The sky over the Pacific had turned into hell.
The Silver Eagles moved like a swarm between the Kartnod ships, dodging energy beams and responding with blasts that tore through enemy shields. Victoria had achieved the impossible: she had broken the enemy vanguard's formation.
—Unit Three, attack the exposed flank!
From her position, Victoria watched the battlefield map projected onto her helmet visor. The twenty Kartnod ships had fallen into disorder after the initial assault. Five of them were already heavily damaged, and two more had lost offensive capability.
—Direct hit confirmed! —Melina shouted—. The main ship is burning!
Melina, excellent work. Now all units climb and regroup —Victoria ordered.
But the battle offered no relief. The anti-aircraft cannons of the Kartnod ships began saturating the sky with an increasingly dense web of fire. The agile silver aircraft moved between the blasts, but the pressure kept growing.
Victoria clenched her fists and muttered to herself. We almost have them. We just need to hold a little longer.
Suddenly, the ocean in front of them began to stir without wind.
First came a vibration. Then a deep sound, like the heartbeat of a gigantic creature beneath the water. The aircraft screens became flooded with interference.
—Commander —Valeria said, her voice tense—, my sensors are collapsing. There's something massive under the water.
—It's not under the water —Victoria replied—.
The space in front of them seemed to tear apart.
Then, from inside the breach, tentacles emerged.
They were enormous, blacker than the night itself.
Each tentacle measured dozens of meters and moved with a speed that contradicted its size.
The first strike came before anyone could react.
—All units, evade! —Victoria shouted.
It was too late.
The tentacle wrapped around pilot Lara Fuentes' ship and crushed it like aluminum foil. The explosion lit up the sky for a second. Then only burning debris fell into the sea.
—Nooooo, sister! —Melina screamed.
A second tentacle lashed toward the left. Pilot Jimena Castro tried to evade, but another limb emerged from a second rift that opened directly behind her. It struck the rear of her aircraft. The ship lost control and crashed into the ocean, creating a massive column of water while twisted metal floated on the surface.
—Fall back and climb as high as you can! —Victoria ordered—. Gain altitude now!
The Silver Eagles ascended at maximum speed in a disorganized formation, barely avoiding a third tentacle sweeping through the sky where they had been seconds earlier. But the third ship struck belonged to pilot Camila Rojas. The tentacle did not grab her ship; it hit it with such force that the aircraft split in half. The cockpit spiraled downward while the rear section exploded.
—Camila! —Melina screamed.
A terrible silence covered everything. In less than a minute, Melina had lost her younger sisters.
Victoria felt a knot in her stomach. Three ships. Three pilots. In less than a minute.
—Commander, look! —Valeria shouted.
The entire horizon began filling with rifts.
Not two. Not three.
Dozens.
Dimensional portals opened in a circle around the battlefield, each larger than the last. And from them, ships began to emerge.
Victoria lost her breath for a moment. They were the same ships that had devastated the Sevianko base in Anadyr. The same ones that, according to Irina's reports, had annihilated the Russian fleet without mercy. Ships that looked as if they had come directly from the underworld.
One after another, the ships appeared.
Five.
Ten.
Fifteen.
When the portals finally began to close, more than forty ships now formed the Kartnod fleet. The horizon, once clear, had become a black wall of steel and murderous magic.
On the flagship of the newly arrived fleet, Kael Draxor observed the battlefield with cold satisfaction. Beside him, Ilyan Sereth adjusted the attack system parameters.
—The Sevianko fell in less than one night —Ilyan said—. These silver flies won't last even half that long.
—Do not underestimate the women of this family —Kael replied—. Or have you forgotten everything they put us through? They may not be the same warriors, but I am certain those are the same cursed ships.
Kael activated the open communication channel.
—All units. Full assault. Do not allow a single one of those aircraft to return to land.
In the sky, Victoria watched the enemy deployment with a mixture of rage and determination. Her fingers trembled on the controls, but her voice remained steady.
—All units, listen to me. We are facing the fleet that destroyed the Sevianko.
She paused before continuing.
—They have weapons we have never seen before, so stay alert and do not lose focus.
We have a home to defend.
And we will not allow them to reach our shores.
Victoria's words ignited something within the pilots. Desperation transformed into determination.
—Unit One ready for attack —Melina said firmly.
—Unit Three also ready —Valeria added.
