GENOCIDE.

1774, NOVEMBER 29th, TUESDAY 12:03 am.

The Grave brothers sat in an impromptu courtroom that was being set up in the auditorium. Blue held out his phone and showed it to Red.

"Are the edits to the recording done?" He asked.

"They are. The trap is baited and set," Blue said. "Now we just need to wait for Noche to walk into it."

"Master will be so pleased," Red grinned, took out a piece of butterscotch candy, and popped it in his mouth. "Let's review the video while we wait."

A few hours earlier, the Grave brothers sat in the President's office.

"The PLC village is about half a day's travel by vehicle?" Red asked.

"That's right... This will be extreme. Even by our standards," Blue said. "I understand our master wants Noche's sentence to be beyond a shadow of a doubt. But if they're going to die anyways, is the extra cruelty necessary?"

"We know others who have done worse. Who knows how many Boxy Love has killed."

"I get that. I understand hard choices must be made. That's what a leader does. Makes the choices others are too weak to. I'm just saying, if death must come, it should come swiftly."

"Cruelty is a part of life... We both survived being tortured and came out stronger for it."

"But this isn't a crucible to weed out weakness. We're not doing this to savor the process of determining how strong someone is. It's slaughter for the sake of slaughter."

"You've always been the more sympathetic one," Red chuckled. "It needs to be done."

Blue nodded. "It does."

The two locked eyes with each other and stared for a few moments. Then Red picked up a radio communicator and paused a little longer.

"Medusa was too weak. Allowing that infestation to rot... Removing it from the map will only help the cause of freeing Create," he turned the radio on. "Golf, Echo, November, Oscar, Charlie, India, Delta, Echo."

There was a moment of silence.

"Rodger boss," the radio responded. "Code as been received. It will be done."

Red put down the radio and turned to Blue.

"Well brother, we have just opened Pandora's box," he said.

"The hell we've just unleashed is for the freedom of Create."

Red nodded. "For the freedom of Create."

Elsewhere, a mother duck and her small ducklings walked out of a pond and onto a dirt path. As they crossed the road, the world started to rumble. Ten jeeps came crashing forth – half of the ducklings were crushed into red past as cars rushed over them. These vehicles didn't stop until they reached the outskirts of Tak's home, the PLC village.

Outside were some villagers that celebrated the construction of a new home. The moment they popped a wine bottle was the same instant all those jeep doors were flung open. Mercenaries armed to the teeth came out, formed a line, and raised their assault rifles. Before anyone could react there was a torrent of gunfire.

It was a quick slaughter, ten people fell dead before the new house. An RPG was aimed towards the massive, fenced-off power subsidiary. The explosion was massive – it destroyed the drive interruption barrier and caused all the lights to go out. Then the statue of Boxy Love was targeted next and chunks of flaming rock were sent flying in all directions.

"Alright men! We're getting paid to record the worst humanity has to offer! The viler, the better," the commander said. "Feel free to go all out. Just make sure to capture the footage of the aftermath."

The village came alive – people scattered in all directions as chaos ensued. Those who attempted to leave found mercenaries waiting for them on the outskirts, ready to gun them down. Doors were kicked in and homes broken into. An old man sat on a couch next to his wife in shock – a shotgun blast sent blood and brain all over the old woman. Before she had a chance to scream her head was blown off next.

In the adjacent building, a pregnant woman was pushed out of a second-story window. A rope had been tied around her neck and she dangled a few feet above the ground. Two mercenaries with machetes stabbed up at her stomach like a piñata as she clawed at her neck. On good cut across the stomach caused the unborn infant to fall out in a spew of bodily fluids.

Out on the streets, a man was electrocuted with create – arcs of lightning appearing from thin air and connecting to the victim's body. Meanwhile, other mercenaries had used create to set some of the houses on fire. Then prismatic energy became metal barricades on every door and window – too heavy for a normal human to move. People screamed as they burned alive.

A little girl in a straw hat ran towards the long-burnt remains of Tak's house in an attempt to hide. However, one of the mercenaries was walking in her direction. She ran past the cobblestones and the discarded doll she had long ago thrown at the immortal. On the cliffside was a tree that overhung the ledge. She grabbed onto a branch and scrambled around the trunk.

Her grip tightened on the branches, and she dared not look down. For her feet all but dangled over the cliff's edge and the steep drop below it. The sound of footsteps stopped and for a moment she thought the mercenary had lost her. Then a little green rock bounced into sight – the grenade exploded.

Shrapnel of both metal and wood pierced the girl's stomach and arms. The tree tilted and before she could react it dislodged off the cliff. The fall was only a few seconds but the panic flooding her veins lasted an eternity. Red soaked into the sand when the tree landed on top of her, leaving only her hand exposed under its bark.

Back in the village, the mercenaries gathered those still alive; mainly women and children. One such child was dragged out of his home and his dog tried to bite the assailant. The mercenary created a shovel and slammed the blunt side onto the top of the dog's head.

