38th Move | Romeo and Juliet

AN: Jeez you guys are bloodthirsty lol.

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I placed Rimuru's Essence inside a container engraved with the rune of stasis and preservation. I once tried to contain Essence using a magnetic field but it seems that while I can touch it, Spiritual Decay still occurs, and those particles of Essence return to the Spirit World.

Afterward, I looked around the environment that surrounded me. On the ground right next to where I had strung that woman up was a really nice sword dipped in that woman's blood.

[Primitive Weapons] and [Blacksmith] are all impressed with it. Swinging the blade around, I found that its weight is perfectly balanced, to an almost supernatural degree. Bringing the cutting edge of the blade much closer, I discovered the sword's edge blurs in and out of focus, making me a bit dizzy.

It also seems the blade is radiating tiny gravitational waves if the sudden pop-up from my armor is any indication.

Overall, the blade has a certain beauty to it. I dare say it almost rivals that of the sheathed blade I pulled from the Dimensional Bore.

I was able to distract myself from the Rimuru question. By fully focusing on the blade, I could pretend that everything was alright.

But just like a dream, that pretense must end, and it ended when I popped back into the halls of the Tempest Capitol building.

(AN: Play Violet Evergarden OST "The Ultimate Price")

I looked utterly dead as I thought of what was to come next. The hall was eerily silent, with the only sound being the clacking of my boots against the floor. Equally, my eyes had this distant look in them as I was lost in thoughts.

Is it worth it? Is reviving Rimuru really worth the death of almost half a million people?

Joseph Stalin once said that the death of one is a tragedy, but the death of one million is a statistic. For me it's the reverse; I can live with myself if I only kill one, but one million? That's a tragedy.

I wonder if this is the same dilemma that President Harry S. Truman went through when he was presented with the option of choosing either between Operation Downfall or the dropping of the two atomic bombs.

Eventually, the man chose the atomic bombs because it ultimately led to fewer American lives lost. However, if I 'drop the atomic bomb' so to say, I wouldn't be saving more lives, I'd be taking them to save the life of a single person.

Even if they are the enemy, I will effectively be snuffing out the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of 450,000 souls, which is the equivalent of a medium-sized city in the US.

I'm not the kind of general in WWI that'll send out troops to die in trenches while I sit in my comfy office and look at a map. But am I the kind of leader who'll sacrifice half a million for one?

I have ethics, as loose as they might be. I really don't want to become a mass murderer but at the same time... I could choose military targets within the borders of Ruberios.

No, that wouldn't work. With the amount of influence the Church has in the West, even if I release the truth of how Rimuru was assassinated by that woman, the common people wouldn't believe it. I would get painted as the bad guy, and Western Holy Church would get an excuse to announce another Crusade and plunge the world into a war on a scale unseen since Relentless was still around.

I then consulted [Mathematics] and [Statistical Analysis] to get an estimate of the total death toll such a war would cause. Those two specialties quickly give it a wide berth of between 10 million and upwards of 70 million. And this isn't even counting what if the Eastern Empire joins this World War near the end as the two sides exhaust themselves.

*Crunch*

I continue to walk down the halls of the pyramid, completely in a world of my own as I debate internally on what to do. The scary thing is, killing these many people is the easy part. If I get rid of all my morals, all my humanity, I really, really could simply just order an orbital bombardment of Ruberios' capital from the next star system over with superluminal munitions. A simple press of a button. I could even make it painless, as I'll saturate the city with virtual particles that decay entropically in Realspace when they're forced to become real particles through the Conservation of Mass and Energy.

*Crunch*

Imagine going about your day, a bright sunny day, the birds are singing, the childrens are playing, the local blacksmith is hammering away at a piece of metal... And then you're suddenly in a wintery hellscape. The snow that's falling around you? Those are flakes of solid oxygen. The rain? That's liquid helium. That's what happens when you use virtual particles as offensive weapons. Weaponizing entropy itself.

*Crunch*

But then, that sounds awfully like what Relentless would do. Mass murder. Genocide. I don't completely know the history of this World, but I do know that the world hasn't seen such a sudden and drastic depopulation ever since they got rid of Relentless.

*Crunch*

If I do this, I'll be like a German politician reenacting the Holocaust 400 years after WWII. The irony would be almost too much for me to handle.

*Crunch*

So what's left for me then? Starting a war with the West and using the lives lost in that war to fuel my ascension into a Demon Lord? How long will that take? Will Rimuru's Essence still be around then?

*Crunch*

I'm trying very hard to find another way out of this mess other than to pick a random city in Ruberios and wipe it off the map. And I'm not seeing the light.

*Crunch*

Say that I did win the war and managed to revive Rimuru, the entirety of the West would resent the Jura Tempest Republic for killing their loved ones, whether it's a son, a father, a brother, or a mother— we would be hated on the world stage. Moreover, how would future generations view me?

*Crunch*

Being immortal, I'll have to deal with the potential consequences that come centuries later. I can't just be like Stalin, kill tens of millions of people, and die before I'm tried and judged for the crimes I've done.

