God's Rise | WOTG #2

Thirty-Six

CADE

"YOU ALL DID A good job today. Take a rest for the night," Deo told us. We huddled around him and listened as he informed us that today was as fruitful as the previous days we trained. We made improvements and we were all satisfied with ourselves. 

I was having a hard time trying to manipulate my API. We all did, except for Kato who mastered his in just a couple of days. He could influence machines surrounding him with little as a single thought. We were all new to the idea of our own energy being released by our body unconsciously like the way a human radiates heat. There were times I could compress them into a single pulsating ball of a blue orb but the progress after that was slow. I couldn't use it for my advantage. 

Bea's API wasn't as offensive as mine, Kato's and Ezerina's. Her API basically just let her to sense and to tell how many sentient beings are inside her radius. But it could serve her right at the right times. She told Deo she could do that before she could even learn about API and she just didn't know it was called like that. 

Ezerina's API was lethal and unarguably offensive. Her ability let her inflict upon pain—if contact was prolonged, it could even lead to death—towards any living thing with just her touch. Her body emitted weak pain stimuli around her. It was so faint we couldn't feel it. But when she compressed all that energy into a certain person, that person would feel excruciating pain without even Ezerina touching him.

Pabalik na kaming lahat sa mess hall nang mapukaw ng mga holograms ang aming mga atnesyon. Nakita na naman namin ang pagmumukha ni Goldberg sa mga screen. At hanggang ngayon ay hindi ko pa rin sadyang maisip na magkamukhang-magkamuha sila ni Deo. 

Goldberg's eyebrows were straight and his lips were pulled into a thin line. We couldn't see a single expression on his eyes. I looked to Deo and his face depicted the same image as his brother's. And for a moment, I thought Goldberg stared at him back like he saw how his brother looked at him. 

"Good evening, my fellow Filipinos," bati niya tulad ng lagi niyang ginagawa. "This Government have been protecting its territory, its sovereignty, and its people for hundreds of years since the last war. Within the past months, a blatant violation against the decision of the International Court of Justice has demonstrated a clear and explicit act of hostility against the Filipino people.

"This is undeniably an act of war by the Russian Federative Socialist Republic against the Republic of the Philippines. Upon receiving the letter of declaration of war from the Russian Federative Socialist Republic, it has been noted that a state of war exists between the two states. We, the Filipino people, will require a full retaliatory response to ensure we uphold our claim and conditions. The letter states as follows . . ." sabi niya at binasa niya lahat ng nakalagay sa sulat na hawak niya. Noong una ay hindi kami makapaniwala ngunit pagkatapos niyang basahin ay ipinakita niya sa amin mismo ang sulat at nakita namin ang pirma ni President Lemkova sa ibabang parte ng papel.

All of it was true then. Russia declared war against us. And there were only days left before chaos would reign once more. Peace was threatened.

Ano ba ang nasa isip ni Goldberg? Paniguradong maraming buhay na naman ang mawawala sa giyerang 'yon. Sigurado ako na ang digmaang 'to ay hindi lang mamamagitan sa dalawang bansa at tiyak na may makikialam. Lalo na ang mga kaalyansa ng Russia. Sa paraang 'yon siguradong may tiyansa silang pabagsakin ang Pilipinas lalo na ngayon na siya mismo ang pumutol sa koneksyon ng Pilipinas sa ibang bansa. Kinuha niya na rin ang WUG HQ sa pagpaplanong makuha rin ang kontrol sa ibang bansa.

Ano bang binabalak ni Goldberg? Gusto niya bang magtayo ng makabagong imperyo? Imposible at paniguradong pipigilan siya ng ibang bansa. Pero alam namin kung ano ang mga kaya niyang gawin kaya hindi na rin kami sigurado kung magtatagumpay ba ang ibang bansa sa pagpigil sa kaniya. Nasa kamay niya ang pinakamalakas na sandata. Isang sandata na walang dudang kayang tapusin ang giyerang sinimulan ng Russia gamit lang ang kamay niya.

Isang napakalaking pagkakamali ng Russia ang magdeklara ng digmaan laban sa Pilipinas.

"Be rest assured that the rate of Filipino lives lost will be kept at a minimal rate," was the last thing he said before cutting his announcement. And I almost couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the fastest tug of his lips into a smirk.

A warning. He wanted us to know he didn't forget about us.

Nagkatinginan kaming apat at iisang bagay lang ang pumasok sa isip namin at 'yon ay puntahan si General Auxria.

•

WE SAT ABOVE THE couch in General Auxria's office while we all listened to her. Pagkarating namin ay alam na agad niya kung bakit namin siya pinuntahan. Napanood niya rin ang announcement ni Goldberg. 

"Anong balak natin?" tanong ko sa kanya.

She pressed her lips before answering. "I'm afraid to tell you that there isn't a thing we should do."

Napakunot ang noo ko sa sinabi niya.

"Anong ibig mong sabihin?" tanong naman ni Bea.

"What I mean is hayaan na lang natin ang mga dapat mangyari," kalmado niyang sagot.

"Wait, what?" Kato retorted, his eyebrows furrowed. "Hahayaan lang natin?"

The General did not answer him but instead, looked at Deo as if silently asking him for help. Deo noticed General Auxria was staring at him. We all looked at him. Inside this room, he was the only one who truly knew Havierre, his twin brother, and we thought maybe he could predict what he would do.

"I'm pretty sure that my brother would win this," he said and his hand found its place on Bea's thigh. "Nasa kamay niya ang pinakamalakas na psychokinetic," sinabi niya 'yon nang nakatingin sa akin. Alam ko ang gusto niyang ipahiwatig. Gusto niyang sabihin sa akin na ako lang ay may tyansang makapagpatumba kay Albrecht. We all knew my ability and Albrecht's was just the same. But we also knew that Albrecht capabilities were far more stretched compared to mine. He completely understood what his powers could do and had all the necessary experience on how to use it. I was sure—I'd bet my life on it—he mastered his API and with it alone, he could annihilate the Russian forces.

Nakalagay rin sa file na nakuha ni Deo sa kapatid niya na kapag mas malakas ang Homo Supremus ay mas lumalawak ang range at mas lumalakas ang API niya. Kung tatantsahin, siguradong halos nasa isang kilometro na ang range ng API ni Albrecht na ibig sabihin ay mas marami ang energy na inilalabas ng katawan niya.

"How can you be so sure about that?" Ezerina challenged Deo.

"He's my brother," Deo answered. "I know what he could do and what he couldn't. And knowing him, I think there's nothing he couldn't do."

"Wow. Encouraging," Ezerina said.

"Ano namang mangyayari sa ibang mga sundalo na pinili na lang sumanib sa kaniya?" tanong ni Kato.

"Let them," sagot ni Ezerina. "Traydor naman sila."

"Sigurado ako na hindi tatagal ang giyerang ito. Malay natin, nasa mansyon na pala ng presidente ang isa sa mga Projects ng kapatid ko para i-assassinate siya," sabat ni Deo. "And the war would end before it started," dagdag niya at sumandal sa kinauupuan niya.

I got to admit, with Albrecht, Goldberg would win this war without any doubt. Good news. But it was the same reason why we were hiding from him. Bad news.

The truth was we really didn't know if we could stand a chance against Goldberg's forces. It was frustrating and I hated it because there might be nothing we could do about it. And it was scary because maybe, even though hard we tried to think of a perfect plan, Goldberg would still find a way to undermine our scheme.

We needed to think ahead. And if the claims to the existence of gods were true, we have to start praying now for maybe, even the gods themselves couldn't stand a chance against him.