Expanding Influence
Philias's side -_-
Having collected souls and departed, I reflected on both the present and the past.
"Heh, takes me back, doesn't it, Mr. Martin Kendrick Lennox."
"Yeah. It's a real relief that kid didn't pry further."
"The Lennox family controlled the northern U.S. region from New York to Massachusetts (though Maine has since split from Massachusetts, this was after the Missouri Compromise, so up to that point, they were combined as Massachusetts), extending to Washington state excluding Idaho. The Chapman family handled the northern region from Pennsylvania to Maryland, up to Oregon. The Angelique family from West Virginia to Virginia, reaching California. The Priimiren family from North Carolina to Arizona. The White family from South Carolina to Texas. And the Jefferson family oversaw all of Canada as their domain."
"That's right. Furthermore, the Lennox and Chapman families were of English descent, the Angelique of Welsh, the Priimiren and Jefferson of Scottish, and the White from Northern Irish Protestant stock. Back then, there were no real separate territories to speak of. Throughout history's political rivalries, America's national power expanded into the vast West without wasting a drop of its potential—and that burden fell to us, the Diagrams of Mystery."
"But you know as well as I do: it's not just you. Your squad members are here too, plus those four hippie terrorists we rescued. This won't end simply."
"I know. If it were just me, I'd have ended it all by now—gone out with a bang, like the rest. But choosing this path instead? If I shirk responsibility and die here, I'd be the ultimate deadbeat. I can't fathom why dumping this burden on my son and daughter feels so damn easy."
"No time to dwell on that now. We've got Strange Zombies to handle, plus these thick-headed aliens who won't listen. You know better than anyone what other civilizations in this universe look like."
At those words, Mr. Lennox let out a dry chuckle.
"Heh... yeah, you could call it the resource curse. Or, like NASA said back in 2015, out of all Earth-like planets that could form when the solar system did 4.6 billion years ago, only 8% of those still exist today. Maybe it's just what happens to ancient civilizations like ours."
"Exactly. Those aliens? They're no match for the weapons Minister and his aide are churning out endlessly—not even the Strange Zombies. They're easy prey. To dominate this universe and reign eternally over them, we must first align with what you, Mr. Lennox—who's always lived exceptionally and thus deserves an exceptional end—have pursued: a proper understanding of death."
"Spot on. Imprint on them that the afterlife is humanity's domain, and they'll realize the end of this world means facing our judgment for their sins here. No point foolishly resisting and suffering needlessly. After death, who knows what happens? What you're supposed to do there? Even trying to survive might be wrong."
And so, Mr. Lennox and I descended to a planet together.
This world hosted a civilization around the 12th century level, armed mainly with crossbows and cannons, led by cavalry riding their native beasts called 'Aruba'.
Shoooooo...
Riding my psychokinesis, the eight of us landed behind me.
"Wh... who are you!!!!"
They aimed weapons at us, but I didn't so much as twitch an eyebrow.
Speaking their language to the aliens, I said,
"This planet isn't our destination. Just remember that. We'll drop in briefly and leave."
"Planet? What's a planet?"
"Want to know? I'll show you soon enough."
Using polite speech and formality, they couldn't muster pure hostility.
Impossible to see someone levitating from the sky and descending slowly as ordinary.
"What do you all think of death...?"
"Uh.... th-that...."
"Isn't it just the natural order? It comes for everyone. No one escapes."
"Y-yeah...."
"So submit to it willingly. This isn't a mere warning. It's truth."
Then I slowly drew my Dimensiniboer.
Kwaaaaaaaa!
In an instant, the surrounding spacetime began to vanish.
At its edge, a void of sentient darkness seeped unhindered into their bodies.
The Dimensiniboer's power to devour even the immaterial realm of souls in data form made short work of their minds.
Better yet, the resulting spacetime collapse shattered their very concept of 'day' in one blow.
With a single word from me, stars vanished and the sky shifted instantly.
In that devouring darkness that choked their breath, how could they not panic?
"Gaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!"
"Your weapons are pathetically insignificant. Why make us act? We'll be off now. And if possible, remember for life how vast and complex the universe is. Cling to your narrow laws and morals, and you'll end up as petty beings deserving this treatment. Oh, and I did say we'd only drop by briefly."
"W-wait!!! Wh-what... is this... curse!!!!"
Of course, I ignored them.
At times like this, never explain what it is—heightens the terror.
I even glanced back, striking them with lightning in my gaze alone.
Kwarrrrrr!
With that, we left the planet at once.
"Truly foolish, pathetic aliens."
"Indeed. When irregular lights flash constantly in the sky, they must suspect something—teleologically or mechanistically. Fear from ignorance is easy to instill, but it breeds urges to rebel, dismiss flight as cowardice. Losing purpose, reason blends with emotion into self-justification, blindly deferring to others, daring to defy powers beyond comprehension. Utter folly."
"Above all, sparing them is a massive blessing."
"At least, excluding if Michelle Merin chooses to save them too—making this fitting retribution for opposing us."
"The Strange Zombies built their transcendent civilization because healing their strange-quark bodies and analyzing their birthplaces inevitably revealed quantum mechanics. Like humanity's first discovery—fire from lightning on the ground—theirs was the pure iron encasing them and the vast cosmos beyond. That's what they first exploited. No further progress. Conquering one universe, all they did was hunt, gather, survey other planets' lifeforms for survival, settle, occasionally aid. Advanced tech, but primitive lives—foolish folk."
"Precisely. They merely existed, without reason. No prosperity, progress, curiosity, creativity. Even our humanity's wickedest—Adolf Hitler—shared private traits with others, rarely public ones. But 'rarely' because he, being human, craved prosperity, progress, curiosity, creativity. He despised Einstein as a Jew yet obsessed over special relativity's time dilation and space contraction: deriving that superluminal energy converts to mass, slowing it—flipping it to mass-to-energy for bombs."
"Obviously, giving that nuclear bomb to a man massacring Jews, Gypsies, disabled, liberals, communists, Slavs, internationalists? His scientists fled to America, urging the Allies' leader to beat Germany to it."
"The Archangels imprinted with Michelle Merin and the other six Fragments will act per their traits, driven by those pieces. They won't blindly deny fate; denying it proves they forge beliefs freely, unbound by causality—aligning perfectly with Minister and aide's intent. Even accepting fate, they'd scorn the arrogant who can't handle their choices as most human folly."
"Considering humanity's overwhelming might here, fight or no fight, it ends in our favor—didn't you say so?"
"Yes. No fight? Instill primal terror like just now, suffocating them into submission, begging mercy from beings beyond understanding. Fight? My abyssal darkness clashes with Merin's noble light, blood flows, catastrophe ensues—they'll see it as grand life-versus-death. Cheering her pure form against my ominous one erases doubts. Her nobility, paired with fear of my next strike, drives them to seek her protection willingly. Of course, the Archangel of Humility, Michelle Merin—who shuns dominion—will refuse, leaving a simple blessing ritual. Leaving relics would summon her endlessly."
"But honestly, no need to overthink now. See that?"
"Indeed. Michelle Merin has come here too. Makes sense—US and UN forces are swamped with human-Strange Zombie issues. Once pacified and sorted, conquering remaining aliens is trivial. Minister plans to use Merin to shift Mephauric's socialist rations to capitalist competition via Waskiba Nievo, granting freedom. Obstacles expected, but accounted for. Earth resolves internals; even those craving return to the Cradle Planet will manage politics. Post-WWIII, voices demand noble conservatism or ruthless radical progress."
"Until those seven Fragments fully shine, it's unfinished.... Sigh. When will I see my son and daughter? This war started because of me, after all."