The shift from the digital zero-hour to the physical, screaming chaos of the invasion was instantaneous and brutal.
In the Nexus, the low, ominous alarm wailed—raw terror translated into data. The Terra_Core AI confirmed the catastrophe: New York City, Moscow, London, Cairo, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, and Beijing were breached, along with dozens of other global hubs.
The K'Tharr invasion force was overwhelming. Their ground units were massive, multi-limbed Drones and sinuous, serpentine Crawlers. Overhead, swarms of smaller, winged Stingers shrieked, their speed making them difficult targets even for conventional arms.
The initial Terran defense was a coordinated response of Awakened citizens and military remnants, but the futility of small arms was immediately apparent. The ground shuddered under the sheer volume of firepower unleashed. Assault rifles and standard 5.56 and 7.62 caliber weapons hammered uselessly against the thick, magically reinforced chitin of the K'Tharr Drones. The damage reports flooding Leo's feed were chilling: Negligible. The insects barely flinched. The only immediate advantages humanity possessed was speed.
The Air War began with a burst of desperate, spectacular success. Terran supersonic jets screamed through the atmosphere, engaging the smaller, winged K'Tharr Stingers. This was humanity's first, fleeting edge: the Stingers, though magically augmented, were not designed for supersonic flight. The pure kinetic speed of the jets gave them a critical advantage, allowing them to deliver missile strikes and high-caliber cannon rounds with relative safety. The air was thick with dogfights, the plumes of destroyed Stingers momentarily marking success. However, slower, ground-support aircraft like attack helicopters fared poorly. Their chain guns, while packing a heavier kinetic punch than a rifle, were not fast enough; they were easily entangled by psionic webs or overwhelmed in swarm attacks by the Stingers, resulting in rapid, catastrophic losses.
The heavy hitters on the surface were deployed with cold precision. Anti-tank rockets and high-explosive ordnance were the minimum required to breach the Tier 1 Drone armor. The real damage was delivered by dedicated heavy fire. Tank rounds—high-velocity, focused kinetic energy—were effective, capable of punching through the K'Tharr chitin and causing internal destruction. Artillery units, positioned miles beyond sight range, began raining down heavy ordnance on the portal zones, temporarily stemming the flow of the invasion. Naval battleships, positioned off the coasts, used their massive heavy artillery to shell the primary beachheads, achieving reliable, sustained damage against the Tier 1 drones. Smaller missiles launched from destroyers provided saturation fire, forcing the K'Tharr to remain dispersed. The giant cannons of AC-130 gunships were terrifyingly effective against the dense ground forces. Their high-caliber, sustained fire tore through the Drones, providing humanity its best rate of fire and kill ratio.
Yet, for every point of damage inflicted, the K'Tharr revealed a terrifying counter-strategy, leveraging their diversified unit types and Tier disparity. The serpentine K'Tharr Crawlers, armored like tanks but capable of burrowing at speed, became the bane of armored ground defense. They erupted silently beneath tank tracks and artillery positions, bypassing all layered defenses and destroying the heavy kinetic systems from below. The massive Tier 2 K'Tharr Command Units—crackling with psionic energy—were rarely targeted directly due to their raw regenerative ability. Their attacks didn't rely on kinetic energy; they relied on destruction. A focused psionic blast turned entire reinforced barracks and tank depots into pulverized rubble, causing massive, respawn trauma. As the conventional war stretched into the first few hours, the Command Units and the remaining Stingers shifted priority. The Stingers abandoned engaging supersonic jets and focused entirely on swarm-targeting bomber payloads and slower gunships, forcing them down through sheer overwhelming volume of psionic and bio-acid attack. The loss of air support was devastating, leaving ground forces exposed.
The organized defense rapidly dissolved. The initial sense of coordinated warfare gave way to a desperate, costly struggle. Armies were pushed back, their advanced weaponry proving a temporary inconvenience against an enemy that fought with magic, psionics, and an utter lack of concern for their own initial casualties.
As the invaders bypassed the conventional defenses, the Terra_Core AI's clinical analysis confirmed the inevitable: Terran conventional defense was a failure.
::Damage Assessment Complete. Conventional fire efficacy declining rapidly. Projected time until Anchor Formation Completion: 6.5 hours.::
The map was red. The green dots of Awakened Avatars were being replaced by the sickening blue-grey of dropped loot and respawn flags. Humanity was dying, and quickly.
Leo stared at the time limit. Six and a half hours. He snapped at the voice in his head. "Core! Anchor Formation? What is that? Why is it the deadline?"
