Enforcing

A group of Legionaries carefully walks into the entrance that has been forced open. The tunnel is wide enough to let a car pass through, and the clean sterile design similar to a hospital's corridor is a stark contrast with the aboveground factory.

I keep my eyes open for any traps and the likes while-

"What is this place?" Mary suddenly asks. The half-dragon wanted to tag along and insisted so much that I gave up and allowed her to come. She looks like a kid in a candy shop, her eyes are sparkling, and she sports a wide smile.

"We don't know," I answer, "But it might be a secret Imperial lab. We can't tell what we'll find, so get ready for anything."

The poor Goblin workers trapped into the Tower Of Justice come to mind, I don't know what I would do if I find a similar scene here.

It looks like Mary is also remembering that grim moment since her smile vanishes before being replaced by a grim expression.

"Got it," she says with a nod before taking a deep breath.

Even the usually enthusiastic Mary is now wary of her surroundings. It looks like the trauma caused by the assault on the Tower Of Justice is still affecting her, which is not surprising. Even I an still spooked when I think about it, and I'm more than desensitized from everything at this point.

I guess it's a side effect of fighting demons for years and constantly going back in time, nothing really matters anymore.

But I don't let any false sense of security stop me from being very cautious. I still do not know anything about the true nature of the Rewinder, and with the recent revelations about the World Code then it might mean that my ability is not so unique and that it can be countered.

It wouldn't be funny if the Oracle knew of such a countermeasure; we would all be dead in a matter of minutes.

But let's stop thinking about potential ways to doom the entire planet, I'm doing that too much already.

Instead, I focus on what's in front of me. The corridor is still going down, and it's slowly getting wider, which means that we should be approaching our goal. I have no idea what to expect, so I'm prepared for the worst.

We finally arrive in a large square hall, with long corridors in all directions. The lack of lighting is a bit-

An almost transparent beam sends a Legionary flying into the wall.

"Contact!" I shout and we all fire into the hallway where the attack came from. It doesn't take long for the all too familiar sound of a body exploding from the inside to echo into the air.

I carefully walk towards the source of the beam; a white coat covered in blood and meat chunks is lying in the middle of the hallway, and I spot a severed hand clutching what looks like a scaled-down version of the cannon that wiped us out in a previous timeline.

The weapon is obviously a prototype since it looks bulky and awkward to use, not to mention that most sections of the runic circuitry look like they burned out or are about to crumble.

"Be careful; there might be more of them hiding!" I warn my men and click my tongue. This area is obviously not mappable, and teleportation will not work inside the underground complex. It looks like the anti-teleportation barrier is still active despite our earlier assault, so it must be hidden somewhere in the underground lab.

Or at least I hope so because this complex seems utterly massive. Walking back to the surface is going to take a very long time.

We finally arrive in front of a large room with thick steel doors. The floating stone plaque near the entrance says 'Magical Bacterium Research Center.'

I gulp, this is even worse than I thought.

The Empire is developing biological weapons!

I don't know what kind of magical bacterias exist, but something tells me that their effects aren't pretty if the Empire seeks to weaponize them.

"We will all go through extensive decontamination once we're back home!" I announce to the rest of the group. "And if anyone, at any point, has a breach in their armor they are required to tell me immediately."

I take a deep breath; I'm glad that we changed the armors to be completely sealed. It would be a disaster if someone brought back some sort of deadly mana-infused plague to the Shard; that would wipe us out without any possibility of countering it.

I push a button near the door, causing it to open.

"Don't shoot!" a high-pitched nasal voice shouts. The owner of the sound, a lanky Mermen wearing a lab coat, is holding a small vial of roiling purple liquid in his hands while his three other colleagues are huddled behind him.

"I don't know who you are, but we will all be dead if you take another step!" the scientist warns while shaking the vial.

I stop dead in my tracks. Biological warfare is not something I'm willing to fuck with. For all I know, this could be a massive bluff, and this vial could be his lunch, but better be safe than sorry.

Releasing a flesh-eating plague is definitely not on my list of things to do, far from it.

"Okay, let's all calm down," I say as I order the Legionaries to stand down.

"What are you doing here? And what is this place?" I ask the scared scientist.

"Those are Imperial secrets!" the Merman shouts back. "How dare you attack our facility! You rebel scum will suffer the wrath of the Emperor, and-"

"Enough with the zealotry, I get your point," I say with a sigh. I'm getting tired of all those fanatics. The Imperials are rivaling my own cultists when it comes to fanaticism, and that's saying something. Why can't I meet anyone sane for once?

...Indeed, this situation is mostly my fault, but that's beside the point.

"Listen, we aren't going to get anywhere. I think you realized that we are at war with the Empire." I say to the scientist. "We want to know what the Empire is doing here, or else-"

"Or else what?" the scientist declares, "I am in control here. One wrong move and-"

"And what?" I interrupt. "I know that you don't want to die; no one does. So put down that vial, and we'll let you live." I take a step towards the Merman, and he takes a step back. "Do you feel in charge? DO YOU?"

Despite his fanaticism, I bet that the scientists are not willing to sacrifice their lives for the Empire.

Of course, this all couldn't be a bluff, and-

Fuck, the bastard actually threw it!