It fell to the ground and started to spasm. He hit it a second time and the animal coughed up blood as its eyes were caved in. It whimpered and whined as its limbs twitched; then it went motionless.

The living were gathered in the center of the PLC village while the dead were thrown onto a bonfire. Purple skin, limbs twisted to unnatural angles, organs that dangled like loose shoelaces, and bones that jutted out of the flesh were common sights on the pile. Everything was charred black and filled the air with the putrid stench of burnt human flesh.

Everyone stayed silent as the mercenary commander approached. There was a grin on his face as he stood before these anti-create activists. Prismatic energy became a shovel and he handed it to the nearest person. The woman flinched away from it like it was made of poison. When she didn't grab it he raised his pistol and shot her in the leg.

She crumpled to the ground screaming and he bashed her head in with the shovel. Hitting her over and over again until she started twitching. She was still alive when the commander ordered two of his men to drag her onto the burning pile — her screams filled the air as he handed the now bloodied shovel to the next person in the row.

By the time he was done at least twenty people had a shovel. He pointed to a spot in the ground and ordered them to dig. They kept at it until there was a hole about ten feet deep. Afterwards they were yanked out of the pit and prismatic energy filled the empty space. A giant grinder appeared in its place.

Two giant rows of gears filled the top of the metal box — the kind used to suck down dead horses or destroy cars. Children were ripped away from their loved ones and lined up in front of the giant grinder their own parents had made space for. It was turned on and the screeching noise that emanated from its depths caused one little boy to pee his pants.

The nearest mercenary kicked the kid at the front of the line. He fell screaming into the gears and was sucked down so rapidly that it was like he vanished; like a baby chicken rejected at a meat factory. All the children screamed and ran, but prismatic energy formed a box of thick glass that held them all trapped.

One of the women shrieked and ran towards her child — the moment she stood a mercenary rammed the butt of his rifle into her face. His augmented strength was too much for the body of a normal human and her lower jaw ripped completely off. She fell to the ground barely conscious as blood gushed out of her mouth and fingers clawed at her throat.

The mercenaries pushed the kids into the grinder one by one until the gears turned red. For one kid the horror was too much and they fainted. They were picked up and thrown into the pit headfirst. By the time there were three kids left the grinder was getting clogged. It didn't suck down the next child instantly.

It ripped her down to the waist before it stopped momentarily. She screamed her lungs out, begging for her mother, before the gears started up again and pulled her down to her chest. Blood welled out of her mouth and eyes as her screams stopped. Then she was sucked down completely.

For the next kid, it took even longer, but it was the last kid who took the longest. For thirty seconds he squealed and begged. His ankles burst like bubble wrap into an explosion of red and his legs stretched like chewing gum as he was dragged down over the course of thirty seconds. He reached his small arms out towards a ledge in a feeble attempt to pull himself out, but in the end, was sucked into the dark below.

When all the kids were dead prismatic energy flashed around the meat grinder. Telekinesis lifted it out of the pit and the mercenaries had it hover above the crowd. The bottom of the metal was ripped apart and a shower of blood, ground meat, and bone shards rained onto mortified parents. Some fainted, a few vomited, and one elderly woman died of shock.

"Right, that's enough footage. Let's get out of here!"

Prismatic energy surrounded the villagers — a firestorm erupted over them. They screamed and ran as they were burned alive. A spray of gunfire mowed down those that got too far away. More rainbow lights filled the town before earth-rocking explosions took place. In a matter of seconds, the entire village was blown to rubble.

The mercenaries got back into their jeeps and left. The commander took out a flash drive and connected it to a computer. He tapped on the keyboard for a minute and all the footage was sent to the Grave brothers. Then he took out his radio.

"It's done boss. Footage has been sent."

"Good. I take it none of you appeared in the video?"

"That is correct. We are professionals," he grinned.

"Wonderful. Check your bank account."

It only took him a moment and when he did he whistled.

"That's a lot of zeros."

"We look forward to using your services again in the future."

Red put down the radio and turned to Blue.

"That village was a cancer."

"Now that it's gone, we'll need to pass the blame quickly."

"I've already sent the footage to the editors," Red said. "I can only imagine Boxy's reaction."

"Yeah, fuck him. Those people made the choice to restrict Create. They got what they deserved," Blue said. "Hopefully this footage will scare more of them from coming here."

"And if they do, we'll simply kill them too."

A meowing sound came from the windowsill. It was a black kitten with no left eye and no right ear. It pawed at the glass from outside the room. The brothers stared at each other.

"Looks like we have a witness," Red said.

"Whatever shall we do?" Blue asked.

Both turned towards the glass and prismatic energy gathered on the other side. Sensing something was wrong all the hairs on the cat's back raised up. It leapt a split second before a ball of fire erupted where it was standing. The cat screamed and trails of smoke followed it as it ran off. All the while Red laughed, and Blue watched wordlessly.