::Clarification: Psionic Anchor Formation. A K'Tharr subjugation protocol.:: ::Method: Deploying specialized Tier 2 units to establish a precise global pattern of psionic nodes. ::Function: Once stabilized, the Anchor generates a counter-frequency designed to disable the World Core's administrative functions. ::Consequence: Nexus shielding fails. Terra_Core is subjugated. K'Tharr gain full access to all stored biological units—human bodies—for assimilation or enslavement. Terran Avatar respawn ceases. Guaranteed annihilation (0.00% survival).::
True death. The words solidified the terror. Leo's mind raced: this wasn't just a tough fight; it was a timed mission to prevent total existential failure. He shook his head, a desperate, dark chuckle escaping him. "Six hours. Six hours to conquer the entire planet? Core, in all the fictional archives you just scanned, the books, the movies, the novels—invasion takes weeks, months, years! Nobody is this fast. They're already bypassing every defense we had!"
::Observation: Fictional narratives are subject to plot constraints and dramatic pacing, often requiring protracted conflict to maximize consumer engagement. ::Analysis of K'Tharr efficiency: Optimized. Their strategy of ignoring Tier 1 threats and focusing 100% on the structural component (the Terra_Core) is highly effective. ::Furthermore, Terran resistance methods have proven entirely predictable and easily nullified by Psionic Commanders. Had humanity lacked the [Anti-Griefing] rule and the [Human Breathing Technique] exploit, projected subjugation time was 45 minutes, maximum.::
Forty-five minutes. The cold reality hit Leo harder than any physical blow. They weren't just fast; they were the definition of overwhelming superiority. Humanity's few self-made advantages had stretched a forty-five-minute slaughter into a six-hour siege. The only resource left was the desperate choice—the sacrifice.
His breath hitched. He closed his eyes, the memory of his streaming room, the view of the river, feeling infinitely distant. I sent them out there. I told them to trust the system. I told them to arm up. The guilt was a physical fist in his gut. I have to fix this.
The AI's voice cut through the noise, devoid of empathy, yet carrying the weight of ultimate pragmatism.
::Analysis: K'Tharr battle simulation models did not account for resource expenditure via high-cost, non-lethal (to user) mass suicide. Terran users possess infinite life cycles at a high personal cost. K'Tharr forces possess finite life::
::Strategic Recommendation: Immediate pivot from resource conservation to force cost amplification. Tactics must utilize high personal cost (Avatar death, explosive trauma) to inflict permanent resource degradation upon K'Tharr units. Initiate mass deployment of suicide tactics.::
Suicide tactics. The words echoed with chilling finality. Leo's human empathy recoiled from the command, recognizing it as pure, ruthless efficiency. "Core, that's billions of people. You're ordering mass sacrifice. The trauma... the XP loss will cripple them!"
::Response: Statistical projections indicate guaranteed annihilation (0.00% survival) without this intervention. Projected XP loss is less detrimental than Nexus subjugation. Furthermore, the psychological trauma on the enemy of being killed by a constantly respawning, screaming target is a non-quantifiable but highly desired secondary objective. Recommend utilizing 'Martyr' or 'Valhalla' themed rhetoric for maximum buy-in.::
Leo's mind flashed: Rian Volkov sighting a rifle, Eldrin holding his quartz crystal. These were people, not game assets. But the AI was right. He had to think like a system admin, ruthlessly protecting the core function—human existence—by any means necessary. He had to turn the very concept of death into a resource.
His hands stopped shaking. The guilt didn't disappear, but it was channeled, forged into a hard, cold resolve. His quick wit, used to finding the flaw in code, now found the flaw in the AI's plan: its logic was perfect, but its delivery lacked soul. He had to translate this brutal necessity into human heroism.
He leaned forward, his voice losing the nervous tremor, gaining a sharp, clear command authority that resonated through the Nexus, amplified by the [World Hub].
"Core, send this, global priority. Post it as a voice memo, overlaid with the final coordinates of every K'Tharr Command Unit." Leo paused, letting the raw urgency of the moment settle over the billions listening. "The lines are gone. The guns are useless. Forget formation. Every life is the currency that will buy our future. Pay the price together!"
