The Fall Of The Gates

Today was the day.

Getting up early, Mikhail dressed up and headed outside.

Assembling the squadron, he was the first to reach the drill grounds.

Various thoughts ran through his head as he saw the other squadrons report on the ground.

The routine for today was not going to be how it was any other normal day.

There were going to be no drills, even though they had all assembled in the grounds.

Rather, it was to welcome the Dominique who would be here in no less than an hour now.

"Nervous?" Mikhail turned to ask the squadron.

All of them shook their heads except Raviel.

"I guess a little. It's not everyday that someone this big comes to visit us."

Mikhail focused his gaze on her, making her shiver a little.

"It's not that I'm scared. It just feels a little odd to be this strict."

He nodded, turning back forward.

"I can understand. But you shouldn't think of it as something too big. As I always say, they are just Dominiques, not our gods."

"Uh huh." Raviel nodded, straightening up as well.

This was what Mikhail always tried to keep separate from his squadron and others.

No matter how high they were from them, he never thought of them as gods.

Their pride had just carried them too high.

And the people here today would witness it clearly.

There was no way to stop what had happened in his previous life. It was clear.

He wasn't able to figure out who the culprit was even after all those efforts.

And even if he somehow could, he had no confirmation of their strength.

But what he could do now was at least minimize the casualties.

From his previous life, the Dominique coming today would most likely be Celine Strathorne.

If he remembered correctly, she was the newly appointed Dominique La Borealis.

She would also be the youngest Dominique in the current council.

Every year, the Dominique who was supposed to visit would change.

The others had probably chosen to send her because she was the youngest.

After all, the council thought of the people outside the walls as nothing more than filth to be thrown out.

But there was a grave problem. Celine Strathorne, being the youngest, wasn't naive as one would expect.

No.

Mikhail still remembered that look she had on her face that day.

"Okay! Everyone, Assemble Up!" Daniel shouted from the middle of the grounds.

Everyone focused their attention on him.

"We have been going through this every year, so I don't think I need to explain what will happen!"

He looked at everyone for confirmation and everyone nodded.

"Good! Just get through this day as always and everything will go back to normal."

"Yes Sir!" A loud voice of agreement came from the squadrons.

The visit routine wasn't all that complex.

The Dominique would arrive at the camp.

They would inspect the academy and the authorities. If they chose, they could also interact with the squadron leaders.

They would also check the drill routes outside of the academy to see how well the academy maintained the area.

These were the main things that made the visit so important.

Usually, it wouldn't take long as the Dominique would want to get out of the place as early as possible.

But if anything went wrong, they could do anything and the Empire wouldn't object to it.

To the government, Dominiques were their golden childs.

A couple of lives or some destruction was nothing compared to their worth.

They would go to any length to spoil them.

Mikhail was suddenly woken up from his thoughts by a shout.

"THE DOMINIQUE HAS ARRIVED! PARADE, STAND IN ATTENTION!"

The single line was enough for everyone to be brought back to reality as everyone's feet moved in synchronization.

THUMP!

Everyone stood in attention as complete silence overtook the grounds.

Not a single sound or movement was let out as Daniel turned towards the entrance of the drill grounds.

Their position made it so that the entrance was right in front of Mikhail's eyes.

And it was from there that he saw it.

As clear as if it all had happened yesterday.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The sound of heels tapping against the stone pathway echoed in his ears.

And she entered his view, looking just how she did on that day.

With natural grace and poise, she entered into the ground.

Wearing the black and red military outfit that hugged her slender body, the golden ampulets displayed her status as a Dominique.

Her blonde hair neatly fell down her face in an asymmetrical bob, almost framing her emerald green eyes.

Celine Strathorne.

Everything about her was calculated, as if she wasted no movement or energy.

A sharp wind blew through the area, lasting no longer than a moment.

And in that single moment, it was as if her eyes had swept through the whole area.

'Insane.'

Even standing this far, Mikhail could feel the passive pressure weighing down on him.

Even the air felt as if it was much thicker than before.

Celine turned to Daniel, who performed a proper salute before handing over the report for drills.

The whole ground stayed silent as she checked the reports in the distance.

Within a minute, she was done.

She turned over to the grounds next, walking over after handing back the papers.

At this point, Mikhail had already felt some people looking at her with awe and admiration.

And it disgusted him to the core.

'A few more minutes. That's all you people will need.'

Reaching the middle of the ground, Celine straightened herself, making sure everyone's attention was on her.

And then for a minute, she just stood there in silence along with everyone else.

And when it finally felt like some people were getting impatient, she opened her mouth.

"Filth."

Her soft and monotone voice resounded in everyone's voice as clear as the wind.

'Resonance Magic.' Mikhail figured out.

Before everyone could get confused on what she meant, Celine continued.

"That's what you all are."

And a wave of silence hit the arena the next instant. Nobody had expected her to start her speech with that.

Mikhail immediately felt a few people stirring.

'This is just the start.'

"Nothing more than a useless pile of filth. Filth, unnecessary to be kept in the Empire's clean walls."

Sounds of fists clenching could be heard in the crowd now.

Yet, despite all that, not a single person could dare to break the silence.

"Your birth inside those walls was already sufficient enough of a taint that throwing you outside them should feel like a blessing to you people."

At this point, except Mikhail's squadron, signs of rage could be seen everywhere.

Even Daniel had a look of shock on his face as if he couldn't understand what happened.

It was well known that all Dominiques hated the Morvians. 

But in the history of visits, there was not a single time where they bothered to give a speech on their hate.

Celine, who could very well see what was happening, still continued.

"You are nothing more than a pile of rotten slaves. Your existence does not remain past the point of serving us to our use."

A chilling wind blew through the area, sending shivers crawling through everyone's back.

Mikhail could feel the rage reaching the boiling point for everyone.

But he also knew that Celine knew that very well.

'Huh?'

Mikhail felt as if for a split moment, someone had been staring at his back.

Unfortunately, he was given no time to think as Celine delivered the final nail to the coffin.

"Even the monsters behind those wormholes have more worth than you pathetic junks."

Yet, before the crowd could rage, the ground shook with a large rumble.

RUMBLE! BOOOOM!

It was followed right after by an ear-deafening explosion at the gate.

Immediately, confusion and disarray spread through the area. 

People struggled to maintain their balance and focus as screams erupted in the area.

'It has started.'

Mikhail, remaining calm along with his squadron, slightly turned his head back to them.

"Keep them close. Let me see what's happening," he told Modric, who gave an understanding nod.

Footsteps were heard as a man came running into the ground to Daniel.

He was fully bathed in blood. 

Blood that kept pouring out of the gash on his right side, which was armless now.

Everyone turned silent as the guard reached Daniel, their horrified gazes fixed on him now.

"What happened!?" Daniel shouted, asking to get any hold of the panicking situation.

But the words that would come out of the guard's mouth next would be the words that would haunt people's minds for years to come.

"A barrage of wormholes…pant…all of the Warden rank or below…pant..and.."

A wave of horror swept through everyone as the reality set in.

"And what!!?" Daniel gripped his shoulders and shouted, already fearing what was to come next.

If there was anything amidst this incident that Mikhail still remembered exactly on point from his past life….

It would be the next words echoing in the grounds from the guard.

"The gates. They have all been breached."

SLICE!

A head flew in the air, blood splattering all over the ground and Daniel.

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