The assault squad blew up the entrance gate and began shooting, killing all the enemies who stood near the hostages. Shots were heard behind the door, but none of the cultists tried to escape through the back exit, which made me somewhat happy. At least we didn't have to waste ammo, which was very helpful, knowing how much we now hated wasting it.

After the “nightmare” squad finished capturing the temple, we received the command to hang up and calmly went inside. Opening the narrow door and walking along an equally narrow stone corridor, we went out into the main hall where we saw how soldiers of the 127th Army, together with members of the city garrison, were leading crowds of freed hostages outside. The cultists, in turn, lay dead, leaving only traces of bleeding. None of them showed any signs of life.

Having found no strange energy impulses that would have resembled an explosion or any kind of magical traps, the general considered the temple safe, and therefore then went inside in a calm manner, straightening his general’s cap. Our detachment helped the civilians get out and, although without the rings we did not understand their language, we probably guessed that they were saying words of gratitude to us.

Will even glanced at one girl, but he immediately returned to reality when Itami nudged him.

"And what? "

Will was perplexed seeing a smug grin on the signalman’s face.

"What do you need? If nothing, then fuck off and do your thing."

"Okay, okay."

Itami answered.

"But this applies to you too."

"What concerns me?"

Will looked stupid.

“I’m the most responsible and peace-loving person in the world. I didn’t even kill anyone today. Why can’t I look at my ass?”

"Both of you, keep quiet."

I ordered them and they instantly fell silent, continuing to help the natives.

Looking around the temple hall, the walls of which were decorated with luxurious gilded paintings and rainbow mosaics, I found the general, the queen and, to my surprise, even Ripun. Approaching the trio closer, the orange-eyed prophet in his usual brown robe greeted me with a joyful expression on his face:

"Boris! I'm so glad to see you."

"What?"

I was surprised to hear my native speech.

"Do you speak English?"

"Yes."

Ripun nodded and extended his palm forward, showing a stem-shaped ring on his middle finger.

"I asked Granid to make it for me so we could talk. It was his last gift."

"I didn't even know he left you such a gift."

I commented and decided to ask him something.

"How did you end up here? Were you taken hostage too?"

Ripun nodded.

“Yes. I was walking around the city, looking for some decoration for Alza from the merchants, but then they showed up, grabbed me and...”

It became difficult for the prophet to speak further, and therefore I did not insist, already guessing how his story would unfold.

"It's clear."

I answered briefly, patting the prophet on the shoulder.

"I'm glad you're okay too."

After that, I drew attention to Zeonid, which hovered over the body of Queen Ilifreeta, around which the native healers and our military doctors crowded. The Queen in a white nightie was lying on the floor unconscious and her condition was very deplorable. Usually her skin color was quite normal, but now she was very pale. In addition, her breathing was very weak, which indicated only one thing:

"She's dying."

One of the doctors stated, frightening the royal advisers who came running here.

"She was poisoned. It is difficult to determine the substance that damaged her body, but if she is not immediately detoxified, her heart will stop by the end of the day."

One of the royal servants said something in his own language, and General Zeonid with a translator ring on his palm understood what was said and nodded. Ripun hurried to breathe a sigh of relief and said:

"Thank you."

I immediately decided to ask the prophet what they were talking about:

"What did he say?"

“He wanted to know if they would help her, and Mr. Zeonid agreed that she would be healed.”

Now it was my turn to breathe a sigh of relief.

"Phew~...that's good."

We did not interfere with the doctors, who put the queen on a carrier, carried her to an armored personnel carrier and took her to the camp, where all the necessary medical equipment was prepared. There is no need to worry about the queen’s life, she will be fine. We can rely on our healthcare and advanced technologies, at least for now.

General Zeonid continued to give orders and even talked with some of the natives, asking them about the uprising, but after several conversations, the general pulled away and with dissatisfaction on his face began to walk through the expanses of the temple, where the few remaining people continued to care for the wounded and carry away the bodies of the dead.

The temple itself looked very beautiful, especially when there were few people here. The feeling is as if you are looking at something very ancient and majestic. It is not surprising that such a place is used by locals to worship God. From the outside the temple was colossal in size, but from the inside it seemed even larger. And although the building was smaller in size than the shuttle and the palace, it was a truly impressive structure for its era.

