With the death of Admiral Dimitri, his supposed grand plan to turn the tide of the war wasn't executed with the best consideration. With the 8-ship fleets commanded by a second Russian admiral without much experience, the charge occurred on the morning of the 13th of April.
All around the sky, jet fighters skirmished far ahead of their main battleships. However, the moment the massive capital ships were within range, hell was let loose upon above the skies. The roar of the cannons split the heavens, and the flashes of explosions cracked the earth. As the heated exchange became increasingly desperate for the two imperial fleets fighting the Allied coalition of 8 fleets, the crew on the bridge desperately looked for any possible reinforcement on their side.
[Crew] - "Captain, we've lost contact with the 16th fleet's mothership carrier. "
The captain held on to a handrail to steady himself as his ship shook violently. Upon looking out of the window, the captain noticed the carrier of the 16th fleet bursting into flame before falling toward the ground. With a grim look on his face, the captain knew the situation was fatal for them.
[Captain] - "Ram! Order all non-essential crew to evacuate. If we are going down, we are at least taking some of them down with us! Aim for their lead vessel, full power! "
All around the carrier, soldiers and crew were ordered to abandon ship. As the Imperial carrier began heading toward the enemy vessel, the Russian captain immediately ordered his carrier to take evasive actions. As the two ships came head-to-head, the Imperial captain was shocked to find his ship too high to properly ram into the main body of the enemy vessel.
[Captain] - "Shit! Why are we not catching up to their speed? "
[Crew] - "Sir, we have received engine damage earlier! On top of this, the evacuation has not been concluded! There are still many of our troops aboard. "
The captain looked at the situation and noticed one of his jets performing a cobra maneuver in a dogfight outside of his window. After carefully analysing the situation, the captain was determined to make the most use of his assets in this suicidal struggle.
[Captain] - "Tell the Roman marines to stay in invasion pods. We will tilt our ship upward to lose speed and altitude so we can crash into that Russian carrier. Meanwhile, the Marines will launch and preferably land on that Russian carrier straight ahead of us. "
The crew on deck was in shock upon hearing the captain's orders, but knew that they didn't have much choice besides his plan.
[Captain] - "Men, it has been an honour serving with you! We fought for freedom and a better world under the Empire. When our old world oppressed us, Lord Sniper and his knights gave us a chance to fight back. We signed up for duty knowing that we might one day have to die in battle, so today is the day. We fight and die for the Empire, we die for the people! Men of the 21st fleet, we are the Guards of the New World! Let's defend it to the end! "
Yelled the captain as he raised his fist in the air.
The crew in the bridge cheered beside the captain while the Roman marines entered their drop pods in haste. With a pull of the controls, the massive carrier's air brakes extended before its massive triangular front faced the sky. In a rain of meteor, the drop pods were launched toward the Russian carrier in front while the wounded mothership gracefully fell down to its doom. In a spectacular crash, the carrier of the 21st Imperial fleet smashed into the Russian 1st fleet carrier below, bringing two giants down toward the ground in a massive shockwave.
As the flames of the two ships' demise reached the marines in their pods, many of them saluted their fallen comrade. Just as the captain intended, most of the pods crashed into the hull of the Russian 3rd fleet carrier. Below, the relaxed mood soon turned to terror as the Russian crews watched massive drills punch through the roof of their aircraft hangar.
[Roman marines] - "For the 21st fleet! "
Yelled the marines before dropping down in their light armour.
Chaos immediately erupted inside the Russian 3rd fleet carrier as about a thousand marines tore through their ranks, rampaging out of revenge and fury. Despite the marines' best effort, they found themselves increasingly isolated as the massive carrier harboured an entire army's worth of troops. By the end of the day, the 3rd fleet had wiped out the marines, but their sabotage effort ensured that the carrier lost most of its air wings and systems.
