"You will have Platinum's group as reinforcements.” Amaranth told Shadow over the phone. “Xanadu must die this time, though. We don't have any more forces to spare."
"We'll get him, Amaranth. My mistress says she can handle Black's magic. The rest are inconsequential. The Japan Group is at half strength at best." Shadow said confidently. "Meanwhile we're all healed up and ready to go. Even if we have to strike out in the open, now's our chance to settle this."
"I'll tell Platinum of your optimism. But in the end only results matter. Produce the results." Amaranth said sternly.
"It won't be long now." Shadow promised, and then he hung up. Amaranth sighed and glowed a melancholy reddish pink. Once the portals were shut down, the extra human worlds could be dealt with. But the fewer they seeded the universe with, the better. As for this world, it just needed one more push, and it would be doomed forever. Amaranth was beginning to think their mission here was completely unnecessary. Just reading the news headlines and watching humanity's awful television commercials was enough to see they would do just fine at flatlining themselves. But he couldn't stop now. Now that they were already committed, the only permissible outcome was victory. It was a matter of pride. Even though circumstances had changed, he hadn't been wrong. He hadn't been wrong to hate these people. They were still the worst sort of scum. Someone had to come in and clean them out. God would thank Amaranth in the end. The shadow majority of wyrds secretly agreed with him, they just didn't have the guts to take action about it like he had. The multiverse was fine when it was just God and his wyrds. Interlopers who just splattered paint on top of this perfect portrait weren't needed. Heaven belonged solely to those who could see through the third eye, the eye of God. These people were just demons. They needed to go back to the abyss they came from. To become Choice Givers of all things, to try and usurp the wyrds' favored position at the right hand of God, was unforgivable. That was a title reserved for the most honorable of their race, something only one wyrd in a million could hope to attain. Humans had no right to it. There was no way even a single human was better than even a single wyrd. It was ridiculous. It was insulting. If that's what scrying showed, then humanity just had to be wiped out, so the results would go back to what they should have been again. Soon enough wyrds could forget all about these fake, impersonator Choice Givers. Then they could regain their pride. There was no way a human Choice Giver could exist when the wyrds had reached a complete dead end. He would not allow the history books to record it. He would make reality fit its proper course.
These humans were just being so stubborn about the dying part.
Amaranth's thoughts were disturbed by a distant shout in Russian saying "Fire in the hole!" followed by a slow rumbling and then a mighty roar. Suddenly, coming from the hallway leading to his room, a bright red and yellow fireball rushed towards him like a wailing skull.
"Impossible!" Amaranth shouted. And then the explosion passed over him. The frail bead fell lifelessly, and lightlessly, to the floor.
* * *
Isao Oono woke up in the nude in the arms of an equally undressed woman. He almost bit his tongue to stop from shouting out in surprise. How old was this girl? Based on her slim figure and heart faced shape, he could only assume the worst. Was she even legal? She was beautiful in her own way. Never mind that! How did she appear in his bed? What had they done together last night? He couldn't remember a thing. Had they somehow gotten extremely drunk and ended up making love? But how? Isao never touched the rotten stuff, and he definitely wouldn't have plied it on a minor. But how else could a situation like this arise? Maybe he'd wanted to have sex with this girl so desperately that everything had become permissible, and then drank so much that he suffered a complete blackout of the night before. If so, he had a great constitution. He didn't have the least bit of a hangover upon waking.
Isao couldn't help himself and reached out his hand to cup the girl's breast that sat defenselessly inches away. She felt wonderful. It was no wonder he had been desperate to have her. But how could he ever explain himself to Kotone, bringing a random girl home to his ex-girlfriend's place who he didn't even love, making a total mockery of their relationship by going further with a complete nobody than they ever had together? Maybe Kotone wouldn't find out. That was his only hope now.
The girl across from him slowly fluttered her eyes awake, which were enormously wide, doubling her attractiveness all over again, and then smiled at him happily, snuggling close against him. "Silly. If you want me, you don't have to sneak about while I'm asleep. All you have to do is ask."
