42nd Move | Burning
There was a blinding brightness above her. Rays of light stabbed into her eyes as Hinata Sakaguchi came into consciousness.
Instinctively, Hinata reacted as any normal human would do when they encounter a light source that was too bright: they try to block it out.
So the Japanese Otherworlder turned her head away and moved to block out the light that was directly in front of her, to try and give her mind a bit of relief since this headache is absolutely preventing her brain from forming any deep and complex thoughts.
It was only when the light still stabbed into her eyes that the woman realized something was wrong.
She couldn't feel her hands anymore. Or arms for that matter.
Panic boiled inside her mind, Hinata tried to get up, only to choke as there was a strap that was wrapped around her neck, forcing the Otherworlder to stay down.
Hinata tried to struggle. She tried to move her legs, her feet, and her toes but she then realized she couldn't feel any of those appendages.
She was disarmed and dislegged, literally.
Hinata Sakaguchi screamed in raw horror. The idea that she was a cripple for the rest of her life was something that only exists in Hinata's worst nightmare.
Hinata Sakaguchi was a strange kid from birth. In kindergarten, she was always that quiet kid that always sat at the back of the classroom. Hinata had difficulties relating with other people, and during one incident when a bunch of kindergarteners ganged up on her, the young Hinata hurt them all so badly that she was forced to transfer schools at the demand of concerned parents.
It was because of the money her parents had to pay out in medical bills for those kindergarteners that her father turned to gambling, and it only worsened when they had to sell the house to pay those bills.
Eventually, by Hinata's teenage years, her father had racked up such a massive debt that the teen decided it was best to just arrange an accident and then claim the life insurance money.
On the eve of her father's death, Hinata revealed her plan to her mother, expecting praise since they could get rid of an unwanted burden.
Instead of praise, Hinata's mother suffered a mental breakdown and tried to stab Hinata in revenge for the death of her husband. The young Hinata couldn't understand why this was happening. In her mind, she thought that all inefficiencies should be ruthlessly removed with extreme prejudice.
Since her mother became a barrier by attempting to kill Hinata, the latter decided to remove this inefficiency from her life. Just as Hinata turned the knife back onto her mother, the tip of the steel blade mere centimeters away from piercing her throat, the teen was whisked away when a strong gale blew through her house.
On the first night, she was here in this new World, Hinata was besieged by three bandits. Seeing them as inefficiencies, Hinata slaughtered them all with the Unique Skill she was granted upon entrance to this new world: [Mathematician].
Seeing everything in clouds of mathematical probability, Hinata was able to effortlessly dispatch them all using the most efficient way possible, and it was because of this that the Voice of the World granted her another Unique Skill in the form of [Usurper].
Being in the wild, Hinata was forced to forage for her own food. She didn't know what was poisonous and what wasn't, so she stuck with animals that she was familiar with, namely animals like deer, elk, and rabbits.
However, when she tried to make contact with the only human she's seen after killing those bandits, they tried to have her executed because to them, it appeared that a peasant was hunting illegally on the noble's land.
It was after she had dispatched those knights and the noble that Hinata grew frustrated with the world. There were just so many inefficiencies! Though at the very least, the Voice of the World granted Hinata Extra Skill [Inertia Manipulation] when the teen thrust a sword through the chest of that noble.
Looting a map of the land and several coins, Hinata Sakaguchi trekked towards the nearest town and tried to buy some food. Yet again, she was detained under the suspicion of thievery for having too large of denominations of Dwarven Coins.
Frustrated, Hinata was about to slaughter those knights and just take the food by force before another masked woman came to her rescue. The masked woman said how Hinata was with her, and that she had tasked her with buying large amounts of food since they were both going to go on a long adventure.
The Japanese teen was wary. Acts of kindness like these are always done because the other party wanted something.
But... after the masked woman introduced herself as 'Shizue Izawa' and let Hinata go after dealing with the town guards, Hinata was awe-struck by the first act of true genuine kindness.
Her cynical mind couldn't comprehend it. Such inefficiencies! Hinata would always demand something in return to make her efforts worthwhile if she did help, and yet this woman in front of her didn't.
She was curious, so the Japanese teen decided to follow Shizue and through her, Hinata Sakaguchi gradually became more intuned with the idea that maybe some inefficiencies are good and that maybe, humans all have an intrinsic value, and that by helping them their intrinsic value will increase.
It was this idea that caused Hinata Sakaguchi to join up as a Paladin of the Knights Templar of the Western Holy Church. She became a defender of humanity. As a Paladin, Hinata quickly climbed the ranks and gained a reputation for her fanaticism against monsters, relentlessly hunting them down and rescuing humans wherever she goes.
In fact, Hinata Sakaguchi was so powerful that Yuuki Kagurazaka gave Hinata the rank of 'S' when he reformed the whole guild system. This caused Hinata to gain international fame and caused many to begin calling her the next Granbell Rosso, the next Hero of Mankind.
Hinata accepted that title and the expectations that came with it. She became even more enthralled in the defense of humanity, to the point where many of her own subordinates started transferring out of her own squad because of how much of a slave driver Hinata was.
It became integral to Hinata's very identity, that she was going to be the next Granbell Rosso became a fact of life for the Otherworlder, and her being unable to fulfill that ideal scared her more than death.
But now without her limbs, she knew she would never be able to fulfill her destiny.
"MMMMMMMFFFFFFF!"
Hinata realized there was a gag in her mouth. When she tried to bite down on the gag to destroy it, the woman groaned out in pain as her teeth chipped.
Just as the woman spat out the shards of her teeth, the light that was beating down on her from above finally ceased.
"That gag is made out of layers of graphene overlaid on top of each other to create an almost indestructible material. I think only a being like a True Dragon could bite through it."
