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“Please make it in time...”
Hiroshi was in a hurry, but the suit wasn’t that fast.
“Nothing’s happened yet, so don’t worry... Huh? The Republic launched some kind of missile?”
He heard Yuko begin to panic from his communicator.
“Yuko, what do you mean?”
“I don’t know. I’m just telling you what sis said. They fired some kind of rocket-like missile that flew up into the sky.”
“Is there going to be a war?”
“I don’t know that yet. We don’t have orders from dad yet...”
“Don’t do anything rash. If I can defeat that devil, and prove that we’re not all like him, we may be able to work this out.”
Hiroshi checked the mana and energy levels in the air around him.
“It’s not dense enough to teleport yet...”
He said. Just then, he heard a scream from Yuko.
“Sis? What? What happened?”
“Yuko? What’s going on?”
There was no answer.
“Sis! Sis! Come in!”
All he could hear was her screams, and incoherent shouting from the other people in the room with her.
“What’s going on?” he yelled.
Someone answered him. It was Yoshie.
“She’s panicking right now, so I’ll answer for her. Something’s going on at the front lines. I should be able to send video soon. Brace yourself for this.”
Her voice was far more serious than it usually was.
“Wait... No... Did one of the missiles hit?” Hiroshi asked.
“That would be bad enough, but it’s even worse.”
“What is it?”
“All the evil in the world... Something came down from the heavens. It wasn’t despair. It wasn’t fear. It was evil.”
Yoshie’s expressions were usually overwrought, but somehow it felt like this time, she might be right. The video came in.
“What... what the hell is this?”
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“The One has already got the Jeweled Branch.”
It was the member of C-MID8 who could shrink and grow his body.
“And the King of the Republic is with him, you said. Why is he trying to make the King use the Jeweled Branch?” Akuto asked.
They were in the sky above the village. It was filled with bugs created by the member of C-MID8. They were like huge beetles, and were very clearly dangerous. Beyond the army of beetles was The One’s airship. After he’d delivered the Branch, the member of C-MID8 had come back to stop Akuto and the others from getting to the airship.
“Yeah! Get out of our way! It’s dangerous to use the Jeweled Branch when you have an evil heart!” Nonimora yelled.
The two of them were floating in the sky, trying to get as close to The One as possible. But with the lack of energy and mana, they couldn’t fly like they usually could.
“Don’t be in such a hurry. By the way, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Codename Morlock, part of C-MID8.”
The man calling himself Morlock had shrunk to half the size of a normal man.
“...Thanks for the introduction. Now answer my question.”
“You’ll know soon regardless, but very well. Essentially, I want to start a war.”
“...Is that all?”
“Personally, yes. Other members may have more complicated ideas. But I believe that you can’t have advancement without war. In the end, this is going to make for a wonderful world.”
Morlock grinned.
“This guy’s kinda creepy,” Nonimora said, disgusted.
“So is C-MID8 basically just a group of escapees from a mental hospital?” Akuto asked. Then he tensed and readied himself for combat.
“I couldn’t do it earlier, but now I’m used to the lack of mana. We’re breaking through.”
Morlock just laughed.
“You can’t. I’m an expert at operating on minimal energy. Even I keep half of my body inside Virtual Phase Space at all times, and can efficiently use energy by changing my size in the real world. This means that I...”
Just as Morlock began a lengthy explanation of his abilities, something cut him off.
“Ackie! Something happened to Junko...!” Keena was below, screaming. She’d been in constant communication with the palace until then. Akuto’s face changed color when he heard the fear in her voice.
“What did you do...?” Akuto looked at Morlock with cold eyes. A single look at his face was enough to reduce Morlock’s monologue to a stammering mess.
“Uuh... Y-You can see... for yourself... Hah...hahahah...”
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“What the hell is that?” Junko asked.
Through the window of the command center, she could see smoke from what looked like a rocket rising up from the sea.
“A ballistic missile. It goes up to orbit and then comes back down. Don’t worry. We can shoot it down when it falls. Our air units have already been given orders. If it’s non-nuclear, we’ll be able to contain the explosion,” one of the ninjas explained.
“Non-nuclear?” Junko asked.
“Nuclear weapons can’t be blocked with mana,” the Ninja nodded.
“But that technology was abandoned years ago. There’s no way they’d use it.”
“I hope so... but this means a war’s started, doesn’t it?” Junko said, depressed.
“Maybe we weren’t able to avoid it, yes.”
Just as he said that, though, Junko felt something cold run down her spine.
—What is this awful feeling?
She looked around the command room. Everyone there seemed to share her feeling.
“Hey, did you feel something?” Junko asked, and the answers came back.
“Yes. Something awful... It wasn’t magical. It’s strange. The mana isn’t responding at all.”
“Did it come from above?” One looked up into the sky. Junko’s gaze followed his. It was raining.
—Rain? There was no sign of rain, and weather control should be active for this area...
But as the droplets of what she’d thought were rain fell, the whole area began to burn.
“What...?”
She looked closer. She couldn’t see the fire clearly. The flames were colorless, and the whole air shimmered like a mirage. But the flames remained without disappearing. The colorless flames were spreading across the ground. The grass burned, turning from green to black, and then to ash. It happened everywhere one of the drops of water fell. No, perhaps what was falling from the sky were the flames themselves.
“Aaaaah...!”
One of the ninjas screamed in terror. She turned towards him, and realized what it was he was looking at. The rain was starting to melt the windows and walls of the command room.
“Stand strong! Try the shields!” Junko commanded. But all she heard back was a scream.
“We’re already trying it!”
“...What?”
The rain was starting to fall over a wider area now, turning everything it touched to ash.
“I-Is this an enemy weapon?” Junko’s voice was shaking, though she didn’t realize it.
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“I don’t know... But this is impossible!”
The flames, neither red nor blue, were burning everything. The whole observation deck where the command room was located was starting to collapse. Through the melting windows, she could see the walls turning to ash and blowing away. Junko’s face twisted in fear. It wasn’t the fear of facing death. It was because the colorless flames seemed to represent all the evil of mankind. Junko’s body began to shake, and she fell to her knees. The unfathomable evil had left her paralyzed.
Everyone was watching... Watching the invisible flames come down from the sky, and burn the city and the army. Everyone could feel the evil within it.
“Let’s say that divine punishment is real. But divine punishment is only punishment because someone wanted it to happen. If a good person is burned, it’s not punishment, it’s just bad luck. In other words, what you’re seeing now is the reflection of someone’s heart. Someone wanted this to happen. Of course, you wanted the missiles to disappear. And that wish came true. But you also granted the wish of the people of the republic. And some of them wanted the empire to burn to ash.”
The One spoke, and Marine knew better than anyone that what he was saying was true. He understood that his connection with the Faceless Power had granted the people of the Republic’s wish. The mana screen was showing the most terrible scene imaginable. From above, it looked like a gray circle spreading out across the ground. But it used to be a town. Everything was burnt into ash and rubble in the span of an instant. The seaside town was a vision of hell. There was no sound of any living thing whatsoever. The only things moving were the ash, blowing in the wind, and clumps of falling concrete.
“I’m seeing the real hell. And a real devil,” Marine whispered in despair, as he looked at the devilish dog.