Chapter 195 – 5

“Zola Dawn, I belong to no one, but I came here to support the Demesne of Maltius La Fende,” Zola said sternly. She made her voice vibrate with her Psion-based ability.

The Commander looked at Zola calmly. He leaned and looked at her. “Are you a psychic?”

“Psion user,” Zola ambled softly to the right. “Do you have a name?”

“Name?” he laughs slightly. “Why would a dead man name’s matter? I am an ability user yet I feel inferior. You are powerful, and you are clad in armor that strikes me as beyond our understanding. But I can see that you are somewhat reasonable.”

“Reason, I am capable of it. I faced your men. They are loyal and were willing to bite their tongues to not reveal any information. I applaud you men, and maybe you are too?”

The Commander smiled. “Indeed, if my ability didn’t fail me, I wouldn’t be standing here talking to you. I don’t know what you did, but you have effectively trapped me. Not even the communicators are working. Hmm, I am impressed. I would like to have you in our Empire. With Shadow and yourself, we would be unstoppable.

She heard the name Shadow again. “Can you talk? Or do you want me to twist the truth from you? I have many means and you ‘commander’ is someone that I can manipulate. No matter how loyal you are, the serum that I have in me will make you talk. Even if you kill yourself now, I will be able to revive you. Giving me enough time to make you talk. I dare you to try.”

“I see, then there’s no escaping,” he bit his lip. “So what do you want?”

“Reasons, I need reasons, why are you invading the continent of Livia. Why didn’t your Empire tried diplomatic truce?”

“Ah,” he nodded his head. “We want this continent for our Empire. Hmm, I can guess that you already wrung the truth from my men. As you know, the Empire controls over four hundred states. We crushed them and made them join us in the name of the divine right. That is our reason.”

“So it is nothing grand?”

“It is nothing grand. Once we finish conquering the known nations, we are able to start our plans to invade the lands beyond the fall.”

“The lands beyond the falls, it seems important,” Zola asked with a curious tone.

“It is. It is land ripe with creatures of evil nature. Mutants, monsters, and beings that are beyond our understanding lives there and our Emperor has once seen the evil that is that lands beyond the falls. Humans are turned into cattle, and they have markets filled with human parts. The sole purpose of our crusade was to bring punishment against the evil in that place.”

“If they lie beyond the fall, then shouldn’t your Empire be ready to face them?”

“We are. We can kill them. But only fools would turn their backs. An Empire so big needs constant watch. Even our superior firepower wouldn’t be enough to completely reel them in. Every month, we get rebellions. We need a common enemy to unite us.”

“And the common enemy can found in the land beyond the falls?”

“Yes,” he nodded. “Beyond the falls lies the orcs, the race that has been slowly staggering to progress. The last time humanity came to their place. They were captured, bred and turned into cattle. Can you believe it? There’s a community out there that farms humans.”

Zola frowned. “How do you know all of this?”

“We have our flying machines. We went there and we witnessed the horror. They are cancer and before they grow more a threat, we needed to remove them. They are strong creatures. They still have muskets as their weapons. But letting them progress is dangerous.”

“So after you pacify the continent, you’ll move and destroy the orcs. I can sympathize with that. But the Demesne is a nation that is more advanced than your Empire. The Gigantes Sea is far and dangerous, this war of yours is a logistic nightmare.”

“We know. Yet we fight. We were told as soldiers. We follow orders. Most of my people here are ready to die for the Emperor. It is our divine right to do so. And how can anyone stand as our fellow humans get treated like cattle?”

“And yet you usurp nations and force your Empire against a nation. You could have a peaceful negotiation. Yet you refuse and now your men and women died under me. You know that this demesne will destroy your ship. They have skyships and artillery batteries that could decimate enemy incoming fleet.”

“We know,” the Commander smiled. “The existence of these long-range batteries is known. Our recon team gave their life to take learn their locations. We were supposed to destroy them. Yet here we are, and here I am, trapped between a powerful ability with an absurd suit of armor. We expected things to go wrong. But for one single woman to checkmate me this easily. If I didn’t have my ability I wouldn’t have known that you would be here.”

Zola looked at him. She said what was bothering her from the start. “I do not sense fear from you. You speak calmly and you do not show any anger. What is it that makes you confident? What is it that allows you to stay composed despite the fact that you know that I can possibly kill everyone on this ship if I choose to do so?”

He smiled. “Once upon a time, there was a man who knew of things that our researchers didn’t know. He was useless. But he had something in him. He told us something that led us to create the thunder of God, a tribute to his name. He was named Ram-El and he gave us the way that our enemy may revel in fear.”

Zola’s heart shuddered. In the observation deck, there was a sudden flash of light. Zola looked at the pillar of light coming from the direction of the continent. The light was so blinding.

The Commander closed his eyes and spread his arms. He basks body upon the light that was coming from the continent. “Behold Zola Dawn, the thunder of God!”