The Nebula's Civilization

Chapter 298: Reason for Anger

Ramin Solost Muel said, "Well, that is... Wait, can they even hear me...if I’m wearing my spacesuit?"

Hegemonia bent down to look down at Ramin.

-We can hear you. Speak.

Ramin smiled awkwardly. The helmet part of the spacesuit was dark enough to block the sun's rays and radiation, but Hegemonia’s gaze seemed to pierce through the opaque material to look directly into Ramin's eyes, and she likely did for real.

'I only thought about releasing the vassal statue and never imagined such a moment would come.'

Yet she had to deal with it. The Pantheon was far away, while the Angry One was near.

Ramin tried her best to explain the events that had happened so far, as specifically and accurately as possible, to avoid further angering the Angry One. However, Ramin's efforts were in vain.

Each time Ramin spoke, the Angry One interjected with anger.

When she mentioned failing to kill the Kraken even with a nuclear bomb...

-What? You left the Kraken alone because of environmentalists? Why did you give the evil gods a chance? Why not just blow the environmentalists up with the nuclear bomb too?

When talking about the fairies...

-Doesn't the Empire have concentration camps? What about the secret police? What did the Intelligence Agency do? Why not just establish a Public Security Bureau to control them?

After hearing that they used a spaceship to face the second moon, Loom...

-...This one is, well...alright. Seems like a...decent...method.

"Ah, so there was no alternative solution with the moon-facing plan. Even for you..."

-Quiet, Vampire.

Hegemonia slammed the armrest of her stone chair with her fist. The armrest broke, and a fragment as big as Ramin's head slowly rolled and fell.

-I just woke up. If I had been awake as long as him, I would have thought of another way.

"...Alright.”

Ramin decided not to provoke the Angry One further. From Ramin's perspective, although She wasn't as harsh as expected, She seemed difficult to befriend.

Finally, when Ramin finished talking about the Fall and how the old gods had reappeared all across Avartin, the Angry One pressed a hand to the front part of her horned mask with her hand and leaned back deeply in her chair.

'Why is she acting like that?'

Just as Ramin was about to call out to Hegemonia, the silent gods on either side changed their posture. Bolt, the god in the gas mask, slightly raised their hand as if to stop Ramin.

-Mortal, Ramin Solost Muel.

"Oh, yes."

-I have a question for you.

"Please ask, um..."

-You're not even my follower, so just call me Bolt.

"...Yes, Bolt."

Bolt asked from behind the gas mask. Their voice reached Ramin as a trembling one, passing through a voice modulator and an illusory medium that couldn't carry it.

-What does Nebula want us to do?

Ramin knew that it was Night Sky’s name. However, Ramin, having followed this ambiguous and invisible thread created by Night Sky to the end, couldn’t understand the Night Sky's intentions. It seemed natural to ask them for help, but to Ramin, that felt closer to her own hope than Night Sky’s true intent.

"...I'm not sure. I didn't hear about that."

The god with the pistol head, Chistka, spoke.

-You're not seeking help? So, he followed procedures and resurrected us just because the game ended?

Hearing this, Ramin decided it was right to reveal her own will rather than try to understand Night Sky’s intentions.

Ramin knelt and clasped her hands, "I do not know Night Sky’s will, but the Pantheon needs help. Everything may have originated from Night Sky, but here I am, a mere mortal, bowing to you and asking for help. Please save us."

Chistka shook their head.

-Don't kneel. You're not my follower.

Then Bolt said,

-Vampire, we have another problem.

Ramin looked up.

Bolt glanced at their hand enveloped in a protective glove. Then they lightly waved their hand to call up the system. The system operated normally. Bolt skillfully scrolled the system up and down, opening and closing new windows to check.

A few seconds later, Bolt turned off all the system windows and said,

-We've just woken up. The defeat was decisive, and we've become too weak.

Chistka, still checking the system windows, said,

-There are still a few followers left, but it’ll be slow-going. If we could make our existence known, we could gain more Faith points.

Chistka looked up at the planet Avartin, visible through the hole in the ceiling of the Garden of the Gods, propped up by the pillars.

The players, including Chistka, knew where this place was. It was where everything started, where the players first saw each other's shadows.

Chistka stared at the Avartin. A mortal would see it as only fist-sized, but Chistka could see it in detail despite the drop in their level given their stats.

What first caught their eye were the huge cities that were usually unseen from Avartin, but what Chistka was looking for were the old gods.

Chistka nodded after checking the Sky Castles in the sky and said,

-It's not strategically right to fight as it is, not knowing how strong the old gods are.

Ramin hastily replied, "But...the Empire is fighting."

-Nebula should fight. It was the Pantheon that defeated us, not the Empire.

"There might be no chance if not now."

Then Bolt said,

-Waiting might bring an opportunity.

Ramin was bewildered. She hadn't expected everything to go well, but she thought there would be a better outcome than this.

'Is that not possible?'

