The collapse within the fleet spread in a chain reaction.
Automated weapon stations were the first to be affected; point-defense turrets spun wildly like maddened beasts, unleashing a scorching barrage onto the armor of adjacent vessels or sweeping across the deck where ground crew scurried.
Missile silo hatches opened and closed incessantly, like spasming mouths, and occasionally, missiles inside their launch tubes were detonated by abnormal currents, the violent explosions tearing entire vessels in two.
Soldiers deeply infected by the rogue code found themselves in an even more tragic predicament.
Their implants became instruments of torture for their hosts; optical cybernetics projected distorted, writhing illusions, auditory enhancers constantly poured in maddening roars, and neural reflex accelerators caused limbs to twitch and convulse uncontrollably.
These soldiers shrieked meaningless syllables, aiming their weapons at their comrades and firing wildly, or tearing at them with enhanced prosthetics in the most primal manner.
Bridges, corridors, decks—every corner became a bloody slaughterhouse, blood and oil mixing to splatter bizarre patterns on the metal walls.
Even officers with fewer cybernetic enhancements could not escape.
The rogue code, through environmental control systems and personal terminals, and all other networked devices, directly interfered with their nervous systems, triggering their most primitive killing instincts.
Takayama Shintaro had just drawn his command sword, attempting to maintain order, when the intelligent module on his sword suddenly overloaded in reverse.
Eerie blue arcs of electricity erupted from the hilt, instantly piercing his chest, turning him into a charred corpse that collapsed on the out-of-control bridge.
And that modified attack aircraft carrying a tactical nuclear bomb became the most lethal variable in this chaos.
The rogue code had completely infiltrated its control system.
The pilot in the cockpit let out a hysterical laugh, slamming his fists against the screen filled with garbled code, then heavily pressed the bomb release button.
After detaching from its pylon, the nuclear bomb did not fly towards its predetermined Night City coordinates.
Its navigation system, completely corrupted by the rogue code, traced a bizarre trajectory with the devastating weapon, plummeting directly towards the densest area of the fleet below—the white whale aircraft carrier and its escort group.
"No—!" A few remaining sane crew members let out a final wail, but this faint cry was immediately swallowed by more frenzied roars and explosions.
The entire fleet, in a frenzy of self-destruction, met its most ironic end.
Yorinobu Arasaka struggled through the frantic chaos towards an emergency escape route.
Thanks to having only a few life-support and communication cybernetics, he managed to retain some of his sanity.
However, the indirect corruption of the rogue code through the ship's systems still caused him a splitting headache, with distorted phantoms overlaying his vision and faint, blasphemous whispers echoing in his ears.
Just as he was about to reach an escape pod, a nearby explosion caused the entire aircraft carrier to tilt violently.
He was thrown hard against a metal bulkhead, and at the moment his head took a heavy blow, he saw through a porthole a blinding ball of light rapidly expanding in the center of the fleet—
The nuclear bomb had detonated in the core area of the fleet.
Fifty thousand tons of destructive energy were released at an extremely close range.
First came an all-consuming white light, as if the entire world was plunged into a furnace.
Then the shockwave swept through, creating a massive depression in the sea with a deafening roar that shattered eardrums.
Three destroyers and five frigates at the epicenter left no wreckage behind, instantly vaporizing in the tens of thousands of degrees Celsius.
Vessels farther away were torn to shreds by the shockwave; thick armor twisted and ripped like paper, and fractured keels emitted grating groans.
Countless metal fragments and human remains were flung into the air, then rained down upon the sea.
The white whale, thanks to its massive size and distance, barely remained intact, but the side of its hull closest to the epicenter was completely destroyed.
The entire flight deck was ripped off, revealing its burning internal framework.
The island structure was twisted and deformed, with thick smoke spewing from every opening.
Seawater was pouring in through a massive breach in the side of the hull, and this colossal vessel, a symbol of Arasaka's maritime hegemony, began to irreversibly tilt.
