Chapter 324 : This World Belongs to Me
Chapter 324: This World Belongs to Me
There was no reason for me to refuse Kallia's request to meet and talk.
Dwindrog rampaging however he pleased was somewhat concerning, but I judged that it was more important to focus on this side for now.
'He won't die, anyway.'
He's in his Dragon form right now, making him even stronger than when he fought me.
Besides, he had all sorts of support equipment Miyu had given him.
Rather than worrying about him being subdued, it was more realistic to worry about the city collapsing.
Well, if he had any sense, he'd regulate his strength to some extent.
More importantly, the timing of him beginning his rampage and Kallia contacting me overlapping couldn't possibly be mere coincidence.
I immediately accepted Kallia's request, and we agreed to meet not far from the Academy.
After ending the call, I explained the situation to the others and told them I'd be back shortly.
“Young Master, I'll accompany—”
“It's fine. There's nothing to worry about.”
Maria looked at me with concern, but I refused her offer.
Leaving the office behind, I headed toward our meeting place.
Although it didn't seem very likely, I considered the possibility that she might have laid a trap along the way, so I traveled using [Dimension Jump].
The place I arrived at was a nearby construction site, completely at odds with the image of a wealthy young lady like Kallia.
Just from her choice of location, I could tell she had already considered the possibility of clashing with me.
No...
Perhaps I should say "it" instead of "she."
The moment I teleported there, I sensed an overwhelming amount of Mana.
And at the center of that Mana stood none other than Kallia.
The feeling was strangely familiar.
I wondered where I had felt this aura before...
Then I realized it was remarkably similar to the presence Dwindrog constantly emitted.
At that moment, another missing piece of the puzzle in my mind finally fell into place.
'As I thought... Kallia was under the Sky Dragon's control.'
The current Kallia was no longer Kallia.
It would be more accurate to call her the Dragon's servant.
The moment my suspicion proved correct—
“You arrived remarkably quickly. It almost looks as though you teleported here, Brother.”
The moment she saw me, Kallia greeted me with a peculiar expression.
“……Kallia.”
“You look like someone burdened by countless worries. That's understandable. This is my first time experiencing a situation like this as well, so to be honest, I'm rather confused myself.”
“For someone saying that, you certainly look confident that you're controlling the entire situation.”
“As if. You have no idea what kind of predicament I'm currently facing, Brother. While you were fighting alongside the City Defense Force to stop the Monster Wave, you never heard what happened within the Group, did you?”
“I heard it from Maria.”
“You merely heard about it. You never confirmed it yourself, did you?”
“……What are you saying?”
“The information you know is wrong.”
Kallia muttered with obvious irritation.
“This is probably how it's been presented publicly. Immediately after Chairman Stingray's terrorist attack, the Stingray Group fell into chaos after being torn apart. The directors kidnapped by the Chairman after the shareholders' meeting disappeared without a trace, leaving no one capable of taking responsibility. Some members of the Security Division continued carrying out terrorist attacks under the Chairman's orders, while others cooperated with the City Defense Force to repel the Monster Wave.”
“……”
That was exactly what I had understood.
To use an analogy...
The massive empire known as Stingray was currently like an empire whose Emperor had suddenly gone insane, slaughtered his own people, and disappeared together with all his ministers.
The surrounding nations still couldn't accurately grasp the internal situation, while various external circumstances prevented them from openly invading.
Meanwhile, the Empire's generals had all lost the authority capable of issuing orders and were now acting according to their own judgment.
At the same time, the Crown Prince (me), who happened to be governing a vassal state on the frontier, knew little about the internal affairs of the Empire and was simply struggling to survive on his own.
Of course, the only reason things hadn't progressed further was because the confusion caused by the Monster Wave hadn't yet been completely resolved.
But in a few days...
Perhaps even within half a day...
The Stingray Group would begin being systematically dismantled under the leadership of the government and the other Megacorps.
That was my understanding of the Stingray Group's current situation.
However, Kallia shook her head.
“The reality is completely different.”
“How is it different?”
“The Stingray Group...”
Even as she spoke, Kallia paused for a moment as though she herself found it unbelievable.
