The Automated King

First Mission

The glimmering radiance of the moon were showering the atmosphere with a blessing of twilight. Night of the hunt fitting in flawlessly with the two warriors on the prowl. They worn a black suit, meld themselves under the camouflage of abyssal shadow above them and blending into the the clutch of its light.

“All primed?”

“Set in perfection.”

Reginald and Simon are loading up their weapons in front of the gates, gearing up each of their belongings to ensure it usable to the test.

“Before we depart, I need to re-brief our small plan of action. As Merry have told me about the germs, there are two primary target to eliminate. The first one is this Yardpede, or the queen based on the scouts, and this Meterpede as their king.”

Simon is displaying the reconnaissance picture from the bracelet to show the clear image of the target for Reginald to fathom.

“Ah, they are a matrilineal tribe.”

“Yes, they are. The most important part of our quest is to kill this queen. She is the center of the colony, and of all, their heads.”

“Alright, I get it. Move out!!”

Simon is chuckling in silence.

“Hey, that’s my drift! Move out!!”

The two assassins are running down the side of the great wall. The group that they’re aiming is a rock’s throw in distance, a few kilometers to the left side of the gate that they rushed out from.

“For them to lay a settlement this close to our kin... they are really valiant.”

“Shush, stay alerted. Do you see our targets?”

Reginald is hovering his bowel-scope to the one of the tents.

“Hey, they are reading books!! You don’t give me a hint about this.”

“Like I said before, they are close enough to be clever, Regi. What about the targets? Can you smash it?”

“I don’t know, but I can tilt my scope to their heads right away.”

“No, wait, I have to locate the guards and their armies. Hold this ground for some time, I’ll be back.”

Simon got vanished into thin air, while Reginald moving his scope to cover all the big tents of the possible threat.

“Out of that tent, I am spotting five stationary guards, and it’s all packed with flashing light of their bottom. They are on the alert state with their buzz on, and it’s literal.”

“They could even assign their post? How scary.”

“Oh, yeah, they are. Put your silencer immediately, and shot their leaders right away.”

“.... I’ll try.”

Reginald is aiming the scope directly to the unaware heads of the Yardpede.

“Please forgive me, Ma’am....”

(Boom)

“First target, eliminated. On the trail of the second.”

The king scurried off the deceased remains of his wife alongside their offspring, emanating a loud scream of an insect.

“Is that their kids?”

“Hey, shot down the king, Regi!”

“...I’m sorry.”

A second projectile of acid is sprouting from his bowel, right to the exterior of the king’s head capsule and melting it apart.

“This is dreadful, Simon. I have to dismiss for awhile.”

“Calm yourself up, mate. This is just the start!! How can you do the other mission, then, if you can’t stomach this one?”

Simon proceed to press the button in his palm, triggered the planted bomb around their settlements. It trapped the inhabitants within the clutch of the burning flame, made them imprisoned inside their own homeland and running around in shame.

“Come on, Regi. We have to rout the others!!”

“I don’t want to!! Just deal with it by yourself!”

Reginald is shaken with fear, the emotion that he never felt in his day as a store manager. The loathsome revenge, void vengeance of humanity, all taste bitter in his mouth. The disdain of emotion is boiling in the turmoil of fist-fight, brought the sense of guilt to his mind.

“Are you a chicken? to fall by this silly sentimentality? Why are you here, then, to wag on your tail?”

“....”

“shut it out, then. I am going by myself, just like what you wished for. Send my regards to captain when you came home.”

With his dual blades unsheathed from its cover, Simon is running towards the scattered residents of the village down the hill. His movement is invisible to a normal human, maneuvering in a scale of fired bullets, slicing the vital points of all the panicked settlers in a flash. None of the villagers left untouched, including the ill-fated children of the deceased queen.

“Oh, man, they are so vulnerable.”

Out of the blue, a humongous life form intercepts the ripping party of Simon, thwarted him backwards.

“The heavy cavalry of the kingdom, eh?!”

A cannon-like jab bolted out from its claw in a blinding speed, knocking Simon to the back and crushing the wall of houses behind him.

“crap, it stings!”

His blades melted down, shattered into fractions of unusable steel as a result.

“Hoo, you’re one of the rumored blitz cavalry of this settlement, huh? I could be dead by now if my blade isn’t on duty. Please tell me your knighthood title.”

“Shrababab....”

“ Speak English, will ya? Alright, then, let me praise your strength by this twins.”

Simon pulled out his third and fourth blades off the scabbard. The edge is reflecting the shimmering blaze of fire that enflamed around the settlement, showing an immense boast of capability to his enemies.

“Please, bow to the all-mighty noble blade, granted as a reward from our queen herself.”

He is stepping backwards to gain momentum.In a quick dash, Simon is running in a straight line of the knight’s direction. The opponent fell on-guard, shielding his body with its huge right pincer to the upcoming attacks.

(clang)

A deafening sound blaring upon the clash of weapons. The blunt pincer apparently prevailed, as Simon’s blade didn’t lay an effective blow to his defense.

