(Meanwhile, Caleb’s POV)

*Bzzzt*

*Trrrr*

*Thud*

Caleb, deployed near the front of the Cult fleet, saw stray strands of aura from Yu Rulo’s orb sweep over his ship, as almost instantly the electrical systems around him began failing in rapid succession, warning runes dimming across control panels while weaker soldiers nearby started collapsing unconscious beneath the crushing residue of divine pressure.

*WEEEOOOO*

*WEEEOOOO*

Emergency alarms screamed throughout the destroyer as Caleb felt his heart jump into his throat, because all around the forward line, ships had already begun exploding one after another.

*Boom* *Boom* *Booom*

For the first time since deployment, the possibility of death no longer felt theoretical to him, as he stared through the viewing glass and saw entire vessels vanish in fire before his own eyes.

’Shit... is this it?’ Caleb wondered, as for one unstable moment even his thoughts nearly slipped into panic while the hull around him groaned under stress.

Compared to ships deeper in the rear formation, his vessel sat dangerously near the front, which meant the pressure wave rolling through the fleet struck his position far harder than many others.

Panels burst in showers of sparks.

Weapon conduits flickered.

Navigation arrays collapsed.

And once the primary electrical systems died, only the emergency life-support matrix powered by reserve mana stones remained, as it somehow strained to maintain breathable air inside the vessel.

*Pant*

*Pant*

That realization made Caleb’s spine run cold, because if an internal surge reached the live weapon cores stored below deck, the destroyer itself could become its own funeral pyre.

’Not good... this ship may explode at any time.’

The thought came naturally, and yet as quickly as fear surfaced, discipline forced its way over it, as Caleb remembered something Leo had drilled into him countless times growing up.

A frightened officer spreads death.

A calm officer contains it.

And in that instant, Caleb understood this was not the moment to indulge fear, because too many eyes were already looking toward him for cues on how to react.

"Everyone stay calm, backup systems are still functioning and we are going to be fine," Caleb said, forcing firmness into his voice even while his pulse hammered violently inside his chest.

The pilot looked toward the burning horizon and pointed with trembling hands.

"But General Sparrow... his ship... it’s destroyed!"

He said, as even Caleb’s stomach lurched hearing that.

From where he stood, the flagship really did appear consumed, and for one dangerous second his mind imagined the entire formation collapsing without its spearhead.

Yet he crushed that thought immediately, as reason took over.

"General Sparrow is a Demi God, he won’t die easily even if his ship explodes," Caleb said, more confidently than he actually felt, as he forced the crew’s attention back inward.

"You focus on us now, seal this cabin, prepare for prolonged electrical failure, and preserve reserve oxygen because emergency systems can sustain life for forty-eight hours at most."

His tone steadied the room in the most important way.

Because panic had been inches away, and strangely, once he projected calm, others began borrowing it.

The crewmen stopped shouting.

Hands returned to consoles.

Breathing slowed.

As orders that he recently gave out began to be followed.

"You heard the Lieutenant. Seal the cabin..."

"Try to divert more power towards the emergency systems.

See if a hard reboot brings any of the electricals back up..."

The crew talked amongst themselves, while outside, more distant explosions rolled through the fleet.

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

*BOOOM*

Several additional ships disappeared in bursts of fire where rogue fragments of the divine attack leaked through, and every blast made the crew instinctively brace for their own turn.

’If I die here... what would father and mother think?’

Caleb wondered, as he braced himself for what he believed might be the final moments of his life, while the crippled destroyer drifted amidst chaos and failing systems.

However, the worst never came to pass.

As slowly, the violence began to weaken and the crushing pressure faded, movement stirred through the floating wreckage ahead, where amidst fire and broken debris, Caleb suddenly caught sight of a lone silhouette suspended in the void.

General Sparrow.

Alive.

For several long breaths nobody inside the bridge spoke, because seeing him emerge from the burning ruin of his flagship felt so unreal that even seasoned crewmen could only stare in stunned silence.

Caleb exhaled so hard his knees nearly weakened.

"I told you," he muttered, trying and failing to suppress a grin, as relief washed through him so sharply that it almost felt painful.

At nearly the same moment, damaged systems across the destroyer began sputtering back to life, as one console flickered awake, then another, then navigation arrays returned, followed by weapons systems crawling back online piece by piece.

The pilot blinked in disbelief.

"Power is returning..."

Caleb’s expression hardened instantly at those words.

"Good, then focus on restoring combat functionality and do it fast, because this fight is just beginning," he ordered, as hands moved furiously across controls while mana channels reignited, targeting grids rebooted, and shield arrays slowly climbed back toward operational stability.

And before the crew could fully process that they had survived the divine strike....

The radio erupted.

"CHARGE!" Commander Anderson Silva’s voice roared through fleet comms. "Every ship with mobility push forward and finish them all!"

That single order transformed the atmosphere inside the destroyer almost instantly, as fear turned into momentum, shock hardened into aggression, and beyond Caleb’s ship the entire Cult line surged forward with sudden purpose.

Thousands of warships accelerated together, weapons flaring across the void, as plasma streaks ignited the darkness ahead to punish the Yu Clan.

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

Explosions rolled through space in layered waves as tens of thousands of ships exchanged fire, while streams of energy crossed so densely through the battlefield that the void itself seemed woven from destruction and light.

And then Sparrow moved.

From the center of that chaos, he unsheathed his sword, and even from this distance Caleb felt the terrifying pressure of aura gathering around the blade before—

*SHHHHIIIIING*

A horizontal slash swept across the battlefield with catastrophic force, and where it passed, enemy warships ruptured in cascading annihilation as nearly a thousand ships vanished in one devastating stroke.

*KABOOM*

The bridge fell silent.

While someone whispered almost prayerfully, "What the hell..."

Even Caleb could only stare, because although he had always known Veyr was monstrous in battle, witnessing such power firsthand felt less like watching a warrior fight and more like watching myth itself operate.

Then the pilot shouted over the commotion.

"All systems back online! What are your orders, lieutenant?"

As Caleb’s grin returned at once.

"Well then what the hell are we waiting for?" he barked. "You heard the Commander. Join the fucking firefight!"

He ordered, as his own destroyer lurched forward.

Weapons hot and ready as they joined the fray.

*BOOM*

Their first volley ripped into an enemy cruiser, a second followed almost immediately, then a third, and as enemy return fire streaked past their hull Caleb felt something inside him shift.

Earlier he had feared dying.

Now he was fighting.

Actually fighting.

And somehow that fear had transformed into exhilaration.

"Target the left flank battery, reload plasma tubes and bring us closer!" he shouted, as orders began spilling from him almost instinctively, as though some dormant part of him had awakened under fire.

Around him the Cult advanced as one living organism, Sparrow carved devastation through the vanguard, Silva’s fleet pressed ahead mercilessly, and Caleb, in his first true battle, felt the war he had imagined all his life finally become real before him.