Doomsday Pillars

In the north region of Iran. Dozens of kilometers west of the capital city Tehran. Near the small city of Fardis. There, a giant stood compound with a massive steel gate. This was where the main headquarters of Heavenly Gate had been for the past year.

The compound gave grandiosity amidst the barren yellow desert, as it was built with top-tier materials in a magnificent way. This compound was built using all the resources the Heavenly Gate organization had 'collected' from various nations in the Middle East region. Hence, one could say this majestic compound was made from stolen riches.

At the moment, Alex and his entourage of allied troops and fighters from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel had arrived five hundreds meters away from this compound. The more than 10,000 troops came together and spread themselves, as they surrounded the compound from all directions.

This number was probably insignificant when compared to hundreds of thousands of Heavenly Gate members. However, they were currently leaderless, since Hafiz was killed by Alex, and they were spreaded across the Middle East region. Alex also believed the other Heavenly Gate members must have been facing their own problems, as other countries swept through the Heavenly Gate's posts for the past few days.

The swift attack strategy Alex chose when he dealt with Hafiz was very effective for immediately paralyzing this terrorist organization. With the death of their leader, a vacuum of power was created and a period of chaos was inevitable in the organization, since they lost their guiding light. But, apart from killing their leader, the last thing Alex had to do was destroy their main headquarters, eradicating the last remnant of the Heavenly Gate.

After their headquarters was obliterated for good, coupled with the fact the tribulation would begin next week, Alex was sure there would be nothing more the remaining members of Heavenly Gate could do other than unite against the apocalypse. Alex just hoped all these people had not lost their common sense.

During the last 3 days of this operation, as they crossed the distance of more or less 1000 kilometers from Saudi Arabia to Iran passing through Iraq, the group managed to blaze through many of the Heavenly Gate's bases. However, on the other hand, more and more stranglers were now following them as a result of their operation.

Several hundreds meters behind the ranks of encirclement, there were currently more than 10,000 people, who came to pay attention to what Alex and his entourage would do to the infamous Heavenly Gate. In truth, Alex was not sure who these spectators supported.

Alex ordered the other fighters to keep their encirclement, while he and dozens of selected others would proceed to the compound. When they arrived in front of the compound, Alex was quite surprised when he found out there was no one blocking them, not even a single shadow.

"Well, where's everyone?" Alex jokingly said, as he saw the silent compound.

"Could they have escaped and left the place?" Rama said without much conviction.

"The intel reports mentioned and suggested no such thing. There should be at least a thousand devotees inside the compound," a bearded man said.

This time, together with Alex was Jurgen, one of the higher ups of the Israeli government, who participated in this operation. Along with him was the army commanders of the troops from Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Upon seeing the strange situation, Alex thought for a moment then said, "Nevertheless, we still don't have much time until the tribulation starts. So, we need to move fast. Bring your best Sky realm fighters and follow me, we will go inside carefully."

Immediately after, 300 people were selected and began to advance towards the compound, leaving the others outside in case the Heavenly Gate members tried to flee.

Among this group of 300 people, Alex brought his 30 elite fighters, including: Theo, Rama, Ardeth, Daisy, Melissa and Rick. As the advancing group walked through the massive gate, Daisy and her two other friends looked around; their hearts filled with the hope of finding Adam.

The giant compound was divided into several sectors with dozens of buildings in them, creating an orderly and pleasing sight to eye. However, even though the group had passed several buildings, there was still not a single figure that could be seen.

Recalling what he knew about the right-hand man of Hafiz, Alex understood the old man, or in short the chemist, was a cruel and cunning scientist. There was no way the man didn't prepare anything for them, when he heard the news of Hafiz's death and their campaign.

As the group moved through the compound, the atmosphere slowly grew even more tense, as the group didn't see a single soul inside the compound. Thankfully, Alex had prepared a solution for this.

Turning his head to the side, Alex said with a smile, "Daisy, could you please?"

