Krazhinsky suddenly allowed himself to smile, although his eyes were still sad. He smiled extremely viciously, and a fierce hatred emanated from him. And this hatred was so monstrous that Yuri was amazed at its scale. Now he clearly saw every corner of this man's soul. He was imbued with incredible rage and grief, but rage exceeded all his senses. It far exceeded sorrow and suffering.
- I had to, Yuri, - said Krazhinsky in an ominous voice, crossing his arms over his chest, - My real name is Zoran. I serve the Flawless Empire and my brother Azis the Flawless. I have always served faithfully.
- Z-zoran? - Ernalltsev babbled with great amazement, - But Zoran ... this is the governor of the Zakromakh system .... He…. As far as I know, he was there shortly before the operation…. He…. He couldn't ... .. He couldn't! The intelligence of Hyperborea knew everything about him.
- Your intelligence is nothing! - Zsolt retorted, - That Zoran, who ruled Zakromakh, was also a clone. The same as Krazhinsky on Zabergan. Krazhinsky really had to be altered a little so that he did not look too much like the real me.
After these words, the governor's face changed. For a moment it seemed to float. A strange ripple swept over him, and after that the face of the proclaimer took on completely different outlines. This was a completely different person, who stood out with bright red eyes. A small black antennae protruded under the nose. The hair on my head was just as dark.
“All of my clones had unique personalities,” Zoran continued. “They didn't know they were just genetically bred duplicates. I removed this information from their program.
Yuri stood still in a daze. All this shocked him so much that he did not know what exactly he had to say and did not even know what to do at all. Ernalltsev would not have thought in a dream that everything could turn out that way.
- You asked if I started the war? - the speech of the red-eyed one was again heard, - I had to. Do you think this idea was easy for me? But at first it was the plan of Marfur-Nirari. His own plan! They have always perceived us all as slaves. You already know about demons, right? Iilfan should have warned. So you probably know.
- Iilfan! - Yuri immediately remembered, - Where is Iilfan?
He remembered well how one of Tulotron's henchmen teleported her into the unknown. Then they all fell into a monstrous trap, which soon slammed shut. Where his potential beloved Farrukh was now, Yuri did not know.
“Calm down, all your friends on the ship,” came Zoran's reply. “I connected them to the Nexus. The Nexus is the name of this ship. A planetoid ship created millions of years ago by Jarisai Marfur-Nirari.
"What do you mean, hooked them up to the Nexus?" Where are they?
- They are safe. I connected them to the systems of the ship. So far, they are undergoing recovery. You will see them soon.
But Yuri was not at all reassured. He knew perfectly well that he had to listen to Zoran. However, at the same time, he was impatient to see Iilfan and Hercules again. In addition, two Muscovites could be with them, such as Captain Krasic and his loyal friend, the sergeant.
- Okay, talk! - the psionic growled menacingly, - And speak on business!
- So listen. Not all of us choose our parents, - Zoran said to this, - Azis and I did not turn out quite the way we planned. Our father Tikulti-Ninurta was a great lover of women. Once on one of the distant planets under the name Acheron-Prime, he found himself a strange mistress. The witch. She looked like an elfurr to him. The most beautiful. Sultry. With long dark hair. As he himself wrote in his diaries, there was no one sweeter than her in this universe. But he had no idea who it really was.
- And what's next? - Ernalltsev did not calm down, - What? And here is your portugaling father!
- And despite the fact that he was your father, Yuri, - the red-eyed exclaimed even louder.
Yuri recoiled from the governor in horror. Now he clearly remembered that very difficult conversation. This conversation was one of the scariest and harshest of his life. The adoptive parents confessed to him that he was a step-parent. They told him the truth. As it turned out, they found him a lonely one-year-old baby, lying in the park unattended. How exactly Yuri got there was unknown. Ernal'tsev's adoptive father always scolded the Hyperborean police. He could not understand at all how the valiant law enforcement officers did not notice the child in the park. After all, they made rounds there almost every couple of hours.
