At the moment Steve announced the beginning of a new war, elsewhere in the universe, two beings who had long shaped the destiny of this world were investigating the upheaval wrought by this man.
[POV: Shiki Tohno — Side-3 Colony, Residential District A-7 Apartment]
It was 7 PM in the evening. Soft twilight, simulated by the colony's artificial lighting, streamed into the apartment window. A man who looked around fifty, exuding a calm presence, Tohno Shiki, sat at the dinner table, quietly eating his meal. Across from him was Kohaku, wearing a kimono and always smiling; next to her sat Hisui, as expressionless as ever.
Thirty years changes much. Thanks to Steve's early nanomachine-based treatments—a universally accessible therapy—Shiki no longer needed to hang his life on the edge or before departing for space. He lived as an ordinary man, having been thoroughly cured, no longer a teenager at death's door but living a stable, peaceful life beyond his wildest dreams.
The three of them had moved to space over 20 years ago as part of the first wave of technical immigrants on this huge floating tin can.
On the apartment wall, a screen displayed official news from the Human Federation. Over passionate music, a female anchor, her voice full of excitement, proclaimed that the war against the old Earth powers had ended in "historic, total victory." The screen showed thousands of "Hell Diver" robots, tidal-waving into the last bastion of resistance in Earth's final city, forming a quiet, ruthless tableau of energy beams and fiery explosions.
["… Under the wise command of our Supreme Commander, we have purged the decadent forces rooted on our homeworld within just a year. The era of a newly unified humanity approaches! After the news, please enjoy the Side 5 folk song, 'Our Wish'…"]
[♪ Entrusted to the stars, holding the burning galaxy in our hearts, one day we'll seize our dreams with these hands… ♪]
[♪ Blue Planet, our Sanctuary… ♪]
[♪ Dr. Steve's faith, our Prayer… ♪]
Shiki put down his bowl and chopsticks, watching the screen with a complex expression. His Mystic Eyes that gazed directly at the "death of all things" showed him a world different from ordinary people. The robots—cold, alien metal shells—followed principles far removed from Earth life, their lines and points of "death" almost invisible. They were pure "inorganics," collections of parts that did not "die." The fleeing resistors in the subjugated cities, meanwhile, were shrouded in imminent death.
"…They butcher the dying with an army of the undying… So this is called 'victory,'" he murmured, his voice tinged with unexplained fatigue and sarcasm.
Kohaku, still smiling, poured him a bowl of soup. "But Shiki-san, shouldn't you be grateful to this so-called 'terrible leader' that you can have a peaceful dinner here?"
"Sometimes, to survive, you have to rely on monsters more terrifying than the enemy. Just like… just like I used to be." She spoke softly, but it weighed heavy in Shiki's heart.
"I'm not denying it all, Kohaku," Shiki replied, shaking his head and picking up his chopsticks again. "It's just…incomprehensible. That Supreme Commander—Dr. Steve… I've heard his speeches. His logic is frighteningly clear, each word sharp as a scalpel. Maybe, as long as his ultimate goal of 'saving humanity' can be achieved, all the 'lives' lost along the way are just numbers erased from a ledger. The way he looks at the world…is so much like how I see it with these eyes. Everywhere there are 'lines' that can be cut, things that can be fixed. What a—what a terrifying man."
He couldn't explain it—this extreme rationality that saw everything as a "manipulable object" was exactly what he had desperately restrained in himself. Now, a man had pushed that reason to the limit, turning it into a steel storm sweeping the solar system.
At that moment, a blaring siren interrupted the victory declaration. Gigantic images from a deep-space probe filled the screen—a massive "comet" with a white tail and sinister glow.
[Emergency Alert: Unknown high-dimensional object approaching the solar system at lightspeed. All colonies entering highest alert!]
Shiki's pupils shrank. On the white "star," he saw it—not a line, not a point, but pure "death" itself, devouring all like a black hole. An incomprehensible, absolute end he could not yet fathom. He had once thought he escaped the shadow of death, but now, he sensed that the fear he had known half his life had taken a form so vast it now covered all.
…
[POV: Archetype: Earth — Millenium Castle, Real Moon]
Inside the planet—a city between reality and fantasy known as Millenium Castle, the Ether rivers, representing leyline energy, flowed outside her crystal throne. Here, in the heart of the planet, sat a beautiful woman with long blonde hair and a pure white gown, barefoot—Arcueid Brunestud. But unlike the innocent princess-vampire, this was the primal form of Archetype: Earth, the planet's ultimate restraining system.
She never met the "interesting" teenager. Thus, she never fully awakened. She simply slept, awakening only to the planet's "pain." In the past year, she "saw" everything: how her "backyard" was "cleansed" by the swarming tin cans at unprecedented efficiency; how the [Parasites (Dead Apostles)] that sucked her [bloodline (leylines)] were drawn out one by one, including some "Hounds" she had planned on cleaning up herself after awakening.
"Boring." Her red lips parted only slightly. "Even my own 'Hounds' were cleansed by human-made iron cans. No matter—saves me the trouble of cleaning portals later."
To her, the elimination of her twenty-seven ancestors was "property loss" and "wasted incompetence," nothing more.
Her gaze pierced the crust and atmosphere, staring up at dense steel structures in orbit, their flagships like crowns—"Avalon." She felt an immense, cold calculating force on that ship attempting to "fit" a new shell to the planet.
"Monkeys nesting in orbit…" She felt Steve's presence faintly—a will both strong and frail, still essentially "primate." He seemed aware of the [Alien Entity] sleeping in South America.
"His actions, this so-called 'Holy Land on Earth,' these purges—they only strengthen the prison of the extraterrestrial species. What a bold, foolish idea. Did he believe that by turning the patient into a suit of iron, he could resist the plagues from the stars? He's merely treating one poison with another. This body only grows weaker."
Her assessment of Steve came as the planet's own judgment—he was truly "right," but his methods were harming even Earth itself.
Her red pupils flickered for the first time. She looked into space: A primordial malice that shook the planet itself was approaching.
"Titan of Tears… the Star Predators… again? Fourteen thousand years is but a blink in a star's life. When the giants last came to the Moon, even then he tore off a piece of living flesh. This time, the Moon is gone…"
She rose from her throne, her long blonde hair flowing like the wind. All of Millenium Castle, the entire Ether of Earth, resonated with her will.
"Very well, little monkey at the helm." Her gaze seemed to pierce space and time, fixing on Steve far away as he commanded from Avalon's bridge. "You've cleared the table and set a feast for this 'guest' from afar. Let's see—will your tin toys prove stronger, or will my planet's immune system triumph? Only then will the white star finally be repelled."
…