Turning to face the voice, Hinata's eyes took a second to fully adjust to the dark room and saw perfection in human form.
And it was revolting. It was clad in a lab coat.
The being was utterly flawless. Using her Unique Skill [Mathematician], Hinata saw how perfectly align the being's face was. Her eyes couldn't spot anything like freckles, melasma, bumps, or dips on the being's face. The pale coloration made it seem like the entity in front of her was carved from marble.
Except, even if it was a statue given life, it couldn't have been made by human hands because Hinata refuse to believe something this perfect could possibly exist.
It was wrong. It was creepy. It was eerie. It was uncanny. It was freaky.
"Tell me, have you ever seen the 1982 alien cult classic movie, The Thing?"
Hinata cringed at the voice. It sounded extremely androgynous like it could belong to both males and females. It sounded perfect yet there was something missing, and that something was important enough that without it the voice sounded artificial— eldritch even, something alien.
Upon seeing no response in the form of a nod or a shake, the perfect entity continued, "No? I figure since you're an Otherworlder from a modern World you'd have heard of the horror movie directed by John Carpenter that was said by many to be the scariest movie they've ever seen."
Hinata's gut was telling her to escape, so she struggled against her bindings like a fish flapping about out of water. Her bindings weren't budging at all.
Feeling helpless, Hinata recalled her interrogation training and proceeded to look around at her surroundings.
She was naked. She was in a sterile room, a warm sterile room, a type of surgery room if the equipment nearby is any indication. More specifically, it was a futuristic surgery room because Hinata highly doubted even the best hospital in her old World possessed half the technology present here.
The room was shaped like a box, with large one-way mirrors filling up much of the walls of three sides while the fourth contained a large door. The hard— no, it can't be called a bed, it's more of an altar— altar that she lay on sat at the center of the room, and was surrounded by various equipment and mechanical limbs.
She's trapped. Most likely, Hinata realized, that she wasn't going to get out alive.
The crippled woman glared at the perfect being, remembering how she was the one who de-limbed her.
"I see, you truly haven't seen the movie. I would remove your gag, but I think all that you would do is either spit curses at me or bite off your tongue."
If looks could kill, the glare that Hinata gave to the pale human would kill the latter a thousand times over.
"So instead, I'm going to tell you about the movie. The movie follows a group of Antarctic researchers who are then infiltrated by an alien lifeform that can perfectly assimilate and mimic native lifeforms. The movie is called one of the scariest ones of all time because of how well the director plays with suspicion and mistrust, where members of the group started accusing and turning on fellow members thinking they are imposters."
Internally, Hinata was confused about why the entity was telling her this story. So this being is an Otherworlder, so what? How does a shapeshifter factor into the incoming torture?
"Now, in the movie, it was said that The Thing will take around 27,000 hours to fully infect every human in the world from first contact. I consider the thing a cross between a parasite and a virus. The former is because it relies on the organisms to survive and thrive, and a virus since the alien can infect and assimilate other organisms' genetic material on a cellular level. So I decided to name such an organism, a 'Virasite', a combination of virus and parasite."
The entity then sat on a little chair that wasn't there before.
"You may be wondering just why I'm telling you this story..." The entity leaned forward and took out a large metal cylinder from underneath the altar. The cylinder was heavily armored and seems to be really heavy given how it appeared the entity had to visibly exert effort.
*Clung*
The cylinder was dropped to the floor. Hinata couldn't see what was happening since the armored cylinder was now underneath the horizon of the altar's surface.
"Truthfully, using just using conventional physics and chemistry, the Thing is impossible. The speed at which that alien divide its cells is quick enough that it'll burn itself up before it could really do much of anything."
*Hiss*
The entity then brought up a clear glass jar with metal caps on the two ends. Inside the jar was a red fleshly orb.
"Humor me with this at least: have you ever heard of a fate worse than death?" The entity turned to look at Hinata and tilted its head, "I personally don't believe in such a thing, as being human, there is an end to everything, even pain since we get used to it. Even if it's magical in nature, we get used to that pain."
Something then came up from the sides of the altar.
Glancing at it, Hinata found them to look like parts of a ring.
The two ring parts came up and connected at Hinata's abdomen to create a half ring. A moment later, the half-ring lowered themselves until they couldn't anymore and Hinata felt them exert an intense pressure around her stomach.
Then, the entity connected the glass cylinder to the ring before turning it and screwing it tight.
"One of the most utterly fascinating abilities of The Thing is being able to impersonate any person down to the seemingly genetic level, get in real close before infecting others. Such perfect psychological weapons for the purpose of invading a planet... at least, it would be, if not for those souls. Though matters of the spiritual and metaphysical still elude me, I don't think The Thing had the ability to touch souls. So to fully replicate that horror, I used a tiny bit of magic to make it so that this version of the Virasite infects on a spiritual as much as the material level."
The red orb then disappeared, sucked away as the end of the cylinder which was attached to the half-ring opened up and Hinata could feel something touching the edge of her stomach.
The horror finally started to set in.
This entity was going to turn her into a Trojan Horse. Hinata Sakaguchi was going to turn into a carrier for this 'Thing' and she's going to infect the rest of the world with it!
The eldritch abomination in human form then leaned forward until its face was directly over Hinata's. Its red eyes burned into her retinas, that haunting redness forever seared into her memories.
"You won't die from this. Oh no, madam Sakaguchi. Instead, what's going to happen is your soul will be infected and your ego— your consciousness— will be relegated to an observer role inside your own body. Enjoy screaming silently, banging uselessly against the walls of your cage as you watch your body continue to infect more and more people, creating more and more cages around you inside the collective consciousness— a psychic noosphere of everyone."
The thing then retreated and adopted a placating gesture.
