Splat Force III: Bolton's Reign; Chapter 10

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W E L C O M E ! ! !

This is Nomad! Today is the dawn of the tenth Chapter of Splat Force III: Bolton's Reign!

Everything in the entire saga has led to this Chapter, everything has led to the great salvation!

The Splat Force are now prepared to face Bolton and his growing army of gifted beings. However, will their efforts secure them the win, or will it all be in vain? Find out now!

So without further ado, let the great salvation begin!

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(Previous Chapter)(Chapter Hub)

C H A P T E R  1 0 : T H E G R E A T S A L V A T I O N

Giftopolis was overcrowded with gifted sea critters. There were more in the small sewer town now than what was during the rally. Bolton's speech grabbed the attention of the entire gifted race within Inkopolis City, everyone was now aware.

Within the large tent at the back of the town, Bolton was cutting off his beard using his blade as a shaver. He felt slight discomfort from the blade's heat and sharpness but he pulled through and eventually, his beard was gone.

The Octoling grabbed his long, red hair and held it high into the air. Using his blade, he cut half of it off. His hair now went down to his shoulders, just like it used to, only this time he had a centre part instead of a side part.

Bolton looked at his face in his reflection in the mirror he faced. He looked just like his old self from back in the day. The only thing that required change was his clothing. He was shirtless, his old, ruined jacket had been tossed aside into the corner of the tent. Luckily, that was about to get sorted.

Bolton felt a strong breeze come his way, followed by Damian's voice as he dashed into his room, holding a black box. The Speedster was taken aback by all the scars on Bolton's body, from gunshots, to stab wombs, to the burns on his arms.

"Damn, what happened to you, man?"

He asked. Bolton faced the Speedster, who was mildly taken aback by his shaved face, but that was the least of his concerns.

"I've faced more battles than you'll ever know, I come out a lot of them with scars."

He answered before looking at his burnt arms.

"When I first scorched my arms, they were only burnt from below my elbow down to my hands. But over time, they've spread. They're now above my elbows and very soon, they might reach my shoulders, and then my face."

"W-Wouldn't that kill you?"

Damian asked. To his surprise, he started to worry about Bolton's health, despite his true colours already being shown to him.

"Not necessarily, it would more than likely weaken me more."

Bolton said as he placed his blade back into its scabbard.

"But by the time that would happen, assuming it does happen, the work would already be done. I wouldn't stress about it now, in the present."

Damian lightly nodded before getting back to the topic at hand.

"I managed to get your new suit sorted and from what I've seen of your current suit, through old photos I've seen, this new suit is a huge step up!"

Damian exclaimed as he handed Bolton the small black box.

"Open up!"

Bolton turned around as he placed the box on his desk and unlocked the two gold locks on both left and right sides. Inside the box was a black suit, just like his old jacket.

Visually, it was a huge step up. It had two distinct colours, dark grey and black, the former of which had a leather-like appearance all around both the jacket and the tros, the latter of the colours were suit markings used on the chest, arms and legs. In addition, a charcoal cape was attached to the jacket. The whole suit was made out of kevlar-based material.

"Oh! There is one more thing I need to get to complete your new looks, hold on!"

Damian said before running off for a couple of seconds before returning to the tent holding shining black boots.

"Now the look is complete, almost. You just need to put on the clothes and then boom!"

Bolton stared at the boots and then back at the new suit.

"That's very thoughtful of you, Damian, thanks..."

He muttered before he put on his new jacket.

Bolton went into mild shock due to the sudden change of clothing, finally wearing something new after wearing the same, torn, dirty clothes for the past few months. He felt great. The same feeling came when he finally took off his ruined tros, which he threw into the corner alongside his old jacket. Upon equipping the new tros, he put on the shining black boot, which made him look slightly taller than how he would normally look.

The Octoling looked at the reflection and saw himself. For the first time in so long, Bolton felt some pride in himself, very little pride, but pride nonetheless.

He reached his left arm to the left and opened his palm. His blade flew out of its old scabbard and into his grasp, glowing firey colours just before it even came into with him. Bolton placed it inside his new, charcoal scabbard.

"It's time..."

He whispered. Bolton turned and walked past Damian, exiting the tent and walking onto the big stage, facing the enormous crowd ahead of him.