Meanwhile, Mike stood beside Marshal Komich Valentine, commanding the 5th fleet, the Blitz-Marines. They watched on the bridge as the fleet crossed deep into Russian territories without much resistance besides the sporadic AA fire. Finally, as Moscow came into view from a gap in the clouds, Valentine ordered his ship captain to begin the assault.
From the perspective of the people on the ground in Moscow, it seemed as if the sky caught on fire before rains of lava dropped down upon the city. Known for their brutality and efficiency, the Blitz-marines of the 5th fleet immediately sprung into action the moment they exited their pods and began to systematically wipe out the city's defenders without mercy. However, the problem is that they didn't mind shooting civilians. In fact, they wanted civilians to be present during their assault so the enemy couldn't properly organize a defence in the chaos of the fleeing populace.
[Valentine] - "Grand Knight, witness the effectiveness of my marines. I'm sure my men will provide you with a satisfactory report to submit to Lord Sniper. "
[Mike] - "The evaluation of a fleet's performance isn't solely based on battle prowess. Soldiers without a compass know no disgrace. Your fleet might be effective, but you will have to provide proper post-conflict support to the local populace as well. "
[Valentine] - "Lord Sniper did not send you here to lecture me, Grand Knight. If Athena and her 9th fleet want to be such compassionate warriors, then why not send her here instead? Remember our duties well, Grand Knight. I was assigned by Lord Sniper himself to conduct this battle, and you are assigned here to evaluate my performance for the task I was given. "
Said Valentine in a confident voice.
Mike glanced at Valentine from the edge with an unimpressed expression.
[Mike] - "Watch your tone when speaking with me. As a member of the cyberknights, your head might fly high with ego, but your neck remains trapped between blades. "
Said Mike coldly as he observed the battlefield.
Though Valentine remained silent, he secretly swallowed in fear at Mike's words. While Valentine was distracted, Mike muted his voice from the outside world before switching his channel to communicate with Athena.
[Mike] - "I need you to get to Moscow as quickly as you can. Things might get a bit out of hand on the ground because of Valentine's troops. "
[Athena] - "Ugh, that bastard Valentine, I swear to God! The situation in Moscow is still volatile. I need to drop my Spartan Marines and clear up enemy gun batteries before I can deploy the medical crafts and personnel. "
[Mike] - "How long before you arrive? "
[Athena] - "A few minutes. "
Meanwhile, on the ground, a group of cyberknight under Valentine's command approached the Kremlin, ready to clear a path for the advancing troops. However, as they wandered through the war-torn streets, followed by rows of Imperial Marines, a mysterious figure emerged from the debris. As the crystals on his forearms glowed, he whispered the name of his ability in secret.
On board the fleet carrier, Mike and Valentine were suddenly shaken by the sight of a massive fireball in the city before a blinding light shone through the window. To Mike's shock, as his helmet visor adjusted to the light, he noticed the unmistakable sight of a nuclear mushroom cloud. Just as Mike phased through the bridge to investigate the situation, a man suddenly landed on the hull of the carrier, clad in a damaged cyberknight armor.
[Vlad] - "Greeting, Grand Knight. "
Below Mike stood a man who was clearly a cyberknight, but something was off about the man. Carefully, Mike landed before the man and observed him from head to toe.
[Mike] - "Well, looks like the culprit is ready to turn himself in. "
[Vlad] - "I will proudly take full responsibility for this. "
Said Vlad in a confident voice.
[Mike] - "You just killed a few thousand men down there. Care to explain yourself? "
[Vlad] - "It's a message! Something that will stir the pot enough for you to care about it. "
The visor in Mike's helmet quickly identified the man as a traitor working for rogue Grand Knight Michele, who was defeated years ago for his betrayal of the Empire.
[Mike] - "A follower of Michele. You dare show yourself before me, knowing full-well any knight who partook in the Path of Sin are to be executed without mercy. "
Said Mike as he stared into the knight's eyes.
