Clang!
Clash—!
Boom—!
Thud!!
From Garol's perspective, as soon as his commander charged at Lehman, it only took a blink of an eye before the commander was sent flying several meters back, landing on the deck unconscious.
Huh?
No way…
Is it over already?
Garol was utterly astonished.
During their training assessments, the commander could defeat Garol and the other Sangheili sergeants with a single blow. Although Garol had seen Lehman in action and knew the commander was no match for him, he had thought the commander would at least hold out for more than a few seconds.
But reality had "slapped him in the face"—the commander couldn't even withstand Lehman's attack for a few seconds.
"Pretty strong, much stronger than the Elves," Lehman commented seriously, giving the golden-armored captain an objective evaluation.
Even though it had only taken one strike, Lehman had to remain vigilant and serious to knock the captain down.
"Awoo?!"
The elite guards watching nearby let out cries of shock, clearly stunned by the gene-primarch's display of power.
"Cough, cough."
Lehman coughed lightly and walked over to the golden-armored captain, who was now unconscious, eyes rolled back, and remarked, "Seems like I might've taken it too seriously… Oh well."
He then looked at the group of elite guards standing at the front and raised his left hand, making another provocative gesture:
"Come at me all at once. I'm short on time. I don't want to still be fighting when my father arrives and we haven't taken control of the situation."
"Awo!!"
The elite guards immediately charged with their lances, intending to overwhelm the "lone" gene-primarch with sheer numbers.
Not long after…
"Awo."
The twenty elite guards, each of whom was one in a million, lay unconscious on the ground, just like their commander, eyes rolled back.
"…"
Witnessing this scene, Garol, who had been watching the entire time, stood with his jaws wide open.
However, he quickly regained his composure, as if he had already become accustomed to such outcomes.
"Hey! Buddy, let's go!"
After dealing with the troublesome elite guards, Lehman calmly proceeded toward the bridge, calling out to Garol, who had been following him.
"Awo."
Garol instinctively responded, joining the four Thunder Warriors as they followed Lehman, disappearing from the connector area.
Three hours later, on the sunlit side of Shield World 0459:
Swoosh—Swoosh—!
An Atlas fleet, led by a UNSC Marathon-class heavy cruiser, accompanied by five Paris-class and twelve Fides-class frigates, successfully exited slipspace, returning to realspace.
The previously cloaked Beacon disengaged its optical camouflage and rejoined the main fleet.
"…"
Inside the bridge of the Marathon-class cruiser, Samuel Young gazed out through the sealed viewport, observing the Forerunner structure below. The atmosphere had become thick and polluted due to the rampant Flood.
This was his first time witnessing the "map" from Halo Wars 1 up close in real life.
He recalled over 160 years ago, back when he was still a student attending day school. Just to play the original Halo Wars 1, which was exclusively released for the Xbox 360, Samuel had sacrificed money for snacks and some dinners, saving for over six months to buy a second-hand, hacked 360 console.
With a five-yuan pirated disc, he was finally able to experience the real-time strategy game set in the Halo universe.
And now…
He had become the owner of a company, akin to managing a simulated operation. Sometimes, he even acted as a real-time strategy "player," commanding various units to fight battles across different universes.
But the units that fell in combat were no longer lifeless data. They were now subordinates, each with flesh, blood, and their own families.
"Boss, the Beacon has successfully rejoined the fleet," the captain of the Marathon-class cruiser spoke, pulling Samuel back to reality from his memories.
"Good."
Samuel turned and walked over to the central control platform.
Moments later, a holographic communication screen appeared, and the captain of the Beacon reported to Samuel:
"Boss, Primarch Lehman has successfully captured the Covenant fleet's commander. Currently, the orbital strike team and emergency response units accompanying this ship are guarding all the prisoners.
However, they require additional friendly units to assist with security. The major of the orbital strike team is concerned that the Sangheili may resort to force once they awaken.
In addition, Primarch Vulkan mentioned that once the fleet enters the atmosphere, the Forerunner AI known as 'Serenity Shores' will open the gates, allowing the fleet to enter Shield World 0459's core, avoiding contact with the Flood."
"I understand. Anything else to report?" Samuel nodded slightly.
"Nothing for now, Beacon reporting out."
With that, the captain of the Beacon saluted Samuel and cut off the holographic communication.
Samuel then turned to the Marathon-class captain and ordered, "Have the fleet proceed. Take us to the core world."
"Yes, sir."
The captain nodded in response, and Samuel left the bridge, walking alone through the corridor.
The Forerunner AI, Serenity Shores.
In fact, while the fleet was still in slipspace, Ap had already uploaded detailed intelligence to the fleet.
Samuel had also reviewed the information, images, and videos provided by Ap and was already aware of everything that had happened on Shield World 0459.
One of the things that intrigued him the most was the guide of 0459.
Samuel remembered when he first played Halo: Combat Evolved and experienced the eerie atmosphere leading up to the Flood's introduction, which left him with quite the psychological shadow as a child.
After all, from that point on, there were no more Marines cracking jokes to accompany him through the missions.
However, when the monitor, 343 Guilty Spark, appeared in charge of Installation 04, Samuel instinctively felt, "Something's off with that guy."
And sure enough, 343 Guilty Spark attempted to trick the Master Chief, controlled by Samuel, into activating the Halo's pulse to exterminate the Flood's "food"—in other words, all sentient life.
Even though 343 Guilty Spark later became an ally in Halo 3, he developed an obsession with the Halo array and ended up killing Sergeant Johnson, who had been a staple throughout the trilogy.
Through the actions of 343 Guilty Spark, it became clear that even artificial intelligences could not escape the grasp of "mental illness" over the course of tens of thousands of years.
In Halo Wars, when the human ship Spirit of Fire arrived at Shield World 0459, due to narrative and urgency, they never fully explored the core world, and therefore never encountered the monitor.
Thus, Samuel could not yet fully gauge the AI Serenity Shores, who had never appeared in the original timeline and lacked a soul.
Fortunately, this Forerunner AI had behaved logically and normally so far.
When the time came, Samuel planned to have Halsey, with her unique insights into AI, conduct a deep analysis.
For now, Samuel's primary goal was to contact the elite prisoners and use his psionic abilities to reveal the truth to them.
_________________________
[Check out my Patreon for +200 additional chapters in all my fanfics! Only $5 per novel or $15 for all!!] [www.p@treon.com/Mutter]