Chapter 401: A Little Unconventional, A Lot Unexpected

[FROLO]

All broadcasts were restricted.

The brutality at the Moskowsky Group compound was something that even the history books had yet to witness, yet Frolo had seen it all. They had watched what happened when someone went after something that Sergei loved.

And it was even more interesting because Yaroslav was right there on the battlefield, and no one had aimed at Yaroslav.

Funny how even at this stage, the one rule that they had known for so long was still in effect. Because deep down they understood that touching Yaroslav Moskowsky was grounds for exterminating a city. It wasn’t just folklore anymore, and that was horrifying.

"Did the government just leave us in the dark about what is happening there?" most of the citizens asked, while others were genuinely unsettled by the level of brutality and cruelty that Sergei Moskowsky showed.

By the time the government finally chose to cut off all access, the governor’s head had rolled to the side, his tongue out and eyes wide open like he had not been expecting to be decapitated.

His head was somewhere on the side, forgotten, as Sergei Moskowsky went on a rampage. The alpha killed more than he even smiled, and his pheromones had gotten so toxic for everyone that even the media personnel were choking on it.

The Hercules camp was not even bothered by the way things had turned out. They had known the governor was just another pawn, and they’d proven it easily. They were taking out everything that was standing in their way.

The government hit back.

Hard.

Sent more soldiers as backup for the ones who were already there. Deployed more platoons as if that was supposed to make things better.

The Moskowskys didn’t pull back or argue that things had reached the point of no return. If anything, they welcomed the bloodbath. Welcomed the chaos, even as people from Romanov Steel came and joined them, given there wasn’t a bloodbath on the other empire.

The Romanovs had deployed their men too, and fuck if this wasn’t an entire space of men killing men. Women killing women. Men killing women and vice versa. It was horrific, the kind of battle that reminded everyone that this wasn’t just a simple battle.

That this was just an overview of the long war where Katya Romanov was the centre of it all.

People were scared.

The media personnel had been given a chance to evacuate, to leave before things could get any worse, but where the fuck were they even supposed to go when bullets and blades were flying all around them?

"Get into the chopper and leave, fast. I can only buy you five minutes," Elara said as she led them to a Moskowsky chopper. It was smaller than the number of people there, but fuck if there was anything that the media personnel wouldn’t give to get out of there.

Thankfully, Sergei, for all his insanity, had authorized two more, so they were evacuated. It was a stark contrast to the man they had seen there. The devil of Frolo, killing wounded people and feeding like he was suddenly the one thing no one should have tried to play with.

But what they understood, even with the cut broadcast, was the fact that the Romanovs and Moskowskys had chosen peace before the charges.

They had been willingly heading out. They had not tried shit.

But then someone shot at Katya Romanov.

Then the battle escalated.

Nothing could save them now.

Maybe that was why, three hours later, as the Hercules, Moskowsky, and Romanov mercs sat in the lobby, tired from all the fighting, with dead bodies sprawled around, no one was surprised.

They were the kind of people no one went to war with. Yet someone had dared. The government had aided them, and that was the kind of thing that no one in their right mind would forget.

Because now, this wasn’t just about the Moskowskys and the Romanovs.

This was about the state trying to take out a civilian omega in the middle of an active surrender.

Someone had to answer for that. Because Sergei was not going to stop.

He had warned the city when he blew up the senate. When he told them not to make his omega cry. And they did. They did it more than once.

Each time, Katya was choosing peace.

But today...

Today Sergei had seen real fear on the face of his beloved, and it was something that he hated to the core. Because he saw Katya scared of death. Maybe because of the ambush. Or maybe because Katya had let himself live like Sergei had told him to.

Sergei had told him not to have to worry about his own security. That Katya didn’t have to use his Romanov omega training to protect himself. That Sergei would protect him, yet today someone had challenged that.

And Katya had not been ready.

He should have been, but he wasn’t because he had let himself be protected.

The attackers did not just scare Katya.

They dared to challenge the faith that Katya had in Sergei. And that was something that Sergei Moskowsky was never going to forgive.

"Why aren’t we storming the Bratva? We know Aleksandr did this, don’t we?" Svet asked, like the bloodbath was not enough for her. Like the fact that they were covered in body parts and blood wasn’t enough consolation for what they had tried to do to Katya.

That was the only offense.

Coming after Katya Romanov while everyone was there.

While they were watching.

Fuck, that was the most disrespectful thing that they had ever seen, and gods be damned if Svetlana stayed out of it.

"We will. But until then, we wait to see how he will spin this, especially after sending people to do his dirty job," Rastenkin said, staring at the mess around them.

The grey Moskowsky walls were darkened with blood. The inside was filled with dead operatives. Some were from the Moskowsky side, which was expected because there had been an entire battle in there. But still, it didn’t make it any better.

"Using government resources to try and hurt a civilian is madness," Meera said like she hadn’t loved the way she had been breaking people in the battle earlier.

But she was right. Even with her inability to comprehend the first thing about humanity, she knew that going after unarmed people was madness. The target they had struck was the worst of them all.

Yet as they sat there, her Myrtles knew that Aleksandr wasn’t done.

Today was just the warm-up, which was interesting because all the Moskowskys had done today was defend Katya Romanov.

Would Aleksandr survive if the Hercules camp decided to shift from defense mode to attacking?

Would the people watching think the same too?

"What the hell was that?"

"The government tried to shoot an omega who was surrendering?"

"The governor is dead because someone thought it was a good idea to shoot the Romanov omega."

"That kind of defense was insane."

"At least now we know what happens when the barbarian chooses to use his pheromones in battle."

"Going after one half of true mates when the other half is a homicidal maniac and psychopath is just insane. What were they even thinking?"

The media blackout had been lifted, but all the footage from the Moskowsky ground had been flagged as sensitive. Which wasn’t even an overstatement because the city had watched shit go to hell before the blackout.

At the moment, they could only imagine the aftermath, especially since the government had cut the feed itself.

But of course, in a place with technology, it wasn’t that hard to get drone footage of the massacre at Moskowsky Holdings, let alone the satellite imagery.

The feeds were terrible.

Way too terrible.

Fuck.

Yet even with the chaos and fear spreading inside Frolo because of the Moskowsky building happenings, Aleksandr wasn’t even fazed.

"So his pheromones can be used as a block wall?" Alek mused, as he watched his footage of the shit that had been cut for him.

"He is a high-ranking alpha," Kenzo said, a little surprised at the extent of the damage.

He had seen Sergei Moskowsky’s men in action. But this was the first time Kenzo had seen Sergei himself in real battle action. And it was deeply unsettling.

"With a marked omega as his weakness," Alek pointed out confidently.

"Take the survivors, and regroup. Phase two won’t stop even after this," Alek added, unfazed by the endless dead personnel at the Moskowsky group.