Led walked onto the stage and stood next to his master, not saying a word. Melissa and Bruce watched from the other side of the stage, the former of which became more intimated by Bolton's new look. It became clear to her that Something big, something horrific was going down right this second.

Damian ran to where the psychic and Shark were, looking back at Bolton with a mildly worried look as he began his speech.

"My gifted brothers and sisters, the time has come! Tonight, Inkopolis City will fall to us the way we fell to them!"

Bolton announced, beginning a large speech about the salvation.

At the left-hand side of the stage, Melissa felt a strange feeling coming from the entrance to Giftopolis. Whilst Bolton was busy talking to the crowd, Melissa snuck out into the crowd.

"Melissa!"

Damian exclaimed quietly to not interrupt Bolton's speech.

Melissa ignored Damian and continued her way through the crowd, eventually reaching the entrance of Giftopolis. The feeling she felt began to increase as she slowly ventured down the dark, wet sewer. What started as a feeling, however, quickly turned into sounds.

Melissa began to hear a large number of footsteps coming her way. She closed her eyes and reached forward to sense who was coming, only to open her eyes with shocks after sensing a large group of soldiers. Unfortunately, it was too late for her to turn back as she could already make out each of their silhouettes.

Sargent Gunn, alongside his group of soldiers stopped walking after noticing Melissa. Each of the soldiers pointed their weapons at her, thinking her to be hostile, only for her to raise both hands in the air with fear.

"Stand down! That's an order!"

Sargent Gunn exclaimed. As the men followed their orders, the Sargent looked to Melissa and lightly nodded, giving her permission to speak.

M E A N W H I L E O U T S I D E . . .

R.A.I.C soldiers marched down the street, assuring that everyone stayed inside of their homes. Soldiers were stationed all around the city, including areas such as Inkopolis Square, which was also on watch by Emily and Ami, and Inkopolis Plaza, which was also on watch by Magnus and Samantha.

At Inkopolis Tower, a large group of helicopters all worked together to take the Great Zapfish off the tower for it to be taken away for safety, not wanting to risk losing the greatest source of power Inkopolis has.

Rex Allen and Alyssa Frida stood on a rooftop far from the Inkopolis Cathedral, looking down at the streets. The jet had been put back into its stationed area by the Splat Force base.

"The Great Zapfish has been evacuated. Inkopolis now has a limited power usage."

General Swannack reported to Rex through a walkie talkie.

"Good to know. Hopefully, we'll have everything back to normal by tonight."

Rex responded before putting down the walkie talkie and clicking on his earpiece.

"Magnus, Samantha, everything all set up?"

"Yeah, everythin' is goin' smoothly."

Magnus responded. He sat on one of the metal fence bars outside of the old Squid Sister's studio. Samantha was stood in the middle of the plaza, counselling a few of the soldiers.

"Good."

Rex responded as he looked over to his wife, hoping to hear her end.

"Got anything to report you two?"

Alyssa asked through her earpiece.

"Everything's been cleared. The tables, the umbrellas, everything, even Crusty Sean's Van was moved."

Ami answered, ing by soldiers to reach the edge of the square where Emily was.

"If anything goes south, I'll let you know at an instant."

"Good! I'm proud of you, Ami!"

Alyssa responded, feeling prideful over how far the young Inkling girl had come. The Octoling looked back to her uncertain husband.

"How are you holding up, love?"

Rex was too fascinated by the large number of soldiers below that the question didn't come to him straight away. Alyssa walked to his side and placed her left hand on his right shoulder.

"This is bigger than anything that we have fought before. I've never seen anything like this. There are hundreds of men down there, Alyssa, more men than the Splat Force ever had. This fight, this war is bigger than the Gifted Wars ever was."

He answered, looking into his wife's eyes, hoping to find some positivity within them, only to find more worry.

B A C K I N T H E S E W E R S . . .

"Please, I'm begging you! Don't go through with this! You have no idea what's about to happen!"

Melissa exclaimed, unfortunately to no prevail.

"Step aside, young lady! O-Or else we'll shoot!"

One of the soldiers yelled, sounding horrified through the stutter of his words.

"Cody, not now!"

Sargent Gunn exclaimed, shutting the soldier up.

