Croft stared in amazement at the device before him. "What… what is this!?"

The general across from him smirked. "A prototype. A teleportation device that we created based on data collected over all these years combined with Henry Wu's research" he explained. "I don't know how it works exactly, the scientists who worked on it talked about something about 'bending spacetime', but I personally don't care. And you mustn't care either, sir. All you have to do is install it on there"

Croft stared in horror at the spot the general indicated. Beside them, in all its enormity, was a huge cylinder at least eight meters long and more than two meters wide. Croft knew what it was: his most extraordinary and at the same time most destructive project. The most powerful thermonuclear bomb ever created.

Croft had designed it not even six months before. He had done it because he was convinced that no one could ever use it. The bomb weighed almost thirty tons, it was practically impossible to mount it on an ordinary missile or carry it on a fighter. Even if it was more powerful than any other bomb ever built, it was utterly useless on the battlefield.

But now…

"Why do you want me to put the teleportation device on the bomb?" Croft murmured.

The general shrugged. "It seems obvious to me. We will test both the teleportation device and your bomb in one fell swoop"

"How?"

"We will detonate it on the capital of the enemies"

Croft felt his blood freeze. "How?"

"The plan is to teleport it about ten kilometers above the city center and drop it. We will detonate it when it reaches four kilometers"

"But… that will completely wipe out the whole city!"

"Yes. That's what these bombs were built for, Mr. Croft. Or did he expect us to use them for fireworks?"

"We are talking about millions of people! Children, families…"

"It's war, Mr. Croft. The innocent are always victims. Don't think about it and you'll be fine with your conscience. Now get to work"

Croft wanted to refuse, but common sense stopped him. He knew that if he did that, the general would just shoot him and have someone else do the job. So, he just tried to stall for time: "It's a complex job. I will need at least one day to…"

"Do you have an hour"

"An hour!? How can I assemble and program such a complex device within an hour!?"

"The transporter device has already been calibrated and programmed. All you have to do is mount it on the bomb. So get busy. The test is scheduled in an hour and the emperor does not allow delays"

Croft swallowed and got to work. The transporter device was quite small: it was a metal disk measuring no more than a foot in diameter, with a tiny display on one side. Croft began to fix it to the bomb, while he tried to figure out how it worked. Unfortunately, he wasn't a programmer and he had no idea how to turn it on either.

While he worked, he sweated cold. The thought of all the people who would die from that infernal device was enough to make him vomit. He had to warn Alycia, and immediately, but he had no idea how to do it: he knew the soldiers were holding him at gunpoint. He had the special glasses, but if he tried to talk and explain the situation, they would find out right away.

Fortunately, the adrenaline gave him an idea. Pretending to cough, he repeatedly closed his eyes in a morse code SOS. He didn't know if it would be of any use, but he doubted Alycia wouldn't go into limp mode.

He spent a few minutes and began to believe he was wrong, but then a small sparkle on the lenses of his glasses confirmed that someone had connected and was watching him through some hidden micro camera. Evidently, they understood that he could not speak.

Now, all Croft had to do was… get a little chatty.

"Excuse me, general, how long until the test?"

"Mh. Ten minutes. Have you finished?"

"Almost. Will this device really allow us to teleport the bomb directly over Frigeria?"

"So say the scientists. It is a test, there are no certainties"

"But it is likely that it will work and that Frigeria will be destroyed"

"Are you feeling remorse again? I told you, sir, you mustn't think about it. Just do your job and forget you have a conscience"

"Sure, sure. Sorry for the inconvenience"

Croft walked away and went back to work on the bomb. "It's all in your hands now, Alycia. Please, I don't know what you can do, but do it!"

*********

Snock was performing his usual chores, hiding in an abandoned building in Frigeria, when suddenly a shiver went through him. His feathers bristled and his heartbeat raced to the max. His breath hitched and his skin quivered slightly.

It had been a long time since he had felt fear, REAL fear. Snock looked around and saw that the other dinosaurs also had the same problem. That was a warning of the [Supreme instinct] skill.

Snock didn't know what was coming, but he knew one thing for sure: something terrible was about to fall from the sky. He didn't know how he knew, he just knew, just like the survival instinct of a wild animal he sensed the arrival of the predator.

"Something's wrong!" he yelled in his mind. In an instant, he activated [Teleportation] and vanished from Frigeria. When he reappeared, he was at Sobek's side. "Pack leader!"

"Snock, what's going on?" Sobek asked, surprised by his sudden appearance.

"I don't know!" the giganotosaurus replied. "Something is coming against Frigeria! I sensed it!"

Sobek's eyes widened. If [Supreme instinct] had activated, it meant that the danger was real. With the [Contract] mind-sharing mode, he connected to Snock's mind, sensing the terror in his body very clearly.

