“Sir, you got to take a look at this,” Viktor cocked his head to the right as he called Rolan who was speaking with one of the staff of the embassy.

Rolan threw a cursory glance at Viktor and asked, “Why?”

“The Britannians have arrived at our gates with buses. They are seeking permission to get into the embassy grounds,” Viktor explained.

“Oh, they’ve finally arrived huh?” Rolan looked at his wristwatch. There are only thirty minutes left before the Bogatyr lands. “Inform the ambassador about this, I’ll go meet our friends down below, and about the Gatling gun, yeah I think we gonna need it back to the Bukavac,”

Viktor heaved a drawn-out sigh, “But we just mounted it on the roof, you want us to take it down again?”

“Well, judging from our circumstances, we are not holding the fort anymore, we are abandoning it. So, do as you are ordered and ask others for help. We are not leaving anything Yamato can use against us later. I’m going down now.”

Viktor performed a salute before turning around and heading towards the ambassador’s office.

Rolan smiled briefly before heading down the stairs, going along with the embassy staffers carrying boxes full of files and documents.

There’s still too much to burn. Just how many sensitive documents does this embassy have to burn into ashes?

Not that it concerned him, Rolan was just curious.

He reached the exit of the embassy and saw the guards gathering in the front gate with their bolt-action rifles tensely aiming at the Britannian convoy. Even from a distance, Rolan can hear them exchanging words.

“Look, we almost got ourselves murdered from the confrontation earlier and despite you all seeing our flags fluttering on our hoods, you still don’t want us to enter to let you have these buses? How fucking surreal.” the Britannian male said with disbelief.action

“I’m sorry, but we have orders to follow. We can’t let anyone enter the embassy without the permission of the ambassador and the head of security.”

The man rubbed his head in frustration, “Are you not fucking aware that we are here to save you Ruthenians with vehicles to get you out of this crazy country that wants to watch your head get chopped off? Or is this some strange Ruthenian religious ritual to feign awareness of help given?”

“No, we are not aware of it,” the guard said, his voice getting firmer.

“Hmm…that makes bloody sense. They held it in secret and never thought to tell you? Typical, just absolutely typical. Anyways, you have already sent one of your men to inform your ambassador and it’s been ten minutes already. How long does it take you, people, to talk about it? The Yammies are getting ready to batter down your gates.”

A silence fell over the guards as they took in what he had said. But luckily, Rolan arrived just in time.

“It’s okay, open the gates,” Rolan’s voice sounded from behind them. Causing them to look and the moment they saw his figure, they immediately stood to attention and saluted. A moment later, they did what they were told, opening the gates, and allowing the vehicles the Britannia promised to lend Ruthenia into the embassy.The Yamato police could only watch, unable to do anything as they weren’t ready for the consequences should they delay or interfere with the Britannians.

p<ᴀɴᴅᴀ>-、 “Rolan Makarov, the acting head of security of the Ruthenian embassy,” Rolan extended his hand to the Britannia official, who shook it politely.

“You can call me Max,” he introduced himself and continued, “I’m the one in charge of bringing every one of you to the airport. I must say, your country is in a downright pinch.”

“Yeah, quite precarious at the moment,” Rolan agreed with his remarks. “For now, our only priority is to leave the embassy.”

They both released their hands and proceeded to walk through the parking lot. As they got there, Max noticed a vehicle riddled with bullet holes and its glass, he wouldn’t say shattered, but it’s the best word that he can use to describe its state.

“Fucking ‘ell…So it was true that the Yammie army shot up your convoy,” Max pursed his lips as he took off his flat cap at the damages rendered upon the vehicle, realizing just now the possible retaliation of the Ruthenia Empire should this news get to them. Well, they already did and he can only guess that it won’t be a diplomatic one, but rather, a display of force.

“Yeah, those stupid monkeys killed two of my men in the process and we gunned down dozens of them in defense to protect our Grand Duchesses. There’s no way this situation is going to end peacefully.”

From his words alone, Max could infer that the Ruthenia Empire has already made its decision on what to do with the Yamato Empire.

“To be honest, getting in here is quite easy, but getting out will be a problem. A big one. After all, the damned Yammies don’t want you to leave the premises as you are in possession of a man they badly want to detain.”

