Under the Flamebirds’ relentless firestorm, the massive Edo City Compound didn’t even last an hour before it was completely erased.

Ryuji Takahashi and the rest of Yamato’s top brass watched the whole thing with bloodshot eyes, like their souls were being burned out along with the city.

Across the Atlas Federation, the major compounds watched too—trembling as the feed showed the end in real time.

As the heart of the Yamato Empire, Edo City’s fall wasn’t just a devastating physical blow.

It shattered them mentally.

Ethan didn’t hesitate for a second. Once Edo City Compound was gone, he casually sent Ryuji Takahashi and the rest of Yamato’s leadership down to hell right after it.

After all, so many of Yamato’s people had already gone first. It would be embarrassing for their leaders to stay up here.

Ryuji Takahashi didn’t look especially willing.

Ethan didn’t especially care.

Ethan never went soft when it came to killing—especially not with those Yamato guys.

When it was done, he turned to the group he’d deliberately kept alive: a large crowd of beautiful women, and seven Awakened.

By now they were so terrified their faces had gone paper-white. They stood frozen in place, not even daring to breathe too loudly.

"Captain, I get why you kept the Awakened," Mia said, eyeing Ethan. "But why keep the women?"

"Heh heh—women this pretty, the captain’s definitely thinking—" Big Mike started, then suddenly felt the temperature in the air drop. He clamped his mouth shut fast.

Ethan coughed, looking a little awkward. "After the apocalypse, the Atlas Federation’s gender ratio is seriously out of whack. We’re bringing some back to... balance things out."

"Oh." Mia nodded and didn’t press.

"Bring them along," Ethan said. "We’re hitting the next compound."

"Got it!"

They hopped onto the Flamebirds. A few of the birds swooped down, seized the women and the Awakened in their talons, and lifted off.

In the days that followed, Ethan and his team rode the Flamebirds as they swept through the Yamato Empire like a wildfire.

With over thirty thousand Flamebirds, they barely needed to lift a finger themselves.

Every one of those birds was at least Tier 15, with built-in wide-area fire-type abilities. When it came to wiping out a city, they were absurdly fast.

If Ethan hadn’t needed to search for Awakened, a single compound wouldn’t have taken them long at all.

As compound after compound fell, the number of crystal cores inside Ethan’s spatial storage ring climbed higher and higher. Resources piled up until it felt like he was carrying mountains.

In five days, Ethan’s group had practically flown over every corner of the Yamato Empire. Every single compound was destroyed.

The Yamato Empire officially fell—becoming the first major power of the apocalypse era to be eliminated.

After that, Ethan and the Flamebirds started hunting down Yamato’s zombies and mutant beasts.

The Yamato Empire might not have had much land, but its population had been over a hundred million. Even after subtracting the people who never turned, and the zombies Yamato’s own forces had already killed, there were still nearly eighty million zombies roaming around.

With numbers like that, if it were just Ethan and a handful of people, they’d be killing until the end of time.

Good thing they had tens of thousands of Flamebirds.

Under the Flamebirds’ scorching waves of fire, the zombies couldn’t resist at all. They burned to ash in droves, leaving crystal cores behind.

And what made Ethan the happiest?

The Flamebirds even picked up the crystal cores and brought them back.

Ethan and the others just sat on the birds’ backs and gave directions. It was ridiculous how good it felt.

If he had to name the single biggest gain from this trip to the Yamato Empire, it was the Flamebirds—no contest.

With them, they could kill millions of zombies and mutant beasts every day. The flood of crystal cores had them grinning so hard their faces hurt.

Ten more days of slaughter went by.

By the time they were done, you could barely find a living creature anywhere on the Yamato archipelago.

The Yamato islands had become a graveyard.

Ethan and the others headed back toward the Atlas Federation with everything they’d deliberately kept—thousands of top-tier porn stars, more than seventy Awakened, and an absurd amount of supplies bundled up in bags and packs.

"Ethan," Chris asked, "we stopping by Nova City first, or heading straight back to Fallen Star City?"

"Fallen Star City," Ethan said. "Let’s get the supplies home first."

"Sounds good. Man, Miles is gonna freak when he sees this many Flamebirds. I’m kind of dying to see his face."

Ethan laughed. "Same."

Worried about whatever might be lurking out in the ocean, Ethan kept the Flamebirds flying at tens of thousands of feet.

The trip back was smooth. None of the flying mutant beasts dared come close. Two hours later, they crossed from the Yamato Empire back to Fallen Star City.

Mostly because Peregrine Falcon Flint and the others were a bit slower—if it’d been all Flamebirds the whole way, they would’ve made it in just over an hour.

The second they reached the sky above Fallen Star City, a thunderous roar exploded from below.

"Welcome back, Commander!"

It wasn’t one voice.

It was countless voices screaming it together—packed with excitement, adrenaline, pride. The sound hit so hard Ethan and the others just blanked out for a second.

"...How do they know we’re back?" someone muttered.

"We’re on Flamebirds. They can’t even see us from down there."

"Seeing that many monster birds flying toward the compound, shouldn’t the whole city be on alert?"

"And Fallen Star City’s a merge of multiple compounds. How do they have this kind of unity already?"

Ethan looked at the others. The others looked back at him.

Nobody had a clue.

But when he stared down at all those upturned faces—those burning eyes—he knew they weren’t guessing.

They knew it was them.

"Whatever," Ethan said. "Let’s go down. We’ll ask Miles."

He led the squad in, dropping altitude.

As they approached, a Fallen Star Guard squad leader cupped his hands and shouted up at them.

"Commander! We already built a habitat for your birds—please follow me!"

"...They built a habitat?" Ethan was even more confused now.

Still, he followed, steering the Flamebirds toward the rear of the compound. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

A few minutes later, they reached a huge park—hills, water, trees, and a wide open stretch of grass that looked like it belonged on a postcard.

They landed.

The Flamebirds immediately started darting around like kids let loose at an amusement park, clearly loving the place.

The squad leader spoke again, switching back to official mode. "Commander, the Deputy Commander is waiting in the briefing room. I’ll take you there."

"Alright."

Ethan pointed behind him, at the people and the mountain of supplies they’d hauled back. "Get them settled. All of it."

"Yes, sir." The squad leader nodded, quickly calling over a guard unit to handle the arrangements. Then he personally led Ethan and the others toward the center of the compound.

On the way, crowds poured in from every direction just to watch.

It was bigger than any celebrity arrival Ethan had ever seen.

The weird part was, nobody blocked the road. They held the sides like they’d rehearsed it—eyes wide, faces flushed, staring at the Fallen Star Squad with pure, unfiltered worship.

It was so intense it made Ethan’s skin crawl.

"I can’t believe I’m seeing the Commander this close. I’m so happy I could die."

"Right? This is a Fallen Star City perk. Other compounds don’t get this—can’t even dream of it."

"He’s so hot. He looks exactly like he did on the screen—my heart’s seriously fluttering."

"Not just you. I’m a guy and my heart’s fluttering."

"..."

"So strong. I’m a Fallen Star Squad ride-or-die from now on. Anyone talks trash about them, I’m throwing hands."

"Yeah, same here."

"Not gonna lie, me too."

"For real."

Ethan kept walking, listening to it, feeling stranger by the second.

After the new Fallen Star City was established, they’d basically left without managing anything.

So when the hell had they become this influential?