Chapter 21

A quick check with Spirit Sight showed me a lot more of Hakan’s followers had shown up to defend his trapped body.

I opened a portal a little way from the outside edge of the gathering and brought out my attack squad.

“You guys ready? We’re going in hot?”

Eager roars, and flying past me like they were possessed, was all the answer I received and all the answer I needed as I followed them through, palms blazing as I fired Spicy Ball after Spicy Ball.

Over half of Hakan’s guard were demons, but if Destruction or the other demons with me cared, they didn’t show it all.

Destruction led the charge with an insane ferocity, growing as she attacked. The difference between her and the others was stark. Hell, on pure power output, she was still head and shoulders above me.

Our opponents, however, were hurling as much shit back at us, and they were dismantling a lot of our attacks. Those that weren’t dismantled, stuck shields which I was having real difficulty dismissing.

Regretting my decision to not call the rest of our developing team, I spoke to the others across the Soul Mate bonds I had with them.

“Use weaker attacks but produce them faster across their full front line! Destruction, you and me are going to hit the centre with everything we’ve got. Let’s see if they can dismiss this shit!”

“To what end?” Destruction asked, as she began building her next attack.

“I want them in disarray. As soon as we fire, I’m teleporting in next to Hakan.”

“Very well. Tell me when you’re ready to fire.”

I got straight to building my attack. Layering in as much destructive complexity as I could to it while trying to keep it condensed, and then, once I was satisfied with the attack, I coated it in a shield.

“How?” Destruction asked with a hint of wonder in her voice. “I was straining to hold my own construct together, but I felt like I had a little more to give and coated Destruction’s attack in a shield, too.

“Fire!”

We both let go at the same time, sending two, ten feet wide orbs of sparking and crackling energy at our foes.

As I predicted, the shields on both were  dismissed, and around half of the power was stolen from Destruction’s attack, but mine was barely affected by their efforts.

I pulled down the nearest shield to allow the giant Spicy Ball to penetrate deeper. Then teleported to the border of the distortion field to face Hakan.

I didn’t even get to see the carnage Destruction, and I had created, but I could feel the heat on my back. My attention was fixed firmly on Hakan and the unsettling grin on his face.

"Time to die, motherfucker."

"Is it that time already?" he said with genuine cheer and I knew without a doubt, something was up, but what could I do but push on and try to spot whatever he had planned before it caught me out.

"You bet your ass it is, Hakan. And I want you to remember, as the last particle of life drains from your core that it didn’t have to be like this.”

He laughed. “Oh Clive, the very moment you took power for yourself, was the moment that it had to be like this you naive fool."

After that statement, there wasn't really much else to say, so I threw out a tendril of Neuma into his core. It penetrated the barrier the drones had set up and locked onto his core.

The moment I pulled power from him, he spoke. His voice serious and not directed at me.

"I do not accept the charges levied against me by a corrupt Universal Administrator. They have corrupted the High Council and sullied our race in the pursuit of their own ambition."

To my absolute horror, the barrier holding him dropped, and he on suddenly appearing wings he dropped down to face me. A number of tendrils already flaring out of his body to wrap me up in his power.

"What the fuck is going on, Aly?" I screamed internally, forgetting for the briefest of moments that she had been unusually silent since I made the change to the law.

I suspected that I now knew why.

Lashing out at his hold on me, I severed the tendrils and backpedaled a few feet.

He blasted me in the chest and followed up with a meaty attack with his suddenly appearing sword. I evaded the blow and summoned my own sword to deflect the follow up blow at my head and kicked him in the chest, pushing him back. "How did you do that,” I snarled.

Another laugh. "But I didn't, Clive. You did and showed your recklessness again. Did it not even cross your mind to check what the Dictator Protocol was?” Still chuckling, he threw out his tendrils of power again. I threw myself backward and if not for Destruction cannoning into me, I would have flown straight into Hakan’s Void Storage.

“Thanks,” I gasped, throwing up a shield to protect us both. “Now get everyone out of here. I fucked up and this is not a fight we can win.”

“I’ll ask how he escaped later.”

“Good. I’ll stall him while you gather them.”

She flew from the back of my shield which failed under Hakan’s ministrations a moment later. I just thew up another one immediately, then fired though it at the approaching Hakan. He didn’t even bother trying to avoid it as he worked to pull my shield apart.

Now I was focused on the task it was easy enough for me to repair the damage he created as soon as he did it.