Isao Oono was in a crisis. He wanted her terribly, and the girl didn't seem to mind at all. All the preparations were complete. Even if she was a stranger. . .even if she was a stranger. . .it wouldn't hurt to make love one more time. . .
Isao Oono rolled out of bed and stood up. He walked to his closet and hastily pulled on a pair of jeans. Okay. At least that embarrassing part of the problem was solved.
"I'm sorry. You'll probably be furious and think I'm lying, but please listen to me. I don't remember what happened last night at all. I don't know how we met, or why we ended up together. You seem like a nice girl, I can't imagine why I would be willing to hurt your feelings, but there it is. I can't even promise to do right by you and start a relationship with you now, a day late, because I'm wrapped up in something dangerous I can't allow uninvolved people to endanger themselves with. I'm sorry. That excuse probably sounds really lame. Everything I've said sounds pretty lame. Just forget about this lame boy and try to find a real man next time." Isao bowed halfway to the floor in shame.
The girl hadn't sought to cover her own body up in the least. She just stared at Isao painfully, until by the end of the speech tears were trickling down her face. "I. . .I had hoped. . ." The girl stared down at Isao's bedsheets and started crying helplessly. "It makes sense. . . we only met recently. . . it's pretty arrogant to think you'd love me any more than this, huh? Even my parents have already forgotten, and they've known me all my life. . . so why does it hurt so much?" The girl's last sentence came off as a quiet whimper.
Isao didn't know what to do. He was the worst. Had he actually told this girl he loved her? If he had, it was an even worse betrayal than the sex. But it was all a lie! How could he comfort her now? He didn't have the right.
"Do you have a place to go? It would be best if you left now." Isao suggested, trying not to stare at her so attractive, so available body.
The girl's face tried to contort into a wry smile. "This is my home, Isao. It was our home. . . but you're right. I guess I'm being a nuisance, aren't I? I'm sorry. I'll. . .move into another room. I don't want to be a nuisance, but. . .I love you, husband. I'll always, always love you. Even if you. . .I'm yours even now. . .whenever you want. . ." The girl looked up, her eyes clouded by a river of tears.
Isao couldn't believe his ears. What had he promised her last night? Husband? It was impossible! "I don't think that would be right." Isao turned her down angrily. Why was she lying about last night? No matter how drunk he'd been, he'd never have made a joke like that. He wasn't a devil.
"I. . .okay." The girl nodded, her hair falling down over her face. She stood up lifelessly from the bed and picked up a faded blue backpack from the floor. Then she walked by him to the closet, still in the nude, and started pulling out shirts and skirts and panties and bras and socks and shorts. How on Earth had she managed to carry in such a load of laundry? Hadn't it just been a one night stand?
"Goodbye, Isao." The girl said, nude except for the backpack strapped over her back, stepping to the doorway.
"Wait. What's your name?" Isao asked. "It's unfair if you only know mine." He could at least remember this much about their tryst.
"Shiori Oono." A tear fell off her face and fell to the ground as she whirled her back to him and ran out the door.
Isao sighed. Saying jokes like that until the very end. What a strange, ill-mannered girl. Never mind her. The real question was why he was staying at Kotone's in the first place. Shouldn't he stop lazing about and get back to Africa? He had important work to do. But for some reason, he'd come back to visit his friend's graves and just never left again. He had turned into a total bum, and for what? There was nothing to do here in Japan.
That was it. Kotone must have asked him to stay and watch over her while she was pregnant. It was only fair. He owed her, whether they had broken up or not didn't change what they had shared. He would have set aside his task for as long as she needed him. Though he didn't remember exactly when she had asked it of him, she must have at some point. Plus Masanori was in the hospital from a sniper shot. He couldn't exactly leave a pregnant woman and an injured man alone to face the assembled wrath of the dark wyrds. But dear Lord, just because he was taking a break from assassinations, going to bars and getting drunk to pick up probably underage homeless girl drifters was out of bounds. He needed to go to a shrine and purify himself. That is, if the gods were even interested in listening to him anymore.