"You won't die. You won't ever die so long as a single cell of The Thing exists. None of the victims The Thing infects will ever die. Their body will still live on as if nothing had happened, and those flesh puppets will continue to infect more and more people until the entire 20 million total population of Ruberios is amalgamated into the psychic noosphere."
Hinata felt fear like never before. Even staring death in the face when she fought Demon Lord Frey was nothing like the fear she was feeling now.
The Japanese Otherworlder doesn't fear death, but the thing that this abomination was proposing hits home.
She started shaking, desperately trying to get out but the straps were not budging at all.
"The Thing, being able to infect the deepest part of your Soul, will have access to your Skills just to impersonate you even better. Normally, I won't ever enact such cruelty but you've really tested the strength of my codes of ethics established after..."
The abomination gained a nostalgic look in its eyes as if reminiscing about the past, wanting to go back.
It was horrifying. Hinata couldn't imagine whatever this entity thinks is good could possibly be also good for mankind.
She could start feeling that there was this abnormally large bump on her stomach. Why was there a bump?
"You know, I once thought about maybe introducing a zombie plague but zombies already exist here, so I chose The Thing."
Unknown to Hinata, the Virasite has started merging with the limbless Saint like two pieces of metal being welded together. The reason that Hinata feels this abnormal mass was because the Thing has fully connected itself with her nervous system, meaning that whatever it feels, she'll feel. At least, until it fully takes over.
"After you are converted, I'll drop you off at the edge of one of the busiest towns in Ruberios. Oh, and just before you become a prisoner in your own body, know that I've made several genetic failsafe so that only citizens of Ruberios would be infected."
Hinata screamed into the gag in her mouth as her body began to contort, her arms and legs popped out of the sockets as The Thing started to repair whatever wounds Hinata had in order to better impersonate her.
"Do sit back and enjoy."
_____________________________________________
After the whole ordeal with Hinata was done, I was left once again alone in this eerily silent place, Narnia. Eventually, I'd like to expand Narnia into something else. I've already had the space station start expanding by harvesting the intake matter from the accretion disk that surrounds this ultramassive black hole.
In the far, far future, I think I'm going to turn this ultramassive black hole into the ultimate Birch World— a type of super habitat. To do that, I'm going to start force-feeding this superbly large black hole whole galaxies of stars until they've reached a mass of about 1.5 trillion solar masses. At this size, the black hole now has the diameter of a light year and gravity at its event horizon equal to that of Earth.
A single layer just a millimeter above the event horizon contains a billion times the living space you'd get in a Dyson sphere, and you can keep on stacking more and more layers as you desire, although time will run slower on the lower layers but even then, with incredible concentrations of antigravity, I can speed up time in a manner similar to how intense gravity slows it down to counteract the effect of time dilation.
This silence granted me time for contemplation. Contemplations about the future, contemplations that'll distract me from the fact that Rimuru was alive again and I had slain 450,000 people.
I slain 450,000 innocent people. If this were a book, I'd be the villain.
Looking down at my hands, I saw that they were coated in blood.
What?
Instinctively, I tried to remove that blood. So I used [Mekhane] and a pillar of metal erupted beside me, beside the now empty surgery bed. As the metal pillar rose out of the ground and reached a height of a meter, the tip split open and formed a bowl.
Placing my hand above that bowl, another Doorway connecting to a nearby wet Hycean planet opened up and water poured out.
I carefully washed my hands and retrieved them after a full 30 seconds of rubbing underneath that stream of water.
There's still blood on it.
In fact, I can barely see my skin anymore with how much blood was coating my hands. Slowly, I felt lines of wetness trail down my forearm.
Unperturbed, I placed my hand underneath that stream of water again, this time opting to rub for a full minute.
"What...?"
Only, the water from the Doorway turned into a shade of bright red.
Taking a few steps back, I was thoroughly confused and disturbed. Did a sea creature die near the other end of the Doorway?
My gut had this horrible feeling. I felt a sense of impending doom, an anxiety about the future.
I felt like the world was about to end.
There was a niggling thought at the back of my mind. At first, that thought was a tiny voice but now after seeing all this, it's becoming louder and louder: I'm in a dream, aren't I? A nightmare to be exact.
Instantly, the walls that surround me started bleeding. Blood started to rapidly pool up at my feet, fast enough that in mere seconds they'd reached my ankle.
Now that I know I'm in a dream, I know that I'm not in any harm and that I'm the dreamer.
And as a dreamer, I have control over my dream. I've become a lucid dreamer.
So with but a thought, everything was erased. Narnia was wiped from existence and all that remained was a white void of nothingness.
I finally woke up from my desk with a startling gasp of air. Immediately taking control over myself, I glanced around to fully take in my surroundings.
I was still in Narnia, in one of those rooms whose internal time was sped up by a large concentration of antigravity. In front of me was a large desk full of touchscreens made from graphene. On those graphene monitors were various blueprints of materials for the Encyclopedia Universalis and a weapon that disables the Higgs Mechanism in the target, turning their massive particles into massless ones and sundering them from existence.
I'm not always able to realize I'm in a dream, so I can't always become a lucid dreamer.
I got up from my desk and stretched a little, to get rid of any sleep from that nap.
Gazing at the Higgs weapon as I stretched, I noted internally that it should work on a spiritual lifeform's physical body. Haven't really tested it, but my simulations of that weapon say it'll release a tremendous amount of radiation when the target disintegrates.
After the stretching, I was half tempted to reach out to Rimuru through the [Soul Corridor].
I almost did, before my instinct stopped me.
'Path to getting Rimuru to hate me'
[2,198 Steps]
[Step 1: Do—]
I stopped paying attention to [Contessa]'s words. One of my new Ultimate Skills was a combination of my [Guide to Victory] and [Great Sage], forming [Contessa, Lord of Victory]. [Contessa]'s specialty was in precognition and information gathering, making it extremely valuable for any future engagements.
