[Flashback - Eleanor’s Private Quarters]
Eleanor sat in her personal rooms within the ACC headquarters, going through her nightly routine with the kind of automatic precision that ca from centuries of habit.
She kept various artifacts from her long career in a secure case – ntos from portal expeditions, items of sentintal value, objects she’d collected over two hundred years of service to humanity.
Among them was a small black cube that she’d found during a portal expedition five years ago.
She’d kept it out of curiosity more than anything else, the spatial properties interesting but seemingly inactive, no threat detected by even the most thorough scans.
Out of habit, she reached for it, intending to examine it as always.
But... the mont her fingers touched the cube’s surface, her eyes flashed.
The kind, grandmotherly expression that defined her public persona vanished, replaced by complete blankness – not unconsciousness, but sothing worse.
Emptiness!
A voice erged in her mind, not speaking words but reading her mories directly, sifting through her recent mories with casual ease, as if it had been done many tis before.
"So... this year’s tournant has already arrived."
The voice carried amusent mixed with clinical interest, like a scientist examining an interesting specin.
"And look what we’ve found. That little genius Seraphina Vale is present here as well. Interesting. Very interesting."
Eleanor’s body remained perfectly still, her mind completely overridden, her consciousness pushed aside as sothing else examined her mories and planned through her thoughts.
"My Law of Possession has made so progress as well. No need to waste more ti developing this particular subject. What fortunate timing."
The entity controlling her paused, considering options with the kind of detached calculation that ca from viewing individual lives as nothing more than resources to be utilized.
"Let’s test this artifact’s capabilities. Will it really be able to create a portal to connect with those coordinates? For years, I’ve grown my special creature at these exact coordinates... Now, let’s see if it can carve open another pathway for us to invade this world.
And while we’re at it, let’s make this chess piece’s Aura core volatile to eliminate that troubleso girl before she becos a genuine threat."
Another pause, this one carrying satisfaction.
"A good experint with minimal risk. Though I will miss observing human society – such fascinating creatures, always fighting amongst themselves even when facing extinction."
A sound that might have been laughter if it had co from sothing human.
"You know what? I’ll just possess another human’s soul afterward. There are so many to choose from, and they’re so easy to manipulate. This will be entertaining."
The voice faded, but the possession remained, Eleanor’s consciousness buried so deep she couldn’t even scream or fight back.
She would remain a puppet until the mont of her death, used and discarded by sothing that viewed humanity as nothing more than toys.
****
[Federation-Wide - Evening - Eight Hours After the Attack]
Every screen across the entire Federation showed the sa image.
The Chairman of the Federation Governnt standing before a podium, his middle-aged face showing the weight of leadership during humanity’s darkest hours, his bearing radiating authority that made even watching through screens feel like being in the presence of sothing greater than human.
Behind him, the partially destroyed ACC Stadium was visible through windows, a constant reminder of the devastation.
Click! Click! Click!
The clicking sounds of caras filled the room as every major news organization in the world focused their attention on this single mont.
When he began speaking, his voice carried to every corner of human civilization, transmitted through ergency broadcast systems that overrode all other programming.
"..."
Silence fell across the Federation – in hos, in public squares, in ergency shelters and in military bases.
Everyone stopped what they were doing to listen.
"ACC President Eleanor was possessed," he began without preamble and without softening the truth, his voice carrying absolute certainty. "She was controlled by a very high-rank unknown Monster using an artifact she discovered during a portal expedition years ago and was the cause of all the events that happened today."
The statent sent shockwaves through every listener!
One of humanity’s greatest heroes, one of the strongest S rank awakeners who’d survived the initial invasions, compromised and turned into a weapon against her own people.
"That very sa artifact represents the greatest threat our world has ever faced."
His voice beca harder and more intense.
"For the first ti in our history, unlike natural portals that appear randomly, one was deliberately created by our enemies. Created with purpose. Created with malicious intent. Created to strike at our next generation when they were gathered together with no chance to escape!"
He paused, letting that sink in.
"This tells us one fundantal truth that we can no longer ignore: no part of our world is safe. If they can create an artifact like this once, they can create it again. Our hos. Our cities. Our children’s schools... Anywhere could beco a battleground without warning."
The fear was palpable, spreading through every viewer, making parents pull children closer, making the elderly rember similar speeches from decades ago.
But the Chairman’s expression shifted, his tone changing from warning to sothing that carried different weight.
"Over the past few decades, I and every powerhouse of the human race have worked to ensure the Federation enjoyed peaceful lives. We wanted the children of the next generation to grow up without being sent to war the mont they turned fifteen, unlike my own generation which was forced by circumstances."
Old survivors watching felt their hearts clench, rembering.
"My generation was thrown into combat without preparation, without training and without choice. The result was predictable and horrific – most of us perished. We didn’t stand a single chance against Monsters we couldn’t comprehend. But those who survived..."
His voice carried pride mixed with sorrow.
"Those who survived beca the backbone of our world. Beca the foundation upon which everything you see today was built. Every building, every school, every peaceful day you’ve enjoyed – all of it paid for with the blood of children who never got to grow up."
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