Ethereal Ascendance: A Journey of Transformation

So now, nuclear weapons aren't just for super powers to keep each other in check anymore. They're like a big sword hanging over all humans! If the Ancestor vampire feels threatened, they might just throw nukes around. At least they'd be safe.

We don't know how many humans and vampire would survive. But for now, the vampires probably don't want to use nukes. Even the Ancestor wouldn't want to be all alone on Earth with just a few followers, right?

"We must kill the Ancestor vampire quickly!" General Lee said. "If we don't, not only will we can't fix the space portal in the base, but the whole world will face a big threat from a race that hates humans!"

"I know!" Wayne Peng said. "But we just got here. It's really hard to find other ways to get info!" He explained to us: "The senator is not sure about helping more. Giving us more info would mean leaking M-country secrets. He needs more time to think about it."

On the surface, M-country looks the same as before. The real changes are happening behind the scenes in the government. Now the infected people are totally loyal to the Ancestor vampire instead of the country. This secret change makes it hard for survivors who don't know what's going on to understand. It's not just about countries fighting anymore.

"So you haven't told other countries about this yet?" I asked General Lee. In this serious situation, all humans should work together to fight the vampires. State interests should come second.

"The top leader wants to wait for the scouting report," General Lee sighed. "If we really can't handle it secretly, then we'll tell other countries and ask for help." The space portal is too valuable to give up easily. He has to follow orders. But from Wayne Peng's attitude and what they found out, it looks like we might have to tell others soon.

"Good news! Morrison finally agreed to our request. He sent what we need!" Chan Layne, Wayne Peng's assistant, suddenly called out excitedly. He walked into view and handed Wayne Peng a phone.

"It's the locations of all M-country's nuclear facilities!" Even Wayne Peng couldn't hide his shock. This info is super important. Soon, the satellite network sent it to us.

"From this data, it looks like M-country has about a hundred land-based launch sites," General Lee said after looking it over quickly. "They're all over the country, with a few in other countries too. There are dozens of navy ships that can move around... This matches pretty well with what we knew before!" He gave the information to his staff for experts to study in detail.

It seems that even without being told about vampires or the space portal to another world, Senator Morrison from M-country figured out something was wrong from the info he had. He decided to help us, even though it means going against his country.

"Morrison's background shows he worked in M-country's Defense Department before," an H-country military officer said. "Does he have anything else to say?"

"Not for now," Wayne Peng replied, checking the phone again. "But he did mention one thing about nuclear submarines. Recently, M-country's military ordered all units abroad to come back for repairs and checks. This includes the nuclear submarine fleet."

Obviously, this is another way for vampires to spread. But from what Wayne Peng said, the recall deadline hasn't passed yet. So we can guess that the nuclear submarines and other M-country forces abroad are still safe for now.

"This is good news!" I said, finally feeling a bit relieved. "It means things aren't as bad as we thought. The Ancestor's control over M-country is still mostly in the capital and nearby areas!" It's only been a few days, after all. Even vampires can't spread through all of M-country that fast. This gives us a great chance to fight back.

"But the info also shows the recall lasts three days. They must reach port by tomorrow morning at the latest," General Lee said, still looking worried. "And the 'Blue Palace' already sent out orders to welcome them back. I really suspect that infected officials are already in place, ready to spread the infection."

Even though Wayne Peng brought some good news, the situation still isn't great. General Lee shook his head and said, "Let's wait for the full data analysis before we decide what to do."

...

A special team at the base analyzed the info about M-country's nuclear facilities. They worked fast and finished by evening, before it got dark.

"The info Senator Morrison gave us is the most detailed, up-to-date data on M-country's military we've ever had!" the military analyst explained. "From this, we can reasonably suspect that the Patlic and Merlific Fleets that returned early are probably infected. So we need to watch their nuclear weapons very carefully! The Unobon Fleet is scheduled to arrive in port tomorrow morning, so we can assume they're not affected yet. But we must stop them from contacting the vampires. To avoid misunderstandings between our countries, we hope all actions can be done secretly..."

All the officials at the base and people from other worlds were packed into the meeting room, listening to the military expert talk.

This meeting was kind of like a pre-war rally, so everyone involved had to be there.

Suddenly, a Cyra from some world raised her hand and asked, "What's the point of all this extra stuff? Why don't we just use all our fighting power to charge into M-country's Presidential Palace and kill the Ancestor? That would solve everything!"

"But can you really kill the Ancestor that quickly?" General Lee asked, looking at her. He showed a defense map of the "Blue Palace" on the screen, pointing at all the red dots.

"Almost all the guards in the palace are infected," he explained. "Probably only you angels could face the Ancestor directly. And I believe you could do it! But as soon as you get close, these guards would sense you and tell the Ancestor. If the Ancestor gets desperate and decides to launch nukes, can anyone guarantee they can kill them before they press the nuclear button?"

Everyone went quiet. Adrian could sneak in silently, but killing the Ancestor instantly would be hard.

In the vampire hierarchy, the Ancestor just needs to think an order, and it quickly passes down to all their followers everywhere. There's no checking or questioning! Even the ultimate safety measure of nuclear codes might have been removed already.

Since we can't kill the enemy leader right away, H-country's military leaders decided not to make that the main mission.

But I knew something - maybe there was one person in the base who could kill the Ancestor instantly, without even getting close! That's Number 14 Feliciana!

Number 14 Feliciana can change reality a bit. If she wanted, she could just erase the Ancestor from existence! There might be some limits I don't know about, like distance or how strong the enemy is. But from what I've seen, she could definitely kill one vampire easily.

But right now, Number 14 Feliciana was lost in the crowd. I couldn't see her in the meeting room.

I don't know if it was on purpose or not. She agreed to help us with the vampire problem, so she shouldn't miss such an important meeting!