"You're only going to alert Bolton of your presence if you shoot me. None of you can stand a chance against what he has, all of you would be killed!"

Melissa yelled, trying to talk some sense into them but sensing their desperation to take down Bolton.

"That's it! I-I'm done waiting!"

The same soldier grunted as he aimed his weapon at her.

By the time Sargent Gunn saw what the soldier was doing, it was already too late...

"NO!"

B A N G ! ! !

The gunshot echoed across the sewer. It wasn't along until it hit Giftopolis. The entire crowd went silent. Bolton glared at the entrance.

"They're here..."

He whispered before looking down at the crowd.

"My gifted brothers and sisters, give them all you've got!"

The crowd erupted into screams and roars as they began to storm down the entrance. Before any of them could get through, Damian dashed past and arrived at where Melissa was. Luckily, she was still, managing to stop the attack using her telekinesis.

Everything and everyone stood perfectly still for him. The soldiers were all shocked by the actions of one of their own and Sargent Gunn was screaming at the soldier who acted out of spite. Normally, he would use this opportunity to joke about and mess with them, but now was no time at all.

Damian grabbed the bullet and threw it towards that very soldier's direction, aiming it between his nose. Now that the coast was clear for the Psychic, the Speedster grabbed ahold of her and dashed her back to the stage safely before going back into normal time.

Luckily for Damian, he had not been in that state for very long. Due to this, he had no heart problem, only what felt like a light jab to the chest.

The syndicate watched as the crowd rushed away into the sewers to fight off the R.A.I.C by themselves.

"They need help?"

Bruce asked, hoping to aid them in battle.

"The intruders have no chance against them. Once they got through them, the fight will be taken to the surface..."

Bolton answered as he too stared into the entrance, feeling confident about everything.

The R.A.I.C all looked in horror as their fellow soldier fell to the ground, dead. However, they didn't have much time to mourn their loss as the massive gifted army charged at them.

"Oh no..."

Sargent Gunn muttered hopelessly. There was no going back for them now.

"OPEN FIRE!"

B A N G , B A N G , B A N G ! ! !

B A N G , B A N G , B A N G ! ! !

B A N G , B A N G , B A N G ! ! !

The bullets shot by the R.A.I.C only managed to hurt a lot of them, only killing a couple, however. However, the damage and loss didn't stop the crowd, who continued to charge at them until finally made . The soldiers were easily overwhelmed, with the vast majority of them getting injured and knocked out from the stampede, including Sargent Gunn, who was knocked out after being knocked against a wall, and a fair few who unfortunately lost their lives to the gifted's power.

The gifts they were taken out by and in some cases killed by, varied from earth manipulators, fire breathers, lightning shockers, large muscular fighters, and water manipulators, alongside many others.

Once Sargent Gunn and his men were taken care of, a sea urchin began to charge a powerful gift in their hands, both of which glowed a bright yellow. So much power was stored that the Urchin became overwhelmed by it, causing them to scream in pain. After seconds of charging, they went supernova by unleashing all of their power, in the form of a powerful yellow beam, at the roof of the sewers.

B O O M ! ! !

The Urchin's selfless act helped create a ageway for the gifted as the roof and blown away, alongside the pathway by the Inkopolis Cathedral, which took down a small group of R.A.I.C soldiers, who fell into the sewers.

Having no time to mourn for their fallen ally, most of the gifted began to climb out of the sewers and reached the surface, only to come face to face with more soldiers.

B A N G , B A N G , B A N G ! ! !

B A N G , B A N G , B A N G ! ! !

B A N G , B A N G , B A N G ! ! !

The soldiers on the surface managed to take more than the ones down below since they had a high ground advantage. However, the gunfire was only going to hold for so long. With every failed attempt at taking one of them down, a dozen more climbed out of the sewers and onto the streets, eventually giving them the advantage that they needed.

M E A N W H I L E W I T H R E X A N D A L Y S S A . . .

Rex and Alyssa watched the mayhem unfold from afar. With no time to lose, they went into their Squid/Octo forms and super jumped into action. Within seconds of landing, Rex was already under attack by a gifted Samonling with panther-like claws.

