The sirens at Yongsan Garrison were really loud. They tore through Yongsan Garrison. It was a sound. The sirens, at Yongsan Garrison were going off.
Not alarms.
Warnings.
The red lights were flashing over the place making the tents and barricades look like they were broken into pieces.
Ethan Cross came out of the stairs that went down to the undercroft. Found himself in the middle of a big mess. The place was really crazy. Ethan Cross saw that everything was messed up.
Gunfire was coming from a lot of places. The big lights that shine everywhere were moving around showing quick glimpses of really bad things happening. Soldiers were shooting at other soldiers and Awakeners were breaking through the walls that were supposed to keep them safe. The mans Aura Sense started working hard all of a sudden. The Aura Sense was trying to tell him something, about the Awakeners and the soldiers.
Too many red signatures.
Too coordinated.
Ethan said this is not a breach. He thought it was something. This is an uprising Ethan said.
A sergeant stumbled past him his helmet was. Blood was running into his eyes. The sergeant said "They were already, inside". The man was gasping for air. He said "The armory is gone". Then he said "The command is—"
The rest just fell apart into a scream when a big burst of green and black energy tore through the sandbags that were, behind the man. The green and black energy was really powerful. It ripped through the sandbags.
Ethan moved to a place. He had to get all of his things and take them with him. Ethan was very excited, about the move. The new place was really nice. Ethan loved it. Ethan moved all of his boxes into the house.
Not toward cover.
Toward the source.
He keyed the encrypted channel that Captain Park had given to him.
"Command, this is Cross. Status."
Static. Then Park's voice—strained, breathless.
Park said that they used something. They did something to space that let them move around it. They hit the TOC first. Now we are in a spot. The motor pool is where they are starting from. If the motor pool gets taken out then the whole base will be, in trouble too.
The line cut.
Ethan turned to his team. He looked at the people who were working with him, which was his team. Ethan wanted to say something to his team.
"Marcus. Lena. With me."
The people did not hesitate.
The motor pool was, on fire. It burned. The motor pool is totally gone now because it burned.
The Humvees were on fire. You could hear the ammunition exploding with loud sharp noises. In the middle of all this destruction was a big rough monument. It was made from rift crystal and stolen technology all mixed together. It was making a humming sound. The Humvees were still. The monument was surrounded by these portals that were constantly opening and closing making it a really crazy scene. The rift crystal and stolen technology, in the monument were working together causing all these portals to snap open and shut around the Humvees.
The marked cultists came running in. They just kept pouring through.
And standing before the obelisk—
A woman.
Tall. Calm. Unhurried.
Her skin had these symbols on it that kept changing. They looked like suns that were turning in on themselves. When she was around it really messed with Ethans Aura Sense. It was like her presence was warping everything of like when you see things blurry on a hot day because of the heat rising up, from the ground.
Not a boss monster.
A commander.
She said this and her voice was loud enough for everyone to hear, with all the noise. The hunter is here now.
Ethan did not answer.
The man threw a flashbang into the portal and then he charged through the explosion, from the flashbang.
The fight was immediate and brutal.
Marcus broke through the line of cultists his maul crushing armor and bones at the time.
Lena got into position, on a transport that had been burned out she was shooting bolts. Firing her shotgun at the casters, which stopped them from finishing what they were saying.
Marcus and Lena were really going after the cultists Marcus was using his maul to smash them. Lena was using her bolts and shotgun to cut them down.
Ethan walked up to the obelisk. He did not stop or look around he just went straight for the obelisk. The obelisk was what Ethan was looking for. Now that he found it he was not going to leave the obelisk. Ethan stood there. Looked at the obelisk.
The woman raised her hand. She wanted to say something about the woman. The woman was trying to get attention from the people, around the woman.
The air just went flat. It is like the air collapsed. The air really collapsed.
Ethan just managed to turn to the side at the second. This was a thing because a weird kind of energy came out of nowhere and cut through the concrete floor where Ethan had been standing just a moment before. The energy was so strong that it threw Ethan backward. He crashed into a car hard that it made a big dent, in the steel. The car was really strong. The energy that hit Ethan was even stronger so it still got damaged. Ethan was really lucky to have moved when he did. The energy would have hit him instead of the concrete and the car.
The pain flared up. It was a pain. The pain was really bad.
Real pain.
The man stood up anyway. He just stood there. The man was standing anyway.
