Forever Future 1.7 PBEM game

[Max_Smirnov]

25th July 1981

High above the Eastern Equatoria, better known as British India, a wing of five small aircraft was heading southeast, under the cover of falling darkness. They were some strange aircraft indeed; they lacked any proper wings, and their pitch-black hulls bore no markings. A short stream of varied-frequency, highly encrypted data, sent by the Delhi Air Defense hit the lead aircraft and the aircraft answered with a modulated laser beam, in a similarly brief fashion. Their presence was known to the British Royal Air Force, but that knowledge was restricted to only those who absolutely needed to know. Hence, the aircrafts were flying high and fast, avoiding high-definition, short-range radars whenever possible. Their advanced stealth capabilities ensured that to other forms of detection, including British long-range radars and satellites, they were like ghosts.

Still, they lacked the speed of space planes. It's already been several hours since they've left their highly secret base on the outskirts of Thebes. However, they seemed to share a similar, if much smaller, VTOL transport craft configuration. A heavily armed transport craft. With a surprisingly spacious troop compartment, despite all the weapons and armor, like a bumblebee which is far too heavy to fly on its minuscule wings and yet it does.

Each craft was carrying two squads, eight troopers each, clad in tar-black suits of light carapace armor and armed with weapons of the likes not yet seen in the Egyptian force.

"After a consideration," said an emotionless female voice, addressing a trooper who was sitting right opposite to her. "If you're still dissatisfied with the standard-issue underwear I could borrow you that one-piece I procured."

"It's not of... immediate importance now," answered the other female, as dead-serious as the first, and almost identical in every other detail, only lacking her sargeant insignia.

"However," continued the sargeant, "Measurements are required first to ascertain if it would fit."

"Measurements? This is not necessary since we all... match..." The female trooper stopped to speak as she noticed all the remaining fourteen pairs of disturbingly glowing red eyes looking at her. Red eyes and doll-like, perfect faces with black lips and half-length black hair.

"Is that a joke sargeant," inquired the trooper, slightly furrowing her brow. A few half-smiles appeared here and there, just as artificial-looking as trooper's expression.

"Impossible. We are incapable of sense of humour."

Normally, Egyptian clones had an aura of fatalism, certain zombie-likeness about them. These units were different. While they were almost as machine-like as JENs, if not as physically imposing, they were indulging in varied, uncomfortably human-like activity. Some were reading books. Some seemed to be daydreaming. A couple of them were playing chess. Paradoxically, it made the whole situation look deeply disturbing with the illusion of near-humanity with only tiny details missing. Like proper facial expressions. Body language. And the fact how doll-like they looked, despite being almost fully organic. This was yet another illusion, though. While not as overtly and obviously augmented as the French or Japanese cybertroopers, the RUNE project was a departure from the pure flesh none the less. And despite classical (if albino) and perfect Egyptian faces of the clones, it was creeping humans out more than any other clone project to date. Those few humans that knew about it, at least.

"Crossing over the shoreline of Jaipur Bay," came a voice from the cockpit. The pilot was also a RUNE, not a human like it was normally the case with all kinds of military specialists. "Dropping to minimum altitude."

Few more hours passed, as the aircraft were travelling slower, a mere ten metres above the Indian Ocean, heading straight south-east. Their target was becoming clear now, the Newland, a huge Japanese island sitting at the opposite side of the Southern Hemisphere than the cradle of their civilization. A island dominated by the metropolis of Nagasaki and so far untouched by the war, which was happening thousands of miles away. The closest possible danger was the string of British undersea cities, occupying the Great Indian Rift, however they still were pretty far away and no obvious British military activity seemed to be happening there since the start of the war.

Despite this calmness, a wing of mere five aircraft was extremely vulnerable, should it be spotted. Even if the huge Japanese strategic radar station situated on an island north of Nagasaki, the last known such station after the Miyoshi one was destroyed a month ago, used to monitor a vast swathe of the Indian and Icy Oceans, was no threat to stealth planes, however the Japanese weren't known for leaving their borders unguarded.

"Approaching point Blue. Seven hundred kilometres to the target. Switching to silent running mode."

The airplanes cut their jet engines, but against all logic, they didn't fall into the sea. Even after lowering their speed to a mere hundred kilometres per hour, they kept perfect formation just a few metres above the sea level.

"Antigravitic drive output stable. Switch completed."

Now they were almost invisible. Even a stealth aircraft produces a radar image of a small bird and can be spotted since birds do not travel with speeds into hundred of knots. However, it was not the case here. The long winter night protected them from prying eyes, and even their heat emissions were negligible, as the cell-powered antigravitic drive was much more efficient than a jet or a combustion engine.

---

Inside one of the guard bunkers, surrounding the Nagasaki radar, three Japanese conscripts, with shaved heads and wearing white arctic fatigues, were playing cards. The comfortable warmth of air conditioning and green haze of perimeter defense displays created an ambience of tranquility, for which the soldiers had another name: boredom. The electronic clock was showing 5:36 AM.

"This is pointless," suddenly said the oldest of them, a slightly obese man in his early 30s.

"What? You wanna fold, Keito?" asked the second soldier, tall, broad-shouldered and with a demeanor of someone less than sharp.

"I hope he does Jungo!" half-smiled the smallest of them, with a rat-like face. "I have d*cks for cards."

"No, I mean, our situation. If the Egyptians attack with their pods, what could we do? Shoot them with our triple A's?"

"You idiot," said the small man, his smile instantly gone. "Do you want to be shot for cowardice?"

"I'm not a coward, Kim! I'm just saying we're exposed here and with just a battalion to defend this station. The Izumi Clan surely could equip us better. I guess they're too cheap for that. Not even Nagasaki has proper defences, no modern weapons just conscripts like us. I have a family there."

"Who can judge what the Clan people think?" said Jungo in a philosophical tone. "They're building ships and planes for nation's defence, it must be more important."

"Yeah," added Kim. "You do smell like coward, Keito. The Brits are unlikely to move anytime soon after that thrashing we gave their fleet in May. And if they dare, we're going to beat them again. The Egyptians? Izumis said they won't risk an attack on our island since it's too far from their bases. If they do? We might be just ordinary men, but their clones are stupid, we have the wits and human ingenuity on our side. And don't say crap about the lack of modern weapons, there is a whole brigade of Land Warriors stationed in the city, and a platoon here. On top of that, we have the Izumi Clan Warriors who are one of the best in Japan."

"Those guys creep me out, they don't talk, they preach."

"As they should creep out a coward like you."

"Stop calling me a coward! I will die for my land and family if need be. It's just, hell, Kyoto, Nagoya, Edo... all had far better defences, and what?"

"Don't say you believe these rumors," said Jungo in a concilatory tone. "It can't be that the Egyptians took all these cities. Maybe a couple of them, at most, but our forces will reclaim them, just like they reclaimed Umi Hiroshima."

"No need to panic, Keito," said Kim with a sardonic smile. "In all likeness, we won't be attacked at all. And if we do, we will..." He never finished the sentence, as the perimeter monitors suddenly turned red and a klaxon started to wail.

"Crap!" shouted Keito, before rushing to the comm console. "This is Lieutnant Kimura, guards, report!" All he could hear was heavy static, though. The cameras were showing only white noise. "What the... Jungo, take a look outside!"

"I guess it cannot be helped," murmured the large man, grabbing his rifle and dropping his NV goggles over his eyes. His fatal mistake was not to glance through the visor out onto the winding staircase, that linked the bunker with the surface exit into a trench, before opening the door. There was a thumping sound and some extremely brutal force threw his body backwards, blood and flesh fragments spewing from three gaping holes in his torso before he landed on the card table, breaking it with his weight. Whatever hit him, found little resistance in his body or kevlar armor and impacted onto the back wall, showering the room with grains of crushed concrete. Before the two remaining soldiers had a chance to ponder on this, though, a superconductive grenade landed in the middle of their little fortress, its loops breaking and discharging superenergetic arcs of electricity, instantly frying men and machines alike to blackened, smoking husks.

---

The guards stationed in the SE corner of the facility had the best chance to defend themselves, as they were in the middle of nightly exercises, which meant their AA emplacements were at almost full readiness, even though the first and only warning they got was a barrage of blinding-white EMP detonations that lit up the black sky over the whole compound. Nobody could tell what the black planes were or where they came from, but their intentions were obviously hostile, as a brief barrage of cluster munitions followed the EMPs. The Japanese opened up with remaining autocannons, sending long streams of tracer projectiles into the night, a last-ditch effort for sure, but it was the mainstay of what the under-defended facility had.

Suddenly, human shapes started to drop from the aircrafts, paying no heed to the fifteen metres that separated them from the ground or the speed of their transports which guaranteed messy death upon impacting with the snowed concrete. The defenders diverted some of their firepower to those new enemies, but even more surprisingly, the airborne troops responded from mid-air with accurate fire of their small arms. Even more unfairly, these small arms were punching right through armored shields of Japanese autocannons. Obviously no-one of these conscripts heard of the new Egyptian railguns or grav-chutes that were able to change a suicidal jump into a fully controlled descent. When the invaders' boots impacted upon the ground, mere seconds later, the defending platoon was reduced to a dozen or so men hiding in trenches and bunkers. A short and brutal fight followed. Before the main defending force fully mobilized, the invaders were boarding their plane again. A nearby military garrison was notified, but the first streaks of drop-pods crossing the skies indicated that the relief force would soon have much more pressing matters on their hands than helping the besieged radar station.

---

No existing airplane could reasonably land on the top of 20-story radar building, all the wires and low-hanging, rotating dish too much of a hazard even for VTOL's and helicopters. Yet a pair of antigravitic Egyptian Black Talons was already sitting on that roof, their occupants dispersing and starting to plant first demolition charges. The leading RUNE moved to the edge of the roof, overseeing the damage being done all across the sprawling compound.

"Omega and Zeta Teams reporting. The SE strongpoint cleared. One dead, three wounded."

"Omega and Zeta, move to our position. Kappa and Lambda, make a faux attack at the object-1 main entrance. Epsilon, attack the power station. Fi, ambush any reinforcements rushing there from the barracks area."

"Lieutnant," said another RUNE, approaching the commander. "Enemy Land Warriors spotted on the bottom floors. Attack pattern?"

"Alpha, Beta, Gamma, advance toward the underground command and control, do not lose time fighting aboveground. We need to destroy the Land Warriors before they realize our main attack comes from above. Omega and Zeta will follow us and set boobytraps in our wake that should take care of most of the stragglers."

"What about Delta."

"Rapel down to floor 7, Eastern Wall, sleeping quarters. Do not kill everyone, allow them to call for help. Ambush the reinforcements coming up the straircase 3."

"Affirmative."

The eight RUNEs of Delta Team jumped off the edge of the roof, their grav-chutes breaking their fall at the height of the seventh floor. The windows were protected by metal shutters. They wasted no time for planting explosives, one of the clones simply shot out the bolts with her rail pistol, while another one grabbed the metal cover and pried it open by sheer force, her augmented muscles briefly doubling in volume from the sheer strain. Frag grenades were thrown and the rooms quickly became awash with blood and the screams of mutilated personnel, mostly civilian. Another window was shot out to provide a side point of entry for the squad. As predicted, the soldiers rushing up the staircase were simply too slow and ran into an ambush. They wore suits of modern carapace armor, covered with ablative layers to dissipate laser beams, but against crossfire of RUNEs personal railguns they were as effective as thick paper. The Japanese officer ordered a retreat before the losses mounted too high, leaving a staircase covered with corpses, severed limbs and a few wounded, whose screams were only drowned with detonations of missiles, fired by the Japanese to dislodge the clones. Those however have already retreated as well. Their mission was already a success. The enemy force had been further splintered.

---

The furious cacophony of miniguns and grenade blasts stopped. The Japanese commander knew what that meant - the Land Warriors forming the last line of defence were defeated. All that remained was the nervous centre of the facility, the war room. Which was soon to become a war room in more meaning than one.

"Was the Nagasaki Command notified?" he asked a young female NCO.

"Yes Sir! We were finally able to punch through jamming with a modulated laser beam, and..."

"We will be avenged then. Soldiers of the Empire! Command your souls to Haruhi. This is our last stand. Kill as many as you can! We will show those murderous Egyptian bastards how a true Japanese dies!"

Most of his "soldiers", despite wearing uniforms were hardly worthy of that name. Arrayed behind tables and machinery, pointing their guns at the only door to the war room, they were mostly female comm technicians, aided by few Airforce officers, Ground Forces conscripts and Land Warriors who were able to retreat here before the door had to be shut.

A sudden explosion rocked the room, blowing the heavy metal door out of its hinges, maiming and deafening many defenders, covering the room with stinging smoke. A brief period of silence, then grenades and missiles followed, then bursts of railgun fire, making a mockery of the impromptu barricades. Still, the staff responded with exceptional bravery, firing blindly with a few rifles and handguns. It of course meant they exposed their positions to the infrared-sensitive eyes of the clones. Swift retribution followed, then finally the commander seen his enemies, lithe shapes in black armor, bursting into the room.

He ignored the pain in his shrapnel-ridden leg and quickly limped around a bank of smoking servers to attack from the side. He spotted a pair of... he wasn't sure if they were humans or clones, they were female but definitely smaller and better armored than all-too-familiar JENs. He didn't care. He blasted the closer one with his laspistol, the enemy trooper taking multiple hits and stumbling backwards, she was obviously damaged, out of combat for a while but not quite dead yet. The other one he couldn't shoot, the laspistol already overheated, so he attempted an overhead slash with his katana, the sharp Samurai blade coming straight at her masked face.

The clone's reactions, however, were superhuman. She simply grabbed the blade with her armored glove and turned her wrist, the sharp but fragile sword breaking in half. Her other hand shoot forward, bludgeoning commander's chest with a butt of her rail pistol. The force of impact broke his ribs and sent him crashing into a computer console. The RUNE followed with a stomping kick that crushed officer's underbelly before he had a chance to react.

Fighting with excruciating pain and encroaching darkness, he grabbed his last resort weapon, a gun he almost never used. The ancestry of that 0.5 cal autopistol could be proudly traced back to the late 1700s, it first belonged to one of commander's ancestors, a tanker, who, for his exceptional performance in the brief Japano-Russian war was raised to the lower echelons of the Izumi clan, where the family remained ever since.

The commander raised the relic weapon and, screaming in defiance, blasted away into the chest of that ultra-modern Egyptian mockery of a human being. The carapace armor, of course, deflected the bullets with ease, but a human would still be stunned by sheer kinetic force of the attack. The clone didn't seem to mind. Her layers of dense muscle cushioned the blow, and there was no respite for the Japanese commander. The age of pistols and tanks, like the age of bows, was already a thing of the past. Another stomp broke commander's weapon arm, blood spraying and bone piercing the skin. The old soldier slumped onto the floor.

Through the corner of his eye, he noticed the battle was over, nobody was fighting back anymore. The Egyptian invaders were quickly and precisely finishing off the wounded. The young, talented NCO who managed to send warning to Nagasaki Command, was crawling through the rubble, tears of pain and despair rolling down her cheeks, her short uniform skirt hiked, her both legs a bloody mess. One of the black armored figures approached, grabbed girl's hair and pulled her up, before inserting a combat knife into the nape of her neck, severing her spine. A quick, clean, cold kill.

"You... won't even waste ammo... on us... you bastards..." managed the commander, before his own nemesis delivered the final kick that broke his face and skull.

---

Mere twenty-five minutes after the assault started, the Nagasaki Radar Station was only a pile of rubble. Most of the clones have already boarded their Black Talons. Only a handful of them still remained, including the leader, observing streaks of drop-pods on the southern sky.

