THE WAR OF FATE
Part
Two: The Dark Citadel
Chapter
One: Powers of the Beast
A squadron of jets soared over the
destruction of Beijing. Smoke billowed from the remains of buildings all
around the city. Citizens ran amid the rubble and chaos, trying to escape
from their wretched fate.
"Red Leader, this is Red 5.
Requesting permission to fire on the target." A jet zoomed past
Bagan's head, missing it by inches. "Red 5, this is Red Leader.
Permission granted. Use full force."
"What the hell do they think they're
doing?! They can't bring down Bagan!" yelled Ness from inside the
Green Jester. Black16 stared at the destruction with his arms crossed.
"The Chinese military has no idea what it is up against. And yet, we
can do nothing but wait." Ness turned and shook his fist and Black16.
"Screw this! I can't just sit back and watch!" GWB put his
hand on Ness' shoulder. "Relax, big guy. Black16 is right.
We have no idea what Bagan is capable of."
Bagan roared in defiance of this new
threat. Things had definitely changed in five thousand years. The
squadron of seven fighters flew in a V formation and fired upon Bagan's hide,
sending tiny ripples up his chest. The bullets sprang off his hide like
pebbles. In response, Bagan let out a deafening roar. The formation
broke off, but one unlucky soul began to sputter out of control and crashed into
the ground nearby. The remaining fighters regrouped for a second attack.
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"General Takawa, we've lost one
fighter jet already. Shall I call the squadron back?" asked a young
man sitting at a computer monitor in an underground bunker not far from the
battleground. "No. They will find a way to harm the creature.
I'm sure of it," came the response from General Koichi Takawa. The
middle-aged man of Japanese descent looked sternly at the large television
screen just above his head. "And if they don't, God help us
all." Takawa and his family had fled Japan when he was a young boy,
due to his father's involvement in a controversial political organization.
He had spent his life in Beijing, a Japanese man in China, and made a name for
himself as China's toughest military General. And now he was facing his
toughest challenge.
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The jets returned to their V formation,
firing upon Bagan with their missiles. The projectiles whistled as they
blazed a trail through the air, hurtling towards their target.
Something strange happened just then.
The missiles exploded mere seconds before
impact as though they had struck an invisible wall. The jets veered away
in a panic as the pilots scrambled to figure out what had happened.
"Mission control, this is Red Leader. We've encountered some kind of
self-generated force field. Requesting back-up, over." A static
reply emerged from Red Leader's radio. "Red Leader, this is mission
control. Tank battalion is on its way. Should arrive momentarily,
over."
"Excellent," Samrong said as he
watched the battle from afar. "Those pathetic fools have no idea what
they are up against. Now it is time for them to die." Samrong
closed his eyes and telepathically signaled for Bagan to finish playing with his
new toys. As if to give a reply, Bagan roared and sent a blast of red and
blue energy from his maw, obliterating two of the remaining fighters.
Samrong laughed maniacally as flaming shrapnel crashed to the ground, a
testament to Bagan's power.