Though to be honest, I'm really disturbed by the existence of [Contessa]. Like, so disturbed that I'll only use it rarely.
Free will entails that you have a choice in deciding your future. If [Contessa] could 100% attain any outcome I want if I simply follow a set of steps, doesn't that mean free will no longer exist?
Determinism at its finest. A Laplace's Demon.
I think I still have free will since I can run contradictory paths that'll invalidate the previous ones.
Using my other Ultimate Skill [Mekhane], I had Doormaker open a Doorway right beside me to the front door of the Presidential Office.
I stared at the thing. It was a familiar door in the shape of a black, featureless void framed by purple.
I wanted to go in, yet my body didn't move.
If I had a heart, it would be pounding right now.
Taking a few steps back, I squeezed my eyes shut and slapped my cheeks like I was psyching myself up for the public speech I'm about to give.
Taking several more deep breaths, I walked through the Doorway and was met face-to-face with the pair of dark wooden doors to Rimuru's office.
I reached out with my right hand and was just about to knock on the door before stopping.
I was mere millimeters away from touching the surface of the wood.
Come on Scientia, it'll be so easy. Just knock and he'll answer.
Even when I was so close, I could still feel part of me not wanting to see him. I was like a teenager who try to cling to their past life despite graduating from high school. I want to pretend the past few days haven't happened.
... I want to pretend I haven't committed what many would argue is the worst crime a human can commit— genocide.
My hands are shaking, I observed.
"What are you waiting for?"
"Eep!" I almost jumped out of my skin when I heard that familiar voice call out my name.
Whipping my head around to face her, I saw Arcueid with an inquisitive look on her face as she intertwined her hands behind her back.
I grimaced before scolding her, "Don't scare me like that, Arcueid!"
The True Ancestor just looked at me expectantly.
"The stench of blood on you is heavier than anyone I've ever met except maybe Veldora. Only the most ancient of Dead Apostle Ancestors have as heavy of a stench as you do. You slaughtered more people than almost everyone in my old World to revive a single person, why are you so scared of seeing the fruits of your labor?"
Arcueid tilted her head, her casual cold response was shocking.
I felt like I'd been shot when Arcueid spoke of my action with a casualness one can find when talking about today's weather. It was as if what I had done is no biggie.
A gush of emotion— mostly anger— coursed through my entire body from the depth of my mind to my extremity. The sheer indifference Arcueid is treating this situation, this act of genocide— is insulting. It was the same as her telling me that my act of killing almost half a million people was some kind of joke.
My lips thinned until one could no longer see the redness.
[Silenced Emotion: 80%]
I was about to explode in self-righteous anger before [Silenced Emotion] tempered the fires of my rage.
In the next second, I fully extinguished that flame by telling myself that Arcueid isn't intentionally being insensitive; she's like Sheldon Cooper but without that smartass and know-it-all attitude.
I scratched my collarbone with my left hand before moving up and scratching the sides of my neck.
Sighing, I opened my mouth to speak in a calm and collected tone, "Arcueid, you can't just..."
The neck scratching became head scratching as my hand continued to move up, all the while retaining the same motion of my fingers curling inward before unfurling until I started rubbing my forehead as if to nurse a headache.
Before, Arcueid was a lot like a clingy cat, but now she's like an insensitive teen.
"Listen... while you're not human— and I accept that— but for us humans and ex-humans, killing so many people is a big deal, a huge deal. More so when the death toll is higher than most wars fought in history. Hell, if brought before the International Criminal Court in my old World, there is a genuine argument for the crime of genocide— I mean, I killed 450,000 hopes and dreams just so mine could live. That 'intent to destroy' is right there."
The most important factor when determining whether something is a genocide or not is if there's an intent to destroy. For example, the depopulation of the American indigenous people by 90% after the Columbian Exchange isn't considered genocide despite its death toll by a lot of people because there isn't that intent to destroy. Most died from diseases the natives had no immunity over.
That intent to destroy is probably the most determining factor.
With [Silenced Emotion] turned up so high, all I could feel was a sense of numbness. It was as if I had just gotten my wisdom teeth removed.
A light almost seem to dawn in Arcueid's eyes as she realized her mistake, "Oh, I'm so sorry. It's just, large, impersonal deaths happen so often in history that I've started to accept it as a part of life." Then, she looked pensive, hesitant, even meek as if afraid to ask something, "Do... do you need a hug?"
Statistics and numbers dehumanize large deaths into easy-to-comprehend math. It makes them impersonal, and it blends those people together into a blob of a set of numbers that one can digest without fully realizing its implication.
Like, 'Oh only 36,000 were killed in a tsunami? Meh, it's only 36,000, way less than the 300,000 that died in another tsunami 30 years ago'.
I raised an eyebrow, prompting the True Ancestor to elaborate, "I've once read in my books that those who've gone through something big— something that's life-changing— could really use a hug from someone close to them afterward."
I felt my mind drag me back to a time right after Charybdis. It was late one night when I was thinking of how to reintegrate war veterans with PTSD back into society.
[Silenced Emotion: 85%]
"I..." was about to refuse. I would've refused before a raging torrent of emotions almost caused me to break down right then and there. Biting my tongue, I dare not put [Silenced Emotion] any lower as I'm certain I will do something majorly embarrassing.
"... I... Yes, please." I finally affirmed her suspicion after close to half a minute of constant deliberation.
My head dropped to look at the ground as I showed a side of vulnerability to Arcueid.
I felt a pair of warm arms snake around me, holding me tightly, warmly, and snuggly. I was encompassed by warmth. Arcueid's right hand then traveled up my back and started to pat my head.
Such a simple gesture caused me to feel incredible euphoria, I closed my eyes and merely enjoyed the sensation.
