Chapter 277: The Founding Ideology of the Military State
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 277: The Founding Ideology of the Military State
The angel’s appearance was far too ostentatious.
It arrived in a blinding flash of light and casually tossed a person aside. And not just any person. It was Gunmaster Historia of the Six Generals, a supreme warrior capable of turning the tide of battle single-handedly.
But before that immense, monstrous strength, Historia’s body was no different from a leather ball. She flew through the air, cutting through the wind. As the golems that had been standing collapsed in unison and wads of paper scattered, Historia tumbled across the ground and slammed into a wall.
Having made a display of its overwhelming might, Eimeder descended before the Signallers as gently as a feather.
The Signallers belatedly scrambled to grasp the situation. They all activated their Unique Magic at once, rapidly exchanging opinions.
‘Eimeder? But… Module I was not supposed to have summoned Eimeder.’
‘Is it an Eimeder from another module?’
‘Negative. No module capable of controlling and observing Eimeder exists at the central coordinates of the Inner Circle. It is outside the effective range.’
‘Caution. That form does not match Eimeder’s specifications. Possibility of a defect…’
『How dare you gauge right and wrong. Such blasphemy.』
The statement was a clear sign that it had read their communications. Realizing this, the Signallers fell silent in unison, ceasing their transmissions.
Meanwhile, Eimeder folded its wings, which radiated a holy light, one by one and looked down upon them.
『As I thought, that which is wrought by humans is imperfect. No matter how you cherish it inside a box, it is bound to reach for the outside. No matter how similar you make it, it can never be the same.』
The Eimeders that had appeared until now had spoken with the monotonous tone befitting a Signaller. They relayed information and completed their given tasks, showing no other will. They were more like objects or systems than angels.
But the winged angel before our eyes now was different. This was the ‘real Eimeder.’ It lamented in a solemn, oppressive tone, like a messenger descended from the highest heavens.
『How pitiful, how pitiful…』
“A Signaller? No, this is different!”
“The Voice of the Military State…?”
Hearing its lament, the Signallers began to back away hesitantly, glancing at each other like children caught misbehaving. As they all tried to distance themselves from Eimeder, the crowd naturally parted, leaving me to face the angel alone.
No, there was one other person.
Just a moment ago, Captain Abbey, freed from IA’s binding, staggered as if she had just been born. She looked as though she might collapse at any moment, but she managed to stand on her own, gasping for breath as she muttered.
“Yuel…?”
Life had returned to Captain Abbey’s eyes. She was now moving and speaking of her own free will. But the timing couldn’t be worse.
For an angel of judgment to descend at the very moment she found her freedom… How could fate be so cruel?
『The work that was closest to success… the one result that I, the Military State, had watched so intently, has now been mercilessly defiled.』
“Signaller Yuel. Is that you? Why are you…?”
『Had no problems arisen with you all, this one would have existed as a mere Signaller. I would have lived alongside you as a resident of a lonely room. However.』
Eimeder continued its lament.
That was all it was doing, yet every hair on my body stood on end. A welling terror consumed my entire being. My life and death hung solely on its will. Like an ant before an elephant, all I could do was hope it would remain indifferent to me.
『For the barbarism we cast out to invade this nation is a great regression in human history. This, I can never stand idly by and watch.』
But things were never that convenient. A confrontation was inevitable.
『I, the Military State, shall personally set all things right.』
My body felt heavy. My breathing was ragged. Light shouldn't have weight, yet the parts of me touched by it felt submerged in water. The last time I’d felt pressure like this was when I faced Tyr alone in the Abyss.
The bigger problem here was that, unlike Tyr, who had been indifferent to me, this angel… was 100% my enemy.
“I thought you might have something hidden up your sleeve, but… wow. You were hiding a real angel inside a steel box.”
Only after speaking did I realize my voice was trembling. An instinctual fear had seized my body and was shaking me.
Do not fight it, my instincts screamed. The angel before you is a being that can snuff out your life. What my mind had already deduced, my instincts now guaranteed. Instinct and reason had reached a dramatic consensus.
The real ‘Eimeder’ was stronger and more dangerous than any opponent I had ever faced.
Especially since I couldn't read its thoughts.
The angel was borrowing IA’s body, but it was merely using her as a tool to speak and act; it wasn't its true form. It was as if it had manifested using a human body as a golem. In this state, I had no way of fathoming what it was thinking or what its intentions were.
“Hah. One obstacle after another. I thought I’d be fine after shaking most of the Six Generals, so why do tougher opponents keep showing up…?”
I’d had a bad feeling about this damn country from the moment I first encountered it.
Soldiers were no different from machines following orders. Schools cut students down with the precision of a knife according to a set curriculum and evaluation criteria. The authority granted to individuals was minimal and its scope narrow, leaving no room for a mind reader to exploit. A mind reader can’t read the mind of a nation, after all.
