“To think you would betray me, I am quite disappointed in you, my loyal slave, or should I say Terry,” spoke a tall man sitting at the foot of his large bed. Some sheets stretched across the mattress although the color couldn't be seen in the dark of the room due to the thick curtains covering the windows behind the bed. Although, a sliver of light escaped through a tear in the curtain, revealing the 44 magnum pistol pressed against the head of the man sitting on the bed.

“You arrogant piece of sh*t, thinking you’re still superior to me. I thank you for helping me to this position, but now I am reclaiming what is rightly mine as the lord of this world,” replied the man holding the gun. Only the arm of the man holding the gun was visible in the darkness of the room. The arm was long and covered in thick muscle which reflected his tight grip. His arm lay still, a finger locked into the trigger of the gun.

“Out of this world of trash in the era of kings that we have dominated, where we killed all others and conquered what power they had to bolster our own, you were the only one who had my genuine respect as a challenge to my absolute power. I thought you would be satisfied with simply being my subordinate as I would have. But alas, such things weren’t meant to be,” the man on the bed moaned as he turned to look at the gun.

“That’s precisely why I saved the final king to conquer, to kill, for last, which would of course be you, Jay,” responded Terry.

“This standoff would be perfect for a T.V. show. The Criminal Lord Vs The Absolute Monarch, a battle for the gods. Even though religiously we both believe in only one. Hehe,” laughed Jay.

“That we do. Besides, considering our kingships, such a confrontation would be obvious. And of course on the topic of god, we let our ambition get the better of us, truth be told, I have slaughtered, kidnapped, threatened, tortured, and stolen from countless people. Some innocent, some not. I became a king but even I who will become the king of this world cannot compare to the ruler of the heavens and universe. Well, I’m going to hell anyway so I probably shouldn’t ramble on, the one who should be, is the one I’m sending there,” said Terry.

“But before that,” Terry continued. “Here, I should at least give you a small pleasure here before your eternal punishment in hell.” Terry passed a small bowl to Jay. The contents were too dark to view but Jay santched the bowl regardless.

“Heh, the last meal you give to every member of your personal squad. I’ve heard that every one of your teammates who tasted it died with a smile on their face due to the immense flavor. But still, we’re grown men, we should be drinking alcohol or smoking a damn cigar, not eating cake like children,” Jay replied. “Although, considering how you gave up alcohol.” Jay continued. “And that I’ve been curious as to the flavor, I will oblige you this once.”

“Good, I worked hard on cooking that. I perfected my cooking just for this moment to present a satisfactory final meal to the Absolute Monarch. You better like it,” Terry replied snarkily.

Jay felt around above the bowl for a spoon and began to eat slowly at first, but within seconds, all but one spoon of cake was left in the bowl. Jay handed the nearly empty bowl along with the metal spoon to Terry.

“The hell are you trying to pull?” Terry asked. “Unlike you, I can see in near complete darkness and there’s a spoonful left. This is a disgrace on my honor as a chef which I have taken directly from the Master Of The Thousand Pans, Panju. Eh, may I know why?” Terry asked as his slow, quiet breaths became heavy and rapid. There was even a slight tensity in his hold over the gun.

Jay smiled, “You’ll need it more than me.”

“Hmm, did you think I wouldn’t know? It was obvious that you never had a variety of clothes nor weapons for that matter. We both only kept our favorites and maintained them accordingly. So of course you don't have 10 closets for any other reason than to ambush me,” Terry laughed, flexing the enormous muscles covering his body. He reached his right hand to his left forearm when-

Shiink! Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Did we get him?” asked several voices around the room.

“When we fired, it didn’t sound like hitting flesh so he must have been shielded somehow,” responded a couple of men stepping out of the numerous closets surrounding the room.

Bang!

Crash!

“Huh,” responded the men.

“Who fired that?” another one asked.

“Pull out your flashlights and find Terry!” one finally yelled.

The men turned on small, but powerful flashlights, so much so that the room became as if the sun was shining directly into it, illuminating the entire room. The flashlights became immediately focused on the bed and the small pool of blood beside it which led to a shattered window, allowing bits of outside light into the room as well.

“Sh*t! He got away!” yelled one of the men.

“Where’s Jay though?” questioned another.