Arcueid's hug made me feel like I was safe— safe enough that nothing could harm me, that everything was going to be okay, and that the problems of the world, the blood on my hands, and the headache-inducing geopolitics of war were like a bad dream I had just awakened from.
Man, we really are social creatures, huh?
Despite my usual reluctance for physical contact, when it comes down to it, I need that contact.
Yet, like a tumor, a feeling of unworthiness grew inside my mind, consuming my happiness like a parasite feasting upon my psyche and interrupting how nice it felt to be touched by someone close to me.
I felt guilty. It's like playing a game or watching a movie late at night when you know you have a project due tomorrow— that sense of guilt chewing away at my mind even when I tried to ignore it.
I buried myself in her embrace. I immersed myself in her hug. I breathed in deeply to fully take in her scent that smells like a garden in spring. I took ahold of the softness of her skin and really felt the smoothness of her clothes. All of this made me never want to let her go.
I tightened the hug to a level that I knew would be uncomfortable, yet Arcueid never once uttered a single complaint. I have a distinct feeling that if I were to lower my [Silencd Emotion] down to 0%, I'd be sobbing into Arcueid's chest right now.
But as with all things, especially those that are good: it must end.
Regretfully coming out of her hold, I had a genuine smile on my face as I turn to look at Arcueid who had a small blush on her face.
"Thanks."
A comfortable silence descended between the two of us before I turned and placed a hand on the large, finely carved wooden door.
My hand closed in to form a fist, before taking a deep breath and pushing the door open, forgoing the knocking completely.
"—a few of our monster citizens did catch a cold when they fell unconscious outside during what the public have now started calling the 'Gifting Ceremony' of Director Scientia's ascension into a Demon Lord. But overall, we have only one casualty as a result—" Citrinitas continued on with the report concerning the aftermath of my ascension before stopping when she finally registered that the door had opened.
I think the purple Kijin was about to reprimand whoever had come in without knocking before seeing that it was me.
At the same time, my brain went blank when I saw who was sitting by the Presidential Table.
"Scientia!"
That familiar voice. The owner of that familiar voice stood right up from his chair with a bright smile on his face.
Rimuru, in his humanoid form, stood up from his seat. He then transformed into his slime form and bounced over the desk several more times to reach me, "Oh, I'm so glad to see you're alright! It will be horrible if the one who saved me were to fall into a coma!"
I felt such jubilation that Rimuru was here it was burning me. It felt like a dream.
When the slime was right in front of me, he changed again to his human form.
I reached out, my hands shaking as if it was -30 Celsius, and touched Rimuru's cheeks. His facial features changed to expressions of confusion and discomfort but didn't protest at all.
I know how weird this is, but I'm like a person who had received news of their family member's death in a plane crash only to see that they're alive and well. I need to make sure that this isn't a dream.
In a tone of uncertainty, Rimuru hesitated when I placed my hands on both of his cheeks, "Umm... Scientia?"
My fingers then pressed inward and found the consistency of his face remained the same as before
Then I gripped and pulled.
[Silenced Emotion: 20%]
I started squeezing his cheeks.
"You bastard, how dare you die on me, huh?!" I grunted as I pulled on his cheeks as much as possible, making Rimuru squeak sounds of pain, "Who told you you could just go die on me huh? How dare you die on me?!?"
I felt my eyes get blurry.
"I'm sowwy!" Rimuru's voice was made almost unrecognizable by how much his cheeks are being stretched, his own hands slapping softly against my own in an attempt to get me to loosen, "Pleessez let go!"
I ignored his plea for mercy before finally letting go once I'm satisfied.
Turning away from the slime, I quickly took a small handkerchief and cleaned my eyes before facing him once more, depositing the handkerchief back into my pocket dimension.
Crossing my arms, I mentally pulled up a holographic panel displaying the blueprint for a special weapon.
"To avoid such a thing in the future, I've decided that it's high time that you get a better weapon."
As I was talking, Rimuru was rubbing his red bulging cheeks to try and soothe the pain, "Yeah, I understand. Right before I... you know... I had thought to ask you to make me a weapon I can train with.
I placed a hand on my chin in deep thought, "Hmm, I assume you want a sword?"
He nodded, "A katana if possible."
I sighed. Him and his love of swords. "I'll always say this: guns are better. A few grams of antimatter would've annihilated that woman."
"Yeah, but guns aren't as cool as swords. Although if you're so insistent on guns, why not a gun sword?"
A gun sword? What? Like, a sword that's also a gun? No, that's stupid. It's either a sword or a gun, no in-between.
I massaged my forehead. If he prefers a sword then I'll just give him the best sword possible.
I'm imagining a blade that can cut through pretty much anything.
Several specialties spoke up that moment with ideas for weapons fitting such requirements, except, none of them are powerful enough before [Sword] and [Dimensional Physics] gave me the idea for a blade with a dimensional shearing effect where it'll cut anything within your standard euclidean space, including spirits.
Hmm, the power requirement for that can easily power thousands of modern civilizations in my old World.
Placing the idea into the Noosphere, I then had it projected into reality right in front of me, displaying it to Rimuru.
"What do you think?"
"It's... a hilt of a sword..." Rimuru stated while trying to cover up his disappointment, "Is this like a lightsaber?"
With a single swipe of my left hand, the blade erupted from the hilt. The blade was strange, as it didn't appear solid. Nothing that dark could appear solid. I think if you place this against the night sky it'll stand out a bit with how dark it is.
"This is the Continuity Disconnector. It's a sheet of actively stabilized Domain Wall that's sharper than even a monomolecular blade since it uses a Topological Defect as a medium for cutting." I said as I grabbed the blade and swung it, slicing a holographic cube to emphasize my point, "It's unbreakable, and it can cut through anything short of a black hole since the space of the blade and the space outside are out of touch with each other makes a transition between them impossible."
