"Step one: a thorough purge."
The moment Lucian finished speaking, thunder rang out across the skies above Sokovia.
It rolled through the depths of the clouds, drowning out the gunfire, cries, and roar of vehicle engines in the city.
Lucian no longer restrained his Mental Power. Amplified by the Mind Stone Scepter, it engulfed all of Sokovia in an instant like an invisible tide.
Bearing unquestionable authority and will, this power spoke directly in the depths of every Sokovian's mind.
Whether they were civilians struggling to survive among the ruins, warlords throwing their weight around in their strongholds, or soldiers holding guns, unsure whom they were fighting for.
"All armed leaders and all troops in Sokovia, you have ten minutes, starting now."
"Within ten minutes, lay down your weapons, kneel where you are, and wait to be taken into custody. You will live."
"After ten minutes, anyone still holding a weapon or harboring resistance will be killed without mercy."
Those few sentences exploded like thunder in the minds of hundreds of thousands of people at once.
Then a sight even more terrifying than the voice appeared.
The thunderclouds already hanging over Sokovia grew violent once more. The sky had gone completely dark, churning and compressing as though alive, bearing down heavily on this scarred land.
Lightning twisted and crisscrossed within the clouds, giving off muffled roars, yet strangely, not a single bolt descended.
All light in the world was swallowed up, and day became night in an instant.
An invisible pressure descended from the sky, weighing on every heart.
It was a fear born of life's most primal instincts, as though doomsday judgment had arrived and the heavens were about to collapse, grinding everything to dust.
"Oh... oh God..."
"What's happening?!"
"Is this divine punishment?!"
The civilians among the ruins