In the chaos of the aircraft carrier's capsizing, Yorinobu Arasaka was thrown into the icy sea.
The biting cold seawater restored a flicker of his consciousness, but the severe concussion and persistent mental corruption quickly plunged him back into a coma, floating on the surface with the wreckage.
After the shockwave, only burning ship wreckage, floating debris, and a thick layer of oil remained on the sea, mixed with deadly radioactive fallout.
A few surviving vessels were severely damaged, swaying helplessly in the waves.
The communication channels no longer carried frenzied roars, only static and sporadic explosions.
This once invincible Arasaka fleet had been utterly annihilated in the self-destructive frenzy triggered by the rogue code and the ensuing nuclear detonation.
In the quiet of Night City's temporary workshop, Osiris' crimson optical lenses reflected the changing light points on the tactical screen.
The dense signals representing the Arasaka fleet extinguished and dispersed at an astonishing speed, ultimately leaving only a few faint, flickering dots, marking the last vestiges of wreckage.
The ominous pale green glow in the eye sockets of the servo-skull on his shoulder had completely extinguished, returning to its usual silence.
The released rogue code pulse, after precisely fulfilling its destructive command, had been forcibly restrained by Osiris' powerful will and re-sealed deep within its specially constructed container.
The entire process was so brief as to be almost negligible, and chillingly efficient.
Had he not recovered it in time, allowing this rogue code to freely spread in cyberspace, in just a few short minutes, the entire planet's digital infrastructure would have been corrupted and eroded—from surface networks to near-Earth orbit space stations, and even colonies far on the moon, none would have been spared.
"Threat cleared," Osiris' synthesized voice was as steady as ever, but a trace of unvanished coldness still lingered deep within his optical lenses. "Record: Temporary activation of Forbidden Protocol 'Echo of Doom,' effect as expected.
Target unit 'Arasaka white whale Battle Group' has lost all combat capability and strategic value."
His gaze shifted from the tactical screen, refocusing on the floating dimensional teleporter blueprint, but an independent evaluation thread still ran within his core thought process.
Although the Arasaka fleet had been annihilated, this was already the third large-scale provocation initiated by Arasaka recently.
From the nuclear attack to the current 'gyokusai' offensive, this corporation's madness and paranoia had exceeded the tolerable threshold.
"Threat level re-evaluated," he calmly told himself, his crimson optical lenses flickering slightly. "Arasaka has demonstrated its willingness and ability to continuously disrupt research progress; conventional deterrence and localized eradication cannot root out the threat."
His metallic finger lightly tapped the control panel, calling up the previous plan for summoning the Astoria Family Knights.
Originally, this was merely a plan prepared to completely destroy Arasaka's military might, but now, it seemed, a more thorough execution was required.
"Arasaka's organizational structure must be fundamentally dismantled," his synthesized voice carried a hint of icy resolve. "Destroying all its military strongholds and R&D facilities is only the first step; it must also be ensured that it cannot rebuild."
He glanced at the remaining signals in the distant sea, where survivors like Yorinobu Arasaka might still exist.
If these stragglers continued to exist, they would only become potential sources of future trouble.
"Record new directive: Elevate 'Thoroughly Eliminate Arasaka Threat' to a priority. Upon completion of the dimensional teleporter expansion, immediately initiate systematic eradication of Arasaka's global assets."
As this directive was recorded, the last trace of anger in his heart finally subsided, transforming into a clear and ruthless plan of action.
Arasaka's madness had exhausted the Archmagos' already limited patience; now, he no longer thought about how to deal with the next harassment, but how to ensure this trouble disappeared forever.
In the workshop, the low hum of equipment continued to operate regularly, but Osiris' attention was now entirely focused on two parallel goals: continuing to advance the dimensional teleportation project, and simultaneously making the necessary preparations to thoroughly eradicate the cancerous growth that was Arasaka.