Chapter 43:The Birth of "The Great Terror"

Author note: Hi guys and gals, I'd appreciate it if you could leave a review and a comment. Yerrr. 

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Pov: Tina

I don't remember how it started.

One moment I was sitting in our little home, the smell of Momma's cooking filling the air. Papa was in the back room, talking in low, serious tones about something important like he always did. Grown-up stuff. I was just waiting, swinging my feet under the table like I usually did, thinking about nothing important. Nothing at all.

Then it hit.

The ground shook first, like when the big trucks came through the street, only louder, way louder. And then the noise—it was like the sky itself was exploding, and everything in the house started shaking. I ran for Momma, but before I could reach her, the wall—our wall—just wasn't there anymore. The blast blew the whole thing in, and suddenly, the roof was falling, the windows bursting, and fire was everywhere.

I screamed. I think I screamed. But it was all so fast. I hit the ground hard, dust filling my mouth, my nose, my eyes, making it hard to breathe, hard to see. I could hear Momma shouting, but her voice got cut off, like someone turned the sound off in my head. And Papa… I couldn't hear him at all.

They were gone. Both of them. Just like that.

I should have been scared—maybe I was—but something else hit me, too. Anger. Hot and bright, burning my insides worse than the fire burning around me. Those soldiers outside… they did this. Vladoff. They killed my parents.

And they were still coming.

I stumbled toward the back of the house, my hands shaking as I ripped open the chest where Papa kept his things. Guns, grenades… things I wasn't supposed to touch. But I touched them. I grabbed the first grenade I saw, clumsy and shaking, and I held onto it like it was the only thing that could keep me safe. I didn't know what I was doing, but I knew one thing—I wasn't going to let them take me, too.

The door burst open, and Vladoff soldiers flooded in, their faces hidden behind masks, their guns raised. I didn't wait to think. I pulled the pin like Papa had shown me once, just in case. My hand was shaking so bad, but I tossed the grenade with everything I had, praying it would work.

It exploded. The noise was deafening, louder than anything I'd ever heard, and the soldiers screamed as they were ripped apart. Blood and fire filled the air, and for a second, I just stood there, my heart pounding so hard I thought it would explode, too. I did that. I killed them. And I wasn't sorry. Not even a little bit.

But more were coming. I could hear them outside, their boots thundering as they got closer.

I ran.

I didn't know where I was going. Everything was a blur—burning houses, bodies on the ground, more explosions in the distance. My shoulder slammed into something, and I stumbled, the pain shooting through my arm, but I kept running. I had to. I had to get away.

But I didn't make it far.

Something hit me from behind, knocking me down hard. My face smacked into the dirt, and I tasted blood. I rolled over, looking up at the Vladoff soldier towering over me, his gun aimed right at my face. This was it. This was how it was gonna end.

But then *he* showed up.

The first thing I noticed was the mask. Shiny and silver, like something out of a nightmare. His long hair blew in the wind, and the way he stood, so tall and straight, he looked more like a monster than a man. I should've been scared. Maybe I was. But there was something about him, something… powerful. Something that made the fear seem small.

Before the soldier could pull the trigger, the man in the mask raised his hand. Fire shot out like it was alive, curling through the air and wrapping around the soldier like a snake. His screams filled the air as he went up in flames, but the man didn't even flinch. He just watched, his eyes—if he even had eyes—hidden behind the cold metal of his mask.

I sat there, frozen, watching him. He turned toward me then, and I couldn't breathe. He was huge, towering over me, his frame broad and strong like he could take on the whole world and win. His mask made him look almost human… almost. But I could feel something beneath it, something that wasn't human at all.

"What's your name?" he asked, his voice low and calm, like the world wasn't falling apart around us.

"Tina," I whispered, barely able to get the word out.

He knelt in front of me, his size making him seem even more overwhelming up close. "You're safe now," he said, and his voice was softer. But there was still something… dark about it. Like he wasn't really saying it to make me feel better. "You've lost much today."

I nodded, the tears burning my eyes. "They killed my parents," I whispered, my voice shaking. "I—I killed them back."

He didn't seem surprised. If anything, he almost seemed… proud. "You did well," he said, standing up again, his shadow falling over me. "But it's not over."

I looked up at him, my fists clenched tight. "I want to kill them all. Every last one of them."

He didn't smile, but I could feel something shift in him. Like he understood. Like he'd felt that same anger before. "You will," he said simply. "But not today."

I wanted to argue, to scream that I was ready. That I didn't care if I died, as long as they died with me. But something about him, the way he spoke, made me stop. He wasn't asking. He was telling me.

He turned away, his silver mask catching the light from the fires still burning around us. I watched as he raised his hand again, and suddenly the air was filled with crackling energy. It was like nothing I'd ever seen before—lightning and fire and something else, something terrifying. The sky above us lit up as the power surged from him, rising high into the clouds, and then—

*Boom.*

The Vladoff ships hanging in the air, the ones that had been firing down on us—they were just… gone. Vaporized. Like they'd never even been there.

I stared up at the sky, my mouth hanging open. He'd done that. One man had done what an entire army couldn't. I should've been afraid, but all I could feel was awe. And something else. Something deeper. I wanted to be like him.

"Tell your leaders I'm coming," he said, his voice calm, as if he hadn't just obliterated half the planet.

And then, without a word, he walked away.

I followed him. Because who else was I gonna follow?

That was the day everything changed. The day I stopped being scared. The day I realized what I wanted to be.

A monster.

Just like him.

