Chapter 11 — Interlude: The Agency Tries to Eliminate All Aliens and Otherworlders
Ryouko Ninomiya, Carol S. Lane, Euphemia, and Risley were all working together. Following the orders of the UEG, they were wiping out all life in the world. Most of the work was being done by the vampire Euphemia. She was far and away the strongest of the group, so there was little need for the others to offer support.
“I am an envoy of an ancient god, the UEG. For many years, she was sealed away in this world. For that reason, all those who live in this world are guilty of conspiring in her imprisonment. As such, you shall pay for your crime with your deaths.”
Euphemia sent a telepathic message to an entire city. It was transmitted directly into their minds, so even if they covered their ears or were deaf, they would still hear it. She repeated the pronouncement a number of times. She would continue until most of the residents understood. There might be some who would still fail to understand, but she couldn’t get hung up on trying to be perfect.
Once she was convinced the majority had understood the message, she moved into action. As an example for the others, she killed a few people where they could be seen by many. She wanted them to realize that her threat had been real.
Naturally, the city fell into chaos. The rumors spread, and many began trying to escape. She let a number of them go. The plan was to spare about a third of the population to spread the name of the UEG. Once the determined number of people had escaped, she put up a barrier enclosing the town.
It didn’t take too long for despair to seize the city after that. Once those who remained understood their situation and began begging the UEG for mercy, the plan was complete. Euphemia set the city ablaze. They had all recognized their sin and so could be executed as a group. Killing them one by one would take forever.
Despite the logic of it, Ryouko couldn’t help but shrink back. Even if they were random people from another world, she couldn’t write them off so easily.
◇ ◇ ◇
While Euphemia was destroying the city, the other three waited in a small shack nearby. Carol was staring out the window, while Ryouko and Risley sat bored at the table. There wasn’t much for them to do while they waited.
“How many cities do you figure she’s destroyed by now?” Carol asked casually as she stared outside. The city enclosed within the barrier was now in flames. That would be the last step. Once everything had burned to the ground, they would be done here. Unlike Ryouko, Carol seemed somewhat unbothered by the situation. Maybe she had figured none of it mattered since she was from another world.
“Umm...please don’t think badly of Euphemia. Well, what she’s doing is bad, but...she’s probably doing it to protect me...” Though Euphemia was under the UEG’s control, she hadn’t lost her free will. She was still as loyal to Risley as ever.
“Yeah, I understand. After all, she doesn’t need us. She’s doing all the dirty work herself.”
“Umm, do you think they’ll actually kill everyone in the world?”
“Probably. Even if they don’t, they’ve killed enough people that society will probably collapse anyway.”
Euphemia had wiped out numerous cities. Zakuro and Haruto were killing people in the same way, so a large number of people had been wiped out by now.
“They’re going to let us live if we help, right?” Risley asked.
“They said they considered us friends, so probably,” Carol answered.
“What will happen to Yogiri though?”
“I can’t imagine he’ll die that easily. It would probably be best if we could meet back up with him and get the UEG to recognize him as a friend as well, though I doubt things will be that easy.”
“They’re going to send you all back to your home world after this, right?”
“Apparently, that’s Haruto’s plan, so it should be okay for us to go with him, right?”
Once all intelligent life in this world had been erased, the UEG and her followers were going to return to their world. Haruto had asked to be sent back to his own world at that time. They regularly met back up with Haruto and spoke with him. All of this was based on the UEG’s whims, but clinging to her seemed like their best chance of getting home.
“I wonder if I could go with you two?”
“Hmm...I wouldn’t recommend it,” Carol said. “The Agency tries to eliminate all aliens and otherworlders, so I wouldn’t be able to allow that.” The Agency to which Carol belonged existed to protect the world from supernatural beings. Though they couldn’t be said to represent justice, they were certainly an indispensable organization. If someone didn’t take a stand against supernatural entities, the world would fall into chaos.
“Oh, I see.”
“Either way, we have no idea how things are going to go here. So I guess we’ll decide when the time comes.”
Carol and Risley seemed to take it for granted that all intelligent life in this world would be wiped out. However, Ryouko couldn’t agree. If the UEG continued her plan, she would inevitably cross Yogiri. But Yogiri Takatou was invincible in every sense of the word. That was the conclusion reached by the Institute’s thorough research on him, and she couldn’t help but feel they were right.
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