The two of them engaged each other in combat, with the Samonling on the offensive and Rex on the defensive. Rex managed to barely dodge most of the attacks that the Samonling threw at him. However, Rex could only keep up the fight for so long.

S L A M ! ! !

The dark-skinned Samonling landed a devastating blow to his chest, knocking him a few feet back. Rex groaned from the sharp pain but managed to quickly get back onto his feet and readied himself for round two.

Seeing this from afar, Alyssa quickly took down the firefly squidling that she was dealing with before firing a hand beam at the Samonling, taking him by surprise. The Samonling grunted after being hit by the beam. He was sent flying into a nearby restaurant wall, knocking him out.

Rex glanced at his wife and awarded her with a thumbs up before approaching her. He looked ahead and saw more and more sea critters climb out of the broken pathway.

"How many more are coming?"

He asked as the two of them approached the large hole with caution.

"I don't know. But from what I saw last night, there may be more people down there than what the population of Baxter Village was."

She answered, only making Rex more worried.

"If that's the case then I'm not sure how long we could keep them busy."

He replied as he readied his N-Zap as a large crowd charged at both the two of them and the soldiers in the area.

"Once we see Bolton, all eyes must be on him."

"Agreed, he's too powerful to take by ourselves."

Alyssa replied as she began to recharge her energy for the battle ahead of her. Once recharged, both of her fists began to glow bright blue.

"For now, let's take on his army. We have to try and cause as few causalities as possible."

Rex nodded at her before the two sprinted towards the increasing crowd of gifted sea-critters, taking them all on at once. Fortunately, the two of them, alongside the R.A.I.C soldiers that still stood, gave it their all and stood their ground, managing to take down some of the gifted. Some of the gifted were knocked against the wall, others were knocked out and some of them fell into the hole that they had climbed out of. However, they could only stand their ground for so long...

More and more of the gifted climbed out of the hole in huge groups, helping them manage their opponents. Soldiers began to become overwhelmed by the storm of fires, lightning, water, and lazerbeams, amongst many other gifts.

With more of the gifted arriving at the surface, the street became more and more decimated. Walls had been blown away, rooftops fell, and windows and doors had been smashed. Even the Inkopolis Cathedral had it almost as bad as it did during the Gifted Wars, if not worse.

S L A M ! ! !

A buff Octoling with a red ponytail knocked Rex back several feet upon using a super-powered punch to his chest. Another Octoling, this time a woman with a black mohawk raised her hand. A large loop of sewerage water rose from the sewers and was thrown toward the Splat Force Commander.

Alyssa ran towards her husband and put up an energy barrier in front of the two of them before firing a hand beam at the Octoling, knocking her down into the sewers.

"Are you okay?!"

Alyssa asked with concern, noticing the pain that Rex was in.

Without saying a word, Rex stood back up, trying to get steady. He looked around the area and felt concerned. Within all the chaos, there was one question that lingered within Rex's mind.

"W-Where is Bolton?!"

M E A N W H I L E W I T H T H E S Y N D I C A T E . . .

At the top of a skyscraper close to Inkopolis Square, a flame ring had opened. Bolton, alongside all of the syndicate, walked through and looked down at the chaos below them.

Their attention was quickly shifted to all of the fighter jets that had noticed him and flew around him in circles.

"General, we've got eyes on Bolton. Permission to open fire?"

One of the pilots asked General as his team circled the warlord and his syndicate.

"You don't need to ask me, flight! Take him down!"

General Swannack replied aggressively.

"Copy that!"

He replied before spreading the message to his team over coms.

"Blast him!"

Knowing where it was going, Bolton acted immediately.

"Now, Led!"

Upon hearing Bolton's command, Led stood forward before Bolton. All eyes were on him. Melissa watched in horror as her friend unleashed a devastating blow on the pilots, all of which flew towards them...

Z A P ! ! !

B O O M , B O O M , B O O M ! ! !

All of the Jets exploded upon Led's attack, killing all of the pilots instantly.

"Good job, Led."

Bolton complimented. On both the inside and the outside, Led felt nothing for his actions. He watched as scraps from the Jets flew to the ground in flames.

The rest of the syndicate were all shocked at Led's actions, especially Melissa who felt beyond devastated by Led's turn. Not that it mattered to him, not anymore...