"Alright, Brother Alex." As soon as Daisy said that, she immediately casted her signature spell [Life Detection]. Few moments later, she opened her eyes and said, "It looks like there are a few dozen people in each building- Ah… they are coming out right now."

Right as Daisy finished her words, a few hundred full-robed people started coming out of the buildings and walked to the middle of a large field across the 300 fighters. They were clustered together as they faced the 300 fighters without an ounce of fear on their faces. However, they suddenly stopped their movement and unexpectedly knelt down on the ground and began chanting a prayer. The direction of their prayer looked as if they were praying for the 300 fighters.

"Damn... I hate it when they do that." Ardeth said, while his expression turned bad.

"Eh!? Why? Aren't you religious, Ardeth?" Alex asked, curious about his 'questionable' statement.

"Yes, I indeed am. However, praying is an intimate act between you and God. What are they doing by praying outside, and even facing us like this? This is just wrong." Ardeth replied, as he glanced at Alex.

Currently, all the 300 fighters were waiting for Alex's signal. As soon as he gave them the go, they would pounce and obliterate these fanatics. However, Alex would not just attack right away, at least not before he understood the situation.

Seeing Alex's silence, Rama approached him and said, "It's probably a good idea to kill them before they can transform in those beasts and become much harder to kill."

The same thought also crossed his mind, but Alex was still not convinced and hesitant about it. It was better to be safe "I am pretty sure it's a trap. So, keep your guard up." 

On the other hand there was still a bit of hope from Alex that these people would just surrender. 

After that, Alex shouted loudly towards the kneeling people, "There is no need for us to kill each other. There will be much worse things coming to us soon. Therefore, walk here and surrender yourself now."

One of the kneeling figures suddenly took off his veil and shouted towards the sky, "Dear god, my life is yours! Please accept my humble offering!"

The guy proceeded to run towards the group. And of course, Alex would not remain still, he quickly took out his revolver and fired it.

BANG!

The bullet hit right at the target as the running man's head exploded, followed by the fall of his body. As the body hit the ground, Alex noticed a small jar rolled out from his hand.

KABOOM!

It appeared that the man was holding some kind of a grenade as the object exploded, and from within, a white smoke was coming out.

Seeing that, Daisy's face turned pale as she realized what it was, "Brother Alex, Watch out that's poison! They used the same method to us back in Java" 

"Yes, I know, Daisy. Don't worry." Alex replied. Turning his head around, he instructed, "Everyone, move back a few steps! Don't let that smoke come close to you."

While the fighters hurriedly moved back, some of the kneeling figures swiftly did the same thing as their brethren. Shouting to the sky and running towards the group, a few of them were about to throw the same jar, while the others immediately threw their robes and began to transform.

Alex swiftly took out his other revolver too and proceeded to quickly shoot those who were running towards them with the jars raised in the air. His action was immediately followed by others who brought long-range weapons.

Next, Alex brought out his stone golems as twelve of them appeared in front of the group. The other eight were destroyed during the battle in the Burj Al Arab. Although there were only twelve of them, they would be a great help, since they would not be affected by the poisonous smoke.

Seeing the somehow controlled situation, Alex shouted, "Alright! Although their plan has kinda failed, you guys still need to be careful with these smoke. And also, don't underestimate those monsters!"

A battle was inevitable as the two sides immediately clashed with each other. Spells and weapon artifacts were swiftly brought out to prevent these lunatics from approaching. However, more and more of them came out of the building and filled the battlefield. It appeared one or two bullets were not enough to knock them down.

"Aim for their head!" Alex shouted loudly. Immediately after, the long-range fighters aimed their weapons towards the monsters' heads.

…

As the battlefield was covered by smokes and explosions, one of the lunatics managed to get close to Alex, who was busy firing his revolvers. Alex was extremely startled when he realized what the lunatic was holding was not a jar, but a red-colored stick with a flaming wick. Across the body of the stick, he could clearly see the bold word written there.

'DYNAMITE'

"F*CK! These lunatics!!!"

KABOOOMMM!!!

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