The woman said "you drain". She walked around me slowly. You take in things that you do not get. The system figured you out a time ago but something is missing from you. The system marked you and that is a fact but you are not complete you are not a person the system says that about you.
The woman made a gesture with her hand.
The obelisk was really pulsing. It had this pulse that seemed to be coming from, inside the obelisk itself. The obelisk pulsed with a kind of energy that was hard to explain.
The cultists who were marked all surged forward at the time. Every one of the marked cultists did this.
Ethan took a breath out and then he stepped forward.
The man did not pull harder on the thing he was holding. He just kept pulling with the amount of force. The thing he was trying to move did not budge because the man did not pull harder.
The man pulled out the cleaner.
The energy was taken away, from the network that connected everyone not from the people themselves. This had an effect that spread out really fast. The cultists were caught off guard. Stumbled around. Their chants stopped working. The portals that they had opened started to fall.
Marcus felt it and he let out a roar then he swung his big maul and drove it into the base of the obelisk.
There are cracks that look like spider webs.
The woman let out a scream. It was not a scream of pain. Of anger. She hit Ethan on. This strange empty energy went into his shoulder. It hurt his skin. It hurt something even deeper inside him. The womans attack was very strong. It hurt Ethan badly. The void energy was powerful. It did a lot of damage, to his shoulder.
The man was really close, to falling down. He almost fell down. The man nearly went down.
Nearly.
Ethan took hold of her wrist. He did not let go of her wrist. Ethan was still holding her wrist.
And drained her.
Not everything.
Just enough.
Visions tore through him. He saw rituals and blood-soaked altars. The Church of the New Dawn was spreading. It was spreading cell by cell through fear and promise. Seoul was one place where the Church of the New Dawn was doing this. The Church of the New Dawn was everywhere it seemed.
The woman let out a scream because she lost her control completely. The woman was really upset. The woman just could not handle it anymore.
The obelisk just blew up.
The light and the shadow just came together fast and went inward. This made the portals completely disappear like they were swallowed up by the light and the shadow. The light and the shadow were so strong that they took everything with them including the portals.
The fire, at the motor pool was burning slowly when it was all over. The motor pool was still burning,. It was a quiet fire.
People are lying still. The bodies are not moving all. These bodies just lay there.
The woman got down on her knees her tattoos were not as noticeable as they used to be. She did not have any strength left in her.
She told me that I could have joined them. The eclipse is going to happen no what.
Ethan did a thing to her. He took his knife. He drove it right through her heart. The heart is an important part of the body and Ethan hurt hers very badly. Ethan used his blade to hurt her in a bad way.
I do not get down on my knees to things that are supposed to happen no what. I do not accept that some things are just inevitable. Inevitability is not something that I bow down to.
Then there was silence. It was really quiet. The silence followed.
The dawn came up over Yongsan. It was pale. It did not look very sure of itself. The dawn, over Yongsan was a thing.
The garrison was still standing,. It was really struggling to stay that way. The garrison was not doing well.
Marcus leaned on his maul breathing hard. He was totally exhausted. Lena sat against a tire her hands were shaking a lot now that everything was over. The whole thing with Marcus and his maul was finally. Lena was still trying to calm down. Marcus and his maul had been, through a lot.
Captain Park was found near the Tactical Operations Center. They saw Captain Park close to the Tactical Operations Center. The people found Captain Park who was, near the Tactical Operations Center.
The man died on his feet.
Later helicopters were flying above. Making a lot of noise. The people, in charge were trying to take control. Ethan was standing by himself near the barricade. He was just standing there near the barricade alone.
He felt it at that moment.
Not a notification.
Attention.
The system was not congratulating him. The system just did not say anything to him. He was waiting for the system to congratulate him. The system was not doing that. The system was supposed to congratulate him. It was not happening with the system.
Something was watching me. The thing was watching. I felt like the thing was watching.
This was no longer a local collapse.
This was a war of selection.
Ethan Cross is a hunter and an anomaly and an intruder. He had just stepped onto the board. This is a deal because Ethan Cross is not supposed to be there. The board is a place where things are supposed to be a way and Ethan Cross does not fit in. He is like a piece that does not belong in the game.. Now Ethan Cross is, on the board and things are going to be different.
The night went away.
The eclipse is now. The eclipse. It is done.
But the shadows it cast would last far longer.