I Rewind before the vial full of deadly bacterias hits the ground. I don't want to stick around when a fatal biological weapon is released; biological weapons are terrifying enough, so adding magic into the mix can only make them even more horrifying. Who knows, with my luck those were soul-eating bacterias of some kind.

The last attempt at convincing the scientist shows that threatening him will not work, and thanks to Imperial propaganda, he'll not cooperate no matter what.

I'm in a tight spot, at least if I want to extract information from him and his colleagues. Of course, we could shoot them all and be done with it, but the risk of damaging a containment unit is too significant; I don't want to release a plague accidentally.

The world stops shifting, and I'm back to the previous point. The scared Merman is still waggling his glass container around like a loaded gun.

In all honesty, this bacteria is even worse than a gun. At least I know what to expect with a firearm; a bullet comes out, and you're dead. But this? I could be writhing in agony for days as my skin melts or other niceties like that. My regeneration should wipe out any bacteria out of my system before it can do any real damage, but I don't even want to consider the possibility. The risk is too high; those weaponized viruses could destroy the Order in a matter of hours if it's as deadly as I think it is.

Again, what was the Empire thinking? Biological weapons are a double-edged sword. Magical microbes don't give two shit about the faction that the poor bastard they infected belongs to; they'll kill him like anyone else.

The Enforcer origins of the Empire show once again. For all their bravado, they haven't changed in the slightest. They don't give a shit about what they are using; they don't think about the consequences or what would happen if their new superweapon goes berserk.

But, instead of messing with ancient demons, the Empire played with modified bacterias that could potentially wipe out all life on the planet in a matter of days.

The worst thing is that this is the first fucking room we entered, from the look of things there are a few dozen left. If each of them houses such terrifying weaponry, then I might reconsider our plan of action.

Glassing Imperial territories might be the only solution if they unleash something like a modified magical bacteria. A large dead zone in the middle of the state is a small price to pay for the safety of the rest of humanity. We don't have that capability just yet, but I might steer our research along that path depending on the result of this campaign.

Let's stop thinking about apocalyptic what-ifs, for now. Instead, I need to come up with a solution to this situation. I have to somehow convince a fanatical idiot to not kill us all because of his loyalty to an already decaying empire.

It's easier said than done. Maybe I should really threaten him into submission? It can't hurt to try, so I activate Phase 2 for a brief moment before taking a step towards him.

"You are facing a divinity!" I shout as menacingly as I can. "How dare-"

And he threw it again. Will something go my way one day? I can only hope so because it's getting really fucking frustrating.

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I Rewind and take a deep breath; this is going to take a while. I can't ignore this room either since their research is of vital importance; if the Empire does release biological weapons, then we need to have a countermeasure for our soldiers and the surrounding population.

"Listen, what do you want? We can give you anything; Wealth, power... You name it." I say to the scientist. If threats don't work, then maybe a good old bribe will do the trick.

The Merman clicks his tongue. "What are you saying, how dare you-" one of his colleagues pulls on his sleeve before whispering something into his ear. The Merman holding the vial frowns and attempts to push the other Merman away, but the other scientist resists and keeps whispering.

In the meantime, I try to figure out a solution to this deadlocked situation. The problem is the container hitting the ground, if only we had-

Oh.

I think I might be really stupid.

The bacteria itself is not a problem; the problem is the container shattering. So why not remove all the obstacle that would allow the fragile vial to shatter?

It beats wasting time bribing the bastard or figuring out a solution that might not even exist. I Rewind and put my plan into motion. I quickly enter some random coordinates into my Portal Gun, and I make the exit portal as close to an active sun as I can get before the mana interference is too high and take a step forward.

The scientist reacts and closes his eyes before dropping the vial on the ground. However, the sound of shattered glass never comes and causes him to open one eye before his jaw hangs wide open. A portal is just near his feet, where the vial should have landed.

"I bet you feel pretty dumb now, don't you?" I say with a smug grin as I approach the scientist with my gun aimed at his head. The desperate Merman falls onto his knees and looks at me with empty eyes; he has been utterly defeated.

It would be nice if we could jettison all our problems into space, but sadly we can't. The portals spew too much mana so any soldier worth they salt would instantly jump away before the portal forms. There's also the extreme strain it would put onto the Portal Station, it would break if we tracked every single Imperial soldier moving around at tremendous speeds to make sure that the portals do their job.

Shooting the enemy is a lot easier than teleporting them most of the time. There are still niche applications where this strategy is viable, like when the Organization attacked us, but it can't be our default doctrine when it comes to large-scale conflicts.

"Tell us what we want to know, and we might let you live," I say as I press my gun against the sweaty Merman's forehead.

The bastard looks at me with a spark of defiance in his eyes. "Go to hell, you will never stop the Empire!" he shouts before a bullet makes his head explode.

"Anyone else wants to be a hero?" I ask the remaining scientist as I wave my gun around. They huddle together and shake their head as fast as they can. It looks like they don't all share the fanaticism of their now-dead colleague.

Good, at least this spares me a headache. It also means that we can extract as much information as possible from them.

"Take them to the base and put them into high-security cells before interrogating them. Make sure they go through multiple heavy decontamination cycles and are sealed up. If there's even a hint of a problem, eject them and the cells into space without hesitating. Is that clear?" I say to a small group of Legionaries who nod in unison.

They grab the remaining scientists by the shoulder before sinking into the ground and disappearing from my sight. I take a deep breath and survey my surroundings; we will get more information on this place once the interrogations end.

In the meantime, we still have a load of other rooms to clear.

I can only hope that they will not be as headache-inducing as this one. The group carefully steps out of the lab and continue exploring the corridor. The next room we burst into is empty except the destroyed machinery lying around the tiled floor.

The next room is also in a similar state, although there are still a bunch of unpacked crates in the back. I make a mental note to pick these up later before leaving for yet another room. This underground complex is genuinely massive, and I feel like I'll never see the end of it.

But I steel my resolve. I need to explore every nook and cranny of this place since what we'll discover here might lead us to a victory.