—I do not want suicides —Victoria replied—. I want all units to switch to maximum dispersal formation. Do not present a concentrated target. Attack in waves, strike, and withdraw. We will wear them down.
—Commander —an operator interrupted from the ground—, we received confirmation: the United States fleet departed thirty minutes ago.
They will arrive in approximately one more hour. The Lefebvre family ships will arrive in about fifteen minutes.
—That sounds like an eternity —Victoria answered—. But it is better than nothing. Hold out until then.
All the ships scattered like shooting stars in every direction. The Kartnod cannons opened fire immediately, filling the sky with blue and red beams. The silver aircraft danced between them, impossible to predict.
Melina led the first assault wave. Six ships dove toward the enemy fleet's left flank, firing missiles in short bursts. Two Kartnod ships received direct hits on their turrets. They did not explode, but their systems were disabled.
—Keep the pressure on! —Melina shouted.
Valeria attacked from the opposite side. Her eight ships unleashed a barrage of hypersonic projectiles that overloaded the shields of three battleships. One began to smoke. The second lost stability. The third answered with a blast that struck one of the ships, belonging to pilot Andrea Ponce.
—Andrea is down! —someone reported.
—Ejection? —Victoria asked.
—...Negative. No signal.
Victoria clenched her fists. Fourth casualty.
—Maintain formation —she said, forcing herself to remain calm—. We cannot afford to mourn right now.
From the flagship, Kael Draxor watched the losses with irritation.
—These flies are faster than I expected. Ilyan, deploy the Claimoor.
—In the air?
—Yes. Launch them directly into their flight paths.
—Multiple aerial contacts! —Valeria shouted—. They're portals! What are those things?! one of the pilots screamed.
—Break formation —Victoria ordered—. Do not let them touch you.
The battle became chaos filled with energy bursts, claws, and explosions. Despite their technological superiority, the Silver Eagles were forced to split their attention between the enemy ships and the creatures clinging to their hulls like parasites.
Melina shot down three Claimoor with a burst from her side cannons, but a fourth managed to latch onto her left wing. The ship began losing stability.
—Damn it! —she shouted while performing a violent maneuver to shake the monster off.
From her position, Victoria watched the battle with growing desperation. They had destroyed five enemy ships, but they had lost four of their own, and now the Claimoor were exhausting the pilots. And the main Kartnod fleet had not even entered full combat yet.
Then, from the largest portal still open, a colossal structure emerged.
It was beyond anything imaginable. It was the size of three aircraft carriers covered in turrets and magical seals. On its bow, engraved in runes glowing like the fires of hell itself, the name could be read:
The Annihilator.
—That must be their flagship —Victoria murmured—. The one that killed Mikhail.
An open transmission invaded every frequency.
—I am Kael Draxor, second admiral of the Kartnod fleet. I speak to your commander: you have fought well. But your time has come to an end. Surrender and you will be treated as prisoners of war. Resist, and you will be annihilated just as we annihilated the Sevianko.
Victoria did not hesitate for a second.
—Kael Draxor —she replied with the coldest voice she could gather—. This is what I think of your offer.
She fired all her remaining missiles directly at him.
The projectiles struck the colossal ship's shields, which glowed violently and even shook under the impact. Kael smiled and said:
—Very well. Then this is how it will be. That was a bad decision.
The Annihilator activated its main cannons. Eight enormous concentrations of energy aimed toward the sky.
Victoria saw it and immediately understood what was coming.
—All units, maximum dispersal! Now!
The eight beams fired simultaneously, followed by volleys from all the other ships.
They were not aiming at specific targets.
They were firing in every direction. The beams swept across the sky in massive arcs, creating a web of energy impossible to fully evade.
Three more ships were hit.
They exploded before their pilots had any chance to eject.
Victoria felt pain and rage mixing with the taste of blood in her mouth. She bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from screaming.
—Melina —she said over the private channel—. How many do we have left?
A pause. Then Melina's broken voice answered:
—...Thirty-two. We started with fifty.
Victoria closed her eyes for a moment.
When she opened them again, the fire in her gaze burned brighter than ever.
—Prepare for the next wave. And someone pray the reinforcements arrive before they kill us all.
On the horizon, the Annihilator advanced slowly toward the Mexican coast.
And behind it, the rest of the Kartnod fleet began deploying into full assault formation.
The battle for Mexico had just entered its darkest phase.