War Has Come (Please Subscribe)

As they waited, the Autobots soon sensed that the ions drifting through the air had become unusually active.

"Leader, an enormous energy source has been activated in New Iacon City, more than forty kilometers to the northeast!"

Ratchet raised a hand high. A slender, antenna-like joint rapidly extended from it, spun continuously in the air for a moment, then pointed northeast.

"There aren't many energy sources in New Iacon City that would match that scale!"

Ironhide reminded him gravely.

At his words, Optimus Prime's expression changed drastically.

"Energy rods!"

Optimus Prime had once made a deal with Frenzy, trading Matrix of Leadership energy for several energy rods.

Energy rods were highly solidified pure energy, one of the remnants of Cybertronian civilization's black technologies.

Each one could sustain a hundred-man squad in combat for a long time, making them enormous energy sources.

"Someone in New Iacon City has activated energy rods—and not just one or two..."

Optimus Prime and the others tensed. Highly solidified energy rods were extremely safe, though certain methods could reverse them and turn them into weapons.

But even the most deranged Decepticons would not do something so extravagant.

Compared with using them as weapons, employing them as power sources for large and super-large weapons and equipment was the most sensible use.

At the very least, Optimus Prime knew of one special application that only his teacher, Sentinel Prime, had mastered.

Using energy rods as a power source and a special device—a portal—one could connect to a distant place millions of miles away and deploy troops behind enemy lines without anyone noticing.

During the Cybertronian Civil War, the Autobots had once used this technology to ruthlessly suppress the Decepticon Corps for a time.

It was only after Shockwave and the other Decepticon Corps scientists had grasped its basic