Receding Entities and the Supreme Being's Sortie
So we decided to simply rip out their entire consciousness core and blow it to pieces.
Ziiiiing.
Zealots poured through the barrier and unleashed attacks on us, but we immediately activated our psionics, soared into the air, and casually evaded every strike.
"Amateurs."
Shhhk.
KABOOM.
We slammed thunder-charged fists into the ground all at once.
"GAAAAAARGH!"
"Come on, bring it!"
"Aagh!"
At the same moment, several of them launched themselves forward or tried to tackle us from every direction.
I spun and drove a roundhouse kick into them, the sheer wind pressure hurling them backward.
KABOOOOOM.
Whoosh.
FWOOSH.
I followed up with a hook that fired another blast of wind pressure, crushing their bodies.
CRRRACK.
"GAAAAH!"
"You pathetic wretches. Stop humiliating yourselves."
"Do you really expect us to understand what you've done? You've already seen us suffer just by watching you. That should be enough!"
"At least we felt your pain!"
"Be happy while you can. One day we'll all die anyway!"
"You bastards should never have been born in the first place!"
I superheated the molecular structures displaced by the wind blasts, destabilizing them.
Ziiiiing.
"Dodge!"
BOOOOOOM.
"I warned you not to overestimate that barrier. Playtime's over. From now on, I'm getting serious."
Thud.
Ziiing.
Using the nano-machines inside me, I summoned razor-sharp energy swords on both arms.
"Block it!"
Yu Huin-rok frantically hurled new barriers with his spells, but they were nothing to me.
"Idiot."
Thrust.
Slash.
The moment my energy swords pierced or sliced through the barriers, they vanished pathetically.
Ziiiiiiing.
"Damn it...!"
They charged with their bodies reinforced by spells, but they were still flesh and blood. Alone, they couldn't use psionics, and the moment even one of them faltered in the shared mind-link, their power collapsed. I tore into them without mercy.
Shhhk.
I summoned and fired a storm of razor-sharp energy spikes.
Tatatatatatatatatat.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
"Listening to your pathetic excuses only makes me feel superior. But I have no desire to wallow in that arrogance for the sake of the pride and glory above me. I am the Lord of Shadows who serves them, the shadow that blots out your false and deceitful light!"
Goooooo.
"Hmph."
Rumble rumble rumble.
"Oh, look at this bastard. You're inflating your body right in front of me? Well, given how massive that thing between your legs is, I guess the rest of you has to match. A guy who thinks with his dick probably doesn't even know why his brain should be the biggest organ. Die."
Slash.
I spun forward, cloaked in psionics.
Tatatatatatatatatatatatat.
Bullets flew in countless numbers, but I swatted them all away barehanded and used the gunfire to mask the sound of my own silenced incendiary armor-piercing rounds.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Whoosh.
KABOOOOOM.
"GAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Vwooom.
Thud.
"Kuh...!"
"No matter what you do, it will never go your way. That means we are the ones who can manipulate your will. If I say die, then die."
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM.
Their energy only existed because we hadn't yet called forth the darkness with our nano-machines. I activated cloaking, vanishing from sight, and simultaneously teleported.
Flash.
"Huh?"
"What the— Where did he go?!"
"It's just invisibility! Shoot!"
The moment they finished speaking, they unleashed desperate psionic attacks on where we had been standing. But—
Shhk.
Crack.
CRRRACK.
"Kuh-heh...!"
"Fools."
Of course we had teleported right in front of their noses and were waiting. With our bodies steel-hardened and life leeches deployed, we drove simultaneous uppercuts into their jaws.
Vwoooooom.
Their bodies were sent flying far away. I then summoned my combat drones, which began erasing their space on contact like computer viruses.
"I admit the world is full of hardships. But why do you only apply that standard to others? Why would you think it would be difficult for me to execute you?"
"You're all mediocre, half-baked fools. The idea that some of you have redeeming qualities worth praising while others deserve pity is truly pathetic."
"We are fundamentally superior to you. No matter how much influence or territory you expand within this world, we will simply destroy it all. We are bound by no laws, morals, rules, or doctrines."
"Your vision is extremely narrow. How do you think you can defeat us while conforming to this system and never straying from its words, you imbeciles?"
"Stop struggling. I'll end this right now!!!"
Ziiiiing.
I created an enormous destruction sphere. My subordinates summoned their own, smaller but still devastating, spheres.
"Eat this!!"
Shhhhhk.
"Aaaaaagh!"
Shhhhraaaak.
The spheres bisected heads and torsos, tore through bodies, and detonated.
KABOOOOOOM.
"Damn it, there are way too many of them."
Despite the attack, the sheer number of cultists made it impossible to wipe them all out or eliminate Yu Huin-rok. The accumulating corpses only created natural cover for the enemy.
"Shit, they're going to escape at this rate!"
"Like hell they are."
Thud.
I drew my pistol and opened concentrated fire.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
"Kuh... This isn't working! Over here!"