Rimuru released a breath as if feeling incredibly awkward about what he was about to ask, "I'm sorry, I didn't get half of that. Although, although, hear me out, I'm thinking of some kind of magic-based sword, y'know? Like one that grows with me in accordance with my own strength!"
I stared at him with naked confusion before [Psychology] suggested to me the possibility of him feeling weak after the whole shebang with that woman. Rimuru wants to train himself to become stronger so that he'll never be put in such a position again.
So he wants a measuring stick? A ruler to measure how much he's grown?
I fell into a calm silence as I try and think of a design with all the elements he asked for. Of course, there's going to be an emergency release mode that'll ensure he always survives no matter what.
Although... I could try and test to see how far [Contessa]'s precognition hits.
[Path to creating Rimuru Tempest's dream sword]
[120 steps]
[Step 1: Activate Hyper-Dimensional Forge no.5]
Huh.
"I'll... think of something, just you wait." I finally said after a few more seconds of deliberation. Then, realizing I'd been standing all this time, I moved to sit down on the sofa in front of the President's desk, "Now what were you talking about beforehand? I heard something about my ascension into a Demon Lord?"
"Well, I was debriefed that you took the lives of the invaders from Falmuth as fuel for your ascension into becoming a Demon Lord."
It took all of [Acting] to make sure I didn't cringe in guilt. That's the official story, to explain how I gained the souls required for the Harvest Festival
"I must say..." Rimuru trailed off, akin to a person unsure of what to say next.
"..."
My face grew serious as I awaited his judgment.
Judge me. Be afraid of me. Tell me I was wrong. Albedo did say you wouldn't have wanted me to resurrect you.
"Mr. President, Veldora is coming." Citrinitas interrupted my judgment, causing an annoyed look to descend upon my face.
"Scientia!" A boisterous voice rang out as the door to the President's office burst open. Veldora walked in dramatically with Ririna, Rubedo, Albedo, and several more high-ranking Officers in tow.
I gave a sideways glance at the slime, "I assume you've dealt with his reintroduction?"
"Of course. It's the least I could've done to not burden you with any more work. It was mainly during the party that celebrated my revival that we officially introduced Veldora to the wider public." As Rimuru spoke, he walked over to his desk and picked up a photo frame
Jaunting over back to me, the slime handed that frame to me.
Looking at it, I saw that it was a framed photo of a massive group picture taken at night on the steps of the Capitol building. A basic count showed a total of 128 people in the photo. This single photo probably has the highest concentration of those with some degree of political power in all the Republic as you've got Senators, Ministers, Officers, and even some of the richest entrepreneurs.
And at the center of this photo were Rimuru and Veldora, the latter putting their arms over the former like the drunk best man celebrating a marriage. Though I couldn't find Diablo or Jeanne anywhere.
"I wanted to wait longer, but due to the recent attacks, Ririna suggested we go along anyways to raise some morale as well as show the citizens why they all felt the Storm Dragon's aura once again." Then Rimuru hurriedly added, "But don't worry! We can have a more private party later."
As I stared at the photo, I felt a hand covering the top of my head.
Looking up and trailing to find the source of that hand, I found Veldora hovering over me with a massive grin on his face.
"You weren't kidding Scientia." He then removed his hand and shrugged, "I admit, I had my doubts that you were able to resurrect someone from their most basic spiritual components, but you really surprised me. You reconstructed Rimuru exactly how he was before, or enough that I couldn't tell the difference! You truly are a Miracle Maker! Hahahahahaha!"
"Um, about that party... we did plan for it for when you did wake up but..." Ririna trailed off, "You woke up sooner than President Rimuru anticipated."
"Eh..." Rimuru started rubbing the back of his head while smiling sheepishly, "[Great Sage] said you'd most likely wake up in about four days... not the little over two days."
And thankfully it wasn't over three days. Several contingency plans would've automatically fired off the moment it detected I wasn't conscious for more than three days, some are drastic enough to permanently alter everything.
"I see. That's alright." They're too good for me, I thought before sighing, "Diablo, Jeanne."
The air snapped as the two Demon Peers popped into existence on the other side of the room. Diablo was respectfully bowing and lowering his head while Jeanne stood up with a cross arm and a confident smile on her face, both waiting for me to continue.
No one in the room reacted beyond a passive glance. It makes sense since Diablo probably helped set up the party and Jeanne probably gorged herself on the food with how much of a hedonist [Psychology] says she is.
"I assume you all know about the Primordial Demons I summoned during my ascension into Demon Lord status?"
'Wait, I thought they were at most Duke-rank Demons, instead, they're Primordials?! The very peak of Demonic Nobility?" Albedo asked with a tone of disbelief, which made Jeanne grin even wider and transform into a smug smirk.
"Hell yeah, girlie. I'm the Yellow Primordial and this dude—" Jeanne slapped Diablo in the back, "—with a stick up his ass is the Black Primordial."
I saw how Diablo's eyes twitched. Clearing his throat, Diablo stood up and declared, "What she meant to say is that I, Diablo, the Black Primordial, the Progenitor of the Black Bloodline, is the most loyal and humble servant of Lady Scientia and will accept no disrespect down my new Mis—"
"MOVING ON..." I quickly said before Diablo could speak any further. Fanatics are like a hammer, they're useful if used correctly but extremely detrimental if used in a situation that requires a touch of delicacy, like right now.
I gestured at the two, "They will be a common sight around here, so please, treat me as you would treat me."
After their introduction and Albedo asking a few more questions concerning Demons, Rubedo stepped forward and then kneeled before me.
"I must apologize for my actions when we first met. I had no idea you were a Perfect Homunculus who only wanted to protect yourself from an unknown element."
What.