One of the men followed the trail of blood to the window and looked out the shattered glass window toward the ground. A group of bystanders surrounded a corpse a foot away from the building. The man couldn’t see the body clearly on account of the body being so low on the ground while he stood nearly 120 floors off the ground. Although, the man knew one thing,”

“That’s not Terry, the body is too skinny.”

“Of course that’s not Terry! He’s too smart to jump out of a window without a plan. He must’ve brought a grappling hook and swung away. Look closer, we’re gonna have a big problem dealing with the press that really is Jay,” commanded another man.

The man by the window began squinting at the ground to get a better look.

“Umm, first of all, this building is well guarded from above so I doubt Terry could’ve possibly escaped without getting filled with bullets. So it’s probably Jay considering how Terry’s too big and that all of us are still up here,” said the man upon closer inspection, although he really only squinted. After all, nobody can normally see almost 120 stories down clearly. In fact, all he saw was probably the size of a speck of red dust. A spec because of how far the man was, and red because of the amount of blood that sprayed out of the body at contact with the ground

“Aah! Help me!” yelled the man at the window seconds after a bullet came out of nowhere and pierced his thigh. The shockwave of the bullet pushed the man forward a full two inches, causing him to fall from the window.

“Nooo!” screamed the man, as he fell to his doom, frantically shaking his arms to grab the broken glass opening. Three of the remaining men nodded to each other and bolted to help their comrade. One man grabbed the arm of the falling comrade while the others continued searching the room for Terry while using their bodies for additional cover in case of another blast.

“You guys are pretty smart, so I can’t leave you alive anymore since you stand in my way. Grah!”

In an instant, the thick, latex bed was torn from its steel frame and flung at the men by the window.

“Huh!” said two of the men, knocking the mattress to the right with ease.

A few more bullets flew out behind the mattress.

“Err! That f*cker shot my vein! Damn, this’ll be tough. Even though we are elite assassins, He’s still a skilled fighter,” said one of the men, grabbing ahold of his left arm as it began to bleed profusely.

“Cough! cough! Cough! What the hell?! How does he get such precise shots with such a powerful gun. Damn, the recoil of one shot would shatter the arm of a normal person, yet he’s unfazed and even shoots off more every second!” said another, coughing up blood from one of his punctured lungs. Many of the men in the room, who had started off strong, with the first shots fired, were now panting like tired dogs, their blood staining the floor.

“You guys actually managed to graze me with few bullets. Good job-”

“You’re dead now!”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Woah there! It’s not nice to shoot someone when they're talking,” Terry said from behind a thick sheet of metal that echoed his voice throughout the room. The numerous bullets that had buried their way into the sheet began to slowly fall out.

“You guys seriously thought I wouldn’t bring my shield to the fight. You guys overestimate me, I may be the Criminal Lord, but only a god has no need for protection. A lord like me can and has only survived so far by using the proper equipment. It’s your own faults that you can’t handle the cost and weight of a thick, sheet of metal that can deflect firearms. Besides, I wouldn’t be where I am today if I shared all my tech with those who want me dead,” Terry said. “But before any of that…” Terry aimed his gun to the roof of the room.

Bang!

“No, no, no!” 2 of the men screamed as a chandelier above them shook from the impact and was jolted to the right before being torn from the roof.

Crash!

Several pieces of glass and blood stained the floor as a few fingers lay untouched at the edge of the mess.

The other men took a moment to survey how many they had lost against just one man before speaking again.

“Still, you will die today and the new ruler of this world will rise from the shadows. Emperor Drinto will take over,” said 1 of the men, barely clinging to life on account of his blood filling the room along with the blood of the other 13. 7 from before the shoot up, 4 from the massive shoot up, and 2 from the chandelier. Some had died instantly like from the chandelier, but the others lived through immense pain as they bled rapidly, waiting to die, their guns in hand. There were only 2 men left for Terry to kill. One hiding in a still closed closet, waiting to strike. And another, aiming his gun straight at Terry, hoping for an opening that could be revealed at any time.

“Well, first you had my bullets, now you have my curiosity. How bout this, I’ll let you run away if you tell me who this ‘Emperor Drinto’ is. Sadly, I can’t take my bullets back so preferably say it if you can survive. Oh wait, I can end your suffering if you tell me, so I guess that works too,” Terry said with a laugh. At first, none of the men answered for fear of consequences of betrayal, but one realized their resolve to live and answered immediately.

The man standing, pointing his gun at Terry, lowered his gun and opened his mouth to speak.