Led leapt off the skyscraper, his body charging with electricity. The rest of the syndicate ran to the edge of the room and looked down. As Led was getting closer and closer to the ground, he prepared himself for landed. He clenched his fist, causing it to spit out electricity, as he finally reached the ground.

S L A M ! ! !

Z A P ! ! !

The sheer power from Led's punch formed a crater in the ground as the nearby area was hit with a large wave of electricity, taking out nearby soldiers. Ahead of Led were the R.A.I.C's battle tanks. He glared at them and charged his next attack.

B A N G , B A N G , B A N G ! ! !

Three powerful shots were fired from each of the tanks. In a flash, Led super jumped out of the way, causing the shots to hit nearby buildings, vehicles and soldiers. Whilst he was still in the air, Led unleashed his next attack on the tanks.

Z A P ! ! !

B O O M ! ! !

One supercharged shot of electricity and all of the tanks had been decimated, all exploding upon the electricity hitting them, killing not just the soldiers from within the tanks, but all of the soldiers that were close to it. Upon landing back onto the ground, Led ran away into the city.

Back at the top of the skyscraper, Bolton opened a flame ring for Damian and Melissa, for they to reach the ground safely. Upon running through, Damian managed to disarm several soldiers in the blink of an eye, however, he didn't go as far as to do them harm.

He glanced at Melissa who stood in the middle of the road in fear. He knew that she didn't want to fight.

"Melissa, get out of here! I'll cover you!"

Damian exclaimed before running off into the city.

B A N G , B A N G , B A N G ! ! !

Shots were fired toward Melissa, all of which she managed to defect using her telekinesis, none of the shots was sent back to the shooters, however. Melissa ran into a nearby alleyway and hid behind a large bin and tried her hardest to catch her breath.

The only two that remained on the skyscraper roof now were Bolton and Bruce. The master turned his attention to his shark apprentice and pointed at Inkopolis Square to their right.

"Do what you do best, Bruce."

Bruce smiled, finally being able to take part in the great salvation after sitting on the sidelines for so long. The Hammerhead Shark leapt off the roof and towards the square.

S M A S H ! ! !

He smashed his body against the walls of the Shella Fresh building and roared a mighty roar, sending shivers down not just the soldiers there, but also Emily and Ami, both of which worked together as a duo to fend off any gifted sea-critters that stood in their path.

Bruce then noticed the iconic Off The Hook duo, who were both stuck inside of their studio. Although they were celebrities to Inkopolis, and the rest of the world, to him, they were just a small duo which he saw as a snack.

He leapt off Shella Fresh and landed on the roof of the Off The Hook studio. He leapt into the air once more and slammed down onto the roof, taking down not just the roof, but the whole building with him.

S M A S H ! ! !

Unfortunately, neither Pearl Houzuki nor Marina Ida survived the crumbling building as both were crushed to death by the rubble, leaving their bodies open for Bruce to feed on freely. Everyone in the square turned to the Shark and began to attack in retaliation over the deaths of two of Inkopolis' biggest stars.

B A N G , B A N G , B A N G ! ! !

B A N G , B A N G , B A N G ! ! !

B A N G , B A N G , B A N G ! ! !

None of the gunfire worked on Bruce, his skin was too tough for them to even leave a faint mark. The lack of damage done to Shark made the soldiers feel weak and powerless, which Bruce took advantage of.

S L A S H , S L A S H ! ! !

C H O M P ! ! !

Slashes from his fins managed to cut down most of the soldiers in his path. Those who coward before him served as an awarding snack for him to chew on. His fight wasn't over however, he still had a few soldiers left to feed on and two Splat Force girls, one of which was set off.

B A N G , B A N G , B A N G ! ! !

"DIE YOU BIG STUPID SHARK!"

Emily screamed as she fired her Splattershot relentlessly at Bruce, only to do nothing to him. Ami stood from the sidelines by The Shoal, calling out Emily's name, knowing that Bruce's skin was almost impenetrable.

Unfortunately, Emily was too busy screaming to take notice of Ami's call and contained to fire at Bruce, dealing little to no damage to the Shark in the process. Wanting to take her down quickly, Bruce dashed forward and rammed his body into her.

S L A M ! ! !

