The air in the Director's office was suddenly thin, heavy with the weight of global consequence. Seraphina, the unflappable S-Rank, felt a primal tremor of fear she hadn't experienced since she first manifested her power during the aftershocks of the Cascade.
"Undo the Cascade," she repeated, her voice barely a breath. "They want to let the real apocalypse back in. The creatures, the forces that the Architects sealed away... they'll be loosed on 100 AC society."
"Precisely," Elias confirmed, standing tall despite his neurological exhaustion. "The attack on the Neo-Kyoto Core wasn't about power—it was an electromagnetic distraction. The core failure would have forced an emergency Mana-shutdown across the Sector. During that shutdown, Luminar-1 would be temporarily offline for recalibration, leaving the Century Signal briefly exposed. They were priming the target."
Seraphina gripped the edge of the terminal. "So, what's their actual move? They can't just throw a Mana blast into orbit. Even an S-Rank Kinetic would be too dispersed."
Elias pointed a finger at the screen, calling up a schematic of the Luminar-1 satellite. "They don't need kinetic force. They need focus. The Omega files revealed a weapon schematic: the Chrono-Lens Array. It's designed to gather the volatile, residual Mana from a Mana-dense area and focus it into a tight, disruptive frequency."
He zoomed in on the map of Neo-Kyoto, centering on the ruins of Old Tokyo—the dreaded Zero-Zone, where the density of lingering Mana was highest.
"The Zero-Zone," Elias stated, the realization solidifying in his mind. "It's the perfect source of volatile Mana. They will use the Chrono-Lens, concealed somewhere deep in the ruins, to transmit a targeted counter-frequency pulse. It won't destroy Luminar-1, but it will corrupt the Century Signal, effectively silencing the stabilizing wall."
"Timeline?" Seraphina demanded.
Elias closed his eyes for a moment, letting the data flow. He cross-referenced the enemy's attack preparation speed from the Core rehearsal with the optimal orbital trajectory for Luminar-1 to be vulnerable over the Zero-Zone.
"If they are working off the Omega-based timetable, they have a window of three hours and twenty minutes until Luminar-1 passes over the Zero-Zone's atmospheric threshold. They will fire then."
Seraphina was already moving, stripping off her formal uniform jacket to reveal a black, streamlined compression suit underneath. "We intercept the firing team in the Zero-Zone."
"Inefficient," Elias countered instantly. "The Zero-Zone is too volatile, too large, and their weapon is likely shielded from Ethereal scan. A ground assault has a 95% chance of failure, and zero time to set up a defense."
Elias took a breath, presenting the optimal solution, the one his Comprehension had already prepared.
"We don't stop the shot. We stop the signal corruption. I need to reach Luminar-1. I need to physically interface with the satellite's primary relay and inject a Black-I patch—a 'Truth Firewall'—that will instantly re-harmonize the Century Signal if they attempt corruption."
Seraphina stared at him, momentarily stunned. "You want to go to orbit? In three hours? Only the Sky-Hunter teams use the high-altitude interceptors, and they're scattered across the continent."
"Not scattered," Elias corrected, pointing at a small green dot on the internal Authority logistics map he had just pulled up on the terminal. "The Aether-Cutter, a Class-7 Orbital Interceptor, is currently undergoing routine maintenance at the Neo-Kyoto Skyport. It has a full Mana fuel cell and a top acceleration profile of 7.8 Gs. It can reach Luminar-1's orbit in 2 hours and 45 minutes, leaving us a 35-minute working window."
Seraphina finally saw it: the terrifying clarity of Elias's power. He didn't just solve problems; he found the optimal, least-resistant path through reality itself.
"I will prepare the Aether-Cutter," Seraphina said, her voice dropping into a fierce command tone. "But you are a civilian, Black-I. You have zero combat training and zero G-force experience. You won't survive the launch, much less the Zero-G interface."
Elias simply picked up a high-density equipment bag Seraphina had tossed aside, feeling the weight of the specialized gravity stabilizers and Mana-packs.
"My ability," Elias replied, a ghost of a self-deprecating smile on his face, "is Instant Comprehension. I will comprehend how to survive the launch, how to pilot the interceptor's drone systems, and how to perform a spacewalk under high duress. I'll comprehend the physics of 7.8 Gs and the molecular structure of the pressure suit. The only variable I cannot control is time, and we are wasting it."
Seraphina nodded, grabbing her own helmet. This wasn't a partnership; it was a desperate reliance on the only mind capable of seeing the world as an equation.
"Get to the hangar deck, Black-I. I'll meet you at the Aether-Cutter in five minutes," she ordered, and with a flash of psychic energy, she was gone—a blur of white Mana accelerating her toward the skyport.
Elias ran. As he navigated the complex corridors, his mind wasn't just analyzing the security paths; it was running a continuous training simulation. Every step he took, his muscles were involuntarily twitching, preparing for the G-force. His breathing pattern was already adjusting for the high-pressure cabin environment.
Phase 1: Zero-G suit comprehension: 50% complete.
He rounded a corner, only to run straight into Commander Rix, the Kinetic Assessor from his test, who was still bewildered by the earlier events.
"Vance! Where are you going? You're supposed to be in debriefing—" Rix started, blocking the hall.
Elias didn't stop. He simply looked at Rix, and the full weight of the Chrono-Lens Array, the Century Signal, and the Project Omega truth flowed from Elias's eyes.
"Commander Rix," Elias said, his voice flat with urgency. "Your wife has been complaining about the leaking tap in the kitchen for three weeks. The failure point is the O-ring on the mixer cartridge. Use a 1/8 inch hex key to replace it. And if you want the world to survive, move out of my way now."
Rix froze, mouth agape, staring at the boy who knew everything. Elias didn't wait; he darted past the stunned Commander and accelerated toward the high-speed transit lift, leaving behind the confused Authority staff and the looming threat of the un-Cascade.