“Alright, I give up, Emperor Drinto is the one who Jay served and led you to also serve hi-”

Click!

Terry pointed his gun at the man standing.

“You mean to say that somebody’s been playing me like a fool?” Terry said in a slow, angry voice.

“No, no, no! None of us have ever met him as far as I know. We were only told by Jay, I don’t know anything else about it!” said the man, worrying for his life.

“Hooh! Fine, you can go,” Terry said with a sigh.

The man was cautious when leaving so as to not be shot in the back but eventually left the room with a click!

“That damn traitor! Hehehe, he’s gonna die a gruesome death. Just like you,” said one of the men in his last moments.

“Damn! I can never get over how you people can talk when you’re covered in blood. It’s like a zombie. So damn scary,” Terry said in an easygoing manner.

“Did you not hear? You’re gonna die today! Your reign is over!” yelled the man again angrily.

“C’mon, are you that desperate for me to kill you and end your suffering? Again, I wouldn’t be where I am today if I fell for such taunts, you guys are pretty damn stupid,” Terry replied.

“Although, while I may not grant your death, it seems your boss would be glad to do so,” Terry said. He began to flex the massive muscles covering his body and when he did so, his body seemed to expand twofold.

“What the hell are you doing?” asked a couple of the men in the room.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Finally, I was waiting forever!” Terry said as he pulled his massive metal sheet to protect himself from the barrage of bullets that the man from the closet had fired. Immediately afterwards, he lifted a small metal shield, waiting for a shot from Terry who instead of firing back, charged directly at him. The man, having prepared for Terry to fire back, had focused on doing only that action and in the second it took him to reprocess, Terry was already on top of him. First, Terry used his overwhelming strength to tear away to shield and gun from the man with ease. Then he proceeded to grip his arms tightly and search his pockets thoroughly.

“What’s this?” Terry asked rhetorically. “I expected as much, but that distraction was sh*t. I’m actually kinda sad for those who you work for but then again, I am the Criminal Lord so I could stand to be more understanding of the weak. But one thing is for sure, the weak are trampled while the strong retain their height,” Terry said before...

Bang!

“Anyone still alive?” Terry asked out in the room full of blood and bodies. There was no response, but that itself was what Terry hoped to hear. “Now just one thing to take care of.”

“Terry Isenburg! You are charged with the murder of Jay Mobik, Hobin King, Nick Formose, and numerous other political leaders and members of the mob. Drop your weapon, put your hands in the air, and you shall be escorted into the helicopter after a thorough pat-down. If you resist in any way such as any sudden moves, or the refusal to comply with the previous requests, we shall open fire on you and kill you on the spot. So what say you Criminal Lord?” asked a woman through a megaphone. She rode in a massive black helicopter and held a large Xenon lamp which illuminated the entire room on account of how the chandelier lay on the ground, shattered to pieces. 2 massive turrets were attached to the sides of the helicopter while 3 people stood inside pointing heavy machine guns at Terry, looking for any sudden moves for an excuse to light him up.

Terry took a moment to inspect the helicopter as 2 more appeared at the sides of it.

“Huh, to think that somebody would use Jay as bait. This Emperor Drinto sure is something else. 3 overly weaponized helicopters, police and mafia surrounding the building, which is f*cking insane to begin. Although, I wouldn’t be surprised if a couple nukes were aimed at me,” Terry said.

“Haha! You must be so scared that you’re going insane. Who’s this ‘Emperor Drinto,’ your god?!” laughed a man from inside the middle helicopter while others joined in.

“Huh, I guess that info is so secret that you fools aren’t worthy. Meaning, I can slaughter you all like the dogs you are,” Terry replied.

Tap!

Rip

“C’mon guys, you should know by now that tranqs don’t work on me. Especially since I’ve constantly been subjecting myself to them since I began this path. Such things shall avail you not,” Terry said.

“So, I take it you are resisting?” asked the woman from a helicopter.

Terry lifted his 2 guns in front of him and dropped them. “They were empty anyway, hahaha.”

“Smart choice. To think that you would simply surrender, I must say I’m surprised. Although, not even you can do anything at this point,” replied the woman.

Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

The sound of numerous footsteps echoed into the room where Terry stood, guns pointed at him, empty weapons in front of him, and all there was to protect himself was his thick sheet of metal which would be shredded in seconds by the massive turrets and his long 15 inch knives which were fashioned from pure diamond and sharpened perfectly with nano technology which were used exclusively for toying with opponents and fighting in small areas. Such things would be nearly worthless. The end had arrived, Terry Isenburg/the Criminal Lord, and the era of kings would be brought to a swift end.