*Crunch*

And let's not even talk about fanatics. Luminism will turn into something like Islam with how it'll breed radicals and terrorists.

*Crunch*

So... what should I do then? My lips thinned, my hands tightening into fists. What should I do? What should I do? What should I do? Should I kill close to half a million and get Rimuru back or move on? God fucking damn it, what is the right choice?! Do I follow my heart or do I follow my brain?

I felt as if I was an elastic band being stretched. I was torn between the two decisions. One that I know was wrong and yet my heart is aching me to choose, and the other I knew was right and yet I really don't want to choose.

It would be so easy... It really would be all too easy to snuff out the life of so many people. And that's why I was so careful. I knew intrinsically that I am powerful, whether the most powerful being on this planet is still debatable but with my space assets I could vaporize this planet many, many times over. But I don't, because I have ethics.

Ethics.

I thumbed the bridge of my nose and closed my eyes. I could almost hear Rimuru's voice telling me to move on.

"But I really don't want to..."

Truly, you never know something is precious when it's gone.

Just like Kathy—

*Crunch*

It was only now that my mind registered how I was stepping on broken glass.

(AN: OST end)

Looking around me, I saw how I've reached the main hall. It was like looking at the scene of a disaster relief camp. There were people running all over the place, with a noticeable amount of those who sat down possessing bandages wrapping around their faces and hands.

Looking toward the edge of the room, I saw how there were large piles of tiny glass shards, almost as if someone had swept them there, out of the way. In fact, everything that was made out of glass was seemingly destroyed: the glass front door was gone with only metal frames remaining, and the windows were blown out.

"What... happened here?"

My eyes then zoomed in on the middle of the room, where the orbs that should've hovered in the air thanks to magnets have all crashed into the ground.

Even if the power went out, the orbs would slowly drift down, not smash into the ground! That only happens if the internal electronics are busted.

I then pulled up the OSS's system log, only to discover that there weren't any more logs from Metropolis beyond sixteen minutes ago.

"You!" I pointed at a hobgoblin who was carrying medical supplies, "Quickly explain to me what happened here?"

"D—Director! Oh, thank god!" The hobgoblin immediately stood to attention, "Um, we don't know, Director Scientia. It all happened so suddenly, everything was fine one moment, all nonessential staff was evacuating and then the next all the windows and doors were destroyed! And none of the electronics seem to work either. Those who stood near anything made out of glass were injured when they exploded, so we're mostly focused on trying to provide first aid to those who were the most injured."

All signs point to a coordinated attack.

Damn! I was too complacent! I thought with all the weapons and technology I possess I was invincible!

A portal to my personal pocket dimension materialized next to me. From it, I took out a large silver box full of vials of mimicry organs. They're called that because they're multi-functional super organs that'll keep the brain alive even when all other organs have failed by mimicking their functions.

So long as the skull is still intact, the super organ can effectively act as the heart, lung, liver, stomach, bone marrow, pancreas, and bladder— everything that is vital to the immediate and short-term survival of the brain.

"Take this. They're for the worst injured. Just one injection into the base of their skull and they'll live for the next 48 hours." I handed the large box to the hobgoblin.

The hobgoblin beamed, quicking bowing, "Thank you, Director Scientia!"

With that, he sped off, leaving me alone at the entrance to the main entrance hall.

Squatting down, the pile glimmered and glittered during my motion. I then traced my finger across a small pile of these tiny shards of glass and had my armor analyze them. I was given a result not a second afterward.

These glass shards are really sharp. They're also cut really finely, almost as if the silicon had been molecularly displaced.

I then had the armor test the air and found a high enough content of silicon particles in the air to be a dangerous health hazard if breathed in for too long. It'll be almost like breathing in volcanic ash.

Some of these people will probably have a higher risk of cancer later on in life, I denoted, and many probably have already developed silicosis.

Opening a new portal to my pocket dimension again, I was about to take out an air purifier before another glimmer through the main doorframe from outside of the Congressional Pyramid caught my eye.

"No..." I uttered, "My city..."

I walked toward the main doorway as if it were the only thing that mattered, everything in my path was ignored.

I saw it. The arcologies, the skyscrapers— all of the glass on them were peeled off. It was a jungle of concrete and metal skeletons, all devoid of the reflective mirror-like sheen that usually causes one to divert their eyes away as a second sun appears on the surface of a building. Piles of glass shards some rising to heights taller than your average human filled the streets.

It was like looking at an abandoned city.

Did someone capable of controlling silicon attack? I extended the reach of my [Technopathy] toward the Overwatch Security System, only to get static.

So I then focused on trying to find any active technology, only to find mostly static. Thankfully the underground fusion reactor powering Metropolis has safely shut down. I would not want plasma with a temperature of hundreds of millions of degrees from escaping its confinement and rampaging even underground.

Still, just what the hell happened? I get that we were attacked, but why has it stopped? Clearly, the city's defenses have gone down so this is an excellent opportunity to deal more damage. It'll be like Pearl Harbor but all the anti-aircraft guns have been destroyed.

