One Last Reflection as a Despot
The roar of rockets split the air, followed by deafening booms that shook the earth. Explosion after explosion ripped through the battlefield.
"Keep firing! Don't stop — CRACK!"
"Machine guns neutralized! Machine guns neutralized!"
"Keep shooting! Until they can't anymore!"
"What's going on over there? We're out of ammo!"
Bullets whistled like popcorn popping, detonations blooming like fireworks. My soldiers fell in waves. I couldn't even raise my head to greet the sun.
The entire battlefield knelt in my direction. I hadn't expected that.
[System: Performing feudal rituals isn't appropriate here.]
Shut up, Status Window. You don't have to worry about death.
[System: Do not forget our enemy beyond that point.]
I knew it. The sheer mass of shadows above me was crushing.
And I, the exception.
Acidic slime rockets melted soldiers into puddles. A single drop would have burned me. But none touched me.
The soldiers' sudden panic annoyed me more. The most crazed slave appeared. My favorite minister ranted like a madman.
"Curse you—Your Majesty—why have you come out here!?"
The one-eyed man's heavy emotions choked his shout.
"I haven't died yet. Stop trembling behind my soldiers."
"If you must—damn it!—want to go to Alamber—"
"—you never did."
Before the one-eyed man's face could redden, I stepped forward.
"Damn worms. Why did they swarm into the Empire?"
The worms. Why did they swarm?
[System: Expansion pack enabled via season pass.]
Not you. Stop repeating the same answer.
A barrage of cannon fire slammed into the waves of shadows from the sky. The stench of crushed, roasted, and pulverized flesh reached even here.
We kept shooting until the rockets carrying humanity's last hope hit their mark. From the palace corridor, I watched the aerial battle beyond the arch. The sky blazed with the splendor that would have made the poet sigh.
Those flames would have been only my soldiers and my people.
[System: You are not Hongri nor Nero.]
Why ruin the mood?
And what else could I do besides recite poetry?
Sixty-four seconds until Alamber's divine punishment struck the shadows.
Through the comms, screams and battle cries streamed in. Reports poured out nonstop.
I could do nothing for the screams coming through the radio waves.
[System: Even if the system checks, your position can't be nonchalant.]
I told you not to ruin it.
And I was always a sage from the start. From the moment you awakened.
Ignoring the Status Window's barrage of sounds, I stared at the distant slaughter. I could only pray until it hit.
Or replay the moment everything began.
Or figure out where the whole damn thing had started to unravel.
Behind me, boots pounded the cracked floor.
The voice following me mirrored my twisted thoughts.
"Your Highness! Christina's furious!"
You started it all with that sentence.