Chapter 134
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 134
Agatha dragged her full-armor prosthetic forward, coming to a halt in front of Noel. The rebels who had been guarding him were long gone—torn apart by Scylla, reduced to heaps of twisted scrap metal.
This was the perfect chance to drive the rebels out of the Empire. If Noel died here, the rebellion would collapse.
Screeech!
Agatha slammed her massive halberd down right beside Noel. The ground shattered, throwing up an enormous cloud of dust. The right arm of the Scylla full-armor prosthetic was noticeably larger than its left—likely modified to swing that heavy halberd one-handed.
From within the dust, Noel stared blankly at her.
"So you laid your hands on a full-armor prosthetic after all."
—Because you killed Katrin.
"She took her own life. I never intended to kill her."
—Are you... kidding me? You drove Katrin to her death! You killed her! You piece of trash!
Agatha's synthesized voice surged with raw, furious emotion.
"Agatha, don't use a full-armor prosthetic. You may be fine now, but before long, the machine will consume you."
Noel spoke as though trying to reason with her.
Crack!
Agatha swung the halberd up from below. Noel's left arm shattered pitifully.
He staggered for only a moment. Then he let out a bitter smile.
"I can't fall here. Not yet. Please. Let me go."
—How can you even say that? What the hell is wrong with you, Noel? You're not this kind of person. Why... why are you doing this?
If Agatha could have wept, she would have. But the Scylla full-armor prosthetic could neither frown nor shed tears.
"I haven't changed. It's the circumstances around me that changed. Trust me."
—How can I trust you? You betrayed Katrin. If you were going to do that, why did you marry her? Why did you ever go to her in the first place?!
"I may have betrayed countless people... but I will never betray you. Because to me, you are special."
Even without fully sharing Noel's perspective, I could see it clearly.
Noel is exploiting Agatha's feelings.
He was preying on her emotional weaknesses, her agitation. It was psychological manipulation made possible because he understood that her feelings for him were tangled between love and hate.
"When my work is done... I'll tell you everything then."
—Shut up! You don't have to say anything! I'm going to forget you. Never show your face before me again. The Noel I knew is dead.
And with that, Agatha swung her halberd.
K-shhhk!
Noel's upper and lower body were cleaved apart. He possessed a full-body prosthetic, so a wound like this wouldn't kill him.
—Wait for your precious subordinates to come and save you. If you're lucky, the Imperial Army won't catch you first. This is my choice.
* * *
Agatha retired from the military. Officially, she was declared unfit for service due to the side effects of her full-armor prosthetic. Given her countless achievements, high command had no choice but to accept it.
As time passed, Noel's rebel army swelled in scale. Every private noble army that clashed with the rebels was all but annihilated.
Unable to tolerate it any longer, the Emperor personally led his forces into battle. Against the Emperor's army, the rebels suffered a crushing defeat and went into rapid decline thereafter.
That was the public narrative. In the end, the Imperial Family grew stronger and wealthier, while the nobility weakened.
Noel and the Emperor's plan is moving to the next stage.
Having concluded their war of attrition to a certain degree, the rebels scattered across Ark Planet in guerrilla cells. They hid in major cities, carrying out terror attacks and assassinations. At times they banded together to strike key Imperial facilities. Each time, many prominent nobles died.
That an unusually high number of nobles perished was hardly surprising. After all, one of the rebellion's banners was the abolition of the class system.
And yet, Noel's forces were on the verge of collapse.
"Kosova and Hinden are dead too. It seems our information has leaked."
"We need to reorganize. We can no longer operate as an army."
"Let's be honest. We're crumbling. With internal unrest spreading, there'll only be more traitors."
The advice from his executives poured in. Noel remained silent, seated at the head of the table.
He couldn't stop, either. Too many deaths had already piled up. If he halted now, all the endurance and suffering that had brought them this far would mean nothing.
"...I'll draw up the reorganization plan."
In accordance with Noel's will, the rebels dispersed into small, decentralized cells. Only a handful of core executives knew the full outline of the organization.
The goal isn't victory. This reorganization is designed for stubborn, relentless resistance.
Even if the enemy caught them by the tail, only the low-ranking members would be severed. The main body would keep grinding on in an unwinnable struggle.
