“You have failed.” Simeht said cold. “Give yourself up and tell me where my daughter is.”
Willys turned to the man holding the detonator.
“If I press this, it all blows up! You better back off if you don't want to turn into sushi!”
Simeht pointed at Willys and, without a second thought, shot the man. The shot burned the man's barrier instantly, destroying his mechanical arm and a remnant of energy hit the man's face, who fell to the ground.
“I just need one of you alive to know about my daughter.”
In an impulsive move, Dijo took an EXPL02ION from Willys' purse and activated it by launching it in Simeht's direction. The explosion destroyed the passage and once again the three fell one floor.
Dijo picked up Willys and was dragging him while Sorom recovered his pistol and joining with the blade.
“Why did you do that?” Ask Sorom angry. “Now the bomb plan is gone!”
“The bomb plan has been since Simeht found us! Willys is hurt, so let's get out of here while we still can and hope we get ships.”
“I could face him,” Sorom said contradicted.
“Could you?” Asked Dijo. “Because you were disarmed in an instant. He could beat an entire Sorom’s team.”
The two decided to stop arguing and were walking through dusty corridors in search of a way out.
“Golbert, how are you out there?” Sorom asked on the communicator.
“We are retreating! This Dunna is very powerful. Looks like his barrier projector is the same as a tank'! Besides, I don't think my punches are going to do any damage to his armor.”
“We are returning.” said Sorom. “Prepare your team to escort us to the hangar!”
Golbert agreed and Sorom's team continued their way.
The new corridor they were in was narrow, unlike anything they had seen in the Heart. He looked at a number on top of a door: 1515.
The large double metal doors opened and Sorom came across a young woman wearing a white dress with long curly hair. He couldn't say for sure, but she looked familiar.
“You're the guy on TV!” She said, and then she showed fear. “Have you come to kidnap me?”
She ran back into the room, but the second door was locked.
“Why would we kidnap you?” Asked Sorom. “We just want the way out; can you point us out? We won't hurt you.”
She looked deep into Sorom's eyes.
“So, you don't know who I am...”
“I don't want to be unpleasant, but we don't have much time.” Dijo said holding Willys. “And these mechanical limbs are very heavy.”
Sorom approached the woman looking at her with the same intensity.
“You look like him.” Sorom said. “Who are you?”
The woman thought about what she would answer. She felt a connection to Sorom and was ready to stop hiding.
“Will you end the destinies?” she asked. “Is that your goal?”
Dijo kept trying to get Sorom's attention, but the leader seemed to be almost in a trance.
“That's what I'm going to do.” Sorom replied. "I am the leader of the Chaos Agents and we will not stop until we overthrow God!”
She raised her arm, showing her fate to Sorom.
“If you are the leader of the Chaos Agents, you are also my leader.”
The red glyphs on his arm showed the word Sorom was most familiar with: Chaos.
“Call me Zizi, I am Pharaoh Tess's sister.”
At this point Sorom's brain was firing ideas and possibilities.
“We don't have time, so I'll try to be quick,” Sorom said, carrying a confident pose.
Almost half an hour after the end of this conversation, Evelin was still on the bridge with his team. Some guards tried to break in, but Tugsten's barriers were securing their victory so far.
“Tug,” Norna's voice said on the communicator, “we are almost ready, just waiting for Sorom to come, but Dunna has arrived and is destroying our forces.”
“Should we go and help?” Asked Tugsten.
At that moment the doors of the corridor opened, and guards were advancing. The four had to fire to hold them, but the enemies were more organized and managed to retreat to plan a more efficient invasion.
“If we don't stop this guardian before Sorom arrives, there will be nothing to take back,” Norna said worriedly.
Tugsten shot at the bridge windows, which led to the hangar and looked at his companions.
“Go, I'll take care of it.”
Jamin and Sliger looked worried at their partner.
“You won't be able to hold everyone on your own.” Jamin said.
“I'm going to get enough time so you can escape.”
“But, Tug, you will be captured! Or worse...”
Sliger approached and put his hand on her shoulder.
“It is an honorable sacrifice. Your memory will not be forgotten.”
She pulled the man and hugged him tightly, Jamin went after to participate in the moment. Evelin was affected with the woman's choice, especially when she called her for the hug.
Tugsten said goodbye to his colleagues, placing a new strip of ammunition on her arm and pointing into the hallway.
“And how are we going to get down?” Asked Evelin to Jamin and Sliger that weren’t showing energy to continue.
“If we stand here, Tug's plan will have been of no use!” Said Evelin trying to get his companions to act.
Jamin took a hook with a rope and put it in the window. It was a fall of almost five meters back to the hangar. Evelin took one last look at Tugsten before going down and saw the corridor doors opening again and more guards coming.
The young woman did not stay to see what would happen and went down with her companions.
“Let's find the guardian,” Sliger suggested. “We have to hold him until Sorom arrives.”
Evelin and Jamin agreed and ran in the noisiest direction. As they approached, they saw the man's huge silhouette. If the Royal Guards were already imposing, Guardian Dunna looked like a giant. A black armor of almost three meters, carrying thrusters in the back to facilitate movement and a giant axe also with thrusters.