“That’s just their ploy,” Rolan scoffed. “Even if the man we are talking about isn’t here, they are still going to come up with another reason to contain us here.”

Rolan fished through his pocket for something. He pulled out a cigarette pack, which he promptly opened. He offered one to Max but he refused.

“Sorry mate, I quit smoking …”

Rolan raised an eyebrow, surprised, “Is that so?”

“Yeah, my wife and I are getting kids in the next two months and the doctors told us that smoking can hurt the children’s growth. I don’t want that to happen.”

Rolan frowned, and couldn’t relate to his plight. After all, he doesn’t have a woman in his life in the first place.

“Still, you didn’t tell me about your plan on getting out,” Max changed the subject. “Don’t tell me you’re going to use the Britannia flags as shields.”

“We do have a plan,” Rolan said, inhaling deeply and exhaling the smoke. His eyes drifted away looking at the Yamato police who were intently watching him. “You’ll know it soon enough.”

He threw the cigarette to the ground and crushed it under his feet.

Suddenly, someone called out to him.

“Sir!”

It was Viktor and Matvei hefting the thirty-eight kilograms M134 gatling gun. The odd yet familiar design caught Max’s attention.‘Did they dig that up from the basement? Looks too small and looks too new.’

“Nice work on getting it down, now mount it to our Bukavac. And where are the other two?”

“They are on their way down with the other one, sir.”

“Good, we’ll leave in twenty minutes. Once you’re done with that, announce to everyone to exit the embassy and board the buses.”

“Yes sir!” Viktor and Matvei nodded in acknowledgment and carried out their duties.

“Isn’t that a Gatling gun?” Max inquired, pointing his finger at the gun carried by Viktor and Matvei.

“Yes,” Rolan confirmed. “But a more powerful kind of Gatling gun.”

…

Twenty minutes later, staff of the embassy started filling the buses, sitting in their respective seats. The Grand Duchesses of the Ruthenia Empire hopped in the damaged Bukavac. Although its sights are bringing up haunted memories, the vehicle is still durable enough to protect them from light rounds. Coupled with the turreted machine gun, it’s the most secure vehicle they can get their hands on.

Standing outside the Bukavac, Rolan takes a look at this wristwatch again, checking the time. Ten minutes before the Bogatyr lands.

Then he shifted his gaze to the sky. “Any second now,” he muttered under his breath.

Seconds later, a faint scream can be heard overhead, then suddenly, a flash of light lit up the dark sky briefly followed by a large explosion that rocked the earth beneath their feet.

“What in the bloody hell was that?!” Max exclaimed, taking a step back, while Rolan merely shrugged, unbothered by the whole spectacle.

Air raid sirens around the city howled out as searchlights flicker on to search the night sky for suspected bomber planes with their long focused beams of light.

“Is this part of your plan?!” Max yelled out of worry.

“Yes, it is, now gets into your vehicle. We are getting out of here.”

“HEY?! DID YOUR COUNTRY CAUSE THAT!” The Yamato army sergeant shouted angrily at Rolan.

A large number of Yamato forces received word from their headquarters and were diverted to get to the site of the explosion as soon as possible. This lessened their numbers, which Rolan and the Ruthenian High Command anticipated.

Rolan waited for a minute before pressing his earpiece. “Give them hell.”

Matvei grinned devilishly as he received a command he had long waited for. “This is for Igor and Oleg.”

He rotates the M134 barrels to face one end of the Yamato hasty fortified pressed down the pin, sending electricity to the motor that rotates the rotary barrel. Then the soft hum of the gun rotating turned into a roar of death, the bullets punching through the thin metal of vehicles the Yamato soldiers and police were taking cover behind.

Matvei did a sweep with the bullet hose, cutting down anything in its path.

Men and machines were torn apart by the sheer volume of fire. The Yamato soldiers didn’t get a chance to fire a single shot before getting minced into the afterlife.

“What in god’s name !!?”

Max exclaimed as he saw the Gatling gun cut men and machine-like scissors on paper.

‘Which devil did the Ruthenians sell their soul to get such an infernal weapon???’