[Vlad] - "I'm not afraid to die, Grand Knight. I'm willing to take my chance to convey my message to you. Your actions during the war with the 9th fleet told me that you are a man of reason, of justice. I believe, as a knight who used to serve the Empire loyally, I deserve to be allowed a chance to utter my last words. "
Said Vlad in a sincere tone.
[Valentine] - "Kill that bastard, Grand Knight! He fucking decimated my men! What are you waiting for? "
Yelled Valentine over the radio in Mike's helmet.
Mike looked around and realized that the whole fleet was mostly busy watching him confront this enemy instead of continuing the rampage. Pressing the mute button for Valentine's channel, Mike turned his attention back to the rogue knight.
[Mike] - "Speak! Do not waste my time. "
[Vlad] - "Very well. See, while you were sitting up there in your high castle watching the people fight and die down here, you failed to notice the cracks in your Empire. Michele was never a traitor; he was a man who saw through the lies. You never came down to take a closer look at the atrocities or the post-war administrations put in place by the Empire. There is no freedom or salvation, it's just replacing one tyrant with a different one. "
[Mike] - "Such rhetoric is nothing but a waste of your precious time. If you wish to convey a proper last word, make sure you didn't find your manifesto straight out of the garbage. "
Said Mike, clearly bored by Vlad's words.
[Vlad] - "Hahaha! Ah, fanatic as always, aren't you, Grand Knight? Okay then, the truth. Sniper and most of his followers never followed the things he preached on text. If you would just go down there and look at the carnage committed by these men yourself. If only you could spare some time to go and look at the rot that remained in the liberated territories, you would understand that your Empire is nothing but a lie! The people around are but mongrels, hungry for power and influence. Even your emperor is a merciless freak, drunk on power and letting chaos run free under his palm. "
Said Vlad with poison and hatred in his voice.
[Mike] - "We gave people hope. Without the Empire, this world would've still been rotten. Michele is nothing but a lapdog for those who ruled the old world. To think his men were delusional enough to confront me by murdering my soldiers and preaching the words of a heretic in my face is just... Unbelievable. "
Said Mike with a piercing look in his eyes.
[Vlad] - "If you would just let go of this delusion, Grand Knight, and step into the shoes of those who suffered! You would've understood something instead of being a mindless tool for Sniper! You, the Empire, all hypocrites preaching about justice and virtue only to allow your core values to be corrupted under your own eyes. "
Despite Vlad's agitated yells, Mike remained stoic, without giving in to his provocations.
[Mike] - "You know why heretic Michele lost, right? Because he's a fraud trying to sell his crap like a Scientology priest with gutter-level uncharismatic followers like you. "
Said Mike mockingly.
[Vlad] - "Heh! Very well then, you fucking puppet! Let's settle this properly. "
Said Vlad as he began igniting his crystals.
[Mike] - "*Yawn* Are you done already? Geez, no wonder Michele didn't get much support for his movement. With speeches like this, fuck, joining the United Nation would been a better choice. "
Said Mike in a mocking tone.
[Vlad] - "You'll see, you piece of shit! I bring you down alongside this entire fleet of war criminals and murderers! "
Yelled Vlad as flames began to materialize around his fingers.
[Mike] - "Yeah, yeah. You know why no one wants to kill me? Because one must have a serious few screws loose in their head if this is the way they seek...
Said Mike in a nonchalant tone.
[Mike] - "...DEATH. "
Said Mike as his tone suddenly dropped ice into Vlad's veins.
[Vlad] - "Echoing Verdict: Tsar Bomba MK.II! "
In an instant, Vlad aimed his finger at Mike and abruptly caused the hydrogen from the tanks on his back to enter nuclear fusion. A blinding light flashed through Moscow as the power of the sun was unleashed against Mike by Vlad's ability. However, to Vlad's shock, Mike simply walked out of the fireball unharmed a few moments later.
[Vlad] - "100 million degrees... How is this mother fucker still walking? "
Yelled Vlad before dashing away.