"Humans being a mere support for clones," said one of the troopers. "I don't think it ever happened before, Bunnyhops."

Addressing a commanding officer by an informal name was a thing downright outrageous in any army. But the clone leader didn't seem to mind. After all, they were all the same.

"They will disrupt local defences, cut transport lines and generate general chaos. Then they will die."

The others nodded slightly.

"There is not enough of them. It is a suicide mission."

"It seems that the humans are able to sacrifice themselves for the unity of the planet like we do. Soon, there will be our turn. Are all the dead and equipment gathered?"

"Affirmative. The witnesses were eliminated as well."

"Board the plane."

The clones nodded again. There was no need to say anything more. They knew everything that they needed.

As the sun slowly rose from its slumber, the Armageddon Rain continued to fall. Over the smoldering ruins of the radar station, the sound of the morning breeze was the only thing that broke silence.

[(x)]

The voice... The voice and sound. Someone hit the door. Several times, with his fist. Then voice again. Crying, loud and desperete "libera tutemet ex inferis". Ifrita got up as she recognized the captain of her personal guards. Door opened showing his terrified face. Mouth opened one more time repeating "Ex inferni vero". His eyes. He hold them in his hands! Then sudenly he kneeled offering terryfying gift to his beloved queen.



But - no time to think. Second voice. Calm and confident. Its source: middle aged, hendsome man sitting... In her own armchair!



"Please forgive me this rather... pathetic show". "Your captain, he wanted to see my true nature. Unfortunately there was no other way to show him... But, ad rem, ad rem". Her eyes sparked with awe and anger. Invisible spheres of pure magic formed in her hands. "Si, of course - you can destroy this body. I can not do anything to prevent it. Just ask yourself one question. How can you kill something that is already quite dead? For how uncreative as it sounds: Be sure, I will be back. Again nad again. As many times as it will be necessary to aquire your attention". "Who... what are you?". "Oh, forgive me my indelicacy. Cesare di Borgia. Il Principe di Venetiarum ResPublica". "The prince of what?!". "And this is the point I was getting to. Imagine yourself a land of free thought and free will. Where everyone lived his own life in his own world". "It is called utopia and it is impossible".
Cesare smiled friendly friendly. "You know you are using a word created by one of those who lived this land". "Whatever you are, you are simply insane. You, your ideas, and this non-existing land you are talking about". "Oh, my beauty. I regret to prove you wrong. They were quite sane and real. And with your little help they will be again". "And what do you want from me?". "Nothing fancy. Just a couple of destroyers. Fleet of troop ships loaded with clone troopers. A squad of this little funny scout subs... and, perhaps an aircraft carrier". "No. Just no". The spheres formed again. This time smaller. "You are growing so beautifull when you want to take life but trust me, this act of violence is so unnecessa...". His voice drowned out by thunderous sound of collapsing wall. “Wall... And my favourite armchair... Not again.”




People of Virconium celebrating the end of occupation. First time since attack of Russian Oligarchy they can wear their traditional shining armours. Captain Sokrates still could not belive that thirty century long captivity ended in several hours.

[Max_Smirnov]

6th November 1981 (turn 305)



The 115th Kievian Airborne Regiment was one of the military units assigned to patrolling the ruins of Matsuyama. There wasn't much to patrol by now, the once-thriving island metropolis practically reduced to a carcass. However, the worst days just after the nuclear fire that vaporised all military installations, the downtown and ruling Clan-owned areas have already passed. Millions of citizens died during these intervening weeks, from radiation poisoning, injuries, then pestilence and famine, a few hundred-strong International Red Cross personnel and what remained of the local hospitals grotesquely inadequate to the extent of the disaster. However, by now, nearly a million Japanese who survived all these calamities could hope to continue surviving, the weaker and less lucky already dead, and food again coming into the city through the commercial harbor which became a huge Egyptian military base. Most of the survivors now lived around that area, relatively untouched by the nuclear bombardment. Which, even excluding radiation hot zones, left a huge swathe of the city practically deserted, with only gangers, wild animals and last, pathetic remnants of Japanese forces still lingering there.

"The wind blows," said one of the Kievian soldiers, as the twelve-man strong squad was slowly making its way across a huge, demolished factory floor, most of the walls and roofs gone with the blast wave. He coughed blood. Nobody paid any notice to this; radiation sickness was universal here, but also curable and guaranteeing a ticket away from the frontline.

"Here the wind doesn't blow, it sucks," snorted another soldier. "Seriously, guys. Send stupid clones to do a professional soldier's tasks. Send professional soldiers to patrol irradiated ruins. Egyptian logic."

"Where a clone can't survive, they send a Russian," half smiled another one.

"Well f*ck you, I'm an Ukrainian."

Suddenly, the sargeant motioned them to stay quiet. There was a movement in the ruins... The soldiers raised their guns. But before they could fire, a high-pitched, inhuman scream exploded all around them, stunning them momentarily. As they began to come to their senses, a girl's figure in a totally inapropriate, carnival-like dress was standing before them and smiling apologetically, while waving a white handerchief.

"Do not shoot! I surrender! I surrender! I'm an important prisoner!" she shouted in a bit husky, sexy, strangely accented but completely fluent Russian.

"J-just who the hell are you?" Asked the sargeant. He was too confused to consider any less civilized course of action than to point his gun at her.

"My name is Kasane Teto. See, we utauroids do not have souls, so I decided fighting for Haruhi makes no sense to me... Neither dying in this horrible place... So I surrender to the mighty Egyptian Empire!"

"Area clear, sargeant... This doesn't appear to be a trap."

"An... Utauroid? What the hell even is that..."

The 'girl' kept smiling, somewhat nervously.

"All right, let's take her to the Captain," the sargeant finally decided to fall back to the old military routine: when in doubt, shove the trouble onto your superior.

---

"There is not a single living cell in its body, yet it behaves just like a human... Sociable, witty, creative, curious, nervous. Maybe even more humanlike than a human."

The officers were looking at the captured utauroid from high above, through armored glass. In the room below, the 'girl' was busy talking, telling jokes, singing and otherwise entertaining bemused technicians and interrogators.

"Is this one... of these ultratech androids the Japanese found buried under the ocean?"

"The technology we see here is impressive for sure. Imagine this, a mere ten years ago Artificial Intelligence still seemed to be far, far away. Now, as The Syndicate pushes their expert system technologies further and further, they're already passing the Turringis Test with ease, despite being built with completely different purposes in mind. We became surrounded by Artificial Intelligences, not even knowing when it happened. And now this, a perfect imitation of a human with an electronic brain amazingly fitting into that tiny skull. It is simply a masterpiece. But no, it was made with this world's technology."

"A masterpiece of wastefulness if you ask me. Instead of trying to squeeze the brain into a skull, it is much more efficient to use the space in the torso. But the torso is wasted to contain a working, fake heart and a respiratory system, used, as it turns out, mainly for speaking purposes. Why not simply install a compact speaker? And that larynx of hers... Overengineered piece of extravaganza that allows her to utter almost any sound an electronic speaker would, as to add insult to an injury. A sensitive, thus less resistant skin. Plus the... female anatomy parts, seriously. It is a glorified, costly toy, not sound engineering."

"It is too soon to judge the design even if it seems impractical now. It is them, not us, who had the opportunity to retroengineer technologically superior designs."

"Now it is our turn. I think it's time to disassemble her."

"First of all, not 'her' but 'it'. And no. We're going to ship it to Thebes."

"What?"

"I think we have enough parts from destroyed or uncooperative androids to copy the technology... This one has been cooperative, and we have a long history of accepting Japanese defectors... A sentient machine, this is new, but alas, the new times are already upon us. Better to err on the safe side."

"Safe? And what if this is a trap?"

"The KGB men say it doesn't seem to be equipped with any lethal weapons or remote computer access devices, and they seemed really unhappy to say that."

"Bah, the KGB. Last month a Japanese spy infiltrated Gamagori and stole a Black Talon loaded with railguns right from under their noses. Besides, you haven't allowed them to touch her, they had to use remote scanners."

"You don't think politically, Comrade. This thing seems to be capable of feeling humiliated... and harboring a grudge. If Thebes decide to make it, say, an AI Speaker for the UN, which is far-fetched but can happen, we can find ourselves tending to icefields in Abu Simbel. Or sent to the frontline. I've made my decision."

---

10th November 1981

The Thebes Central airport was bustling with activity. Planes, both jets and space, were coming and going, and despite the fact all the runways were being used all the time, many aircraft were still forced to circle around, waiting for their turn. Even more planes were sitting on the ground, being loaded, unloaded or maintained. Teto had to concede this topped even the main Matsuyama airport she remembered from before the war. With a crucial difference: while the Matsuyama airport was a commercial one, there were almost no civilian machines here. Many planes were coming from the conquered part of Japan; carrying mostly looted gold, electronic devices and porn, everything that was in short supply. Teto, who came here onboard one such plane, found it curious that this majestic city, capitol of the most powerful empire in history, could have anything in short supply.

"This time *I* win, Miss Teto," said one of her Egyptian 'custodians', just a young Airforce NCO, now shirtless because of the sudden wave of heat that fell over Egypt in this normally extremely rainy season. He smiled and adjusted his kepi. "Full house, Kings on Nines."

"Oh well, you're right. I have just three Jacks," she replied in funny-sounding but otherwise perfect Egyptian, then dropped her cards and chuckled disarmingly. Even after this loss, the pile of cash in front of her was still the biggest of the four, even if she had to start this game by wagering 'a favor'. She stretched and looked at the sun again, covering the burning star itself with her fingers... to see a new plane appearing, a small space plane that seemed to give only a cursory heed to the flight regulations.

"Hey guys, see that one?" she pointed with her finger. "What is that?"

They looked up as well, shielding their eyes with their hands and kepis. "Where? Oooh... This one is a Des-11," one said in a sagely tone. "The fastest Space Plane there is, it reaches orbit in mere 8 minutes. It can carry only up to three people, but has some limited armaments. Which is a feat in itself, since the Space Planes have severe weight constrictions, and generally are very fragile."

"Why does it fly like it owned the place?"

"These are used to carry VIPs and messengers, they usually have high priority... You know, like your Clan people compared to us prols," he smiled to dull the edge of his words.

The small Space Plane circled around the area for a while, and finally landed a mere 50 metres from where they were sitting in front of their cargo plane. A landing that looked almost like a controlled crash.

"Whoever this is, he's in a hurry..." the NGO raised his brows. Then, when the door opened, and a black armored figure jumped down onto the concrete, he added: "Well holy ****."

"Is that... Yes, that must be the famous Arturia!" Teto jumped to her feet, glaring at the woman. "Wow, I never thought I'll see her in person! And she has that black armor of hers! Just like on those old paintings, it must be a new one though, so she dresses like this again? This is so cool! It looks even cooler now, more modern!"

"Not really... this is strange, she normally wears her Lord Commissar's armor or a business suit..."

"But on the TV she didn't look so cute! Or... pale... Or pissed... Hey, I want to talk to her!" The utauroid rushed towards the Des-11.

"No, wait! Stop! You can't!"

The NGOs rushed after her. She was strong but not strong enough to shrug off three grown men who were trying to restrain her.

"No, no, let me go, I just wanna talk! Nothing untowards! Ow that hurts!"

"Says an android! My nose hurts as well! Stop it, goddamit, you just can't!"

"Who says I can't? Hey, no boob grabbing or I'll stomp on your foot!"

"Uh, sorry, and I don't know who says that but I'm pretty sure there are regulations against it and we're going to pay for it if we let you go!"

"Oh come on, maybe just an autograph! I don't want to steal your darling from you or anything!"

---

Arturia noticed the commotion, but she was far too preoccupied with her own thoughts to pay any heed. Her body was burning up, on the verge of a collapse into desintegration, her blood was like molten lava, her brain was feverish. The residual chaos energies coursing through her were threatening to spriral out of control. After all, it had been only a few hours since she unleashed their full potential, to an extent she has never even considered before. Betrayed... betrayed in her hour of triumph. A fiercely burning anger from which a death-like state of no feelings at all, a limbo as black as her armor was the only refuge. It all happened before, of course. She was like that a long, long time ago. She thought that side of her was buried too deep to ever emerge again. But it was there, all the time; the soul of a black dragon she slain and absorbed three thousand years ago, the curse she willingly took, the curse to transcend frail humanity and become an immortal monster her country needed. However, the endless death she caused during these bloody months of war stirred it again, allowed it to thrive; and finally she let it out, and there was no going back. Yet the black armor of a knight had yet another function. It was made of iron to contain the fire; it was woven from duty and honor. Wasn't a knight just another name for a murderer, just one who can control and channel the inner monster.



When she stormed into the room, her Mistress was calmly meditating over some 3-d puzzle, sipping some tea. Black robe, dark eyes, red ribbon, bare feet.

"I was expecting you, my pretty angel of death," she said, not raising her gaze from the board, her voice sensual, cold and slightly mocking, as always. "I must say, in the nine thousand years of my life, I've seen nothing quite like this. I am quite impressed. However you must realize that now you won't be able to summon the Blade of Chaos at all for the next hundred years or so. Tapping right into the burning heart of a star... Sure, Perun was able to use his mastery of electromagnetism to divert the power of a nuclear warhead, and those beams of pure death commanded by Ifurita..."

Arturia felt a sudden urge to kick the table over and throttle her Mistress for as long as it'd take to bring some human emotion to her visage. Instead, she only slammed her hands against the surface of a big table that stood in the middle of the room.

"Ifurita! What the hell is wrong with her? What the hell is wrong with YOU? The RUNEs under my command seem more human! They are brave, honorable and true to their word. They fight for duty, not to plunder or rape or indulge in other base instincts. I led them to death and victory in Odawara only to learn the Brits betrayed us! We have fought alone for so long, having to deal with their endless delays and excuses, we have sacrificed a whole battlefleet to cover their advance, and what? They broke their approach and attacked the French Roman Isles instead!"

"You've raised a very interesting question. Can Ifurita be still trusted? You know who was behind this, of course."

"Cesare di Borgia... The Mystic. He's alive, like Stalin told me. He has returned."

"Yes, he has returned after walking amongst the stars for hundreds of years. Returned from the dead, in a way, too..." Cleopatra smiled, her gaze taking on a feverish intensity.

"Oh come on! So the President... or the Queen Ifurita, as they're often using that old title lately, cannot even control her army? I'm not buying it!"

The other Queen snorted softly and stood up, walking up to a window.

"Remember my theory about how there are three types of immortals?"

"Go on, recall me, you love listening to your voice so much." Arturia snorted as well, much less softly.

"Firstly, there are humans who simply were raised to that status by the means of... this cosmic energy we, Masters, command. However the humans were never meant to be immortal. They cannot bear the weight of immortality. There were many like this... some, like the Japanese empresses and heroes, simply died after a few centuries, as their bodies and minds knew it is natural to do so. Eucliwood, being more powerful and enlightened, could truly live forever but she took her own life, she couldn't suffer the endless existence."

"Then there are monsters like us," interjected Arturia to speed up the boring monologue that obviously preceded something important Cleopatra wanted to say.

"Yes... and we are more than humans. We are truly immortal, in mind and body; gods, demons, dragons. We think differently. We perceive differently. Each new morning for us is just like the very first one. And thirdly... there are the Homunculi. They are purpose-built. They can last forever, too, but only until their purpose is served. That's why I think Haruhi is not with us anymore. Ifurita is someone like this, too. A living weapon re...programmed to be a queen by the strange art of Eucliwood's words. Yes, reprogrammed. They're less than humans and the price of their longevity is the simpleness of their neural patterns, no matter how clever they might be."