* * *
Shiori Oono walked a few guest rooms down and entered mechanically into her new room. She had asked for one more day, and had gotten three. It was a fair deal. The last three days had been some of the best in her life. Though admittedly a bit painful and a little scary at first. They'd barely gotten out of bed except to eat and bathe, and even then they were together. It had been so very, very wonderful. Everything she'd ever imagined it to be and more. Adults really did have it better than kids. Correction. Lonely adults had nothing to brag about. It was only the married adults who had it better. No one else had a clue in comparison. Everything and everyone else was just a prelude or suffix to marriage. Without it, life could never be complete. Kids or adults, none of them would understand until it happened to them. Then they would open their eyes and see what living was really for. Of course, her marriage may have set a record for shortness, so she really wasn't in a position to talk about it.
Shiori wiped her dirty face and tossed her backpack onto the floor. She had to get dressed. She should've prepared a speech for Isao for when he forgot about her. She must have looked really stupid to him, stuttering and sobbing about. Why hadn't she realized this day would come? She'd somehow pushed all that aside and become a nymphomaniac instead. All that had mattered was getting to embrace him one more time, every new time. And the all important question wouldn't be determined for another month. Was she pregnant with his child? Or was she not? She was okay with raising the baby alone. She had plenty of money saved up from her work at Angle Corporation. But if the baby was also cursed to forget her every day, she couldn't live with Isao's child either. She'd have to give it away for adoption. A baby deserved at least one parent, and in her state, she couldn't even give it that. If that was the case, maybe she didn't want a baby.
A sharp ache tore through her at the idea. No. She wanted his child. She wanted to be pregnant. Even if she never got to see the child in her life. Even if her baby never knew a single thing about its parents. The mere fact that it existed, somewhere, living and breathing, was eternal testament that Isao and Shiori had loved, married, and shared something sacred and real. A baby would be a living reminder that Shiori Oono hadn't lost to her curse. She hadn't just disappeared. She had created life. She had been. The baby had better be there. If it wasn't, Isao would have a lot to answer for. She had given him ample opportunities.
Shiori left her new room, dressed in whatever clothes had appeared at the top of her bag, and left to eat breakfast. Even if everyone forgot her, she couldn't leave Kotone and Masanori behind right now. Those two Dead Enders hadn't been targeting her. She'd just been collateral damage. Their target all along had been Masanori, the man who had saved her life all those years ago, when she'd been a tiny child. Forgotten or not, she wouldn't forget. She wouldn't forget anything. She'd protect the people she loved until those two returned. And when they did. . .she would aim for Miss Sad Face. If Miss Sad Face thought being abandoned by the whole world would break her, well. . .she was probably right. But since Masanori had lived instead of died, their mission would require a second pass. Which meant she could still get everything back. Which meant, she would never give up. No matter how painful it got. Soon, any day now, the pain would end. Everything would go back to the way it was before. And she'd teach that brat a lesson about playing with other people's feelings.
"Shiori, your face looks awful. Are you okay?" Kotone waved a greeting, having already prepared a breakfast of toast and well-cooked chicken in front of her. Pregnant women couldn't eat fish, eggs, or really anything. The constrained diet was just one more burden alongside the others. Shiori vowed to remember Kotone's diet and mimic it if she were pregnant. This was no longer just her friend's problem anymore.
"He's gone, Kotone." Shiori said, trying to feel detached about it. "I don't know why I got so sad. It was three days, and I knew it had to happen."
"That boy! He dumps me, and now he forgets you!" Kotone exclaimed angrily. "As expected of an assassin, he really is heartless!"
"It's not his fault. It's the magic." Shiori repeated the line to herself to make the message stick inside her own head. If she started resenting people for not loving her enough, she'd truly be betraying their feelings. They were also the victims of this curse. She wasn't just suffering her fate alone.
