"Great Emperor, the location of another small resistance group has been found. The former Northern General is the leader of this group."
"We learned of their existence after a soldier overheard youths from the old Northern Army trying to recruit some people for this resistance group." — The old emperor, now Leo's counselor, spoke without caring about his former general and then continued: "After a brief torture session with the youths, we discovered the location of their base."
Leo, who was seated in a chair signing some papers, lifted his head, looked at the kneeling former emperor, and replied:
"All right, it's only been a week since I took over the empire and this is already the third time a resistance has appeared. Send Angela to deal with this once more and have them all killed." — said Leo calmly.
Angela was now the leader of Leo's personal squad. She was appointed by Leo himself after presenting herself for the position. She put on a whole show in front of him, claiming she had forgotten the past and would now be totally loyal to him.
Leo, seeing the fury in her gaze that she tried not to show, accepted purely for amusement. After all, this was his little experiment, which, oddly enough, worked. Now he wanted to see what other achievements she would attain, beyond overcoming all the adversities of a Thraxan's life, such as the short lifespan of a few months and low strength.
Obviously, Leo was not stupid. If she evolved too much, he wouldn't mind stepping out of his comfort zone to deal with Angela personally. But that day would probably never come. Angela would forever be a little puppy dancing in the palm of his hand.
"Yes, sir." — the former emperor confirmed Leo's orders and quickly departed.
'Little Angela, you think I don't know what you're planning?' — Leo thought to himself after his counselor left, letting out a slight laugh.
Inside the Thraxan empire, a large house was falling apart. In the living room, the men of the small resistance group against the new emperor were resting. There were about fourteen men. Small and large firearms were also resting beside them.
"Leader, leader!" — a young Thraxan entered the house shouting, alerting everyone present.
"What the hell is it, rookie!? The leader is in the main office."
Showing a frightened face, the young Thraxan shouted back nervously:
"Something terrible is going to happen, we need to get out of here quickly!"
"I'm here, rookie. Tell me exactly what this 'something terrible' is." — the Northern General, now leader of this small resistance against the new emperor, questioned the rookie as he coincidentally arrived.
"Leader, I heard from a soldier that—" — the rookie began, before being interrupted by a female voice coming from outside the house.
"Lord Leo's personal squad is here! Surrender immediately, resistance, and we can give you a quick death!" — outside, Angela shouted in front of the house. Behind her, at least forty elite soldiers were lined up.
Raising her hand, she gave the signal and ordered everyone to invade, while she led the front.
After Leo's personal squad forced entry, they were met by a hail of gunfire — all from the resistance members, who had now grabbed their weapons that had been beside them all along.
But, to their misfortune, Leo's squad also began returning fire. Angela's squad was heavily protected by vests and protective shields, very different from the small resistance.
With little difficulty, Angela's side slowly gained the advantage after the firefight began.
Upon seeing Angela enter while leading the soldiers, the Northern General was completely surprised.
"Angela, I had already heard rumors that you had submitted to the alien who killed your family, but I really didn't believe it!" — hiding while shooting, the ex-general, now resistance leader, said.
"Silence, traitor of the empire! I, Angela, will always be loyal to Emperor Léo!" — Angela shouted, advancing at great speed, dropping her shield, firing at several resistance men, taking down five with five shots.
Seeing their comrades die, the resistance soldiers shot at Angela, taking advantage of her being without her shield.
Angela was hit, but to their misfortune, it was like a pellet gun hitting someone — without much damage.
After surviving many experiments, Angela's body was now several times harder than iron, capable of withstanding a lot of damage without getting hurt.
"Listen, everyone, it's useless to fight Angela! You have my permission to flee!" — shouted the resistance leader, after seeing Angela suffer almost nothing when hit.
Hearing their leader's order, the resistance members decided to obey.
They all ran toward various areas of the house. Some were hit by gunfire while running, but others actually managed to leave the house. However, not long after, they were ambushed outside by some members of Leo's squad.
This escape action had long been anticipated, so some members stayed outside to prepare an ambush.
Unaware of what was happening to his resistance members, the former Northern Army general advanced on Angela to try to buy time.
He was easily subdued, his head caught in a chokehold. With his last strength, he asked:
"Why…?"
"I'm sorry, Derick, but I'm the person with the best chance of killing Leo."
"So I need him to believe I'm on his side so that at the best opportunity, I can kill him." — she whispered in Derick's ear, so softly no one else could hear, before breaking his neck.
In Angela's eyes, if you looked very closely, you could see a small tear fall as she saw her old friend and army comrade lose his life.
But that lasted only a fraction of a second, before a look of fury appeared on her face and she blamed everything she had done so far on Leo.