[Silenced Emotion: 90%]
My muscles instantly tensed up. Ririna looked downright murderous as she glared at Rubedo. The rest of the group had a passive look on their face as if they had already come to terms with the fact that I was a member of the most hated race out there, the same race as the one who murdered so many people that the reverberations from that disaster can still be felt today.
I was moments away from enacting Contingency Plan A-01-23 again before Rimuru sighed exasperatedly. Facepalming, "Damn it Rubedo, we talked about this! We were supposed to ease Scientia in, not just straight up say it to her face!"
I had half a mind of overloading the fusion reactor underneath the Capitol building and having it spew out uncontrolled plasma with temperatures in the hundreds of millions of degrees. Then, as the fusion reactor is acting as a major distraction, I'll take Rimuru and Arcueid and use Doormaker to teleport ourselves across millions of lightyears to the next galaxy.
(Veldora is probably strong enough to fend for himself)
Then, and only then will I feel a modicum of safety and turn around to look back.
"How did you all discover it?" I asked with all emotions drained from my face, [Acting] making sure I retain the poker face.
"It was the Voice of the World, Lady Scientia." Diablo said, "President Rimuru had asked us not to reveal it to you just yet, and I obeyed since he's one of your closest confidants."
Albedo then added, "I... had a suspicion that you were a Perfect Homunculus. It was said that Relentless was so beautiful that no one, not even the Flowers of the World could possibly compare, so beautiful that it was creepy since it became freaky, eldritch even. Additionally, I did some personal investigation into private sources before it was confirmed by the Voice of the World during your evolution into Demon Lord."
'Is this true?'
[Factual]
[Acting] ensured my eye wouldn't twitch.
"These 'private sources' that you meet up with wouldn't happen to be in casinos, would it?"
Albedo's face is all that's needed to confirm it, so that time I saw her in that Casino right before the incident with Arcueid was to ask for information?
I pursed my lips, "Continuing on then, the most important issue comes up. As you all know, I am a member of perhaps the most hated race out there. Whole nations will send their armies out to kill me. Tell me then, are you all opposed to me being a Perfect Homunculus? I did just kill many people."
Judge me. Hate me. Tell me that I am Relentless Reborn. Say that I am a monster for killing so many people.
No one spoke a single word. Absolute silence filled the room as most looked like they want to anywhere other than here.
Surprisingly, it was Albedo who broke the silence, "I have no problem with you as a Perfect Homunculus. You protected us all when Relentless would've tried to end the world. You made these miracles of technology and science that is available to everyone. You improved the lives of hundreds of thousands, and even though you killed so many people to resurrect someone you care about— I don't think you're a bad person per se, you're just like us: complicated, and someone who makes mistakes."
"Commander, I will never ever mind you being a Perfect Homunculus." Ririna then said, "You are an individual who saved us at our lowest. You helped us rise in the food chain. Before you, we goblins were the lowest of the lows in the Jura Forest. But with you, you brought your technology and you uplifted us enough that we can stand on equal footing with the likes of dragons. I and I think most goblins, will forever be thankful for your act."
One by one, each of them expressed support instead of disdain.
To say that I am surprised is understating it.
I am a cynical person. I used to be an optimist, but I think after tripping and falling headfirst into the dirt of the world, I became embittered. Everywhere I look, I saw reasons to distrust people.
I saw the world and society as a whole as a web of self-interests, each using the other to achieve that interest.
I know the depth of hatred. How illogical it makes people, and how self-destructive it is.
Ah... if I hadn't done that act, I think I would've still been close with Kathy. But I had to. In my hatred and rage, I saw I had no choice.
Thus, in my mind, I always imagined that if they discovered my true nature, then it would result in everyone I knew aside from a select few betraying me. Either turning their back or actively trying to kill me even if it's futile.
This was one of the main reasons why I became so close to Rimuru and Arcueid, and never really attempted to branch out beyond those two. Both of them knew my real nature and yet they still believed in me, never once had they ever let the centuries of propaganda and legends about a Perfect Homunculus color their views of me. They all saw me as Scientia first and a Perfect Homunculus second.
It was a level of acceptance I'd never imagined possible.
I was surprised and... happy. And yet, another feeling started permeating and spreading throughout my body more prevalent than surprise, burning away my happiness. It was a sense of wrongness, guilt, and unworthiness that was like a raging inferno that consumed every other feeling and started making itself known.
It started to burn through the mask I crafted around my face.
(AN: Play: [Genshin Impact] Enkanomiya - Dainichi Mikoshi Ost 1 (1 HOUR EXTENDED))
"Why..." My vision became so blurry that all I could see were general shapes. Tears gathered as my hands gripped onto nothingness tightly against the pain from the fire deep inside me that was burning me up.
Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?
"Why are you all so supportive?" I choked out. Despite running [Silenced Emotion] much higher, I still can't help but feel a dam bursting.
"WHY ARE YOU ALL SO SUPPORTIVE?!?!?!" I screamed at them as I fall to my knees, at all who have gathered, "I KILLED so many people! Just so that a selfish wish of mine can be granted. Why are you all so goddamn supportive?! You're not supposed to see me as the hero— I am a Demon Lord for fuck's sake! It's in the damn name! Do you all have any idea just what kind of people Demon Lords are? The birth of a single Demon Lord signals the death of at least 10,000 people. Ten thousand hopes, dreams, and aspirations were lost! And beyond that, do you all know just how bad it is to live under a Demon Lord? How many atrocities are committed by those who had a whiff of power? You aren't supposed to see me as anything good, I am a Demon Lord, and same as those before me, I personally killed a whole ci— army!" The geas forced me to change, "In an army, there undoubtedly will be innocents who are merely there to serve in an ancillary role, from stable boys who are conscripted to squires who work so that they can get a better life to blacksmiths who are there only to earn a living to repair armor— all of those are dead! I am the VILLAIN! One of the antagonists in history, the bad guy!"