Emily's Splattershots flew out of her grasp as she was sent flying back for miles until eventually landing on the ground, scraping her face on the pavement.

"Emily!"

Ami screamed as she began to run over to her whilst Bruce was distracted by other soldiers.

B A N G ! ! !

Bruce heard a tank shot from a distance. He knew that it was aimed at him. Using the moments he had before the shot came to him, he picked a soldier and threw him towards the cannonball.

B O O M ! ! !

The cannonball exploded, instantly blowing up the soldier's entire body. Unfortunately for whoever hid within the tank, the Shark was on him, and he was angry.

"Tank?!"

He growled before leaping into the air, landing on the ground before the tank. There was nothing that the tank could do as, by the time the next shot was ready, Bruce had already begun to slash at it.

"Tank go boom!"

B O O M ! ! !

As the tank went boom, Ami kneeled over Emily, turning her body around. Cuts were all over her dirty face. Emily began to cry in pain. Ami clicked on her earpiece.

"Alyssa! Emily is hurt, badly! What do I do?!"

She exclaimed. Ami gently held Emily's right hand using her left hand, comforting her.

"G-Get her to safe-"

Alyssa began to tell her, pausing mid-sentence to violently cough, making Ami even more concerned.

"Get her to safety, Ami! Go to the base, you'll be safe there!"

"B-But what about you?!"

Ami whimpered.

"D-Don't worry about me, Ami. I'll be right behind y-you!"

Alyssa replied, sounding weaker.

"Whatever happens now, promise me that you'll stay strong, okay?"

Ami couldn't believe what she was hearing. Tears fell from her eyes as she responded to her message.

"I-I will!"

She exclaimed before helping Emily back onto her feet.

B A C K W I T H R E X A N D A L Y S S A . . .

Things were not looking good for either of the Splat Force Commanders. Rex was slowly losing the will to keep fighting, only pushing forward because he needed to. His gear had been torn and beat and there were cuts on his face. In addition to Rex, Alyssa had a cut on her lips and a nose bleed. In addition, she also had a torn suit. She only managed to keep up the fight due to her gifts coming in handy. Other than that, however, she stood just as much of a chance as Rex did.

Unfortunately for both of them, more and more gifted sea-critters were coming after them and there were only so many R.A.I.C soldiers still standing, most of them had been killed or knocked unconscious. Unfortunately, most of them were the latter.

"There's too many! I'm not sure how long we could take them!"

Rex yelled to Alyssa, who shared the same opinion.

"I-I just told Ami and Emily to get to the base. According to Ami, Emily's hurt!"

Alyssa told her husband, worrying him.

"I-It's best you do the same with Magnus and Samantha. T-That way, at least the four of them can live to fight another day, e-even if we don't!"

Rex's thoughts were overwhelmed with sorrow and frustration. He knew that he and Alyssa were barely managing the fight as they were and that he couldn't lose his students yet, not when they had a future ahead of them. But at the same time, calling it off now would guarantee their loss.

"W-We have to keep g-going!"

Rex yelled in frustration as he took down another gifted sea-critters with a punch to their chin.

"Rex, don't you see? Bolton's already won! T-There's nothing we can do now!"

Alyssa yelled, talking sense into her husband.

Rex was devastated. For the first time, he truly lost. Alyssa was right, he did need to call it off.

"L-Lets go!"

He yelled as he and Alyssa began to run away from the crowd with all the willpower that they had left in them. However, the crowd was slowly catching up to them. Rex clicked on his earpiece.

"Magnus, Samantha, are you there?"

M E A N W H I L E W I T H M A G N U S A N D S A M A N T H A . . .

The soldiers on their end were managing to hold their ground very well, at least when compared to Rex's side. Both Magnus and Samantha were fighting off gifted sea-critters as Rex's message came through. Just like their Commanders, both were beaten up badly.

"Commander Allen, are you okay?!"

Magnus asked with concern, hearing his tired, beaten voice.

"T-That doesn't matter!"

Rex exclaimed, whilst huffing and puffing.

"Listen, you two need to get out of there right now!"

"What?! We can't give up now!"

Samantha asked in alarm.

"B-Bolton's won already. You two have to go back to the base and hide in the bunker! It might be too late for me and Alyssa, but not for you!"

