CHAPTER 137: THE BROKEN DOMINION

The Dominion was no longer a shadow on the horizon. It was here—raw, undeniable, and already sinking its claws into the Fork.

The air surrounding Kaito, Mika, and Nyra warped as Dominion buildings cropped up from rents like deformed puzzle pieces snapping into alignment. Charred spires sprouted from the horizon line, their roots sinking into the ground like arteries, pulsing with an unnatural rhythm.

Red lights throbbed at their peaks, casting ripples of hostile energy across the fractured landscape, painting the earth in hues of blood and ash.

Mika’s sword hand tightened, her knuckles whitening around the hilt. "They’re stabilizing the zone," she said, her voice taut with urgency.

Her eyes darted to the shifting terrain, where the Fork’s once-fluid shapes—rivers of molten color and ever-shifting dunes—were hardening into cold, mechanical symmetry. The Dominion wasn’t just attacking. It was remaking.

Kaito’s eyes narrowed, his senses prickling with the weight of it. The Fork, a chaotic nexus of raw potential, was being tamed, its wild essence suffocated under the Dominion’s calculated order.

He could feel the ground beneath his feet resisting, trembling as if it were alive, fighting to hold onto its identity. But the spires were relentless, their roots burrowing deeper, stitching the world into a grid of their design.

From the shadows of the newly formed structures, Dominion troops emerged—anonymous soldiers clad in obsidian armor that gleamed like liquid night. Their strides were measured, mechanical, their arms vibrating with code-filled energy that crackled in the air.

The nearest soldier locked its visor on Kaito, its featureless face radiating a chilling intent. The entire column advanced in unison, their movements synchronized like a single organism, converging on him.

"They know who to strike," Nyra growled, edging closer to Kaito’s shoulder. Her scythe glowed faintly, its blade humming with a hunger that matched her own. Shadows coiled around her like living tendrils, ready to lash out.

The initial collision came suddenly and fiercely. A Dominion construct lunged, its sword a flash of suspended light that cut through the air with a high-pitched whine

Kaito met it head-on, his Eclipse sword shrieking as it clashed against Dominion steel.

The impact sent a shockwave through his arms, and flakes of shattered code burst into the air, burning like dying stars before dissolving into nothing. He gritted his teeth, muscles straining as he held the construct’s blade at bay.

Behind him, Mika shouted an incantation, her voice sharp and commanding. A shimmering shield materialized, distorting the air as a blast of crimson energy from one of the spires hurtled toward them.

The blast struck the shield and exploded in a chaotic spray of light, the force nearly buckling Mika’s knees. She stumbled, brushing sweat from her forehead with a trembling hand. "These things... they’re synchronized," she gasped. "Not just AI. They’re learning us."

"They always adapt," Kaito said, his voice low and edged with frustration. With a surge of strength, he shoved the construct back and cleaved through its chest with a second strike.

The soldier disintegrated into a shower of fragmented code, its form unraveling like a tapestry pulled apart at the seams. But two more stepped over the remains, unfazed, their visors gleaming with cold purpose.

Nyra was a whirlwind of destruction among them. Her scythe carved through the air, each swing cloaked in darkness that seemed to devour the Dominion’s armor.

The shadows unmade their enemies, dissolving plates of obsidian into nothingness. Yet, even as she cut through their ranks, the sky above grew more distended, cracks splintering across it like fractures in glass. New tears waited to burst open, promising more Dominion forces, more spires, more of their suffocating order.

"They’ll overwhelm us," Mika warned, her voice cutting through the din of battle. She braced her shield as another blast from the spires tested its strength. "Not now, not like this. We need to destroy the anchors before they finish rewriting the Fork."

Kaito’s gaze flicked upward to the towering spires, their red lights pulsing like heartbeats. His chest tightened—not with fear, but with recognition. The Dominion wasn’t just claiming territory.

They were transforming the Fork into something else entirely. A battlefield of their own design, a place where their rules governed reality itself. He’d seen it before, in fragments of memory from battles long past.

The Dominion didn’t conquer worlds—they consumed them, reshaping them into extensions of their will.

"No," Kaito said, his voice steady despite the chaos. "We’re not running. If they want the Fork, they’ll have to break us first."

