Chapter 47:
Deep beneath the Red Keep, in the dark sewage tunnels.
Clang!
Sparks flew.
Jaime Lannister staggered backward. A deep gash now marked his golden prosthetic arm.
Opposite him, Euron Greyjoy licked the blood from his dagger like a rabid dog. Although he had lost an arm, he seemed to feel no pain. His single eye gleamed with an inhuman purple light — a mutation caused by long-term consumption of shade of the evening and exposure to black magic.
"You've grown old, Kingslayer."
Euron grinned viciously, his body twisting at unnatural angles. "Your sword is slower. Your heart has softened. But I… I have heard the call of the deep sea!"
"To die for that madwoman? How foolish!"
Euron lunged forward, his dagger stabbing straight at Jaime's remaining eye.
Jaime could not dodge. In this narrow, slippery tunnel, wearing heavy armor made him too cumbersome.
But he didn't try to dodge.
He raised his left arm sharply — that golden prosthetic limb once seen as a mark of disgrace.
Ding!
The dagger stabbed hard into the golden hand but could not penetrate even an inch.
"I am old."
Jaime gritted his teeth. In the instant Euron's dagger was caught, Widow's Wail in his right hand thrust forward fiercely!
"But this hand… is hard enough!"
Pfft!
The Valyrian steel sword pierced Euron's abdomen, pinning him against the moss-covered wall.
"Cough… cough…"
Euron spat out a mouthful of black blood, yet he was still smiling.
"You can't kill me… mortal iron cannot kill the Drowned God's emissary…"
Suddenly, the water surface in the depths of the tunnel began to boil.
Several scaly, slimy, dark-green tentacles emerged from the filthy water and violently wrapped around Euron's ankles.
Was it some deep-sea monster? Or an evil entity Euron had summoned through sacrifice?
"I will return, Jaime."
Euron grabbed the tentacles and let his body fall backward, forcibly pulling the sword out of his stomach.
"When the sea floods the land… I will bring true gods back to find you!"
Splash!
Euron was dragged by the tentacles into the dark underground river and disappeared.
Jaime panted heavily, staring at the now-calm water surface. A chill rose in his heart.
This world… had truly changed.
But he had no time to dwell on it.
The tremors from above grew stronger — the prelude to an explosion.
"Cersei…"
Jaime drew his sword and sprinted toward the upper secret passage.
…
Alchemical Workshop, a blazing inferno.
Whoosh—!
Green wildfire moved as if alive, writhing wildly throughout the room.
Those self-destructing wights were extremely troublesome. They didn't seek to kill — they only wanted to rush into crowds and explode.
"Stay back! Don't let that green slime touch you!"
Bronn fired while retreating. The MP5's barrel was glowing red-hot.
"Damn it! These things won't die! Even when they explode, they splash!"
The Hound, Sandor Clegane, was backed into a corner.
He had a natural terror of fire. Watching the green sea of flames before him, he felt as if he were back in his childhood, when his brother had held his face in the brazier.
His hand holding the gun trembled.
"Sandor! Cover me!"
Arya's voice came from the beams above. She leaped across the pipes like a nimble cat, trying to reach the mad Qyburn.
One self-destructing wight spotted Arya and roared as it tried to climb the pipes.
"No… no… fire…" The Hound's eyes were glazed.
"Look at that, big guy!"
Arya shouted in mid-air. "If you don't shoot, I'm dead! Is the gun Victor gave you just a fancy fire poker?!"
That angry shout snapped the Hound out of it.
He looked at the little monster about to grab the little Stark girl.
That was the little she-wolf of House Stark — the only one on this journey who had treated him like a person.
"To hell with fire!"
The Hound roared, overcoming his fear.
He pulled the trigger, this time not aiming at the wight's body but at a liquid nitrogen cooling pipe above the wight's head (built according to Victor's blueprints, used to cool the wildfire).
Boom!
The slug shattered the pipe.
White ultra-low-temperature gas erupted, instantly engulfing the self-destructing wight.
The burning green flames were extinguished in the extreme cold. The wight froze into an ice sculpture and shattered upon hitting the ground.
"Well done!"
Bronn whistled. "So these things are afraid of cold!"
Taking advantage of the chaos, Arya finally reached the control console.
Maester Qyburn was about to push the final lever all the way down — the one that would detonate the wildfire across the entire city.
Whoosh!
A Valyrian steel dagger flew out and pinned Qyburn's hand to the console.
"Ah!!" Qyburn screamed.
Arya landed and kicked the remote control out of his other hand.
"You've lost, old madman."
Qyburn looked at the severed wires and suddenly smiled grotesquely.
"Lost? No, little girl."
"Science… is never-ending."
He slammed his other hand down on a red button — not to detonate, but to transmit data.
A strange difference engine beside him began to spin frantically. Perforated paper tapes were destroyed, and mechanical ravens flew out through a special channel.
"I have already sent all the data on 'necromantic alchemy'."
Qyburn's eyes burned with fanaticism. "Oldtown, Braavos, even distant Asshai… soon the whole world will master this power."
