If we lose her, we won’t be able to accomplish that anymore.
So basically, whether White wins or loses also decides whether we win or lose.
“Which means our side just has to pray for White’s victory. In more ways than one.”
Despite my best efforts at humor, nobody cracks a smile.
…I bombed that one.
“So, anyway, you might think that means there’s nothing else we can do, but you’d be wrong.”
I keep talking as if I didn’t just totally bomb.
They’re all still listening with serious expressions, which must mean most of them didn’t even notice!
“If White loses, it’s over for us. But even if she wins, they still have ways of keeping the system from being destroyed. Unfair, isn’t it? So we’ve got to put a stop to that.”
At a glance, the rules make it seem like this is a fair fight, since anyone can participate.
But in reality, we’re actually at a pretty big disadvantage.
One reason is the conditions for victory.
If White goes down, we officially lose, yet if Gülie is the one who loses, their side will still have another chance at victory.
“Their play is interfering with the system directly. People with the special Seven Deadly Sins or Seven Heavenly Virtues skills have something called ruling class privileges, and only those who have gone through a process called establishing ruler authority have the ability to access the system. By doing so, they can prevent the system’s destruction.”
The conditions for this are really quite strict.
First, you have to have a rare Seven Deadly Sins or Seven Heavenly Virtues skill.
On top of that, you have to apply to have your ruler authority established, and get that request granted.
Possessing the skill alone isn’t enough.
Incidentally, the method of applying is written in Taboo.
In other words, you need to have a Seven Deadly Sins or a Seven Heavenly Virtues skill, and max out Taboo on top of that in order to have any way of getting ruler authority.
Although I guess someone else with maxed-out Taboo could teach you how to do it.
White used this loophole to make Natsume get ruler authority.
But at any rate, that means there are fourteen people at the most who have access to ruler authority—a difficult hurdle for sure.
That’s true even now that all of humanity has Taboo installed.
Except in a way, the numbers don’t even matter, since one of the few people with that authority happens to be the Word of God pontiff, Dustin: the leader of the opposing side.
All Dustin has to do is stop the system’s destruction himself.
“That being said, just having ruler authority doesn’t mean you can stop the destruction of the system whenever you want. You have to go to a specific place where you can interface with the system directly. And that place happens to be in the deepest part of the Great Elroe Labyrinth.”
Deep at the bottom of the Great Elroe Labyrinth is the door to the system’s core, where Lady Sariel is sealed away.
The entire labyrinth is really a path to that place, and at the same time, a fortress that protects it.
“In other words, our job is to prevent anyone from their side with ruler authority from approaching that place.”
Dustin is definitely going to come here.
In which case our role is defending the labyrinth to prevent Dustin from getting to its heart.
White’s victory.
And the defense of the Great Elroe Labyrinth’s core.
It’s only when we achieve both those goals that we can claim victory.
To put it another way, their side only needs to prevent one of those two things to win.
In that way, these rules obviously put us at a disadvantage.
But the biggest disadvantage to our side is probably the ability for everyone to interfere in White and Gülie’s battle through prayer.
Nobody wants to die. Of course, more people are bound to pray for Gülie.
The rules are fair in that they allow anyone a chance to decide the future, but unfair to us in that they put our side at a considerable disadvantage.
Even so, we’re the ones who are going to win.
“Now that you’ve heard all this, it’s up to you to decide.”
A murmur of surprise runs through the crowd.
No doubt they were expecting me to tell them to side with us.
But I don’t trust anyone except me and mine.
I’m not going to ask someone to have my back when I suspect they might stab it.
“We’ll defend the Great Elroe Labyrinth ourselves. From this point on, anyone who sets foot in the labyrinth will be considered an enemy and taken down on sight, no matter who it might be. So if you want to side with us, I’ll ask you to do it from outside the labyrinth.”
I can’t let anyone who may or may not be an ally get close to the finish line.
“We’re heading to the Great Elroe Labyrinth now. To be perfectly honest, we’ll have our hands full too much to offer you guys any more help. So you’ll have to decide what to do for yourselves, and take independent action accordingly. I won’t blame any of you for whatever happens, even if you turn against us. No matter which side wins, I intend to accept that as the will of the world.”
At this point, we’ve got bigger fish to fry than pointing fingers.
It’s not like either side is right or wrong.
We just want to protect different things, that’s all.
No hard feelings, if you ask me.
“That’s it. I wish all of you good luck.”
With those words, I ended my speech.