- We are brothers, Yuri Son-Laran, - said Zoran with strange malice, - Son-Laran. That is what Tikulti-Ninurta called you. “And the brave king of Nargon met a beautiful maiden, but she was so beautiful that he could not take his eyes off her. She struck him with her magic and struck him in the very heart. Then the king decided to seize it immediately. He cast down his seed and filled her bosom with it. And then in an instant three mighty warriors were born. Three brothers of half blood. This was the plan of Marfur-Nirari. But Tikult-Ninurta did not know that it was not the maiden who was before him, but the messenger of Cerberum himself. For the day before he had assumed the form of this voluptuous woman, in order to seduce the mighty king. And the king of Nargon succumbed to seduction. Later, the voluptuous that disappeared. She disappeared when she brought her children to him and handed him, like a witch's tome. The greatest king marveled at his sons for a long time. He named one Azis, the second Zoran, and the third Son-Laran. But Tikult-Ninurta was not destined to live long. Calamities befell his kingdom. First lethargy came and struck a hundred thousand souls. Then the children began to disappear. And one of the king's sons disappeared, who was called Son-Laran. Then the disease struck the emperor himself. The great king of Nargon went to his bed and did not rise again. He was alive, but he could not utter a word, nor realize his position. Many healers and healers gathered around him and tried to heal. But they did not know what happened to the great king. So Tikulti-Ninurta lay in oblivion, until one day he gave up his ghost. And then the two sons had to lift his great kingdom from their knees and create a huge empire out of it. "
The mysterious Zoran raised his voice more and more with each of his lines. Eerie hatred just splashed out of his mouth. The Ernallets have never seen such anger in my life.
- No no…. - Yuri muttered in confusion, - No…. Impossible ... ... Impossible ... ..
"Do you think I was overjoyed?" - Zoran yelled in a frenzy, - But no, such a bastard! What a joy there is! Know that your mother is Marfur-Nirari! Marfur-Nirari, curse his name forever! And you're just part of his plan for his portugaling galaxy invasion! For them, we are all rubbish! Rabble! We have always been nothing to them! And nobody!
- Not! - Ernalltsev suddenly exclaimed, - I do not believe! It is not true! I don't believe it!
- Do not believe? Then where does this power come from, Yuri? Then why are you here? Why did you recover? Why didn't you die, Yuri? Tell me! The body of a mere mortal would not have survived from such a collision with water!
- I do not know!
- And I think you know everything! You know why you survived. And where does such power come from in you.
At that moment, the psionic again felt that strange burning sensation in the neck area. He was amazed to find that his adoptive father's amulet was still on him. He never lost it. A mysterious and unknown force managed to preserve the amulet.
- And if everything is not so at all? - as if Yuri turned to himself, - And if…. Does light still exist? If there's …. If there are still Light Gods? I have never .... I have never felt evil in myself…. Never in my life ... .. I grew up and lived only to help others. This is not the case in Marfur-Nirari! This means that he did not fully spread his filth.
But there was no way Zoran could be persuaded. He received too much knowledge that broke him. He could have become a great warrior guarding the universe, but he lost his main battle. And now only pain, despair and rage took possession of him and did not want to let go of his soul.
“There are no gods,” Zoran said sadly, bowing his head. “There is no light. There are only demons threatening our universe. For millions of years they have been trying to get in here. All these myths about light gods are a lie. There are only demons and no one else. But now there will be no dominance of them. The human race will not suffer because of them. It's over, Son-Laran.
Ernalltsev stood still and watched the desperate creature, on which lay too many sins. His crimes were truly monstrous. Now Yuri understood. Now he clearly understood everything. Zoran conceived this war from the beginning. But he didn't want to bring darkness into the universe. Fierce hatred devoured him. Hatred of its creators. Hatred of those who gave birth to it. And this hatred intensified every day, became more and more, gradually embracing his entire tormented soul.
Zoran wiped away the tears from his face again, and then looked frantically at Ernal'tsev. For a second, his pupils lit up with bright crimson lights, which spoke of his powerful abilities. If Zorana gave birth to Marfur-Nirari, then a part of his power was still in him. As soon as Yuri saw these eyes, he felt the incredible energy of anger emanating from his interlocutor. The sorcerer was preparing for the decisive blow. Right now he was planning something, planning to do something. His gaze spoke clearly of his hidden desires.
- Stop! - Yuri said in a commanding tone, urging the desperate half-breed to think, - Stop! Why do you need all this ?! Understand, there are light Gods! You have to believe in them! I am also the son of Marfur-Nirari ... I am also his son. So are you! We are all brothers here. We were all spawned by monsters. But we must fight and believe in the Light!
