Sweet Humanity

"Raise the collective aura shield!" Zero ordered her subordinates. Having studied that peculiar type of weapon, she had devised strategies to nullify or mitigate its effects when confronted.

Around the Dark Elves, a semi-transparent purple barrier in the shape of a half-moon appeared, with projectiles heading towards it. At the moment of impact, Huaguer activated a large matrice flag, that had somehow ended up in his hand, connecting all the thrown objects and causing them to lose momentum and fall gently to the ground. However, the expected explosion did not occur. Zero waited a few seconds for the fuse of all the explosives to fade, out of caution, but nothing happened.

"Defect? Or did the shield somehow create a flaw in the matrice that connected them..." She knew that after the wick has finished burning it caused a instant activation, which did not happen. Something was wrong.

"It seems like your toys are having problems, Mr. Haller. How about surrendering? You will be treated as a Great Noble in our Eternal Night." Zero proposed confidently, with a softened expression. Without their tricks, Ian and his group were nothing.

"And miss the chance to win a beauty like you?" The expression of everyone hardened again. The Achilles' heel of the team would also be their main driver, their leader.

"Dammit! Apologize and kneel now, and I will spare your friends. Otherwise, you will see them suffer miserably." The Celestial Realm, which Ian had already diagnosed as a fanatic worshiper of Zero, came to the defense of his idol's honor.

"Do as I ask and I'll let you watch the CON-SU-MA-ATION of my marriage to the beautiful Zero..." Ian spoke up loud and clear, placing great emphasis on the "finale" of the marriage.

"Attack!" Roared the Celestial Realm of the Dark Elves, eliminating the aura shield and running alongside the other warriors in a berserk fury. What would he think if he knew Ian had no way to accomplish that with Zero...

"Wait!" Zero tried to stop them. Ian's confident face made her understand everything. He was provoking them. There must be a trap ahead or perhaps those... undetonated explosives!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

With a wave of the flag, Huaguer detonated all the dozens of charges... Simultaneously, another defensive matrice was raised, this time, in front of Ian and his team, protecting them from the massive explosion.

The ground in the region trembled, and an intolerable noise was heard in the central area of Gnel, where most of the windows in the block were shattered. The population panicked, and royal soldiers hurried toward the sound. Enemy attack? An industrial accident? Nobody knew.

In the epicenter of the blast, a dense cloud of dust, debris, and smoke obscured the view for several meters. The unpleasant smell of gunpowder and burning permeated the air. From within that strange formation, desperate screams and moans were heard. That characteristic sound, common to all complex species, the pain, extreme pain, unbearable despair. Whether it was a human, dog, cow, sheep, or cat... that cry, coming from the depths of the soul, united everyone in same car.

A strong wind swept away all the visual pollution, an ability executed by Zero. The image that followed shocked and revolted not only the side of the Eternal Night but also the Gnomes who were already present, and even the Glory of Darkness. Pieces of Dark Elves were scattered, bodies torn apart, some survivors in miserable and insane states, immersed in hopelessness. The smell, now with a slightly sweet hint, of burnt flesh.

The war on great scale hadn't been seen in many thousands of years in Sombreal, but small conflicts involving a few factions and hundreds of specialists occurred all the time. However, the process of modern warfare on Earth was undeniably cruel. In an instant, 20 Dark Elves were killed, most without leaving a minimally recognizable body. Another 5 were severely injured and in doubtful condition. Only 3 out of the original 28, along with Zero and the Celestial Realm, remained in good condition. Contrary to the term "lack of humanity" typically used to describe such events, humanity itself had a ruthless core. There was no respect, no emotions, only the result, destruction.

With the shocking scene over their eyes, they did not notice Ian's signal. Just like that, another bang was heard from behind and the Celestial Realm fell in a thud with a thirty centimeter circumference hole in his chest. That Dark Elf lived up to his Realm, he survived the massive explosion without many injuries and the shot from Shortyty's cannon, did not destroy his body much. Unfortunately, for him, enough for the heart to be compromised, ending his life.

The still unrecovered Zero was once again struck down by a sense of helplessness and discouragement. She should have been crying, screaming, advancing in anger. Those esteemed soldiers, along with her loyal right-hand man, were slaughtered in a miserable manner. She looked away, clenched her fists tightly, and looked with every cold, murderous aura she had at Ian, just in time to see him with a hollow, long, steel pipe pointed at her and... BOM! For the already accustomed watchers, after every pop, some causality would come. This time, Zero's leg.

Huaguer jumped at the precise second, sending his claw into the already somewhat weakened Dark Elf, throwing her to the ground. He didn't wait, jumping again and immobilizing her. The other seven security guards quickly knocked out the three remaining opponents, already lacking some will. Under normal circumstances, 7 specialists Gnomes, could they achieve such a feat over 3 trained Dark Elves of the same level? The answer is, of course, not, but, now, the Elves were almost standing still for their deaths, totally stunned.

