Chapter 256: Excuse for Action
———Wiina———
<12: 53 pm>
“Hmm… Five people have used the mission room so far…” Edea muttered as they looked at the screen in front of them while snacking on some ice cream.
“Surprisingly few considering the amount of people attending. It’s not as if the students are all holed up in here.” Rico remarked.
“The number will go up as word of mouth and pictures spread. We don’t have to do anything else.” Edea said as they lean back on the giant fancy chair that all of us have.
“...Say. I’m surprised that there has been no news about your attendance. You’re not exactly an unfamiliar figure around these parts.” Rico pointed out. Indeed, the VIP area isn’t really a secret. People can certainly get a decent view and make out who is on this floor.
“Maybe if most of them don’t think I’m a fake, then it would’ve been big news by now.” They said while shrugging their shoulders. From my understanding the opinion on that isn’t so cut and dry. Many were in disbelief, but not everyone simply dismissed them as a fake. There isn’t even any real reason for this place to bring in a double anyway. The practice here is already abnormal in many ways.
“It’s mainly from the people from the outside looking in, I believe.” Mana said before she continued drinking. “It’s a trivial matter.”
No one else really said anything as the party continued. The relatively quiet VIP lounge contrasts the booming ground floor full of people.
“So are your parents coming or not? I’m not seeing them anywhere.” Rico said, clearly trying to tick Walsuna off, and she responded by putting her sunglasses back down so Rico couldn’t see her eyes visibly twitching. That doesn’t really work, but I guess that’s just something she does by habit. It’s hard to shake that off.
We’re in a pretty small group, so there aren’t any other people to bounce off on and let the conversation continue. It’s quite weird that Edea isn’t with their friend group at the moment, since all of them came along.
There are many notable groups that showed up, and a few strays that aren’t associated with anyone. Even Echidna is here, and she’s someone who loves staying in her workshop all day. Everyone knew each other at this point, so aside from people who really like to stay alone or have other business to attend to, the ragtag group of previous protagonists are all here. There’s a lot of information to process. Their very existences that persist into the modern day will cause a lot of complications going forward, and there are still many unaccounted for.
“Before you two start having a catfight again, I have to say that the party isn’t as glamorous as I would’ve expected.” Edea said to break the tension stirring in the air. “With everyone here, we could make it like… an insanely more expensive party.”
“There was no need for that. I think any more than this and their brain would’ve been completely fried.” Rico interjected. “So many people are still stuck in time before April 2024. It makes everything kinda boring nowadays.”
“That’s because all the interesting people keep killing each other off. With hindsight maybe we should’ve intervened a bit sooner. If that was the case then can we move on from the boring modern sensibility a lot sooner.” Walsuna chimed in. “...Though I’m not really sure how we would create a somewhat fun environment with those sleazy one-percents around. I’m surprised there are still a lot of them alive.”
“They don’t really pose a threat, so leaving them alive isn’t a problem.” Rico remarked. “We have plenty of time, we can wait.”
“…Say. Edea, have you interacted with those guys a lot? Those billionaires?” I asked as that is not a topic with a lot of information on.
“Hell nah.” They quickly answered and did not elaborate further. I guess that’s enough to go off on. Their behavior makes it pretty clear that they don’t have a bad influence on them anyway.
“If they were, they probably wouldn’t even be alive today. I don’t even think I even need to destroy that thing to throw your soul into the afterlife.” Walsuna remarked. Considering what is in their possession it is quite fortunate that they are a relatively normal person.
“I sure as hell don’t want to know how much force is necessary to destroy that thing, so it’s good that they don’t come into conflict with anyone.” Rico chimed in. “…Hey. So any updates on that?”
“Can you be more specific?” Edea asked as they played around on their tablet.
“The fleet of aircraft flying towards this campus. Didn’t you detect something from beyond the coast?” Rico elaborated. Right. That thing from roughly three hours ago. They’re using a few of their secret class aircraft for this, so they’re not screwing around.
“Yeah. Not much has happened outside of some sightings.” Edea answered. “It’ll take about ten or so minutes given the current trajectory. The defense system can handle it just fine.”
“So do we know which nation it’s from yet? So we have some excuse to start slaughtering.” Rico said with a grin. I believe you are the only one with that thought.
“You can go deal with them yourself. Go nuts for all I care.” Walsuna said, wanting nothing to do with whatever Rico had in mind. “Just don’t cause any collateral damage if you can help it.”
“Well it’s not from the States, surprisingly enough.” Edea said. Considering how many angry mails they got from them they would’ve been the first suspect. “It’s from Russia, which is one of the top suspects.”
“Hmm… Did we have anyone on speed dial from there?” Rico asked, clearly considering something.
“Someone in the venue probably does… Are you going to invade the place after this?” Walsuna asked. She most likely thought that Rico would’ve played around with the jets before going back to her regular schedule. Now it just sounds like she’s willing to go further than that.
