Chapter 524: 522
The object that suddenly appeared in Earth’s orbit was, of course, spotted by satellites belonging to governments around the world.
The metal construct was nearly five kilometers long. Everyone who saw it seemed to lose the ability to speak.
Then boundless fear began to eat away at their minds.
Humanity’s current technology could never have produced something of that size.
And judging by its design, it certainly wasn’t some enormous pleasure craft. They could make out structures that resembled weapons.
This was unmistakably a fortress built for war!
Despair began to spread.
But then someone noticed something bewildering.
Like a naval vessel bearing a hull number or a name, the object in space had markings on its exterior.
Familiar letters and numbers.
If it belonged to an extraterrestrial civilization, why would it have those?
Before they could make sense of that, the vessel suddenly stirred, sending another wave of panic through its observers.
It was like a disturbed beehive unleashing its swarm. Craft after craft emerged from the enormous metal warship.
Five in particular drew everyone’s attention. Each appeared to be roughly three hundred meters long.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of craft were heading into the atmosphere. Judging by their trajectories, they were spreading out across the entire globe!
Was this an invasion?
Alarms sounded almost immediately.
Then an unauthorized transmission forced its way onto their communications systems.
When the image appeared, the figure on the screen left everyone stunned.
A human?
“Attention, inhabitants of this world, designated Parallel World No. 09…”
The blonde woman had barely begun before the more perceptive listeners grasped the staggering implications of those few words.
A parallel world?
Did that mean these people came from another world? Another Earth?
And if this was No. 09, surely there were parallel worlds numbered 01 through 08 as well.
“This vessel, the Zushi, operates under the Parallel World Humanity Salvation Agency. Our assessment of this world has produced the following findings…”
Once again, her words seemed to contain an astonishing amount of information.
A humanity salvation agency?
Did that mean they had come to save this world?
Were all those aircraft about to eradicate the Gastrea?
Some faces lit up at the thought.
Humanity might finally escape this hopeless apocalypse.
Far more people, however, showed no joy. Instead, they sank into thought.
Could an organization really be that benevolent?
Why wait until now to save them?
They had to want something.
Could they have been the ones who released the Gastrea virus?
A very small number knew the truth behind the outbreak and understood that these newcomers had nothing to do with it. Even they, however, wondered what the visitors were after.
Hm?
The assessment appeared in a flood of windows, like newspaper headlines filling the screen.
Almost all of them concerned the Cursed Children.
The reports fell into two broad categories.
One showed the Cursed Children fighting Gastrea, their tiny figures shedding blood among the monsters to keep humanity safe.
The other was far more unsettling: accounts of the inhumane treatment those same children endured.
Then the windows slid aside, like documents being swept off a desk, and the blonde woman appeared again.
“Based on this information, we have reached the following conclusion: apart from the Cursed Children, humanity in this world is not worth saving.”
She delivered the declaration in a level voice.
It chilled countless listeners to the bone.
As more people understood what she meant, their faces drained of color.
They now knew what all those aircraft had come to do.
They were here to take the Cursed Children away.
But in this ruined world, the Cursed Children were humanity’s main fighting force against the Gastrea.
If they were all taken away, what would happen to everyone else?
This wasn’t merely an announcement.
It was a death sentence.
Damn them! What right did they have to interfere in this world? What right did they have to take the Cursed Children away?
“Rest assured, we will not forcibly remove anyone. The children will decide for themselves whether to stay or leave. However, any force that interferes with their decision will be met with annihilation. Any organization responsible for the inhumane treatment of these children will also be subject to attack.”
More information windows appeared.
The most prominent concerned the Five Wings Association.
Almost simultaneously, piercing alarms sounded. Some of the aircraft had already opened fire.
The people watching recoiled.
Should they intercept the attacks?
Before they could even react, the strikes had reached their targets.
Only then did they breathe a little easier. The attacks had been directed at the organizations named in the broadcast.
Several major strongholds belonged to religious groups that worshipped the Gastrea as divine messengers. Their entire compounds were reduced to scorched earth.
They even watched a small island vanish from the map.
Something resembling a meteor had been launched from the enormous mothership. When it struck the island, a brilliant flash erupted.
But the island wasn’t blasted apart.
It melted away in a deeply unnatural fashion.
The island and the surrounding area disappeared as though someone had scooped them out of a tub of ice cream, leaving an almost bowl-shaped cavity that the sea rushed in to fill.
A few local powers retaliated. They evidently had close ties to the targeted organizations, or were the forces secretly backing them.
But this wasn’t a science fiction movie where ordinary fighter jets could battle interstellar invaders on equal terms.
In a single exchange, the military forces in those regions were almost entirely wiped out.
The technological gap was on an entirely different scale.
Across the world, governments could only stare helplessly as the aircraft entered their airspace.
Any threatening action against them would invite a devastating response.
“So this is your power. I never would have imagined anything like it.”
Near Tokyo Area, a man in a tailcoat looked up at the object visible in the sky.
At five kilometers long, it was large enough to be seen from the ground with the naked eye, even beyond the atmosphere.
“Those self-important fools must look like quite the clowns now. Rats trembling in their holes.”
His phone rang.
“Hiruko Kagetane! You leaked the locations of our bases, didn’t you? All those strange things you’ve been doing these past few days, all those server accesses! You bastard, you gave them our information! Damn you! We’ll never let you get away with this!”
The furious shouting only improved his mood.
The accusation was true. The Five Wings Association’s bases now coming under attack were at the coordinates he had supplied.
That included, in particular, the laboratories cultivating Gastrea resistant to Varanium.
Years of painstaking work had gone up in smoke in an instant.
And it all stemmed from the deal he had made when that man approached him a few days earlier.
It wasn’t as though Kagetane had never wanted to save the world.
But he had seen far too much of its darkness. He had long since lost hope in it.
He had intended to change the world through his own extreme methods.
Now that a power like this had appeared, he was willing to help.
Of course, another important consideration was that he didn’t seem to have any real room to refuse.
“Just you wait! I’ll…”
The voice abruptly cut off.
Panicked shouting followed, then an enormous explosion.
The line went dead.
Kagetane turned his gaze toward Tokyo Area.
Toward the people who hadn’t reached the shelters. The people who had suffered terrible casualties.
The people who had once again been saved by the “Cursed Children.”
Starting today, they would begin to “repent.”
They would regret treating the Cursed Children so cruelly. They would promise to take better care of them.
But Kagetane knew what that supposed repentance really meant for most of them.
They hadn’t realized that what they had done was wrong.
They had merely realized that their own safety was no longer guaranteed.
Humanity.
As ugly and disgusting as ever.
(End of Chapter)
“Zaelum”]