Keon decided to leave the planet's orbit, retrieving the Black Sun drone after securing the critical data.
Just as the drone returned to the atmosphere below and accelerated toward the portal. Its high-frequency sensors flared violently. An instantaneous, localized spike in bio-activity surrounded it.
The drone was instantly engulfed. Countless, microscopic spores, drawn by the Black Sun's slight thermal signature and the subtle energy flicker of its internal components, swarmed it. The matte-black hull, forged from Aether Composite Alloy (ACA), remained inviolable. The spores, corrosive and bio-active as they were, could not breach the surface integrity.
However, the sheer, unimaginable quantity of the attack was the strategy. The spores immediately clogged the drone's four miniaturized plasma thrusters and, more critically, jammed the subtle seams of its optical and sensor emitters.
Keon, watching the seamless flow of data abruptly degrade into chaotic noise and static, was instantly startled… a rare surge of non-calculation in his processor. He immediately realized that Kai had not merely noticed the drone's presence; he had tracked its ascent and launched a targeted, atmospheric counter-attack, utilizing the entire global fungal network to weaponize the planet's very air.
'He is actively using the global spore network. He knew the precise moment the drone breached the cloud layer and the trajectory for escape,' Keon analyzed, his internal chronometer registering the alarming speed of the enemy's response… a response that matched the swiftness of his own neural nexus network.
He immediately dismissed the automatic control of the neural nexus network, overriding the Black Sun's automated defense protocols and controlled it manually with his consciousness through nexus imprint, then directing the maximum energy into its thruster cores.
The drone, struggling within the viscous, spore-heavy atmosphere like a fly in tar, roared to life. Its miniaturized plasma thrusters, firing at dangerously high levels, instantly vaporized a percentage of the spores behind it, the heat burning away the surrounding biological mass.
The intense yellow plasma emission briefly pulsed green, then shifted to a fierce, deep blue as the drone achieved maximum output, its structure straining against the unprecedented force.
The Black Sun, now a blue-streaked needle of pure velocity, shot away from the planet's atmospheric grasp, accelerating toward the golden-red vortex of the portal.
…
On the surface below, near the reinforced bunker entrance, Kai stood motionless, his silhouette framed against the sickly purple sky. His unnervingly black eyes were fixed on the point high in the clouds where the drone had shot. He could sense the struggle, the rapid shift in bio-energy as the entity fought its way out of his controlled spore storm.
He felt the intense, non-organic energy spike as the drone's thrusters overloaded… a power signature far beyond the level of the scouting drones in this world. A flash of pure blue light, invisible to his lieutenants but searingly bright in his corrupted sight, pulsed at the edge of the atmosphere.
'Accelerating to escape the storm using velocity... A clear tactical retreat, an intelligent creature is operating it. But, the power signature is far too great for a mere drone, looks like the candidate on the other side possesses a high level of technology… that explains the mass annihilation of my undead swarm.'
Kai glanced at the direction of the portal, a cold, thoughtful light replacing the surprise in his pupils.
The blue line flashed through his senses, then vanished, the energy signature dropping off instantaneously as the drone pierced the planar barrier.
At the exact moment of the drone's disappearance, Kai felt the familiar, sudden severance of control. The thousands of spores that had clung to the Black Sun, sucked through the portal with it, were instantly cut off from his planetary consciousness.
He could vaguely sense their presence on the other side, like a faint, distant echo… but their will, their ability to follow his complex command structure, was gone, just like the undead forces before them.
'It was definitely a flying aircraft or drone, controlled remotely, it's a pity I can't see object shape through my sense sharing and corruption control.'
Kai concluded, a deep furrow appearing in his brow. The thing that mostly surprised him is the enemy capable of remote, high-speed, undetectable infiltration.
'And this enemy can also control its units across the portal. Unlike my own forces, they do not require my physical presence to maintain function or follow complex orders on the other side. Probably he or she possesses a more versatile skill than my sense sharing and corruption control.'
The realization was a chilling counterpoint to his own limitations. His enhanced units required his direct, powerful presence to maintain functionality and follow complex orders in a new dimension. His forces were useless without his planetary consciousness there to guide them.
A grim resolve, born because of necessity and survival, hardened in his eyes.
