Chapter 396: the drum beats of war

“We say no to President Kai!”

“We say no to Oppression!”

“We say no to Suffering!”

“We say no to Bad Governance!”

Apart from the capital of Radan where most of the Radan army was concentrated, riots like this filled all other parts of the country.

Every citizen with a brain in his head came out on this fateful day to fight for their freedom, to fight for what belonged to them, to fight for their right, to fight for their children, and to fight for their country.

This was Christmas Day, the streets were flooded by people, but not in the way that was normal for past years. This year, everyone wanted a change.

The country-wide riot continued for over an hour, and like expected, just like other similar riots in the past, the government ignored the plea of the civilians like they were bugs asking for freedom.

In the past, this would have pushed the helpless civilians to the brink, and left with no choice, they would return to their homes dejected and hungry.

But today was different, the conviction driving today’s riot was vastly different. Today, Radan citizens were ready to claim back what belonged to them.

From nowhere, the citizens pulled out guns and other weapons.

Under the leadership of some people that could not be pinpointed, the helpless civilians were pushed to safety while the energetic and youthful ones pulled the trigger against the government buildings and mansions.

You want to stay in your mansion and ignore us? Try it today, we will force you out of your comfy mansions.

With that, gunfire erupted as bullets started pelting the hides of the government buildings that the riots were brought to.

The government buildings were all the corruption and neglect started from, that was where the fight was brought to.

The Radan army immediately responded, but the locations to pay attention to were too much for them to quell immediately.

And they still held back, they didn’t want to kill any civilians yet. But once the order came from their superiors, they were ready to obey and shoot at any civilians that they saw.

This was how backward the governance of Radan was.

…

Knock! Knock!

“Come in”. A deep voice sounded.

As soon as the Corporal stepped into the office, he placed his right hand above his head and saluted while greeting respectfully.

“Good morning, General”.

“Is there a problem?” The General turned his eagle-like eyes to scrutinize his subordinate.

“Yes, sir”. The Corporal replied before bringing out a projection device from his pocket. He projected a scene in the air.

Seeing this scene, the General’s eyes darkened in anger.

“Sir, a riot started this morning. According to our investigations, it started after being instigated by some people in the dark. It first easily took off in Don City, but now the whole country is practically crawling with it”.

“The old warriors club?”

“That is what we suspect sir, but we can’t confirm yet”.

The General laughed. “They’ve graduated to using weapons now since they are out of options”.

He sharply turned to meet his subordinate. “Prepare the army for an immediate counterattack and wait for my instructions, I’ll speak with the President”.

“Yes, General”. The Corporal saluted again before leaving.

Taking a deep breath, the General brought out a special communication device. As soon as he dialed a number, it took only a few seconds before a projection appeared before him.

“Mr. President”. He greeted respectfully.

“Why did you call me?”

“There is a situation”. Without mincing words, the General immediately explained everything that he learned about the riot to the President.

The President flared up immediately on hearing the news. “They dare?”

“Good, very good!” His face soon twisted into an evil grin. “This is my order. Since they have the guts to use weapons, use weapons to suppress them”.

“By the time hundreds or even thousands of them die today, I’m sure that they will come back to their senses. Also, I want you to fish out those who instigated this and execute them”.

“Even if you can’t get anybody from the old warriors club due to their sneaky nature, take any civilian or soldier and kill him. I want someone to pay, they’ve ruined my celebration already”.

“As you wish, Mr. President”.

As soon as the General ended the projection call, a vicious gleam shone in his eyes. Without hesitation, he called for his subordinate again, the Corporal.

“Mobilize the army and retaliate”.

“Yes, General”.

…

Some minutes after the order was transferred down, in the locations where the riot already peaked and most government buildings were already on fire, the Radan army finally arrived.

Without speaking a word, the military vehicles formed a semi-circle formation around the civilians who were being unruly.

Guns were pulled out, the soldiers aimed, then they shot.

Tu! Tu! Tu! Tu!

“Aaah…!!!”

The civilians were clearly shocked by the decisive action taken by the soldiers. Though soldiers killing civilians here was not rare, doing it on such a large scale was unheard of.

Seeing the cold vehicles and cold faces of the soldiers who already started killing their fellow rioters, the citizens felt the zeal to continue in their hearts waning.

“Is this our fate?”

“Are we fated to live and die in oppression?”

As despairing thoughts filled their minds, a hidden variable finally acted.

“You have the go-ahead to engage”.

Captain Drake’s unusually cold voice sounded in the military comm, radiating intense vengeance and the hunger for blood.

As soon as the order was transferred down, the disguised mercenaries of the Pendragon mercenary organization and the assassins of the Secret Order organization finally acted.

They reacted swiftly to the Radan army’s rampant offensive, and they came out with a bang. They had the power to back their charge.

Tu! Tu! Tu! Tu!

From a casual routine shooting to kill civilians, it became a full-fledged war.

Bullet shells fell, spreading pitty pattering sounds like falling rain as the Radan army and their aggressors came to blows with no one holding back.

In moments, the originally silent Radan republic was aroused like an ancient Dragon finally waking up from a millennia slumber.

Today, 25th December, the drumbeats of war were sounded in Radan.

…

Deep underground, in a secret railway that was recently dug after the attack plan was finalized, a mini-train waited silently like a hibernating transformer robot waiting for that important order to attack.

Captain Drake suddenly brought his head down to his communication device, a single sentence was sent to him.

“There is Chaos”.

He raised his head to face his companions, he stopped at the assassin who had that headband tag of number 10. “That’s our cue to move”.

Without hesitation, the engines of the mini-train started before it began pulling its metallic body down the rails.

The Operation to get the Radan President’s head finally began.

[Thanks for reading.]