Soldier POV – Rank: Officer 8821, B.A.M Division
I've stood in battlefields soaked with blood.
I've stormed rebel gates under artillery fire.
I've watched comrades fall next to me like flies in the burning heat of Mutuba Valley.
But nothing—nothing—made me feel more terrified than standing at attention in front of Chris Blackwood, the Supreme Ruler of the Blackwood Empire, after pointing my weapon at him.
And now?
Now he was reading the results of a vote.
A vote to determine my fate.
And the fate of two dozen other soldiers who only followed standard protocol.
The crowd was silent. You could hear a pin drop in that square. Even the birds in the sky had vanished. The wind refused to blow.
Behind him stood Amara, her face unreadable.
She wasn't smiling.
She wasn't frowning either.
She looked… locked.
Frozen like a marble statue.
Chris raised one hand—just one—and immediately the hovering vote spheres vanished into digital dust.
Then came the announcement.
His voice was calm.
> "The vote on whether the soldiers should live or be executed…"
He paused. My boots trembled.
> "…has been decided."
He turned fully to the massive LED stage screen hovering above.
In big, red letters, the sentence appeared.
"SOLDIERS: PARDONED BY 63% MAJORITY."
I nearly dropped my rifle from shock. My knees buckled slightly.
Relief washed over me like cool rain on a dry battlefield.
But he wasn't finished.
Chris lifted his eyes again and continued, still calm, still razor-sharp:
> "Now… the vote on Amara Blackwood's reign. Whether the empire enjoyed her leadership in my absence."
Amara didn't flinch, but I saw her fingers tighten behind her back.
I held my breath.
He looked at the screen again.
This time it blinked before revealing itself.
"REIGN APPROVAL: 47% YES – 53% NO."
A split second of tension followed.
Then murmurs. Whispers. Gasps.
The air shifted. Some citizens looked away in shame. Others nodded silently, as if the verdict felt fair.
Amara's face remained the same—icy, regal—but I could feel the storm she was bottling inside.
Chris didn't react. No smile. No fury. No visible emotion.
Just five chilling words that changed everything:
> "You may all go now."
The gathering was dismissed.
But this… wasn't over.
Not by a long shot.
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