“Hey, dumb-ass!! Spew your gun and aid me! God damn it, he’s too much to handle.”

Simon is stepping backwards, taken aback by the stronghold that he has to face.

“Come on, mate!! A spurt of your acid would be a huge help to me, just blast this, uh, crab, right out! Hey, do you get this, ya bludger! Shoot the damn c***k out of this monster!”

After some time, the jet stream of acid spilling out of focus, scattering around Simon and his blade.

“Concentrate those pesky fluid to the knight!! Why are you targeting me?”

One of the small droplet of acid fell down to one of his blade, slowly corroding the edge to rust.

“Stop this friendly-firing Regi! Pinpoint the scope to the enemies, I beg you...”

The well-crafted blade by the right hand of Simon, after awhile, is completely destroyed. It was melted down into a pulp of dazzling metallic substance on the ground.

“Nooo, Mister slashy is ruined... you have to pay dearly for this one, Regi..”

Due to the frail state of his enemy, the shrimp-knight start charging with its pincer thrusting in front.

“Goodbye, Repugnare... Curse you, REGI!!”

The last barrage of shot landed directly over the head of the knight. The painstaking corrosion made the shrimp squealing in agony, screeching foul words incomprehensible to human ears.

“Cry, you foul beast!! I owe you this one fluke of shot, even if you nearly set me up into a slab-stone, Regi.”

Simon is slowly regain his composure, retrieving the one and only blade left on the ground as his last method to finish the job.

“Let’s end this mission real fast, I am buggered.”

The soils, once a village of insects, transformed into a field of bloodbath. The bombardment of explosion scouring the land, initiated by the two intruders of the night. Simon, with his gleaming blade, hack and slashing off the guts of the remaining combatants of the village. Reginald, in his displease and distraught, attempting to support from a long distance with oblivious shot of acid around the block as the supplementary attack of the two.

---

“Hey, Regi, are you alright?”

Reginald is regurgitating, spurted a mouthful of acid inside his bowel to the soil.

“This is why it’s rewarded, huh? To decimate a society to dust.. I can’t react much to it.”

“I have this sort of issue, alike with what happened to you right now, after arguing with the truth that we are a monster to them. However, it’s kill or be killed, Regi. This is the sole key for our survival to this end.”

“They have emotions, they are crying, and I am staring to their eyes, Simon!”

Simon is glaring in wrath, looking at the dejecting Reginald with pity.

“Stop this spoiled sack of crap, Reginald!! Quit crying like a baby. You are a warrior and our valuable partner!! Do not show your weakness to the enemies like this, ya snag.”

Reginald is not responding to Simon’s insinuation.

“Come on, let’s go back to our base.”

---

“Welcome, Reginald and Simon. Congratulations on the successful mission today!”

The automated doorbell is greeting them with an applaud. As they go indoor, Maria is slacking off on the couch of the lobby, alone with a glass of smoothies on her left hand.

“Hello, Simon, Regi, what happened? You look so ruined, Regi, is he sick or something?”

“No, Ellen, he is in the ‘syndrome,’ let him doze off a bit.”

“Oh, is that so? Thank you for the participation today, Regi. Go to the infirmary if you relished a quick rest to heal up.”

Reginald is strolling in sluggish pace, directly on the way to the infirmary, looking down and lethargic in his maneuver to the bed.

---

I am a monster. Everyone in this facility are the same. We don’t have dignity to choose, only obedience and adherence to the authorities. Who am I? a savior? Don’t make me laugh... we are an evil, a demon, the fallen. Is this the contempt of war? It’s painful to brag of this before. Is this my vision, the dream that I yearned for to have?

“Regi, can I come in?”

The ‘private talk’ with our honorable boss. She might be here to console me. It’s not harmful, though, so why not? She could be the answer to my scorn.

“The door is yours, boss.”

“I am offering a humble apology if you are disturbed of my entrance, Regi. Can I give you advice on this?”

I can’t deny her reasoning. I don’t understand of the load of anxiety that I’m having, nor even evident on what to do afterwards.

“Well, since you don’t answer me, I’ll take it as a yes.”

The room is yours to command, Ellen. I am but an entry-level sailor of the ship, after all.

“From my perspective, you were developed a grievance due to the mass g******e that you did in this objective.”

“And what’s your business to it, Ma’am?”

“It is practically everyone’s business, Regi. Your sorrow would let down any single person in this facility, hence descending their own growth. Did you know how much of the crew that we lose from this wager?”

“You call this wager? You’re deranged, Ellen.”

“Yes, this is a gamble, indeed. No matter how much information that our pathfinders have in hand, it is never moderate enough to account on the shady creeks of the future. We are always in qualms over anyone in dispatch over their own objectives, and felt pleasure upon their arrival. This is an illness that we need to suffer and withstand.”

I guess, in other words, you can rename the whole catastrophe of war and attrition as the compound of victory’s delight and cry of defeat by those premises.

“Where’s the end of it, then, Ellen? How can we stop the m******e?”

“Nothing, we are in merit to resolve this by whichever means we choose. Please, take one more quest, and decide the outcome by yourself to clear up of this matter.”