Swing

“Oh, it looks like we were beaten to the ambush. Damn, well at least we’re not too late,” said a newcomer who wore a set of blue, thick, padded body armor who led a group of 10 or so similarly dressed people which was all Terry could see due to many of the group members standing outside of the room possibly out of fear of a confrontation between them and the helicopters. All the members had weapons ranging from grenade launchers to shotguns to machine guns. While others held thick, metal shields for defense. A very dangerous set of weapons all around Terry. There was no chance of escape with so many enemies.

“Who the hell are you guys? Speak now or you will be shot immediately,” yelled the woman through the megaphone.

“Are you people blind? Do you not see these emblems? We’re from EKR, naturally we would be here for the same reason as you although since the entire government here decided to get involved, I guess we should just hand him to you where he’ll be watched more securely.

“Well, it’s no surprise that the Era of Kings Resistance would be here. Especially considering how the final of the Prime Kings is here. We would appreciate the extra help but I hope you don’t mind our caution. Especially since due to your rogue activities, our country has suffered casualties,” replied the woman from the helicopter as some of the people in the helicopter focused their guns on the EKR members.

“Not at all, we only wish to rid the world of this era of kings and finally bring peace,” said the leader of the EKR.

“But first I must ask, Terry, why would someone of your skill ever even consider walking straight into this trap? There was no way you expected to get out of this alive,” asked the leader of EKR.

“This was my only chance of achieving my goal,” said Terry.

“And that goal would be to die?” asked the man again.

“No,” Terry said. “I wished to be the King of this world and I achieved just that by killing Jay until now learned of a man named Emperor Drinto who I must now kill to become the true ruler of this world.”

“Well, I’m surprised you bought into that. It was a lie to delay you so we could get here in time. How sad,” responded the leader.

“Enough already! We must bring him to a set of armored vehicles prepared on the ground and transport him to the Pentagon,” yelled the woman.

“Well then, lets not keep the world waiting. They want to see their hero while they can,” Terry said as he, surrounded by 7 heavily armed and armored individuals, walked up to the helicopter in the middle. The helicopter came closer to the window to pick up Terry.

Boom!

“Aargh!” yelled the people from all 3 helicopters as the two helicopters in the back were knocked down in an instant by a blast of some sort while the final one shook fiercely and caused all those inside to be knocked around.

Boom!

The helicopter hit the ground with immense weight and force, causing several police cars and armored vehicles to get crushed by the impact, naturally killing those inside and nearby.

“Heh, they finally showed up!” Terry said with a massive grin as he ran toward the Damaged helicopter.

“What the f*ck just-” started a couple members of EKR before their leader yelled to get the group in order.

“Fire at will!”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Sorry guys but you’ve lost,” Terry said, pulling his sheet of metal behind him to absorb the bullets and protect him at the same time.

Clink!

“A grenade, smart, but also the worst thing you could have done,” Terry said as he punched the spot of contact between the sheet and grenade with immense accuracy and strength which then launched the speeding grenade back at the EKR.

“Having power is always good to use, but it is also dangerous when reflected. And of course, you underestimated just what kind of shield I had. While it may be metal, it is also very elastic due to my personal technology,” Terry continued, jumping from the broken window and into the helicopter.

Boom!

The blast destroyed the remaining windows in the room, making sight far easier between the helicopter and the room in which the shields of the EKR successfully blocked the grenade. Although, the men would need a minute or two to recover in which the helicopter would be long gone.

“So you’ve chosen death?” asked one of the men in the helicopter recovering his balance after the explosion.

“Hey, it’s not my fault for being underestimated, you fools brought this on yourselves. hahaha,” Terry laughed as he drew his left knife and tossed it perfectly into the eye of the man who had just barely begun to aim his gun.

“Aarghh!” he cried in pain.

“Jacob!” yelled the girl, recovering from the shake.

“I’ll slaughter you!” yelled another man in the helicopter as he aimed his gun at Terry and began firing.