"I haven't forgotten a single thing yet." Kotone reassured her friend, reaching out her arm to pat Shiori. "Here, have a slice of toast. I bet there's ice cream in the fridge, but I don't think I'm allowed to eat that either."
"You love people too much." Shiori teased, going to the fridge to search for this elusive comfort food.
"But if I do forget you, somehow, know this ahead of time." Kotone put on a serious face. "Even if you have to hide out in some nook or cranny, you're always welcome here. Unless it's too painful to see us. . .stay as long as you want. You can stay your entire life here if you want. Steal our food like a ghost, our clothes, our jewelry, anything you want. If everyone forgets you, you won't be able to get a job or even rent a place. They'll keep trying to rent it again because they'll think it's vacant. So just stay here. You're always welcome here."
"Thanks. I intend to stay, at least until I feel you two are safe again. It's true that we can't find those two Dead Enders so long as they hide out in the vast world. But there's always the chance that they'll seek us out again." Shiori said bravely, grabbing a pint of ice cream and a spoon to sit back down with her friend at the table.
"Somehow I'm not thrilled about the idea of using my husband as bait." Kotone frowned.
"Even to save little old me?" Shiori fluttered her eyelashes and arched her eyebrows into puppy dog eyes.
"Oh hush. I can't choose between you two without betraying something." Kotone glared. "What will be, will be. Is that good enough for you?"
"Fineeeeeeee." Shiori said, forcing herself to stay cheerful. "I can always buy a house, then it won't matter if everyone forgets me."
"Stay here, at least until Rei forgets." Kotone warned.
Shiori didn't want to watch Rei forget. But that was an extremely selfish whim. Kotone was right. Rei was also a victim. She needed to be there for her little sister. She had to do what she could.
"You're right. I will." Shiori promised.
Kotone gave a relieved smile, then went back to eating her breakfast. "It's funny, losing your memories. I haven't thought about them in ages. But when I heard I'd forget you, I've been thinking about us non-stop. Do you remember when we first met?"
"It was in Lily class, 5th year elementary school." Shiori said confidently.
"We were all practicing the recorder together. I was the best in the class, and you were the dead worst. So the teacher asked me if I could help you." Kotone said. "When I played the song for just you, note by note, in our little corner of the classroom, your eyes lit up. They were so huge and excited, like the recorder was the greatest instrument to ever exist, and I its finest player. I thought, if playing the recorder can make someone smile this much, then in middle school, I want to play the flute in front of everyone. I wanted to play the very best classical music in the world with the prettiest wind instrument of all, and then I wanted to see how happy your face would be when you listend to me again. It was all for you, in the end."
"I'm sure I wasn't dead worst." Shiori pouted.
"You were." Kotone laughed. "You were horrible. Horrible. Like a creature from the deeps."
"Well so what! I'm a pitcher, not a fancy-nancy musician!" Shiori flared.
"Hahaha, and yet you smiled that much when I played." Kotone looked away wistfully. "You probably love music more than me. You probably love everything more than me, Shiori. You're the one who got me excited about life."
"I was just a tomboy. It's you two who taught me how to love." Shiori pushed the praise away. "Awesome said it, didn't he? None of us were Choice Givers until after all three of us were friends. We were all good together, and only together."
"So will I fade away when I forget you?" Kotone wondered.
"Even if you do, Magnolia's stuck with you." Shiori grinned.
Kotone laughed. "There is that. Even if I forget you, I won't forget my love for anime. And so long as I'm an emissary to the wider world for that, I'll still be doing good."
"Yuck!" Shiori stuck out her tongue.
"Honestly! How could you dislike anime after all I've shown you? That's it. We're going to the theatre and you'll watch Clannad with me until you like it." Kotone said authoritatively.
"I don't want to spend my last days on this Earth watching dumb unrealistic girls whose breasts bounceeeeeeee." Shiori whined.
