And now only three of them remained, the horses carried the tired mercenaries forward, whipping dust into the air and crumbling the age-old stone into the sand. Two hot streams of steam escaped the air from the wide, nervously quivering nostrils of the driven horses. No one believed that they would catch up with the warrior, only hoping that the emperor would not realize his terrifying plan immediately upon the arrival of his assistant. On the horizon in front of them rose the towers of San Pen, brightening up the dull landscape with each kilometer growing higher and higher, delighting and frightening at the same time. Claude did not know what awaited them in the capital, for the first time he did not have at least some slightly thought-out plan, only one desire to be in time, not to be late, to stop. Inside, everything was shrinking from a bad premonition, but the guy drove away uninvited thoughts. You should never take on a job with a gloomy attitude to its failure, otherwise, every
- Infections... It's people like me that you call an infection?- Yes. To be honest, I even liked you a little, not often non-humans managed to hide from my eye for so long, and your stupid principles ... naive, frankly childish, but noble, made me smile. However, the fact that you are a monster cannot be changed and you have no other destiny than to die.“It’s like seeing which one of us is a monster.— Ha! Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror?“Appearance says nothing about a person. Yes, my eyes and ears are different from human, but there is much less blood on my hands than on yours.- What are you talking about. Turn around. All these people could live if not for you.“My fault for their death is no less than the one who set them on me. At least I was only defending myself, not sending them to their deaths.They died because they were doing their duty.Or because they were left with no choice.This conversation did not lead them anywhere, without bringing clarity or sat
- Oh, those boys. Alita purred as she slid off her man's lap and sat down on Claude's bed. “In general, sweetheart, when we burst into the hall, we only made it to the finale, when you, with completely wild eyes, rushed towards the door until you stretched out on the floor, not having reached us a few steps. And then Alexander quickly stepped forward, ordering that you be lifted and taken to the imperial chambers and called for a doctor, and then he explained to everyone present that according to some ancient law, I don’t know where he dug it up, you become the next emperor, taking the place of the deposed you ruler. We didn't even believe what we heard. You are Claude and the emperor. It sounded kind of unbelievable. And to be honest, they also managed to catch this cold, so they thought it was the result of a fever. But as it turned out, no, they heard right and you were really glorified as the future emperor. He cleverly organized everything here. So even the few dissatisfied witne
The Rancia empire prospered. Those terrible times when the Ransians fearfully expected the birth of their own children are far behind. With the accession to the throne of the new emperor Claude re Tigras the First and Empress Daisyre re Tigras, the people stopped living in fear and excitement. Now every Ransian, human or not, had the same right to life and happiness. The persecution of non-humans stopped, because the ruling family also did not belong to the human race, mixed marriages began to appear more often, and cities grew. Life became calmer, now the imperials were not afraid to travel between cities, risking being in the mouth of some monster. All creatures, of course, did not disappear, but as a result of a number of innovations introduced by Claude from the experience of his mercenary life, they greatly facilitate the fight against these creatures, forced them to go away from human habitation or hide deep in their holes. Man again became the dominant race on the planet, and e
2073 year.“Get up, get up,” opening my eyes, I saw that my little sister was trying to wake me up, “today is an important day!” Have you forgotten?She kicked off her shoes, stood on the free edge of the bed and began to jump. Seismic waves generated by a relative killed all hope for another five minutes of healthy sleep. Spatya loved, and my sister liked to imagine that she was ten years old again. Only it was already over twenty, and it came out rather clumsily."Octavia, stop it, you know I'm awake!" I said to my sister, who made me jump fifteen centimeters on the mattress.My sister was smart, and she knew that if I enter into resonance with the bed, then I can easily fly off her window.“Do you want to feel the power of heavenly wrath again?” - "heavenly wrath" meant a pike from the highest point of her jump and an accurate elbow strike on the ribs.- No need! I instantly shifted into a sitting position, dangling my legs off the bed.“Yes, I just decided to cheer you up, otherwi
The car stopped abruptly. I swallowed, but still pulled the handle, thanked the driver and went outside. A bright light hit my eyes, and my heart began to tap dance. After all, there was a huge number of cadets near the entrance to the central department.Horror, what a crowd here, a hundred people! By the end of the training, our number should be significantly reduced, no less than two or three times. I hope I won't be among the excluded.Looking at the candidates, I saw fire in their eyes, some fear. Everyone came here for the same thing.A man with a military bearing, obviously from the Academy, began to divide us into groups. The crowd, like a living snake, began to disperse and line up in small columns.Excitement gradually grew into ... boredom. When will this ceremony end? Now, I suppose, there will be fiery speeches - the most unnecessary part of the performance. At least for me. It's better to start learning right away.Bright flash of light. We instinctively covered our face
The Beginning of TormentNoisy. It is difficult to breathe because of the large crowds of people. The corridor we are walking down is clearly intended for fewer people. It made it damn hot. The shirt began to stick uncomfortably to the body, which made me wince every time if someone touched my back.As soon as the other cadets and I got to the fifth floor of the first building, we were immediately met by the God and the Goddess. Because of what I had to stop and immediately line up in ranks. The gods stood near the open door to the auditorium. That's where all the young warriors went.I immediately understood who they were, and there is no need to guess. A man, a huge giant, in scarlet armor, and a girl with pitch-black curls and her tunic of the same color. The average person obviously wouldn't dress like that. For sure ...The man began to examine each cadet. His eyes even fell on me a couple of times. Not very nice...“Everyone lined up quickly,” the command rang out. - I am David,
- I said get up!The door was pushed open loudly, slamming it against the wall. Three men in blue armor ran into the room, and they brought the uniform of the Academy into the room. It was like a military one: a T-shirt, trousers, berets and a jacket, if we get cold outside. And everything is black.As soon as I opened my eyes, I saw “6:00” on the clock.- Stand up!!!Aran immediately jumped out of bed, while three of David's subordinates watched me wrap myself in a blanket.Horror, I can not get up, the body refused. Reptiles, I understand, to wake up at eight in the morning, but at six - this is chaos! I tried to get up, but my mind began to drift into sleep. Yes, they are crazy, now instead of screaming they blow the bugle.“Help him up and go out,” one of the wakers barked, and the trio went off to join the others.Aran implicitly carried out the command. He rushed to the bed and began to shake me in different directions."Alester, get up, we've got to go!"- I'm getting up... I'm