(Commander Jackson's POV – Temporary Investigation Center, Sky-God Arena Perimeter, Lockdown Day 2)
After forty eight hours of nonstop investigation, dozens of witness interrogations, and two sleepless shifts at the helm of the Sky-God Arena task force, Commander Jackson finally compiled his preliminary report on the terror attack.
Unfortunately, it wasn't much.
As he found no smoking gun. No names of any central mastermind that had orchestrated the assault. Nor any hot trails that could help trace the kidnappers of Darnell Nuna.
What stood before him was a massacre that was meticulously timed and flawlessly executed.
As it seemed to have been carried out by independent sleeper cells that self-destructed upon mission completion, leaving behind no loose ends.
Still, despite the lack of credible cult witnesses to interrogate, the task force did manage to extract a few critical insights— none of which were particularly comforting.
—
[1] Infiltration Method: Completely Unknown.
Despite extensive testimony from surviving guards and patrolmen with no known cult affiliation, no one could explain how the sabotage of the central battlefield had taken place.
The explosives that triggered the collapse of the arena's core had been planted into the structural joints days before the event.
With the shocking part not being that they were planted early— but rather that they were never noticed in the days that followed.
No maintenance worker, no engineer, no safety overseer, observed anything out of the ordinary, and even safety sweeps failed to pick up on anything.
The bombs weren't cloaked in advanced stealth fields or hidden inside dimensional pockets.
They had been left out in the open— but still camouflaged so effectively that no detection system picked them up.
Which led to the next, more disturbing point.
—
[2] Camouflage Beyond Current Alliance Capabilities.
The materials used to mask the explosives were of unknown origin, and likely not from any recognized manufacturer or faction within the Universal Alliance.
Even high-level mana filtration and thermal spectrography failed to detect residue from the explosives post-detonation.
Which meant that in essence, the bombs were disguised using a technique that surpassed the scientific and magical detection standards of even the top-tier laboratories and tech divisions across allied territories.
Not a single blacksmith or engineer within Alliance ranks could replicate the camouflage method, as that discovery alone made one thing clear: the evil cult wasn't just surviving in the shadows— but also thriving in science and technology.
—
[3] No Evidence of Cross-Communication Between Operatives.
Cross-referencing arena security footage, movement logs, and mana footprint data yielded another unsettling revelation: the attackers had no contact with each other before or during the mission.
No signals. No hand gestures. No overlapping paths.
Each operative functioned independently—executing their task with surgical precision, fully aware that they would not live to see the next sunrise.
Their compartmentalized instructions ensured operational integrity. No individual had enough information to compromise the whole plan and even if one or two failed or were discovered, the rest would proceed unimpeded.
The mission had no single fail point—only a system of zealots, bred to obey and primed to die.
—
[4] Primary Target: Darnell Nuna.
Timeline sequencing and multiple eyewitness accounts confirmed what many had already suspected. Darnell Nuna—the son of Monarch Dupravel Nuna and rising prodigy of Geneva Military Academy—was the main target of this attack.
The strike unit responsible for his capture demonstrated superior coordination, carried better equipment, and operated under a more refined chain of command.
Their exit strategy involved spatial displacement technology far beyond civilian-grade capabilities, suggesting this team was deployed from the highest echelons of the Evil Cult.
Beside Darnell, the others who lost their lives in this attack were mostly Veteran warriors, political enforcers, and high-profile cult enemies.
As only after those objectives were met, did the surviving agents descend into chaos, where they began killing indiscriminately to achieve maximum chaos.
—
[5] Compromised Government Infrastructure.
Perhaps the most damning observation of all was the uncomfortable truth about internal corruption.
The bombs had been planted too cleanly.
The weapons, supplies, and disguises too easily smuggled in.
The infiltration was not a fluke—nor was it simply the result of lax security.
It was assisted.
Official credentials used during the attack were authenticated and cleared through legitimate channels. Several of the fallen operatives had been granted arena access via fully verified command logs.
Which meant only one thing—
The cult had allies inside the system.
Not rogue hackers. Not bribed freelancers.
Sympathizers.
Sleeper agents embedded within the ranks of the Universal Government itself.
And if that was true, then no branch was safe.
No perimeter reliable.
No alliance secure.
—-------
Jackson let the report fall onto the edge of his desk, its hard-light projection flickering softly as he leaned back in his chair, his temples throbbing from the weight of what he had just confirmed.
The Sky-God Arena incident wasn't just a terrorist attack.
It wasn't even a massacre.
It was a message.
A demonstration by the cult for the righteous alliance.
With the message being that—
"We can reach you. We can take your children. We can do it under your nose… and you won't even know who we are."
As just thinking about it, Jackson exhaled sharply, fingers tightening around the edge of the desk.
It wasn't the attack itself that bothered him.
But rather the systemic corruption that did.
The current government structure was hollow, with thousands of Evil Cult sympathizers holding top ranks, and weeding them out was surely going to be a pain.
"I need to start building a team I can trust… It may take me two to three years to get to the bottom of this, but given enough time, I'm confident I can uncover the full truth.
The current reach of the Evil Cult extends far beyond anything we previously imagined, and if they aren't stopped soon, they'll replace the existing government from the inside out without anyone realizing it until it's far too late.
This isn't just a rogue threat anymore… It's something the War Generals and the Sovereign Gods themselves will have to get involved in eventually.
Because if left unchecked, this could mark the end of the Righteous Alliance as we know it."
Jackson whispered the words to himself, lighting up a cigar with slow, deliberate fingers as the full weight of the situation finally settled on his shoulders.
For nearly two decades, the Evil Cult had been uncharacteristically silent, fading into obscurity, with their influence seemingly withering after the death of their last Dragon.
And for a time, it truly seemed as though they'd lost the will to rise again.
But what they had actually done was lie dormant, gathering strength in the shadows, as they waited for the right moment to strike.
The attack on the Sky-God Arena wasn't an isolated incident.
It was a signal flare marking the start of the Evil Cult's resurgence.
And now, the universe was on the verge of plunging back into chaos, as the eternal war between light and darkness prepared to erupt once more.
This time, Jackson could feel it in his bones that only one side would emerge from the storm intact while the other… was sure to be annihilated, as this attack was a clear indication that the two factions could surely no longer coexist together, whereby they simply ignored the existence of the other.