BXBX NOVEL Chapter 194 Orchestrated Beast Wave
Aurielle tilted her head, her voice cooling. "And you\'re really okay with this? Letting them mutilate people for their experiments?"
"No," he admitted, his tone softening slightly. "But I\'m also not in the position to stop it without losing everything I\'ve worked for in this world. This Dominion is a tool. And I don\'t throw away tools until they\'re no longer useful."
Aurielle\'s frustration flickered in her gaze as her lips curled into a bitter smile. "You\'re hopeless, you know that?"
"Hopeless is surviving long enough to play the game," Linsley replied coldly. "You want to burn it all down? Fine. But don\'t drag me into it unless you\'re willing to deal with the consequences."
Aurielle stared at him for a long moment before her shoulders relaxed, though her eyes remained hard. "Stalemate, then. For now."
"For now," Linsley echoed, the mist around his hand dissipating as he stepped back.
The room settled into a charged silence, the air heavy with unresolved tension. They both knew the issue wasn\'t settled—far from it—but for the moment, neither was willing to push further.
Before either could speak again, the sharp blare of an alarm shattered the stillness, echoing through the facility.
A robotic voice followed, emotionless yet urgent. "Alert: Beast wave detected across Valora Continent. Multiple regions under attack. Astral Dominion Headquarters initiating emergency protocols. All personnel to designated positions."
Linsley\'s gaze snapped toward the door as Aurielle\'s expression shifted, her usual carefree demeanor returning with unsettling ease.
She tilted her head, a small smirk tugging at her lips. "Well, isn\'t this interesting? Seems like your little Dominion has a mess on its hands. What a shame."
"Bad timing," Linsley muttered, striding toward the door. His focus was already shifting to the crisis at hand. "Stay here."
Aurielle chuckled softly, leaning against the desk as she watched him. "Oh, come on, Linsley. I can see it all over your face. You think this \'beast wave\' isn\'t natural, don\'t you? Let me guess—it\'s another one of those wonderful experiments gone wrong?"
Linsley stopped but didn\'t look back. "It doesn\'t matter what I think. My job is to deal with it."
"Hmm," Aurielle mused, following him toward the door. "So noble. But if it is connected to those lovely little human experiments, wouldn\'t you say this is karma? The Dominion deserves every bit of chaos it gets." Explore more stories with empire
Linsley ignored her jab, his attention already on the growing alarm.
The corridor outside his office was a flurry of activity as officers rushed to their stations, their expressions grim and determined.
He glanced over his shoulder at Aurielle. "Stay here. This is an internal matter."
Aurielle raised an eyebrow, her grin widening. "Oh, really? You expect me to sit around twiddling my thumbs while you play hero? Sorry, Linsley, but I\'m not the stay-behind kind of girl."
"This isn\'t negotiable," Linsley said firmly. "The meeting is classified, and I\'m not authorized to bring you along."
Aurielle waved a hand dismissively, her violet eyes glinting with mischief. "You underestimate me, Lieutenant General. I can create an invisibility gift and a presence concealment gift. Nobody will know I\'m there."
Linsley\'s jaw tightened as he turned fully to face her. "If you get caught, I\'ll be the one in trouble. Do you understand that?"
Aurielle leaned in slightly, her grin taking on a sharper edge. "Oh, please. Who in this Dominion could possibly detect me? Let me guess—no one here is Level 9.9, are they? Aside from you, that is."
He scowled, crossing his arms. "This isn\'t a game, Aurielle."
Her expression softened slightly, though her playful tone remained. "No, it\'s not. Which is exactly why I\'m coming. You need me, Linsley. You just don\'t want to admit it."
Before he could respond, the alarm blared again, cutting through their conversation.
A nearby officer approached, saluting sharply. "Lieutenant General Sinclair, you\'re requested in the Situation Room immediately. The beast wave appears to be coordinated."
"Understood," Linsley said curtly, dismissing the officer.
He turned back to Aurielle, his frustration evident. "Fine. Do what you want. But if you get caught, don\'t expect me to cover for you."
Aurielle\'s grin returned in full force as she gave a mock salute. "Aye, aye, Commander. I\'ll be your invisible shadow."
Linsley didn\'t respond, striding down the hallway with Aurielle trailing just far enough behind to remain unnoticed.