This was already the third time she had done this kind of job for Leo. It seemed that bastard was toying with her, making her do all sorts of work involving killing old army members or people opposed to Leo's empire.
'You won't get away with it, you bastard. One day I will crush your skull in the name of all my relatives and the people you made me kill.' — Angela thought silently as she left the site for her team to survey and clean up.
She knew that, because of the influence of being a former general, the resistance members must number in the hundreds, scattered in various places.
But now, without a leader, they would be completely dissolved, and Angela preferred it that way. She didn't want to kill more people who opposed Leo.
After killing the former Northern General's resistance group, Angela went to report to Leo as squad leader.
"My lord, I killed all the members of the former general's resistance. I hope my lord is satisfied." — Angela said, kneeling in front of Leo's desk, who was still working with papers.
"Very good, little Angela." — he said ironically, getting up and walking to Angela.
Teasing Angela, he played with her little antennae and said:
"You're quite cold-blooded, little Angela, killing former comrades without complaining."
Angela, still kneeling and with her head down, bit her blue lips in great anger.
"They were merely coworkers, sir, and deserved it for going against the Empire and Your Majesty." — she said, taking a deep breath and calming down, suppressing all the rage and hatred she felt at that moment.
Seeing her like that, Leo was even more amused and continued to pester her.
"I wonder what Rangel would think, seeing his daughter speak so sinisterly." — Leo said, displaying a macabre grin from ear to ear.
"You!" — Angela shouted, completely losing her composure, looking up and seeing Leo's smile.
Grabbing Angela's neck, Leo lifted her, bringing them face to face, and said in a sinister tone:
"I what?"
"A puppy that barks at its own master deserves punishment." — Leo finished, pulling at Angela's battle suit, tearing it completely.
With horror on her face, Angela tried to cover her breasts and her lower part.
But her attempt was thwarted when Leo used his other hand to stop her from continuing to cover her lower part.
Angela tried to scream and speak, but her attempts were completely thwarted because Leo squeezed her throat, preventing her from saying anything.
"After Leo pulled her arm away, she removed the arm covering her breasts to try to cover her lower part once more.
'You keep resisting; it seems this little puppy is more disobedient than she appears.' — he said, releasing Angela's arm and preparing to deliver a controlled punch to her stomach.
His punch hit her stomach squarely, making her lose her breath and choke while being strangled by Leo.
Leo then threw her to the floor, but because of her resistant skin, she felt nothing.
She was still choking when Leo released her neck, began undressing himself, and played with her.
It was already late afternoon when, after several hours, Leo finished, having done it many, many times.
He then got dressed and said:
'This is a small lesson for a disobedient puppy.'
'After you get up, clean yourself, get dressed, and go home.' — leaving Angela lying on the office floor with tears in her eyes, Leo headed to his room in the palace.
Inside Leo's room, gold, silver, and copper decorated the environment. The enormous bed, extending several meters, on top of a fabric support, held the white, thin cloth that hung down to the end of the bed.
On the side of the room, a door leading to the balcony could be found. It was the height of four people.
Leo, already in his room, decided to go to the balcony. Upon opening the door and passing through it, he saw a view that would make many hearts race. Many thousands of kilometers of city after city could be seen. Amid all this, hundreds of small and large mountains dominated certain areas. In these surroundings, vegetation and forests covered much of the land — a true spectacle.
Leo then placed his two hands behind his back, his hair blown by the wind, took a small exhale, and, in a loud voice, said:
'Everyone carries within themselves the seed of evil — some bury it deep beneath layers of hypocrisy, while others water it with pride until it blooms in its purest form.'
'Reason has never been synonymous with goodness. On the contrary, the rational mind understands that morality is a leash imposed by the weak to restrain the strong. And when someone breaks that chain, they don't become a monster... they merely return to their original nature.'
'I don't pretend to be virtuous. Compassion is a luxury of the powerless, and empathy, a trap for those who hesitate. I've always known this.'
'Life? A disposable resource. The pain of others? A muffled sound before my ascent. In the end, there is only one immutable truth: the strong trample, the weak bleed. There is no justice, only result. There is no redemption, only domination.'
'Those who cry today, if they had the power, would do the same or worse. The dream of the oppressed has always been to become the oppressor. I merely realized that dream first — without excuses, without shame.'
'Hahaha... This is me. Not a villain, not a hero. Just someone who had the courage to embrace his true essence.' — Leo finished, leaving the balcony under the cold wind that blew on that beautiful afternoon.
Inside the room, he approached the bed, sprawled out, closed his eyes slowly, and fell asleep."