It was also during this period that Akies Victima began to spread among the common people. Rebel executives gathered locals and taught them the Akies Combat Style. The half-baked version they learned spread rapidly through the back alleys.
"Noel, you're leaving at a time like this?"
"Two days is enough. I'm counting on you, Ube."
Leaving the organization in the hands of his closest confidant, Noel departed. No one could trace his footsteps—he vanished like the wind.
The Emperor's Watcher.
Noel still held that authority, even now.
He entered the city under the guise of a wanted fugitive, disguising his identity to attend a wedding. Not for a terror attack.
Agatha's wedding.
It was the wedding of the retired Agatha. Not grand, but a modest, warm ceremony.
Her spouse was no soldier. He was an Imperial bureaucrat—a diligent man of good reputation. In every way, an ideal partner.
Noel watched Agatha's wedding from afar.
I didn't know what thoughts or emotions Noel felt in that moment. But I could guess. He must have sincerely wished for Agatha's happiness.
...And another ten years passed.
Under the pretext of suppressing the rebels, the Empire monitored and oppressed its own people. Terrified by the damage and terror the rebellion wrought, the people willingly submitted to the tightening grip of tyranny.
Noel and the Emperor's plan had reached its final stage.
Massive migration ships were being constructed across the entire Empire.
The Planetary Migration Plan.
It was a colossal undertaking that consumed the overwhelming majority of the Empire's national strength. The intent was to abandon the barren Ark Planet and find a habitable utopia.
There was no way the stable noble society would welcome such a plan. The nobles had adapted to Ark Planet, monopolizing industries and enjoying wealth and power. If migration brought new interests and chaos, emerging forces would rise—and the existing nobles would be forced to share their privileges.
And colonizing a planet and building a migration fleet is a massive drain on the Empire itself.
The vast majority of the current generation of Imperial subjects would never taste the wealth that migration and colonization might bring. They would only be exploited for the sake of future generations before dying. Even in the best case, only their descendants—two or three generations down the line—would reap the rewards.
Neither the nobility nor the commoners welcomed such an enormous investment for an uncertain future, or the immediate suffering it demanded.
The only thing that could silence all that discontent was overwhelming imperial authority.
Noel's rebellion drove the concentration of power into the Imperial Family's hands. Because of that, they could force the migration plan through by sheer strength.
So all of this was for the migration fleet. In the future, the Empire must have settled on Planet Novas by way of this very fleet.
Noel's fierce, reckless momentum had softened over the years.
"Soon, everything will end."
In a darkened room, Noel murmured to himself. He had betrayed those he loved. He had let those who trusted and followed him die. His mind must already have been in tatters.
Noel had endured a life steeped in infamy and pain. Even a man of cold blood and an iron will couldn't stop his soul from being chipped away, piece by piece.
"Agatha, this is a record for you. When we meet again, I likely won't even have the chance to explain."
Noel suddenly spoke, gazing up at the ceiling. His eyes locked directly onto me. This was a letter he was leaving behind within the simulation.
"This was the only way to save everyone. I'm sorry for hurting you. No words could ever be enough to apologize. And it's not just you. I did something to Katrin that can't be forgiven, even in death."
Noel plugged a thick cable into the back of his neck. Light streamed from the circuits and grooves etched into the cable, drawn into the computer. It pulsed as if breathing, and Noel's pupils glowed in rhythm with it.
He was converting his memories into simulation data.
"If I'd been a little wiser—if I'd been a better man—could I have made a better choice? I asked myself that every night. But the conclusion never changed."
Noel calmly organized his memories.
"If I'd told you everything, you would have willingly shared my infamy and died at my side. That is not what I wanted."
He was speaking to Agatha. He was certain she would be the first to see this record.
"Please survive, Agatha. I know this is cruel to you. But I can't tell anyone about this. You are the only one I can trust. If only you would remember what kind of man I was, I can find my salvation."
The room I was sitting in trembled. A loud roar echoed up from the floor below. A battle was underway.
"I don't need anyone else's recognition. It's enough if only you remember. And please, see for yourself how the evil deeds I committed will save people... and confirm that my life was not meaningless."
Noel's eyelids fluttered rapidly. The conversion of his memories into simulation was nearing its end.
To save Agatha, at the very least...
