System S.E.X. (Seduction, Expansion, eXecution)

Chapter 398: The Iron Dictate of Royal

The red dust of the Colorado Canyon didn’t settle; it was kept in a constant, swirling frenzy by the arrival of a convoy that stretched beyond the horizon. Thousands of heavy-duty Royal transport trucks, armored carriers, and mobile research labs tore into the scenic overlook, shattering the quiet majesty of the national landmark.

"Move it! Move it! I want the perimeter established before the sun hits the ridge!" Jason’s voice boomed over the roar of idling engines. He stood atop a crate of heavy munitions, his tactical HUD flickering as he coordinated ten thousand men. "Sector 1, deploy the sonic dampeners! Sector 2, I want those portable laser drills calibrated and hot in five minutes! If a single tourist or stray civilian is still within five miles of this rim in ten minutes, toss them over the edge!"

"Sir, we have civilians refusing to leave the observation deck!" a sergeant shouted over the hiss of hydraulic jacks.

"Then break their legs and drag them out!" Jason roared back, not even looking at the subordinate. "This isn’t a park anymore. This is a Royal Extraction Zone. Treat anyone without an ’R’ on their chest as a hostile combatant!"

The scene was a masterpiece of organized chaos. Thousands of soldiers were leaping from trucks, unbolting heavy weapon emplacements, and slamming reinforced steel barricades into the earth. It looked like a disaster in progress, yet every bolt was turned with precision.

In the middle of the frantic deployment, a squad of Celestial border guards—decked out in silver-trimmed white armor—marched toward the command center. Their leader, a captain with a sneer of entitlement, raised a hand to stop a Royal technician.

"Halt! This is a restricted zone under the direct jurisdiction of Celestial!" the captain shouted, his hand resting on the hilt of his spiritual blade. "You are in violation of treaty protocols! Pack this trash up and leave immediately, or we will—"

"Or you’ll what?" Jason interrupted, leaping down from the crate. He landed with a thud that cracked the pavement.

Behind Jason, three hundred Royal soldiers stopped what they were doing and pivoted. In one synchronized motion, they raised their rifles. The air hummed as the long, sleek barrels began to pulse with a menacing, concentrated crimson glow.

"This is Celestial territory!" the guard screamed, though his voice wavered as he looked at the ten thousand men surrounding his small squad. "You can’t just—"

"I don’t give a damn if this is Celestial, Infernal, or the doorstep of God himself," Jason hissed, stepping into the captain’s personal space. "Get the fuck out of here or we’ll murder every last one of you. You have ten seconds to vanish. This ground belongs to Royal until the King says otherwise."

"You wouldn’t dare," the Celestial guard spat, reaching for his radio. "The Union will hear of this—"

"Nine... eight... seven..." Jason counted, his eyes cold and devoid of mercy.

"You’re making a mistake! We represent the—"

"Three... two... one... Zero." Jason’s voice dropped to a whisper. "Time’s up."

Before the guard could even blink, Jason’s boot connected with his chest. There was a sickening crack of reinforced ribs as the Celestial captain was sent flying thirty feet backward, skidding across the gravel like a skipped stone.

The other Celestial guards leveled their wepons, but they froze. Every Royal rifle in the vicinity was locked onto their heads, the red laser sights painting glowing dots on their visors. They didn’t recognize the weapons, but the sheer, focused heat radiating from the barrels told them everything they needed to know: if they fired, they wouldn’t just die—they would be vaporized.

"Drop them," Jason commanded, his own hand hovering over his sidearm. "Or I’ll see how long it takes for a laser to melt through that pretty silver armor."

The guards looked at their fallen captain, then at the sheer wall of black-clad soldiers closing in on them. They retreated, stumbling over their own feet in a desperate rush to reach their vehicles.

"Tell your masters!" Jason screamed after them, his voice echoing through the canyon. "Anyone who comes within one kilometer of this site will be slaughtered without mercy! There is no freedom of movement here! There is only Royal Law!"

He turned back to the construction site, the anger vanishing as quickly as it had appeared, replaced by cold efficiency. "Status on the drills?!"

"Calibrating now, sir! Reaching the first strata in three... two..."

The ground began to shake as the massive laser drills bit into the ancient rock of the canyon, searching for the node that Ethan had commanded them to find.

The ground groaned, a deep, tectonic protest as the first set of high-frequency laser drills bit into the prehistoric sandstone. Unlike Ethan, who had descended the cliffside on a rappelling line, his army moved with the subtle finesse of a sledgehammer.

"Forget the ropes! We’re not here for a scenic hike!" Jason bellowed over the deafening whine of the machinery. "I want a reinforced ramp from this overlook to the canyon floor. We have forty-ton mobile drills that need to be at the bottom by sunset! Blow the shelf! Now!"

Demolition teams scrambled along the rim, planting shaped charges into the cliff face with practiced speed.

"Charges set! Clear the blast zone!"

BOOM.

A massive section of the canyon wall buckled and collapsed in a controlled slide. Before the dust could even settle, specialized Royal engineering trucks backed toward the edge, spraying a thick, grey slurry of rapid-dry military-grade concrete. Within minutes, the steaming mixture hardened into a jagged but functional roadway, wide enough for the heavy treads of the carrier trucks to descend.

"Status on the heavy equipment?" Jason barked into his comms.

"Ramp is holding, sir! First convoy is beginning the descent!"

Jason wiped a layer of red grit from his face and turned toward a high-ranking Falcon operative standing near the cavern’s mouth.

"You’re in charge of the construction now," Jason ordered, pointing toward the sprawling worksite. "Ensure the logistics flow. I don’t care if the mountain tries to collapse—keep those drills moving. If anyone—I mean anyone—from the surrounding territories tries to peek over that rim, you have my permission to turn them into ash. We cannot afford a single second of delay. We need the node exposed by tomorrow morning and our tracks out of here in forty-eight hours. Move! Move! Move!"

"Understood, Commander," the Falcon replied, his voice a mechanical rasp as he turned to the squads of Royal soldiers. "You heard him! Defensory grid Alpha-6! Anyone within a klick of the perimeter is a target! Get those floodlights up! I want this canyon lit like the sun!"

As Jason and his strike team vanished into the dark, yawning entrance of the cave, the surface above turned into a fortress of industry and fire.