He suddenly he was afraid. By now, dinosaurs had nothing to fear from conventional weapons. The only weapon that could activate the survival instinct so much… it was a weapon that left no escape for any animal, plant or person in its way.

Shortly thereafter, Al appeared and walked over to him, holding up a phone. "Pack leader, president Jersey wants to talk to you!"

"Give it to me now!" the spinosaurus growled. Al realized there was no time to opine and followed orders. "Jocelyne, what's going on…?"

"Sobek!" Jocelyne's scream almost made him jump, and even more the fact that she had forgotten to add honorifics. "There is a nuclear bomb aimed at Frigeria!"

"WHAT!?" the spinosaurus roared.

"RE/SYST just contacted me! They say the empire will use a teleportation device to beam a thermonuclear bomb over Frigeria! The city will be wiped out!" Jocelyne's voice rose an octave with each word.

Sobek's eyes narrowed. "How much time?"

"Three minutes… at most! We have already warned the president of Sapion, but there is no time to organize a counter-offensive or to evacuate the city!" Jocelyne's tone had become breathless, as if she'd just run a marathon. "Sobek… please…"

But Sobek was no longer there. He had activated [Teleportation] and headed to Frigeria. As soon as he was there, his [Supreme instinct] kicked in. The fear invaded him so unexpectedly that for a few seconds he forgot to activate [Ambush], and since he had practically teleported himself in the middle of a strange, he scared quite a few people. But at the moment he didn't care.

Only then did he realize he had no idea what to do. "Shit! How can I stop an atomic bomb!?" he yelled in his head. "No... I don't have to stop it, I have to deflect it. If it blows up here, no one will escape. I have to blow it away! Apache!"

The pterosaur's voice came to him via the [Contract] mind-sharing mode: "What's up, pack leader?"

"Gather all air troops immediately and then drop here! It's an emergency!" Sobek roared in his mind, then immediately cut off communication. As his survival instincts screamed for more and more, he stared up at the sky knowing that death would come from there.

***********

"The device is mounted. We can start?"

The general was on the phone with someone Croft didn't know and whose identity he didn't care to know. At that moment the scientist was breaking a sweat, praying to every known deity to avoid carnage.

"The emperor has given the order. Activate the teleportation!"

The transporter device sizzled and glowed blue, and then disappeared along with the giant bomb he was attached to.

"Teleport successful. Beginning of the countdown to detonation..."

Croft could only stare helplessly at the spot where the bomb had previously been. "Please, please... a miracle..."

**********

"Here it is!"

Sobek clearly saw it appear in the sky. The bomb was over ten kilometers high, but the spinosaurus' vision had become so powerful that it could easily be seen even from that distance. His brain immediately started working overtime. There wasn't a moment to lose.

He instantly teleported to the top of the largest skyscraper he could find, completely oblivious to the floor shattering under his weight. He immediately activated his [Personal mutation] and selected a mutation that gave him magnetokinesis.

At that range, it was impossible for him to hit the bomb with an atomic beam or a barrage of fire. The only solution was to move it as much as possible. Using all of his willpower, he grabbed the metal of the bomb in his mind and hurled it away into the lake.

It wasn't enough. His [Supreme instinct] was warning him that time was running out.

At that point, he acted without thinking. He teleported in front of the lake shore and almost mechanically screamed in his mind: "ARMY! HERE! IMMEDIATELY!"

Like a sea, tens of thousands of dinosaurs appeared on the outskirts of the city. Carnopo, Buck, and all the other dinosaurs in the army all appeared at once. Sobek's order had been so imperative that their will seemed to have been nullified. "Put on your armor, activate [Ultimate mutation] and form a wall!"

As if animated by a single mind, the dinosaurs in a few seconds arranged themselves next to each other, even massing one on top of the other to plug all the holes, after which they grew bigger and put on their armor. A living wall nearly a hundred meters high appeared between Frigeria and the lake. Sobek didn't know if the humans were finding this situation strange or scared or whatever, but for once it didn't matter to him at all: acting as fast as possible, he made sure that [Reinforced skin] and [Regeneration] were present in all dinosaurs, and then gritted his teeth waiting for the explosion.

The bomb fell towards the lake, and for some time nothing happened; then, as it was passing over a tiny islet, the countdown ended. Within ten milliseconds, the explosive material inside the bomb sent a tiny shock wave against the hydrogen core, compressing it until one atom after another collapsed, just as it did in the hot hearts of stars.

Then, it happened. A quick flash, and then the bomb dissolved and a great light exploded in all directions. The light of a death star.

A moment before, there was a lake, a small islet, trees, grass, rocks, sand, reefs, and small boats sitting placidly on the surface of the water.

A fraction of a second later, there was nothing.