As they neared the Situation Room, Aurielle paused for a moment, her expression playful but tinged with a sharp glint of confidence.
She flicked her fingers, and flux shimmered faintly around her before dispersing, leaving no visible trace of its activation.
Aurielle had bypassed the Dominion\'s alarm and detection systems for gift usage with ease. As the human incarnation of the Superpower God, her mastery over gifts rendered their monitoring technology little more than crude toys in her eyes.
A moment later, her presence faded completely, leaving no detectable flux signature or trace of her existence.
Inside the Situation Room, the tension was palpable. A massive table dominated the center, surrounded by high-ranking officers and strategists.
Holographic projections of the Valora Continent displayed swarms of beasts converging on key locations, their movements eerily synchronized.
Fleet General Wyrn stood at the head of the table, his expression grim as he addressed the gathered officers. "This isn\'t a natural phenomenon. The coordination of these attacks is too precise. Someone is controlling the beasts, and their objective is clear: to destabilize the Astral Dominion."
Linsley took his place near the table, his gaze scanning the maps and reports scattered across the surface.
Red zones marked the locations of the most intense beast waves, each attack strategically timed to overwhelm local defenses.
He could faintly sense Aurielle\'s presence nearby, her flux so expertly concealed that even the Dominion\'s sophisticated detection systems couldn\'t pick it up.
"What\'s our current status?" Linsley asked, his tone clipped as he ignored the distraction of her silent observation.
A strategist, a Brigadier General, quickly responded. "Initial defenses are holding in most regions, but the concentration of beasts near Vindrel City is overwhelming our forces. Several other areas are under attack, but the patterns are inconsistent. They appear scattered, designed to divide our attention and resources."
Fleet General Wyrn interjected, his voice heavy with suspicion. "That\'s precisely what concerns me. The attacks are too fragmented for a straightforward assault. These aren\'t just attempts to destabilize us—they\'re distractions."
Linsley\'s brow furrowed. "Distractions for what?"n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om
The strategist exchanged glances with Wyrn before replying, "We\'ve detected unusual movements near one of the Dominion\'s classified human experimentation facilities—Lab Theta-9. It\'s one of the major sites involved in high-level research, including…" He hesitated, glancing at the Fleet General.
"Gift Transfer experiments," Wyrn finished, his tone bitter. "If this is their real target, then whoever is behind this is aiming to compromise some of our most sensitive operations."
The revelation hung heavily in the air. The lab was located near Vindrel City, making the overwhelming beast wave in that region all the more suspicious.
"They\'re after the research," Linsley murmured, his mind racing as he pieced the puzzle together. "And if they get it, the consequences could be catastrophic."
Aurielle, still cloaked in her invisibility and presence concealment gifts, listened intently from the corner of the Situation Room.
Though her expression was hidden, icy anger simmered beneath her calm exterior. She now understood the true scale of the Dominion\'s experiments—and how far others would go to exploit them.
Fleet General Wyrn frowned as a new set of projections flickered onto the central screen, highlighting the critical areas under attack. A hologram of Vindrel City, the Dominion\'s largest hub of experimental research, came into focus.
"The enemy is converging here," Wyrn said, his voice grim. "This isn\'t just about destabilization. These attacks are distractions—their true objective is Lab Theta-9."
The officers exchanged uneasy glances. Lab Theta-9 was infamous even among the Dominion\'s classified operations. It housed not only top-secret Gift Transfer experiments but also the most dangerous test subjects.
An officer tapped into the console, and the screen shifted. The image zoomed in to display the heavily fortified lab surrounded by chaos.
Swarms of beasts clashed against Dominion forces, but the center of attention was a single figure cutting through the battlefield with terrifying efficiency.
The room fell silent as her image came into view.
A woman with long, flowing white hair and crimson red eyes stood amidst the carnage, her presence dominating the screen.
A black halo floated ominously above her head, and a pair of black feathered wings spread wide, each flap sending ripples of flux through the air.
Her movements were graceful yet deadly, a sharp contrast to the chaos around her. She wielded a dark lance that radiated destructive energy, piercing through waves of soldiers and defenses with ease.
"Who is that?" one of the generals asked, his voice edged with disbelief.
Fleet General Wyrn\'s expression darkened. "That\'s Lucy—the Fallen Angel."