Rex told them. Between his last words and his next, there was a sudden change of tone in his voice, switching from helpless to fear.

"Oh no...Run-"

Magnus and Samantha lost connection with their Commander as he suddenly went quiet.

"Commander Allen?"

Magnus called out but to no prevail.

"COMMANDER ALLEN?!"

"You heard him, Magnus! We need to go!"

Samantha yelled to him as she began to run away from the plaza.

"Now! That's an order!"

Magnus looked mortified. He was hoping for it all to be a nightmare to wake up from, but sadly, it was real...

"B-But, Commander Allen, h-he needs our-"

"He's gone, Magnus! Rex and Alyssa are gone!"

Samantha exclaimed with tears in her eyes.

"They wanted us to survive! We have to survive for them!"

Magnus had nothing left to say. He was in too much shock to comprehend what has happened. However, he couldn't die now, not just yet, he needed to live for his Commanders. He caught up to Samantha. The two of them went into their Squid/Octo forms and super jumped away from Inkopolis Plaza, leaving it behind.

The soldiers there, alongside all living soldiers from across the city, all received a distress order from their General as war sirens began to screech in the background.

"Fall back! All men fall back! The battle has been lost!"

The General ordered, sounding paranoid about his men's safety. The surviving men all began to run away from the gifted. The battle was over, the good guys had lost...

M E A N W H I L E E L S E W H E R E . . .

From the window of an office building, an Inkling with slit-back black and grey hair and a short black moustache watched the madness from the window with horror in his eyes. On his desk behind him was a podcast set up, with a microphone, headphones and messed up wires. His audio was set on speaker mode.

"Ladies and gentlemen, after years of warning you all, it finally happened! I WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG AND NOBODY LISTENED TO ME!"

Nolan Fletcher exclaimed loudly, his rage blinded and deafened him to all the commotion that was occurring outside of his office.

"EVERYONE MADE FUN OF ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA FOR YEARS! WHERE ARE THOSE PEOPLE NOW, HUH? PROBABLY BURIED UNDER THE RUBBLE CAUSED BY THE OCTARIAN SCUMS AND THE GIFTED FREAKS, HAHAHA!"

B O O M ! ! !

The entrance to his office was blown away by a strong bolt of electricity. Nolan fell behind his desk, screaming in shock. Once the dust settled, he slowly stood up. Led Levin stood across him, hands sparking with electricity. It was at this moment that Nolan knew, he messed up, big time...

"N-N-N-NO, PLEASE! I'M SORRY! I-I DIDN'T MEAN IT, I-I-"

It was too late for Nolan. By the time he finished his sentence, Led had already charged his next attack...

Z A P ! ! !

The lightning pierced Nolan's chest and sent him flying back through his now broken wall. The lightning alone had already killed him, the broken wall messed up his body. However, his body had one more punishment awaiting it as it plummeted to the ground.

S P L A T ! ! !

The force of two colliding trucks crushed Nolan's body, popping it like a pimple. Back at the office, Led looked down at the collision below him, fully immersed in his dark side. He breathed in and out as he watched the mayhem from above, not showing any emotion towards it, nor the care about what he had just done to Nolan Fletcher.

M E A N W H I L E A T T H E S P L A T F O R C E B A S E . . .

Magnus and Samantha arrived at the Splat Force base, landing outside of the entrance from their super jump. Luckily, the entire warehouse hadn't been damaged yet, alongside the city street next to it. They both looked back at the large smoke cloud that flew above the city. Magnus held his injured right arm in his hand as he continued to process everything. The worst thing to come out of all of this was that he didn't know if his Commanders had survived the battle.

Just then, both Emily and Ami ed them, landing behind them after sump jumping their way to the base.

"Ami!"

Samantha exclaimed as she hugged her beat-up sister tightly.

To the right of Ami was Emily, whose face bleed from all of the cuts. Luckily the cuts weren't strong enough, nor deep enough to leave scars. As Samantha let go of Ami, she began to run over to the warehouse!

"Come on!"

She yelled. The three Rookies followed her inside, feeling safer.