In addition to civilians, the soldiers of the 127th Army held at gunpoint the associated cultists, among whom I noticed a familiar face. He attended many meetings, but more often he preferred to listen silently and stand in a prayerful position and as far as I know his name was Azann, he was a bishop and one of the most important members of the royal council.

A couple of fighters holding his hands behind his back hurriedly took the bishop outside and as he passed us he cast a contemptuous glance towards Ripun and no less contemptuously uttered one word with a wheeze:

"Muran."

After this, the old bishop was taken outside and no one saw him again.

"What did he say? Was it some kind of insult?"

I said, turning to Ripun, and without thinking twice he confirmed my words.

"You are right."

At this moment, General Zeonid suddenly joined us, approaching from behind:

"And what does the word 'Muran' mean?"

Ripun froze for a moment before giving an answer, biting his lip.

"I don't even know what it means."

Zeonid looked at the prophet with suspicion, crossed his arms over his chest and asked with skepticism:

"Are you sure about this?"

The Prophet nodded.

It is unlikely that he had a reason to hide something, and at the same time it was strange that the ring did not translate this word for the general. I expected it to translate for the general to something like "heretic", "bastard" or something similar, but it seems that it was indeed some kind of unique word that is not used in any language other than Lakuusian.

It can also mean someone's name.

I thought about it and considered my guess fair.

The general, in turn, did not dwell on his suspicions and immediately expressed them. To my surprise, our train of thoughts coincided and, in fact, the general said the same thing that I had just thought.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"It seemed to me that the bishop pronounced this word as if it sounded like someone's name. Is 'Muran' your real name or maybe your pseudonym?"

"I really don't know."

Ripun shook his head.

"Then why did he say that? What happened here while we were preparing for the assault?"

"General?"

I turned to Zeonid, but he ignored me.

All his attention was drawn to the prophet and this attention was not a manifestation of curiosity, rather it was a real suspicion that Ripun might be involved in something.

“For what reason did he turn to you?”

Zeonid asked.

"I-I..."

Ripun didn't know what to answer, continuing to shake his head.

"I really don't know."

"I may not be a pantorian, but I can see that you are lying now. He looked at you as a traitor... you are the same person who kidnapped Queen Ilifreeta."

What?

I was very surprised and looked at the frightened prophet in disbelief. Only now did I notice his wrist, on which dangled a thin white fabric bracelet, and by which the cultists identified allies and enemies.

"This can't be true."

I said it and Ripun, having guessed everything, covered it up and hurried to hide the bracelet from sight, but it was already too late.

"Ripun, is this true? Is it you we saw on the cameras?"

I may have been calm, but General Zeonid, not allowing the prophet to give me an answer, suddenly grabbed him by the throat, lifting him up and pressing him to the wall. Ripun grabbed the general's hand and tried to unhook it, but it was in vain. The prophet simply did not have the strength to cope with the republican general.

Zeonid's face was seething with rage and he looked as if he was ready to kill the prophet at this very second.

"Sir, stop!"

I tried to reason with the general, but he, still not paying attention to me, suddenly started screaming.

"YOU ARRANGED THIS ALL! THIS IS ALL YOUR HANDS! ALL THIS HAPPENED BECAUSE OF YOU FROM THE VERY BEGINNING!"

The natives and soldiers of the 127th Army paid attention to the cry of the old general, and I, grabbing Zeonid by the wrist, tried to loosen his grip. The general instantly realized what he had done, nevertheless paying attention to me and slightly loosened his grip, but did not dare to let go of the prophet.

Ripun was choking at that moment and could hardly say anything, but tears of remorse were visible on his face. It was as if he was afraid of something that should never happen. As if what he was so afraid of would happen: that we would find out about his betrayal or whatever his actions were.

Somehow, but he was still able to utter the following words:

"I… really… did it."

At that moment, the world around me seemed to turn upside down, I was so shocked by his confession. I didn’t believe, didn’t want to believe in what I heard, and with a stupid expression on my face began to repeat:

"W-what? No... that's not it... why? Why did you do that? W-why? You were with us all this time... how... how could you do that?"

I was in no hurry with the questions, but I still needed to give him time to give an answer. Zeonid, meanwhile, loosened his grip and released Ripun down so that, after catching his breath, he could pronounce his confession in full, with all the details that he had so far hidden from us. His face became different, it instantly became stern, as if he had gone through more than one thousand battles, as if before that he wore an impenetrable mask behind which was hiding a real and ugly monster. He looked so different from himself that I even asked:

"Are you sure...Ripun?"

