The night wind howled, sweeping dust through the ruins.
A hundred gray streaks tore across the night sky of the Western European War Zone, racing toward the deep-red area marked on the map at a terrifying speed far beyond sound.
David, once a Guard Captain, flew among that steel torrent.
He felt no resistance from the wind and heard no piercing sonic booms.
All he perceived was the torrent of data constantly updating and scrolling across his vision.
[Current speed: Mach 1.2] [Distance to target: 47 kilometers] [Formation synchronization: 99.8%] [Energy reserves: 97%]
The world had been completely deconstructed before his eyes.
The ground was no longer a jagged expanse of ruins, but a three-dimensional map of contour lines and terrain data.
His comrades were no longer separate individuals, but blue points of light representing position, speed, and status, bound together by pale-gold data links.
This was the world of the Ascenders.
He flexed his fingers. The bionic nerve bundles inside his Metal Gauntlet immediately returned a sensation of astonishing clarity. He could even "feel" every tiny scratch on its surface.
That sense of Absolute Control over his strength was intoxicating.
In the past, as Richard's Guard Captain, he had considered himself above others.
Looking back now, that so-called strength was a joke beside real power.
His peripheral vision caught the point of light at the head of the formation.
[Leader: Leo. Status: stable.]
David no longer felt the slightest trace of envy.
All that remained was a sense of kinship born of their shared transformation.
They were one: a hundred war terminals sharing a single database.
"Everyone, attention."
Leo's voice did not travel through the air. It sounded directly in each of their minds, utterly devoid of emotion.
"We'll reach the target airspace in thirty