"Do you mean..."

"First, I felt a new presence, a chaotic one, powerful but intangible. Then I started to receive reports... About strange data patterns in the British network. Shapeless yet powerful, inscrutable but active, deviously simple on the surface but impossibly intricate inside. To put it in other words... alive. Artificial Intelligence? That name is perhaps meaningless. It is there. It is ancient. It is powerful. It has seen the secrets of the universe. Alive despite it should be dead by all accounts of what we know about Masters. It... he found a way to escape the fate prepared for us all, it seems."

"And Ifurita... Wouldn't she know if...?"

"The Mystic is not the type to simply make her a slave. I think he reprogrammed her in a way she can never find out. In a way that allows her to believe she still has her own free will. A subtle way. She can hate him yet is unlikely to ever do anything directly opposing his grander plans. Maybe it is the most effective approach; maybe it just amuses him."

"So it is Borgia who is our enemy now as well?"

"No, no, no. Not that simple. Friends, foes, concepts not very useful. The only true enemy is death, and in the physical world, death is represented by our opposite, and that is Japan, an idea of endless order and unchangeability that must be destroyed. Arturia..." She finally looked directly into her knight's eyes and it was a gaze on the verge of insanity. "I want to know what HE knows. I want to know what HE saw. He touched the stars. He might have the key to the puzzle this world is. A key beyond winning or losing the game. So these are my absolute orders. We do NOT interfere with his actions. I... have to meet him. Personally."

"This is..."

"Madness? Maybe. But you had to play Shiva, the God of Death and you've lost your weapon. Without it, you cannot protect me from any truly poweful being anymore. Plus you completely ruined your human looks it took me so much effort to restore."

Arturia felt rage rising inside of her at that double insult, but suddenly, the rage vanished, replaced by the feeling of endless coldness and emptiness she longed for just fifteen minutes ago.

"I am not the one who wants to be a god here. But the gods can die too."

She turned on her armored heel and left the room, leaving the door open.

---

At the lobby of the government building Arturia stumbled upon a strange gathering. A red-haired girl ran to her, bursting with joy, followed by a few Egyptian soldiers who looked less than happy to be around.

"Miss Arturia!" she called out, bowing deeply. "My name is Kasane Teto, I'm a utauroid, I think you're a great person and I've always wanted to talk with you!"

The knight blinked at this verbal assault, at this smiling face, her own eyes cold and distant.

"You wanted... to talk with me."

"Yes!"

Arturia's words were calm, quick and quiet. "I have tracked the victorious Japanese fleet. I summoned forth the full power of the Chaos Blade, ceasing to be a human being and turning into an avatar of death. The sky had turned red and the sea turned black. A wave of pure Chaos exploded outwards and engulfed everything, and the sky and the sea were suddenly filled with hundreds of explosions, each one a dying plane or a ship. Within a blink of an eye, I eradicated tens of thousands, so quick that they didn't even had a chance to call out in despair, so utterly that only tiny scraps of metal and vaporised flesh remained. Now, as I barely hold on to the shreds of my humanity, I was mocked and forsaken by my beloved Queen. Do you really think you should talk to me."

"Wow..." Teto's eyes were shining even brighter than before. Much brighter. "Can I become your official Number One Fan?"

That evening, Teto wrote a song dedicated to her new idol:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4njHMiiU0WE

[Eerion]

A girl was sitting on a wheelchair. Dressed in a regular hospital clothing she looked at the giant water tanks with a blunt expression. In front of her, two giant prehistoric sea monsters were fighting with each other. Megalodon and Tylosaurus – A giant shard and a dinosaur, each one bigger than a civil 18 wheelers, tried to eat a huge chunk of meat while fending off the opponent. It was a fight that could result with no victor, only two amphibians bleeding to death. But it was of no concern for the Dinosaur Park. They could clone these animals over and over again using the fossils and genetic material from eons ago and found intact in the Antarctic glaciers. Some land ones were found as well, but their inhabitant was still being created. It’s had to build plains and forests suitable for huge reptiles on the bottom of the sea. Only one land dinosaur was recreated so far. A T-rex was shipped discreetly to France on Napoleon’s private request.
The battle was reaching the conclusion. Both of them used to be at the very top of food chain in the past, yet when the dinosaur lived the times were more severe. Its body was made to destroy any enemies, not only to eat the defenseless animals. The victor gave up on the chunk of meat and started feeding itself on the defeated enemy.
“Beautiful, aren’t they? All the fossils you have here come from my home planet.” Miku spoke and pushed the wheelchair. The girl did not answer. She simply looked at whatever was in front of her. “Or are you tired of watching the fights over and over again, are you? Blood and destruction. You were so proud of it long time ago.” She kept on speaking. Her cheerful voice clearly contrasted with words she used, but as a futuristic android it was as easy for her as breathing. Unlike the simplistic android technology Luka gave to the Japanese, she was free of hundreds of restrictions these archaic models had.
“You should wait for her to recover before you tease her like this.” Luka approached her from behind. “The travel tired her out greatly. After all, she had a surgery out of this world not so long time ago.” Her voice was much more diverse and human like compared to the second android.
“If this surgery would be out of this world, she would be able to run and jump now.”
“I’m simply looking at this from their perspective. When in Rome, live as Romans do. You know this saying, don’t you?”
“Ok. Ok. Whatever” With her cheerful teenage tone she gave a feeling of an insane murder from some kind of horror story.



Ryujin was reading a book while soaking whiskey. Peacefully, despite Miku sitting nearby and helping the girl on a wheelchair with her meal. After few days of professional treatment she felt much better, but her artificial arm still caused a lot of issues. Food ending up not where it should was one of them.
“Be patient and gentle. I can feed you now, but you have to learn how to do it sooner or later. You’re well aware of that.” She dropped her psychotic speaking style. She did it whenever Ryujin was around, for unknown reason.
“Shut up. I know.” Haruhi tried to lift the spoon, but this time she used too much strength and the puree ended up on the wall.
“Which part of word gentle you don’t understand?” Miku answered slightly annoyed.
“The fu.ck off part. It’s not easy, you know?”
“It is.” She disagreed.
“For you. You’re a fu.cking android. You were born as a machine.” She burst out as much as her weakened body allowed her to. “I used to have a normal arm. I used…” Her voice crumbled and her head hanged down.
Miku took a deep breath and looked at Ryujin, as if to avoid dealing with Haruhi. “I thought you are going to ask why we are here.”
“You’re going to tell me eventually anyway.” He answered without taking his eyes off the book. He flipped the page.
“She has a lot of questions for you.”
“Miss Suzumiya does not look like she is able to ask my anything right now.” His deep voice was peaceful as always.
“You can calm her down. I know you are capable of that.”
“And intentionally give up on a peaceful evening? That’s not a thing I would ever wish for.” He openly neglected Haruhi’s state of mind.
“What? I mean…” She was taken off guard by such a direct answer. “Why your reading evenings are so important?”
“Because not always I can have any book I wish for. And a time when I can use such privilege is very limited. After this world ends I’m not sure if I will be able to do it anymore.”
“You sound as if the entire world will end.” Suzumiya spoke suddenly and looked at the man. She looked tired. The events in last few weeks took a heavy toll on her body and mind.
“Because that’s the case.” Ryujin answered calmly. “The world is going to end soon and Japanese resistance is the only thing that prolongs its agony.”
“What a bull**** ideology.” Haruhi looked at him with disgust. “We were supposed to save ourselves, but it wasn’t any kind of shady messianic bull**** like that.”
“Oh. You have clearly misunderstood my words miss. We’re not prolonging it because it’s us. We do it because we slow down the victorious country. In this case – Egypt. If by any chance we would be the winning ones they would do the exact same thing.”
“I do not understand.” She was dumbfounded.
“I may explain. You deserve explanation, but if by any chance you will pass out from fatigue I won’t repeat myself later.” Ryujin spoke calmly. Haruhi knew it will be quite a feat to survive any longer monologue. His deep, peaceful voice made everyone around relax and eventually fall asleep. She was sure of it.
“This world was doomed from the moment this game begun. As you know from Gandhi, there are thousands games like these going around. Hundreds of thousands. And on every single planet eight masters leading eight countries fight against each other. Everywhere… except here. How many masters we have on Earth?”
“Nine… wait. Ten. Perun, Iskandar, Cleopatra, Merlin, Gandhi, Stalin, Napoleon, Persian Prince, Moses and the Italian guy.” Haruhi answered slowly helping herself with fingers while counting.
“Cesare di Borgia.” Ryujin nodded. “But there are eleven to be correct. I am one of them as well.”
Haruhi looked at him with uncertainty in her eyes. “Who are you?”
“Oh I haven’t introduced myself have I? My official name is Shimazu Kaito. However, my true name is Ryujin and I was originally assigned to rule over Japanese people before Perun took over.”
“Wait…” She stopped for a moment. “So the reason the Perun wasn’t Japanese was because he wasn’t the rightful ruler of the Japanese?” Suzumiya asked unsure of her own words.
“Oh. He was the rightful ruler, that’s for sure. He cared about your people far more than I did. Would you like to know why?”
“No.” Haruhi raised her healthy left arm. “I’ve heard enough for today. I need some time now. I need to rest.”
“So it be then. Arrive whenever you will be ready to hear the rest. But let’s try to keep it short. I have many books to read.”
Miku stood up to take the girl out of her room, when the man stopped her.
“Stay here microphone girl. I want to talk to you a little bit.”
Android gritted her teeth. She hated when he called her like that. It was a correct description, but at the same time it was so damn wrong. Miku picked up the mobile phone and called a nurse.
The android has arrived within few minutes. She picked up Haruhi.
“You have barely eaten anything. Would you like another meal? Maybe something lighter?”
“Yes.” Suzumiya nodded. “And I would like you to feed me today.”
“As you wish.”

The girls left the room leaving Ryujin with Miku alone.
“I want you to describe me what happened to her. You were during the fall of Haruhi Tower, right? Deep underground to be precise.”
“It’s very unusual for you to ask me about anything happening on Earth. Don’t you know everything?”
“There were many things happening at once back then. More important and most likely they have provided me with the answers to the questions already, but I want to be sure.” Seeing the girl nodding he continued. “Unfortunately I do not have magic fish to bring me news from all over the place. I can get almost any info, but not only I have to be within a distance proximity, but also I must focus on it, if that’s what you want to know. So… what exactly happened to Haruhi?”
“She was stripped of all body electricity. Just as if a reverse thunder hit her. Same thing that happened to Hinotebi, however, unlike the Empress, Haruhi was extremely lucky. She was in the android labolatory and Behrouz was there.”
“Oh. So he was able to use his predecessor’s weapon? That’s quite an achievement.”
“It was. I must say I never expected such thing to happen. To find the far descendant of Persian Prince and restore the weapon… No. To even make it work. I was really surprised.”
“You mean your master was really surprised?” He answered calmly while looking into her eyes. She looked at him angrily. “So. What happened next?”
“During the attack he rushed to the Haruhi, as she was in charge of the whole facility. Seeing her almost dead and everyone around in shock he freaked out and somehow unleashed the power of the dagger he always carried with himself. Afterwards he managed to unfroze few doctors and android specialists nearby and begun the emergency surgery. He used all the sand the Japan managed to accumulate in Persia over millennia to save this girl. I think he was in love in her or something. Despite their effort, her heart, whole right hand and leg knee down were completely burned somehow, so they used any substitute necessary – that’s why she is now a partial cyborg now. Unhappy or not about it, she is alive.” Miku answered properly.
“No wonder she is in such a state now. Few weeks after an emergency heart surgery combined with arm and leg transplantation. Not everyone could survive that.” Man nodded with appreciation.
“She survived only because of that Persian man. And he wasted all the sand that was accumulated. A non-renewable resource is now gone. The dagger of time, recreated with such care is now just a dagger. The Prince took quite a few secrets to his grave.”
“You don’t have to lie to me.” Ryujin was clearly dissatisfied. “I am well aware how this sand is being created. You also do. I mean your master does and you know that.”
“I forgot you know everything.” She smiled in her usual way.
“Don’t tease me. I have managed to learn few things, but it is still a drop of water in the ocean of knowledge.”
After hearing his serious answer, she has dropped her attitude.
“You know why all of this happened, don’t you?” Miku asked.
Ryujin nodded. “An incident. Or rather they were simply pulled into something much greater. I think you know what are we talking about.”
“Preparations.” Miku nodded. “But they are all in vain.”
The master smiled sadly. “They are. They are all in vain.”