"Listen here, freeloader!" Kotone stabbed her finger at the ice cream dappled chin of her friend. "These aren't your last days. They're my last days with you. So let them be happy ones. Please? You gave Isao his wildest dream. Now you have to give me mine."
"You already have Masanori." Shiori looked away, whistling.
"Shiori Oono!" Kotone blushed crimson.
"Fine, fine. I just have to watch anime, right? What is it, twelve episodes?" Shiori sighed tragically.
"Forty eight!" Kotone slammed down her sentence.
"Spare meeeeee." Shiori begged.
"And just for that last dig, we'll watch Kanon next!" Kotone pursued, grabbing Shiori by the hand and dragging her away from the table.
On the bright side, forty eight episodes, 20 minutes or so a piece, would last exactly sixteen hours. It meant she could forget about Isao for the entire rest of the day. Which is probably what Kotone was trying to do from the start.
Shiori stopped complaining and gave her friend a hug instead, walking meekly to her doom. She wouldn't be this loved by anyone again for a long time.
* * *
Keiichi punched the red button in front of his video conference table. 'Operation Conquer the World’ had irrevocably begun.
All across the world, all the televisions of the world started showing the same illusionary image. Balls of light who would supposedly be making First Contact with their intended prey floated in a pretend spaceship with all sorts of whirring high tech gizmos behind them. A lot of magic had come into both portions of the presentation, but in the Moral Aristocracy, someone always had a spell for everything. There would be no way to trace a speech delivered by magic, nor any way to analyze his voice masked by magic. The plan was foolproof. The sheer power of hacking every channel at once would prove to mankind that these were aliens with overtechnology and they were serious. The magic to get everyone's attention was the wyrds', but the speech was crafted by 100% genuine humans. It was their final gambit to turn back the course of this dying world, and what the Moral Aristocracy had agonized over word by word for months. These were the issues that had to be addressed. There was no way to tolerate them and survive as a species. Now that the Corrupters were arranged for, it was time for the Moral Aristocracy to make their bid for the world's future. This was the true reason why the Moral Aristocracy had formed. This was what they had all been waiting for. And it was up to Keiichi, their leader, to start the ball rolling. He took a deep breath, nodded to Sora, who nodded back at him, and began.
"Greetings, folded surface dwellers. We apologize for interrupting your regularly scheduled broadcast for this important announcement. We are the Wyrds, from the etheric plane, and we have come to judge your world.
For many years we have patiently watched mankind's progress across time. Though it has faltered and failed many times in the past, the general arrow of progress was clear. For this reason, all of your failures and failings could be forgiven. But now, things have changed. The failures and failings are becoming too enduring and too severe. Rather than hiccups that people can quickly recover from, mankind's temper tantrums and thrashing about is posing an existential threat to the future of life on this planet. Nuclear weapons have the capacity to eliminate all higher order life, they are a weapon suited only for madmen, and yet still the nations of the world refuse to disarm. All nations will disarm and foreswear all WMD immediately. As will be shown later in the broadcast, they no longer serve any purpose anyway. The Earth's ecosystem is running low on several crucial resources, and yet still there is no plan to contain overpopulation. Many places are so densely populated that poverty, famine, disease, illiteracy and war rage unchecked across the land, and yet still mothers continue to pop out brood upon brood of additional sufferers. Other sections of the world are having so few children that they are emptying out at a rate faster than the Black Plague ever managed, even though there is plenty of land, wealth, and opportunity for all, and yet no measures are taken to reverse this manmade catastrophe which portends the utter annihilation of said erstwhile happy and successful group. This will not be permitted. Where necessary, birth rates must be reversed, whether that be to a lower threshold, or a higher one. Evolution has long since been proven by all scientific measures, and yet still humanity is managing to devolve into an inferior life form by completely neglecting all of Darwin's and Galton's lessons. This Idiocracy ends now. Births among the upper echelons of society will be promoted, those among the lower classes discouraged, and mankind will fulfill its potential for greatness. The entire rise of civilization was founded upon monogamous marriage. Outside of cultures practicing monogamy, there was only barbarism, poverty, ignorance, oppression and war. But the recent generations of mankind have abandoned this hard-won lesson and reverted back to its primitive stone-age roots, all for the sake of cheap thrills. Henceforth, monogamy is no longer a lifestyle alternative, just as good as any other, it is the foundation of civilization and it is mandatory.