They saw him slicing a battle android right in half. Several of their colleagues shot the guardian, but his barrier held up everything without showing any sign of weakening.
Evelin's group hid behind some debris together with Ratz reloading his missile launcher.
“You have laser guns, don't you?” asked Ratz. “Help burn this guy's barrier!”
He got up and launched his missile which was completely stopped by the barrier and fell to the ground without exploding.
Evelin and Sliger partially came out of their protection, hailing the guardian with lasers. The shots were damaging the barrier, but there was no sign of when it was going to burn.
“This is not possible.” Evelin said. “He must have a level six barrier projector!”
“But isn't that just for vehicles?” Asked Jamin.
“It is the only thing that explains nothing is working.”
The laser shots caught the attention of the guardian, who start going in the direction of the agents. They parted ways and Dunna decided to follow Jamin, who did not even try to defend himself with his swords. By the size of the axe, he knew he'd be defeated with a single blow. He ran away and tried to dodge as best he could, while the others kept shooting.
“Where is Sorom?” Asked Evelin to Ratz.
It's coming, but it looks like Simeht is on his tail.”
Evelin worried; however, her priority now was to defeat Dunna.
“Even if we break his barrier, that armor seems able to take a lot of damage.” commented Evelin. “We're wasting our time here.”
She looked at Ratz who had just had an epiphany.
“I'm going to boom in his face.” Said the man with an insane smile on his face. He reloaded his missile launcher and ran toward the guardian.
“What are you going to do?” asked Evelin wor
ried; but man was already far away.
At that time, she heard an explosion, not from Ratz as expected, but from the control tower where Tug was, with black smoke coming out of the remains of the place.
The girl didn't know what to do; wanted to help Tugsten, but she didn't even know if it was possible. She wanted to neutralize Dunna, but she couldn't either. She was feeling useless in the middle of the battlefield.
At that moment she had another dark vision. Jamin rolled to the side escaping by an inch of the axe that cracked the metal floor of the hangar. Ratz jumped on the Guardian's back, with his launcher at close range, where the barrier could no longer hold. Then another explosion occurred.
Evelin looked at the agents around trying to gather and getting into ships, but she herself was lost and not knowing what to do. Then she heard Norna's voice on the communicator.
“This is a general warning: Get on the ships and follow me on the Rubilacxe. A ship is back to take Sorom. The rest of you come with me!”
She heard more explosions, opening through the hangar wall to the interior of the Ziggurat-City. She saw Jamin and Sliger covered in ashes carrying Ratz's burn-filled body to a ship and yet she continued still watching the chaos happen.
She couldn't see Dunna's body in the smoke and hadn't seen if Sorom had arrived either. Evelin tried to concentrate; she was trained for this type of event. However, being in the midst of it was something Evelin felt was never possible to be truly prepared for.
That's when she heard heavy footsteps through the hangar. She thought Dunna had gotten up, but it was Golbert carrying Willys' body on his back. Sorom and Dijo followed, with the leader shooting back covering them”
Evelin knew that if she stood still, she would be caught and decided to join the group, which was headed towards a battleship.
When joining she asked Sorom directly.
“What about my father?”
Her answer was a laser shot that almost hit Sorom.
“Daddy's over there.”
She saw her father running with his revolver pointed at them.
“We won't have time to turn on the ship before it arrives!” Said Sorom worried.
Simeht's pace was greater than the agents' and in fact would soon reach them.
“Dijo, run in front and turn on the ship; Gol, put Willys in a safe place.”
They followed orders. Sorom and Evelin were side by side on the ship's ramp with Simeht just behind.
“Do not hate me for this.” Sorom said to his companion.
Evelin was going to ask what he was talking about, but Sorom was faster. She had Sorom's arm in her throat and his pistol pointed at her temple.
“If you take another step, your little girl dies.” Sorom said to Simeht, who stopped immediately.
He looked into Evelin's eyes and felt despair for his daughter.
“Don't do that Sorom!” cried his father. “Or you'll regret it!”
Now the ship was turned on, the ramp began to retract, Sorom smiled, feeling victorious as he held the girl in his arms.
“It seems that you lost this, Simeht.” Said Sorom. "The next time we see each other will be in the Air Temple.”
The ship's door closed and Dijo began to fly it out. Immediately Evelin got away from Sorom and looked furious at him.
“What was that idea? You can't do that!”
“It was that or we were dead.” Sorom replied. "I don't have time for this discussion.”
He left Evelin looking at the wall and went to see Willys. His mechanical arm was destroyed, and his head had a huge burn from Simeht's shot, yet he was still alive.
“We have to go back soon,” Golbert said. “He needs treatments.”
“Yes,” agreed Sorom, “Dijo, prepare the explosives, we need to destroy the tunnels.”
The young man seemed grumpy.
“Right,” he replied.
Evelin wanted to question whether it would be wise to destroy the agents' only path to the city, but she was too angry to talk.
Sorom's ship was the last, and as soon as they crossed the established limit, Dijo fired a series of explosives, demolishing the path behind them.
