Chapter 128: [128]: The Regional Anchor, Waking the Empress

The Under-City transit hub was a chaotic mess of neon lights and screaming merchants, but Sebastian and Gwen did not stick around to sightsee. They sprinted directly for the central portal network and shoved past heavily modified cyborgs and confused aliens.

"They are going to lock down the grid!" Gwen yelled. She clutched the containment cylinder tightly to her chest. "Aegis Corp does not just let people steal a Regional Core and take the subway!"

"Then we catch the express train." Sebastian grunted as his physical lungs burned from the sprint.

They reached the massive gold ring of the primary transit portal. A pair of heavily armed transit guards stepped forward and raised their stun batons.

"Halt. All outbound transit is suspended by order of..."

Sebastian did not even slow down. He simply grabbed the lead guard by the breastplate and forcefully threw him into his partner. The two heavily armored NPCs crashed to the ground in a tangle of limbs and steel.

Sebastian stepped up to the control console. His hands flew across the holographic interface and bypassed the standard destination menus. He directly punched in the raw coordinates for Server 894. Earth.

"Coordinates locked. Hold onto your lunch." Sebastian warned.

He slammed the activation rune just as the massive alarms of the Under-City switched from a dull yellow to a frantic red. A heavily armed squad of Military Police burst onto the platform and raised their plasma rifles.

"Target acquired! Fire!"

A hail of blue plasma tore across the platform.

VWOOSH!

The portal flared blindingly bright and swallowed Sebastian and Gwen a fraction of a microsecond before the plasma bolts hit the console and melted it into slag.

The transition through the Juncture was a violent pull through the digital ether. Sebastian felt his body stretch and compress. The agonizing pressure tested the limits of his thirty-percent physical synchronization.

Then, reality slammed back into place.

THUD.

Sebastian and Gwen crashed onto the polished obsidian floor of the Sanctuary basement. The air was instantly different. It was cool and clean.

"Ugh." Gwen groaned. She rolled onto her back and stared up at the dark glass ceiling. "I hate traveling."

Sebastian pushed himself up to his knees. He did not care about the nausea. He looked around the subterranean core room.

Floating in the center of the chamber atop its dark pedestal was the True City Core. It pulsed with a slow warm golden light that pushed back the shadows.

Standing by the door, his twin daggers drawn and his eyes wide, was Wraith.

"Boss?" The Assassin breathed and instantly lowered his weapons. "You are back. We thought... the sensors went dark."

"I am back." Sebastian said. His voice dropped the human exhaustion and shifted back into the cold hum of a Demigod.

He stood up and ripped the ruined smoking Spoofing Drive out of his left wrist. He did not wince as the thick needles slid out of his bone. He just tossed the bloody iron block onto the floor.

"Give me the rock, Seattle." Sebastian commanded.

Gwen pushed herself up and slid the containment cylinder across the floor. Sebastian caught it. He did not bother opening the latch. He just squeezed his hand and used his raw physical density to shatter the thick glass.

The Regional Core, a massive and brilliantly glowing blue diamond, rested in his palm. It radiated an aura of territorial authority.

Sebastian walked up to the pedestal. He held the blue diamond directly over the pulsing golden City Core.

"System." Sebastian’s voice boomed and echoed with administrative power. "Initiate Territory Expansion. Anchor Code: Regional Override."

He slammed the blue diamond down onto the golden core.

BING! BING! BING!

The system chimes did not just ring in the room. They vibrated through the very bedrock of the planet!

[System Prompt: Regional Core Accepted.]

[Processing Administrative Override...]

[Validating Guild ’Sanctuary’...]

[Validation Complete. Expanding Safe Zone.]

The two cores violently fused. The golden light and the blue light swirled together and created a blinding explosion of pure creation magic.

RUMBLE!

The entire Tier 2 Citadel shook. But it was not the walls expanding this time. It was the barrier.

High above them, outside in the ruins of Earth, the five-kilometer golden dome of Sanctuary suddenly flared with the intensity of a dying star.

With a deafening crack that shattered the dark clouds, the dome exploded outward! It did not just cover the industrial district. It swept over the ruined metropolis. It rolled over the mountains. It washed across the burning plains.

The barrier expanded at the speed of light and vaporized every single Void Crawler, Phase Spider, and Tier 1 Infected caught in its path.

It did not stop until it covered a five-hundred-mile radius! This successfully anchored the entire Western Seaboard under Sebastian’s absolute domain.

[Expansion Complete.]

[Current Status: Regional Capital.]

[Territory: 500 Miles.]

Sebastian let out a long satisfied breath. The heavy oppressive weight of the server’s hostile mechanics was entirely pushed out of his territory. Within this dome, his math was the only math that mattered.

He turned away from the pulsing newly upgraded Core. He looked at Wraith.

"Where is she?" Sebastian asked softly.

"Medical bay. The Resurrection Altar." Wraith replied and stepped aside to clear the path. "She has been in the queue for hours. The system was waiting for enough ambient mana to rebuild her base files."

Sebastian did not run. He walked with a heavy purposeful stride out of the core room and down the winding obsidian corridors.

He pushed open the heavy brass doors of the medical ward.

In the center of the room, resting on a slab of pristine white marble, was Valerie.

A glowing green holographic loading bar hovered over her chest and sat at 99%.

As the massive influx of mana from the Regional Core flooded the Citadel’s grid, the bar ticked over.

[100%. Resurrection Complete.]

Valerie’s eyes snapped open.

She did not gasp gracefully. She violently jolted upward and her back arched off the stone slab.

"GAAAAH!" She screamed a horrific agonizing sound.

She rolled off the side of the altar and hit the floor hard on her hands and knees. She violently dry-heaved and coughed up a mouthful of clear digital fluid onto the polished stone.

Her body was trembling uncontrollably. Her brain was desperately trying to process the shock of being crushed by a dragon and having her soul forcibly shoved back into a newly rendered body!

Sebastian knelt down beside her. He did not offer empty comforts. He just placed a steady hand on her back and let her anchor herself to his presence.

Valerie gasped for air and her dark hair clung to her sweaty forehead. She slowly looked up with her blue eyes wide and terrified.

She looked at his tailored midnight-blue suit. She looked at the polished shoes.

"Ugh." Valerie groaned and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "I taste pennies. And... why the hell are you dressed like a corporate sellout?"

Sebastian let out a genuine chuckle. The dark terrifying aura of the Demigod vanished and left behind just a guy who was incredibly glad his friend was alive.

"I had a meeting." Sebastian smiled gently. "Welcome back, Princess. The neighborhood is secure."