Chapter 385: So, is the war over?

Hunter could see the debate in her eyes, and he leaned down and whispered. "Just kill them. I know you want to. They have done bad things....I mean we all have, but they have done worse. And they enjoyed it."

Zyra’s childish smile instantly vanished. Her eyes grew cold, terrifyingly sharp. He didn’t have to tell her twice, because she was not planning on sparing them. They had been planning to feed a woman to the saw worms when she arrived. A similar fate for them was the answer.

"There is always a choice, Commander. You just chose the one where you get to wear fancy armor and bully helpless people." She casually raised her hand and pointed her index finger at Roman’s forehead. "Feed them all to the Saw worms."

"Wait! Wait! Don’t do that. I can be useful!" Roman screamed at the top of his lungs, his voice cracking into a high-pitched squeak.

Zyra paused, "Useful? How? And it better be good."

Roman lifted his head, blinking frantically, cold sweat dripping off his chin. "I have authority! There are more Sanctum soldiers stationed in the neighboring territories, destroying the Wildlands as we speak! I can call them back! I can tell them the mission is over, lure them right here, and you can_ you know_ convince them to serve you."

Hunter blinked. He leaned over and tapped Zyra’s shoulder. "Hey. Boss. Step over here for a second."

The two of them walked a few paces to the side, leaning into a tight huddle.

"So are you thinking what I am thinking," Hunter whispered. "Free delivery?"

"It does save us a lot of trouble of going from territory to territory." Zyra mused, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "One mass slaughter fest and we go home."

"Efficient," Hunter agreed.

They turned back around. Zyra cleared her throat and pointed a finger at Roman. "Alright. Make the call. But I am not convincing anyone to serve me. I do not want to be served. I am not Trinity."

"Yes! Right away!" Roman scrambled to grab phone from his belt. He took a deep breath, wiped his sweaty face, and tried to sound as authoritative as possible. "Attention all Alpha Units in Sectors 4, this is Commander Roman! Emergency rally at Waterhurst! We need immediate reinforcement. We are under attack from some unknown assailants who are riding saw worms. More than one thousand of them. Commander Julia is holding the line. Hurry."

A minute later, a portal tore open in the middle of the courtyard.

A tight formation of one hundred forty heavily armed Sanctum soldiers marched out, weapons drawn, shouting, "Commander! We are here to rescue you."

They poured out, screaming and firing weapons towards a mirage created by Zyra’s cat, Kitty.

When the Soul maiden with them closed the portal, the mirage vanished.

"What the hell---"

Before the lead soldier could even finish his question, Zyra told the drake to kill them. It flapped its wings and released a shock wave. The forty soldiers didn’t even have time to scream before they were instantly wiped out, crashing to the dirt in a heap of broken armor.

The Soul maiden was taken into custody and teleported away by

"Next group, please," She said cheerfully, dusting off her hands.

Roman swallowed hard as he looked at the drake. "R-right away_"

He picked up the phone again. "Sector 5! Report to the portal immediately!"

Another portal opened, another group of Sanctum soldiers was killed. Another Soul maiden was arrested.

Then Sector 6.

By the fourth group, Bullet was sitting on a stone block, casually tossing small pebbles into the air and catching them. "Man, this is like shooting fish in a barrel. Except the fish are wearing crappy iron suits and the barrel is a magic doorway."

After the final portal closed, everything went quiet.

Zyra slowly walked over to Commander Roman, who was now shaking so hard his armor was making a metallic clicking sound.

"Well, Commander," Zyra said softly, tilting her head. "You just betrayed over three hundred of your own men in less than twenty minutes without even blinking."

"I... I did it for you! To prove my loyalty!" Roman squeaked, forcing a sickly, terrifying smile.

"A man who betrays his own people to save his own skin has no loyalty," Zyra said coldly. "You’re a liability to any leader. A backstabbing weed."

"Please! Spare me! I’ll be your dog! I’ll bark when you tell me to bark!" Roman whimpered, scrambling backward on his hands and knees.

"Hey, Elfy," Bullet suddenly called out, looking over at a quiet girl sitting on a nearby wall, absentmindedly spinning a thin, silver throw-knife around her fingers. "Didn’t you say you saw this guy earlier?"

Elfy stopped spinning the knife. Her dark eyes locked onto Roman.

"Yeah," Elfy said, her voice dropping an octave. "Before you guys got here, I watched him force three young hostages to run across the shifting quicksand just because he was bored. He told them if they made it across, he’d let them live."

Roman’s face turned completely white. "I_ that was just a game! A lighthearted game to pass the time_ "

Before Roman could finish the word time, a flash of silver streaked across the courtyard. The silver knife sank straight into the center of Roman’s forehead right up to the hilt.

Roman’s eyes rolled back, and he collapsed onto his face, dead silent.

Elfy hopped off the wall, walked over, casually stepped on Roman’s head to pull her knife out, and wiped the blade on his fancy cape. "Game over," she muttered softly.

"The rest are mine." Hunter declared, and shot them all, including those that were trying to run.

Hunter looked around the ruined courtyard. The Sanctum army was utterly crushed, the hostages were safe, and the bad guys were officially out of commission. He let out a long, dramatic sigh, stretching his arms high above his head until his joints popped. "Ahhh. It is over."

Zyra looked at her battered, dust-covered team. Bullet was lazily cleaning his fingernails, Tessi was dozing sitting straight up against a wooden crate, and Elfy was already packing her daggers back into her pouch.

A bright, genuine smile returned to Zyra’s face. She puffed out her chest, raised a hand toward the horizon, and declared in a heroic voice: "Alright, everyone! The evil queen’s assistant has been defeated, the wild lands are saved, and most importantly_ my stomach is making weird noises! It’s over! Let’s go home and eat!"

"First round of roasted meat is on Taylor!" Bullet yelled.

"Wait, why me!?" Taylor protested.

"Because I am above you in the chain of command and because I said so!" Bullet shouted back, already walking toward the portal.

Zyra leaned towards Hunter. "You do know this is not really over until Trinity is dead. Today, she dies. Forget Achilles, I told Arrow to end her no matter what. I believe he hates her even more than I do. He is going to skin that bitch."

Hunter shuddered. He knew she meant it literally.