Chapter 683 "........."

Chapter 683 "........."

While the meeting was taking place, the security forces of both sides were carefully monitoring the palace. Although the possibility of an incident was almost nil, they needed to be ready for anything.

By the slimmest chance that something did happen, their leaders would need to be rescued immediately. This philosophy underpinned the current small contingents responsible for keeping an eye on the palace, while the rest of the security forces focused outward.

However, the peaceful monitoring only lasted for so long. In a fraction of a second, two massive roots emerged from opposite sides of the palace wall. They spread rapidly, intertwining and clashing against the walls of the palace, enveloping it as if it were a cocoon.

“.......”

There was a silence from those near the vicinity of the palace, but their surprise was more about the symbolic of what had happened. The sudden cocoon of roots meant that the emperor, his wife, and the leadership of the Proximians were now confined within the cocoon.

BOOOOOOOOM.

It was only three seconds later that they heard the explosion, which immediately brought everyone back to their senses.

Four seconds after the explosion.

“Show me what the sensors are seeing,” Josh, the head of the Aegis team assigned to protect the emperor on the ground, asked calmly, his eyes fixed on the now fully cocooned palace.

Although he was asking questions, his mouth wasn’t moving, and neither were his eyes blinking at all. Everything around him seemed either at a full stop in the air or moving in slow motion, depending on their relative speed before the shockwave. Time seemed to have paused for him, his focus solely on the cocooned palace, his mind processing the sudden turn of events with an eerie calmness.

“Alright, send this information to fleet control and request a few attack ships to breach that cocoon,” he instructed, promptly deactivating the perception acceleration.

“Everyone to the ship! We need to breach that cocoon and rescue the imperial family!” Josh commanded, swiftly organizing the security team on the ground.

For them, only seven seconds had elapsed since the shockwave hit, making his analysis and response time just two seconds.

Without hesitation, the security members rushed toward the ship, which was already hovering and approaching them to pick them up.

The operation to rescue the imperial family was now officially underway, as Josh and his team were heading to the cocoon.

Meanwhile, other groups were still in the process of assessing and reacting to the unfolding crisis.

...........

In just ten seconds after the cocoon’s appearance, the fleet responded swiftly. Landers and attack ships were dispatched one after another, descending from orbit to support the Aegis forces on the ground. The fleet’s readiness was a result of their vigilance during the meeting eve when they were almost sure that nothing was going to happen, ensuring they were prepared for any emergent threats.

The Proximian security forces were equally swift in their response. Responding within a few more additional seconds, they had formulated an action plan. Given that their ships were already stationed on the planet, they were poised to arrive at the scene ahead of the reinforcements coming from space.

..............

The unfolding crisis quickly captivated viewers both on Proxima and on earth. Within thirty seconds of the incident, the live stream's audience swelled to half a billion.

As the situation continued to develop, the number of viewers surged by millions each second. Reactions varied widely: some watched with bated breath and concern, others with a sense of schadenfreude, while many tuned in purely for the spectacle, eager to see if the emperor's fate would be sealed in real time.