Hakim struck her body with the sphere. The sphere swirled and eroded his entire body.

Molecule by molecule, it spiraled through the air. After the explosion, only Hakim was left in the middle of a huge dark crater. It was as if an asteroid had fallen in the area. A curtain of radioactive smoke rose into the sky. The sage waved his cloak and walked towards the Stone of Judgement.

⸎

In the armored vehicle, the auxiliary team from Ilu Nla's Military Intelligence Service were observing the approach of Nebulas 1, 2, 3 and 4. However, a huge explosion occurred near the Judgement Stone. It was so big that the armored vehicle toppled over on its side. The equipment suffered major interference. The communicators exploded in a high-pitched squeal.

General Luena was frightened. She couldn't understand what had happened. She got up from the floor. He ordered his men to pull themselves together. It took a while for the equipment to start working again. They had received a small electromagnetic pulse. Once the systems had restarted, she asked for the coordinates of the situation.

One of the soldiers wiped the sweat dripping from his forehead. He searched the signal of the members of the Ghost Troop. The monitor showed only three of them.

“Where's Nebula No. 4, officer?”

“Excuse me, sir. The signal from Nebula No. 4 is no longer being picked up by our devices. It may be an error…”

“An error? Fix it immediately!”

“Yes, sir.”

The operators, using the armored vehicle rehabilitation system, managed to restore the electromagnetic thrusters. The armored vehicle was turned around. The soldiers felt the rattle of it returning to horizontal with its eight pairs of tires on the ground.

Luena became impatient. She pushed the soldier aside. She scanned the signal herself.

“None of her! How is that possible? There's not even a signal from the black box on my soldier's armor.”

“It could be residual interference from…”

“Shut up, officer. I want satellite images of the explosion site.”

The officer requested images from Ilu Nla's geostationary satellite. The image zoomed in, frame by frame, until the huge dark crater with crackling embers was visible. A small curtain of dust was still swirling in the air.

The dust settled. In the center of the crater stood Hakim. He twisted his arms and neck repeatedly. Then he looked up at the sky and gave a small smile. The soldiers moved their bodies back. It was as if the sage was looking at them. The medium turned his face to the horizon and started walking towards the old judicial building.

“There are high levels of radiation in the atmosphere. If our readings are correct, it's as if a small sun has landed there. Sir, what kind of monsters are we facing?”

The military officer didn't need an answer. Her hand clenched on the back of his seat. The officer was grateful she hadn't grabbed his shoulder. Nebula No. 4 had been disintegrated with a single attack, so not a scrap of it survived. Not even her Axé-Core.

“Warn the remaining members of the Ghost Troop: under no circumstances attack the Sage of the Law.”