Then she finally said,
“They're all dead.”
“……What?”
For an instant, I doubted my own ears.
The Stingray Group was dead?
What exactly did that mean?
Naturally, the worst possible scene immediately formed in my mind.
But it was so utterly unrealistic that I refused to believe it.
Yet Kallia emphasized it once more.
“They're all dead. Every single one of them.”
“I don't understand. Explain properly.”
“What more is there to explain? Exactly what I said. It was announced that only the Group's senior executives disappeared during Chairman Stingray's terrorist attack at the shareholders' meeting, but that's not true. Literally everyone is dead.”
“……?”
“You don't believe me, do you? But that's reality. If you want proof, I can even show you photographs. From the corporate headquarters in Sector A to the Secret Laboratory built in the Fallen District. From the Chairman himself to the newest rookie employee who joined just last month. Every last one of them is gone.”
“……Are you trying to mock me?”
“You know perfectly well this isn't a joke, yet you still ask. Do you truly think Chairman Stingray would hesitate over something as insignificant as this?”
“……”
No...
Of course not.
I'd witnessed it myself several times.
Chairman Stingray casually massacring tens of millions of Androids in Honeycomb City.
Using state-of-the-art orbital bombardment to erase hundreds of colonies without batting an eye.
Hundreds of thousands...
Millions of employees belonging to the Stingray Group?
Chairman Stingray was the kind of person who could erase every one of them from the face of the earth as casually as sweeping cookie crumbs off the floor...
Without feeling even the slightest guilt.
At that moment, images filled my mind.
Employees of the Stingray Group dying without ever understanding why.
Walking down the hallway as usual.
Attending meetings.
Speaking with customers.
Living perfectly ordinary workdays...
Only to suddenly collapse before an incomprehensible death.
“……”
I'd already witnessed so much death that counting it had long since become meaningless.
So the revelation itself wasn't particularly shocking.
However...
The disgust slowly rising within me was impossible to suppress.
No.
The issue wasn't whether it was right or wrong.
Nor was it simply a matter of how twisted Chairman Stingray's personality had become.
The real question was—
'Why?'
For what reason...
For what purpose...
Had Chairman Stingray completely destroyed the empire he had spent two hundred years building?
As though reading my confusion, Kallia spoke again.
“Human.”
“……What?”
“Chairman Stingray wanted to change the situation where I used humans. To me, humans are merely tools for conquering dimensions, so he wanted to remove those tools from my hands.”
“So you've stopped trying to hide your identity.”
“No. I never intended to hide it in the first place. Right now, I'm both 'Kallia Stingray' and what you people call the 'Sky Dragon.' As for why I chose this method... I'd have to answer that it's simply because it's the most efficient.”
Kallia shrugged.
Come to think of it...
She had never once referred to Chairman Stingray as "Father."
Perhaps she really had never intended to hide anything.
“Regardless, Chairman Stingray did a magnificent job. He destroyed the entire system known as the Stingray Group, which I had painstakingly built over such a long period to dominate humanity. At the same time, by eliminating an enormous number of souls in such a short period, he destabilized the flow of the River as well.”
“……”
“Is that all? I also exhausted a tremendous amount of my power by spreading Anti-Rain for such a long time in order to stop the Monster Wave. Most of the servants who made contracts with me disappeared as well, along with many of my more useful soldiers. Ah... more than half of those fell by your hand.”
“……”
She was probably referring to the Fixers and the high-level Adaptees affiliated with the corporations.
Just as I'd suspected...
The Sky Dragon had indeed been the one orchestrating those attacks against me.
However...
“You're probably wondering why I'm so casually revealing all my weaknesses. Doesn't it seem rather careless? Yes, even though you didn't ask, I'll answer in advance. This is both a warning... and an expression of confidence.”
“Confidence?”
“That no matter what you do... you still can't defeat me.”
Kallia smiled.
“You certainly caused me quite a bit of trouble. I'll have to rebuild the entire system from scratch, gather new servants, stabilize the flow of the River again, and take care of countless other things. But no matter what you do, all you've managed to accomplish is knocking down the beautiful sandcastle I worked so hard to build.”