“It’s hard to find peace with so many unanswered questions isn’t it?” Ryujin asked looking at Haruhi entering the room with help of a nurse. Miku was already sitting inside looking at the man like some sort of a secret guardian. Or a stalker.
“If you can figure out as much then I don’t think there is a point in me asking anything.” Suzumiya looked somewhat better. Even after the fall of the mainland Japanese medical and surgery department remained top notch. You could see the progress almost daily. “You can simply say whatever I have to hear.”
“No.” The man answered shortly while raising his hand. “If you want me to shape my words properly, you have to do the same thing. Dialogue is always more entertaining than monologue.”
The Goddess did not answer. She looked at Miku for a moment, but the girl did not even budge.
“What happened to me?” She slowly turned back to Ryujin. “And why.”
The master kept on looking at the whiskey in his glass. After a couple of seconds he broke the silence “No matter how grand people become in the end they put their own wellbeing over anything else. The country you once helped ruling is now in ruins. Cities without central government act in completely chaos. The world is ending. Yet the first thing you ask about is your incident. That’s cruel miss Suzumiya. Cruel to all these people who believed and the ones who still believe in you.”
He stopped. Haruhi did not budge. She was leaning on the armrest and looked at the master without making a single noise.
“Do you know that in Sapporo people have built the superior artillery? They have called it the Earth Shaker since when its bullets hits the target the impact causes a small local earthquake. They hope it will help them survive against the Egyptian army. But the enemy is not stupid. Heavily barricaded mountain city can be captured, but the enemy would have to sacrifice millions of enemies. They can’t and won’t do it. If they ever reconquer Sapporo, the city will be once again nuked. Earth Shaker won’t fire even once. All that hard work for nothing. On the other hand, the remaining conglomerate forced the creation of Dinosaur Park in the area of old Umi Koriyama Arcology. This country is falling apart, while engulfed in chaos and desperate self-defence.”
“That was not an answer to my question.” Suzumiya interrupted him shortly.
“I am well aware of that. Yet I wanted to show you something miss Haruhi. Everything is connected, please keep that simple fact in mind. Another thing – why did the Egypt use nukes only once in their orbital cannonade?” He stopped at the moment, however, seeing his disputant not responding in any way he continued. “Launching such big vehicles as nuclear missiles or air forces critically overloaded their electric circuits. The damage was so great, that the very next attempt of such thing would simply strip majority of Egyptian territory of electricity. The generators and cables not capable of generating such power would simply melt and quite a lot has already did that on the first try. It would be a suicide. Since then they have been firing only soldiers since it’s the lightest possible calibre. Sending huge vehicles to orbit is still out of our reach. But it does not matter. Sapporo is going to be nuked eventually. But what exactly happened during the first assault? Why your body was wrecked in such way? The answer is simple.” He stopped for a moment. Haruhi fidgeted unconditionally. “You became a human.”
She looked at him as if he tried to unpleasingly tease her.
“I’m not joking. You were stripped of your power. So were Hinotebi, yet you were miraculously saved by the Prince’s descendant and your superior medical scientists.”
“Who did it?” Her voice was cold and full of determination. “I can’t explain everything to you unfortunately. But I shall give you a hint. Your friend Iskandar was involved in that.”
She did not answer. Alexander was responsible for the tragedy that has happened to her and the Empress. It was way more than she could process in her current state. “Is he still alive?” Was the best thing she could come up with now.
“He was back then. Now… who knows? Still I do not want you to misunderstand. You were not the target. Neither the Empress. It was simply a side-effect.”
“What… Why?” She pressed on the topic, but Ryujin simply shrugged his shoulders.
“He is like that.” Miku suddenly joined the conversation. “He never reveals everything at once and always keeps something for further discussions. It’s annoying, isn’t it?” She patted Suzumiya on her shoulder.
“As hell.” The girl admitted. They simply sat in silence for few minutes allowing Haruhi to organise her thought. “What will happen to me?”
“Same thing that happens to everyone else. You will age and die just like any other being. The only difference between you and others is the fact that you have lived for last two thousand years. You have no more power miss Suzumiya. No more.” He emphasized the conclusion. “Still I would consider it a blessing if I were you. This way you shall ignore the cruel fate that will befall on this world.”
“Yes. The world is doomed. You keep on repeating this over and over again. What is going to happen? Or do you want to keep this knowledge for our further discussion as well?” She was getting irritated despite his calm tone.
“Do not get so angry miss Suzumiya. I cannot tell you about few things because with this knowledge you could interfere with them. It is against my policy to allow such things. Simple as it is.”
She did not answer, only glared at him angrily.
“In order for you to understand I must move back a little bit. As I mentioned yesterday there are eleven master in this game. No more and no less. Three capsules survived on this planet carrying Perun, Iskandar and Moses. You, as well as every other master except Perun have realised that there are more masters after long time. But not the creators of this game. No. They have realised the mistake few years after it has started during a routine check-up.
“Why they did not interrupt? From what I know Perun did not awaken immediately. That’s what he mentioned. He found this civilisation when it was already developing.” Haruhi pointed something out.
“Because according to Miku there are some rules that cannot be broken. One of them is that once the game has begun it cannot be stopped until finished. No. The judges refused to such drastic action. Moreover they were not in a hurry. No more games were going to start in thousands of years so they simply kept on observing us. However, since this game became an abomination, some players quickly began to alter things connected to them.”
“Players?”
“Yes. Races in this universe. The creators of all the masters and the planets. Miku’s master kindly shared some of the information regarding this topic. Yet to keep it simply – each master represents one of the players. There are also the intrigues going around that could result in changes of the representants, but in order to explain what I know regarding this topic I would have to drop the current topic, so let’s ignore that fact for now. For now let me ask you something. Do you know about any abnormalities happening in the past? Even long before you were born. Do you know about any miss Suzumiya?”
The girl denied. Ryujin, however, did not continue his speech. After few minutes she came up with an idea.
“Russia. The Russians started developing at incredibly rapid time few hundred years ago. Is this one of the things you are talking about?”
Ryujin nodded. “You are correct and wrong at the same time. Indeed Russians did develop rapidly but it did not start few hundred years ago. It began long time before you were born. Thousands of years ago Russia and up to some extent India developed at incredible rate. They were settling like crazy and building tens of wonders. Others struggled greatly to snatch away anything from these two powers. It was because both of these nations have received help from their players. Russians were directly boosted and supervised, while Gandhi was simply allowed an insight to part of his other copies memory. Fortunately for us, the land of India was poor enough to allow the alliance of Egypt and Britannia has stopped them in their tracks. Still they are the only civilisation in the world’s history that has created a wonder in a matter of weeks. From nothing. They spent insane amount of gold and lives to build Haga Sophia from zero. We have done similar things afterwards, but only after careful preparations – we disguised our work with a different project to hide it from eyes of enemy spies. They have simply created it. In a flash. But they have fallen eventually. Gandhi has completely disappeared from this world.” He stood up and picked up a drink from the fridge. After few sips he continued.
“Russians on the other hand developed much faster. Their country was rich, resourceful and far from any enemies. And they would simply conquer everyone else before the day you were born if a very strange accident wouldn’t happen. Stalin closed his borders. Russia has suddenly refused any interference – from this world or the outside ones. They ignored their supervisors and stayed away from the politics or the race for hundreds of years. Player could not take direct control over the country. It would be too much, even the most reluctant competitors would crush him for that. His race, looking to us like something between human and lizard created a simple plan. They waited patiently until the borders were going to open again and then will resume their plan. If it wouldn’t be enough they planned on push their ideology onto others. To spoil and twist other masters with their power. It has succeeded partially. Russia was eventually conquered, yet two countries greatly fed on their power. Japan and Egypt.” He stopped for a moment.
“Japanese nation had to adjust themselves from the very beginning. Adjust to the climate, land, changes and betrayals. We have always transformed to find or try to find most efficient combination. We have assimilated other cultures and technologies and modify them to suit our own needs. Russian technology was like that. We simply took it and made it ours. Egyptians on the other hand are like a rock. They do not adjust, do not change. They either find something that is compatible with them. If it’s not – they try to crush it. What resulted in endless wars between us, but that’s another story. They accepted the Russian – soviet technology together with their ideology and mentality. Their country changed greatly and eventually swallowed Russia. But the damage has been done. Now the actions of Egypt are associated with the race of Reptiles instead of the original player, what they have said to Arturia directly in their insolence.”
“Was it really that important?” Haruhi straightened out. Ryujin deep voice was slowly putting her to sleep despite the topic.
“It’s possible. All games start at once. After they end, the total score of each representation is summed up and the victorious race from which the Players come from will take over leadership for the duration of the next round. This is how they put an end to their own endless wars. They make us fight for them without knowing anything. We are like pawns in a great game of chess. Now think about it. There is an abomination. Situation that should not happen. Reptiles are most likely going to win it using the hands of Egypt. They will have something to brag about even if they won’t be overall victorious. The impact could be enormous. May not be, since the all on one war is out of question. But they can gain a lot from this.”
“Yes. But what is our part in here? How are we doomed?” Haruhi tried to receive an answer to the original question.
“It’s very simple. What do you think is going to happen to this unusual games after the victor will be chosen?”
“Iskandar has mentioned that they wanted to take him to the area where all the victors ended up. So they will take a Cleo there?”
“Not this time.” Ryujin spoke slowly. “No one will leave this planet. Just as scientists perform an autopsy of a newly found animal, the judges are going to check the planet. Slowly they will analyse every master, every capsule and then the world up to its core to find what was at fault. Every immortal that is going to survive till the very end will become a lab rat. Do you understand now? How lucky you are? You will avoid endless pain and humiliation that will befall on rest of us.”
Haruhi was sitting dumbounded for the third time today. That was beyond her imagination. Everyone is going to be experimented on like some kind of lab animals? Ryujin, Iskandar if he still lives, and everyone else? She hate Cleopatra, but still it was too cruel even for an enemy.
“If you know this much… Why won’t you kill yourself?” She asked.
“I am too much of a coward to do something like this. But more than that I am a great source of data for them. Miku’s master says that they will treat me like a proper being if I shall cooperate with them.”
“So you have sold us out?!” She has erupted suddenly only to cover in pain a second later. Her wounds were still fresh.
Ryujin laughed loudly. It was extremely pure. “Sold you? How? You sold yourself long time ago miss Suzumiya. Still should I defend the Earth with everyone? Each race of players is powerful enough and technologically advanced that they can create or destroy worlds like ours on a whim. They are… nevermind” He calmed down. “There is no point in explaining that to you miss Suzumiya. I have not betrayed anyone. It’s actually the opposite. With my knowledge I may be able to reduce the size of mess that is going to befall on this land. This is why this girl android is accompanying me all the time now. She simply seeks answers that may help us solve the problem with this planet. That is all.” He stood up, picked up a bottle of whiskey and poured some. “Let’s end for today. I think you need a break, miss Suzumiya.”
Haruhi looked at him with pure hatred. The remaining core of her country is now working with enemy they have been preparing against for. Ryujin as Kaito became a supreme admiral and the unofficial ruler of Japan, while she was being hospitalised. Hinotebi is dead. Iskandar was missing and most likely dead. Perun… she thought that her loss of power was assimilated with him. Yet since she has lost all her power it meant that he died. Or even if he is alive somehow the situation forced him to get rid of all his servant. Situation was critical and he was alone. Pretty much ****ed up option for a best possible scenario.
“Miku.” She spoke. “Please get me out of here. I do not wish to talk to this man ever again.”
A girl stood up and took a wheel chaired girl outside. Before the doors closed behind her, she looked at Ryujin. He was looking at her and smiling gently. She smiled back.

[Max_Smirnov]

5th April 1982

"The weather is going completely haywire, isn't it, Miss Arturia?" asked a girly voice.

The car was following a road, leading through endless fields, abandoned villages and dead forests. All was covered by a thick cover of white snow, yet unsullied by chemical fallout and unconcerned by radiation that rendered this area dead. It were the first snows in Egypt since the Cataclysm; and even before it, the winter never lasted into early April. Scientists were saying that the huge amounts of dust, raised into the atmosphere by the combined forces of nuclear detonations, endless rail launches and wartime industrial activity were to be blamed here.

"How long it's been since you've returned," replied Arturia, her gaze fixed in both the world outside and the reflection of her yellowish, reptile-like eyes visible on the windscreen in the falling darkness.

The girl behind the steering wheel flashed her big teeth in a smile and combed her long braid behind her shoulder. "Much longer than you think. Almost thirty years."

"How?"

"Through the greatest power there is... The power of love, of course!" the girl giggled. "You should know. Don't you love aunt Cleopatra?". Arturia sent her a dangerous look. "Right, right, I was joking, of course. Somehow Cleopatra's energy is seeping down even to the humble myself, through Azu, I suppose? I literally crawled out of my grave. Well, I've never fully died, but it still counts, doesn't it, right? Kind of ironic, to wake up, being suffocated by the earth, trying to kill you immediately after you regain your breath... It wasn't fun at all, at least you had the courtesy to bury me near Busiris, where's always warm, since, you know, while I was immune to the passage of time, my clothes weren't so there I was stark-naked, confused, completely alone under that scenic moon, a time-traveller who spoke a barely comprehensible Egyptian dialect from seven centuries before and to whom today's civilization resembled pure magic... all I knew were airships and steam trains, and suddenly... all this!"


Arturia was surprised how long it took for the girl to pause for breath. Almost like she was an utauroid, who could draw air while speaking. "How have you went unnoticed all that time," she was finally able to ask.

"I wasn't! You just have no idea about how many undercurrents are there in the Egyptian corridors of power... The Kingdom may never rise again but a person like me is still useful. I can make myself useful. So we are legion, you can say... Ugh, but even knowing what happened to you is... You look worse than they described... so pale, and these red veins... I guess I've assumed you'll recover at least a bit throughout the space of over four months... You've really abused your chakra, Arturia."

"You know nothing of my chakras, even though you know an awful lot. I should expose you."

"In what... way, exactly?" the girl smiled innocently.

Arturia responded with a death stare. "Quit joking around. If it's a trap, I will kill you, Lia."

"...And here we are!" She stopped the car, got out and stretched, putting a puffy winter jacket on. "Don't be so sure of that, Black Dragon of the East! I can pull my weight in a fight! I have studied your techniques. I know your strengths and weaknesses. You can crush me with a single strike, but to do that, you'd have to touch me first. I have thousands of years of Egyptian martial arts tradition on my side." Lia's hands moved in a wavy motion, as she smiled and lazily assumed an open fighting stance, perfect for dodging and attacking from unexpected directions.

The knight got out of the car as well, pulling a black commissar's coat over her shoulders and covering her hair with a red-stared ushanka. The white business suit she wore underneath did little to hide how awfully pale she was. "Try me."

"That's not why I was asked to bring you here... There is someone who wants to talk to you. Peacefully." She motioned Arturia towards an entrance to an underground bunker, one of dozens the Union's Strategic Defense forces had to abandon once the area became contaminated. Empty laser silos, exposed to the dark sky like mass graves, were gathering snow.

---

As Arturia entered the deep underground command centre, it suddenly came to life. In a kind of creepy kind of way, like a zombie - the main lights stayed out, the only light was coming from dozens of monitors, many of them simply broken or displaying static. But the biggest of them was displaying a familiar face. Perfect and unmarred, contorted in a contemptous smile, reptillian-like eyes clear and full of intelligence, just like in her long-forgotten prime.



"We meet again, Arturia Pendragon," spoke the loudspeakers. A voice unheard since centuries, if you don't count yelps of pain and anguish the woman seemed to be only capable of nowadays. "The look of surprise on your face is almost worth all the wait."

"Azuria. This is impossible. I've seen Azuria's body in the Purple Labs just a couple of months ago. It was completely wrecked and the mind seemed broken beyond repair. It can't be you."

"Fool, do not underestimate the royal Egyptian blood!" Azuria raised her voice, her smile and eyes assuming an intensity usually seen only in madmen. "Do you think Borgia was the only one capable of moving his consciousness into the machine, just because he travelled the outer space? It's actually a quite easy trick for someone of my power... once you figure out how to do it. Even easier in the ravaged state of mind and body I was driven into by being linked up with that machine... I almost feel like thanking my sister for these experiments she subjected me to. Never before I've felt my mind being so... clear, thinking being so easy, existence so... unburdening."

"What do you want."

"There are few things I want more than to slowly and methodically subject you to all the forms of torture I have thought of during these seven centuries of imprisonment. But you are just too useful."

"Useful? You're clearly deranged if you think I will do anything for you. Which means you are indeed Azuria."

"Ha-ha, what was that, a sense of humor? Whatever. We might hate each other, but there is one thing we have in common. An interest in the well-being of Egypt."

"What of it?"

"Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about. My sister had lost her touch. The country is going out of control with various factions fighting for power while the Empress is nowhere to be seen, since she became slowly disconnected from the reality. Is this how the power should be wielded? By influencing things from the shadows in hopes everything will run itself, while pursuing your own crazy obsessions and personal goals? Is this how you wielded the power when you were the Celtic Empress, Arturia? No, of course not. Your prime and only concern was running the empire. I respected you for how you never took your eyes away from that objective, and how ruthless you were in pursuing it. That's the real thing. Glory and majesty of a true ruler. Not Cleopatra's notions of divinity."

"It won't be you who judges her. You don't have that right," said the knight, narrowing her eyes.

"Oh, so loyal! Loyal till the bitter end. How well it ended the last time. I don't want you to like me, as you disgust me, I want you to just to open your god-damned ears and listen to reason. Take her alliance with Brittania. Egypt is allied with them to defeat these poor Japanese idiots. And what Brittania had done for the alliance since the start of the war? A single ill-fated attack at their underwater cities, then a hasty retreat once they've taken some losses. From that point on, absolutely nothing. Worse than nothing. They've betrayed you at Odawara, instead of helping you out, they diverted their course and seized the Roman Isles from France instead. This is a double betrayal, first, they betrayed us, but then, what Cleopatra did? She betrayed France AND her own people by covering for that conquest... only because of her personal interest in Borgia. At this rate, she's going to doom us all in the name of her fantasies. An alliance doesn't work that way. We can only trust those who don't shy from spilling their blood for us, as this is the most telling sign of compatible interests. The British are just leeching on us, and they will backstab us, sooner or later. The final victory over Japan is not in their interest... while our downfall is. By letting them do what they want Cleopatra invites them to f*ck us over."

"I find it hard to believe you're so concerned in Egypt's well-being."