I waited for an answer with a bit of hope that this person was really the one I saved a month and a half ago. He helped us a couple of times, predicted the future, essentially saved us from meeting Swidok, predicting her appearance in the village where we were going to stay. Are that person and this one the same people or maybe this Ripun is imitating a real prophet?

Continuing to wait for an answer, I swallowed my saliva when I saw the prophet looking at me angrily. There was hatred in his fiery gaze, and I sincerely did not understand where it came from. What could I do that could make him so angry? A moment later, everything fell into place and Ripun finally told everything that was on his mind:

“I believed you... I believed that you would help us, save our country... but I was deeply mistaken... I was very much mistaken in all of you. You turned out to be not saviors, you turned out to be just villains, an evil no less terrible than Antigone and his “holy” armies. You came here from heaven, and I understand you, it’s not your fault that you invaded our world, no, it’s the fault of higher powers that allowed you to find yourself here. I know you’re here. not with good intentions, you are not here to bring justice to our world, saving the weak and innocent is not your goal to subjugate and conquer, like everyone else in this world. You are just people... just like us, I only recently realized this and also realized that you will not help us in any way, and therefore... I decided to force you."

"Force?"

Zeonid asked, perplexed.

"How were you even going to force us? What was this uprising for?"

"No use."

Ripun admitted, pulling the magic ring out of his finger and also continuing to speak in English.

"I just used them. It was the only way I could bring you here."

"Sir!"

One of the fighters shouted with a scanner in his hands.

"A sharp energy pulse has been detected throughout the temple! Telemetry is going crazy!"

The sudden message from the fighter took us by surprise. In an instant, many bright white spheres appeared above a strange statue in the form of a paw sticking out of the floor, which, just as instantly as they had appeared, silently headed towards us. They were the size of a man’s head and at those moments seemed like peculiar stars that would burn us right through if we did not get out of their way.

The general and I instinctively tried to run away from these things, covering our faces with our hands so as not to be blinded by the bright light, but of the two of us, only I was lucky. I jumped to the side in time, dodging one of the spheres that emitted intense heat, but most of it rushed towards the general and Ripun.

While Zeonid tried to jump to the side, the prophet detained him, grabbing his hand and holding him in place. The spheres flew past each of them at these moments, but also prevented their escape by stopping in place, thereby creating something like “sea mines.”

"What are you doing?!"

The general shouted at the prophet, trying to shake him off, but Ripun held Zeonid tightly, despite the fact that the prophet was weak.

"Let go!"

"You will go with me to Hippolyta! You will save my country! YOU MUST!"

Ripun shouted back, his voice breaking.

"BASTARD!"

Zeonid shouted, taking a pistol out of the holster with his left hand and putting the barrel to the prophet’s forehead.

"YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS! LET GO OTHERWISE YOU WILL DIE!"

"No!"

Ripun resisted.

Looking at it, I could hardly do anything. The spheres emitted enormous heat and, after a short pause, began to circle above the couple, causing anomalous spatial distortions. The man with the scanner shouted in panic, still continuing to stand not far from us:

"Oh, hell! Is that antimatter?! I don't understand what's happening to the mass indices! Sir, you have to run! The antimatter will blow a hole in space! It could send us all into subspace! Oh, my God! What's driving these things?! B-black holes? Sir! Can you hear me?! Run!"

It became very dangerous to be here, all the people began to run out of the temple in panic, and of all the few remaining, I was closest to the general and the prophet. I had no idea what was happening and what these things were, but inside this “fiery arena” the prophet continued to hold the general’s hand while he tried to unhook himself, simultaneously threatening him with death.

Right now we were at risk of losing two important people: the prophet and the general of the 127th Army, and there was nothing I could do. It was impossible to get close to them, and spatial distortions gave rise to anomalies. It was as if everything was falling towards these spheres, and the visible spectrum was shifting to the red zone, causing everything outside the field of view of the spheres to darken.

Inside the temple, the wind began to blow towards these spheres, which apparently were pumping out air. It looks like they really made a hole in reality and led to subspace. I didn’t think that magic was capable of such things, and yet it wasn’t that that scared me, but the fact that Ripun for some reason kept the general in place.