Suddenly, multiple fusion reactions happened all over Mike. In a blinding flash of light, multiple massive explosions should've occurred, but the fireballs never grew past their small ball-sized dimension. As Vlad observed the scene in disbelief, Mike abruptly sent all the compressed energy into space in a beam of light.
[Vlad] - "You... That's impossible to survive... How could- "
Said Vlad in disbelief as he backed off.
[Mike] - "In a situation of total vacuum, heat will not spread. However, in a situation driven by absolute foolishness, one finds out the more he fucks around.
Said Mike in a cold voice as he raised his arm.
Vlad finally began to understand how outmatched he was compared to Mike. As dread began to fill his mind, Vlad tried to flee the scene, only to be stopped by an invisible barrier.
[Mike] - "Existential Judgement: 1st Dimension. "
In physics, the first dimension is defined by the presence of a single point with no dimension or movement in time-space. Although Mike doesn't control the first dimension, his attack ensures that his opponent is subjected to the conditions of the singularity. One must wonder, what would happen if a 3-dimensional being was instantly forced into a point?
A loud crunch filled the air as all that was left of Vlad was a few large cubes of solid ice and some diamonds. Under the titanic pressure of Mike's attack, water was instantly turned into ice while carbon was instantly turned into diamond. All this process took Mike only 1/1000 the power of a single active crystal out of four and only 5 microseconds of active technique time. Vlad was simply too weak.
Suddenly, Mike noticed the silhouette of Athena's 9th fleet in the distance. Soon, the drop pods descended from Athena's carrier like shooting stars into the eastern side of the city.
[Mike] - "Thank God! The cavalry is here. "
Said Mike with relief in his voice.
However, despite Mike not buying a single word of the rogue knight who confronted him, he couldn't help but feel like something had changed. As Mike stepped toward the edge of the massive carrier's hull, he looked down and noticed the hellscape below with towering smoke columns and raging fires. Though Mike didn't know what compelled him, he suddenly jumped off the carrier and landed inside the city's ruins.
As he raised his head, he was shocked to see that there were barely any enemy soldiers amongst the dead. Most of the people who were charred and shot in the streets were women and children. As he flew up into the air, he noticed entire streets raised to the ground by the cannon fire of Valentine's fleet. None of the houses or structures destroyed had any strategic military value.
Shakingly, Mike grabbed the screen attached to his belt and scrolled through the 5th fleet's combat records. Every single combat record was clean, with no mention of war crimes or uncivilized actions, yet the scene before him told a different story. As Mike zoomed in deeper into the detailed combat report of the 5th fleet in their previous campaign, he began to notice the same level of destruction as this one but listed as justified action.
[Athena] - "Master Mike, the Russians announce an official surrender. We won! "
Said Athena over Mike's radio.
However, Mike didn't bulge as he remained frozen in shock. Just as Mike was finally beginning to regain his senses, the massive echoes of an explosion shocked the city. As he looked up, Mike noticed the Kremlin crumbling under the bombardement of Valentine's fleet. With a gasp of shock, Mike flew up into the sky before abruptly crashing through the bridge of Valentine's ship, not even bothering to phase through the window anymore.
[Mike] - "You crazy son of a bitch! What kind of bat-shit insane bullshit have you been running under the banner of the Empire? Answer me, you bloody heretic! "
Yelled Mike as he grabbed Valentine by using his ability.
Before Valentine could answer, Mike slammed the Marshal into a wall like a ragdoll before dragging his face against the floor all the way until he was flat before Mike's feet.
[Mike] - "You committed war crimes and torched the city and lied to me about the apparent necessity of it. You fucking piece of human filfth! What have you done during the entire three years of war? Why did you shoot the fucking Kremlin after the surrender? "
Yelled Mike in a fit of rage as he lifted Valentine's head to face him.
[Valentine] - "Fuck... You are a fucking unhinged moron! You broke my fucking nose! "
Mumbled Valentine as blood dripped from his face.