My specialties started coming up with potential explanations for what could be possible. Some of the more ridiculous explanations were postulated by [Dimensional Physics] and suggest a temporary cessation of the Electromagnetic Force. The most likely out of these thousands of proposals I find was made by [Political Science] and suggests possibly an enemy nation was able to infiltrate and sabotage Metropolis.

If that's the case, then I guess my open-door policy to immigration was coming to bite me back in the ass. Or rather, my gamble with Mjurran backfired.

I knew that Mjurran was one of the Fingers of Clayman. Even before being given confirmation by Blumund's secret intelligence, I already had my suspicion about the woman when the captain of Youm's security detail alerted me of how Mjurran rarely ate any of the magicule laxative pills given to all humans to allow them to live side-by-side with monsters.

Now, one may wonder why would one intentionally allows a spy into their government. I allowed Mjurran to become a bodyguard of Youm to show Demon Lord Clayman just how powerful the Jura Tempest Republic is.

I let these spies like Mjurran into positions where they can come into contacts with nothing of true importance because I want them to tell their government that attacking us is futile. I want to give them a forecast of what's coming, that the status quo no longer exists. I want them all to realize I hold the biggest stick in the world and I'm not afraid to use it.

But what if she isn't a spy but is instead a Trojan Horse? What kind of magic is it that allows one to molecularly displace every single piece of silicone within a city?!

According to the report shared by Blumund, Mjurran was only an A-rank Majin, not an A+!

The back of my armor opened up to reveal a pair of thrusters. With additional thrusters around the front of my chest for mid-flight adjustment, I flew into the sky above the Congressional Pyramid.

As I reach a height of a kilometer, I spotted nine A.A.A. in the distance, rapidly approaching the capital.

What kind of situation was it that requires such a serious response?

A holographic visor materialized around my eyes, telling me who was piloting them, their speed, their directions, and their estimated time of arrival.

"This is Commander Scientia Tempest, Anti-Army Armaments, states your intentions. Over." I broadcasted to them.

It was a few seconds of silence before I was given a response, "This is Unit-222, Captain Rilou, we are responding to a request for mobilization of military assets from the Overwatch Security System after it activated Contingency Plan D-34-98 after encountering a foreign army on Tempest soil. Over."

What? The plan when a foreign army invades Metropolis and everyone must take shelter?

"Give me the data package pertaining to that request, please. Over."

Another hologram materialized in front of me as I received the passage. The hologram displayed all the information I requested, specifically, a picture taken by one of the security drones of the 'foreign army' before it was suddenly taken offline.

Why wasn't I informed of this by the system log?

"The situation appears to be under control. Continue circling around the city. Alert me if you find any anomalous movements. Over"

"Yes, Commander. Over."

Then, I blasted off to the place where this foreign army was supposed to be. As I neared the street of Barthers, my heart sank as I found there were dozens of black bodybags spread in an orderly fashion all over the streets, with an entire section of the street covered in blood and gore.

I landed softly as I didn't want to interrupt the somber silence in the air. Police officers clad in heavy riot gear stood at attention near the edge of the carnage, with one touching their ears, probably alerting the current highest-ranking officer that I arrived.

I stared at the massacre. My armor instinctively placed a filter mask over my face since it must've smelled horrible.

Blood literally covered a whole section of the streets as if someone had dumped gallons of red paint, with splashes of that same redness coloring the base of the nearby buildings. Bits of flesh were splattered all over the place like a bomb made out of meat had gone off.

I took a knee by the edge of this carnage and placed a hand inside a concentrated puddle of this scarlet liquid, much of it have already been drained away into the sewers.

The result I received from my suit's genetic scanner was that it was a mixture of human and horse blood, with around 400 variants of the human blood distinct enough to be their own individual.

So at least 400 humans have died in this massacre? What could have possibly caused this?! You'd need something on the level of heavy machinery to even approach how mangled and mutilated most of these bodies are.

"Scientiaaaa!" Arcueid called out my name while standing in the middle of this carnage. Her clothing was the same as before, that same pristine and untouched whiteness.

Yet it looked so wrong as Arcueid trotted across the carnage. The smile on her face was full of innocence as she was happy to see me again.

"Mh, Arcueid, why are you here— Mmmf!"

Like a missile, Arcueid crashed into me before enveloping my body in a bear hug. I would've fallen if not for my armor automatically adjusting my center of mass.

"He he! I just saved some citizens of your republic from a foreign army!" The True Ancestor proudly declared, "There were like hundreds of people on horseback who looked really scary as they neared your people before I stepped in and dealt with it."

To say that I was alarmed would be an understatement. Arcueid was the cause of all this? Arcueid? Really?

My first thought was to reject that idea.

My mental image of Arcueid was this carefree whimsical teen who read books all-day before coming to bother me once she got bored of her books, forcing me to entertain her. The possibility that she could be responsible for this massacre sounded about as possible as a photon moving faster than light without outside help.

I tilted my head to get a better view of more than a bundle of blonde hair and saw some police officers electing up prefabricated polymer walls to section off the streets and censor the carnage.

