The warning alarm wailed shrilly, shattering the serenity of the Arkian crystal cavern with wild, rotating flashes of crimson light. The cosmic wave energy particles that had once hovered peacefully now vibrated violently, casting panicked shadows of Arkian citizens scrambling for the underground evacuation tunnels.

"Damn it!" Kaelen snarled, his metallic hand clenching into a hard fist. He glared down at the main console screen displaying the glowing red coordinate pin just transmitted to the corporate satellites overhead. "There's a traitor among us! That signal was broadcast using a short-range military radio frequency from inside the training sector!"

Zulfa, Naya, and Captain Danu snapped their heads around in unison. Danu's blood boiled instantly. As the resistance leader, he knew the communications gear issued to his men by heart.

"Aris..." Captain Danu hissed, his voice shaking with overwhelming fury. "That bastard! He's the only one carrying the military-frequency comms unit we salvaged from yesterday's raid!"

Before they could take further action, the earth beneath their boots groaned violently.

Boom! Boom!

Cr-r-ack!

The upper cavern walls blew apart from heavy artillery fire raining down from the surface. Hundreds of Aethel Corp special forces troopers—clad in jet-black tactical armor and carrying plasma rifles—rappelled down through giant borehole shafts, showering the crystal hall with indiscriminate fire.

"Charge! Wipe out every last primordial beast and rebel scum!" the corporate mercenary field commander roared from a tactical chopper winch line above.

"Protect the Arkian citizens! Take defensive positions!" Kaelen commanded loudly, unsheathing his Aethel-Tech blade, which blazed with brilliant blue light.

The crystal cavern instantly plunged into a brutal, close-quarters firefight. Laser and plasma fire shrieked through the air, shattering exquisite crystal pillars and sending shards flying in every direction. Arkian warriors vaulted agilely from the stone walls, returning fire with a lethal mix of primordial sorcery and supernatural physical speed.

Zulfa grabbed Naya's hand, guiding her to cover behind a massive altar boulder.

"Naya, stay here! Don't move until things settle down!" Zulfa shouted, racking his assault rifle bolt and squeezing off precise shots at two corporate troopers attempting a flank charge on the right.

"Zulfa, watch out!" Naya screamed anxiously as she spotted a stun grenade land not far from their barricade.

Zulfa lunged for the grenade, hurling it back toward the enemy before it blew, then whipped his gaze back to the chaos churning across the hall. Amid the fierce crossfire, his eyes locked onto a human resistance fighter scurrying hurriedly toward the secret escape tunnel at the far end of the cave.

Aris. The traitorous soldier wore a wide grin as he shouldered a duffel bag stuffed with a stack of corporate gold-coin bounties.

Spotting his target of betrayal dead ahead, the veins on Captain Danu's temples bulged. His rage hit a boiling point.

"ARIS! WHERE THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE RUNNING, YOU BASTARD?!" Danu bellowed, his voice shaking the cavern.

The middle-aged man surged forward like an injured bull, ignoring the hail of flying lead around him as he chased Aris, who broke into a frantic sprint into the dark mouth of the tunnel.

"Don't be an idiot, Captain! This place is about to be leveled to dust!" Aris mocked from the mouth of the hallway, thumbing a small mechanical trigger button dangling from his neck.

Captain Danu accelerated his stride, lunging forward to grab a handful of Aris's jacket. "You're selling out your own brothers for cash, huh?! I'm ending your run today!"

Yet right before Danu's fingers could close around Aris's back, the traitor vaulted into the tunnel, tossing a small black object blinking with a red light onto the floor beside the cavern's primary load-bearing crystal pillar.

"Enjoy the fireworks, Captain!" Aris sneered, vanishing into the gloom.

Captain Danu froze for a split second, casting his eyes down at the blinking red device resting at the base of the main pillar. His heart stopped beating as he recognized the tech.

"That's... a military high-pressure charge!" Danu yelled in horror.

BZZZT—

Before Danu could warn the others or scramble away, Aris triggered the remote detonator.

BARRRRR-GH!

A deafening, massive explosion shook the subterranean world simultaneously. Amid the raging firefight, one of the cavern's primary support pillars was blasted apart by the heavy explosive, fracturing the giant bedrock foundations and triggering a destructive chain reaction threatening to bury the entire crystal cave alive in seconds.