Chapter 120
May 31st. In a room of a luxurious mansion in a corner of London, 3 days after the end of the 「Scorch Wars」, the Space President sits in a chair looking displeased. Surrounding him are countless monitors and speakers. In 2040, it’s commonly recognized that using secure communications for online meetings is more convenient and safer than meeting face-to-face, from the perspective of confidentiality and information sharing. Especially with the existence of monstrous second-generation Beastkin and actual terrorist incidents, there’s no way anyone within the 「Reformist」 faction would want to meet in person.
「What a bunch of cowards,」 the Space President mutters to himself. Looking at the changes in 「HAO」 up until now, it’s still the 「Reformist」 faction holding the core technologies like sandbox environments. That’s why they shouldn’t be able to attack so easily.
「LOL what is the Space President doing?」
「Can he eat french fries through his nose too……」
They may be launching psychological attacks, but he shuts out the information from social media while forcibly suppressing the anger burning in his head. The PR manager changed his icon without permission, claiming it was to appeal his friendliness, to an image of the president struggling to eat french fries through his nose. Realizing this will be a running gag for the rest of his life, he lets out a big sigh.
At the same time, a notification pings and one of the screens lights up. The chubby man shown is the president of RE Corp, and he exaggeratedly bows his head on screen.
「Space President, long time no see. I heard today’s meeting will be extremely unpleasant.」
「Indeed it’s been a while. And you’re not wrong about that. We’ll likely have to accept Kōmitsu Solutions’ demands. Minor modifications are all we can do.」
Midway through the conversation, notifications of new participants ring out one after another as numerous faces line up on the online meeting screen. They’re all key members of the 「Reformist」 faction, including the red-haired woman from Public Security, Urairo Aika’s superior. Their expressions are filled with distrust and a hint of expectation. And finally, the main player of this meeting appears. The dark horse in 「HAO」. The monster who almost completely shattered the 「Reformist」 faction’s schemes.
「……」
「Oh my, looks like we’re the last ones. I heard rumors that overseas folks are loose with timing, but I guess that doesn’t apply here.」
On the human-sized monitor directly in front of the Space President, two figures appear. One is Kōmitsu Momiji, the de facto representative of Kōmitsu Solutions in 「HAO」. A cyborg. Her casual banter hints that Kōmitsu Solutions, not the 「Reformist」 faction, holds the initiative in this meeting. The other figure is all too familiar. The Esper with active multi-future precognition abilities and the center of chaos. Prophet Orange.
Silence flows. It’s broken by several images displayed on-screen and Momiji’s voice. The shared images depict the blue guts and corpses of Ver-2.00 creatures overflowing across the barren lands of a civilization lost.
「So, long story short, 2060 has completely fallen to ruin this time. The cause was the early activity of the Strains leading to national intervention. Even without the ‘Scorch Wars’, this led to a different kind of chaos. In other words, today’s discussion is about playing nice to avoid that.」
「Don’t mess with us, the early activity of the Strains and the resulting national intervention were all your doing!」
RE Corp’s president’s accusation was spot on. In Momiji’s original plan, after letting Orange and Nakamoto Tsuyoshi escape, she intended to lure 「SOD」 to the closing ceremony to battle, then take a few days to track down and eliminate the Strains, triggering a similar chain of events. With this plan, Mishima Kanji wouldn’t get caught up in the battle and everything would end while he was in a safe zone. …Well, they had no choice but to change the plan after discovering the Strains.