'The reconnaissance is over. The opponent is too far advanced and too dangerous to be managed through half-measures or expendable armies. I must go through the portal myself. A full, immediate invasion is the only option. I must be physically present there to command the next wave, to unleash the high-tier forces, and to turn their planet into my resource pool, before they can turn mine into a tomb.'
…
Meanwhile, inside the UHS1's Southern Hemisphere, the Black Sun drone emerged from the portal, trailing a microscopic, invisible cloud of corrupted air and spores.
Keon had anticipated the contamination. Before the drone's arrival, he issued a command to the closest fabrication units.
The drone and spores were instantly contained within a specialized, spherical container, a temporary prison made from transparent, high-tensile polymer.
The containment sphere was then silently transferred by two massive transport drones to a nearby, newly constructed bio-hazard facility located deep beneath the Eastern Hemisphere.
Keon transferred the majority of his consciousness and processing power into a small, sleek Exoshell 2.0 located in the east base using a unique application of Neural Nexus Imprint, that allows his consciousness to be transferred into any imprinted machine located anywhere on UHS1 without exposing his main frame.
From within the Exoshell, Keon directed the analytical systems and started experimenting on the Black Sun and spores.
The Black Sun's exterior was scrubbed clean with focused energy, and the spores were immediately collected in separate containers subjected to high-level Material Recognition and bio-spectral analysis.
The analysis results, displayed moments later, were even more alarming than the contamination itself.
Material Realization Report: Spore Bio-Mass
Composition: Highly Corrosive/Bio-Active Fungal Spore Matrix.
Targeting: Low-level thermal/energy signatures (Tier-2 Bio-Hazard).
Structural Effect: Zero penetration on Tier-3 ACA hull. Catastrophic occlusion of primary propulsion (Thrusters) and optical/sensor inputs.
Conclusion: Tactical counter-attack utilizing ambient planetary infrastructure.
Threat Assessment: Escalated.
Material Realization Report: Spore Bio-Mass
Composition: Highly Corrosive/Bio-Active Fungal Spore Matrix, forming a thick, purple-gray, toxic atmosphere that is chemically and biologically aggressive. This matrix is linked to the planetary "corruption," transforming organic life and sustaining the hostile environment of Planet 546876.
Targeting: Low-level thermal/energy signatures (Tier-2 Bio-Hazard). The spores are lethal to non-evolved life and act as the primary vector for the transformation of humans into Shamblers and animals into Undead Beasts.
Structural Effect: Zero penetration on Tier-3 ACA hull. Catastrophic occlusion of primary propulsion (Thrusters) and optical/sensor inputs in un-adapted, lower-tier technology due to the abrasive and corrosive nature of the bio-mass.
Conclusion: Showing evolutionary characteristics to react with non-organic substances.
Threat Assessment: Extremely High.
'The spores are low-level now, primarily focused on decaying and corrupting organic matter. They are designed to attack living biology,'
Keon's thoughts flickered, reviewing the complex data structure of the fungal matrix. 'However, their structural composition… The bio-matrix is immensely unstable, highly adaptive and a complex yet programmable weapon. They possess an unimaginable potential. If they are allowed to evolve, absorbing even a single Tier-2 energy spike or being subjected to a controlled bio-mutation, they could potentially target and corrupt inorganic matter. The matrix is already designed to seek out non-biological energy sources.'
The internal realization slammed into Keon's logic circuits like a physical blow. Corrupting organic matter was a planetary security problem. Corrupting inorganic matter, especially the metal and other elements, even the complex silicon will label these spores as extremely high existential threat to his entire civilization.
'If these spores were to reach a high-tier evolutionary state… a possibility directly linked to Kai's enhancement abilities… not even my main frame, located thousands of kilometers away, could survive Kai's influence. He would effectively possess the capacity to dismantle my entire civilization from the inside out, turning my own automated factories against me,' Keon concluding thoughts flickered chilling realization.
A cold, determined red light flashed across the eight lenses of his main Spider mechanical frame, located thousands of kilometers away but connected via the Neural Nexus. The calculation was swift, final, and absolute.
'The threat of evolutionary contamination outweighs all other variables.' Keon's surging thoughts became extremely cold and chilly, 'Annihilate. The goal is no longer containment, data extraction, or enslavement. It is the immediate and complete destruction of the enemy. If Kai, the main controller of corruption, is destroyed, the spore network will collapse, the planetary threat will be neutralized, and Planet 546876 will become a non-hostile, exploitable asset.'
…