For the first time in history, illegitimate children are not considered shameful for their mothers, and fathers are considered unimportant to the wellbeing of their daughters and sons. Children at the bottom are thus destined for some degenerate end, having never been given a chance by the society around them, having never even been told once in their life what it is to be a good person, or given one example in their life of someone actually being one. Children at the bottom are no longer being raised at all, they are left to roam feral across the streets and neighborhoods, haunting the night like werewolves and vampires of old while the police generally watch on helplessly for fear of 'giving offense'. This ends now. Society cannot function when it is in the grips of chaos. People must feel safe in their persons and their possessions as they go about their daily life if we are to maintain the most rudimentary form of civilization. Therefore, crime will no longer be permitted, no matter how draconian the necessary enforcement measures become. To all gangsters and thugs out there listening today, consider this your final warning. This same warning applies to corruption, whether within the government or outside of it. So long as any group is threatening the security of people's persons and their possessions through irregular and arbitrary seizure, people cannot invest in their future and society cannot move forward . Corruption of this sort will no longer be tolerated. The rule of law is henceforth the only rule and the only law in town.
Meanwhile, children at the top are barely any better off than children at the bottom, raised not by a mother and a father, because they are both too busy working at all hours of every day, but rather by 'schools' combined with 'homework' that represents a perpetual holding facility that break all labor laws ever imagined in length and severity, while not providing any measurable benefit whatsoever for the children undergoing their year round confinement. Indeed, home schooled children continuously outscore their 'public' and 'private' school rivals in all tests of academic achievement and future life success such as income levels or college degrees. So long as children can pass certain standardized tests, crafted and distributed by us, at the end of each year, it is entirely up to them which school, if any, they wish to attend, and what curricula, if any, it has. Neither their parents nor society has the right to force them into working conditions no adult would ever tolerate if applied to themselves. If this means parents must leave someone home to look after the children, and cannot both work all hours out of every day -- good.
If society abandons its children, this is an existential threat to the future of mankind. Even supposing these children somehow get by under their own efforts, they will be even less well equipped to raise the next generation, who will thus gain even worse habits and be even less well equipped to raise the next generation, ad infinitum. Children are raised not just for their own sake, but for the sake of our grandchildren, our great grandchildren, and our great great grandchildren. The primary victims of feckless parents have not yet been born, but they are all waiting, in their billions, to reap the whirlwind this generation has sown. Eventually we will reach a point where all motherly and fatherly instincts and habits have been erased, and mankind will simply not know anymore how to perpetuate itself, nor care anymore if it does. This, perforce, will mark the last generation of mankind. To avoid this, henceforth, children will be guaranteed a positive home environment, with a mother and a father, without divorce, without abuse, and without neglect. Children are a duty, not just toys for adults to play around with. Parents' implicit contracts with their children, and their spouses, will no longer be ignored.