The conclusion of the plan was Noel's death. And the one chosen as his executioner was Agatha.
Agatha, who had transferred her brain and consciousness into a full-armor prosthetic, was coming here. Horrific screams echoed from the floors below. Just hearing them made it clear how merciless her hand was.
Noel replayed a news broadcast over and over via hologram. It was a list of casualties from a rebel terror attack.
Agatha's husband and daughter were killed in that attack.
That hatred, that rage, had summoned Agatha back to the battlefield.
It was likely the Imperial Family's doing...
I could feel Noel's deduction as clearly as my own.
Not all of the rebels' terror attacks fell under Noel's control. But he would have made absolutely certain Agatha was kept out of harm's way.
Yet if Agatha ever learned of Noel's deduction, she too would die.
If he stays silent, Agatha can claim wealth and honor by killing Noel.
Whether this situation was the Emperor's consideration or a sick joke, there was no way to know.
Though they had cooperated for a long time, Noel had never known the Emperor as a man. He couldn't even tell if the Emperor truly cared for the Imperial subjects. He had simply joined hands with him because, in the end, he believed the Emperor's judgment was correct.
Crash!
The floor shattered, and the Scylla full-armor prosthetic revealed itself.
Its ominous optical sensors held nothing but murderous intent. Driven by extreme hatred and rage, the overload of the full-armor prosthetic, and her sudden return to the battlefield—Agatha must have been out of her mind.
"Agatha, it wasn't intentional. Spare—"
Noel's final words were the excuses of a man who had turned wretched. That alone must have fed Agatha's murderous intent all the more.
Agatha did not hesitate. Perhaps she feared that if she kept listening, she'd be swayed once again, just like before. After all, Agatha had loved Noel enough to suppress even her thirst for revenge.
—We have to capture him alive, Agatha!
The shout from below meant nothing. Her arm did not stop.
Crunch!
Noel's head burst. And with that, the memory conversion ended.
Bzzzzzt!
A horrific noise erupted inside my skull—the emotional signals of death.
Crack!
Snapping back to reality, I gripped the virtual simulation device as if to crush it. The outer casing shattered, exposing the components within.
In the latter half of the simulation, the assimilation rate between Noel and me had been low, so no dissociative disorder set in.
What happened after that?
The thought process of Akies Victima began its automatic deduction.
Agatha was granted the name Custoria for her achievement in eliminating Noel. Even though she killed him instead of taking him alive... that too must have been the Emperor's consideration.
Yet officially, Noel was recorded as having been captured alive and secretly executed. The most realistic reason would be to wipe out the "rebel forces gathering to rescue their captured leader."
Because they had to clean up the subversive elements once and for all before the interplanetary migration.
The Imperial Family had used Noel until the very end.
I caught my breath and gathered my thoughts. Giselle waited without disturbing me.
"...Ah. That was an interesting memory, Luka."
A moment later, Barbara woke as well. She gave me a faint smile.
"If you have something to say, say it."
"Do you know why we left Ark Planet and came to Novas? Not the public reason—the real one."
I frowned and stayed silent. Between the immersion in the simulation and the ceaseless causal deductions, my nerves were frayed. Answering every single question was becoming a nuisance.
"Well, since you showed me something good, I'll offer some information in return. Because I like you. Think about it. Kora and Bellato, who were on other planets, and our Empire—all three migrated to a single planet around the same time. There's a conspiracy theory that's been floating around for ages. A rumor that because of a certain 'event,' all three human nations were driven onto Planet Novas."
A single scene flashed through my mind.
A grotesque organic ship, built from dark red flesh. Engine thrusters spewing darkness instead of light...
Barbara had probably never seen it. Only I had. Even Agatha wouldn't know.
Barbara raised her index finger and continued spinning out her theory.
"If that rumor is true, then the Emperor used Noel's rebellion to build a massive fleet in preparation for an approaching disaster. It means there was a threat so great that the entire nation had to migrate as one."
Barbara's words were certainly interesting. But it wasn't information that mattered to me right now. I'd simply file it away in memory.
...I'd wanted to make a different choice than Noel. But no matter how many times I turned it over, the conclusion was the same. Falling in line with the Empire was the best option.
The Imperial Family was despicable and cruel. And yet, they were unmistakably moving for the benefit and survival of the entire Empire.