In the deep, dark expanse of space, an umbrella-shaped spacecraft slowly approached the blue planet from a distant orbit. From afar, it looked like a dandelion drifting down from the heavens.
Compared to the entire blue planet, that dandelion-shaped spacecraft was as tiny as a speck of dust.
Yet up close, it presented an entirely different sight.
Its steel umbrella ribs stretched outward, spanning several square kilometers.
Countless one-meter-diameter rings were embedded along the elongated ribs, all aimed toward the pointed "handle" directed at the ground, like suction cups on an octopus's tentacles.
Several months ago, when The Alliance activated the gravity well to clear orbital debris floating through outer space, this orbital weapon had been redeployed beyond geostationary orbit.
Now, with all the debris in low orbit having fallen into the southern seas, this great weapon of destruction had been moved back again.
The calibration was completed quickly. One ring after another gradually emitted a dim blue glow, like lamps slowly lighting up through a long night.
And once lit, they remained that way for an entire day...
Elsewhere, at Dawn City's ground command center, Vanus and a group of officers stood solemnly before a pale-blue holographic screen.
A military operation codenamed "Heaven's Punishment" had begun.
Multiple Alliance corps led by the Skeleton Corps and Death Corps were advancing from Pioneer City and the Ravenca Industrial Zone respectively, pushing south and north toward Vault 13 in the central Great Desert!
While the ground forces raced toward the Enlightenment Society's headquarters, the strategic weapon known as "Thunder from Heaven" had already arrived at the battlefield the day before and entered the final stage of preparations for its strategic strike.
Watching the aerial feed from the orbital weapon on the holographic screen, a senior officer could not help sighing.
"To