Rise Of A Shattered Luna (Natalie) by Kave Derry novel Chapter 357

Chapter 357 The Blackout Vector

Chapter 357 The Blackout Vector

Natalie’s POV

The ship didn’t begin to die all at once.

It resisted.

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Every beam hidden beneath the deck plates inside the Sovereign Leviathan fought against the crushing weight of the Atlantic pressing in from every direction.

Thirty thousand tons of engineered steel refused to surrender quietly, but even the strongest vessels eventually reached a point where endurance replaced strength.

I felt that moment through my bones.

A deep groan rolled beneath Cell Twelve, vibrating through the soles of my boots before settling inside my marrow like a living pulse

The slight port list that had threatened to throw the ship off balance moments ago steadied once more, but there was nothing reassuring about it.

The gray water circling my ankles quivered with each uneven heartbeat of the turbines below.

Thump…

A pause.

Click.

Another thump.

Another pause.

Every delay was longer than the last.

I closed my eyes and allowed the ship to speak.

To anyone else, it was nothing more than the sound of failing machinery.

To a Scribe, it was a living blueprint unraveling one fracture at a time.

Every vibration translated itself into measurements.

Every shift in pressure became another line on the map forming inside my mind.

The auxiliary generators were grounding themselves against seawater.

The suppression network holding Block Alpha together was collapsing.

Above me, the last emergency lamp fought desperately to remain alive.

A sharp hiss escaped the burnt filament.

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Chapter 357 The Blackout Vector

Then…

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Nothing.

The corridor disappeared into absolute black.

Only my eyes remained.

Golden light spilled from my irises, reflecting against the wet steel walls until every droplet clinging to the rusted bulkheads shimmered like molten amber.

The silver cuff fastened around my wrist crackled faintly, its current no longer steady enough to suppress the ancient force sleeping

beneath my skin.

The pain remained.

But the restraint no longer did.

The needles that had once driven themselves mercilessly into my marrow had become dull, inconsistent stings.

Nyx stirred.

She knew exactly how close freedom had become.

Outside my cell, discipline finally shattered.

“Move!”

“The water’s still rising!”

“The drainage system isn’t responding!”

Heavy boots splashed violently through the flooded corridor as men abandoned whatever composure they had left.

Through the narrow observation slit, I watched the logistics clerk stumble into view.

Hours ago, he had worn the smug confidence of a man who believed he controlled the value of every life passing through this ship.

Now he looked like a drowning rat.

His expensive coat clung heavily to his body.

Water soaked through his trousers to the knee, and his breathing came in ragged bursts as he struggled toward the hydraulic

control station.

An enforcer followed close behind him, dragging his rifle through the rising water.

“The cargo shaft’s flooding!” the guard barked, slamming both hands against the bulkhead for balance as another violent tremor shook the ship.

“Pressure from the lower trench has broken through the lift housing! Level BS is filling faster than the pumps can clear it!”

Beth.

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Chapter 357 The Blackout Vector

Arguments overlapped one another until none of them made sense anymore.

The clerk slammed both hands against the manual–hydraulic wheel controlling the lower cargo lift.

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it refused to move.

He cursed, threw his shoulder into it, and strained Prarder.

Still nothing.

Panic overtook him completely.

“We’re finished,” he whispered.

“No…”

His breathing grew uneven.

“We’re actually finished…”

The intercom crackled again.

Every person in the corridor froze.

The automated voice sounded unnervingly calm.

“The Nightfang accounts have entered full liquidation.”

“Remaining maritime insurance has been revoked.”

“Northern buyers have suspended all escrow transfers.”

“Contract default confirmed.”

The transmission ended.

Nobody spoke.

Nobody moved.

The logistics clerk simply stared at the dark speaker mounted above the corridor as though refusing to believe what he’d heard.

Behind my ribs, the mate bond pulsed.

Warm.

Steady.

Certain.

Baron.

A slow smile curved across my lips.

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Chapter 357 The Blackout Vector

Not because their empire had fallen.

Because it had fallen exactly when brad predicted it would.

Every account Baron had targeted.

Every property Renee had dismantled.

Every hidden asset Flynn had traced.

They weren’t simply bankrupt.

They were exposed.

The logistics clerk turned slowly toward my cell.

Even through reinforced steel and darkness, our eyes met.

His breathing stopped.

His fear filled the corridor far more completely than the seawater ever could.

“You…” he whispered hoarsely.

“The suppression…”

“It isn’t holding anymore.”

The enforcer tightened his grip on the rifle.

His hands trembled so badly that the barrel rattled against his armor.

“We should leave.”

“We can’t.”

“We have to.”

“The bridge will send someone.”

“They already have.”

‘No one is coming down here.”

Their argument ended the moment I spoke.

I didn’t raise my voice.

I didn’t need to.

“Open the lift.”

Every sound in Block Alpha seemed to disappear.

Chapter 357 The Blackout Vector

The Atlantic roared somewhere beyond the hull.

Water dripped steadity from broken pipes overhead.

The engines fought desperately to remain alive.

Yet somehow…

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My voice silenced them all.

“The lower decks are drowning.”

“You can waste what’s left of your time arguing with one another…”

“…or you can make one decision that might allow you to see tomorrow.”

I stepped closer to the door until only reinforced steel separated us.

My fingers rested lightly against the cold metal.

“You’ve already lost your employers.”

“You’ve already lost your money.”