My gas mask fell apart into a black liquid-like substance that trickled into my armor, rejoining with it.

Patting Arcueid on her back, the vampire let out some pleased sounds before the sound of a jet engine filled the air.

A military VTOL aircraft descended from the city skylines. With three pairs of thrusters, two situated in the front and one in the back, these VTOL aircraft are rather silent, compared to your average helicopter from my old World anyways.

"Commander Scientia!" I heard sounds of boots rapidly stepping on the ground before a louder one and silence, "Commander Scientia, Field Marshal Ririna, reporting for duty!"

"Arcueid, can you please let go of me?"

Arcueid hummed to herself, "Mmmmm, no. Not until you praise me for stopping this foreign army."

"Are you really justifying your act of killing all these people in the name of national security?" Ririna asked with a tone of doubt, "How do we know you haven't just chosen some random citizens and killed them during the chaos caused by that glass rain?"

Arcueid loosened her hug as she glared at Ririna.

"Go away, little girl."

There was an aura emanated from Arcueid that caused everyone around us to tense up. I could hear how Ririna audibly gulped but stood her ground unflinchingly against the True Ancestor.

Just as she opened her mouth to retort, I moved to de-escalate the situation.

"Arcueid, Ririna, we're in the middle of a disaster zone. We'd deal with the specifics later."

Ririna instantly stood at attention, before quickly bowing, "Sorry Commander Scientia! This won't happen again. I shall take control of the disaster relief, starting with assessing the situation. By the way, Commander Scientia, were you able to get into contact with the President? He was expected to stop by Camp Delta before heading back to Metropolis."

Ah... right, I haven't told them what happened.

There was a strained look on my face. My eyes glanced around, finding this place to be too public.

"A situation came up. We'd need to gather all high-ranking staff both civil and military to debrief them on what happened."

Ririna's eyes said how she'd want to know more, but she then nodded, "I see. Very well, I'll alert all high-ranking officers to where?"

"Meeting room B-19."

"Yes, Commander!" Ririna saluted before taking off to the landed VTOL aircraft.

I opened another Doorway and was about to walk in before Arcueid grabbed my right hand, reeling me back from the portal.

"Scientiaaaa, praise me!"

A pout formed on Arcueid's face, causing her cheeks to puff up like a hamster's.

It was cute, enough that I temporarily forgot Rimuru's demise.

"Good job, Arcueid." I smiled, before patting her on the head, "Thank you for defending the citizens of the Republic."

The True Ancestor preened under my compliment. Her smile was so... great that I felt my heart shatter.

My current situation was like when a three-year-old child asked their father where their mother is after she passed away. The child was too young to really grasp the concept of death, so the father was forced to brunt the pain alone.

I'll need to kill 450,000 people to get Rimuru back...

It took half an hour for Ririna and me to collect everyone. With the destruction of every electronic device, Ririna had to call for help from some of those flying A.A.A. units to pry open dead blast doors in Sector 23 that sealed off the entrance to underground shelters housing civilians.

It was fortunate that D-34-98 wasn't fully implemented, as every civilian are required to evacuate to their nearest safety shelter.

Repairing the fusion reactor was easy, so as the plasma slowly heats up to an appropriate temperature that can generate electricity, I took out a handheld antimatter battery in the meantime and plugged it into the Capitol building's grid.

Everyone I requested sat inside this large meeting room lit by lights that I took out from my pocket dimension. Since the chairs weren't numerous enough, a few other government staff and Arcueid opted to sit on the couches that were lined up against the wall.

The room was again silent. No one spoke a word and everyone was waiting patiently for me to start.

I brought my hands up in front of me on the table. The fingers on my two hands conjoined together and I adopted a business-like posture.

"I think... We should start first with a debriefing of what had happened."

[Acting] took over my every move.

Rubedo stood up. In his hands was a small USB stick that he promptly plugged into the hologram projector at the center of the table.

The lights in the room dimmed, making room for the hologram that depicted a timeline of what happened.

"At 1219 hours today, the OSS executed Contingency Plan D-34-98. For those of you who don't know, Conplan D-34-98 is only to be executed if the AI detected a foreign army at the edge of the city. Because most of Metropolis' servers have gone offline due to what we determined, thanks primarily to the effort of the Minister of Magic, to be a city-wide matter displacement-type magical attack that specifically targets all silicon atoms, we were unable to collect any information on why Conplan D-34-98 was declared."

Then, the holographic head of a young Japanese teen replaced the timeline.

"Thanks to the statement of Miss Arcueid Brunestud," Arcueid perked up at the mention of her name, "and an underaged Otherworlder from Falmuth who surrendered himself to the Metropolitan Police Bureau, we were able to construct exactly what happened: Falmuth originally sent him and two others, presumably the cause of that Keter-class threat, as the vanguard to test our defense. According to him, they were also supposed to be the start of a false flag operation to create justification for Falmuth to send in their army to quote 'protect humans,' unquote."

The head of that Japanese teen was again replaced by the camera footage of someone outside of the city. At first, it was normal, before a sudden flash of light and all those distant arcologies lost their reflective sheen.