But Ramin was misunderstanding. Bolt and Chistka were hesitant to attack based on their own judgment, but the one in the middle, in front of Ramin, was silent due to her own concerns, independent of their judgment. The Angry One was listening to the conversation between the other two players and Ramin, but it was not important enough to pierce her consciousness.

The Angry One had a topic of more interest.

Then the Angry One slammed the armrest again. The armrest, already cracked, now completely broke off and fell to the ground.

-Shit.

Ramin doubted her ears. In fact, the words of the gods didn't come through the ears but directly into the mind, so there was no reason to doubt the vocabulary used. Moreover, the Angry One had uttered the word clearly.

-They defeated me, but couldn't finish the game? It’s still not over?

Ramin knew it wasn't a question and remained silent.

The Angry One leaned away from the backrest and bent toward Ramin. Then she stomped her foot. Though the atmosphere should be too thin for sound to carry, the Garden of the Gods resonated loudly.

-How does that make sense! ...They defeated me! But what? Old gods? The Fall? They defeated me but got entangled with those things?

The Angry One stood up from her seat and looked down at Ramin, casting large shadows.

-Are they mocking me?

Ramin struggled to understand what exactly the Angry One was furious about. It was natural. By either of her sides, Bolt and Chistka did not know much about the long-standing relationship between Hegemonia and Nebula, either.

Only the players of the Pantheon would likely fail to suppress their laughter after hearing what Hegemonia said, and Nebula, the other party involved, would burst into laughter, which would be quite a rare-sight.

Ramin, terrified, said, "If you wish to hear that answer..." Due to fear, she blurted out words as she usually did. "You should meet Night Sky yourself."

The Angry One laughed.

-Ha! Of course. I'll wipe out those worthless beings and finish this once and for all.

"Oh, that's not what I meant."

-This time, I will definitely win.

"First, the old gods..."

Bolt, who was behind Hegemonia, said,

-Would you be alright?

Hegemonia turned around.

-What do you mean?

-You must be in the same situation as us. We are not as strong as before. You probably wouldn’t have a sufficient level of Divinity either.

Hegemonia looked at Bolt for a moment, as if not understanding what they meant.

-Sufficient? What do you mean by sufficient?

-I mean, you’ll need a certain level of Faith points and Divinity to fight those old gods...

-I have enough level of Divinity and Faith points to use Hierophany. It seems the Empire hasn't completely wiped out the Union Kingdom yet. Uh...wait, why? Why didn’t they? No, no. I shouldn't start wondering about these things. It'll be playing right into his hands.

Hegemonia muttered to herself while Bolt said beside her,

-Enough to use Hierophany? No, that wouldn’t be sufficient...

Hegemonia waved her hand dismissively, as if she didn't need to hear more.

-Then why don’t you just stay aside like a coward.

-.....

-I don't care.

Chistka leaned in and said,

-We should at least plan a basic strategy, right?

-What strategy?

-The old gods have placed Sky Castles in all directions. To synchronize with the imperial forces...

-Are you talking about a target for the attack?

Hegemonia drew her sword.

Ramin observed the elegant curve and sharpness of the blade, which was enough to tell her that the Angry One had reached the pinnacle of martial arts. Even if the Angry One weren’t a god, Ramin couldn’t even imagine defeating this being as an opponent.

Hegemonia pointed toward Avartin with her sword.

-It’s that.

But what the sword pointed at was not visible. Only the other two players realized what Hegemonia was referring to.

Chistka was shocked.

-That’s...

Bolt asked,

-...Are you planning to jump into that?

Hegemonia casually rested the sword on her shoulder and neck.

As if not understanding their reactions, she said,

-Winning the game is always simple.

Hegemonia lightly swung her left hand, not holding the sword, toward her neck,

-It's about taking heads.

Hegemonia sheathed her sword. Then, toward Avartin—or more precisely, toward the sky of Avartin, towards the twenty-two intertwined Sky Castles of the old gods—she jumped.

***

'...Failed?'

Aldin was puzzled. The angel sent to the Baustan Sanctuary had failed to kill Nebula.

An 'Angel' was a complete being. Not a pathetic creature like an Abomination created by the old gods in their boredom or a failed attempt at creating something better like a Fiend, but a being carefully crafted after several attempts. An angel possessed power comparable to a Dragon.

Aldin knew there was a mediocre revolutionary force in the Baustan Sanctuary, but that obviously should have been insufficient. Aldin had included overly strong combat resources.

'Was there something more?'

However, when she looked at the system, Aldin couldn't confirm the existence of such a thing.

'If there was a being capable of stopping an Angel, it should have been visible. Why didn't I see it?'

She tried to check the moment of the Angel's death, but the battle itself couldn't be verified due to a system error. Since software rot, the system had been consistently producing errors, so this wasn't a particularly noteworthy problem. She could later go down to the Demon World to check and repair the stored devices.

'But still, it's strange. An error at this moment.'