"Victor Pompey opened the Industrial Age, and I… have opened the Bio-Alchemical Age!"
Arya knocked him out with one punch.
"Too much talking."
She looked at Bronn and the Hound who had just arrived.
"Fuses disabled. But the wildfire is still here. This place could blow at any moment. We need to withdraw and let Victor send in specialists to handle it."
…
Top floor of the Red Keep, Maegor's Holdfast.
Cersei stood on the balcony, listening to the gradually quieting gunfire below.
She knew Qyburn had failed.
Those useless fools had not stopped Victor's "special forces."
"A bunch of incompetents."
Cersei turned coldly and looked at the last cup of wine on the table.
It was shade of the evening — enough to let a person die painlessly.
Since she had lost, she would not allow Victor to humiliate her. She was Tywin Lannister's daughter, the Queen Regent of the Seven Kingdoms.
Just as her hand was about to touch the cup —
The door to the secret chamber was violently smashed open.
"Cersei!"
A one-armed man, soaked through and covered in mud and blood, burst in.
Cersei's hand trembled. She turned and looked at the man who had once been impossibly handsome but was now wretched and battered — her only love.
"Jaime?"
Her voice carried a slight tremor. "Have you come… to die with me?"
Jaime strode forward and knocked the poisoned wine cup to the floor.
The purple liquid spilled across the expensive carpet, releasing wisps of white smoke.
"No."
Jaime gripped Cersei's shoulders tightly with his golden hand.
"I've come to save you."
"Save me?" Cersei laughed bitterly. "Look outside, Jaime. That monster in the sky, those killers with strange fire-guns. No one can save me."
"Victor Pompey will parade me naked through the streets, just like the High Sparrow did."
"He won't."
Jaime's eyes were resolute. "I know Victor. He's a politician, not a sadist."
"As long as you surrender, as long as you hand over power, I can guarantee you won't die."
"We can return to Casterly Rock. We can go to Essos. To a place where no one knows us."
"I won't go!"
Cersei struggled hysterically. "I am the queen! If I die, I will die beside the Iron Throne!"
"You are no longer queen!"
Jaime roared — the first time in his life he had ever spoken to her so harshly.
"Look at what you've done! You wanted to burn everyone in King's Landing! Do you want our child (Tommen) to rule over a wasteland?!"
At the mention of Tommen, Cersei's madness faltered for a moment.
At that instant, a massive rumbling came from outside the window.
The Leviathan airship slowly descended. Its powerful searchlights shone directly onto the balcony, bathing the two in blinding white light.
Through the loudspeaker came Victor Pompey's emotionless voice:
"Cersei Lannister."
"Your alchemists have surrendered. The wildfire fuses have been cut."
"This is the final ultimatum."
"Come out. Or die."
Dozens of red laser dots (sniper sights) instantly appeared on Cersei's forehead and heart.
Jaime stepped in front of Cersei and raised his golden hand toward the airship.
"Don't fire! Victor! Don't fire!"
He turned to Cersei, his eyes full of pleading.
"Please, Cersei. For me. For our child."
"Live."
Cersei looked into Jaime's bloodshot eyes, then at the invincible steel behemoth outside.
All the strength seemed to drain from her body.
The pride that had fueled her madness finally collapsed in the face of absolute power.
She collapsed into Jaime's arms and let out a long, despairing sigh.
"Fine, Jaime."
"Take me away…"
…
The next morning.
The Pompey legions entered the city.
There was no slaughter, no looting.
Only orderly formations and trucks distributing bread.
The people of King's Landing cheered and threw flowers at the soldiers in black uniforms.
Victor stood before the great hall of the Red Keep, watching Cersei and Jaime being escorted out.
Cersei was not put in chains (out of respect for Jaime), but her expression was vacant, as if her soul had already died.
"Send her to Casterly Rock under house arrest."
Victor said to Tyrion beside him. "Find your sister a quiet sept or a seaside villa. Do not let her touch any power again."
"Thank you," Tyrion said with complicated eyes. "Not just for her, but for Jaime too."
"Don't thank me yet."
Victor turned and looked toward the distant sea — the direction Euron had escaped.
Then he looked at the pile of "bio-alchemical blueprints" records seized from Qyburn's laboratory that had already been transmitted.
"King's Landing has been taken."
"But Pandora's box has only just been opened."
[System Notification: First Phase Main Quest "Enter King's Landing" completed.]
[Second Phase Main Quest unlocked: The Fracturing of the World.]
[Current World Threat Level raised to: 6 stars (Magitech Industrial Age).]
[New Factions Unlocked: Braavos Iron Bank (Capital), Citadel of Oldtown (Black Tech), Yunkai Slave Masters (Anti-Pompey Alliance).]
Victor took a deep breath and sat upon the uncomfortable Iron Throne.
It felt cold against his backside.
"Pass the order."
"Prepare the entire army and expand the armories."
"Since they have stolen my technology…"
"Then we must create even stronger technology to make them despair."
"Next objective: Unify the realm and prepare for world war."
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