“What can I say, while primitive, knives sure f*ck people up,” Terry said, using his left arm to grasp onto the submachine gun from the dying, bleeding, screaming man who despite being in his last 5 seconds of life, held on like a priest to the bible. Although, expecting such a response, Terry used his right arm to hurl the man at the shooter who stopped immediately at the sight of his fallen comrade, the knife still deep into his skull, rushing toward him at high speed. Although the few shots that did hit, drained what little life the dying man held and made it a cake walk for Terry to grab the gun from his warm, blood-covered fingers.

“Damn, that guy was really light, I never would’ve survived those shots had he been a seasoned militant. I’m pretty lucky,” Terry said with a laugh.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

“What! Christine no!” yelled the man holding his dead comrade as he watched the girl filled with bullets. Terry’s back was toward him as he continued to fire upon the woman and few others in the helicopter to thoroughly subdue them.

Zing!

“That was a mistake, you made light of me and now will die for it! First Thomas, then Christine, then Ryan, James…” started the man as he locked his bloodied finger into the trigger of his gun and pushed away his dead comrade. Terry began to turn but couldn’t act in time before…

“Die!”

Splurt!

“Cough! Cough! cough!” shrieked the man in agony as the second diamond knife flew from behind the moved corpse and pierced his throat all the way through. Blood spilled from his through as the man began to attempt to speak but to no avail as all that came out were several wheezes and coughs. Eventually he took the hint and just put up a middle finger. The common final response to this action to Terry.

Well then, I’ll need those back now, can you pass them to me, same with your gun cuz i’m almost outta bullets,” Terry asked politely with a devilish smile.

“...”

“Okay then, I’ll just take em from you since you’re dead,” Terry said as he stepped over to the two corpses and began to lift the gun from the dead body along with his two knives.

Bang!

“C’mon did you seriously think I didn’t notice you playing dead to get me to drop my guard? I gotta go fast before some more helicopters come or even a fighter jet. I’m glad the pilot set this thing on auto before I gunned him because we would’ve been dead right now if not. The fool thought he could assassinate the master assassin. Just like you, Terry said as he grabbed the gun, knives, and a small, long black box of bullets.

Whirr!

Another helicopter pulled over near Terry and a hand reached out from it. Terry ran and jumped out of the helicopter to grab the

“Damn boss you’re as heavy as a horse!” Yelled a familiar voice from inside a helicopter as a pair of arms, each around ¾ as big as Terry’s arms, lifted Terry inside.

Inside, Terry saw a group of 2 masked individuals. While 1 stood ready to greet Terry, 1 piloted the helicopter. Their entire bodies were covered in protective gear, but Terry recognized them by the numbers that were painted onto the chest and back of their armor.

“I’m glad the whole crew is wrapping things up,” Terry said, looking at the numerous helicopters and fighter jets destroying similar government vehicles through the opening he had entered through. He looked more closely at the numerous armored vehicles on the ground being torn through by Terry’s personal “ultimate wreckers.” Massive trucks equipped with grenades, turrets, and huge pressurized ballista.

The grenades were used for stunning the cars and knocking them away while the turrets slaughtered all those who dared step out of their cars and even those inside, and the ballista for tearing through numerous armored cars with ease. The ground near the massive building was a complete warzone.

“Let’s first get to the base so I can tell the group something,” Terry said.

“First off, c’mon boss, this whole thing was such a setup, no. 2 and no. 9 died because they got gunned down by a fighter jet. The same happened to no. 4, no. 7, no. 8, no. 10, no. 25,-”

“Enough no. 5, we shall have time to mourn later. I do not wish to hear of my losses while I wallow in my victory,” Terry whispered. “Just go to the base and bring everybody else as well. I have something important to tell them. And tell everyone in the other countries to wrap up and head to their bases so they can hear my message.”

“Firstly, they are either almost or are already awaiting your commands, but shouldn’t you first get those bullet wounds treated first, sit down, I’ll help bandage you up,” said no.5 pointing to a wooden bench on the right side of the helicopter as the left bench was covered in weapons, aid kits, and a radio. Terry had numerous streams of blood covering him and seeping into his clothing but nothing was life threatening in the least. Still, it would eventually lead to a sore body and quite a bit of pain but Terry didn’t mind in the least.

“Good, but no, this is far more important, besides I can take care of myself,” Terry continued. “Now just continue to the base, this is really important. You guys cleared up the sky right?” Terry asked.

“Yes, master!” Cried no.5.

“Hehe! Now let’s continue to the base. Just call all the others to have us go together, it would be a pain to deal with more fighter jets and helicopters.