Everything happened in an instant.

The Gnomes beside the Haller clan, including Shortyty, now, that the danger had subsided, emptied their stomachs into the street. Even Huaguer wore a strange expression on his face, which would have shown abnormal paleness if it weren't covered by fur. Only Ian remained undisturbed.

Ian was the bearer of the Blessing of the Soul Constitution and having experienced the torment of a thousand years in limbo, he wouldn't be affected by a few enemies being exterminated. In contrast to everyone else, he displayed a slight proud smile, standing out from the crowd. After all, his plan and weapons had succeeded.

Zero had analyzed the outdated, older explosives. The new versions combined knowledge of Sombreal matrices and mechanisms with that of Earth. In addition, along with progress in the Dao of the Great Librarian, much information from his previous life gushed into his mind, added with the legacies... Improvements in blasting, throwing, consistency and material. They rose to a new level. And the rifle and cannon, which had never before been shown to the public, matched his estimates. How not to be cheerful? At least for Ian, who had the ability to keep his mind ice-cold in such circumstances, it was difficult.

"Ambassador Fahar, Ambassador Serrer, and all present, you have witnessed the agreement between me, Ian Haller, and the noble Dark Elf known as Zero. From the clash between our forces, I emerged victorious. I am claiming my reward and would like to know if I can finally enter the building in peace. We can always repeat the spectacle." Ian said. Regardless of their allegiance, the Dark Elves swallowed hard. Dangerous man! To what level of psychopathy had Mr. Haller reached? He seemed minimally affected by that disturbing battlefield.

"I believe that even if we wanted to stop you now, we couldn't." Serrer, the ambassador of the Eternal Night, replied with a sigh.

"It's good that we have come to an agreement. I have another request, perhaps a bit audacious..."

"What do you desire?" Serrer asked with a concerned expression.

"No one should enter or leave the embassy until second orders. Obviously, no messages to the outside will be tolerated."

"So... you want us as hostages!" Serrer exclaimed.

"If before we had an enmity of interests, after today, there is a blood feud. I need something to bargain with, or the ruthless Bloodthirsty Queen will cause me problems that will be difficult to solve." Ian replied resolutely.

For purposes of clarification, the events recently narrated have indeed crossed a new threshold. The Dark Elves themselves already had low fertility, and although they lived long lives, their numbers were not high. Add this to all the victims of today being loyal soldiers trained by the state, and we won't even talk about their cultivation, but rather their mental usefulness. They were tools who followed orders, without question. For the Eternal Night, it represented a huge casualty.

In addition, a Fantasy Realm and a Celestial Realm were lost. How rare are the experts that reach this level? In all the Helis, there were only 5 in the Fantasy and another few dozen in the Celestial Realm. All right that the body strengthening method could be considered one of the most time-consuming and difficult to advance, but it doesn't change the fact of the difficulty of reaching such a step of cultivation. Even if the Dark Elves lived long, they only had 14 Fantasy Realms between the two countries. Eternal Night has 8 and Glory of Darkness possesses 6. Now they had reached a near equilibrium.

Regardless of rescuing Zero, they wouldn't recover a warrior but a corpse. Since she had made an Aura oath, breaking it meant death, which is what the enemy would most desire now. After all, who would want to enhance their opponent's elite formation? Furthermore, for a centralized institution that sowed an idea of unshakeable power, to have its face slapped like this, with a total defeat by a small organization, this might be the ultimate disaster.

"Let us at least take care of our dead..."

"Don't worry about that, we will arrange the proper ceremony according to the customs of your people. But, right now, I want everyone to surrender their weapons and kneel."

All the people from the Embassy of the Eternal Night have been imprisoned on the Glory of Darkness side. Ambassador Fahar didn't know whether to be overjoyed or worried. Overjoyed to see his enemy number one in serious trouble. Worried to think of the threat Ian could mean to anyone. Today they were in the same boat, but what about tomorrow?

"Mr. Haller, now that we have resolved most of the obstacles, what motivated you to come here and cause this entire spectacle?" Fahar asked cautiously. He wouldn't be the one to cause a problem for his nation. The weapons and means these guys had demonstrated earlier could be replicated by an army of thousands without much training. A calamity for anyone in Sombreal.

"The Eternal Night captured the father-in-law of one of the most important members of my clan." Ian calmly replied.

"But that means he wasn't a part of the clan, right?" Fahar asked somewhat apprehensive. After all, it was a serious diplomatic matter. However much the heaviest fist usually dictated the rules, there still had to be some logic to follow. Even if it was a bit vague and often considered distorted, the "logic" had to exist.

"There was an attempt to kidnap members of my clan associated with this man, but fortunately, it failed. We won't be intimidated." Ian wouldn't reveal to just anyone the reason and importance that the kidnapped Grandmaster held for him. That elder, certainly, held more value than a few common Fantasy Realms in his eyes.