Because some scientific truths have had unsettling logical implications, mankind has chosen to abandon science and cling to its outdated religions. But only science can solve the existential problems facing mankind's future. The Earth will only support life for a limited time, as will this entire universe. Unless we continue to embrace the study and implementation of scientific solutions, we will never save life from the dual threats of our sun going Red Giant and the heat death of the entire universe via entropic decay. Even setting these existential threats aside, it is absurd to reject the findings of science in favor of the teachings of religion. Science is the only possible way to provide enough prosperity, health, knowledge and power to conquer the demons known as Suffering and Death that plague this Earth with incessant, hellish torments no one, by rights, should ever have to face. Religion has no answer for the future death of the cosmos or the present death of the person, it cannot cure cancer with prayers and it cannot feed the world with hymns. It cannot predict earthquakes and tsunamis nor can it build buildings capable of withstanding these disasters. Religion cannot do anything but perpetuate itself. Like any virus, it relies on others to perform even its most basic functions. We can no longer advance with these outdated 2,000 year old texts hijacking every new brain born into the world and replacing its creative innovative gray matter with old decayed obviously false gray goo from the grave. We are no longer giving birth and raising humans into this world. Because of religion, we have been mass manufacturing nothing but zombies for millennia. This must stop. Henceforth, children must not be raised as adherents to any organized religion, and must be allowed to choose what faith, if any, they prefer, without pressure or favor, upon reaching adulthood alone.
The economic system has been overwhelmed with parasites. These parasites have cleverly masked themselves in all sectors of life, from private businesses to government workers to out and out charity recipients. But whatever their sheep's clothing, they are all equally wolves underneath. Unless the parasitism is scaled back, such that the productive are allowed to actually produce the vast wealth of this world, there will be nothing left for anyone. Automation, on the other hand, has displaced so many previously needed jobs that vast sections of the populace truly serve no productive economic purpose on this Earth. This trend will continue to accelerate for the rest of the known future, but governments have still refused to admit the problem even exists, much less addressed it with any solution. It is an existential threat to mankind to take nearly everyone out of any valued or respected role in society and simply cast them out onto the streets to 'fend for themselves.' Not only will they not fend for themselves, they will avenge themselves on those who can -- why not? What do they have left to lose? Only a compassionate and respectful response to these displaced workers can save our collective future. People must find new sources of employment, from hand made crafts and hobbies to child-rearing to homemaking, and enrich their lives with goods not of this world, that machines cannot yet make: Love, Beauty, and Truth. Those who still are productive must provide enough to others that they can implement this social and economic transformation into our technologically unavoidable New World. It does not have to be much, indeed, there is a lot to be said about the joys and virtues of frugal living. But it must be enough to return peace, order, harmony, and happiness to all the displaced souls in the world. The world must have a warm home for each and every individual living upon it, no matter where they started or where they ended up.
Lies have proven themselves one of the most devastating anti-human weapons of all time. The people of the Soviet Union were destroyed, as Aleksander Solzhenitsyn said so eloquently, not by gulags and guns but by lies. Once everyone had been forced to live by lies, life, effectively, ended across an entire continent. Therefore, lies will now be classified as an existential threat to mankind. If some individual or collective organization is caught lying about a simple statement of fact, they will no longer get away with it. If some individual or collective organization breaks their contractual obligations, they will no longer get away with it. If some individual or collective organization libels someone else, they will no longer get away with it. If some individual or collective organization employs irrational arguments to get their way in a contest of wills, if they manipulate others in deceitful and misleading ways to achieve their own personal goals, they will no longer get away with it. Bertrand Russell, one of mankind's foremost mathematicians and philosophers, once said "Give me one lie, and I can prove anything." Therefore, even allowing one lie to stand in public can result in the most monstrous of societies imaginable. It can cascade into a dystopia, the extinction or stagnation of the entire Earth. This isn't a threat we can afford to ignore. Therefore, the Era of the Big Lie is over. From this day forward, we have entered the Age of Truth.
We reserve the right to detail other existential threats and regulate against them in the future.
Now, with our demands out of the way, the good people of this Earth must be wondering, how many divisions have the wyrds, to enforce these claims? Let me make this simple. We have enough divisions. We have as many divisions as there are asteroids between Mars and Jupiter. This evening, you will observe our first salvo, an asteroid no telescope foresaw in time to do anything about, passing by in a near miss of the Earth's orbit. We can divert and rain down as many of these asteroids as we please, onto any target we please. Meanwhile, you do not know where we are and are completely incapable of striking back. It is pointless to resist. It is in our power to wipe out mankind in a matter of weeks. If you choose to ignore us, our second asteroid will land in an uninhabited corner of the globe. If we are still ignored, our third will hit the most obnoxious densely populated den of sin we can find. Death will continue to rain down from the heavens until society chooses to change itself in accordance with our demands.