“Everyone, this is no.5, I have retrieved the boss. It’s time to pull back. Those in the sky will retrieve those currently clearing the building and aid those on the ground in breaking away from the encirclement. Afterwards, we shall go straight to the base,” said no.5 after grabbing the radio.

“Understood!” responded numerous voices on the other ends of the radio.

Within minutes, around 30 helicopters surrounded the building. Many of the windows began to shatter as the helicopters came near the windows and many people began to enter the helicopters. Some people even came from the same window Terry used.

No wonder the EKR stopped bothering me, Terry thought.

Soon, all of the able members or so had either entered helicopters or left in their “ultimate Wreckers.” The helicopters grouped together to prevent foolish single-units from attacking and from any members fleeing the group. The same happened with the units on the ground until they finally reached the base.

“This is no.31, we aren’t going to all fit inside the base, what are we to do?” said a voice from the radio along with many other similar responses.

“Terry?” No.5 asked.

“Right, right. I brought a whole army. I shouldn’t expect you guys to all fit in there unless you’re gay and enjoy that sorta thing. Hehehe! Tell them to park in the lot and gather around the building. Those with a direct number from me may enter the building and activate the speakers. I will personally deliver a message about our next move,” Terry told no.5 as no.5 relayed the message and stepped out of the helicopter followed by no.19 (the pilot). Numerous planes landed followed by helicopters and numerous people stepped onto the smooth concrete surrounding the base. Surrounded by fences that reached a full mile long, armed with numerous turrets, ballista, and armed sentries. It was very difficult to enter without being filled with bullets. Although Terry and a very few others had a key to shut down the armed guards. Although a team of skilled hackers could achieve similar results, there wasn’t really much inside on most days other than a homeless shelter with high tech and high security. The reason for that was because Terry had a saying, “Homeless people and whores are like free soldiers. They’re gonna die worthlessly normally so why not give them a chance to strike big.” And because of these words, the amount of homeless people and whores literally went from 100 to 1 within a year. They get food if they know how to use it and a gun, also if they know how to use it. Terry didn’t need much skill from them, just loyalty and numbers, which the corrupt government provided so generously. Many of Terry’s bases were similar and everyone in the building treated Terry like a true lord. The Criminal Lord. There was little of value in the building as it was a garrison and shelter of sorts and nobody dared to search it out of fear for their life. Not even an entire government could touch a single one of Terry’s bases which numbered in the thousands worldwide. And if the government ever did take on a base, they would spend months recovering while Terry would replenish his soldiers within a week due to the huge support of him. After all, humans are just trampled constantly by the government and have no chance to change. While Terry allowed anyone, no matter the race, religion, color, size, shape, temperament, ambition, or even if they wished to take a shot at him, he welcomed anybody and everybody to follow him. Which is one of the key reasons that he had advanced so far. Even if the government drafted everyone possible, everyone would run straight to Terry. Especially due to another famous quote from him known as, “f*ck the government and the system that this world revolves around.”

Nearly a hundred people ran to Terry from inside the base including many of the sentries, feeling their need to continue watching was unnecessary with an army of a full million surrounding the base. The numerous members of the base wore no armor and instead normal clothing and held weapons of all kinds from handguns to shotguns to machineguns to even just knives. Naturally these weapons were just random drops from dead assassins or government or EKR soldiers of any kind.

Even though any one of the people could kill Terry in an instant with the weapons they carried, Terry trusted each and every one of them with his life and they felt the same way.

“We saw the News, you’re on literally every live channel. You actually killed Jay. I mean, it obviously would happen but damn! You’re literally the king of the world now!” said many of the members of the base. And many soldiers stepping out of their helicopters and jets were whispering similar things to themselves. Mainly, “now that literally every single country had been conquered, what was next?”

“C’mon guys, I got a special message to relay to everyone so the greetings can wait,” Terry said.

“Aww! Oh, I mean, yes master!” responded several people around Terry.

“C'mon guys! Terry called, as he along with the few hundred numbers entered the base while the million or so stayed outside waiting for a message from the massive speakers outside the base.

Before entering, Terry stopped for a moment before talking and handing something small to one of his numbers.

There were mostly the murmurs and whispers amongst the soldiers afterwards outside the base, until, after a few minutes Terry began to be heard from the speakers.