However, Zoran didn't seem to be listening to Owen. He gave him such a terrible look that the warrior even drew back. In the eyes of the sorcerer, nothing was visible except the fierce rage that was already overwhelming him. It spread throughout the room at the speed of light. All this aura of darkness and gloom pulsed in this room.
- It's too late, Son-Laran, - the red-eyed smiled ominously, - Everything has already happened. Marfur-Nirari called me into his army. We had a contract to upgrade Tulotron, a super-powerful Artificial Intelligence. I had to prepare the galaxy for the invasion of Marfur-Nirari. For this, I sent agents all over the worlds so that they could install copies of Tulotron. The AI was supposed to disable all defenses of Hyperborea and the Flawless Empire. His task was to create a global machine riot throughout the galaxy. But I always knew who my real enemy was. I've been waiting for this for a very long time. And when I worked on Tulotron, I put something of my own into its central source. Three days before you awakened, I launched the Annihilation program of Tulotron, my covert super-agent embedded in AI systems. When the AI hit all fleets in the galaxy, my program worked with a bang. Marfur-Nirari sent reinforcements to Tulotron and personally flew in his flagship to conquer the universe. He wanted to swallow the entire galaxy as a whole, destroying its major superpowers forever. And then my revenge happened! The Tulotron was destroyed. My program launched a self-destruct process on all affected ships. My demonic half allowed me to create the perfect weapon to kill them all. Kill them all!
At the last word, Zoran raised his voice greatly. But it was not this that now alarmed Ernal'tsev's soul. Yuri has just received another portion of terrible news. The virus, which the desperate villain spoke about, has seized not only the ships of the monsters sent by Marfur-Nirari. It also fell upon the armada of Hyperborea.
With horror in his eyes, the warrior glanced at one of the screens opposite Zoran. He showed a truly terrible chronicle of events that recently unfolded over Zabergan. Dozens of ships exploded as if on command.
And with great despair, Yuri recognized them as the flotilla of his empire. The ships of his loyal friends and allies were destroyed right before our eyes. And Ernalltsev could not do anything. He just couldn't save them. He had never felt so powerless before.
“But there is something else,” Zoran growled with even more hatred, “Self-destruction led to the destruction of all the ships of the Marfur-Nirari and all ships infected by Tulotron. Many of the Marfur-Nirari battleships had special engines. The generators there were so ancient that they were older than some of the planets. The explosion led to the creation of a cluster of black holes. The remaining ships landed directly in the crater. And among them was that damned demon's shuttle. Marfur-Nirari is dead, Yuri. He went to hell forever. Of course it was a pity for many of your comrades, but nothing can be done about it. This is war, Yuri.
Hearing these spiteful words, Ernalltsev felt a great anger begin to flare up inside him. For a second, his hands burst into fierce crimson fire, but then went out again. Yuri's eyes lit up and turned scarlet. The demonic component of his soul gradually took over. But the warrior felt even greater rage when he glanced at the other monitors located in this cursed hall. With a mixture of anger and incredible horror, Yuri stared at them intently.
The screens displayed dozens of other planets, on which many different creatures lived. And at that moment such monstrous cataclysms were taking place there that they inspired real awe even to the bravest of the warriors. Yuri frenziedly glanced across all the screens, finding more and more pictures of destruction. Zoran has worked everything from the very beginning. He clearly did not intend to get away with just destroying the ships. He needed new victims. He was ready to destroy trillions, for the sake of his own revenge on the creators.
“Yes, Yuri,” the governor hissed angrily, spreading his arms to the sides, “The explosions also touched the installed spears of Tulotron. Self-destruction came to them, as to all machines in the galaxy. Naturally, this led to massive destruction. Just think about it…. More than a hundred worlds that are so important to Marfur-Nirari die in agony. Thousands of worlds. These are villains in cheap fantasy as stupid as traffic jams. In the real world, everything is different! Everything is completely different! The real world is too cruel! Too cruel. But such is life! I stopped Marfur-Nirari! I didn’t let him take possession of this universe! The price is no doubt high! I destroyed every car so that none of them could rebel against their true owner again! Don't you understand ?! I saved the universe!
- You killed everyone ?! - Yuri yelled in wild rage, - You doomed trillions of innocents to death! Entire races will perish if not already perished! What have you done, you bastard ?! And all because of your own revenge? Stop, Zoran! Stop, my brother! You have no right to decide the fate of trillions!