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Pov: Alexander 

The blast of the missile echoed in the distance, but I didn't flinch. There had been many like it—explosions tearing through the city, flattening homes, extinguishing lives. Igneous had become a battlefield, and yet another reminder that the corporations would sooner reduce planets to ash than seek reason.

Ironhold, my stronghold, stood firm amidst the chaos. It was more than a city—it was the bastion of my Imperium. And now it was under attack.

Jeremiah stood at my side, as stoic as ever, his dual miniguns humming as they powered up. He wore his power armor with a grim familiarity, towering over most, a symbol of unstoppable force. I had never needed a second glance to know I could rely on him.

"We need to send a message," I muttered, adjusting the metallic mask that had become part of my identity. My long hair hung like shadows down the sides of the iron plating, barely brushing my shoulders. It was a familiar weight—a constant reminder of the man I had become, and the power I wielded.

Jeremiah nodded, ever silent. He was efficient, brutal, but I valued his loyalty above all else. Together, we would end this.

"Secure the perimeter," I ordered. "No survivors."

He moved swiftly, a walking arsenal of death, and I turned my attention back to the battlefield. Vladoff had dared to cross me, dared to challenge my power. But their reckoning was at hand.

I walked through the smoldering streets, bodies of the fallen strewn about like discarded toys. The heat of destruction was thick, but I felt none of it. Fire no longer harmed me—it was mine to command. As I reached out, the air shimmered, flames bending to my will, flickering in the space between life and death.

And then I saw her.

A child, no more than eight, clutching a grenade in trembling hands, tears streaking down her dirt-smeared face. Her home lay in ruins behind her, smoke curling into the sky. She had survived the initial blast, but Vladoff's soldiers had cornered her, rifles raised.

She threw the grenade, too scared to run. There was no precision in her aim, but the explosion ripped through the soldiers, tearing them apart before they could react. I watched, calculating.

Her small frame shuddered, but she didn't fall. Her wide eyes, full of both terror and resolve, met mine. I saw something in her then—something raw, untamed. Fear, yes, but a fire that had been ignited in the wake of loss. She wasn't broken, not yet. But she was close.

I stepped forward, the ground beneath me smoldering as my power stirred. The Vladoff soldiers still standing moved to aim at me, but I didn't give them the chance. With a flick of my wrist, a wave of fire rolled over them, their screams swallowed by the inferno.

The girl didn't flinch. She was staring at me, her tiny fists clenched at her sides, her face a mask of confusion and hatred. Hatred for those who took everything from her.

I knelt before her, towering over her small, fragile frame. 

"What's your name?" I asked, my voice low but commanding.

She blinked, clearly still processing the massacre before her. "T-Tina." Her voice was a whisper, hoarse from crying.

I could feel her trembling, but it wasn't fear. No, it was something else. An anger—growing, festering. One I could mold.

"You're safe now, Tina," I said, reaching out to her. She recoiled slightly, her tear-streaked face stiffening as she studied me. There was a fire in her eyes, one that I knew all too well. "You've lost much today, haven't you?"

Her lips trembled, but she nodded. "They… they killed my parents." Her voice cracked.

"They will pay," I promised, standing tall once more. I glanced at Jeremiah, whose hulking frame stood a few feet away, silent and watchful. "I will burn them from the stars."

The girl didn't look away. Instead, she swallowed hard, her tiny fists tightening at her sides. "I… I want to kill them," she said, her voice small but sharp. "All of them."

There it was—an ember waiting to be fanned into a flame.

"You will," I said, turning my back to her. "But not yet."

Her eyes followed me, burning with a hatred too big for her small body to contain. The Vladoff soldiers had made a grave mistake. They had created something in this girl that would never fade—only grow. She would be an instrument of destruction in time. A terror.

As I moved toward the center of the city, Jeremiah followed, his heavy footfalls echoing beside me. I could hear the screams of more soldiers ahead, the sound of gunfire. But none of it mattered.

"We will make an example of them," I said, addressing Jeremiah. "Leave none alive."

Jeremiah's expression didn't change, but I knew he understood. With his miniguns blazing, he charged into the fray, mowing down the troops with ease. His power armor shrugged off bullets, and the soldiers had no hope.

I moved with precision, fire flickering at my fingertips as I summoned energy from the air itself. The Vladoff ships circled above, their cannons primed, ready to level the entire city if necessary. But I wouldn't give them the chance.

Closing my eyes, I raised my hands toward the sky, focusing all my energy. The air crackled, thick with tension as I pulled from the souls of the fallen, drawing them into the swirling vortex of power above me.

Then, with a single motion, I released it.

The blast shot upward, a massive surge of energy, ten thousand times more powerful than any nuke. The sky lit up as the energy ripped through the Vladoff ships, vaporizing them in an instant. Their wreckage rained down, flaming debris falling like meteors.

For a moment, there was silence—utter, deafening silence.

I turned to the nearest remaining Vladoff soldier, his face twisted in terror. He was the last one alive.

"Tell your leaders," I said coldly, "I am coming."

Without waiting for his response, I clenched my fist, and the soldier's body ignited, turning to ash in seconds.

As the fires burned out and the last of the enemy forces crumbled, I felt something shift inside me. This war was only beginning, and I would end it on my terms.

I glanced back at Tina, who had followed me. Her face was still streaked with tears, but her expression had now hardened. She had seen what I could do. What I would do? And she wanted to be part of it.

"This is only the beginning," I told her.

The fire in her eyes told me she understood. Today, she had taken her first step toward becoming a monster.

And I would be the one to make her into the terror she was destined to become.

"Could you always do that?" Jeremiah asked confused.

"No..." I responded turning away.