Timeless Assassin

Chapter 1026: An Eye For The Future

(Roughly 12 hours later, Planet Yamuna)

Almost as soon as the door to the craft opened, Amanda rushed out.

Her boots barely touched the landing ramp before she broke into a run, her eyes scanning the landing bay until they locked onto Leo standing a short distance away.

For a moment she froze.

Then she ran again.

Leo barely had time to brace himself before Amanda collided into him, throwing her arms tightly around his neck as she buried her face into his shoulder.

"I’m sorry... I’m so sorry..."

She choked out between breaths, her fingers clutching his back as if afraid he might vanish.

"I shouldn’t have argued with you... I shouldn’t have tried to stop you."

Her voice trembled as she pulled back slightly, tears still running down her cheeks.

"I understand now... why you have to grow stronger."

She swallowed hard.

"If you need to train... then train. As long as you have to."

Amanda forced a faint smile.

"I’ll raise the boys well while you’re gone.

I won’t complain.

We both have our roles.

Yours is to protect us, because I can’t.

Mine is to nurture them, because I can."

Leo looked at her for a long moment.

Then he shook his head faintly.

"No."

The answer came almost absent-mindedly.

"I’m not going to be an absent father."

Amanda blinked in surprise.

"Yes, I will train harder than ever before," Leo continued calmly.

"But my training will not come at the cost of me not spending time with them."

His eyes shifted briefly toward the craft where Caleb and Mairon stood watching from the doorway.

"I’ll raise them to fend for themselves...

I’ll raise them to become warriors.

And I’ll do so personally."

Leo promised, as he let out a resolute breath.

—-----

Meanwhile, across the universe, just like Chaosbringer had planned before his death, the Dead Hand Protocol finally went active, as explosions rang across hundreds of worlds almost simultaneously.

For several long seconds, most of the universe did not understand what was happening.

Then the first feeds began to appear.

---

On the administrative world of Velistra, the morning rush had only just begun.

Civil servants were filing into the towering Central Records Archive, a massive circular structure that stored centuries of interplanetary treaties, shipping manifests, and diplomatic documentation.

While outside, commuters crossed the long suspension bridge that connected the archive complex to the rest of the city.

The bomb detonated directly beneath the bridge.

*KABOOOM*

A violent flash tore upward through the bridge supports, snapping the reinforced cables instantly as the entire structure twisted violently in midair.

Transport carriers were thrown sideways.

Pedestrians were launched over the railing as the roadway collapsed beneath their feet.

Within seconds the bridge split apart, its central span folding inward as dozens of road crafts plunged into the river far below.

The shockwave rippled outward into the surrounding district, shattering glass along entire city blocks while alarms screamed across the skyline.

Security drones launched into the air in confusion.

Emergency sirens began howling.

But there was no enemy fleet.

No invasion.

No visible attacker.

Only smoke rising into the morning sky.

---

Half a galaxy away, on the industrial planet Carthos, workers were changing shifts at one of the largest orbital hangar facilities in the sector.

Massive freighters sat docked within the open hangar bays while cargo crews loaded supply crates and maintenance drones scurried along the steel flooring, as seconds later, a bomb went off.

*KABOOM*

The blast erupted from inside Hangar Bay Twelve.

A fuel storage unit vaporized instantly, the detonation igniting the surrounding containers in a chain reaction that sent waves of fire racing across the hangar floor.

Workers near the epicenter disappeared in a flash of light.

Others were thrown violently against cargo haulers and scaffolding.

Within seconds the entire hangar became an inferno.

One freighter lost its stabilizers and slammed sideways into the loading platform, crushing a line of evacuation vehicles beneath its bulk.

Emergency blast doors attempted to seal, but the explosion had already torn through the internal systems.

The hangar roof collapsed inward moments later, burying dozens beneath burning debris.

Across the city, people looked up as a towering column of black smoke rose into the sky.

---

On the peaceful tourism world of Oriva, the explosion came without warning.

It was midday.

Thousands of civilians had gathered in the Crystal Plaza, an iconic public square famous for its towering light sculptures and cascading fountains.

Visitors recorded videos beneath the monuments.

Children played around the reflective pools.

Street performers entertained the crowds.

The bomb was hidden inside the foundation of the largest sculpture.

*KABOOOM*

The detonation shattered the iconic structure into millions of razor-sharp fragments that exploded outward like a storm of glass.

People nearest to the monument were shredded instantly.

Others were knocked violently to the ground as the shockwave blasted across the plaza.

Several buildings lining the square collapsed partially, their facades crumbling into the crowd below.

Screams filled the air as smoke rolled across the open space.

Cameras that had been recording the peaceful plaza only seconds earlier now captured chaos.

---

Across the universe, the same scenes unfolded again and again.

Court houses.

Administrative offices.

Bridges.

Hangar facilities.

Public monuments.

Iconic architecture that had stood for generations was reduced to rubble within moments.

And still no one knew why.

---

Within minutes, the Galaxy Net erupted.

Live feeds began flooding the network as civilians recorded the aftermath with handheld transmitters.

"Is anyone else seeing this?" one user posted from Velistra, their camera shaking as emergency drones flew overhead.

Behind them, the collapsed bridge burned.

"This just happened five minutes ago. No warning. No attackers."

Another stream appeared from Carthos, showing the inferno consuming the orbital hangar.

"I work here... half the crew was inside when it blew up!"

Panic spread through the comment channels as thousands of viewers began sharing similar footage.

"Explosion in Oriva Crystal Plaza!"

"Administrative complex destroyed on Torenth!"

"My city courthouse just collapsed!"

"What is going on?"

Videos multiplied across the network faster than moderators could verify them.

One clip showed rescue teams pulling survivors from a collapsed building.

Another showed bodies scattered across a smoke-filled plaza.

Others simply showed terrified civilians running through streets while sirens blared endlessly in the background.

Rumors began spreading almost immediately.

"Terrorist attack?"

"Military strike?"

"Did the Cult do this?"

"No fleet sightings anywhere!"

"This is happening on multiple planets!"

The scale of the disaster slowly began to emerge.

Dozens of worlds.

Then hundreds.

Explosions separated by thousands of light-years yet occurring within the same narrow window of time.

Which meant only one thing.

They had all been planned.

---

And as the galaxy struggled to understand the sudden wave of destruction, a new message began quietly circulating through encrypted channels of the Galaxy Net.

A simple line of text accompanied by the emblem of the Cult of Ascension.

A warning.

A declaration.

And a promise.

The era of retaliation had begun.