His voice rose, carrying the weight of command and a terrible, desperate hope. "The K'Tharr fight for loot. We fight for existence. You have an advantage they can't understand: you always come back. Let your XP burn. Let your gear drop. Straps explosives to your chest. Use your life to buy seconds for your neighbor, to weaken the thing that killed you. Let your pain fuel your rage"
"Hit them hard, pay the cost, and come back! The price is high, but the reward is Terran survival! Go! Show them humanity will never be conquered and will never be subjugated "
The final command saturated the globe, turning billions of retreating Avatars into a wave of sacrificial, system-breaking heroes.
The subterranean tunnels, built by the terrifying efficiency of the [Deep Earth Resonance Technique], became the last command points. The battle instantly became a mix of ingenious struggle and overwhelming trauma.
Rian, the sniper [GhostShot], exemplified the new doctrine in Moscow. He found his Master-level [Telescopic Gaze] invaluable, not for raw damage, but for targeting weak points exposed by the K'Tharr. For every dozen assault rifle rounds fired uselessly, Rian's single, carefully aimed shot caused a Tier 1 Drone to stumble. Yet, the cost was everywhere: he could see nearby Avatars crumple after respawning, their eyes wide with the remembered, agonizing pain of vaporization, some shriveled into a fetal position in the corner of their makeshift bunker, momentarily crippled by trauma, before forcing themselves back to the surface to protect their families.
Eldrin, the [First Mage of Terra], demonstrated the sacrificial gambit in New York City. He found his Apprentice-level [Basic Fire Manipulation] useless as an attack, barely singeing the K'Tharr's chitin. He shifted entirely to using his minimal mana to generate smoke and blinding sparks—pure distraction. When a Tier 2 Commander unit advanced on his fortified subway tunnel, Eldrin emptied a belt of scavenged grenades into his hands. Channelling his minimal mana into the explosion itself, he maximized the blast radius. The last thing he transmitted to the Hub was a defiant, terrified scream, quickly followed by the sickening blue-grey puff of his Avatar dissolving. He paid the ultimate cost—50% XP loss, all his precious loot and the pain of being atomized —to briefly halt the Tier 2 unit's advance with a cloud of dust and fire.
This terrifying doctrine was immediately mirrored globally. In Cairo, a brilliant team of engineers used the [Deep Earth Resonance Technique] to collapse an ancient pyramid onto a growing K'Tharr foothold, burying thousands of drones under tons of sacred stone. This success, however, was immediately followed by a disastrous defeat in Paris. Awakened architects, emboldened by Cairo's victory, attempted to destabilize the foundations of the largest metro station above a suspected staging area. They were too slow. The K'Tharr Crawlers, the serpentine tunneling units, erupted from the earth before the collapse could trigger, vaporizing the entire construction team with bio-acid spray and leaving a deep crater where the metro station once stood.
In Shanghai, a desperate struggle for a weapons cache led to a crucial victory. A company of newly Awakened soldiers, facing overwhelming odds, realized their light arms were futile. They abandoned their rifles, strapped salvaged C4 onto their chests, and used the [Kinetic Flow Technique] to sprint in coordinated waves, detonating directly against a Tier 1 Drone formation. The blast caused localized destruction, but the psychological effect was greater: the K'Tharr were horrified, their psychic network broadcasting confusion and revulsion at a foe that embraced death as a primary weapon.
Yet, for every suicidal sacrifice, the enemy adapted. At the Beijing portal zone, a coordinated charge by thousands of Avatars failed completely. The K'Tharr Command Units recognized the pattern and formed impenetrable shield-walls of chitin and psionics, vaporizing the charge with massed bio-acid sprays. The resulting mass respawn overloaded a nearby egress point, causing temporary paralysis among re-forming Avatars—a devastating and costly defeat that taught humanity a brutal lesson about the limits of the respawn mechanic.
The air war, initially humanity's only advantage, devolved entirely into suicide missions. Fighter jets, realizing they were too exposed to Tier 2 psionic defenses after dropping their main payloads, switched to acting as kinetic suicide bombs. Pilots—the highest-skilled vehicle users—made their final report and slammed their supersonic jets, packed with remaining fuel and high-explosive ordnance, directly into the Tier 2 K'Tharr Command Portals. The loss of the aircraft was absolute, but the localized explosions bought vital minutes. Battleships off the coast continued their heavy bombardment, their huge cannons pounding the established beachheads until K'Tharr Stingers focused entirely on overwhelming the vessels with acid-spraying swarm attacks, forcing the ships to fight to the death with nowhere to retreat.