Putting that aside, why did they stimulate the Strains and make the nations intervene? The reason is simple – her goal is Ver-2.00. This threat of a ruined world is her scheme, which is precisely why the Ver-2.00 Momiji said 「as planned.」
「’Cuz no matter how many times we update like this, we can’t ‘carry over’, right? We miraculously pulled it off this time, but if we maintain this conflict, both sides may lose the ability to ‘carry over’. Meanwhile, ‘UYK’ keeps evolving while disregarding us.」
「This is coercion! We won’t go along with your staged performance!」
「Ya don’t have a choice. Your goals – for the Space President it’s space, for others it’s the accompanying rights, wealth, etc. – will all be jeopardized if we continue like this. Think about Ver-1.00. Theoretically, logging in should be possible even in outer space if preparations are made. But it wasn’t possible this time, meaning we can’t change the future where the space project fails via ‘carry over’.」
「I should say I’m impressed. Your move has essentially checkmated us in the ‘Reformist’ faction. One possibility is that we start a second ‘Scorch Wars’ and seize ‘HAO’ from you, but seeing how things went this time, the odds of mutual destruction are higher.」
「Space President! We should just crush this little girl’s threats!」
「…You don’t get it. I assume you watched the livestream – only Orange was able to log in for this Ver. Only they ‘carried over’ the latest future information, like the Strains’ appearance locations, national responses, and the timing of the war.」
Hearing that, the RE Corp president and other members groan. Just as the Space President says, after yesterday’s livestream, Orange shared the carry over data with Momiji. Meanwhile, the 「Reformist」 faction couldn’t log in. …More precisely, the Ver-2.00 Momiji took disruptive measures to prevent them from doing so.
And currently, they hold the reins of Hereafter Corporation. In other words, if they refuse to cooperate here…
「You can maintain the current Ver that prevents ‘carry over’ indefinitely…!」
If that happens, the gap between Kōmitsu Solutions, who almost certainly possess data on the Strains’ early behavior patterns, and the 「Reformist」 faction who can’t 「carry over」, will be fatal. At this point, a huge rift has opened up between these two organizations.
Therefore, the Space President prompts a solution. The loophole he noticed when Momiji pointed it out that day. The only way to kill 「UYK」 just by playing the game. An exceedingly simple method, yet one they hadn’t thought of as they were operating under the assumption of the 2050 catastrophe.
「So you’re going to inverse dive it. The corpse of ‘UYK’ from 2060 to 2040.」
Momiji nods, satisfied. The other 「Reformist」 faction members tilt their heads in puzzlement, but after a while, they seem to reach an understanding as they uniformly display expressions of shock.
「Yup. 2040 is 2060. In other words, if we kill ‘UYK’ in 2060 and inverse dive the corpse, the information of ‘UYK’s death will flood 2040 all at once. It’s the opposite of the ‘Inverse Dive Citation Information Project’ that exploits the phenomenon of it being odd for something to exist in 2040 but not 2060 if it’s alive in 2060. And the key device has already been developed.」
An image appears on-screen. It looks like a giant spear-like terminal. Mounted on what seems to be an Apollyon Fusion unit, cords connect the spear to the backpack. Despite the grandiose name 「Forced Inverse Dive Armament: Ascalon Ver2.18」, the dragon slayer is an exceedingly crude weapon. The mechanism is a single pillar with a three-pronged tip, each prong sprouting terminals. The gray device has no decorative elements whatsoever.
Seeing the Space President’s resigned expression, the others finally understand. This meeting is merely to acknowledge predetermined matters.
「The plan’s simple. First, promise cooperation here. Change the development guidelines to tolerate until 2060 and reliably kill ‘UYK’ instead of an ark to escape and survive in space for eternity. Then update, log in, and use this spear to kill ‘UYK’ in-game, thereby killing the 2040 ‘UYK’.」
「There’s no guarantee inverse diving will succeed!」
「None of the options have guarantees. But this has the highest probability. Plus, you’ve been designing everything to operate in space for eternity. If you convert that to mass-produce with a 20-year lifespan, I think it’ll significantly change your strength.」
「There’s no way we can defeat it! Did you see that swarm of Apollyon Fusions!?」
「I did. But even so, I judged it’s possible with full cooperation.」
「So you have no proof! You keep saying you judged the probability is high, but there’s no evidence!」
「I wish you’d consider our position of being dragged into a gamble to eliminate obstacles and halt ‘HAO’ through the ‘Inverse Dive Citation Information Project’.」
They barrage Kōmitsu Momiji with rebuttals, but she continues to reply calmly. Of course there are no guarantees in an uncertain future. They understand that and keep attacking – this is just a waste of time. The Space President leans back, wanting to wrap things up quickly, and asks:
「Let me confirm. In that case, what happens to the Strains? Even if we can kill ‘UYK’, they’re separate lives. If a nuclear war starts as a result, it’s all meaningless. Plus, with this incident, the second-generation Beastkin are in a very precarious position. Deployment will be difficult.」
「We have an expert for that.」
With those words, a man appears on-screen and stands next to Orange. His military prowess is something everyone here has heard countless times through 「carry over」. Humanity’s strongest Apollyon user. The man who has defeated 10 Strains. Nakamoto Tsuyoshi calmly replies, 「No problem, I’ll kill them.」 They well understood it wasn’t a cocky boast or joke. The Space President taps his forehead, indicating it’s as he predicted. The Apollyons used in the battle royale are still on transport ships at sea, so they can easily be moved around the world. The Space President fires questions at Nakamoto Tsuyoshi with obvious answers, and he responds clearly.