"You fool, I've lost my freedom for the cause of Egypt, so how dare you say things like that. I guess someone not of royal blood wouldn't understand. It is simple. Egypt is me. If it falls, so the royal family falls. It's simple selfishness, Arturia, but one that is beneficial to the country. I won't hide my motivations. I want power. But the power is an end unto itself! Not just a tool to be used to engage into foolishness. Cleopatra wants immortality and she will bring doom on all of us. I only want power. But an Empress who wants power is the best kind of an Empress. The country is me, so the power of the country is the same as my own power. A country needs strong and ruthless leadership, and like a beast, it will respond well to a master who knows when to punish it. And face it, Arturia, as much as you hate me, if not Cleopatra or yourself, I am the only one who can be the true leader."

The blonde sighed, lit a cigarette then slowly rubbed her eyes. "What do you expect me to do? Depose Cleopatra? Kill Ifurita? You're quite deranged yourself."

"I was forced to bear the humiliation of first being defeated by her lapdog, then spending six centuries on display like a caged animal, before she moved me to the labs to try to pursue her obsession of cracking the secret of us Immortals with the use of advanced technology. But do not worry, I am not vengeful. Since you've kept my Lia alive, I will allow you to keep my sister as a pet as well... While you'll be working for me. As for the British, they need to be taught a lesson. If they continue to avoid combat while Egypt bleeds, they cannot be treated like allies any more. If they don't wish to fight alongside us as our allies..." she smiled "...We should grant them that wish and let them serve us like slaves instead."

"Do not think you're the only one who sees that danger. During these months we have mobilized, trained and equipped more than a dozen human divisions, and all of them have been put to the defence of Egyptian cities. Being cautious is a valid concern here, but the British..."

"Have provided you with an endless string of excuses for their delays. It's already the fall on the Southern Hemisphere. How do you plan to conduct naval operations on the Icy Ocean during winter? Because of all these delays, we'll have to wait another half a year, while our enemy's defences only grow stronger."

"Even if we broke all our obligations, and decided in favor of a pre-emeptive strike against them, the whole world be damned, on the assumption that Ifurita is no longer herself, how I am supposed to face her? I've lost the Chaos Blade."

"Tsk tsk, you don't really need it. After all that Japanese blood you've spilled, you're clearly in the direct favour of the Blood God. Her power over death cannot directly hurt a truly immortal dragon soul, beside, your red lighting can cancel out her death ray. It'd come down to guns and physical combat, and while she's powerful in both aspects, you're stronger and more resilient than her."

"What? More gods? What the hell are you rambling about?"

"Some secrets will reveal themselves in due time..."

"I've heard enough, Azuria. I am going."

"Go, go. I know how your mind works... You will eventually suppress your emotional reaction. Then, after eliminating all the illogical choices, you will decide in favor of the last remaining one... even if it's so unthinkable as working for me. I am sure we will talk again."

[Max_Smirnov]

The sea of blood. Choking her, dragging her down with the hands of innumerable dead. Desperately, she turned to her distant past, trying to find a place, a dry island on this abominable sea.

But even then, at the very beginning, there was death. Death that started it all, the death of her family. Those were the troubled times of Boadicea's Terror. But her army of fanatics and monsters was only the indirect cause; the chaos that was brought upon the land made lives of all peasants unsafe, including those of the Llandarcy region, sailors and fishermen who owed their uncommonly fair complexion to the ancient French warrior-traders who settled these areas first, before being assimilated into the Celtic tribes. Raiders came in the night, with the sound of hooves, bringing fire and screams and fear. The little girl she was then survived by sheer luck, hiding under an overturned boat and not coming out, only crying, crying as everyone she knew was murdered. As hard as she tried, she couldn't remember the warmth and love she must've been surrounded by before that, she couldn't remember the faces of her parents or siblings. Only that one terrible night. So she moved on.

The years after that she spent by a family of a priest who found her and accepted into his home. Perhaps these were the perfect years, if there were any. She was growing up surrounded by old manuscripts, by the old tales of Celtic heroes who fought monsters and evil men, a tales of valor, sacrifice, honor and tragic fate. Tales of better men and better times, three thousands years in the past, when the Celtic iron swords had no match, and the tribes lived strong and peaceful with little concern for the outside world. But nowadays the Celtic iron seemed to only be used to murder innocents, and the Thebes, once an exotic city at the end of the world, commandeered an invincible fleet of giant ships armed with magical fire and could easily burn any Celtic harbour if they ever wanted to.

But even these times were marred. They taught her nothing but foolishness, idealism, an insane romanticism which pushed her onto that doomed path she had chosen when she heard the news of the Sword in the Stone, which supposedly had the power to unite Brittania again. She was already almost fourteen, and with such exceptional beauty as hers, she'd have no trouble finding a good husband and living out her life like a villager, a good life, as a wife and mother, and then peacefully growing old and passing away in blessed ignorance and innocence. Instead she fled her new home and travelled to Caerphilly, where the stone was located, just because she got really angry at her village, angry at them for mocking the magical sword and disbelieving that the country can ever be united, while doing nothing to help that to happen. She also dreamt of the sword... was she already being manipulated by Merlin? Was it him who sent the dream? Was she already picked for her role to play? Such irony would fit her life perfectly.

The Excalibur... Gods it was so beautiful. Shining in the sun, shining like a promise of victory after she pulled it from the stone and lifted it above her head with no effort at all, a fragile, teenage girl, half-starved to death after her fortnight-long journey to Caerphily, succeeding where all the strong, grizzled warriors have failed.

They'd probably beaten, raped and murdered her just out of spite, if not for Sir Percival, who suddenly stepped beside her and supported her claim for the crown with his authority, his ill-renown as a deadly swordsmaster and a dozen of his crossbowmen.

It turned out he, along with Sir Lancelot, Sir Gawain and others were rulers of a loose coalition of fiefdoms, joined in keeping at bay the chaos that surrounded their lands, but divided by their endless rivalry. They could never accept any of them to rule over the others. Sir Percival figured out that by accepting someone from outside as a king to preside over them, a person blessed by Merlin himself no less, they will be able to finally put their differences away and truly unite, claim the surrounding lands and thus increase their power far more than any one of them could do on his own. At that point no one even thought of confronting Boadicea, she seemed too remote and too big to be of any concern.

At first they were understandably reluctant. But an idea of a leader who will never be able to rule on her own was quite compelling. Plus she seemed to have all the prerequisites, smart and humble, honorable but conciliatory, and honestly believing in the unity. And one evening, after Percival and Boer nearly started duelling, she was able to find a way for both of them to back down without tarnishing his honor. This impressed them enough to finally accept that she was indeed the one who was perfect for the role. In a way, she made them feel like they were much more, aspire to being much more than just local warlords they were. Summoning an old Egyptian knightly tradition from the dawn of their monarchy, a few hundreds years before, they called their council The Round Table; and to conceal the only uncomfortable fact remaining, that of her sex, they called her the King. Merlin brought one final blessing, the sheath of the Excalibur that gave her the power to heal from almost any injury, while the sword itself gave her the strength of a grown man.

As long as she wielded both these artifacts, she was the leader they needed. She learned swordsmanship, she learned tactics and in a few years time, the new kingdom started to spread its power, peacefully or otherwise. Many a local warlord joined them, either out of admiration or fear; many a warlord met his end in the smoldering ruins of his castle. Was this the crucial point? She was a military leader by that time, even if most of the details were worked out by her Knights. A military leader deals in death, and soon she had shown quite a talent in that area. But these wars were good... honorable... just. They helped to tame the chaos that was plaguing the land... or so she believed.



The next step that nudged her even further away from the life she could have had came pretty soon. Back then, they often travelled just a few dozen strong, and several groups of raiders joined their forces to defeat the threat to their trade. The first man she killed, it was just out of reflex, a spear thrown from the horseback that nailed him to a tree. Two more kills were a lot more personal, a quick, still sloppy by her later standards, but effective enough pieces of swordsmanship against foes who really preferred bows and knives. One was gutted, the other beheaded in one clean strike. She didn't feel guilty. These were evil men. She felt rather proud. With the amount of corpses she'd already seen, the physical revulsion to the act was rather mild too.

The success of the strange King Arturia and her Knights exceeded all expectations. Within just six years, they practically controlled a quarter of the country, and Boadicea finally noticed the threat. From that point on, it was clear the final confrontation was inevitable and coming soon... and the goal of unification started to more and more justify the less and less subtle means. But if it takes to kill hundreds innocents to save millions, the whole country, it seems like there is only one proper choice. It was a hard decision, naturally, at least a few first times, but does it really matter how hard it was on her? It was certainly harder on those who actually died. So maybe that was the point of no return, the death of these villagers... or maybe it was another death. The death of her most pure and loyal knight.

They have traversed the Cruacha Gorma mountain range through the Golden Vale pass, with an army twenty thousand strong, hoping to join the forces with the rulers of Numantia, the ancient seat of the druidic high council, the most holy and powerful city in the whole land. But as soon as the news of Boadicea's hordes approaching broke, Numantia's rulers fled the city, leaving it in chaos, defenceless and needing help itself, instead of being able to provide any. It was decided to divide forces. Three thousands of cavalry, including Arturia and her most renown knights were to quickly seize Numantia and try to restore order there. The rest was to continue their march. The only thing they missed in their calculations was the fact that Boadicea's forces actually moved out much sooner than the news of their approach appeared, marching quickly and stealthily through the forested hills of the Cill Mhantain Highlands.

Half of their army was slaughtered on the spot, the rest scattered. Some of these groups were hunted down and destroyed, four thousand managed to make it. In one case, her retinue arrived mid-battle and was able to rescue one of the groups. However, Boadicea's fanatics already inflicted a heavy toll on that unit. Among the casualties was unit's leader, his pale skin and hair even lighter than Arturia's betraying his origins from the same area as her own. He was a son of one of the minor lords who willingly joined the Round Table, and it was already past her power of healing to save him.

In a quite unkingly manner, she dropped to her knees by his body and grabbed onto his chest.

"No, not you, Sir Bedivere, I refuse, it's unfair... You can't die... Please, I don't know how I could go on without your..."

He smiled weakly then reached out to touch her face, a gesture much bolder than he ever allowed himself in life. "Do not cry, my king... it's unbefitting of your stature... yet you look even more beautiful when you do... I am happy this is the last sight I'll ever see... I'm happy I am dying for a just cause... for your cause, my beautiful king... I have... always... loved you..."

She didn't know what to answer, so she just franticly pressed his hand to her lips and kissed it, while her heart was breaking. He smiled one last time. "I know you will carry on... our dream...", he said, then his clear eyes blurred and his pure soul left his broken body, leaving her alone in her vale of tears.



They burnt his body this very evening. Next day, they gathered in the grand Numantian court, dreadfully empty save for a handful of servants and bards who for some reason didn't flee with the others. The mood was foul. Despite discussing the situation into the night hours, no solution had appeared.

"It boils down to this. We need an army," reiterated Sir Percival. "There are many unaligned lords in the East, but they will never accept our rule, especially after that disastrous battle that proved that going against Boadicea is a suicide. Which sadly appears to be true, for she is a slayer without a peer. As long as she leads her army in person, they're almost invincible."

"No one is invincible," Sir Lancelot shook his head. "Yet a display of power is needed to gather a sufficient force to crush her."

"Merlin!" called out Sir Boer, shifting his huge body. "Why are you just standing there in the shadows! You're a wizard, do something!"

"If only it was that easy," answered Merlin's deep voice from under his hood. "I have already given you my blessings, and a sword that has the power to sway human hearts. There is nothing I can do to empower you any further. I am just an old man with a bagful of tricks. The actual power to change things lies with warrior heroes like you are."

At least he wasn't lying. Even several centuries later, it still took the most powerful Master at the time, the yet-unknown Slavic god Perun, to bestow the power to make miracles into his divine child, Haruhi. And by that time, he was much more powerful than Merlin and Boadicea combined, and much more direct and narrow in the applications of his power. Merlin worked by portents and blessings; Perun manually hammered things out to do his bidding.

"Then we are doomed," concluded Boer.

"We could leave the army here and retreat with just the elite troops..." said Percival. "That way Boadicea won't be able to deny our passage through the mountains... and back home, we can defend for years..."

"No," said Arturia. "We won't be escaping like rats to only prolong the inevitable. We are the last, best hope Brittania has against Boadicea's darkness. So we will make our final stand here. Inside this city, we might have an actual chance of winning, however slim. A hope. At the beginning, hope, the hope Excalibur brought, was all that we had. We cannot ever abandon that hope."

"I agree." said Sir Gawain. "We mustn't betray the light. Even if we fall tomorrow, there is still the legend of the Holy Grail. The Grail has the power beyond compare, but it must find our country worthy. All we can do is to stay true to the light till the very end, and hope and pray that it will yet someday, past our deaths, save Brittania through some other hands."

"So this is it..." nodded Sir Lancelot. "So be it. Death is better than disgrace. If we only had something... anything..."

"Merlin." said Percival. "Are you absolutely sure there's nothing you can do? Nothing you can suggest? This is a suicide and we all know it."

"Well... there is... a way," said Merlin. "But you won't like it."

"Damned wizards and your games!" bellowed Sir Boer. "Just bloody tell us!"

"There is a creature that could bestow upon you the power you seek. Yet it is a creature most foul and corrupting."

Everyone froze, as they were already guessing what he was talking about.

"You can't be possibly meaning..." said Sir Gawain, obviously appaled by the very notion.

"The Black Dragon of the Cruacha Gorma Range. As old as the world and powerful beyond measure. You must seize his soul."

"No warrior ever managed to defeat it!" said Sir Boer. "His cave is filled with bones of those who tried!"

"It is because his scales cannot be pierced by any mortal weapon..." said Arturia, her gaze wandering towards the Excalibur which certainly wasn't a mortal weapon. The first seed was sown right then, fuelled by her pride; wasn't slaying a dragon the pinnacle of heroic achievement?

"No!" said Sir Gawain. "Just no! Accepting a dragon's soul is bringing upon ourselves a curse terrible and perilous beyond human comprehension! It is embracing the very darkness we seek to destroy!"

"Well, this curse is said to entail immortality..." mused Sir Percival, scratching his chin. "Not like it is much of a saving grace, naturally, but still kind of nice..."

"Immortality in exchange for one's very soul! How could you even..."

"But thou must!" said Merlin. "It is the only way to destroy the greater evil of Boadicea. It is the only way... of making Bedivere's sacrifice matter."

And of course he pushed the right button saying that, even at the price of earning her eternal contempt. She stood up.

"I will do that. Whatever the curse is, I am willing to suffer it. Our little lives, even our souls mean nothing next to the grand case we're fighting for," she said coldly. "I will face the dragon and force him to surrender his soul. Then I will defeat Boadicea. If I am to suffer an eternal hell afterwards, it is a price worth paying."

Of course, Sir Gawain stormed out of the room, saying they couldn't understand the true nature of the curse. He was never seen again. But the rest of them, in desperation, agreed. Or maybe they simply thought she had just chosen one kind of death over another, death to dragon's claw and fire instead of death to arrow and blade.

The plan to defeat the dragon hinged on the Excalibur alone, and orchestrating a single moment where she could use it, no matter how suicidal. Actually she remembered more of the gruelling climb into the mountains than of the fight itself. She shed all unnecessary things, her armor, most of her weapons, even her horse's saddle. She entered the lair of the great beast, a lair that smelled like an abandoned charnel house, and taunted it to attack, then when it decided to get rid of the nuisance in a most painful way possible, she quickly ran around the corner, jumped onto her horse and charged the monster. The horse or the lance didn't survive, but she found herself exactly where she wanted to be, on the ground as the dragon crashed into her and started musing about stripping her clothing first, then her skin, before eating her, and his armored chest was within the striking distance. And with a powerful thrust, the Excalibur found its way into creature's body.