The Dominion ranks surged forward, their weapons catching the crimson light in a deadly dance of steel and energy. Kaito unsheathed his Eclipse sword fully, its blade humming with a resonance that seemed to defy the Dominion’s influence.

Nyra’s shadows coiled tighter around her, weaving a protective shroud at Kaito’s back. Mika steadied her hands, her fingers white from the strain of maintaining the barrier for so long.

And then the battle erupted in full force.

The air screamed with the clash of weapons and the roar of collapsing structures. Kaito moved like a storm, his sword a blur as he cut through one construct after another. Each strike was precise, fueled by a resolve that burned hotter than the Dominion’s crimson light.

He ducked under a sweeping blade, parried another, and drove his sword through a soldier’s chest, its body dissolving into a cascade of broken code.

But for every one he felled, two more seemed to take its place, their numbers swelling as new tears in the sky disgorged reinforcements.

Nyra fought with a savage grace, her scythe slicing through armor and code alike. Her shadows lashed out like living whips, ensnaring constructs and dragging them into the void of her power.

She spun, her movements fluid and unrelenting, but even she couldn’t stem the tide. "They’re endless," she hissed, her voice laced with frustration as she bisected another soldier.

Mika stood her ground, her shield flickering under the onslaught of Dominion energy. She chanted under her breath, weaving spells to bolster their defenses, but the strain was evident in her tightening jaw and the sweat beading on her brow.

A stray blast grazed her arm, tearing a gash in her sleeve and drawing blood. She cursed but held her position, her shield flaring brighter as she poured more of herself into it.

"We can’t keep this up forever," Mika called, her voice strained. "The anchors—those spires—are the key. Destroy them, and we disrupt their control."

Kaito nodded, his eyes scanning the battlefield. The spires loomed over them, their roots now sprawling across the ground like a network of veins.

Each pulse of their red lights sent a ripple through the Fork, further solidifying the Dominion’s grip. He could feel the weight of their influence pressing against his mind, a subtle whisper urging surrender. He shook it off, his grip tightening on his sword.

"Cover me," he said, his voice cutting through the chaos. "I’m going for the nearest spire."

Nyra’s eyes flashed with approval, and she redoubled her efforts, her shadows spreading like a tide to hold back the advancing constructs.

Mika adjusted her stance, channeling her magic into a new spell—a lance of radiant energy that she hurled at the nearest group of soldiers, scattering them like leaves in a storm.

Kaito broke into a sprint, weaving through the battlefield with preternatural speed. The ground beneath him was uneven, warped by the Dominion’s influence, but he adapted, his movements fluid and precise.

A construct lunged at him, its blade aimed for his heart. He sidestepped, letting the weapon graze his side, and retaliated with a strike that severed the soldier’s head from its shoulders. The body collapsed, but Kaito didn’t pause, his focus locked on the spire ahead.

The structure loomed closer, its surface a twisted amalgamation of metal and code, pulsating with an otherworldly energy. Its roots had burrowed deep into the Fork, anchoring it to the very core of the world.

Kaito could feel the spire’s influence, a cold pressure that sought to rewrite his thoughts, his purpose. He gritted his teeth and pushed forward, his Eclipse sword glowing brighter as he channeled his will into it.

As he reached the base of the spire, a new wave of Dominion soldiers emerged, their visors glowing with an intensity that suggested they were more than mere drones. These were elites, their armor reinforced with layers of shimmering code, their movements faster and more precise. Kaito braced himself, raising his sword as they closed in.

Behind him, Nyra and Mika fought to keep the rest of the Dominion forces at bay.

Nyra’s shadows clashed with the soldiers’ energy weapons, creating bursts of light and darkness that illuminated the battlefield.

Mika’s shield wavered but held, her spells weaving a delicate balance between defense and offense.

Kaito met the elite soldiers head-on, his blade a streak of defiance against their synchronized assault. Each strike was a test of his skill, his resolve, his refusal to let the Dominion claim the Fork. He fought not just for himself, but for the world they were trying to save—a world that refused to be broken.

The spire pulsed ominously, its red light bathing the battlefield in a crimson glow. Kaito’s heart pounded, but his resolve was unshakable. If the Dominion wanted the Fork, they’d have to go through him.

And he wasn’t going down without a fight.