Samantha ran to Alyssa's desk and opened up the drawer and grabbed the key, feeling thankful that what Alyssa had told them the previous night was true. In a flash, she bolted to the safe door and unlocked it using the key. On the other side was a small, dark grey square room with a ladder going down. Samantha allowed Magnus, Emily and Ami to go in before her. When she finally went through, she closed the door and locked them inside.

B A C K I N T H E C I T Y . . .

Bolton watched the gifted riots from the top of Inkopolis Tower. He watched as police officers, ambulances and the R.A.I.C retreated after being overwhelmed by the gifted. Seeing those who mistreated his kind for long so long get taken down brought a prideful smile to his face.

After the battle had been won, the gifted began to cheer and parade down the streets, finally getting the freedom that they had wished for as innocent civilians watched in horror from inside their homes.

The gifted sea-critters from below all noticed Bolton at the top of Inkopolis Tower. Feeling thankful for his leadership, they cheered him on like a leader. From that moment on, Bolton had stepped into what he now thought was his true calling.

Melissa watched from a nearby rooftop in horror. Her worst nightmare about the great salvation had finally come true. She felt guilty for allowing herself to be a part of it, guilty for bringing every gifted being together using her gifts. Bolton had taken advantage of her, and she followed him blindly. Now, nobody was safe.

Finally, after all the years of fighting, after all the losses that he had been through in his life, after all the physical and mental damage that he had faced along the way, Bolton had finally achieved what he had long fought for. After losing so many battles, Bolton finally won...

1 M O N T H L A T E R . . .

A flame ring opened in front of a rocky grave outside of an abandoned village within Infantry Forest. On the other side of the flame ring was a snow-filled civilization that had fallen to the gifted.

Bolton walked through the flame ring, holding a bouquet in his left hand and his blade in the other. As the flame ring closed, Bolton kneeled in front of the grave and placed the bouquet.

"Hela, my beloved. After all these years, it's finally over..."

Bolton whispered with a lighter tone of voice. For the first time in decades, Bolton felt relaxed and free.

"After Inkopolis fell, the rest of the world was easy. They weren't as strong, any resistance they had was taken care of."

Bolton paused mid-way through his sentence to his deceased wife. He had a moment to feel the soft breeze and to peacefully listen to the trees flowing in the wind. He was at peace with himself.

"The work is done, Hela. The gifted has risen and now, for the first time since I lost you that fateful day, I have no plans. No matter what happens in the future, what happened will always have happened and the world would always when they were finally put in their place for all the sins that they had committed."

Bolton said before pausing again. This time, the peaceful feeling began to overwhelm the Octoling, causing him to tear up.

"I-I only wish that you were here to see it with me, H-Hela. I'm sorry that I couldn't save you back then..."

Two tears escaped both of Bolton's eyes, landing on the rocks. Bolton shut his eyes and rested his palm at the centre of the grave. He breathed in slowly before singing a soft lullaby.

:notes: Mewotojite nemurinitsuku

Watashi no saiai no chīsana Barentain

Anata jishin no chīsana rakuen no Yume

Soshite, Watashi wa Anata ni Subete no kisu to hōyō o ataemasu

Akumu wa watashitachi o bunri suru koto wa dekimasen

Watashi wa Itsumo Anata no soba ni imasu

Anata wa Watashi no ude ni Tsutsumi rete imasu

Watashi ga Anata ni iu yō ni, Watashi wa anata o aishiteimasu :notes:

L A T E R T H A T E V E N I N G . . .

Bolton walked through a flame ring that he had opened to the cliffside by his old farm. The sun was setting, slowly putting an end to the final day of the great salvation. A tired and complete Bolton walked to the edge of the cliffside and slowly sat down, exhaling upon touching the ground.

Bolton stared at the bright sun and the fiery orange sky and breathed in and out slowly. He smiled a genuine smile as he stared at the sunset, a warm, triumphant sunset...

T O  B E  C O N T I N U E D . . .

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T H X  F O R  R E A D I N G ! ! !

Thx for reading the tenth Chapter of Splat Force III: Bolton's Reign! We have now reached the halfway point, folks, and what an ending to a first-half it was! Dark days are ahead for our heroes as we now enter a new world. Unfortunately, there won't be a Chapter next week. Fortunately, next week is the mid-story special post, which I think you all would enjoy, so stay tuned for that! Until next time, stay safe out there! ^^

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