Without hesitation, Mike punched Valentine in the face.
[Valentine] - "Ah! Fuck! What do you want to know, huh? We fought and bled to win a war about rebuilding this world. These buildings are relics of the past! "
[Mike] - "That still doesn't justify what your troops did to the innocent civilians! The Empire isn't your playground of depravity, it is a common flag where the broken world gathers under. Yet, you ruined its reputation and broke its principles! "
Yelled Mike with passionate fury in his voice.
[Valentine] - "We are above them. The people below us were given the option to join the Empire since the start, yet they refused. Now, they fought against us, killed our brothers and sisters. When we conquer them, you expect us to treat them like our own? Never! "
Said Valentine in an unapologetic voice.
[Mike] - "They're people, you monster! They're people just like you and me! "
[Valentine] - "Yet you didn't care either, didn't you? If you actually cared, you would've done something a long time ago. You were just as guilty as me for allowing these depravities to happen under your eyes. Also, you think I'm the only one? The other fleets have done worse than my actions. I torch cities for military victory, others even torch cities out of spite or for no reason. Why aren't you smashing their skulls and yelling at them, huh? "
With a painful yell, Valentine yanked his hair out of Mike's grasp before taking a few laboured breaths.
[Mike] - "I didn't know about all this until today. You... "
Stopped Mike as he didn't know what to say.
[Valentine] - "Heh! That's right! You didn't bother to investigate during the war either. You simply applied your idea of a perfect Empire upon all of us while ignoring reality. You thought every person was as fanatical as you, but this is the honest truth. This war has never been a clean one; no war is. You are simply too naive to realize it. "
Said Valentine accusingly.
[Mike] - "That's impossible! My life's work is to serve this idea, this Empire based on this idea of justice and virtue... "
Said Mike in disbelief as he stared at the floor.
[Valentine] - "Even Lord Sniper never condemned our actions. He knew sacrifices must be made for the greater good. I might torch a city, but I greatly reduced the casualty number for my men and the battle itself. I killed people to save other people. This world isn't black and white, Grand Knight; wake up! "
Mike abruptly stood up and took a few breaths of fresh air from the broken bridge window. As he calmed down a little, he was reminded of his confrontation with the rogue knight earlier. With clenched fists, Mike abruptly flew into the air before disappearing into the horizon.
All the tasks pushed upon Mike's shoulders during the war have made him numb and less sharp. Being constantly overworked and busy, Mike never had the mind or chance to look deeper at many of the smaller things hidden in the details. Also, since he was mostly assigned administrative duty and busy training Karson, the only time he ever spent on the frontline was with Athena and her 9th fleet, which had a truly clean record.
However, the events of the past few days have sincerely shaken Mike to his core. From Karson's heinous actions to the rogue knight's messages to Valentine's revelations, Mike felt as if his world was crumbling before him. Though he had always felt proud to serve the Empire, for the first time in his life, he felt used like a tool.
Inside the imperial war archives, Mike looked at the videos and pictures of the different atrocities committed by imperial officers and cyberknights. From ethnic cleansing to mass-scale massacres, the empire officers and their troops didn't hold back at all, considering they were in a position of power where no one could judge them. On the other hand, Karson wasn't the only cyberknight who abused the power he was given. Although rogue cyberknights were mostly hunted down and killed, others who killed in the name of the empire were not punished in any way. Considering their power, they were above laws and nature when they abused their power against the helpless. Censorships and cover-ups allowed none of these events to become public knowledge to preserve the Empire's image.
Why is Sniper turning a blind eye to all this mess that has become his empire? What happened to the crusade and revolution that was meant to bring justice to a sick and corrupted world?
Mike inclined himself to the secretary as a sign of gratitude.
[Judge] - "Your audience with our lord Sniper will be tomorrow at 4:00 P.m. exactly. Do not waste his majesty's time. Use your words carefully. "
Said the Judge with a vexing stare.
To be continued...