“Ahem, Those of you who have served me for years and those of you who have joined recently, and those who have died or been permanently injured. We have been able to reach such heights due to all of you and change the entire world. I know the kingship I have been named, the Criminal Lord. But, that was by those we have sought to and succeeded in destroying. I shall be renouncing that title and gaining a new one, I am now the “Hero Of Legend.” There shall no longer be bloodshed in this world. The world was destroyed by us and shall also be reforged by us. When all others failed, I offered and succeeded in true equality for humankind. Those who have wronged and been wronged shall be no longer. Those who wrong and murder others, shall be killed for there is no place for such filth in the world I wish to create. But for all that has been done so far, Thank you for your service!” Terry roared with a massive bow although it was only visible to those inside the base, the mere fact that Terry actually bowed was astonishing, those inside were silent and frozen in shock as well as those outside.

“True peace?” many wondered. Terry had achieved all that he had strove for but even he could not possibly achieve true peace. The creation of the atomic bomb was a cause for worldwide peace to an extent due to the indiscriminate power, but Terry achieved far more with far fewer deaths. He was an assassin, not a leader. He was no hero but people followed him due to a want for change in the world, but once achieved, the outcome was impossible to determine. Nobody knew quite what to say.

Terry stood inside the building, his head bowed before all those who were like slaves to him. The master bowing before the slave, The world had truly become equal.

Bang!

Terry fell to the ground, blood spilling from his head.

“You dare to lower your head. I am ashamed at how low you’ve fallen. To think we used to call you master. The same one who was greater than the tallest mountain has humbled himself into a mere pebble,” said no. 98 as he lowered his gun.

Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click! Click!

Nearly every single gun in the room clicked and was aimed toward no. 98.

“What the actual f*ck just happened?” questioned no. 5 along with almost the entire room.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

A massive commotion was brewing outside the base. The million outside of the base began banging at the numerous steel entrances which had been locked to prevent overcrowding the inside of the base. The speakers had said everything to those outside, who in turn, wished to know just what the hell was going on inside. Especially with a gunshot and someone talking to Terry like a dead man.

“Who the f*ck shot Terry? I’m going to wring him like a chicken!”

“No stopping there, why don’t we feed him to the dogs!”

“I call skinning the bastard alive!”

“No, let's grind his testicles and feed it to him!”

“Hell yeah I second that!”

Why don’t crucify the heretic instead for daring to harm our lord and savior Terry Isenburg!”

“Let’s f*ck that dude up!”

“Let us inside now!”

The noise from outside was filled with ideas of torture and demands to be let inside. Such a massive incident, in all honesty, the group outside would be likely to do the same to all the numbers for letting such an incident happen. Nobody had the balls to assassinate Terry. Literally nobody. reason one being out of fear, and two, out of immense loyalty. Especially the numbers who were hand picked by Terry and numbered only one thousand total but currently only 657 lived. Of which 103 were in attendance and the rest were soldiers who also had Terry's recognition.

“Try to bullsh*t your way out of this and we’ll give you to those outside. They’d love to play with you,” no. 307 said to no. 98.

“You know I’m right. Tell me, why did you join Terry? For peace? Or did you do so out of vengeance? Fear? I did so out of respect for a man willing to destroy the world and rebuild it far better than ever before. He was to rule the world and destroy everyone remotely against him. In fact, the Terry isenburg dead on the ground was a mere husk of the man we pledged our service to. Tell me I’m wrong,” explained no. 98.

“What the f*ck did he just say?”

“That does it, let us in before we level this base to the ground with you inside!”

“What we thought of before is letting him off easy, we’re gonna invent a whole new torture system for his crimes.”

“For daring to harm the apostle of god, you shall be made to feel a glimpse of hell on this very earth.”

“If you guys don’t let us in, even if you are numbers, we’ll slaughter you all the same for protecting that son of the devil!”

The threats from outside the base continued.

“Even so,” a few numbers started.

“Even so?!? Have you lost your f*cking minds!? Terry raised us to where we are today today! How dare you side with the enemy!?” roared no. 229.

“I mean he is telling the truth in a sense,” no. 71 said.

“Besides, Terry is already dead, we can’t do anything about it now,” continued no. 342.

“We all know nobody agreed with the idea of peace. Or at least, most of us didn’t,” said no. 279.

“But before that, we need a funeral for him. But afterwards, we will follow through with his original dream. And no. 98, even though you may have had your reasons, you know the punishment for killing Terry,” replied no. 53.