He grew frustrated at my skill and changed tactics, throwing a null shield around me and reversed the tables. Now I tried to break that barrier down and he repaired it just as quickly. Granted it would take a long time to actually drain me of my power.

While this took place, my allies escaped into Destruction’s Void Storage, leaving only the two of us left. She was having to employ evasive maneuvers from half of the army surrounding us, while I had to defend against the attacks and increased attempts on my shield.

“Time to go Destruction. You first.”

“I won’t leave you behind, Clive.”

“We’re outmatched and I won’t leave until you’re gone and we’ll both likely end up dead.”

She growled in my head, no doubt seeing the truth of my words across our bond. Then disappeared without a word.

Hakan made a last grab for me, sensing that I was about to escape with the Administration Totem. He was right, and he still failed to stop me as I disappeared.

I had no doubt he’d be heading directly for the Administration Hub now to finish the fight.

“All of you to the transporter tower now,” I snapped at the three worried faces around me as I opened up a portal. They headed through quickly and we transported directly to the Command Nucleus this time.

The moment I stepped through I shouted of Aly again, but there was no answer. Jumping straight onto the main interface I pulled up the Universal Administrator System settings and was thankfully greeted with the robotic voice of the system.

"How do I remove the dictator Protocol?”

Dictator Protocol Active due to abuse of Position.

Revert altered Laws back to previous status.

(Optional) Remove High Council Member Varela.

“Optional? What the fuck? Will the Dictator Protocol be disabled if she remains as High Councilor?”

Affirmative.

The accepted etiquette is for High Councillors to serve at least one hundred Onnekan days before voting on important matters.
Should High Counciler Varela vote on any other matters within that time, then the Dictator Protocol will be reactivated.

“Then revert the law back to how it was and Leave Destruction as she is.”

We waited in silence for longer than I expected, when the Interface finally spoke again.

Prisoner Protection Convention 82193, reinstated. All High Council Members have been alerted to the changes

The Next voice I heard was Aly’s. "Clive, are you okay?"

I sagged, more relieved than I expected to have her back. “Damn is it good to hear your voice. I take it you didn’t know anything about the Dictatorship Protocol?”

I did not. But I will look more deeply into it now I know.

“Before you do anything, can we get Hakan’s criminal status restored?”

It already has been.

“And did he manage to get into the Admin Hub?”

He did not. Nor can I detect him on the planet. It appears he took the first opportunity to escape.

I looked at Destruction and Life with a relieved sigh. “I suppose it’s better than him getting in the Admin Hub.”

Destruction seemed happy about that development. “He mustn’t have been able to takeover quickly enough. Why else would he just leave?”

“I dunno, but honestly I’m a little glad, because…”

“We are nowhere near ready to face his people?” She replied before the words could leave my lips. “Though it does appear that he both knew about the Dictator Protocol and used it against you.”

“You’re right. He played it very cool too, considering we had him caught hook line and sinker. Crafty bastard.”

“Still, it was probably the right thing not to imprison him in one of the Admin hubs. I’m certain he’d find a way to fuck us over from the inside. We just need to find another way to kill him.”

Life chose that moment to speak. “Or imprison him permanently where we know he cannot escape.”

I winced and shook my head. “Sorry Life, but that’s just never gonna happen. Most bloody fantasy stories on Earth are about some great and ancient Evil returning to plunge the world into another shitstorm. We aren’t going down that path. If we do this, we do it properly.”

Life accepted my words with calm reserve, and I moved on. “Hey Aly. Have you looked at that Dictator Protocol anymore?  Is there any way to remove it.”

I have studied it extensively since coming back online and as you might expect it is rooted deep within the operating system, designed in such a way as to prevent people from accessing it without destroying the framework which it supports. Which amounts to the entire system.

“Yep. That doesn’t surprise me at all. On the plus side, at least he can’t get on Talitus anymore. Life, I want you to go get your Chosen, I’m going to go on to Galess and activate the Distortion Field there. Once you’re done here, meet me there and we’ll go talk to the queen together.

“Destruction, I’m sorry for dragging you away from your training for this wild goose chase. I’ll catch up with you later, once I’ve finished my rounds.”

“It was a pleasure to come and test ourselves, Clive. I believe we all learned a lot from the experience and we will only be stronger from it. Will you raise a distortion Field around Onnekus and Falritas too?”

“Onnekus, yes. Falritas, only if I have to. I don’t want to cut us off from the outside.”

“That makes sense. Then I will stand ready and prepared to aid you on Onnekus, should you find Hakan is hiding there.”

“If he is there I might be bringing you all along this time.”