Chapter 254 The Empress Is Not Finished.
Unlike the blue star were all was normal, in the capital, Esong and his men had just finished killing off a pair of wind spiked Dracos which had somehow made their way to the Origin nutrient company factory and in the fight that ensued, more than half of the equipment was destroyed.
Even the closest ware houses had not been spared as the warriors 'accidentally' used to much acid in the fight, destroying almost half of the nutrient solutions in storage.
Members of the Rogan family had received word of this great destruction and rushed to their factory, ignoring the dangers and what they found devastated them.
"What_, what happened here?" Samael grabbed the closest mecha warrior and asked with dismay, disbelief and accusation in his eyes.
"It's obvious, a mutated beast did this, we are collecting it's guts and parts. Don't you have eyes?" the mecha warrior answered quite rudely in a raised voice.
To him, it was obvious what they did and everyone knew what mecha warriors did, so why was Samael asking what happened?
But Samael did not believe that this was not a planned hit somehow. The emperor had done everything to break them financially but he could not finish them off without raising eyebrows. But everyone knew in business, they were being targeted by the royal family. If this was Esong's army, it was obvious that this was a concocted scheme. "No, the beasts are retreating everyone knows that in the last week of winter they are docile and weak, they would not attack. What have you done? Where is Esong Wu? I demand to speak to Esong Wu." He held tightly on to the large arm of the mecha.
Another alert went off at that moment and the mecha warrior in a rush flung Samael away like a tiny nuisance. The man fell into a puddle of green bubbling acid which had melted Draco spikes.
He screamed loudly and other close members of the Rogan family run to his aid, screaming for help.
Mecha warriors scooped those family members up and tossed them in the closest shelters. "We have to fight other flying beasts, stop giving us a hard time you idiots." one mecha warrior complained. "Find your family member in the hospital later."
The entire capital was put on high alert and those who had started relaxing once again, locked their doors tightly, closed their eyes and crossed their fingers.
Mecha warriors flew from wherever they were in the capital, off to join the others in battle against a hoard of wind spiked Dracos that acted opposite of their nature because this was not what mutated beasts, especially not on the second last day of winter.
Three hours later, everything calmed down and the news reported that the abnormality was caused by beasts which were already hiding inside the capital that were trying to escape the shield. Sadly, it was reported that two ministers and one prominent business man had died. The crown prince was also gravely injured because he had been meeting those ministers when the beasts attacked them.
In Esong's space ship, he was sitting with Markay, Folsom, Ian, Cedric and captain Jacks. They were discussing this sudden attack and it's impact.
"How could the crown prince have been there? Talk about coincidences." Captain Jacks said. "Worse even, on the list of the injured or dead, my step mother has not made it anywhere. That witch was in that same building you know and not even one spike touched her. What kind of shit luck do I have?"
"Jacks, make sure that the men outside prepare, we have five more dots on the map. These are other possible hoards of mutated beasts that are hiding. You all know that these are worse than the ones which attack directly because of the possibility of breeding. We need to go and confront them."
"Sir, yes my general." Captain Jacks joked and he left.
As soon as he left, Esong looked at those who remained and said, "Okay, we all know what is going on, the empress is not finished."
Not all the mutated beasts were natural, some of them had been artificially manufactured by the empress and her secret team to get rid of some ministers that were loudly vocal in pushing Sader to take over his father's throne and funding this plot.
Through the entirety of winter, six ministers had died and there was absolutely no proof that their death was anything other than a tragedy caused by mutated beasts.
Markay shook his head and said, "I can't believe my mother was willing to take Sader out with the ministers. She is way more ruthless than father, how can she be willing to kill her own child?"
"Because that one child is willing to kill all of her children. Sader wants all of you dead because you are a threat to his inheritance. The empress is simply doing what any mother would do and I support her. Sader will not spare my family, not even my young son if he sits on that throne." Esong reminded Markay.
"How bad are the injuries?" Folsom asked.
"His eyes were permanently damaged by the spikes, he lost almost all of his blood and one of his legs was sliced off. It is safe to say that my brother is crippled now and he cannot inherit the throne. We all know the rules, an emperor must have all of his natural body parts to rule." he answered.
"Why was that law made again?" Ian asked.
"Clones and robots." Folsom answered this question.
The red dots on the screen moved and the warriors set off to do battle again. Before they left, Esong did something that he had seen Scarlet do occasionally before a fight, he held the silver part of his pendant and it.
While the empress eliminated some of the enemies of the throne and dangers to the peace of the empire, the citizens discussed this tragedy in the comfort of their homes.
Those who did not live in the capital were grateful that this tragedy had come their way. The wives of mecha warriors prayed that their husbands returned home safe.
Mothers who had been rejoicing that winter was bidding them goodbye crossed their fingers again and those who had lost loved ones cried.
In the royal palace, the empress held hands tightly with the emperor as they watched over Sader in a med bed.
The empress was sitting in a chair and her other hand touched the med bed. One lonely tear made it's way down her face and she struggled to breathe. "Forgive me." she told the emperor.
"I know." he said in a heavy voice.