"We suspect one of the Otherworlders was responsible for this attack, however, none of them are talking. The one who gave himself up to the police said he had no idea. At the end of the day, we have no idea who's responsible for that magic field."

Falmuth... I placed a hand on my chin in deep thought. I hadn't expected Falmuth of all countries to attack us since we can easily decimate their cities with Project Thrones alone.

This it'll be like if the Iranians launched an assault on Kuwait after the first Gulf wars. Nobody's that stupid, especially not after our displays of might, so logic dictates then someone must be forcing Falmuth's hands from the shadow as I doubt King Edmaris would willingly sacrifice his knights for such a pointless endeavor.

Perhaps this is a coordinated attack? A decapitation strike against Rimuru while a secondary assault on Tempest... the timing seems to suggest the Western Holy Church be behind all this.

And then Clayman used the opportunity to hit us while we were down.

Things are happening. Many pieces are moving all across the board, and we're in the middle of it.

As the room discussed, I pulled up a holographic map of this planet and started checking the area of Falmuth that borders Tempest. Numerous spy satellites each situated at varying heights in orbit turned their camera and scoured the area, cross-referencing with existing data to find any deviations.

First, we'll deal with Falmuth. That initial small contingent of knights can't be all that is. No, if I recall correctly, Rimuru offhandedly mentioned over a hologram call how in an intelligence report given by Blumund, Falmuth was gathering a force of 50,000.

In half a second, the network of spy satellites found that the castle city of Quarta had a long line of men marching out of the main gate on a road to Tempest's border. Based on their current speed, they'll reach there by tomorrow noon.

Grabbing this, I flung the holographic map to the middle of the table, expanding it.

"I found Falmuth's main force. They're marching toward our border and should get there in about a day's trek. We'll need to alert Blumund of this development and have them prep their armies for defense. We'll also alert Dwargon of what has occurred but don't invoke our mutual defense treaty; we'll use this opportunity to show the world why the Jura Tempest Republic is not to be messed with."

I then turned to Youm, who suddenly straightened his back at the attention, "Tell us a bit about the traitor Mjurran, would you?" I said in a sweet tone that caused shivers to go down Youm's spine.

"I'm... I'm sorry, Mjurran's a traitor?" Youm looked confused.

"Albedo. As the Minister of Magic, I think you have the proof?"

The pink Kijin stood up, her shrine maiden outfit made her stand out like a white marble in a basket of black pebbles. Even if Albedo doesn't have proof, I'll just reveal Mjurran's true allegiance.

"Everyone has a unique soul, and that unique soul results in a unique magicule signature. Skilled practitioners of magic are able to determine the origin of spells through the signature in the magicules used to fuel them. By copying the signature of that anti-silicon field, I discovered it matched perfectly with Mjurran's."

Youm opened his mouth, except no words came out.

So in place of a response, I opened a Doorway beside me and reached in—

"Mjurran!"

—pulling out the teal-haired woman by her throat.

Youm tried to rush to Mjurran, but I strung him up against the ceiling with my Strings Implant.

"Yo...um...!" The hidden majin in my grasp squeaked out despite the pressure I'm putting on her throat.

Turning my head, I took a good long look at one of Clayman's Fingers.

Mjurran's clothing remains the same as the first day I had met her, except there's a dash of modernity thrown in the dress she wore with the addition of a digital watch on her wrist.

"Little Majin, I know who your master is." She instantly stopped struggling, "You know, I underestimated the level of damage a single individual can cause. I thought that my technology can easily serve as a great equalizer. But it seems I was wrong, and Rimuru and Metropolis paid the price. I thought that as a spy, all you had to do was to send information back to Clayman, not that you were a sleeper agent waiting for the right moment to strike."

I tightened my grip, and Mjurran redoubled her effort by smacking my armored hands. The edge of her eyes glistened as tears came out from the choking.

A small holographic display appeared next to me, showing the exact position of where Doormaker caught Mjurran.

"...Did you really go back to the Foreign Relations Office?" I couldn't help but blurt out, "I heard stories of how Clayman gets his subordinates, were you hoping to invoke sympathize with your tragic backstory?"

I turned to face her. Realizing that she couldn't speak, I loosened my grip and she fell to the floor, coughing and massaging her throat.

That lasted longer than a second before I strung her up as I did with Youm.

The scary thing is, I think Rimuru would've allowed her to walk free.

But not me. I don't bother confirming that sympathy theory.

"Did you really think I would be soft on you just because you're a pawn on this geopolitical chessboard?"

In a tone of desperation, Youm cried out, "Director, please! Have mercy! Mjurran was forced into doing it!"

"Shut." A single move of my index finger and the spacetime string that wrapped around Youm's throat tightened, not enough that the man was choking, just that he'll find it difficult to speak.

I looked between the two of them, an idea crossed my mind. A rather cruel and befitting punishment.

Normally, in my old World, such a cruel and unusual punishment wouldn't be permitted. However, being the one who wrote the Constitution, I know of loopholes that permit me the authority to perform extrajudicial and extralegal things.