I'm burning.
I'm burning up. I felt like I'm one of those people trapped inside the inferno produced by Project Behemoth. My only escape is blocked out by an encroaching torrent of fire.
I'm burning. I'm burning. I'm burning in the flames I've made, that I sentenced others into.
It's so painful. The fact that they are so supportive is only making it worse.
"I chose the easy way out in terms of resurrecting Rimuru, instead of choosing the bloodless way of acquiring and then hatching a Hero's Egg, I chose to commit GENOCIDE! I murdered so many people that I'm a misguided mass murderer at best and an irredeemable monster at worst. I am a monster. I am just like Relentless who collapsed whole nations by just walking into their territory— I..." I'm burning. The flames of what I've done are consuming me. "Why...? Why don't you all hate me?"
I'm burning. It's burning me alive.
I could feel myself in my own fiery world, everything burning around me, the sky filled to the brim with smoke.
Even in this pain, that flame felt righteous. It was a pain I knew I deserve to experience for taking away the hopes, dreams, aspirations, and happiness of hundreds of thousands to millions of people.
From childrens who'll never see their parents again, to wives and husbands out there in the rural countryside who'll only know of their partner's passing months later, to parents who will come to know intimately the emptiness and silence that comes with losing a child, to friends and lovers who'll never see their others again.
I've made so many voids that'll never be patched up. I've touched the lives of so many people and made them all worse.
In every ethical perspective other than a Consequentialist one, what I did was wrong. From a Utilitarian perspective, what I did was turn the trolley from killing the one into killing the many. From a Stoicism perspective, I destroyed the peace of mind of so many people. From an Intuitionism perspective, I knew what I did was wrong, yet I still did it anyways. From a Hedonism perspective, I maximized the pain of others and minimized their pleasure. From a Pragmatic ethical perspective, the death of 450,000 is considered monstrous in the West. From a Deontological perspective, the act of killing is wrong, and the act of mass killing is even worse.
Ah, what a monster I am. So then...
"WHY DON'T YOU ALL HATE ME?!"
I stepped on the happiness of so many people just so I could have mine.
I'm burning up. The sheer guilt, the happiness I feel at seeing Rimuru being alive is like adding antimatter to a raging inferno.
I don't deserve this.
I don't deserve this.
I don't deserve this. I really really don't deserve this.
I shouldn't get a happy ending after taking away the happy endings of so many people. It's not right.
It's not right.
Where is my punishment? Where is the fear and hatred I expected to see in the eyes of others? Where is my judgment?
Where... is my sentencing?
_____________________________________________
Rimuru was disturbed. When he woke up, the slime asked the two Demons what had happened. And just when they reached the topic of those Scientia killed to fuel her ascension into becoming a Demon Lord, the highest ranking human Officer who still stood even as all his colleagues fell spoke up and interrupted Diablo.
The sheer size of that man's balls was admirable since even while suppressing their aura, Rimuru could tell they are some of the most dangerous people in the world.
Rimuru watched in stunned silence as Scientia broke down from helping to kill 50,000 soldiers. To him, he always imagined that military targets are acceptable targets in war, so he never imagined that it would affect the Perfect Homunculus so much.
It didn't make sense. Wars cost plenty of deaths, and those 50,000 came here to slaughter the citizens of Tempest. Thus, it's either to kill them or let them harm those who lived here.
Gesturing to Ririna by swiping his left hand sideways repeatedly across his neck, silently signaling her to give them privacy.
"Maaaaaaybe we should deal with this at another time."
Diablo smiled with a subtle hint of sadism, and quietly whispered to himself, "It appears that our Lady is a humanist. I wonder how long she'll cling to those ideals before falling like all the rest? The future is shaping up to be more and more interesting."
With that, everyone aside from Rimuru, Veldora, and Arcueid left the room.
"Hey... Scientia?"
"Aaaaaaah!" The Perfect Homunculus screamed and gripped her head, smashing it against the floor and denting it. Moments after, she clutched her body as if her organs would fall out.
Sounds of crying were all that exists in the almost empty room.
What was he supposed to do? Rimuru's mental image of Scientia was this immovable rock that he can anchor himself to, someone who's calm and collected even in the most dire of circumstances.
Now that she's fully broken down, what was he supposed to do?
Comfort her dumbass! The other part of his mind yelled at his body.
So, slowly, Rimuru moved next to Scientia and carefully wrapped his arms around the Perfect Homunculus. The humanoid slime could feel Scientia stiffening under his touch.
Next, Arcueid did the same, and finally, Veldora jumped in with his pair of beefy arms, encompassing the two in a bear hug.
"It's alright," Arcueid said.
It prompted Rimuru to try and divert away some of the blame, "It's my fault for dying."
"I...did kill 50,000 of the army, so it's not 100% your fault?" Veldora tried to help, but due to him barely understanding common sense, he can't do much.
Scientia continued to release her emotions, and the trio continue to hold her nonetheless.
_____________________________________________
AN: and now we get to see the mental repercussion of Scientia killing so many people, the guilt eating at Scientia, burning her. I'll admit, the Burning Part was inspired by Violet Evergarden.
Part of the reason I choose such a thing was due to the similarities between Scientia and Violet especially after the Glassing of Corbin.
Now, this may be unpopular to some people, but war is ugly, yet it is nonetheless necessary, there is a cost to every action.
Lastly, I changed a little bit of how Carrera talks since in this timeline she finds interest in Scientia instead of worship like in canon (read: I find the way how Carrera talks and how she places Rimuru on an ultra-high pedestal a bit stale after a while).
And Diablo is just Diablo, a lot like Demiurge except 'Ainz' (Scientia) actually has an idea of what to do next.