Meanwhile, in the capital.

Two soldiers were hiding on the second floor of a building. There was only one thing that didn’t suit the usual operations of GRU special forces squad: there was a weird contraption by the window. A black box on a tripod.

It was easy to notice that this contraption was facing a large stone building, far away from the civilian dwellings.

“Rapier, this is Rex. Confirm readiness.” (Re)

“Rex, this is Rapier 1, we are set.” The bored operatives were listening to the chatter, and were slowly dying of boredom.

Today they were woken up at 4:00, and were sent here to sit and wait. The time was already approaching the noon, but there were barely any signs of anything changing.

“Shake up, everyone! Operation begins!” When Rapier 5 and 6 were about to start playing knives [It is simply throwing knives into something. Usually floor, ground, or a wall. Is considered a game and only requires a knife to play], a girl’s shout woke up everyone on the frequency.

The two people who were previously lying on the walls and thinking about how to entertain themselves immediately took positions. One was looking around with Val on stand-by, while the other was making sure that the laser designator was set up properly.

“Number 5!” (R1)

Together with the squad leader’s call, the operatives heard the howling of an approaching jet.

‘Click’

Moments after the designator was turned on, something flashed in the air, and fell on the stone building.

KABOOM

‘Click’

“Bomb connected.” (R6)

The streets filled with screams and shouting of confused people. Moments ago the city enjoyed its peaceful life, but then the hell was unleashed.

Suddenly, the military administration was reduced to rubble.

KABOOM

The next on the list was an old fortification in the Northern district.

Simultaneously, explosions started occurring everywhere in the city. Some of the were small, hitting only individual buildings. Some of them were huge, evaporating relatively large constructions.

Everything that was in the Commander’s arsenal, and was accurate enough, was aimed at the military targets found throughout the squad’s stay.

Boom

Through their window the operatives could see how more and more targets were consumed by clouds of smoke.

The streets were consumed by terror, and people were completely lost on where to run to. People were breaking into houses to hide, people were running around aimlessly, and were begging the gods to save them, to deliver them from this smite.

But the winds only delivered what appeared to be a distant thunder, while the skies delivered deafening roars of unknown beasts.

Only one of these noises was intentional: the Sukhoi fighter performing stunts, while the rest was but a background for the terrifying explosions that continued everywhere.

Amidst the chaos few noticed a shadow flying above the city in the low clouds. The shadow of a twin-engine fighter quickly approached the main storage of the city. The place where all goods, weapons, and grain are stored.

Few of the citizens saw how four objects separated from the plane, falling on the warehouses, and produced huge clouds of fire.

KABOOM KABOOM KABOOM KABOOM

It took no less than 10 seconds for the deafening thunder to reach the operatives.

But as fast as they appeared, the fireballs were gone.

“Yahoo!” (R6)

“That’s quite a sight to behold!” (R5)

As the amount of targets dwindled, the artillery decreased the amount of shells sent, the fighters formed up and returned back where they came from.

The result of this operations was that the artillery cleaned up all military-related installations in the city with minimal civilian casualties. Even the bombs did not result in any dreadful consequences. Though the operatives lamented not seeing a strategic bomber doing its stuff.

Together with the disappearing of the howling of jet fighters, the distant thunder of the Gods of War faded into a silence.

For the first few minutes after it was over, the city was staying quiet, as if fearing the return of the explosions. But by the end of the hour, the city returned to its normal life, as if nothing has happened.