The Military State, an inhuman nation where a mind reader was useless.
And after all that, after slipping past the Six Generals and infiltrating this place, the final boss is an angel? This is just awful. It’s almost as if it was designed to counter me…
Ah. Could that be it?
“No. Maybe I should think about it the other way around.”
I wasn’t so narcissistic as to declare, “This entire country was made to counter me…!” I had simply realized the fundamental question.
And right in front of me was the being who could answer it.
“This nation thoroughly, almost obsessively, rejects humanity. Did you, by any chance, intentionally exclude humans from the very beginning when you created this country?”
Eimeder stared at me silently for a moment. It was clearly thinking something, but unfortunately, I couldn't read its thoughts now.
No, not ‘now.’ From the very beginning, I had never been able to read this country’s thoughts.
Because the Military State was not human.
『The Military State is not human.』
Are you the mind reader here? What’s with you repeating my thoughts?
“If the Military State isn’t human, then you aren’t the Military State, either.”
Eimeder was not swayed by my pace. Like a snake oil salesman teasing an audience, it spoke slowly, deliberately, drawing out the suffocating tension.
『The nation is more important than its people. The law takes precedence over life. Justice is nobler than the self. The ideal precedes the phenomenon.』
“A lecture on some outdated political theory? I didn’t know angels gave free seminars these days.”
My sarcasm had no effect. Eimeder continued, unperturbed.
『God is greater than man. Even if that man is a king.』
“Hard for me to grasp a theist’s point of view. Could you try explaining it in a way an atheist can understand?”
No response. Instead, the crushing pressure on my body intensified.
Tch. This one’s not going to listen to reason. It seems to be more than just a fanatic. I’d better start preparing.
The one silver lining was that I could read IA’s thoughts.
Wasn’t IA being controlled? Yes. Right now, she was in a state no different from a golem. She had activated her Unique Magic and surrendered her body to Eimeder.
But unlike a golem, IA was human. Just as a golem expert could spot a malfunction with a single glance, I could read a human body.
In short…
I couldn't sense its intentions right up until the moment of attack.
But if it initiated an attack and its body moved, I could read that instant.
『…Begone, barbarian! Just as you were driven out in the first year!』
Like now!
With a roar, Eimeder shot forward like a beam of light. Almost simultaneously, I sensed its movement and shouted.
“Captain Abbey! Move!”
I violently shoved Captain Abbey aside with my foot, and at the same time, I drew a wide swath of cloth from my deck of cards as if unsheathing a sword.
The Queen of Diamonds, the Queen of Fabric. The thick cloth that had protected Tyr from countless lights.
If I spread it with the back facing out, it was a blackout curtain… but if I flipped it over!
“Rainbow Reflection!”
A thick cloth abruptly unfurled between me and Eimeder. To Eimeder, it was a mirror; to me, a curtain. It was a cloth with two different sides. My vision was blocked, and a sword made of light crashed into the mirrored surface. The periphery of my obscured vision flashed as if struck by lightning.
Haha. Thank goodness I’d been sneakily performing alchemical transformations beforehand. If I hadn’t, I’d be dead by now.
Well…
It’s not like I actually blocked it, though.
『Pathetic.』
With that cold voice, the blackout curtain caved inward. From my side, it looked as if the Queen of Fabric herself was coming to strike me.
A cloth as sturdy as the Queen of Fabric had a decent amount of stopping power. I was confident it could deflect arrows and bullets without a problem. In fact, Azzy had once held it in her mouth and deflected them all.
But the angel’s strength was far beyond that of arrows and bullets. The comparison was almost insulting.
A hand burst straight through the curtain and struck me in the abdomen.
The first place I felt the pain was my head. My torso was suddenly shoved backward, and my head, unable to keep up, spun.
Ah, I’m screwed.
If it’s this bad already… how much is my stomach going to hurt?
My head was spinning, maybe from being sent tumbling. It felt less like flying and more like falling backward. If I hit something like this, my bones wouldn’t be intact.
But the impact I expected never came. Instead of a hard wall, something soft wrapped around my back, followed by a shock that felt like it had been filtered through several layers of paper. Historia had caught me mid-flight, taking the impact with the wall herself.
“Huey! Are you okay?”
Phew. She saved me. I can usually predict where a human attack will land and dodge or deflect it, but falling or hitting a wall is unpredictable and a pain to deal with.
I groaned to show I was okay.
“Ughhh… Dammit, my own mother never laid a hand on me…”
“Sounds like you’re fine.”
Historia got the message. She unceremoniously shoved me away. Still reeling from the impact, I tumbled backward onto the ground.
I couldn’t really complain, though, because the winged angel was striding toward us.
If it had wanted to press the attack, its chance was when Historia caught me, but Eimeder hadn’t. Instead of spreading its wings and giving chase, it watched Historia and lamented once more.