The hangar at the base of the chaos was packed, both of ships and of people. Many medical beds were brought in and tried to treat the wounded.
As soon as the ship landed, Evelin left without talking to Sorom and went straight to her room, while Golbert ran with Willys on his back for treatment. Sorom and Dijo saw Jamin and Sliger carrying Ratz's burn-filled body, and Sorom could not hold back the emotion.
“What happened to him?”
“If it exploded to take Dunna.” replied Sliger.
“Tug is gone too,” Jamin said emotionally.
The two left Sorom and Dijo alone.
“What was that idea?” Fought Dijo.
“What?” Asked Sorom surprised.
“It is your fault that we have two Ingas seriously injured!”
Sorom's confusion turned into irritation.
“They knew what they were doing,” Sorom said. "Do you think this is a joke? That's no way to talk to your leader!”
“No, you think it's a joke! You wanted to reveal yourself to the whole world and do a little show. Maybe if they didn't know it was you, we'd have deployed the bomb and Willys would be fine. Now excuse me I need to see him.”
He left Sorom, and when the leader began to relax, he heard Norna's voice berating him.
“He's right, you know?”
“Not you to...” Complained Sorom.
“You know who's going to suffer from that, don't you? They have your name on the list and they'll know Garreth took you there! He's going to suffer all the retaliation from the Chaos Agents.”
“I'm saving the world!”
“Look around. You can save the world, but you'll end up losing all the people along the way!”
She also left him and Sorom found herself in the midst of guns and wounded, completely alone.
Pharaoh's Fury
“People of Gardenia,” Pharaoh Tess said for the cameras in front of him, “a horrible tragedy struck us. The Heart was attacked by the chaos terrorists, causing much destruction and death. I'm fine and their plan to murder me was a complete failure.”
This time the Pharaoh wore a completely black tunic with no detail and his expression was a mixture of sadness and weariness.
“We captured a series of these terrorists and a traitor we kept under our own roof. All of them will be properly cared for the safety of all of you. The good news is that we have confirmation from the leader of these terrorists, a man named Sorom, who had the audacity to proclaim to the world his evil plans to end fate. I assure you there is nothing you, my beautiful people, need to worry about. Sorom is our number one enemy and together we can defeat him! Now more than ever I ask you to praise Destiny and remember the blessings that the God-Computer gives us every day. If anyone has information from Sorom or the chaos terrorists, it is your duty to God to notify the nearest government agency. Hiding information from them is a very serious crime! Help us maintain order and may your fate be peaceful.”
As soon as the recording was over, Tess' shoulders gave way, and her expression became even more tired. He walked to the guardian Simeht, who was watching everything.
“I must return to the Heart immediately,” Pharaoh Tess said.
“My Pharaoh,” began Simeht “with all due respect. They threatened your life and only one bomb was found. By our tests, that bomb could destroy a third of the Heart. If there are more of them, you'll be in danger.
“Nonsense,” the Pharaoh replied. “I'm already too long here in the Temple. I need to deal with Garreth and my personal affairs.”
“Allow a guardian to accompany you at least.”
The Pharaoh accepted unwillingly and Simeht summoned a new guardian. She wore gold and black armor, leaving only her mouth on display. On each side of her waist, she carried a long sword.
“I am the Guardian Astra,” said
the woman; “It will be a pleasure to protect you, Pharaoh Tess.”
Pharaoh didn't seem impressed at all.
“Astra is our best melee fighter,” Simeht said. “And Sorom carried a sword. There is no doubt that Astra is superior to him in every respect. Your safety will be guaranteed.”
“All right,” replied Tess impatiently. “Can we go back? I'm going to have a lot of work fixing everything that happened.”
“First I would like to talk about... my daughter.” Began the leader of the Guardians. “She's being held hostage by the Chaos Agents. I want to put all our forces against them, but I'm afraid she could end up suffering collateral damage.”
Pharaoh Tess looked confused at Simeht.
“Didn't they warn you? For love, this is not my job...” Tess complained. “We were able to retrieve security footage from the event, and your daughter was helping the Chaos Agents of her own free will.”
“That is not possible...”
“I'm going to order someone to send the video to you, but as far as I know she's part of the terrorist group and now I'm finding...”
“But she is my daughter!” Simeht argued. “She must be captured at most; lethal force should not be used against her.”
“She helped with Guardian Dunna's injury! You know he probably won't recover.” Said the angry Pharaoh. “If she is our enemy, we will respond as such. You should be more like General Sorom, he doesn't mind going against his own family.”
The leader of the Guardians wanted to continue arguing, however Tess was already out of patience and left the Temple with his new security, which observed everything in silence.
They were on a very well-armed convoy to the Ziggurat-City. The Air Temple was about to fly over the city. It was possible to see the majestic abode of God-Computer flying.
It was considerably smaller than the Ziggurat-City, however, by the simple fact of flying, it was a much more magnificent sight. It resembled a gigantic ark, with the underside similar to the keel.
The Pharaoh, however, was not enjoying the view, but rather was eager to return to the Ziggurat. As fast as he could he asked for the status of room 1515.
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