Under the Flabirds' relentless firestorm, the massive Edo City Compound didn't even last an hour before it was completely erased.
Ryuji Takahashi and the rest of Yamato's top brass watched the whole thing with bloodshot eyes, like their souls were being burned out along with the city.
Across the Atlas Federation, the major compounds watched too—trembling as the feed showed the end in real ti.
As the heart of the Yamato Empire, Edo City's fall wasn't just a devastating physical blow.
It shattered them ntally.
Ethan didn't hesitate for a second. Once Edo City Compound was gone, he casually sent Ryuji Takahashi and the rest of Yamato's leadership down to hell right after it.
After all, so many of Yamato's people had already gone first. It would be embarrassing for their leaders to stay up here.
Ryuji Takahashi didn't look especially willing.
Ethan didn't especially care.
Ethan never went soft when it ca to killing—especially not with those Yamato guys.
When it was done, he turned to the group he'd deliberately kept alive: a large crowd of beautiful won, and seven Awakened.
By now they were so terrified their faces had gone paper-white. They stood frozen in place, not even daring to breathe too loudly.
"Captain, I get why you kept the Awakened," Mia said, eyeing Ethan. "But why keep the won?"
"Heh heh—won this pretty, the captain's definitely thinking—" Big Mike started, then suddenly felt the temperature in the air drop. He clamped his mouth shut fast.
Ethan coughed, looking a little awkward. "After the apocalypse, the Atlas Federation's gender ratio is seriously out of whack. We're bringing so back to… balance things out."
"Oh." Mia nodded and didn't press.
"Bring them along," Ethan said. "We're hitting the next compound."
"Got it!"
They hopped onto the Flabirds. A few of the birds swooped down, seized the won and the Awakened in their talons, and lifted off.
In the days that followed, Ethan and his team rode the Flabirds as they swept through the Yamato Empire like a wildfire.
With over thirty thousand Flabirds, they barely needed to lift a finger themselves.
Every one of those birds was at least Tier 15, with built-in wide-area fire-type abilities. When it ca to wiping out a city, they were absurdly fast.
If Ethan hadn't needed to search for Awakened, a single compound wouldn't have taken them long at all.
As compound after compound fell, the number of crystal cores inside Ethan's spatial storage ring climbed higher and higher. Resources piled up until it felt like he was carrying mountains.
In five days, Ethan's group had practically flown over every corner of the Yamato Empire. Every single compound was destroyed.
The Yamato Empire officially fell—becoming the first major power of the apocalypse era to be eliminated.
After that, Ethan and the Flabirds started hunting down Yamato's zombies and mutant beasts.
The Yamato Empire might not have had much land, but its population had been over a hundred million. Even after subtracting the people who never turned, and the zombies Yamato's own forces had already killed, there were still nearly eighty million zombies roaming around.
With numbers like that, if it were just Ethan and a handful of people, they'd be killing until the end of ti.
Good thing they had tens of thousands of Flabirds.
Under the Flabirds' scorching waves of fire, the zombies couldn't resist at all. They burned to ash in droves, leaving crystal cores behind.
And what made Ethan the happiest?
The Flabirds even picked up the crystal cores and brought them back.
Ethan and the others just sat on the birds' backs and gave directions. It was ridiculous how good it felt.
If he had to na the single biggest gain from this trip to the Yamato Empire, it was the Flabirds—no contest.
With them, they could kill millions of zombies and mutant beasts every day. The flood of crystal cores had them grinning so hard their faces hurt.
Ten more days of slaughter went by.
By the ti they were done, you could barely find a living creature anywhere on the Yamato archipelago.
The Yamato islands had beco a graveyard.
Ethan and the others headed back toward the Atlas Federation with everything they'd deliberately kept—thousands of top-tier porn stars, more than seventy Awakened, and an absurd amount of supplies bundled up in bags and packs.
"Ethan," Chris asked, "we stopping by Nova City first, or heading straight back to Fallen Star City?"
"Fallen Star City," Ethan said. "Let's get the supplies ho first."
"Sounds good. Man, Miles is gonna freak when he sees this many Flabirds. I'm kind of dying to see his face."
Ethan laughed. "Sa."
Worried about whatever might be lurking out in the ocean, Ethan kept the Flabirds flying at tens of thousands of feet.
The trip back was smooth. None of the flying mutant beasts dared co close. Two hours later, they crossed from the Yamato Empire back to Fallen Star City.
Mostly because Peregrine Falcon Flint and the others were a bit slower—if it'd been all Flabirds the whole way, they would've made it in just over an hour.
The second they reached the sky above Fallen Star City, a thunderous roar exploded from below.
"Welco back, Commander!"
It wasn't one voice.
It was countless voices screaming it together—packed with excitent, adrenaline, pride. The sound hit so hard Ethan and the others just blanked out for a second.
"…How do they know we're back?" soone muttered.
"We're on Flabirds. They can't even see us from down there."
"Seeing that many monster birds flying toward the compound, shouldn't the whole city be on alert?"
"And Fallen Star City's a rge of multiple compounds. How do they have this kind of unity already?"
Ethan looked at the others. The others looked back at him.
Nobody had a clue.
But when he stared down at all those upturned faces—those burning eyes—he knew they weren't guessing.
They knew it was them.
"Whatever," Ethan said. "Let's go down. We'll ask Miles."
He led the squad in, dropping altitude.
As they approached, a Fallen Star Guard squad leader cupped his hands and shouted up at them.
"Commander! We already built a habitat for your birds—please follow !"
"…They built a habitat?" Ethan was even more confused now.
Still, he followed, steering the Flabirds toward the rear of the compound.
A few minutes later, they reached a huge park—hills, water, trees, and a wide open stretch of grass that looked like it belonged on a postcard.
They landed.
The Flabirds imdiately started darting around like kids let loose at an amusent park, clearly loving the place.
The squad leader spoke again, switching back to official mode. "Commander, the Deputy Commander is waiting in the briefing room. I'll take you there."
"Alright."
Ethan pointed behind him, at the people and the mountain of supplies they'd hauled back. "Get them settled. All of it."
"Yes, sir." The squad leader nodded, quickly calling over a guard unit to handle the arrangents. Then he personally led Ethan and the others toward the center of the compound.
On the way, crowds poured in from every direction just to watch.
It was bigger than any celebrity arrival Ethan had ever seen.
The weird part was, nobody blocked the road. They held the sides like they'd rehearsed it—eyes wide, faces flushed, staring at the Fallen Star Squad with pure, unfiltered worship.
It was so intense it made Ethan's skin crawl.
"I can't believe I'm seeing the Commander this close. I'm so happy I could die."
"Right? This is a Fallen Star City perk. Other compounds don't get this—can't even dream of it."
"He's so hot. He looks exactly like he did on the screen—my heart's seriously fluttering."
"Not just you. I'm a guy and my heart's fluttering."
"…"
"So strong. I'm a Fallen Star Squad ride-or-die from now on. Anyone talks trash about them, I'm throwing hands."
"Yeah, sa here."
"Not gonna lie, too."
"For real."
Ethan kept walking, listening to it, feeling stranger by the second.
After the new Fallen Star City was established, they'd basically left without managing anything.
So when the hell had they beco this influential?
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