Soon the chaotic rotation of the spheres turned into a systematic circular rotation above the heads of Zeonid and Ripun, generating something like a rupture in the space-time continuum. The distortions looked frightening; it seemed that the prophet and the general were stretched into noodles, painted in a bloody color.

"I WILL NOT REPEAT! GET OFF!"

Zeonid yelled, his eyes bulging out angrily.

"You are our hope!"

Ripun screamed in despair and shook like a doll, holding the general in place.

"You must live! Your people must free us!"

"WE DO NOT OWE YOU ANYTHING! I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR WORSE PLANET! I ONLY WANT ONE THING: TO RETURN TO EARTH! AND YOU FUCKING ABORIGIN WILL NOT STOP ME!"

"I have died thousands of times for you to do this! Just free our country! I beg you!"

"NO!"

"I SUFFERED FOR A HUNDRED YEARS LIVING THE SAME DAY! I BECAME DIFFERENT BECAUSE OF YOU! YOU CAN'T LEAVE US! I SACRIFICED MY SOUL FOR THIS!"

"I COUNT TO THREE! TIMES!"

"I'M READY TO SACRIFICE MY POWER FOR THIS!"

"TWO!"

"YOU HAVE NO CHOICE!"

"THREE!"

"I DELIVERED YOU! YOU HAVE TO DO THIS OTHERWISE...!"

"HOW DID YOU GET ME!"

Through the bright light of the white spheres, I noticed how Zeonid put the barrel of a pistol close to the prophet’s forehead, and he still held the general’s hand tightly and did not let go. The whistle of the wind grew in the air, the space above the spheres was distorted, as if something invisible was absorbing the light itself, and then through all this anomalous chaos the familiar sound of a shot was heard.

Ripun, with his brains flying out, let go of the general's hand and fell on his back. The general wanted to slip under the spheres the next moment, but after another moment...

...he suddenly disappeared.

All these strange mysterious spatial distortions stopped, the spheres and retinues of the wind disappeared, as did General Zeonid. On the floor in that place there was only dead Ripun, and instead of his head there was only a bloody mess with everything that followed.

I hurried to him, looking around in search of the general and asking myself many questions.

What the hell just happened here? Was it really Ripun who did everything? Is this all to force us to act against the Empire?

Questions and a feeling of colossal horror washed over me and all I could do now was scream with deep breath and panic:

"A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A!!!"

I strained my voice, tore out my hair, punched the wall and continued to scream as hard as I could and not believe what had just happened. I couldn’t calm down, I just couldn’t come to my senses, I wanted to convince myself that this was all one terrible dream, but it was all for real.

"FUCKING BASTARD!"

Out of anger, I kicked the prophet’s body, not believing that he had died at all. Or maybe this isn’t true at all, maybe I’m just in a Panthora simulation projecting the future, but then why does it continue to exist when the prophet is already dead?! I couldn't understand it. There can be only one explanation for this: this all really happened and this is not a nightmare.

And when the rest of the fighters and people came running here, they only saw me quietly shedding tears, regretting what happened today. Ripun moved the general to Hippolyta. For what?

Think, Boris, why did he do this?

So that we go to save him, so that we send our army there and liberate Hippolyta. He wanted us to help his people free, but we immediately said that this was not part of our plans. This forced him to act decisively, so much so that he took such a desperate step and accomplished his plan.

Died thousands of times for this...

"Bitch!"

I pressed my palm to my face, wiping away tears and collecting my thoughts.

“And did you have to go that far?”

He achieved his goal. General Zeonid is an important member of our 127th Army, without him it would not have survived and is unlikely to continue to exist. Even though we were civilized people and could work together, but without a general, our leader, the organization of the army could rapidly deteriorate.

Zeonid knows the 127th Army like the back of his hand, and he always makes only the right, balanced and pragmatic decisions. We have maintained his “dictatorship” to this day, but now the future of the 127th Army has become very vague. I can’t even imagine how we will continue our existence and whether we can even live without him.

In this case, we simply have to save the general, and if we knew exactly where he could be, we would have sent just one shuttle with a rescue group, but the problem was that we did not know exactly where he could be. This in turn means something else: that we will have to go through the entire kingdom of Hippolyta or even the entire Antigone Empire to find the general. It is unlikely that he will be able to return back only on his own.

Today was a real disaster for the 127th Army.