Feel the ground, little wolf, Kade projects, his mental voice a roaring, unyielding drumbeat. Feel the dirt. Feel us. We are the Shield.
Through the bond, I feel Asher’s consciousness expanding, connecting directly to the Juan de Fuca plate. He is drowning in the data, the cold, perfect logic of the Formless trying to overwrite his messy, inefficient humanity. But he holds on. He anchors to us.
The coordinates are locking, Morgan shouts over the hum of the processors. Nereus V is set. Nereus VI is set. Nereus VII is set. Detonation sequence initiated. Three, two, one. Mark.
The submersibles fire the shaped thermobaric charges.
The explosion is silent underwater, but the seismic feedback hits the Academy like a physical blow. The ground heaves, a violent, rhythmic shuddering that throws
