CHAPTER 5: WORLD DOMINATION SCHEMES

XENON WINGATE

3 YEARS AGO

We proceeded on the mission. 

Alfred, Carlo and I moved like ghosts in the city of snow and ashes. The more we push through, the more horrifying deaths we encounter. This war is so one-sided. Humans are armed with rifles, tanks, choppers, and even mechanical drones, while the dragonoids are armed with machetes, lead pipes, slingshots, and some stolen guns. All that’s happening is a complete massacre.

The gigantic Monolith Dragon can no longer be seen, and it's a good thing. That monster seemed to act on its own and not loyal to any faction. Back there, it just uses its photon beams to vaporize everything that moves, whether it is a human, a dragonoid, a machine, or even a collapsing building. It’s something like it has been summoned just to wreak havoc to make the city a much chaotic place.

“We’re here,” Alfred said.

We finally found ourselves on the foot of a short hill. In front of us is a stone barricade that is surrounding the hill itself, and on top of the hill is a mansion of some sort. There are several human guards surrounding the vicinity, and I lost count after twenty.

“Shall I blast it now?” Carlo said as he pulled a tower shield on his back.

“That will draw out attention, piece shit,” Alfred said as he looked around us and saw the buildings behind. “Let’s wait for a nearby explosion and we’ll blast the wall at the same time. It will cover the noise we're going to make.”

I looked at my watch and waited for five, ten, fifteen, twenty seconds. At the twenty-third mark, a skyscraper fifteen meters away from us crumbled, giving a weak tremor around.

“Now!”

“Juggernaut Smash!” Carlo presented his tower shield, and his body was immediately covered with thick metal plates. Four boosters spawned on his back, and he used the force to blast the nearby stone wall.

We managed to enter inside without being caught. The collapsing of the nearby building got the guards’ attention, so they didn’t realize that we three are crawling right behind them. We can easily blend in the thick snow with the help of our white Eskimo suits.

There are guards on the front door, on the terraces, and there are also snipers on the rooftop of the mansion. To prevent attracting unnecessary attention, Alfred threw the sword to the open windows and he used Blink to teleport the three of us inside.

“Set your heartbeat sensors,” Alfred commanded. 

We followed by revealing our smart gears which are touch screen pads stuck on our wrists. The smart gear gave out a GPS schematics of the whole mansion, together with the glowing red dots. All those red dots are detected heartbeats of the enemy, and it all appears that nobody except us is inside the house. It’s really weird that there are guards all around the mansion, but there is no VIP inside to be protected here. It’s like they are guarding something. And that means we are on the right track.

“This mansion is owned by Doctor Cheng Du, who works with the Alterran Warfare Commission. He is in charge of creating deadly superweapons for this empire. We need to get all the dossier we can get regarding military magic and technology.”

“Roger.” Carlo and I saluted. And then, we dispersed. 

The mansion consists of three floors and one underground. Alfred went to the top floor, Carlo went to the middle floor, and I stayed on the ground floor. I searched for anything that is of use to us, but the only thing I found on this floor are the dining rooms and the kitchen. 

I got hungry along the way, so I snatched some chocolate bars in the fridge. I also ate a strawberry cake and drank a box of milk. I never thought I could be this hungry in this operation.

We rendezvous on the stairs of the mansion and all three of us reported nothing in particular. 

“Nothing there, only bedrooms,” Alfred said.

“Same. I just saw the gym area and the recreation room.” Carlo said. 

“Dude, their cakes are delicious,” I reported while chewing a chocolate bar.

Alfred just ignored me as he continued the mission with seriousness. “Let’s proceed to the basement.” 

We went downstairs and arrived in the basement, which seems to be a wide room which is a mix of a library and laboratory. There are bookshelves and drawers on the left part of the underground facility, while there are countless sci-fi apparatus on the right part. At the center is a set of computer systems that are completely turned off. There are documents and other papers lying around the floor, which makes it evident that the duke doctor owns this mansion, and he left in a hurry.

We started our search. The bookshelves, apparatuses, and even the computer systems always point out to one single document that we are longing to take. It is the World Domination plan.

“Dragon Splicer, Psychic Amplifier, Nuclear Hearts, God Cores, Archonlight Master Controls, Necross Ascension…” Alfred muttered as he scanned the titles of the documents he is holding. “Man, the Empire of Alterra is ready for a world war. They are planning to dominate all the four empires and merge it into one with these overpowered super weapons.”

“Well, Alterra used to be the sole empire of humans before the First Dragonoid War,” Carlo stated. “And that’s a millennia ago.”

“Xenon, get the general dossier and download all the data with this disk.” Alfred passed me an external hard drive.

The moment I plugged in the external hard drive, the master computer immediately gave a red screen saying: 

Warning! Unauthorized Drive Confirmed.

Suddenly, the lights of the underground lab flickered red lights. Sirens started to sing the song of our doom.

“Warning, the laboratory has been breached! Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert!” A cybernetic voice announced.

“What the heck!?” Alfred exclaimed. “Their security system is so advanced that a simple plugging in with an outside device will give you a lockdown!?”

“Hey, not my fault,” I said.

“Forget copying it, let’s grab the dossier and run!” Carlo said.

I immediately grabbed the documents and the hard drive even though it didn’t manage to copy anything. Alfred’s drive contained three terabytes of porn, and it would be a waste to leave it here.

“Grab onto me!” Alfred said. We immediately tapped his shoulder on his signal, and then… “Blink!”

We got ourselves teleported back at the destroyed stone wall outside the mansion. Alfred often leaves a short sword along the way as a precaution and an evacuation plan. The Blink magic consumes a lot of mana to the caster, and there is a certain maximum range of fifty meters for it. It would’ve been easier if we can just outrightly teleport back outside the city.

Thankfully, there are no guards here at the foot of the hill. Maybe we managed to confuse them by teleporting in and out of the mansion.

“Let’s make a run for it!” Alfred said as he takes point. “Xenon, contact the evac unit!”

“Roger!” I said as we bolt forward and run downslope. I touched my earpiece and switched it to the channel of our special air service. “Delta Seven, we have secured the dossier of the target. Requesting Evac on Site B.”

“Negative, White Ghost. The landing zone is too hot.” The ally from another line answered. “A dragon knight is confirmed to approach your location.”

“What!?”

Suddenly, there was a loud tremor, followed by a tough cloud of snowy smoke that blasted upon our faces. We felt heavy gusts of wind as something much more powerful ambushed us.

It is indeed a dragon and a knight.

In front is a magical beast of destruction. It has claws as sharp and as long as greatswords, dark scales as thick as tank armor, bat wings as wide as a jet plane, a long spiky tail that can demolish a single bungalow in one swoop, and red eyes filled with deadly rage. Its head is like a giant salamander with three horns. It is a seven-meter-tall Chaos Dragon.

On the nape of its neck is its knight. He’s wearing a thick medieval armor, with a helmet that covers his whole face. He is wielding a lance that has the tip of a giant cone.

“Halt, intruders! I am an honorable dragon knight of the Empire of Alterra! You shall now face the consequences of trespassing the mansion of a duke!!” The dragon knight announced.

Never waiting for our reactions, the dark-scaled dragon roared, creating sonic booms in the thin air. “Graaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!” The Chaos Dragon revealed its shark-like teeth. Its mouth opened wide, and it unleashed a sea of dark flames unto us.