Chapter 234: Annihilation of the Fleet
The collapse within the fleet spread like a chain reaction.
Automated weapon stations bore the brunt. Close-In Weapon Systems (CIWS) spun madly like irrational beasts, pouring scorching barrages onto the armor of neighboring ships or sweeping across ground crews running on the decks.
Missile silo hatches opened and closed incessantly like spasming mouths. Occasionally, missiles were detonated within their launch tubes by abnormal currents, the violent explosions tearing entire ships in two.
Soldiers deeply infected by the Scrapcode fell into an even more tragic state.
The implants within their bodies turned into torture devices against their hosts. Visual optics projected twisting, writhing hallucinations; auditory enhancers constantly pumped in maddening shrieks; reflex accelerators caused limbs to twitch and riot uncontrollably.
These soldiers roared meaningless syllables, firing weapons wildly at colleagues beside them, or using enhanced prosthetics to tear at them with primal savagery.
Bridges, corridors, decks—every corner was reduced to a bloody slaughterhouse. Blood mixed with machine oil, splashing bizarre patterns onto metal walls.
Even officers with low levels of cyberization could not be spared.
The Scrapcode interfered directly with their nervous systems through environmental control systems, personal terminals, and every other networked device, triggering the most primal killing instincts.
Shintaro Takayama had just drawn his command saber, attempting to maintain order, when the smart module on the blade suddenly overloaded in reverse.
Ghostly blue electric arcs burst from the hilt, instantly piercing his chest. He turned into a charred corpse and collapsed onto the out-of-control bridge.
And the modified attack aircraft carrying the tactical nuclear warhead became the most fatal variable in this chaos.
The Scrapcode had thoroughly invaded its control system.
Inside the cockpit, the pilot laughed hysterically. He smashed his fists against screens filled with garbled code, then slammed down hard on the release button.
After detaching from the hardpoint, the nuke did not fly toward the designated coordinates in Night City.
Its navigation system was completely scrambled by the Scrapcode's erosion. Carrying this weapon of mass destruction, it traced an eerie trajectory, diving straight down toward the densest area of the fleet below—the White Whale aircraft carrier and its escort group.
"NO—!" A few crew members who still retained their sanity let out final wails, but these faint cries were immediately swallowed by more maddened roars and explosions.
Amidst a carnival of self-destruction, the entire fleet met its most ironic end.
Yorinobu Arasaka struggled through the manic chaos, rushing toward the emergency escape route.
Thanks to having only a small number of life-support and communication implants, he barely maintained partial sanity.
However, the indirect erosion of the Scrapcode through the ship's systems still made his head split with pain. Twisted phantoms overlapped in his vision, and blasphemous whispers echoed faintly in his ears.
Just as he was about to reach the escape pod, a nearby explosion caused the entire carrier to list violently.
He was thrown hard against the metal bulkhead. The moment his head took the heavy impact, he saw through the porthole a blinding sphere of light expanding rapidly in the center of the fleet—
The nuke had detonated in the core area.
Destructive energy equivalent to 500 kilotons was released at point-blank range.
First came the all-consuming white light, seemingly immersing the entire world in a furnace.
Then the shockwave swept through, pressing a massive depression into the sea surface with a deafening roar that shattered eardrums.
Three destroyers and five frigates at ground zero didn't even leave wreckage behind; they were instantly vaporized in temperatures of tens of thousands of degrees.
Ships slightly further away were torn to shreds by the shockwave. Heavy armor twisted and ripped like paper, and snapping keels emitted ear-piercing groans.
Countless metal fragments and human remains were thrown into the air, raining down onto the sea surface.
The White Whale barely remained in one piece due to its massive size and distance, but the side of the hull facing the blast was thoroughly destroyed.
The entire flight deck was ripped off, exposing the burning internal skeleton.
The island structure was twisted and deformed, with thick smoke spewing from every breach.
Seawater was pouring in backwards through the massive hole in the side of the hull. This giant ship, symbolizing Arasaka's maritime hegemony, began to list irreversibly.