"I am exercising Clause 398 of the Constitution, specifically, Section 9 Subsection 3.a. concerning extrajudicial and extralegal consequences. You, Mjurran, have attempted to assassinate me through the destruction of much of Metropolis' infrastructure. I also find you guilty of treason and espionage. Normally, in such a case you will be given either the rare capital punishment by the Judicial court or be given cruel and unusual punishment by me. I find it that it would be better to give you the latter."

The perfect punishment for a pair of star-crossed lovers—

"Your Soul will be removed and be placed inside a drone. Should you or someone else help you break free, your crimes will then be absolved, until then, enjoy your eternity."

Youm rasped out, "Director... please... have mercy! Let... Mjurran... defend herself... at least!"

"I am bypassing the Judiciary after invoking Clause 398 Section 9 Subsection 3.a."

Laws and institutions are important to a stable democracy. The people need to know that the law actually protects them from those above and below, so I couldn't just bypass the Judiciary without reason, instead, I'll bypass it with an already passed law.

I reached above me to Mjurran who was attached to the ceiling. Placing a hand above her chest, everyone was silent as I used [Unlimited Alchemy].

Red lines bloomed from my chest as I tore Mjurran's soul from her body, condensing it into an orb of light the size of an orange. Then, I took out another drone and placed her soul in there.

*Thump*

Mjurran's physical body fell limp and revealed its true form as various tattoos and furs formed on her body, her hands turned into monstrous claws, and a third eye opened on her forehead.

Silenced descended onto the entire lounge like the rubbles in a landslide, no one willing to say anything as Youm sobbed quietly, still attached to the ceiling.

Slowly, I lowered the Ambassador down to the floor before opening a Doorway to his residence behind me.

"Get up. Take Mjurran with you, both her body and soul. I recommend you place her in a preservation tank."

Youm slowly did get up, though his eyes never met mine, and instead stared at the floor as he collected the woman he loved.

When he passed by, I placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks.

"You love her, don't you? So here is my ultimate mercy: so long as she or someone else returns her soul back into her body, she is absolved of her crimes."

I could tell Youm hated me at that moment. His eyes say the words his mouth isn't uttering.

My eyes look downcasted after the Doorway closed. With that, I've destroyed any bridge between the two of us.

...If this was my old self before I have all my technology, I think I would've in my paranoia secretly assassinated Youm to prevent any future betrayals.

I frowned at that realization, before deciding to move on to the real issue.

[Silenced Emotion: 95%]

I should also tell Veldora about the news...shouldn't I?

"Now that that's out of the way, we should talk about the elephant in the room: President Rimuru has been assassinated."

"What?"

"How!?"

I waited for the commotion to die down, [Psychology] recommended such a tactic since it'll help people better process the information.

"Enough!" Rubedo yelled while slamming the table. Ririna moved to pull Rubedo back before I raised a hand to stop her. The red Kijin rose up from his seat, his fist tightening, "I think I speak for all of us here that we need proof."

I could almost hear the 'proof I didn't kill him'. If [Silenced Emotion] wasn't turned so high up I think I'd be offended at the insinuation. Relenting to his demands, I opened a portal to my pocket dimension and took out the container that held the remains of Rimuru's Soul.

The cylinder-shaped container made no sound when I carefully place it on the table.

"You can have Albedo check it. That container holds the remains of Rimuru's Soul, the building block that makes up it. Needless to say: do not open it under any circumstances unless it's for the express purpose of reviving Rimuru."

I then turned to face Rigurd, "Second order of business, Vice President Rigurd. Being the Vice President, it now falls upon your shoulders to temporarily take over the mantle of the Presidency."

I then had [Technopathy] change what the hologram projector was displaying into that of the world map.

"Third, I determined the assailant to be a high-ranking member of the Western Holy Church. Based on the events of the past hour or so, I think Ruberios is using Falmuth to test us. We can't really retaliate without being seen as the aggressor—"

"Wait" Rubedo spoke up again, interrupting me, "You mentioned something about reviving President Rimuru?"

Ririna glared at him for the act of interruption and minor insubordination while I just thinned my lips. As the Commander, my rank is higher than his, so his interrupting me while I talked is a direct challenge to my authority.

However, given how everyone suddenly perked up at the mention of Rimuru's possible resurrection, I chose to go along with the flow.

"Yes. There is a way to revive Rimuru..." My eyes swept across the room, seeing hope in the eyes of almost everyone around me. Part of my mind was honestly impressed, Rimuru was able to make friends with so many people.

My eyes stopped when I saw Arcueid lying on one of the couches.

"Arcueid, can you please leave the room for a second and give us some privacy?"

The True Ancestor pouted, "But why?"

"Please. Just do it for me?"

The sincerity in my voice must've been enough, as Arcueid left the room.

After making sure she was not placing an ear on the door by pinging her graphene phone and checking its exact coordinate, I continued with my way of reviving Rimuru.

"The way to revive the President... requires the death of 450,000 humans."