"You have missed... my heart, little girl" groaned the dragon.

"I know. But it will be torn if either of us moves, foul beast."

"It almost sounds like you wanted something..."

"I do. I want your soul."

"My... soul? So you do want to kill me... but you want my soul. However, it seems you could only absorb it into your own body..."

"And that's exactly what I want."

The dragon started to produce horrible, throbbing sounds. It took her a moment to realize he was laughing. "So you desire my power... It almost makes it up for me for the fact I am about to die. Sure, take it... Drink my blood... Drink your fill, little fool..." He torn his chest apart, and the blood started pouring on her, it tasted like death, like acid, like a drug, as the dragon was dying, still laughing. She felt the blood outside and inside, she felt her clothes melting, and then the unimaginable pain came, as it was reforming her body, ravaging it, corrupting it... she had to admit that soon enough it started to feel really good, the pain turning into a pleasure. The moment the death took dragon's laughing away, she started to laugh herself, and even if it sounded much softer in her young woman's throat, it wasn't a laugh any less sinister or more sane.



It took Boadicea another week to gather all her forces at the gates of Numantia. The defenders have used that time to bolster their ranks. Smithies were working day and night to forge weapons and armor; all the city's open grounds became arenas of training. Any able-bodied Numantian citizen, man or woman, was drafted, and those who refused, were put to the sword. Their impaled heads, surrounding city's walls, now served as the first and the last warning to Boadicea's minions. Finally, the lights of the marching army were spotted, and the last night passed on repainting all the armor and uniforms in black, to match the new, imposing image of the King. Now it seemed like there was a second, living wall on top of the stone one, made up of black chainmail, breastplates, leather hauberks, shields and helmets. In turn, the encroaching sea of Boadicea's army had the color of flesh. Even her human minions usually fought naked or close to it; the Dark Ones, called Kakomorphai by the Theban Academia, were explicitly ordered not to wear anything, to fully expose their revolting image to the world, as it was causing fear.

"There must be more than a hundred thousand of them," said Sir Percival. Only the day before he was able to fight down the fever caused by the dragon's curse; in the process he had lost all his hair though, and his mouth was twitching all the time, like trying to assume an expression of a perverted smile. His eyes, however, were now shining with a hint of diabolical intelligence. "Even with all the new recruits, we're still outnumbered at least four to one. And most of our soldiers aren't warriors, just a motley of hastily trained spearmen and slingers."

"When defending huge walls like these," answered Sir Lancelot, "Quantity is more important than quality. As long as every part of the wall is manned, we can move our elite units whereever the enemy makes a foothold." He seemed the least affected by the curse; except for the whiteness of his skin and the constant weariness, he felt no ill effects.

"While this would be true normally," spoke Sir Kay, another of Arturia's fellow Westerners; while Lancelot was merely pale now, his skin was white like a parchment, and he was now surrounded by an otherwordly aura, like he was a ghost incarnated in flesh, and causing a disturbing feel that his bones could be seen through that flesh, if one looked from just the right angle. "Our enemy knows no fear. They will not back down nor they will break their attack, until either side is cut down to the last."

"It changes nothing", quietly said Sir Galahad. It was surprising as since the curse befell them, he hardly spoke at all. He was spending most of his time praying in the ancient stone circle outside of the city. "Our last remaining earthly duty is to destroy these hordes of evil."

"Hrm," snorted Sir Boer. He seemed the worst affected; the curse turned his visage into one of a feral beast, along with a pair of tusks, befitting his name. Thankfully he retained his human intelligence. "Fearless? Bah! Then today they shall learn fear."

There were no more. Out of the twelve original knights, only five remained. Sir Gawain had left. Three have fallen in previous battles. Two were instantly killed by the curse. The last remaining one, Lady Morgana, seeing their wizened husks, was stricken with fear and tried to save herself by the use of druidic potions and dark magics she had knowledge of; whether it worked or not, it was impossible to tell, as they turned her into a raving, murderous lunatic whom Arturia had to put out of her misery.

Now, she unsheathed the Excalibur, corrupted by the curse as well, no longer shiny but matte black and ominous red. "Make a circle and raise your swords," she commanded, and as they obeyed, she raised her own blade and started to speak. "To fight fire with fire. Rage with fury. Violence with even greater violence. We shall ride out to meet them." A murmur rose amongst her knights, but she continued. "The Excalibur was once known as the promise of victory, now it shall be called the Sword of Assured Doom. By its power, I, Arturia Pendragon call upon the immortal dragon soul and all that is the blackest and most evil. I call upon the wrath of human heart, the anger and the hatred and the fear that lurks in the darkness of the night; strike my enemies! Make their blood boil in their veins! Kill them, slaughter them, DESTROY THEM ALL!"

The crowds wavered, as the skies suddenly turned dark. Soon enough, lightning struck and the rain began to fall. But it wasn't a rain that makes plants grow and farmers rejoice; it was a rain of infinite bitterness and jealousy, which are the very essence of a Black Dragon. As the green droplets started to fall upon the masses of naked fanatics, their flesh began to boil and dissolve, and a great wave of screams rose above the throng. Yet the army didn't scatter. Boadicea's enforcers snapped their whips, flogging the masses into frenzy, and the human wave started to advance once more, stampeding the dead and dying under thousands of bare feet.

As if to welcome them, the gates of Numantia opened and hundreds of black-armored cavalry rode out, forming a wedge and levelling their lances.

"Archers, start shooting. Infantry, form into phalanxes and cover our flanks," Arturia, riding on the very tip of that wedge, adressed the messengers. Then she raised her voice: "Royal cavalry... Advance! Into the fray!" And into the fray they rode, under the banner depicting a black dragon, into the massed throngs of enemies.



They met on top of the hill, inside an ancient circle of standing stones. The dragon soul reformed Arturia's body, not only giving her superhuman strength, but also making her as tall as any man. However, next to Boadicea she still looked small. The giant redhead was not only almost seven feet tall, she was also ripping with masses and knots of muscle. She wore a royal headband on her forehead, but whatever else armor or clothing she had at the onset of the battle, was long gone now; her nude body was only covered with warpaint and blood flowing from numerous cuts and arrow marks. None of these wounds seemed to impede her cat-like agility in the slightest, though. Arturia looked like her opposite, her slim figure fully clad in an impeccably black suit of armor, untouched and pristine despite all the blood she shed this day, for the armor was forged from dragon scales and like her blade, it immediately drank and absorbed any blood that touched it. Only her pale face was exposed, and her blonde hair, almost as pale, ruffled during the battle, now reformed into a simple ponytail.

"So you're that nuisance who has all my land in uproar!" spoke Boadicea, spitting. "You've made me go all the way to personally meet you. Frankly, I am quite disappointed. You don't look like much. You don't even look much like a true Celt, to be honest. It doesn't matter though, soon I will throw your foreign carcass to my dogs."

"It is you who's going to die tonight," said Arturia, starting to circle her opponent, drawing her sword behind her. Boadicea mimicked her movements, brandishing a pair of wicked javelins from the quiver on her back.

"Bah. You feel strong for the black magics you've used, but next to me, you're just an ant. Since the dawn of time, I was the only Master of these lands; my rule knew no opposition for twenty five centuries, until that dog, Merlin, managed to trick and banish me through his accursed magics. It took me thousands of years to return, but this time, he had no power over me. My dominion returned a hundred years ago, and it shall live... forever!" With that, she suddenly threw a javelin, then another. Her physical strength was so great that they flew in perfectly straight lines. Arturia dodged one, and it crashed into one of the standing stones, shattering into tiny pieces. However, the other was aimed with exactly that kind of a dodge in mind. It struck the black knight straight into her chest, and sent her flying several feet backwards.

"Your dominion..." said Arturia slowly, getting up "...Is nothing. It is a land of no strength and no direction, and it shall be eradicated." She didn't appear wounded.

"Dragon armor, right? If I can't pierce it, I guess I will have to crush what's inside," answered Boadicea, smiling and reaching for her stone warhammer. She jumped forward, trying to destroy her opponent through the sheer momentum of her charge, but Arturia swung her two-handed blade and struck the falling warhammer mid-air with a mighty clash, miraculously stopping the devastating strike. Boadicea gritted her teeth and punched through the parry and into that pale, girly face; Arturia fell over, her nose crushed and bleeding, but she immediately rolled over, stood back up and parried the strike that was supposed to finish her off.

"What tenacity! I am known to knock out horses with my fist! Doesn't matter... if you bleed, you will eventually break-"

"DIE!" screamed Arturia back, and charged at her opponent herself; Boadicea was barely able to parry that strike. They started trading blow for blow, but while the ancient queen was stronger and more agile on her feet, Arturia's attacks were much faster and more precise. Boadicea could defeat any fencing technique through the application of sheer, brute force; the problem was, this enemy was hardly using any. She was just swinging her large sword hard and fast, hitting Boadicea's guard repeatedly, ruthlessly, giving no time to dodge or counterattack and pushing the giant woman into defensive. Before she started to be surprised by that turn of events, though, the blonde went for an overhead strike at her head. Boadicea raised her hammer to form a guard, too late realizing her mistake when Arturia quickly changed her grip and snuck her blade just under the parry, cutting a deep swathe through Boadicea's breast, abdomen and hip. Then she changed her grip again and impaled her opponent with a thrust from below, the black blade piercing the solar plexus and coming out through the top of her back.

Boadicea laughed, spitting blood. "Do you really think this is enough to kill someone like me??? Many warriors have fallen to that trick, and you're next." The black knight retracted her sword and jumped back just in time to avoid being caught by her throat, but a following swing of the warhammer found purchase, slamming into the left side of her body with a loud clang, sending her tumbling across the hallowed ground. She tried to scurry even further away, but while the dragon armor was hardly affected, the force of the impact broke something inside of her... perhaps many things even, as she found out she had lost feeling in her legs, and her mouth started to quickly fill with blood, rising from her stomach. She rolled on her back, to see the giant shape of the redhead queen slowly approaching her.

"I feel tempted to give you to my master torturers, to see how much this body of yours can take, but you're just too dangerous. I will kill you here and now."

"You could... never... kill me."

"Oh? And that's why?"

Arturia unbuckled her belt and raised Excalibur's sheath. "That's why. It is called the Dark Utopia. Once it represented the pure and impossible to achieve... Now it stands for an utopia which can be created here, on this earth, with enough will. This is the difference between us... we both stand on a mountain of corpses. But while yours was used to only protect your pride... mine was piled up in the name of that grand vision. Once this sheath had the power to heal, drawn from that other, unachievable world... now it has a power similar..."

Suddenly, a wall of ephemeric, black tendrils appeared from mid-air, momentarily immobilizing Boadicea, before she tore them away. "Ugh... what have you done... to me..."

The black knight was already standing on her feet. "It still heals, but it draws its power from the death and wounds caused in the name of that Utopia. It merely made you feel the real pain of your wounds, just like a mortal would, just for a moment... And this... is the other reason of why you can't win. The Sword of Assured Doom. Tonight, yours."

She was already walking towards Boadicea, raising the accursed blade. However the ancient queen wasn't done yet. Another javelin appeared in her left hand and she suddenly lunged, striking the blonde at the waist level. This time, the javelin burrowed deep into the flesh with a satisfying sound.

"You're too confident in your armor, little girl. It can still be pierced at its seams, and I already know where they... whaa!"

Arturia grimaced in pain, but wasn't slowed down, she swung her sword, cutting deep into her opponent's left triceps and severing the briachal artery. Boadicea panicked and immediately responded with a hammer strike, attacking Arturia's exposed left side, crushing her shoulder. It turned out to be her fatal mistake. Although the blonde's left arm fell to her side, broken and useless, the rest of her body was still working, including her sword arm. She thrust the Excalibur into Boadicea's inner thigh, cutting muscles and veins, causing the ancient queen to drop down to her knee. Another strike cut off the hand that was holding the hammer. She sent a last, strangely indifferent stare into Boadicea's eyes, then rotated her body around, like in slow motion, for the single-handed strike to gather the neccessary strength. A fountain of blood squirted high into the air when Boadicea's head was disjoined from her shoulders.

"Our soldiers fought like demons, but it still would be for naught, if not for the fact that the Dark Ones started to immediately drop like flies once you've slain Boadicea," spoke Sir Lancelot, as the sun was setting over the body-strewn battlefield. "Sadly, Sir Galahad didn't make it... he charged like a possessed man right into the thicket of enemies, and... May the gods have mercy on his tormented soul."

Arturia just nodded, her left arm still hanging uselessly by her side. "Gather the soldiers and order them to rest. The day after tomorrow, we march out."

"To where?"

"There are still many lords in this land who do not accept my authority. We will send a clear message to them. Those not willing to submit will be eradicated. All the land shall be divided between those who do, at the peril of anyone who dares to object."

"Is this... neccessary? With Boadicea dead..."

"Once we dreamt of a kingdom. But now we're immortals. We can extend our vision far beyond that. We will unite this country, by sword and fire if need be, and forge an everlasting Empire. For there are powers far and beyond we will have to face some day, one way of another. The Indians in the south rule a huge and rich land with a hand of iron, and someday this hand will reach out for our throat. The French to the north are wealthy beyond compare and contemptous of the likes of us. The Egyptians to the west command strange weapons and technologies we need to be wary of. The Russians to the east have innumerable fleets of pirate vessels that must be kept at bay. And far, far in the south there is yet another power, a constantly rising one, one whom all of the above fear, as it might one day grow to be the most dangerous of them all."

"Well... right," said Sir Percival. "We still need to figure out what to do with the thousands of prisoners we took. Since they're leaderless now, maybe we could convince them to join us, before they become bandits or otherwise start causing trouble..."

"Crucify them. Along the northern and eastern roads. Every last one of them."

The vision that came later was even worse than the ocean of blood she tried to escape from in the first place. Thankfully, something grabbed her and forcefully pulled her up, and out, and back into the world of the awake. She felt cold sweat all over her body, but seeing the familiar shapes of the furniture in her underground bedroom brought her relief, just like those terrible times passed away... even if they didn't. The eternal British Empire, the idea she sacrificed so many people for... Did she even still care about it? No, no... it's not like that. Now the empire was to encompass the whole humanity... and that new, strange Brittania was to be a part of it... not as slaves, but as equals... wasn't that... Borgia? Seeking an Utopia as well? And Ifurita herself, she could be reasoned with... But what if Azuria was right and they were planning to betray them, to side with the Japanese?

Only then she realized it was a phone what woke her up. It was still ringing; she picked up the receiver.

"It's the Commissar-Secretary Thespis speaking... The British made their move."

"...Go on."

"They struck at Yokohama and Sapporo. Used tactical nuclear warheads in both cases. They are occupying what's left of Yokohama now. Sapporo, along with the Haruhi Tower, is no more. Millions of Japanese casuaulties, over ten divisions of land forces, along with dozens of large ships and airplanes destroyed."

The relief she felt was almost audible. Damned Azuria, and the seeds of paranoia she sown. There was never any cause for distrusting the British. Arturia felt ashamed now. "Good. How did they bring that tower down? It survived our nuclear bombing."

"Used RNEPs, shot them at the base of the tower, they buried deep into its superstructure before exploding. The video is being shown on television all over the world. It took a lot of time for the damned thing to fully collapse. I am sure the Japanese morale will plummet, not only their goddess disappeared, but also their most holy place was destroyed."

"Right. Did Cleopatra already say something regarding that?"

"No... honestly, no one seems to be able to reach her lately. If even you don't know, Comrade..."

"Doesn't matter. With Yokohama secured, the general staff is likely to greenlight the offensive any day now, regardless of what she says."