“I do, but do you know the consequences of threatening me?” asked no. 98.

“You have the guns of more than 200 trained soldiers aimed at you. Don’t kid yourself,” said no. 53.

“Oh really?” said no. 98 as he raised his gun and shot a bullet straight into the head of no. 53.

Ba- Bang!

A group of 300 or so men in bulletproof armor thundered into the room from the two large doors, each spaced relatively far apart but near where the body of Terry lay bleeding from his penetrated skull and holding a fully loaded, 44 magnum gun which was his favorite gun ever, and naturally would probably be buried with him when the time came. The men pointed their guns at all the numbers other than no. 98. Due to the sheer numbers and surprise at what was happening, the numbers decided not to fire at the men who could do the very same thing. And although no. 98 had shot to kill at no. 53, he stood completely unscathed as if nothing had happened.

“What? It sounded like there was another shot, but I don’t see either of the bullets. Eh, the gun must’ve misfired, but the true purpose has succeeded,” no. 98 started. “Now then, go turn on the turrets and the like, I grow bored of the racket that is outside,” no. 98 told one of the men before continuing, “those of you who wish to follow the memory of a failure and dead man, I welcome you to follow him, otherwise join us as we, along with much of the others bases which have already agreed, will achieve the very dream Terry envisioned.”

For a moment, the room was still. The guns were aimed between the newcomers and numbers. If the numbers truly wished to, the newcomers would lose. But one key detail was in place. The numbers had no leader and were alone. If they won, what about other entire bases who would kill them instead. The morale of the numbers dropped dramatically and little by little, they lowered their guns and stood by no. 98 until 38 of the 103 numbers stood against no. 98 along with 117 of 289 soldiers. With this, no. 98 had around triple the group of those who remained to Terry. Who would soon die.

“Fire at w-”

Bang!

A large, red figure dashed at the newcomers, following a bullet that had just been fired. Drops of blood chased the figure from behind him as bullets showered him from the front, destroying the small handgun he held tightly in his right hand. Yet somehow, it dove onto the leg of a newcomer to avoid the barrage of bullets that had already disfigured its body thoroughly.

The figure climbed the newcomer weakly as it was beaten several times with a gun before it was torn away by the figure who opened fire upon the newcomers.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Those who stood against the newcomers stood in shock as bullets erupted from in the midst of the newcomers. Instead of aiming at them, the newcomers were focused in their own midst. As something or someone was shooting out bullets madly, the men were being pushed out a little, but whoever was gathering their attention had given those loyal to Terry a chance.

The next half an hour was Armageddon as blood was spilled everywhere inside the massive room. Bullets filled the walls and bodies of many inside the base and many more outside of the base as thousands lay dead alongside the turrets that had deterred numerous groups from invading the base, which lay destroyed. The same could be said for the ballista and few grenade launchers. The poison gas dispensers had been emptied out as well. The outside of the base looked like a literal warzone. With numerous areas of fence and earth that had been destroyed by explosions and countless thousands of corpses littering the ground along with blood and bullets. Those who had stood outside had their numbers drop from close to a million to 850 thousand. And numerous of those alive had little time left to live or would be permanently barred from the life of a soldier.

Inside the base, the living who had numbered around a thousand had now become less than 100. Nearly all of those alive were those who stood loyal to Terry and they soon learned why. As they knelt beside the body which had full gallons spilling out of it and upon it deep in the midst of the newcomers. It was Terry.

“What!? How!?” those alive asked the bleeding man with eyes filling with tears.

“I had hoped that I’d never need to reveal this. But, since I’m really going to die, I have no choice. Other than my metal sheet, the majority of my body is covered in a thin but strong layer of metal -cough- to protect me from the few shots that occasionally hit me. In order to make this believable though, I have small blood bags on top which look like muscles. But that’s not what I want as my last words. I am grateful that you stuck with me this long but now that I’m about to die, please make the world-”

“Don’t worry boss, we’ll get you all stitched up, this is a shelter so I can operate on you, I’m also a surgeon, I can keep you alive just hold on.”

“No. 5, you were always my most trusted after no. 2, but still, I’m living on borrowed time, my body probably has more bullets than red blood cells and I can’t even feel my legs. Which is why I must entrust to you Code. Climax. With it you’ve gotta-

“What, Terry! Terry!” shouted no.5 as the last bits of life drained from Terry and he died.