Chapter 3:
The Battle for the World
-1-
AFTER ZERO PASSED, we borrowed the house of one of the people who’d been protected by Pomera’s barrier to talk about what to do next.
The meeting was made up of me, Lunaère, Veranta, Noble, Pomera, and Philia, as well as Kotone, Mitsuru, Rosemonde, and Lovis, and then Ramiel and Nobunaga: a total of twelve people. Essentially, it was everyone in Veranta’s squad who took part in the battle at the capital.
“We have successfully defeated the higher beings’ final assassin, thanks to Kanata and Lunaère’s work,” said Veranta. “The problem now is that it’s unlikely the higher beings will leave Locklore as is. We have to predict our opponents’ next move and try to counter it.”
Veranta was taking control of the situation and telling us his thoughts, but he seemed a bit less energized than before.
“Veranta-san, are you okay?” I asked. “It’s just…if you’re tired, I can take over.”
Not long ago, Veranta had been with Zero as he passed away. The guilt he seemed to carry for how Zero was created and the way he was forced to live must have been terrible to endure.
“No…it’s not a problem,” he said. “I can’t let Zero’s death weigh me down, not when the higher beings are looking for a fight. I am one of the people who dragged Locklore into this; I cannot allow my personal emotions to sway me. I can grieve and cry like a child once this is all over. At the moment, I must put that aside and focus on the difficulties we face.”
“So, uh…our enemy basically has our lives in their hands, right?” said Ramiel, her feet on the table and her tone casual. “Sounds like all we can do in that sort of situation is pray to the gods. Though, guess that means we’d be praying to our enemy. Ha ha ha, that’s not even funny.”
A heavy atmosphere fell over the group.
“It’s not like we ever had a chance of winning, and you’re getting all worked up, Veranta,” she added. “It isn’t like you. Don’t we still have a chance to take Kanata out somewhere? Or was that your plan in the beginning and you just got swept away by your own pretty speeches? You do that sometimes, even though you pretend to be all pragmatic.” Ramiel cackled.
“The higher beings aren’t going to allow Locklore to exist much longer after this big of an incident,” said Veranta. “I understand their circumstances and thought processes to some extent. Pandering to them now will only mean a short-term extension. Besides…I’ve tired of preserving this charade while they order me around.”
After that, he turned to me and said, “Kanata, do you have any thoughts on how the higher beings will come at us? Or, perhaps, how we could take the fight to them? Anything is helpful, whether it’s new information or new ideas. You interacted directly with all the people the higher beings sent to kill you, Reniement, Lucifer, and Zoras. I imagine they would be far more knowledgeable about the higher beings’ desires, since they were held prisoner in the Upper Realms for such a long time.”
“Well…” I racked my brain.
We really didn’t have enough insight into the higher beings, and Veranta was right that those three assassins were a valuable source of information. Thinking about it now, I should’ve tried to pull more information out of Reniement and Lucifer. I didn’t really think either of them were going to go about spilling the higher beings’ secrets, but it could’ve been worth the effort to try and stick it out and see if I could get anything.
Zoras, though… He did tell me a little bit about the higher beings in the end.
“We started this theatrical fight with Locklore’s management while the higher beings were focused on us, because it’s entertainment,” I said. “It sounds like Locklore’s management wants to destroy the world after they manage a neat win against us, one that’ll satisfy the other higher beings.”
“A neat win, hm…?” Veranta grumbled.
In this case, a neat win to them would probably be my death, since I started all sorts of problems, and I was at the center of it all.
But the higher beings had already sent out all the pawns they had in play for that. Which meant we had no way of guessing what their next move would be. They could probably spend some time supplementing their forces, putting off Locklore’s destruction for a bit.
The thing was, while a neat win for the higher beings had only one condition—killing the traveler that started all these problems, me—there were way too many conditions to meet to call it a neat win for us. We not only had to make sure they couldn’t interfere with Locklore, we had to make sure Locklore would survive permanently. Was that even possible?
“They’re really going to take time out of their busy schedules to finish things?” said Ramiel. “I bet they’re totally likely to just say they’ve had enough and wipe the world out. Actually, that seems more likely, if you think about it, right?” She shrugged.
…Like she said, that possibility was always there. If the higher beings decided that things weren’t going to get better with Locklore no matter how hard they tried, they weren’t going to attempt a compromise with us. They’d just give up on trying to settle things and wipe out Locklore completely. That seemed likely.
Though, if we’re following that line of thought, then there was also no reason to keep thinking about it once we decided to fight against the higher beings.
“Whose side are you on, anyway?!” Rosemonde shouted at Ramiel.
“I might be on Locklore’s side, but that doesn’t mean I’m on Kanata’s side,” Ramiel replied. “Obviously. Even if there’s not much of a reason to do it at this point, I just think we need to keep in mind the option of taking Kanata and Lunaère to the higher beings and trying to find a peaceful solution. Wouldn’t you normally prioritize the many over the few in the very end, considering Locklore itself hangs in the balance? Or are we going with the insane policy that it’s fine in the end if hundreds of thousands of Locklorians die for these two?” Ramiel gave an utterly malicious smile.
“We already rolled the dice, kid. You’re just trying to stir up drama for your own entertainment. I’m done with you,” said Rosemonde.
“I’m just double checking what the situation is! We won’t get anywhere by ignoring reality to talk about hopes and dreams!”
When Rosemonde ignored her, Ramiel clung to her even more desperately. I really wished she wouldn’t obsess over getting Rosemonde’s attention during the most extreme of situations.
But…while the way she said it might be showing off her worst side, her point was logical, for everyone except me and Lunaère. It was something we should probably keep in the back of our minds. But Rosemonde had a strong sense of loyalty, so I doubted she could accept that logic.
There was no guarantee Locklore’s management wouldn’t take decisive action if they really were trapped in a corner. The thing was, though, I wasn’t sure how I would feel about it if it was just me, but I definitely couldn’t accept a plan that involved serving Lunaère up to the higher beings just to gain some time.
Other than the whole, “Locklore’s management needs a neat win in order to end the world,” thing, what else did Zoras say? I scoured through my memory.
“Just do the best you can after this. If I were to give you some advice, I would tell you that they honor contracts and reputation…and that you already have a valuable method for resisting. Figure the rest out yourself. They are listening to this conversation, after all.”
Contracts…reputation…valuable method for resisting…
I was mulling over that when one thought flitted through my mind. Or, maybe it would be more accurate to say Zoras’s hints let me put the puzzle together.
Maybe Zoras did give us the answer for standing against Locklore’s management, but he couldn’t say it directly because the higher beings were watching, so he said it in code instead.
I had no proof they’d accept this plan. There were too many uncertainties, too much information I couldn’t see. There wasn’t a single guarantee things would go the way I thought they would, even if we tried it. It was an assumption based on assumptions. You couldn’t even really call it a plan, it was more like a wild fantasy.