"I agree..."

"That'd be all," she concluded and replaced the receiver. Now, since basically all the Japanese mainland was freed of their presence, save for two pitiful, if well-defended mountain fortresses, established in the ruins of Fukushima and Nikko, she was unlikely to take direct involvement in the war any more. She was no navy commander. Part of her desired more blood, but a bigger part was sort of relieved. When the Japan falls... maybe this nightmare will end. Cleopatra's age of chaos will finally end. But what a world in peace would need a monster like herself for...?

She reached for her lamp. The light fell on several photos. She wouldn't dare to display them to anyone... even not Cleopatra... especially not her. But it seemed a handful of people... actually were able to forgive her for all her sins. There were photos of her and Cleopatra there, but taken a long, long time ago, when both of them were still capable of smiling... the more recent ones were much better. Kiritsugu, that British psionic intelligence man, he despised her, quite healthily, but he understood, and his wife was nothing but gentle towards her... And that strange being, Kasane Teto... her affection looked so sincere and certainly not shallow, but... were they that silly? Or insane, willing to get so close to a monster like her...? Or maybe, just maybe...

No. Certainly not. But their existence was soothing none the less. Much more soothing than the triple defensive ring around Thebes, tightly packed with the deadliest weaponry and most advanced defense systems on the planet. Still, the sleep was out of question, so it was either going out and not looking back, which she couldn't do, or her endless cycle of overeating and punishing exercise. Maybe it would've been better to die there, in Numantia, on the ruins of her dream and enter the legend, than to accept the dragon's curse. But that was then, and this was now, and there was a life to live and obligations to fullfill. She got up to get dressed.

[Max_Smirnov]

27th August 1982 (turn 313)
Sea of Japan
Aircraft Carrier "Lev Trotsky"

Grand Admiral Janus Heliconnen ran up the staircase leading towards the bridge of his huge flagship; an act not only unbefitting his rank, so high that it was created only this year, after the Union's fleet grew tenfold in numbers, but also the fact he was born over eight decades ago. Yet, the Prince's blood, thinned as it was by the passage of generations, was still providing him with exceptional vitality. It wasn't a battle alert either; quite the opposite. It was his big day. He recalled the speech he gave last evening to his officers.

"Comrades! In antiquity, these waters we sail across twice witnessed Japanese defeats, that set back their conquests by hundreds of years. Soon, they will witness the moment when their power will be finally broken. Their country might just be a shadow of its former self, reduced to just their undersea colonies, yet their fleet and airforce is still strong, as it had proven on numerous occasions last year. So here lies the objective of the Operation Tempest, the greatest naval operation in the history of warfare: to annihilate the core of Japanese forces, to inflict upon them a defeat they will not be able to recover from. You have reasons to be proud, Comrades. We're continuing the finest traditions of the Egyptian navy; a navy that in the whole history of war has never suffered any major defeat. A navy that was able to project its strategical power to this very waters back in the ancient times when most of world's sailors were still afraid of losing the sight of the shoreline. A navy that, in the times of Renaissance, successfully blockaded Japanese trade and paralyzed their conquest of Persia, despite being badly outnumbered. A navy which is associated with more great corsairs and discoverers than the rest the world combined. Enough said that it is we who invented sea shanties! But these very reasons also put a burden of great responsibility on our shoulders. Our honor demands we must uphold these traditions; we certainly don't want to share the dubious fame of the Rifleman Admiral, Uesugi Kenshin, from whom the well-known word to describe a sloppy mariner, 'an Ahmed', originated. However, it is more than just traditions we bring here. Comrades, there was no fleet like this one, no concentration of naval power that can even be compared to ours. We are the chosen ones to lead this grand armada to the final victory. This operation, along with our names, will be remembered forever; the grandest battle in the history of war, the decisive battle that finally brought Japan to its knees. Rest well this night, Comrades... for from tomorrow on, we'll be making history!"

He smiled. Not too shabby for a speech; good thing he recorded it, parts of it could be used in his public speeches later.

"Admiral on the bridge!"

Everyone stood to attention and saluted. He returned the salute and said:



"As you were. Commander Dhaksi, situational report."

"Yes sir! The preliminary attacks have already started. Umi Oita and Umi Kobe were subjected to airstrikes and orbital strikes. The RUNE infantry, refitted for underwater action, was dropped from orbit to follow up after these attacks. Both undersea cities are in our hands now. Our losses, however heavy, are below predictions. No orbital defence systems of any kind were detected anywhere in the operational theatre, and the cities proper were defended only by armed civilians and support staff whose resistance was of no consequence."

"Attacking warships with personal weapons and explosive charges, an ugly job if there ever was one. Good thing we left doing that stuff to these clones." Orbital cannons... previous year, the Eye of Horus was a superweapon. Now they're being mass-produced. Just like the clones... which the Grand Admiral didn't like too much. Some were even saying that his grand fleet was the last massed human deployment in history, which he liked even less. "What about the Japanese losses?"

"The attack on Umi Kobe was a well placed one. About eight hundred of Japanese fighter planes were destroyed, most of them before they were even able to take off from their floating platforms. After the threat of the airplanes was neutralized, our forces attacking both cities destroyed a total of five Aegis Cruiser groups and five Scout Sub flotillas."

"Not too bad for our opening move. Relay the order to all our task forces. Keep the current bearing. Half speed ahead. All defensive systems at full readiness. Do not break formation," said Janus, sitting in his command chair and putting his chin on his joined hands.

"Maintaining formation could be problematic because of weather conditions. The Icy Ocean is chock full of floating ice..."

"Commander, I'm not interested in icebergs. The country saved no expense on outfitting this fleet. We have hundreds of railguns, cruise missiles and high-yield torpedoes. If any iceberg blocks your path, just blast it away. Maintain the formation, even if it starts raining nukes. My orders in this matter are absolute."

"Yes sir."

"Good... now, we just have to wait for the Japanese response..." he smiled. "What are you going to do? Will you surprise me? And if... then how..."


2nd September 1982
Icy Ocean

"The resistance is heavy, Sir," Commander Dhaksi was referring the progress of the ongoing offensive. "We're losing hundreds of planes, not even to mention all the clone divisions. What's more worrying, Task Forces 3, 7 and 9 have all suffered crippling losses."

"This was to be expected," responded Heliconnen. "We won't win this battle without getting bloodied. This is not a reason to concern. How about the progress?"

"The enemy was able to retake both cities, and, like we expected, they blew up Umi Oita."

Heliconnen nodded. The Japanese tendency to set fire on their own cities once they became indefensible was something to be expected of those barbarians who had little concern for the lives of their own once they became expendable.

"However, a concerted strike of our naval, air and orbital assets annihilated about ten of their naval escadres and four interceptor wings, and resulted in securing Umi Kobe back, as well as claiming of Umi Fukui and Umi Yonago..."

"Good, good. With our current speed we're going to reach their regional strongpoint, Umi Miyazaki, within a week. Then..."

"Wait, Sir. That's not all. Our forces securing Umi Fukui have found something strange..."

"What is it?" Heliconnen shifted in his seat with renewed interest.

"It appears to be a fusion reactor. In a flawless, working condition. More than one, actually. A few half-built vessels we've secured inside the city's sub pens bore those."

"From what I know, our scientists claimed this kind of device is quite out of reach of our science... The intelligence reports were claiming that while Japanese weren't thwarted in pursuing that goal none the less, they were still far, far away from producing anything that actually worked... Something is not right, Commander. Maybe the intel was faulty... but this is very, very unlikely. Ship these devices back to the country on the first available Space Planes, this is a priority. The eggheads back home need to take a crack on it."

He got up and walked to the window of his ship's bridge. "I was expecting a surprise, but not something like this... Whatever. No matter what they're hiding, they can't stop my fleet."



6th September 1982
Azure Labs, Undisclosed Location, Northern Egypt

"...When we have discovered this, we immediately thought this is something from comrade Cleopatra's field of... well, expertise, so to speak, but..." The thirty-something scientist scratched his hair. "I mean, not the technology itself, but..."

Arturia nodded. "But you weren't able to reach her, since she's not in Thebes..." Or anywhere else I know, she added in her mind, "...So I was the next logical person... for some reason?"

"Yes, yes... I mean, it's not like this is really beyond us, we have our best phycists here, including that young man, Tohsi, who wrote the Unified Field Theory..." the scientist winced, as Tohsi had little respect for the academia, he reportedly invented antygravity just because he was very annoyed that the maglev train he was working on can't be turned over without breaking it. "We know HOW it works, more or less... we can replicate it, even if for now, just by carbon-copying it... But it's just a question of time before we fully crack its secrets..."

"So why am I here."

"The thing is, it's... it's... Well... It's not a sloppy prototype. It's a fully mature, compact and elegant work. Like they had years or even decades to perfect it. What's more, it uses some absolutely ingenious engineering solutions... which seem completely not in line with our way of doing things... or even THEIRS. You cannot just change your engineering solutions out of the blue... This requires new ways of thinking, new tools... and even then, they had no time..."

"I think I get what you're trying to say. This fusion engine didn't come from Japan. They're just replicating it. Right?"

"It appears to be the most logical conclusion."

"And it didn't come from us, or the British, or the French."

The scientist could just nod.

"So there is only one answer. It came from beyond this world. This kind of stuff has happened before..." she squinted her eyes. "In Russia."

"So... what about it?"

"Keep working on it." She felt uneasy. Whatever the game the outwordly Japanese sponsors were playing, they just upped the ante. Anything was possible now; the defensive forces needed to be put on high alert.

[Max_Smirnov]

8th November 1982 - the sixth day of Operation Cyclone (turn 316)
Aircraft Carrier "Lev Trotsky"
Icy Ocean

"The spring is coming, Commander Dhaksi..." mused Admiral Heliconnen, looking out of the windows of his bridge at the vast expanse of cold water, basking in the rays of the sun. "And with it, the end of the Japanese empire. The Great War they've started three years ago is drawing to an end. Just like we were aiming for, Operation Tempest broke their fleet and airforce, didn't it? Let's have a look at the map."



"Yes, Sir... Operation Cyclone is progressing with hardly any problems. Seems that the battle of Umi Kyoto five days ago, where a major concetration of Japanese fleet caused us so many losses, was their swan's song in this area. All the other cities targeted by Operation Cyclone, while heavily mined, trapped and fanatically defended by whatever infantry forces left inside, contained no naval vessels or aircraft. The Japanese seem to have started a major retreat, pulling every mobile asset to the defence of their capitol. Including any fusion-powered vessels they've managed to finish... Satellite imaging spotted one full escadre of those south of Nagasaki. Their speed is incredible. We might have trouble fighting them... Perhaps we've allowed ourselves too much of a delay after finishing Operation Tempest, despite all the urging orders from Thebes."

"Commander, I don't intend to lose any more lives of my sailors than it is absolutely necessary. My fleet needed those three weeks to recuperate. Thebes are far away from here, what they can do? Cut my supplies? We control enough of Japanese towns to feed ourselves by this point. We have more ships, interceptors, bombers and space planes than the rest of the Union combined. I am the one and only master and commander of these waters... Speaking of these new Japanese vessels, are my fusion battleships ready yet?"

"The engineers are working day and night, but it is physically impossible for the vessels to be finished sooner than within another week, then there is a matter of them catching up to our fleet, which is already thousands of miles away from the construction sites. And it is unlikely they'll be able to even remotely match the Japanese ones, they're just old Battleships, refitted with recovered fusion plants and the biggest laser guns we could find. Still, their firepower and speed will be far beyond anything else we have."

"It will suffice, we have a huge numerical advantage to back them up. Their 'miracle weapons' are just smoke and mirrors... like that doomed offensive on the British shores their have undertaken. Let's have a look at it."



"They have seized Durrow, but it is highly unlikely they are going to make it much further. It's kind of puzzling. While their attacking forces contain just five divisions of elite m-infantry units, the other half being a motley of conscripted soldiers, clones and domestic androids... They're still fully outfitted with anti-grav devices, railguns and other modern armaments. It must've been a major effort for the Japanese to cobble together such an offensive at this point... And with little air support or reinforcements, it will be just a forlorn hope. The British are going to crush them really fast. It makes no sense. The resources needed to undertake this offensive would serve them much better in defence."

"Maybe they wanted to go out in the blaze of glory. Like the ritual suicide tradition they're known for, Commander. Of course, they want to take their subjects with them, because the Japanese ruling class hates to die alone. What else is going on there?"

"All the outlying land cities and fortresses the Japanese used to have were abandoned. Only big towns of Nagasaki and Tsukaba remain. The first is ruled by the poor Izumi Clan, but probably with the addition of all the forces retreating from other outposts, is now well-defended. Tsukaba, ruled by rich Tokugawas, on the other hand, is extremely well defended, with six divisions of m-infantry and three divisions of mecha, fortified in the mountains around the city, would be almost impossible to conquer by a direct assault."

"So Thakisis sent his shady characters in instead..."

"Yes Sir. Both cities have been infected with a highly lethal retrovirus; the outbreaks have been mostly contained by now, but several millions of citizens expired in just several days. In Tsukaba, the saboteurs succeeded in blowing up some outlying industrial facilities as well. Meanwhile, General Thakisis had redeployed his Orbital Cannons in the Umi Koriyama area, to suppress any aerial or orbital movement over the Japanese capital."

"He's working fast... We need to speed up our offensive. Ignore outlying outposts and push straight for Umi Koriyama. We're third of a planet away from there, but with luck, it might yet be me who deals the finishing blow, not that Theban bigwig, not Lady Commissar Arturia but me, Admiral Heliconnen..." he clenched his fists.