「But the Strains will move immediately. There’s no time to train soldiers.」
「No problem. 30 unmanned Apollyons can take them down even if compatibility is poor.」
「What if Apollyon production doesn’t make it in time?」
「Beastkin – no, cyborgs or regular soldiers with powered suits work too. We’ve had situations like that before.」
「What if there are multiple Strains?」
「I can eliminate up to 2. Even beyond that, I’ve successfully retreated.」
「What if something unexpected happens?」
「Par for the course.」
Everyone is swept away by his utter reliability. His statements, born of track record and ability, leave no room for anyone to object. In the first place, in anti-Strain warfare premised on nuclear weapons, second-generation Beastkin, and Apollyon Fusion deployment, no one dared say anything more to the man who repeatedly demonstrated the ability to eliminate them even without such special assets.
For the final move, the Space President asks about the 「guarantee」. The crux of this issue is the reliability of this operation. To resolve that, there’s one person here who’s perfect for the job. The Esper with active multi-future precognition abilities. The man who successfully prophesied right in front of the president during the 「Scorch Wars」… or so they believe.
「Orange, what do you think?」
The air grows still. Everyone holds their breath, watching his words to see if there are any lies, if he’s speaking with conviction. Based on his actions so far, they believe the Prophet’s precognition is genuine. But even if he can prophesy, he could end it with a lie. However, if he speaks with conviction, there’s meaning in going along with this operation. After all, it’s a future where they can retain immortality, security, and power.
And so, they were trying to discern lies and conviction, which is why they didn’t notice.
「Can we defeat ‘UYK’ (in this one attempt)?」
「…(If we challenge it multiple times,) we can definitely defeat it 100%.」
That Orange had been tuning out the conversation. In the first place, Mishima Kanji is an idiot. On top of that, he hadn’t really been keeping up with the developments due to tension and the flow of the discussion. To put it further, from Ver3.00 onward, he had been immersed in 「HAO」. Therefore, his 「synchronization symptoms」 had intensified even more. Momiji lets out a small gasp of shock beside him, but it’s drowned out by the whispers of the 「Reformist」 faction members. Whispers of expectation and relief. The joy of being told everything will be settled. …It’s all a misunderstanding though.
From Momiji’s perspective, a vague 「There might be a possibility, y’know?」 would have sufficed. Because those words would indicate the future is uncertain and the possibility isn’t zero. But with the unexpected declaration, the opinions of the 「Reformist」 faction members, whose aim is survival and who are dissatisfied with abandoning Earth to escape into space, instantly flip. Going with that flow, the Space President nods, looking satisfied.
「He’s not lying, huh. Seems you’ve put together a perfect plan. After this operation concludes, we’ll accept that proposal on the condition of dismantling the corporate alliance that will be the predecessor to the ‘Order’ centered around Kōmitsu Solutions, as well as sharing cyborg information.」
It’s not a lie, but it’s completely wrong. Orange, finally noticing his intent was misinterpreted, tries to say something, but before he can, Momiji declares agreement and the meeting ends.
And at last, the final update begins.
「Updated to Ver4.00.
・The final event ‘UYK Subjugation Battle’ will commence on June 3rd at 17:00.
・An artificial sun has been generated.
・Login points are 8 artificial planets.
・Auxiliary brains have been updated. Players who successfully logged into their base bodies will automatically acquire 168 skills.
・2 new races have been added. Players cannot choose them at will.
・Mass-produced Apollyon production has ceased.
・A login campaign will be held starting June 3rd at 18:00. Log in to receive a 1000 yen gift!
・The 2050 catastrophe has not been averted.
・The 2055 operation was not carried out.」
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