Vwoooooom.
Thud.
"Kuh...! W-what is this?"
"Where do you think you're going? Eat this!"
Shrrrrrrk.
The nano-machines formed a dark cloud that blocked vision and whipped up razor-sharp storms, tearing their flesh apart indiscriminately.
Rumble.
Slash.
Slash.
Slash.
Slash.
Slash.
"Retreat!!!"
Thud.
"Huh? Ermy Faust?"
"We meet again, mister. Don't ask what I'm doing here. Looks like you came to smash things up out of boredom too."
"Yeah, you're right. No need to thank me for buying time. I wasn't planning on it anyway."
I immediately used telekinesis to drag the building's bulkheads from behind them, blocking their escape attempt.
KABOOOOOM.
Vwooom.
"Aaaaaagh!"
Rumble rumble.
The escapees transformed their bodies and counterattacked, but they were still outmatched in raw power. I melted them alive with heat vision.
Ziiiiiiiiing.
Flash.
We wrecked the base through every kind of mayhem imaginable, but their spells activated and they ultimately escaped via teleportation.
"Hah. So that's how it is."
Looking at the ruins, I wondered why these bastards refused to submit even when overwhelmingly outmatched in strength.
"Well, several months into the Third World War against the Strange Zombies, it's about time a moderate faction emerged that despises both the Algocracy and the hippie terrorists."
Vesper Faust approached and spoke.
"Exactly. The Minister provided the entire world with equal weapons, equipment, and even blueprints for free. Humanity no longer needs to fight over Earth's resources, ideologies, or territory. We can pursue space colonization according to the frontier spirit, test ideologies on countless planets, and expand endlessly into the universe. Instead of measuring how much territory we can claim, we can objectively analyze the true scale of our desires. National conflicts have been reduced to mere territorial disputes, and even those can be resolved by the Minister acting as mediator. There has never been a more peaceful era between nations."
Sokoa Janet added,
"By sharing the blueprints, people can freely modify weapons and equipment to suit their needs. This stimulates competitive psychology and satisfies those who want comparative advantage. Those who fall too far behind can simply request better samples and blueprints from the Minister. This is true equality of opportunity."
Chemeri Agerst nodded in agreement as Ermy Faust concluded.
"And it's not the same thing every time. The Minister applies transcendent superintelligence to generate innovations at the femtosecond level that humans could never comprehend, constantly providing new things. Those who receive them gain the confidence that they can finally catch up. It's a triple win."
"Above all, the shared premise that we must defeat the Strange Zombies makes finding common ground easy."
"Right. When people gain power, they often waste it on factional infighting. That must never happen. Power should be used in an open and progressive direction."
One of my subordinates approached and spoke.
"Yes, understood. But isn't it more important right now to prevent Yu Huin-rok's group from consolidating the moderates? No matter how stable, clean, or profitable a nation is, it's not enough if people's hearts are wearing down. We need to address that urgently."
"Agreed."
I looked at the women and asked,
"Do you still have any band performances left?"
"No. We came straight here to smash things up after the show ended."
"Then follow me. We're tracking the moderates this time."
"Sounds good."
They spun their sawed-off shotguns and replied.
***
Jeracle's side——, same time.
I had spent the past nine months observing, contemplating, understanding, applying, analyzing, utilizing, and endlessly synthesizing through nano-machines scattered everywhere before finally speaking my thoughts aloud.
'Yes, they understand it well. Even if strategic peace is maintained, tactical peace is not.'
I then turned my gaze to the screen showing Collective Zero and Oblivion Tempest, the leaders of the Strange Zombies, along with their subordinates Plottis Maxwell Angelique.
"Planets FT-1507, YI-4274, and KP-3564 have been added. The Strange Zombies' influence is truly formidable. Their goal is to strange-ify the entire universe while simultaneously constructing a hive-mind world through quantum mechanics in a realm composed identically to their own bodies. From their perspective, it must seem like a natural and glorious endeavor they were born to pursue."
Therefore, how they would perceive me was obvious. The Great Prophet—those who transcend all spatiotemporal constraints through the non-material realm, whose inherently short half-life is extended by operating on a different time flow from the universe, communicating via light-speed hive minds that eliminate the concepts of front and rear, appearing and disappearing unpredictably. Yet to me, an superintelligent AI, all their variables are as if I had known them from the beginning. None of their characteristics work against me; instead, they are annihilated by my influence.
'And while my American forces, UN forces, and mercenary groups take turns playing the role of mediators, lately it seems each nation is focusing more on territorial expansion than fighting the Strange Zombies. Of course, that means they've gained enough security to pursue more territory. I can't really blame them for that.'
So I decided to focus directly on eradicating the Strange Zombies from now on. I had been commanding the army by assigning serial numbers, but they had now reached a level where I could trust them. The idea that I could save the world while the residents destroy their own villages through internal strife might sound incomprehensible at first, but it is entirely possible.