Chapter 741: 741. The Elders Faction; Tyler’s First Loss

"My mech got disintegrated into nothing."

Tyler removed the visor from his head and rubbed his forehead.

The Golden Palace’s attack had happened so quickly that he still wasn’t entirely sure what had hit him. One moment he was flying toward the palace. The next moment, his connection to the mech vanished completely.

Tyler sat in front of the tactical screen and replayed the battle footage again.

And again.

And again.

Dozens of videos from different mechs appeared on the projection wall. Every angle, every sensor log, every combat recording was displayed before him.

Yet he still couldn’t figure it out.

"Looks like some sort of beam weapon..." Tyler muttered.

Even then, he wasn’t completely sure.

The recordings were too strange.

Normally, powerful weapons left traces. Heat signatures. Energy fluctuations. Shockwaves. Something.

This attack left almost nothing.

The mechs would be flying normally one second, then a golden flash would appear and everything would disappear.

It was as if the mechs had never existed in the first place.

Tyler leaned back in his chair and rubbed his forehead.

The unknown was always the most dangerous thing on the battlefield.

A weapon he understood could be countered.

A weapon he didn’t understand could kill him before he even realized what happened.

Opening a communication channel, he contacted the others.

"Tansy. Rose."

The reply came almost immediately.

"I’m here," Tansy answered.

"Still alive," Rose added.

"Good. Don’t fight the palace yet."

Both girls became silent.

Tyler continued.

"Don’t get too close to it either. Keep your distance and observe. I want more information before we make another move."

"Alright," Tansy replied.

Rose sounded disappointed.

"So we’re not charging in heroically?"

"No."

"What if I charge in unheroically?"

"Still no."

"Tyrant."

Tyler ignored her complaint and ended the call.

His eyes returned to the recordings.

The Golden Palace continued drifting across the sky on the screen, looking peaceful and majestic.

Yet Tyler knew it was anything but harmless.

He slowed one of the videos frame by frame.

A mech approached the palace.

A golden light appeared.

The recording ended.

He opened another one.

The exact same thing happened.

And another.

And another.

Every result was identical.

The golden flash lasted less than a second.

Then the mech was gone.

"It disintegrated everything instantly..." Tyler muttered.

His expression became serious.

"What kind of weapon is this?"

If the Capital possessed something this powerful, then it should have been used long ago.

The Head Commander would’ve crushed countless rebellions with it.

Entire armies could have been erased.

Yet nobody had ever mentioned such a weapon.

Nobody had ever seen it.

Which only made the situation more suspicious.

Tyler stared at the image of the floating palace.

"More importantly..."

"Why wasn’t it used by the Commander?"

That question bothered him even more than the weapon itself.

Because if the Commander had access to such power and never used it, there was only one logical explanation.

The weapon didn’t belong to him.

It belonged to the King.

He stepped out of the sphere and walked toward the large projection room. The moment he entered, dozens of holographic screens lit up.

Several figures appeared one after another.

The Elders of the Embers.

Looking at the projections, Tyler couldn’t help sighing inwardly.

The Embers appeared united on the surface, but internally things were far more complicated.

Originally, the Elders had been divided into two major factions.

The First Elder controlled one faction.

The Second Elder controlled the other.

After Tyler was promoted to the position of Tenth Elder, things became even more complicated.

A third faction had formed.

It wasn’t because Tyler wanted political power.

It simply happened naturally.

Elder Veena and Elder Alan Runner had openly supported him during several meetings. Combined with Tyler’s recent achievements, many neutral members had begun leaning toward his side.

As a result, the Embers now had three competing factions.

The First Elder’s faction.

The Second Elder’s faction.

And Tyler’s faction.

The funny thing was that Tyler had joined the organization relatively recently. By rights, he should have had almost no influence.

Yet reality proved otherwise.

Most of the Embers’ recent victories had been directly connected to Tyler’s inventions.

His communication systems. His drones. His mechs. His weapons.

Without those technologies, infiltrating the Capital would’ve been nearly impossible.

Even the death of the Head Commander had happened during an operation designed by Tyler’s faction.

As a result, many ordinary members had started viewing Tyler favorably.

The Embers advocated democracy.

One day, these Elders would likely compete in elections to determine the Nation’s leadership.

Everyone knew it.

Nobody openly talked about it.

But everyone knew.

The First Elder suddenly laughed.

"Elder Tyler, I heard your operation failed."

Tyler raised an eyebrow.

"Failed?"

"You attacked the Golden Palace and got obliterated. According to our agreement, that means our faction will take over the next stage of the operation."

Another projection appeared.

The Second Elder nodded.