- Yes! - Zoran cried in fury, rising from the chair, - Yes! Doomed! Marfur-Nirari would take possession of this universe! Many more living things would have died. And I gave humanity a new chance. I have destroyed trillions to save future generations. To save other trillions to live and develop. I gave people a new chance. And not only for them, I have saved thousands of species throughout the galaxy! Demons must know that we are not slaves! Let them find out about it! We are not slaves! And these words of mine will be remembered for a long time! My war with demons is not over! I still have many supporters! And they will all be free! Marfur-Nirari lost in disgrace! You must understand, Son-Laran! You now have no other choice!
- What is the way out?
- Join me, Son-Laran. You must be with me! We, as brothers, will rule over the galaxy! We will establish a new order and will not allow re-invasions! Demons can never get in here.
- Are you suggesting that I join? Then listen to my answer. portugal you!
Zoran chuckled ominously. Deep down, he expected Yuri to say exactly these words. It would certainly be a shame to kill my brother. But there was simply no other way out.
“In that case, you are doomed,” the sorcerer rasped with flashing eyes. - If you do not accept my offer, you are simply a fool. A fool who deserves to die. Everything you want to fight for has already died. Note that I am not suggesting anything twice. I can't say no.
- And nevertheless, I will tell you once again, - Ernalltsev hissed angrily, - portugal you!
- Well, - the answer was heard, - Everything is clear. But you have to understand. If you are not with me, then you are against me. And if you are against - we are no longer brothers with you. I renounce you and my relationship with you, offspring of Marfur-Nirari.
Yuri did not have time to predict Zoran's surprise attack. Before he even had time to blink, the gun was already in the hands of the criminal. But this weapon was not at all an ordinary firearm. His entire muzzle pulsed with a strange witchcraft energy that terrified anyone who just looked at her. The psionicist clearly understood that this weapon was far from simple. Great danger came from him. Zoran was holding in his hands the very Destroyer of Souls, one shot of which could turn any creature into nothing, even one devoid of an organic body.
Without thinking twice, Zoran pulled the trigger. A ball of hellfire escaped from the muzzle of the gun, and headed straight towards Yuri. Ernal'tsev had to use all his skill to jump abruptly from the flying death. A sphere of fire flew past the warrior and crashed into the walls behind. There was an eerie rumble that nearly shattered the psionic's eardrums.
Yuri felt a great flame begin to flare up inside his body. It was already approaching his throat, and was about to burst out. It was impossible to hesitate, for the enemy could make new shots and this time not to miss.
Ernalltsev quickly darted to the left of the enemy, and then jumped up with frantic force. In less than a second, the warrior was directly in front of Zoran's nose. With a wild, furious cry, Yuri delivered a crushing blow to the terrible enemy in the face. From terrible pain, the sorcerer dropped the weapon to the floor and was left defenseless. But even an unarmed enemy did not stop Yuri at this moment. The mighty warrior was so furious that he could not control himself. He grabbed Zoran's throat sharply and slammed his body into the pile of monitors with a full swing. After a moment, he dealt another monstrous blow. The opponent's skull instantly cracked, and blood poured from the opened wound in streams.
- Die! - Yuri roared furiously at the top of his lungs, unleashing more and more blows on the enemy, - Die!
In his frenzy, the Ernalites inflicted at least twenty grievous injuries on the enemy. The bones of the enemy turned to debris. His head was completely something terrible and shapeless. He beat Zoran for so long that his body managed to turn into bloody lumps. And Yuri continued to yell at the top of his lungs, tearing his ligaments. Great anger seized him completely and completely, and did not want to let go.
- You will not achieve anything, Son-Laran, - the words of the already dead Zoran were heard, - My death will not change anything! Everything has already happened! And from now on there will be no more domination of these creatures! Will not be! Will not be….
When not a single living place was left of the enemy, Yuri simply threw his crumpled corpse away from himself. The mission was now complete, and this time completely. The ruthless adversary fell at his hand. But he still managed to accomplish his evil deeds. The universe has heard the wrath of the crowned brother Azis. And this rage was terrible and monstrously cruel. With great grief, the warrior realized that for the first time he could not protect the innocent. Trillions of living beings died in agony. Thousands of worlds were burned alive in minutes. The universe was dying before Yuri's eyes.
It was a real doom. Death of countless lives. Death of the worlds.
- This is the end ...... - Ernalltsev whispered quietly, realizing his doom more and more. - The end of everything.