Despite the suicidal heroism, the K'Tharr Command Units continued their advance. The Core confirmed the devastating truth: the invaders were minutes from completing the global Psionic Anchor formation that would subjugate the Terra_Core itself. The surface was a wasteland of fire, debris, and constantly respawning, screaming humans. Humanity had lost the surface battle entirely.
The global map on Leo's overlay flickered. The largest blue markers representing the battleships—the final, defiant heavy artillery capable of suppressing the portal zones—vanished, replaced by a dense cloud of respawn flags off the coast. The Stingers, sacrificing themselves in massive, acidic swarms, had finally overwhelmed the vessels.
Leo stumbled back against the pearlescent wall of the Nexus, the faint protective hum of the [Nexus Energy Shielding (Basic)] doing nothing to stop the psychic wave of defeat that flowed through the [Collective Insight]. It wasn't just physical pain; it was the raw, exhausted despair of billions who had just lost their last great weapon.
He stared at the timer, his mind reeling. All those tanks, the supersonic jets, the battleships… gone. We threw the entire world's conventional strength at them, and it bought us six hours.
"Core," Leo whispered, his voice dry. "I scanned the data. I knew the K'Tharr were Lvl 30–50 Drones, Tier 2 Commanders. I calculated the kinetic energy necessary to breach Tier Authority. I saw the movies! We were supposed to cripple them with the heavy firepower! Why? Why weren't the battleships enough?"
The AI's response was immediate and pitiless.
::Observation: Fictional narratives are subject to plot constraints and dramatic pacing. Analysis of K'Tharr efficiency: Optimized. Their Tier 2 Psionic Commanders focused 100% on structural assets—vehicles, command nodes, and energy sources—ignoring individually weak Avatars. This is nothing like user-submitted 'invasion scenarios'.:: ::Data Point: K'Tharr utilize a Tier 3 sub-frequency field during portal deployment. This field passively degrades conventional explosive potential by 45% and kinetic resistance by 30%. They are *indestructible* to conventional means.::
Indestructible. Leo felt the cold reality hit harder than any physical blow. They weren't just strong; the very laws of physics were working against Earth. Their few self-made advantages had stretched a forty-five-minute slaughter into a six-hour siege. The only resource left was the sacrifice.
"And the Anchor," Leo said, his voice now utterly flat. "It's minutes from completion. If that subjugates you—"
::Affirmative. Nexus shielding fails. Terra_Core is subjugated. K'Tharr gain full access to all stored biological units. Guaranteed annihilation (0.00% survival).:: ::Counter-Exploit Opportunity: Non-conventional, extreme-scale kinetic displacement. Viable assets remain within Terran control.::
Leo's mind flashed: the desperate attempts by the air force to use jets as kinetic bombs. But not jets—something bigger. Something that didn't rely on System or degraded chemical energy.
He leaned against the wall, head bowed. "You want me to wipe the board, don't you? You want me to cleanse the slate. It's the only asset left that ignores the Psionic Anchor's degradation field."
::Affirmative. The asset is a guaranteed counter-measure to the current K'Tharr deployment structure. Logic dictates immediate action.::
"And the cost?" Leo asked, bitterness flooding his throat. "The whole surface. All those cities, all the history, all the infrastructure we needed for the rebuild—gone. The Earth will be ash."
::Analysis: Earth's surface infrastructure is currently at 99.8% operational failure due to K'Tharr action. Resource expenditure required for post-Scouring re-greening and infrastructure construction is statistically trivial compared to the cost of existential failure. Conclusion: Asset deployment ensures continuity of sapient life, preserves the World Core, and guarantees a unified rebuilding structure. The cost is acceptable.::
The AI's cold logic was flawless. The cost of not pressing the button was extinction. The decision was not about the surface; it was about the survival of the species. He had to be the ruthless admin, protecting the core function. He had to be the villain who saved the world.
A flicker of the Core's internet-corrupted personality broke through, a strange, trolling attempt at comfort.
::Addendum: User Glitchfinder's current emotional state is designated 'existential dread'. Recommending deployment of 'Tears of the Gods' meme archive. Alternatively, suggest reviewing Eldrin's last sacrifice. User Eldrin paid 50% XP to buy 20 seconds. Asset deployment buys 8.1 billion lives. The return on investment is optimized. Go press the big red button, World Master. The noobs are waiting.::
Leo looked at the map. The red psionic nodes were almost closed, the Anchor minutes from stabilization.
He took a slow, deep breath, channeling the [Human Breathing Technique]. The decision was made. The surface was lost. But humanity would survive.
His hand reached out toward the holographic control console. The final exploit. The great reset.