In the chaos of the carrier capsizing, Yorinobu Arasaka was thrown into the freezing sea.
The biting cold water restored a shred of his consciousness, but a severe concussion and continuous mental erosion soon caused him to fall into a coma again, floating on the surface along with the debris.
After the shockwave passed, only burning ship wreckage, floating debris, and a thick layer of oil slick mixed with deadly fallout remained on the sea surface.
A few surviving vessels were severely damaged, rocking helplessly in the waves.
The communication channels no longer held maddened roars, only the static of electric currents and sporadic explosions.
This once-arrogant Arasaka fleet had been thoroughly annihilated in the tide of self-destruction triggered by Scrapcode and the subsequent nuclear explosion.
In the silence of the temporary workshop in Night City, Joric's crimson optical lenses reflected the changes in the dots on the tactical screen.
The dense signals representing the Arasaka fleet were extinguishing and dissipating at an astonishing speed, finally leaving only a few sporadic, weak flickers marking the final existence of wreckage.
In the eye sockets of the Servo-skull by his shoulder, the ominous ghostly green light had completely extinguished, restoring its usual silence.
That pulse of released Scrapcode, after precisely completing the destruction command, had been forcibly constrained by Joric's powerful will and resealed deep within that special container.
The entire process was so brief it was almost negligible, and so efficient it was chilling.
Had he not retrieved it in time, allowing this Scrapcode to spread freely in cyberspace, the entire planet's digital infrastructure would have been polluted and eroded within mere minutes—from the surface network to near-earth orbit space stations, and even the colonies on the moon; nothing would have been spared.
"Threat eliminated." Joric's synthesized voice was steady as usual, but a trace of coldness that had not yet fully dissipated remained deep in his optical lenses. "Log: Temporary activation of Forbidden Protocol 'Echo of Malice'. Effects consistent with expectations.
"Target unit 'Arasaka White Whale Battle Group' has lost all combat capability and strategic value."
His gaze moved away from the tactical screen, refocusing on the hovering blueprints of the Dimension Teleporter, but an independent assessment thread was still running in his thinking core.
Although the Arasaka fleet was destroyed, this was already the third large-scale provocation launched by Arasaka forces recently.
From the nuclear strike to the current "Gyokusai" (Honorable Death) suicide attack, the madness and paranoia of this corporation had exceeded the tolerance threshold.
"Threat level reassessment," he said calmly to himself, his crimson optical lenses flickering slightly. "Arasaka has proven it possesses the will and capability to continuously interfere with the research process. Conventional deterrence and localized elimination cannot eradicate the threat."
His metal finger tapped lightly on the console, pulling up the summoning plan regarding the Knights of House Rinco.
Originally, this was just a plan prepared to thoroughly destroy Arasaka's military power, but now it seemed a more thorough execution was required.
"Arasaka's organizational structure must be dismantled from the root." His synthesized voice carried a trace of icy resolution. "Destroying all its military strongholds and R&D facilities is only the first step. We must also ensure it cannot rebuild."
He glanced at the remnant signals in the distant sea area, where survivors like Yorinobu Arasaka might still be.
If these fish that slipped through the net continued to exist, they would only become potential sources of trouble in the future.
"Record new directive: Elevate 'Complete Elimination of Arasaka Threat' to priority status. Immediately upon completion of the Dimension Portal expansion, initiate systematic purging of Arasaka's global assets."
As this directive was recorded, the final trace of anger in his heart completely subsided, transforming into a clear and ruthless action plan.
Arasaka's madness had exhausted what little patience this Magos had. Now, he was no longer thinking about how to deal with the next harassment, but how to ensure this trouble disappeared forever.
Inside the workshop, the low hum of equipment continued to sound rhythmically. But at this moment, Joric had focused his attention completely on two parallel goals: continuing to advance the Dimension Teleporter project, while making necessary preparations to thoroughly excise the tumor that was Arasaka.
(End of Chapter)