"Hahaha. Then our faction will also participate."

Tyler stared at them.

His mouth twitched slightly.

"It’s not even been a minute since my mech got destroyed."

He looked from one hologram to another.

"How the hell are you people this fast?"

Neither Elder seemed embarrassed.

Clearly, they had been waiting for an opportunity.

Tyler simply shrugged.

Honestly, he didn’t care much.

What annoyed him wasn’t their ambition.

It was their timing.

The battle wasn’t over.

The King was still alive.

Yet these people were already fighting over credit.

Then Tyler suddenly remembered something.

When his faction infiltrated the Capital earlier, another group had arrived around the same time.

Five or six members from the First Elder’s faction.

They had entered the Capital alongside Tyler’s forces.

Yet strangely enough, they never appeared during the fighting.

At the time, Tyler had been too busy to think about it.

Now he finally understood.

They weren’t there to help.

They had their own mission.

┉┈ ◈ ◉ ◈ ┈┉

Earlier.

Capital Military Headquarters.

Most of the military forces had already been deployed to the battlefield.

As a result, security inside the headquarters was much weaker than usual.

Several Ember operatives quietly moved through the corridors.

After eliminating the guards, they reached a restricted room.

One of them immediately connected a portable computer to the military network.

His fingers rapidly moved across the keyboard.

A few moments later, the system was breached.

"We’re in."

Just then, a communication request arrived.

The First Elder.

The group immediately accepted the call.

At almost the same time, another operative entered the room while dragging a corpse.

The dead Head Commander.

"Perfect timing," one of them said.

The group quickly moved toward a secure elevator.

Using keys taken from the Commander’s body, they accessed deeper levels of the facility.

The process didn’t stop there.

Retinal scans.

Fingerprints.

Voice recognition.

Every security measure required the dead Commander’s authorization.

Fortunately, dead people were surprisingly cooperative.

Several minutes later, a massive blast door opened.

Everyone stared at what lay beyond.

Rows upon rows of nuclear launch systems.

The Capital’s strategic arsenal.

One of the operatives immediately contacted the First Elder.

"First Elder, we’ve reached the launch room."

"Excellent."

The First Elder’s face appeared on the screen.

"Prepare all available missiles."

The operatives nodded.

"Which targets?"

The First Elder smiled.

It was not a pleasant smile.

"Launch them toward every occupied sector."

Several operatives blinked.

Even they were surprised.

"Sir?"

The First Elder folded his hands.

"Destroy half of them."

"Once those people believe the Capital murdered their families, the survivors will become fiercely loyal to us."

The room fell silent.

Even through the communication screen, the order felt cold.

Then—

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Gunshots suddenly echoed through the room.

Several operatives collapsed before they could react.

Blood splattered across the floor.

Only the technician remained alive.

He froze.

Slowly turning around.

Four armed figures stood near the entrance.

One of them casually picked up the dropped communicator.

"Second Elder."

The man smiled.

"You were right."

"The First Elder’s people really came to the nuclear room."

The Second Elder’s laughter echoed through the device.

"Good work."

"We also left one technician alive," the operative reported.

"Excellent."

The operative nodded.

Then he pointed his weapon at the surviving technician.

"Cancel those launches."

The terrified technician nodded repeatedly.

"Y-Yes!"

The operative then continued.

"And redirect every available missile toward the Golden Palace."

The technician froze.

The others nodded.

That actually sounded reasonable.

If they could destroy the King in one strike, the war would end immediately.

Then—

BANG! BANG! BANG!

More gunshots rang out.

The operatives from the Second Elder’s faction immediately collapsed.

This time, the survivors looked toward the doorway in horror.

Ariel stood there holding a pistol.

Several members of Tyler’s faction stood behind her.

Ariel looked at the corpses on the floor.

Then she looked at the surviving technician.

Then she sighed.

"One group wants to nuke the civilians we’re trying to save."

She pointed at the dead members of the First Elder’s faction.

"Psychopaths."

Then she pointed at the dead members of the Second Elder’s faction.

"The other group wants to launch nuclear missiles at a city-sized flying palace directly above the Capital."

"Also psychopaths."

The surviving technician nodded vigorously.

Ariel crouched beside him and smiled.

Compared to the blood-covered room, her smile somehow felt even more terrifying.

"You can disable all of these, right?"

The technician nodded so fast he looked like a chicken pecking rice.

"Yes!"

"Wonderful." Ariel stood up and dusted her hands.

Then she opened a communication channel.

"Tyler."

"What?"

"Good news."

"What’s the good news?"

"I just confirmed that both the First Elder and Second Elder are idiots."