RM Vol 3: For a World without Boundary – Chapter 54-5: Stockholm Conference (Part 5)

Author notes

New chapter is up alongside the pictures! 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/waZgkRa3UQhqKQBi9

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Skkeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeroooooooooooooooongggggggg

The sudden roar coming out of the video projector casts a bout of chillness on everyone. Even if some of them can't remember the monstrous roar, their bodies recall it quite well. Nearly the entirety of the spectators feel their skin crawl when they finally lay their eyes on the owner of that howl, the Kaiju. The monstrosity, taller and larger than even the largest vessel mankind has ever built, rampaged across the city where the Belkans rescued the prisoners. It doesn't take a genius to see that the Kaiju had been the official military response against the Sardegnians' horrific experiments.

Understandably, the first things the spectators hear in the projection are a cacophony of reports and exclamations from the Belkan task force on the scene. It has been quite shocking for them to learn that the so-called Special Military Operation, keyed by the Belkans, had been a ruse all along to liberate the unwilling captives. But from the look of it, they stumbled onto something that not even their Gods could foresee. Almost everyone in the room had felt the actual, soul-disrupting roar all those days back. They all vividly remember the primordial sense of fear they experienced. Now, they watch with bated breath to see how the Belkans had fared against such a monster.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Belka commanders ordered a total retreat, prioritizing the safety of their men and women alongside the rescuees, with long-range ordinance being deployed against the demonic beast. Bombs and artillery shell explosions filled the projection, yet against the many tons of TNT being deployed against it, the Kaiju seemed perfectly fine. That thing, it even flourished and spawned more and more vile demonic beings, even going as far as filling up the entire screen at one point. This makes a not minor number of the viewers scared, thinking that there's still such a monster roaming the Sardegnian wasteland. It's understandable that people would think Belka had been unable to slay the Kaiju. But to their astonishment, Belka pulled no punch and dropped even more bombs, literally rolling out a carpet of bombs, leveling everything and even the monster itself.

Ironically enough, more than half of the room cheers at the flexing of mankind's firepower against the demonic entity. However, delegations from countries like Rusviet, Japan, and the USA,... Are baffled and frightened by the capability shown by the Belkan Air Force. While the concept of carpet bombing has been coined by military experts before, world leaders are still shocked to see such a flawless and effective execution of the tactic. The Belkan delegation hasn't been too keen on sharing just how many bombers they use to achieve the effect of flattening a small city like that. But what people do learn is that the Belkan Air Force has modernized to be able to strike long and far with an extremely potent payload. Just ask Ambassador Udina for his country had experienced the might of the Belkan Air Force recently.

Still, it causes a bit of a fright when the smokescreen in the projection settles down and the viewers come to see the Kaiju, or what was left of it, still alive. Even with just a crystal core, it still drilled and pumped something, mana, into the ground. It's at this point that the spectators start to get the full picture, the additional disclaimers and explanations offered by the projection then shed more light on the matter. What they soon learn is that the Kaiju was the catalyst to cause ruinous destruction to a great many parts of the world. One that was ultimately induced on them by none other than the damnable Sardegnians.

Having done its job pumping what the Belkans dubbed as elemental mana into the crust of the planet, the core exploded. A blinding flash of light, an earth-shattering blast, a gigantic mushroom-shaped cloud... It's only a precursor to what's about to come next: Earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions... Many things happened all over the world as a result of what occurred in Sardegna. It's at this point that people start to have a look of grim realization on their faces as the most asked question in the entire world has been finally answered.

In the end, Belka has been as much of a victim as they are. In fact, one can even say that if it wasn't for Belka intervention, things could have developed in a far worse direction. The Kaiju could still very much be alive, roaming the lands of continental Europe, spawning an endless horde of demons and zombies to terrorize nations. Even if the ultimate fault lies solely in the hands of Sardegna, the callous way that most nations have been treating their ethnic minorities has contributed to the Sardegnians' wrongdoings. This means that if left alone, the Kaiju might as well come knocking on their doorsteps to say hello.

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That was... Absurd, frightening, and concerning. Franklin D. Roosevelt admitted that there were only a few things that could cause discomfort to himself, other than his legs that is, and that Kaiju thing just went on top of that shit list. Many nights have he gone sleepless over the state of his country, and that Kaiju had been the thing to trigger everything... Well, not exactly, if there were no Sardegnians around, things could have been much better. Scratch that, Sardegnians are at the tipping top of the shit list now. But now, with the new information he received, Roosevelt can present to the standard American citizens a target to direct their hate on. This will help him buy some time to stabilize his government even further, making it so that his position of power will be untouchable, for now. But now that Belkan aid supplies are most certainly a guarantee, such preparation may be superfluous.

Doesn't hurt to just do it anyway, if only to haze the Sardegnians even further to remove them from positions of power back in the States. Then, Roosevelt can uplift his trusted men to cement his power base. If he plays his card right, Roosevelt can become not just an American President, but a Heroic American President for being able to lead his country away from this chaotic time. While the term might be a bit of a mouthful, Roosevelt quite liked its meaning.

But to think that the once Holy State has been doing such foul practices for so long, even enacting them on his American homeland... Roosevelt is glad that he has penned for the creation of the Office of Strategic Services. In the future, matters like this one can hopefully be prevented. Never again will America be caught off-guard by a catastrophe, manmade or natural alike. It's high time that America moves away from its isolationist policy, it can only work for so long, after all. Even with Sardegna effectively gone as a national-level threat, there exists a polity a mere sea away that has been much too keen on an expansionist policy. Roosevelt must make his country ready for an aggressive neighbor soon. To do that, one needs more than money, he will need manpower and hearts and minds. It would seem that taking a page out of the Belkan book will be helpful here for the land of the truly free. Most important, however, is the fact that America will need allies.

Scanning the delegations around, Roosevelt thinks he may have some ideas about who to chat with to further their interests. America, even with volcanic fallout marring its lands, still manages to retain most of its impressive industrial capability. He is sure that he can talk a deal or two through without any trouble, as long as he can reign in the firebrands of his delegation, if there are even any at all. By this point, if they're even a bit worthy of their diplomas, these guys would know to pick their words wisely and choose a side, the right one hopefully.

Because from what Roosevelt is seeing right now, at the end of the video projection, people will either believe in Belka's storytelling or are against it to promote their agenda. And Roosevelt ain't stupid.