"WHAT?" One of the human Ministers yelled in surprise. Unsurprising, really. It'll be like the President ordering a nuclear strike: certain staff within his cabinet will likely resign as a protest.

"Why does it need 450,000 humans?" Another orc staff asked.

"There has to be another way!" The same human Minister cried out.

"There isn't." I replied coldly, "Rimuru's Soul was broken down to its most basic components, what I call: 'Essence'. To revive someone from a blob of pure Essence is like remaking a log of wood with the ashes and gases that remain after it's been burnt with not a single atom missing or out of place."

The gravity of what I'm supposed to do sinks in as everyone stays quiet. I could tell that the human Minister was trying to think of another response given how his mouth opened and closed.

All governmental employees are required to know at least some things about science.

"I don't yet possess the technology to remake it, so instead I'm going to cheat. During the birth of a Demon Lord, the local Metaphysical and Physical Laws will weaken as the Voice of the World, the System, rearranges itself, restructuring to better fit the existence of a new Demon Lord. During that time, I plan on abusing these weakened Laws to recreate Rimuru exactly how he was before he died."

While one may raise the Ship of Theseus question, that's entirely avoided since the Soul IS the core of the being. It doesn't seem to be affected by entropy nor does it get constantly refreshed like our physical bodies.

"Just like that fairy tale!" Ririna breathed out, "The one about the first Demon Lord!"

Everyone stared at the Field Marshal, prompting her to elaborate, "It was a fairy tale I heard about from a traveling merchant who came from Sarion. It was about how a girl became the first Demon Lord and her companion somehow became alive again."

Normally, I would dismiss any fairy tale as anything but fiction, however, given that this World's a Tolkien-esque fantasy, some myths may be indeed factual.

"If any of you cannot stomach the idea of us condemning 450,000 lives, then please sign a Geas of non-disclosure and then leave. Your pay will not be docked nor will you be reprimanded." I took out a scroll from my pocket dimension.

Veldora called me 'something that blurs the line between humans and monsters' and since [Great Sage] offered me that pathway, it must mean I could become a True Hero if I tried. I think I would've if I wasn't on a time limit.

That willpower requirement is too vague. It's like asking for someone to quantify how much influence you have down to an exact number like a Stellaris game— it's just not feasible.

A few of the human staff and some hobgoblins got up and signed the Geas before leaving.

After the last one left, I looked around the room to find everyone else has accepted it.

"A Demon Lord, Commander?" Rubedo started and asked with a bit of concern in his voice.

"Yes, according to [Great Sage]— Rimuru gifted me his Unique Skill to alert me too late of the assassination plot— if I wish to Demon Lord and revive someone from their Essence I would need 100,000 souls to create a Demon Lord Seed and another 350,000 to fully awaken it," I'm still a bit hesitant at revealing more, "As I said before; whenever a new Demon Lord is born, the world must rearrange itself to better fit the existence of the new Demon Lord, during this rearrangement, the laws of nature become less enforced. The effect is minuscule on a universal scale but extremely prevalent in the local reality. I intend on riding this wave of weakened laws to either rebuild Rimuru from the grounds up exactly how he was before or break causality itself and reach back in time to moments before Rimuru's death and bring him here."

Ririna immediately went into analysis mode, "killing 450,000 humans is no small task with no small repercussion. A single city with that many people would be considered the largest city in many countries, primarily those smaller nation-states like the Kingdom of Blumund or the various Western States. Only the Eastern Empire and the Empire of Ruberios have that many people in their military, and thus, we cannot reliably be able to justify it through killing military targets only unless we are willing to go to war with Ruberios or the Empire. If we do go to war with Ruberios it would result in the entirety of the West going against us— thus we need to choose civilian targets in order to collect the right amount of souls."

Her analysis surprised me a bit. I had expected to explain why we'll need to target civilians— to try and justify my target.

I now looked at my Field Marshal in a different light, that once shy girl who stuttered when I told them to become the leader of Group 4 was now a woman who carried herself with confidence, outshining every other Officer in the room with her tactical insight and strategic might.

"Yes, that's why I've convened this meeting. I feel like such a decision shouldn't be made without the approval of the general staff, especially since Rimuru isn't here. This... genocide of 450,000 innocents is not glorious nor will it be revealed to the world. If any of you object to the plan of reviving Rimuru through the sacrifice of 450,000, speak up now or forever remain silenced."

Is that the right word to use? 'Massacre' doesn't feel like it's serious enough. Should I use Volkermord? Or would Ludobojstwo be more fitting since it's Polish for the killing of a people or nation?

The language of this World is strange since its alphabet is almost a one-to-one replica of the 26 of English, only with different symbols. It's like a mixture of the Romance and Slavic languages.

My gaze constantly swept across the room, finding mostly silence before Albedo raised a hand.

"President Rimuru would never consent to the use of half a million people in order to resurrect him. If he was alive right now he'll tell us to bury him in the ground, so that his soul may be at ease."

That seems to give some other people to gather up the courage to speak up. In total, there were 12 people who spoke up in objection to genociding 450,000 souls to resurrect one person.