“You’ve already lost the protection you believed made you untouchable.”

“My question is very simple.”

I held the clerk’s terrified gaze.

“Do you intend to die protecting people who have already abandoned you?”

The corridor remained silent long after my words settled over it.

Not the silence of discipline.

The silence of men standing at the edge of a cliff, realizing the ground beneath their feet had already crumbled.

Nater continued creeping across the steel floor in slow, relentless waves, climbing over boots, soaking uniforms, swallowing every

uniform

hurried footstep.

His eyes never left mine.

For the first time since I’d stepped aboard this ship, he wasn’t looking at me as cargo.

He was looking at me as the only person who still seemed certain of what came next.

‘We…” His voice caught in his throat. “We don’t have authorization.”

‘You no longer have anyone left to authorize anything,” I answered calmly.

Another violent jolt tore through the lower decks.

The emergency alarm burst to life again before dying halfway through its warning, the speakers coughing out broken fragments ofg

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Chapter 357 The Blackout Vector

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static instead of coherent words.

One of the guards spun toward the ceiling.

“The bridge isn’t responding!”

“They’ve cut communications!“/

“No…” another whispered, horror spreading across his face. They’ve abandoned the lower decks.”

The realization struck every one of them at the same time.

The officers.

The bridge crew.

The executives overseeing the trafficking exchange.

Every important figure aboard this vessel had already begun securing their own escape routes while leaving everyone beneath them to drown.

Exactly as I expected.

Fear spread faster than the flooding water.

The enforcer nearest the lift abandoned his rifle first.

It slipped from his hands and disappeared beneath the murky water with a heavy splash.

“I didn’t sign up to die down here.”

Neither of the others argued.

Their loyalty had lasted precisely as long as their employers‘ money.

The logistics clerk stared at the hydraulic wheel one last time before closing his eyes.

“…Open it.”

The guard hesitated.

“…Sir?”

“I said open the damn lift!”

Steel screamed against stee!.

The hydraulic lock resisted for several seconds before finally giving way.

A thunderous groan echoed beneath the floor as enormous counterweights shifted somewhere inside the vessel.

Hidden gears awakened after hours of inactivity, dragging the emergency cargo lift back onto its tracks.

The guards didn’t wait to inspect it.

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Chapter 357 The Blackout Vector

They were already backing away.

“We’re leaving.”

“The bridge can deal with this.”

“No,” the clerk muttered bitterly.

“The bridge won’t.”

His shoulders slumped.

“They ve already written us off.”

Within seconds, they were running.

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They fled like frightened animals, splashing through knee–deep water toward the upper stairwell without daring to look back.

The corridor emptied.

Their retreating footsteps faded into the distance until only the ship remained.

The endless groaning.

The grinding steel.

The Atlantic battering the wounded hull.

Silence returned.

I lowered my gaze to the silver cuff wrapped around my wrist.

Hours ago, it had burned like molten iron.

Now it barely hummed.

Hairline fractures had spread across its surface, tiny threads of pale light escaping through the damaged circuitry. Every pulse of failing electricity grew weaker than the last.

Nyx stirred beneath my skin.

I slid my fingers beneath the cracked restraint.

I inhaled slowly.

Every breath carried more of my lineage back into my body.

The mate bond brightened.

The frozen thread connecting Baron and me became something stronger, warmer, impossibly alive.

I could feel him.

Watching.

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Chapter 357 The Blackout Vector

Waiting for me.

A smile touched my tips..

“You’ve been very patient.”

The bond answered with quiet warmth.

He knew.

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He knew the time was almost here.

I closed my hand around the restraint.

Ancient frost spread beneath my skin, flowing through muscles, tendons, and bone until every cell answered the call of my bloodline.

The air inside the cell dropped several degrees.

Thin crystals crept across the fractured silver.

One crack.

Then another.

The restraint trembled violently.

A sharp snap echoed through the darkness.

The first section broke away.

It struck the flooded floor with a metallic clang.

Another surge followed.

The remaining pieces shattered apart beneath my grip before scattering across the concrete like discarded scraps of useless metal.

Silence.

Then…

r

Freedom.

Nyx rose inside me with breathtaking calm.

Power poured back through iny body in steady waves instead of exploding outward.

Every suppressed instinct returned to its rightful place.

My hearing sharpened until I could distinguish individual streams of seawater racing through damaged pipes.

My sense of smell separated rust from diesel, oil from blood, salt from fear.

My vision pierced the darkness completely.

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Chapter 357 The Blackout Vector

The prison cell ceased to be a cage.

It became another room

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Another obstacle.

Nothing more.

I stepped toward the door.

I rested my palm against the cold surface.

My senses flowed effortlessly through the structure.

The cargo lift continued rattling somewhere beneath Block Alpha.

Beth.

She was still alive.

Barely.

Water had already climbed beyond the sleeping platform inside her holding cell.

Every minute mattered now.

I opened my eyes.

Golden light reflected across the soaked walls.

“Hold on.”

The whisper wasn’t carried by the air.

It traveled through conviction,

“You promised your son you’d come home.”

“I promised I’d help you keep that promise.”

Far beyond the steel hull…

The mate bond flared brilliantly.

Baron’s presence surged through me.

The hunt was over.

The execution was beginning.

I squared my shoulders and faced the fractured door one final time.

1

Behind it waited flooded corridors, dying guards, collapsing decks, and a frightened mother who refused to surrender her child