“A sandcastle.”
“Hmm. Perhaps 'fence' would be more accurate than 'sandcastle'? You see, I carefully built a livestock pen, and one of the pigs inside suddenly got carried away and wrecked it without understanding its place. It should have simply enjoyed the feed provided to it until the day it was slaughtered.”
“So in your eyes, I'm nothing more than livestock as well?”
“Well... yes.”
Kallia...
No, the Sky Dragon...
Nodded without hesitation.
“If I had to be specific, I'd say you're more like a breeding stallion. Useful in many ways, expensive, unruly, and dangerous enough to destroy the entire stable if mishandled. Something like that. That's why, instead of provoking you into rampaging, it's much easier for the owner to simply pat your head and calm you down.”
“……No matter how I look at it, that sounds like nothing but provocation.”
“I won't deny it. This whole incident has left me rather irritated as well. In a situation like this, it's difficult to concern myself with the feelings of livestock. Watching livestock become so full of themselves that they fail to recognize their own owner... I might just lose my temper and kill them.”
Was that Kallia's personality influencing her...
Or was the Sky Dragon simply like this by nature?
Contrary to my expectations...
The Sky Dragon was surprisingly talkative.
And just as surprisingly...
It possessed overwhelming confidence.
“So calm down and quietly return to your ordinary life, pretending none of this ever happened. Don't foolishly charge at your owner only to get yourself shot to death. Let's clean up this incident together, then go back to living comfortably like before.”
“As your livestock forever?”
“Well, humans raise cattle and pigs to eat them, don't they? In fact, I'm much kinder than that since I don't slaughter you indiscriminately. I may borrow control of your bodies whenever necessary, but wouldn't you say that makes me a remarkably good owner?”
“Those hardly sound like the words of someone trying to persuade me.”
“No, no. Drake Stingray—that senile old man—was an endlessly greedy old fox capable of pulling something like this off. But you're different, aren't you? You're not insane enough to gamble with your own life or the lives of others, and you're capable of being satisfied once your needs are met. That's exactly why I'm talking to you.”
“……”
“I recognized humanity's potential. I protected humanity from both my own kind and those lowly, mindless monsters. I cherish humanity dearly. I have absolutely no intention of destroying this city. Likewise, you don't want to destroy the city where the people you love live through a meaningless battle, do you? We both treasure the same thing.”
Extending her hand for a handshake, she said,
“So let's make peace. There's no need for both of us to suffer because of that sly mortal's attempts to drive a wedge between us when we barely even know each other. Even if you fight me, you'll lose and gain nothing. As for me, there's no reason to harm you when there are so many other humans available.”
At first glance...
It sounded reasonable.
The truth was, I still didn't know exactly what the Sky Dragon truly wanted...
Or why it used humanity.
All I knew from Dwindrog's explanation was that humans possessed something special...
And that the Sky Dragon coveted it.
I seriously thought it over once more.
Did I truly need to fight the Sky Dragon?
This creature probably already knew every one of my greatest weaknesses.
Should I really risk putting those children in danger just to free humanity from its rule?
It felt like I'd faced a similar dilemma once before.
Was it better to live comfortably inside a prison, ignorant of the truth?
Or was it better to gain the freedom to face the real world, no matter how harsh it might be?
'Back when it was the Motherboard... wasn't it?'
Back then, I'd learned the Motherboard's true intentions and rejected its offer.
But this time...
The situation was different.
“'The freedom to suffer'……”
I fell into thought.
I'd believed I had already resolved myself to fight.
Apparently, that wasn't entirely true.
Closing my eyes, I imagined a scale within my mind and placed two choices upon it, weighing them against one another.
Then...
“Is there really anything to think about?”
I looked toward Kallia as she spoke those words.
Within her golden eyes...
I caught sight of something flickering.
And I understood.
There had only ever been one conclusion I could reach.
“Well now... this is remarkably unpleasant.”
“……What did you just say?”
“I said it's unpleasant. Why are you acting like you're the owner?”
Then I took a single step forward and declared,
“This world belongs to me.”