I have a suspicion that more would've started to object since the feeling in the room is trending towards letting Rimuru rest before Rubedo of all people spoke up.

"Are you all blind?" He asked in a scathing tone.

Albedo was taken aback at the harshness of her brother's words, "Wha— what?"

"We are in a war, a WAR!" Rubedo yelled out the last part before focusing on Albedo, slowly walking towards her as he spoke, "And our President was assassinated! By an enemy nation no less and here we are, thinking of mercy?! Any worthy kings know to protect their citizens first before others. You of all people should know after taking over as the Minister of Magic how brutal and deadly mages are in a war, and how gruesome their spells can be. You should've already known how many innocents are stranded in the middle of any conflict. Instead of thinking of mercy, we should show them that we're willing to use our military might even when our enemies try to use innocents as a shield. We need to show them that we're willing to raze an entire city to the ground if they poke the proverbial giant. We need to show them all that we are not weak."

Rubedo stopped a few inches away from his sister. His height made him tower above the pink Kijin.

Albedo took a few steps back, fear visible in her eyes while expressions of shock and horror painted her face before she composed herself. I could see the edge of her eyes glistening because of the tears that eeked out.

"I... I am perfectly aware of how many innocents are caught up unwillingly in times of war. As the ex-princess of the Ogre Clan, I should know better than anyone, even you brother, just how conflicts are like this all-consuming uncontrollable fire that spreads in every direction, burning down everything that it touches. I read up on the Siege of Kalberius, better known as the 'Siege of Love and Duty' where the last Bandit King Malicide held 5,000 innocents inside his impregnable castle as a bargaining chip against King Reynes of Ingrassia to give him safe passage, where King Reynes the Immolator earned his title when he chose to have his mages burn the castle down even though he knew his youngest son and daughter was still inside."

Albedo then slapped her heart.

"When I was the princess of the Ogre Clan, it was my duty to study as much as possible so that I could be a wise wife who'll offer her husband sound advice, who'll comfort him after he returned from battle. I know how even the lowest casualty estimate of Relentless Rampage puts at least half a billion dead, with over half of that number coming from the fall of Thelium. I was one of the most active members of the Orc Repatriation Council, where we went to villages of those who were slain by the Orcs and helped them rebuild. So, brother, don't you dare accuse me of being weak. To sacrifice 450,000 souls for one person? Only true Monsters like Relentless do that."

A shadow covered Rubedo's eyes.

"We are all Monsters here." He sneered. Some of the humans and demihumans shifted uncomfortably in their seats, "This nation... is built upon the corpse pile of 80,000 Orcs and hundreds of direwolves. The Sorcerer's Dynasty Sarion bans all religion not worshipping their Emperor, upon the threat of execution of anyone to be found praying to another faith. Ruberios was established on a foundation made up of the skulls of millions of monsters and other magical races. The Eastern Empire is a totalitarian state that continues its wheel of oppression that presses down against its own citizens— Emperor Rudra spends more time crushing rebellions and squashing dissent than caring for the outside world—"

Rubedo then spread his arms out in order to emphasize his point, a common tactic, as noted by [Negotiation].

"—Every nation in the world whether big or small has skeletons in its closets. Every geopolitical Superpower climbed out of a corpse pile measured in the millions in order to get where they are today!"

Rubedo looked around the room, finding people all silent, his own sister looked on the verge of breaking down.

"We are no different. International politics is a dirty thing that'll pollute all hands that touches it. We make the hardest decisions so that our people won't have to."

His hands gripped hard together, his sense of honor and duty clashing hard with his instinct as a brother to comfort and protect his sister.

Just before this trainwreck can go any further, Vice President Rigurd stepped in, "I must agree with Rubedo, it was due to our weakness that we weren't able to protect the President and thus, must repent for our sins by doing whatever we can to bring him back. I would think your Old Teacher would want this for you as well, as a lesson."

"Rigurd..."

"Enough," that was when I can no longer stand this soap opera-worthy debate, the philosophical argument we are having right now follows an uncanny parallel of what people in my old world had asked about whether or not it's right to commit horrific war crimes in the name of ending it with fewer lives lost.

"The argument we are having right now is useless without action. We currently have all the highest-ranking government staff and military officers present here. I say we take a 30-minute recess. Talk amongst yourselves and reconvene after the recess, we shall vote on the matter. I ask you all to not judge your fellow coworkers for their answers. If you must judge someone, judge me, as I'll be the one who pulls the trigger."

The room fell into quiet debates after that, debates about either for or against the killing of so many people. Though there were some loud peaks, those were quickly silenced when everyone's eyes fell on them.

As I watched, I consulted [Philosophy], who was still silent on the matter of if it was right or wrong. All of my more abstract specialties are also unusually quiet as if something is blocking them.

Once the 30-minute recess is over, the room is split in two, with the right side being those who wish to resurrect Rimuru, and the left being those who wish to not kill 450,000 people.

The right side had more people.

"So it is, and so it shall be. That settles things then," I said with finality, a sense of defeat ringing within my mind.

And so, we condemned 450,000 people to the gallows.