“And it’s equally possible that there are many worlds like this one...”
“The gods of the outer universe. They were the reason the computer gods of our world tried to turn humans into data and escape. They’re coming. And when they come, they’ll bring true destruction.”
“...It’s possible we’re looking at the true end of the world.”
“Should we be crying and screaming? Maybe not.”
“It’s not a simple binary choice,” Fujiko said, shaking her head.
“What are you guys talking about? Explain! I don’t understand at all!” Yuko screamed at the top of her lungs.
The one thing she knew was that something bad was happening. But she didn’t know what.
“Basically, this world is a fake, and someone created us. And whoever’s toying with this world is coming from the outside to destroy it,” Fujiko said, deliberately keeping her voice calm.
“What...?” Yuko fell silent.
Yoshie chuckled and continued.
“It’s not that bad. It’s possible that we won’t die. It’s possible that death actually just means going to a different world.”
“But that’s... that’s even worse...” Yuko whispered.
“You may be right... But...”
Fujiko shook her head.
“Then what do you think Kei is trying to do?”
○
“Death on a massive scale. Total destruction. These are the only things that matter,” Kei said.
“Are you crazy?” Brave yelled.
“An empty plain. A wasteland containing nothing but rocks and sand. These are the only beautiful things, aren’t they?”
“You’re nuts!”
“If I’m nuts, that just means that I’m different from the rest of our society,” Kei laughed.
“Bullshit!”
Kei and Brave had been fighting in mid-air for several minutes. Brave would chase and Kei would run. It felt like this game of tag would continue on forever. But then suddenly, Kei spoke.
“If it’s possible there’s life after death, then doesn’t that mean that what I’m doing is right?”
“....!”
Brave froze in place. He wanted to say that it was a ridiculous idea, but he couldn’t. He had an open line to the control room where Yoshie and the others were talking. He’d heard what they were saying.
“Then why...? Why protect the empire? Who cares if they’re all going to die?”
“These things need to be done in order, right? The users of the Faceless Power need to die first.”
“You mean...” Brave gasped.
It seemed like Kei had already known what Fujiko had just learned. What Kei said now seemed much more plausible. If the Faceless Power was a collective consciousness, it may well have something to do with the afterlife. At this point, not even Yoshie, let alone Brave, knew who was really trying to save the world, and who was trying to destroy it.
“Which means defeating me will help bring about the true end of the world!” Kei shouted, mockingly.
“Tch... What do I do?”
Brave didn’t know. But...
The image of a man’s face flashed through his mind.
“But even if that’s true... that’s the boss’s job!”
There was more than one demon king. Brave gave a shout and charged. Kei was caught off guard. The high-frequency blade tore open the surface of his chest. He managed to avoid a fatal blow, but it was clear that he’d taken damage.
“Uwaah!” Kei screamed.
Normally a wound like that would be instantly curable, but it wasn’t closing. Of course, that was due to Brave’s mana canceler.
“Damn it! Damn it!” Kei shouted as he fell, Brave in hot pursuit.
“High-temperature plasma ball, loaded!” Brave whispered, like a death sentence. A ball of plasma appeared around him with incredible destructive power. It covered his heat-resistant suit as he headed straight toward Kei.
“It’s over!”
Brave drew ever closer. Kei’s expression froze. He’d been stripped of his powers, and now there was nothing he could do. And then...
“Wait!”
Someone slipped between them.
“What..?!”
“...!”
Both Brave and Kei fell silent. Shockingly, it was none other than Kento.
“Stop it! Please don’t defeat him now!”
“Why, Kento?!” Brave yelled. But he couldn’t halt his momentum.
The high-temperature plasma ball burned Kento’s right arm, which he’d extended to shield Kei, right off.
“Gwaah...!”
A scream echoed across the sea.
○
“What’s going on...?” Yoshie gasped.
“It seems like things are going in the worst way possible. For some reason Kento...” Fujiko trailed off. But Yoshie wasn’t looking at Brave’s monitor screen.
“What is it?”
“An... asteroid.” Yoshie said, her voice trembling.
“An asteroid?” Fujiko peered over her mana screen. She had a bad feeling. The screen showed a small shining star, visible even in the middle of the day.
“Asteroids aren’t that rare, are they?” Yuko asked.
“This one is...” Yoshie pulled up data onto her mana screen. It showed the path the asteroid was traveling. “This one came from past Pluto.”
“Pluto...?”
“Just in case, I was gathering data on how weird space is. One of the reasons I was doing this is that like I said before, I don’t think anything past Pluto exists. That’d mean that it just appeared at the edge of the Solar System. I don’t know when, precisely, but I just found it now,” Yoshie said.
“It’s hard to imagine I missed it until now. It was picked up by the wartime air defense network. Surprisingly enough, the network picks up anything in the solar system that’s heading toward the empire.”
“It’s watching the whole solar system? That’s...” Fujiko’s expression clouded with terror.
—There was a chance that something may attack us from beyond outer space.
That’s what the lab chief’s journal had said, wasn’t it?
“It looks like this air defense network existed since the start of the empire. Back then, the Empire was monitoring the solar system. That backs up what was in that journal even more...”
“This is impossible...”
“The asteroid is 20 kilometers across.”
“20 kilometers...?”
“Enough to destroy the entire Empire.” Yoshie sounded grim.