[Eerion]

“Your people don’t know when to give up, do they?” Miku spoke, while looking at the screen. The nuclear blast was widely transmitted on an open channel for anyone to see – be it Japanese or a foreigner. The news ticker repeated only one message over and over again. “You took down Haruhi Tower, we did the same on Bhubaneswar. Say good bye to the biggest city on this planet.”
“If they were the ones to give up easily, Japan would be a small nomadic country on the frozen desert up to this day.” Ryujin answered. “Still this is nothing but choosing your own way to die. Instead of cowering in a city, awaiting the final charge some people have decided to die on the battlefield. Considering the fact that the huge majority of these forces come from Fukushima and Nikko such ferocity does not surprise me at all. But does destroying a city and conquering other three changes anything?”
The android moved her head in denial. “Only until the large scale counteroffensive.”
They watched in silence at the last large scale Japanese offence. The monumental mushroom kept on expanding. The biggest nuclear bomb ever produced, named Yamato, kept on swallowing everything around. It required a custom made monstrous stealth bomber to transport it and hundreds of interceptors to ensure its safety, yet it has succeeded.
“I’m actually surprised that Luka decided to reveal Perun’s last project to people. I did not expect that.”
She smirked. “I’m glad we can act unpredictable to you. It was made for them, so it was pretty obvious. Wasn’t it?”
Ryujin nodded. He looked at the fully formed nuclear cloud. “Fusion power is not enough to change the tide.” He sighed deeply “So this is how my peaceful days ends I suppose. It’s just a matter of days or weeks before the capitol will disappear in one way or another.”
Miku looked at him. “So let’s have our last discussion here. As a gift I will give you quite a few interesting informations. And several answers.”
He looked at her expressionless. “This is not something that can be done without a drink. Do you want anything?”
“I’ll have wine. Since you finally managed to get few bottles for me it’d be a waste not to use them.”
Ryujin looked at two empty glasses. One for whiskey and one for wine. Empty, they reflected the red light emitted from nuclear blast transmission. He realised how short it took him to get used to this android. Its behaviour could be perfectly humanlike, yet it had no flaws of mankind. They were childish or rush, but also wise and patient when required. Insane data processing ability made them great debaters. Not like humans – only questioning or offending on the long run. And now, this short enjoyable period of time was coming to an end. He poured the alcohol and walked back to his seat.
“So would you like to talk about today?” He asked.
„Future maybe?”
„That’s not a very optimistic topic for me.” He laughed. „But if you insist, I cannot reject. So what do you think does the future hold?”
„Changes. The future brings a lot of changes. For everyone.”
Ryujin wrinkled his brews. „Continue.”
„Let me ask you a question. How big do you think is the universe?”
He did not expect such out of the box question. Yet he knew there is a reason to everything. „Enormously vast. Especially if races can allow themselves to use hundreds of thousands planets they could colonise for games like this one.”
Miku nodded. „Exactly. So if such amount of space is insignificant for others then how vast are the galactic empires?”
The Japanese master covered his mouth with hand. He had some knowledge regarding space. There could be only one game per star system to avoid their potential meeting if things last long enough. If such thing can be afforded then the size of one empire must be greater than a Galaxy. Empire bigger than that must have a way of instant travelling between galaxies. Or at least send messages quickly in order to make everything works. „Definitely greater than a Galaxy.” He answered realising he was going off topic.
„Indeed. You have a plenty of participants in this game. Some are smaller, some bigger yet it’s completely out of the scale even for a game like this. Now think about it. Do you think they really care about one small planet? Do you…”
„Wait a moment.” Ryujin interrupted her. „I am perfectly aware that you are talking about our planet. But as you have mentioned earlier, everyone is going to end as a lab rat. To take care of these abnormalities.”
Miku nodded. „Indeed. Yet I have mentioned you earlier that changes are coming. You see. Because of everything that has happened here, your game is the most observed one right now. It’s full of unexpected events and characters. Some players even interfered directly. This is like a breath of fresh air after sitting in an old room. Now think about it. If something makes so much commotion, without destroying the whole system, then why not? Everyone seems to enjoy this outcome.”
“Yes, but what about all masters and immortals? There are too many unknown factors to me.”
“So first… The lab rat aspect you have mentioned.” Miku looked at her glass. “It is possible to happen on a smaller scale, with some restraints if they will cooperate.”
“What if they won’t?”
Miku shrugged her arms. An obvious answer.
“Depending on the outcome, everyone may be annihilated or they may be given a small planet somewhere to live on.”
“To live on you say.” He picked up the topic quickly before she managed to move on. “Where? I don’t expect it to be far away from everyone. I suppose it’s going to be under someone’s protectorate, right?”
“Indeed. The default option is under the race that one represents.”
They looked into each other’s eyes. Egyptian’s, who are most willing to win now are represented by reptilian race.
They both bursted out in laughter. “Not going to happen.” The master spoke.
Android agreed. “Well if they are good enough negotiators and know how to bow heads then who knows? Maybe someone else will accept them? The only fact is that between the time the Egypt refuses Reptiles protection and get someone else one they may evaporate if something goes wrong.”
“Well that’s not my problem. Still what we can expect? That future games will be full of random aspects, masters and events like this one? This is what everyone is leaning towards?”
Miku nodded. “That’s most likely going to happen. If you wish we could put you into another game… after the tests.”
Ryujin looked at her. “I did not even participate in this one. Why should I ask for another?”
“People tend to change their minds.” She added happily. “Even rulers of a whole galaxy.”
Ryujin stopped. Was everything really changing in such unexpected way? Did suddenly these godlike powerful races decide to change rules out of simple… boredom? Actually is boredom something that can be underestimated? He himself had done so he wouldn’t have to deal with it. If it’s something done by a lowly peasant and master alike, even if the actions taken are completely different, then why not even the higher beings? Their action is also out of scale when compared to his. Still Miku wouldn’t tell such things if they wouldn’t affect him. Japan is doomed anyway, so they’re out of concern.
“So how do all these changes affect me?” He asked. “You are well aware that I’m coming with you.”
“It does not change the process. We have to perform some experiments on you. Yet the outcome will be different. You may become a lab rat, but you don’t have to end like one.”
“So what are my options?”
“It depends on how good you are with negotiations.” Miku grinned. “Would you like to meet my master? Many things should be clear after you meet him.”
Ryujin nodded. “I do not think he’s going to come here. So I suppose it’s time for us to leave this planet?”
“Both are correct. But he’s actually at the doors already.”
He looked at her dumbfounded. He felt a… presence of something at the door, yet he was still in his own room. He was pretty sure of it. The transmission on the TV did not lose signal and more important, he could feel the everyday life in Umi Koriyama.
“Why did you say that we will come to him if it’s the opposite?” He asked slowly.
“We are not on the Earth anymore. The whole room was moved while we were talking.”
He kept on looking at her suspiciously. This was the first time in his life when he was absolutely clueless of what was going on around. He could even feel Suzumiya in the hospital nearby. Yet there was no reason for Miku to lie to him. Two things that collided. Two pieces of puzzle that would never fit together.
“In order to make something work properly, one has to know everything about it.” The android spoke, seeing his reaction. “If you know everything about an object or a force you can perfectly recreate it… or fake it.” She smiled widely. “We know everything about master’s powers and… felt like playing a trick on you, since you always act so calm and organised. You have simply overestimated your uniqueness. But don’t worry Ryujin. Everyone does. Everyone.”

[Max_Smirnov]

The History Log - November 1982

2nd.
Operation Cyclone starts. After crossing the 110th W meridian, Adm. Heliconnen's fleet commences operations against the Japanese forces defending eight remaining major sea colonies on the Icy Ocean. In the sheer scope, the operation is without parallel - these colonies stretch over an area covering over 50 millions of square kilometres.

4th.
The only major battle of Operation Cyclone at Umi Kyoto. A Japanese fleet is sunk after inflicting major losses on the attackers.

5th.
The Japanese landing on Surat Peninsula in a desperate attempt at a counteroffensive. Weak defences of Durrow fall to the assault.

7th.
The Socialist Union performs biological attacks at cities of Nagasaki and Tsukaba.

10th.
International conference in Yalta. British, Egyptian and French delegations discuss the post-war partitioning of Japan. It is decided that the Japanese mainland and the Icy Ocean will fall under Egyptian jurisdiction, and a Japanese Autonomy will be created on these areas, with the capital in Kyoto, government elected by the masses, and the traditional position of Emperor remaining but with little real power; the Emperor will be appointed by the Egyptian government. Nagasaki-Umi Hiroshima area, Roman Isles, Persia, Sea of Storms and the Eastern Sea (including Tsukaba and Umi Koriyama) will fall under the British jurisdiction. Several demilitarized zones were agreed upon in various areas of the globe, with the French charged with peacekeeping.

12th.
After a brief resistance, the British defences on Surat Peninsula falter. The Japanese seize cities of Ikasawak and Neo City. The defenders fall back to Arras to cut off the peninsula from the Indian mainland and hold it till a counterattack can be mounted.

15th.
The Japanese drop a thermonuclear bomb on the city of Bhubaneswar, killing millions of citizens. The same day, they use nuclear weapons to annihilate the British defences at Arras. The commander of the southern-Indian land forces, General Percival Landry dies in the bombing. The British ask for Socialist Union assistance in the area, while converging their available forces at a second-line defensive position at Nowy Korczyn.

16th.
The British retaliate with a nuclear strike against Nagasaki. The bombed city is occupied by British paratroopers.



17th.
The first battle of Umi Komatsu. The British fleet and airforce succeed in penetrating the defensive grid, but the follow-up airborne attack is called off due to insufficient preparation, in part caused by the encroaching chaos in the Southern India. The Japanese seize ruins of Arras and prepare to push onwards into the Indian mainland.

18th.
With the fall of Umi Hiroshima, the Operation Cyclone is concluded. Adm. Heliconnen, with the final obstacle of Nagasaki removed, declares he will personally seize the Japanese capitol, Umi Koriyama, and orders his fleet to proceed full speed westwards, crossing the International Date Line.

19th.
Against Heliconnen's protests, Gen. Thakisis decides to commence Operation Typhoon - the final assault on Umi Koriyama and the surrounding cities. Within a single day, 20 divisions of RUNE m-infantry are dropped on Umi Onomitchi and Umi Obe, annihilating most of remaining Japanese naval and air forces, trapped in the harbors. As it is usual with such assaults, losses approach 75%.

20th.
The British staging area at Nowy Korczyn is destroyed with nuclear weapons. The Japanese paratroopers occupy the ruins. The same day, they seize the under-defended undersea colony of Sir Renton.

21st.
The city council of Bhubaneswar declares secession from the British Federation, blaming it for failing to protect the city from Japanese terrorist attack and a sloppy response to the humanitarian disaster that followed. Bhubaneswar wants full independence and invites French experts to help with the crisis. High political tensions follow.

22nd.
Gen. Thakisis commits all his remaining m-infantry forces to a relief strike at Surat Peninsula. Attacks on Ikasawak and Durrow succeed in liberating the cities, but not without considerable losses. Secondary attacks at Nowy Korczyn and Neo City are repelled. With reserves depleted, and Heliconnen's fleet bogged down by storms and Japanese minefields, Operation Typhoon is threatened with serious delays right after it has started.



23rd.
Adm. Heliconnen demands immediate removal of Gen. Thakisis from his position as the Supreme Commander of the Allied Staff. A crisis in the Socialist Union's ruling circles over who will seize the Japanese capital follows. The political leadership is paralyzed by Cleopatra's silence on the matter, while many high-level military commanders side with Heliconnen's request. Cms. Pendragon threatens that the Commissariat was created specially with such leadership crises in mind, and should the situation remain unresolved, a state of high emergency will be declared, resulting in the Commissariat temporarily taking over all decisionmaking.

24th.
An attempt to push with Thakisis' replacement, with Heliconnen relying on Pendragon's lack of real support, is met with an unexpectedly strong resistance of the Commissariat, which power grew enormously during the war, especially on former Japanese areas, where it was the only force charged with governing the population and exacting justice - a position of importance unlikely to change with Pendragon supporting the calls for a widespread search for Japanese war criminals. In Thebes, in turn, the Commissariat filled the power void caused by prolonged Cleopatra's silence.

[Max_Smirnov]

Kasane Teto, the android was watching closely at Arturia methodically eating pork ribs in garlic sauce. An act of consuming, undoubtedly pleasurable in itself, even if the finer points of flesh consuming flesh were unknowable to a being who didn't need that kind of sustenance. Yet here, much more important was the fact of that dead animal becoming a part of a perfect creature she adored.

"How do you feel about wielding political power once again ?" she asked, curious of creature's thoughts as well.

Arturia finished off the last bone and dropped it on the plate, then proceeded to clean her hands. "I don't feel anything. I cannot be ever accepted as I am not one of them. I cannot force them to listen as I am alone. That's why I was made a Commissar in the first place, the nature of that position being an essentially free agent, even the highest-ranking one. Now the organisation and all the people dependant on it don't want the power they won during the war to be taken away from them by the old establishment. It became convenient to use me as a tool in that struggle."

Teto reached across the table and took Arturia's hand. The Commissar frowned a little, but didn't take the hand away. With the free hand, she reached for a glass of beer instead to wash down the meal.

"I think you're selling yourself short," said the redhead android, smiling. "If this weren't you, I'd even think you're lying. But you're you, you're predictable and thus dependable, single minded and thus trustworthy. Do not think people cannot see that. You're their hope, not merely convenience. And despite your words, you haven't let them to reduce you to a mere tool. See how Haruhi was able to wield considerable power before Perun's appearance, despite being alone just like yourself. It is always easier to put your trust into a being greater than yourself, when confronting insurmountable odds... like the extraterrestials."

"Haruhi?" Arturia's reptilian eyes blinked in surprise, then she winced. "I've always hated her. And she is dead."

"A curious emotional reaction..." chuckled Teto.

"What of it."

"Nothing, nothing. But as much as I hate to say that, you're wrong. Haruhi isn't dead. No longer an immortal, and crippled, but not dead. She's at Umi Koriyama. The intelligence is quite convincing."

"...Intelligence? But you're just..."

"Smarter than I look, I know. So are RUNE's. You've produced them by the million, and while so many have died for their masters' cause, yet much more is still alive... And their ranks are increasing. So is their influence, organisation and knowledge it seems. I don't know how they laid their hands on that information, but suffice to say... You have more support than you think. For some reason, they consider you a sort of a role model... not that I am surprised by anyone who adores you, it's quite natural... Yet to the point, knowing me to be sort of a... back entry, if you forgive me... An unofficial link to you, and not a human at that... They approached me."

"Are they thinking about revolting?"

"Oh, no. They're not being disloyal, they just don't want to disappear without a trace. What gives them their efficiency? Certainly not their masterfully engineered bodies. See, just like my Japanese creators, you've finally recognized that a perfect slave, like the old clones are, is hardly a perfect help. You've allowed them to feel pride, the survival instinct, and the drive to transcendency, the feelings that make humans so tenacious. A new race is being born, but is this really that scary? It's the mindset, the culture, the memes that matter, and those they do share with you. If the greater idea is carried over, who does care who bears it? Human generations are born and die all the time, and yet the nation persists. Why not think about them as being just yet another generation. They're not alien."

"No, not alien. Alien influence must be eradicated". Arturia thought for a moment. "At least this gives me an idea how to use The Nightmare. I wanted it to be built for me. Now I have a way to start paying the bill. There are still a few days to prepare, before the final assault on Umi Koriyama commences."

"I wish I could see you riding it... There must be few more beautiful sights. Maybe it's called Nightmare, but for you is more of a dream."

"Maybe."

"That sounded almost sexual."

"Maybe."

[jonathan1980]

Lets Use 8 player world map scenario for our Forever future PBEM (play by electronic Mail) game. people if there interest will audition for each of the other civilizations and we will see if we need them in our campaign. M email is Necropolis20us@yahoo.com

[Solarius Scorch]

Lets Use 8 player world map scenario for our Forever future PBEM (play by electronic Mail) game. people if there interest will audition for each of the other civilizations and we will see if we need them in our campaign. M email is Necropolis20us@yahoo.com

Ah, a challenger arises!

Sure, you have been acknowledged - just be patient until it starts, since we have to conclude the present game first and then make some additions to the mod.

[Eerion]

make some additions to the mod.

That's a rather soft description of what we're going to do :P

[jonathan1980]

I agree that the downside to using real world maps is that theres only 4 real world based maps that were uploaded so far USA ,World ,UK ,and Mediterranean. Thing about the Canadians Civilization is that there not present on the forever future mod. there found on Classic CTP2. The other downside is that the game player has to construct the entire empire for the Civilization he picked. and i picked Canadiens and they started off in the far west of the map and had to figure out how to walk all the way to eastern canada to build my cities. for most of the trip i was lost but when i discovered lake michigan i knew where i was and kept on my way waled accross the Strait of Detroit and was finnalyin canada but then isthe game began in 7000 BC so i felt like i had all the time in the world but i really did not i explored most of the west coast and by the time i got to crossing the Strait of Detroit to Canada it was the year 1700 AD. The Americans start of near where there supposed to but there first settler is near Boston and its supposed to be near Washington DC. when i was playing as the American i built Washington ,Boston ,Philadelphia and newyork all in the right spots but traveling to San Francisco was a ridiculously hugh journey that would take like a few hundred turns and when i got there and built to place the distance to capital penalty made it like it was not worth it so i stayed mainly in the eastern half of the USA. But the USA is only one of the 4 maps we can pick. the USA and the UK maps are not balanced one player will have all the power either American or English. BUT Mediterranean and World are very balanced by comparison.