But wait! Because we are a merciful and benevolent bunch, we are offering a special discount, we are calling it the "Sodom and Gomorrah" special! If even 1% of your city dedicates itself to following our will in your hearts, as best you can, the entire 100% will be spared! You won't get a deal like this very often! That's right, if even one person in one hundred in your community follows our New World moral code, all of your sinners will also be spared. Your friends, your family, your fellow citizens and even your celebrities, everyone will be spared if you transform yourself alone. In time, it will become clear how superior these 1% are to their brethren. In time, these 1% of followers will come to be known as the Moral Aristocracy, and by their example, perhaps, the rest of mankind can be shepherded into the future. You can redeem your brethren, but only if you first redeem yourselves. How about it, world? Is there even 1% of you who can rise to the challenge and live in a way befitting an upright, two legged, sentient mammal? We will be waiting with hopeful anticipation that this world can be saved. If it can't, if not even 1% of you can follow these simple and bottom-floor, basic moral rules, then there's no point sparing this world from God's judgment anyway. We will not stay our hand for the sake of the dark and depraved of this world. If you wish to live, shine.
This has been a public service announcement by the Angels of the Lord of Hosts. We will now be returning you to your regularly scheduled broadcast. Everyone, have a nice day."
* * *
"Fear will keep them in line," Keiichi Kouno sat back in elation, his speech finally finished. "Fear of this battle station."
"It's amazing what magic can do, isn't it?" Sora asked, holding his hand to feed her strength and resolve into his own. They both stared at the news channels as they scurried about in panic. "Who would have thought that the ability to project a small force, less than a human push, over an arbitrarily long distance, as far out as halfway to Jupiter, was all it took to conquer the world?"
"20-something nerds can manifest frighteningly subtle abilities, can't they?" Keiichi smiled.
"Thank goodness we only had a daughter." Sora agreed, smiling. "I'm sure her magic will be honest and straightforward, just like her."
Keiichi's video conference table lit up, so he punched the flashing button and called up the screen. Esmerelda Clive sat comfortably in a spartan business skirt, one pantyhosed leg folded over the other above the knee, adjusting her square-rimmed glasses with her index and middle fingers pressed elegantly together.
"The wyrd council is dead." Esmerelda reported, without emotion or embellishment.
"Excellent. Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen." Keiichi replied, leaning back in his chair with a sigh of satisfaction.
"The problem now is Corrupted agents who were already operational out in the field." Esmerelda continued clinically.
"A much reduced problem. Nothing the Moral Aristocracy can't handle via magical duels." Keiichi dismissed the issue.
"As you say, then. Congratulations on your speech. I think its contents speak for all of us." Esmerelda said.
"It should. We wrote it up together and voted unanimously on the final draft." Keiichi replied jovially.
"Well then, let me compliment you on your delivery. I believe your passion in voicing said words speaks for all of us." Esmerelda adjusted her glasses and switched her bottom leg to fold over her top in the opposite direction.
"Compliment accepted, Miss Clive." Keiichi nodded graciously. "Any prediction as to the outcome of our gambit?"
"I do not believe they will listen until the asteroids begin to kill." Esmerelda said.
"A regrettable necessity. We will make sure to not kick up too much dust into the air that it hurts overall crop yields, even if it slows down our schedule." Keiichi promised.
"The arc of justice grinds slowly, but it will arrive." Esmerelda said. "With this, humanity has finally secured its future. We will transcend."
"Thank you. Hearing that from you is extremely reassuring." Keiichi said. If Esmerelda was optimistic about something, everyone else could go ahead and party, it was a done deal.
