Gaia Chronicles: The Integral Saga

The old Lyrenthal command outpost was supposed to be sealed.

Four Gaia engineers and two Synthesis-ranked Knights had verified it after the last Abyss breach.

So when Elaine, Harriet, Charlotte, and Cyg stepped past its threshold—and the reinforced blast doors stood wide open with no signs of forced entry—something deeper than suspicion crept into their bones.

"This is impossible," Elaine whispered, wind coiling protectively around her shoulders. "There's no breach residue… no scorch marks."

"That means someone had the codes," Harriet growled, unsheathing Vermithar. "Someone inside."

Charlotte crouched by the data pad near the wall, fingers working like lightning.

"Access logs are scrambled. Someone deleted the gate records and rewrote them with looped signatures. It's clean—too clean."

"A mirror protocol," Cyg muttered, his tone turning cold. "Simulated authority signatures. This wasn't just an infiltration. This was a message."

"Then let's send one back," Harriet said, stepping forward, flames lighting up across her palms.

But Cyg held up a hand, stopping her.

"No. Not yet. This facility is rigged. I can feel it."

He knelt and brushed a finger across the metal floor. His Mystic Eye flared—bright blue lines forming geometric pathways only he could read.

"Pressure pads. Detonation fuses. Linked to ether traps."

Elaine's voice was quiet. "This whole place is a bomb."

Meanwhile, in Sector Delta, Team B navigated the industrial district—once a thriving gearhub for Gaia's defense tech, now a maze of abandoned factories and scaffolded rooftops.

Sylvia stopped abruptly near a gutted watchtower.

"Something's wrong with the sound here."

Mia blinked. "What do you mean?"

"There's no resonance," Sylvia replied, slowly raising her hands and letting her sound pulses sweep the air. "No echoes. It's like something's eating the waves."

Eun-Ha raised her cross staff, Solmaria humming with divine presence. "That means we're inside a suppression field."

"To block ether signatures?" Hikari asked softly.

"And isolate us," Eun-Ha confirmed.

Just then—A scream tore through the alley.

Not from the streets.Not from a civilian.It came from beneath the earth.

Mia stepped back, clutching her Grimoire. "That… that was a Knight."

They traced the scream to an old tunnel system underneath the district—collapsed during the first Abyss breach five years ago. Or so it had been reported.

But the tunnels weren't collapsed.

They were excavated. Cleared. Reinforced.

And patrolled.

Hikari knelt by a dim, flickering lantern and picked up a scrap of torn cloth—Gaia issue. A rank badge still clung to the edge.

"Commander Telven," she said. "One of the missing."

Sylvia looked ahead. "Then we're not looking for a crime scene."

"We're walking into a trap," Mia said.

"Then let's spring it," Eun-Ha answered, and stepped forward.

Back at the outpost, Cyg's analysis reached its conclusion.

"We're standing on a compressed mana web. If triggered, it'll chain-react through the entire grid."

"So how do we shut it down?" Harriet asked.

"We don't," Charlotte answered grimly. "We copy it."

Everyone turned.

She grinned. "You forget who you're traveling with."

Within minutes, Charlotte had rerouted the detonation script into a mimic shell—looping the trigger feedback into a silent echo.

"Boom," she whispered, smiling. "But only for them."

They advanced inward, passing through dark corridors until—

A body.Crucified against the control wall.Eyes gouged. Mouth smiling.

Elaine covered her mouth. "Is that—?"

"Knight Varek," Cyg said, face unreadable.

But the horror wasn't just in the mutilation.

It was in the inscription, written in blood and burned into steel:

"You can't protect what's already hollow."— Widowmaker

Across the city, high above the district where Mia's team approached the tunnels, a woman leaned against a spire of glass and steel.

Her eyes glowed violet behind a veil of lace.

Marta Sirova. Codename: Widowmaker.

One of Orion's Void Council. Silent, elegant, and cruel.

She closed her parasol slowly, gaze fixed on the city below.

"They're cleverer than I expected," she whispered. "Let's see what their fear tastes like when I unravel their faith."

A drone approached her, transmitting an image—Elaine, standing by the crucified Knight.

"Pretty," Marta murmured. "I'll save her face for later."

Back at the war room in Fort Argenvale, Thea stood before a rapidly updating feed from Lyrenthal.

Lines pulsed red.Gaia's secure city was unraveling.

She turned to Leonardo.

"This isn't just infiltration. This is sabotage at the core."

The King's voice was heavy.

"Then it's time to test their unity."