“Why not? I’ve been idle for far too long. It’s been boring. You even said that earlier.” Rico said with a smirk.
“I simply couldn’t trust you to not accidentally wipe Russia off the map. That’s the issue.” Walsuna argued. “I don’t want to see what the largest Forbidden Zone would’ve done to the balance of this planet.”
“Come on now. I’m not gonna go that far. I can just nuke the capital and be done with it. How many people with potential are we gonna hit with that anyway?” Looks like this is one of their yap sessions. There isn’t even that much time to argue before those jets arrive. “Also, no better message than this, right? When it’s just one or two people getting the axe, they just keep moving. We can’t all be soft forever.”
“...Whatever. Just don’t piss anyone off I guess.” Walsuna replied, not wanting to argue with her any further. It’s pretty darn clear that she wants to kill people and is saying some questionable things to convince the others.
“I don’t have any friends there but please behave yourself.” Edea chimed in. “Also, don’t come complaining if you end up cutting too many supply lines with whatever is in the crossfire.”
“Oh shut it.” Rico said before standing up, ready to leave. Edea then threw out a drone that flew outside. Seems like they’re intending on recording the whole thing. “Let me see the video after it’s done too.”
*Zoom*
She then teleported outside while Edea put the footage on the TV in the middle of the VIP venue, letting everyone see what was happening outside. They didn’t display it on the monitors in the public venue.
Rico stays still in the air as a strong gust of wind causes her ponytail and jacket to flutter.
She then pulled out a wooden katana, not bothering to use her actual sword. She flies up a bit more and starts moving towards the jets to intercept them before they could get close to the campus.
First of the aircraft come into view, either not seeing or not caring about the woman who floats in the air and clearly anticipating their arrival.
*SLASH*
One of them flew right into her and was met with a predictable result, getting cut straight in half as it tried to ram past her.
*Blast* *Boom* *Zip*
She destroyed the remaining debris with a massive explosion before she pursued the remaining aircraft that avoided her.
*Zip* *Stab* *Zip* *Crash* *Grab*
She flies towards one of the jets and stabs through the glass to scare the pilot inside before flying and moving underneath the jet to crash through it and grab the pilot from below. That was just excessive.
And then she starts doing something to the pilot as their body shakes and starts the glow.
*Throw* *BOOM*
She then threw the pilot and then their body violently exploded and swallowed up almost everything in the area.
*Zip* *Slash* *Slice* *Dice* *Blast*
She continued her pursuit and started slicing up any aircraft that she caught up to. She sliced them up into nothing less than a bunch of pebbles before blasting them with energy attacks to turn them all into unrecognizable dust. Soon enough there was only one aircraft left.
*Tap*
She flew in front of it and tapped it on its nose, stopping its movement entirely as if it was never in motion.
*Dim*
Suddenly multiple spears of darkness appeared, surrounding the final fighter jet. Over a hundred tiny little spears manifesting in less than a second.
*Stab* *Stab* *Stab* *Stab* *Stab* *Stab* *Stab* *Stab* *Stab* *Stab* *Stab* *Stab* *Stab*
And all of it flies straight and digs into the jet itself, covering the whole aircraft in those malicious attacks. The target is contorted by the large amount of force enacted on it from all directions, tearing it up with an attack that feels comparable to being under a hydraulic press.
When the spears are dispelled, all that was left were tiny scraps of metal and what used to be a human, all of which harmless fall down and blown away by the wind like dust and dry leaves.
*Zip*
Rico then starts flying, going faster and faster as a map can be seen on the footage showing her trajectory as she moved east, her body covered in a purple aura that obscure her figure but shine brightly.
“Faster than I would’ve thought.” Walsuna remarked. The others on this floor aren’t really making a fuss out of this, looking at it with indifference or mild amusement. A rather eerie reaction to what has to be a very brutal death, or rather, multiple brutal deaths.
“Yeesh, that was fast.” Suddenly someone remarked as she sat in an empty seat close to me.
“Done lecturing those two?” I asked her, since she was down there for a while.
“It’s not really a lecture. I was never a good teacher in the first place, or much else.” Vagras replied. “...So, she’s going out on a rampage?”
“A country targeted the campus, so she used it as an excuse to retaliate.” I explained. “Nothing we can really do. Just let it ride out and maybe the domino effects will lead to something worth fussing over.”
“Oh look. She’s already there. I think.” She commented as Rico stopped in her tracks and looked at what’s beneath her.
*Shine*
She raised her arm up high and a massive ball of energy appeared. Its size and brightness cause the whole area to be covered in light and most likely blind anyone roaming out and about outside.
If I were to judge it by size alone, it looks like it would’ve engulfed more than just the capital city.
Rico then lowered her arm and let the giant ball of energy stay there floating in the air as she descended down. Looks like she has more in mind outside of just nuking the place, whatever that may be.