Inside the sprawling halls of the Capital Pri university, Principal Farnes sat in his office, absorbed in all sorts of reports on recent Federation defences in the war.
At the mont, however, his attention was abruptly interrupted as one of his aides burst through the office door with a look of unrestrained excitent written across his face.
"Sir… you have to co see this!"
The aide practically gasped for air, waving frantically to a holographic screen to his side.
Farnes frowned slightly, his curiosity piqued, but he maintained his calm deanour as he turned toward the screen.
"What is it, Renfield?"
Farnes asked, though he'd already caught sight of what appeared to be a vast Red Demon fleet, the darkened hulls of their infamous command ships stretching out across a broadcast feed. At first, the sight alone sent a jolt through him. The Red Demon fleet was the Federation's most feared enemy at the mont, and that huge ship in the centre clearly wasn't normal — even glimpsing their ships sent a wave of tension through any Federation officer. And to see not just one but thousands of them in a single place…
"It's the Red Demons, sir. Their fleet… It just appeared at the edge of our surveillance range, completely immobilised."
"Immobilised?" Farnes echoed, eyes narrowing as he leaned forward, scrutinizing the footage that flickered across the holographic display. The image zood in, slowly panning over a silent sea of enormous ships, all identical in their darkly reinforced hulls and intimidating insignias. It was one of the largest fleets he had ever seen gathered in one place, and at the centre was a truly enormous command ship — nearly on par with the Federation's own flagships.
"Yes, sir. It's… the entire fleet. But they're all dead…" Renfield replied in a hushed tone, his eyes wide with disbelief. "It's… well, you'll see."
The footage shifted, switching to an interior view of one of the command ships. What Farnes saw sent a chill through him. Inside the vessel, the command deck was empty. A Red Demon captain slumped in his chair, frozen in place, his chitinous armour casting a lifeless glint under the ship's dim ergency lights. Scanners zood out to show other parts of the ship, all identical in their eerie emptiness.
The Red Demon soldiers, once so relentless, were now little more than husks — as if so inexplicable force had ripped their life from them in an instant.
"They're… ghost ships." Farnes murmured, unable to look away. The display panned from ship to ship, showing each frozen in a similar state, lifeless forms scattered across command decks, ss halls, hangars. "All of them," he continued, his voice filled with the strange awe that crept over the room.
"Not just ghost ships, sir." Renfield said, gesturing to a data feed scrolling across the screen.
"We analysed the power signatures. Whatever did this… it left no trace. There's no lingering energy signature, no sign of an attack, no damage to the ships themselves. They simply… stopped."
Farnes studied the data, his mind racing. He'd spent a year of his life keeping up in this war with the Red Demons, navigating the Federation through one brutal conflict after another, but he'd never seen anything like this. The fleet had been wiped out, yet nothing indicated the thod, weapon, or even the source of the attack.
"What does intelligence have on this?" he asked, regaining his composure and turning his attention back to Renfield.
"Nothing concrete, sir. Initial theories point to so kind of high-level intervention, maybe sothing beyond what the Federation has dealt with before…" Renfield replied. "The energy levels needed to wipe out an entire fleet without leaving a trace… it's beyond anything we know."
Farnes knew this fact quite clearly, as he represented the peak power the Federation had to offer, and he was damn sure he wouldn't be able to pull sothing like this off, at least to the level of leaving no trace or evidence at all!
Farnes's expression grew thoughtful as he leaned back in his chair. He knew there were powerful entities in the universe thanks to the abrupt introduction he had to the Overseers, but this level of destruction was unprecedented, even by cosmic standards. And if this was the work of a single being…
The broadcast continued, footage cycling through more of the destroyed fleet. The sight of so many empty ships stretched on, almost haunting in its silence. The once-unstoppable machines of war were now derelict relics, adrift in the void.
And then, as if in response to Farnes's unspoken questions, a new line of data appeared on the screen.
"Look at this!" Renfield said, gesturing to the teletry readings from the site. "According to our scanners, sothing was detected entering the Red Demon system just before the fleet went dark. A lifeform, sir. But… it had no energy signature."
"No energy signature?" Farnes repeated, his eyebrows furrowing. "That's impossible. Even the weakest awakened leave behind so trace. Are you sure the sensors weren't malfunctioning?"
"We ran diagnostics multiple tis. Everything checked out. Whoever — or whatever — it was, they left no energy footprint."
A silence hung between them as Farnes processed the new information. It was one thing to obliterate a fleet — that could theoretically be achieved with enough firepower. But to do it without any detectable energy output, to leave the ships and soldiers frozen in place as though ti itself had stopped…
As Farnes processed the implications of this discovery, such as how they could use those Red Demon ships, the holographic broadcast in his office suddenly shifted once again.
The screen flickered, and the usual blue interface replaced by an urgent red alert.
Alarms softly humd through the halls outside as new data stread across the display.
"What's going on now?"
Farnes muttered, leaning forward.
It was new for him to be late in receiving information like this, considering he was usually one of the first people to know.
"Sir… this is… you'll want to see this!"
Renfield stamred.
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