Chapitre 132: The End of Us (2).
[Yesterday Night, White House]
While the Night Raid was discussing their matters, The President of the United States, Jakob Valdis was discussing things with the Vice-President, Caster Rogers in his office.
Both of them were sitting in front of each other with a glass of alcohol in their hands.
Rogers - "The Pentagon sent a report and they want us to do something"
Valdis - "What is it?"
Rogers - "They want us to start being more aggressive to China and Russia. They want us to condemn the practices they are doing to reduce the 'Unwanted' quirks and after that, increase the import tariffs, making it hard for them to make profits in US markets,"
Jakob Valdis leaned more on his chair and he took a sip from the glass,
Valdis - "Why can't we just forget about that and focus on the upliftment of our people? We already have so many people in our country who have to face Discrimination, and Humiliation just because they have Mutant-type quirk or no quirk at all. I don't want to put my attention on the world when the country I am in charge of is facing the same issue. We have a society based on inequality."
Rogers - "Aren't we doing the most we can do to spread equality in this unequal society? And this is not a rally Jakob, that you have to understand. I suggest you do what the Pentagon suggested. They suggested this move as it goes along with your and their ideology. If you do this, the general populace will think highly of you."
Valdis - "I am always true to myself, Caster. Whether I am alone or in a rally, I always say what I truly believe in. I follow my own thoughts instead of an ideology that is dictated by others. I want to destroy this unequal society and bring equality. In my world, Everyone will be equal. It will be a utopia!"
Valdis raised his glass. Rogers raised his glass as well.
Rogers - "It will be a utopia, Jakob... We will make it happen."
Valdis drank the entire glass of alcohol in one gulp. Caster was slowly drinking his drink, he raised his head and saw the look on Jakob's face. Jakob had a smile on his face but he had tears running down his cheeks which contradicted the happy smile on his face.
Caster didn't say anything, he snapped his fingers, gaining Jakob's attention, then he pointed to his eyes. Jakob touched his own eyes and he found his fingertips wet.
He then took a tissue and wiped off the tears,
Valdis - "Tomorrow is Alina's Birthday. You know what I said to her before her last birthday,"
Caster knew what Valdis was about to say but he sat there, listening silently.
Valdis - "I-I said, 'For you, I will even fight the gods'. But what an Irony. She was killed by the 'god'. I just saw her die in front of me when that god killed her. She already had limited time to live in this world and I promised her that I will make the rest of her remaining life, a beautiful memory she would take to the heavens along with her. B-But he had to ruin it all. I told him that I didn't want to be a part of it but he still came back and ruined it all.
Ruined our lives, Ruined her death, Ruined a life that was about to enter this world!
W-Wh-What did she do deserve a death like this, Caster? What grave sin that she committed that she died a death like that."
Caster went up from his seat and placed his hands on Jakob's shoulder.
Caster - "Aren't what we doing is the revenge of all what he did to you?
Remember, Genesis is the origin of something new and the destruction of the United States will be the genesis of a new society where there is no Order. Because wherever there is Order, there is a hierarchy and Hierarchy produces inequality. Chaos is the true unifier and equalizer. You are Chaos, Jakob and You are the Genesis. So take this anger and complete the plan. Don't play this game you want to play with that Vigilante and focus on the plan."
Valdis -"You don't know Caster, It is a part of my plan. It is just under the guise that I want to play the game but I have plans. You just follow your part of the plan and I will focus on my part."
Caster - "It's not only about your fight. Do you really want to do this? We are talking about a city with millions of people here."
Valdis - "I don't care... Just do it."
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[Today, The Pentagon, Virginia]
Three Minutes before the Clash of Final Moves.
Acting President, Caster Rogers was sitting at a round table with a lot of generals and other high-ranking officials from the Department of Defense.
General 1 - "How did they reach such a power level? Do you think Star and Stripes can reach such a level?"
General 2 - "I want to say yes... but the grim reality is that she cannot. The limitations of the 2 rules at a time can be a huge disadvantage in front of such versatile opponents like Night Slash and Genesis. You saw what Night Slash is capable of... Super Strength, Invulnerability, Mechanical Transformation, Summoning, Flight, and the list continues and we don't know a single thing about the two."
General 3 - "It doesn't matter what he is capable of... what matters is if he is with us or against us."
General 4 - "That's the problem, he is not with anyone. He didn't even align with his own motherland, Japan's government, what probability is there that he will align with us?"
General 1 - "Then? Do we consider him as a rogue element that we need to get rid of as soon as possible? Can't we just tame Night Slash by using some moral restraints? We just need to accuse him of some random felony and arrest him and then make him sign a contract with us. He is a hero after all... He won't hurt us."
General 4 - "That's where you are wrong. He is not a hero, he is a vigilante... known to break rules. He isn't going to be tamed like the others. We need to destroy him... along with that menace Genesis!"
General 2 - "What method do you suggest to kill both of them?! Look at them! They literally destroyed One-Fourth of the city within 10 minutes of their fight! What weapon will kill such monsters?! Our top hero looks like a child in front of them. They can just swat her away like a fly!"
General 1 - "Have some faith in your heroes! And we don't need heroes to destroy them... We need to use that."
When the generals heard what General 1 said, their eyes widened in shock.
General 2 - "You are joking, right? You just said you want to use that... Did you really suggest using nukes to kill them? They are fighting in the middle of LA! Not only you would be nuking them, but you would also be nuking the entire city!"
Before General 1 could reply, Caster Rogers spoke up.
"Do it."
General 2 turned his head at Rogers with great astonishment and when he saw Roger's face, it surprised him more. The Acting President had the same pensive look as before the conversation started.
He has been like this since he saw Shido entering the ocean with NRG in his grasp but returning alone. Seeing Shido returning alone meant only one thing... Death of NRG... Death of Adam Rogers... His son.
Even the military-hardened Acting President Caster Rogers was on the verge of breaking down when he saw his son's death on a TV.
General 2 - "But Mr. President..."
Caster - "Do it."
Seeing the firm will of Caster Rogers, other Generals started chiming in.
General 1 - "Yeah! The city of LA is just a small price to pay when compared to killing these two freaks... If we kill these two right now when they are busy fighting, we would be serving the world a huge favor."
Like this, the procedures were followed and the Nuclear Warhead was launched, and the target was the city of Los Angeles.
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[Present Time]
Shido looked at the nuclear weapon as Valdis pointed at it with his frail hand.
"I won Shido... I won Haha..." Valdis let a weak laugh as he lay on the scorched ground.
Shido lowered his head from the skies to Valdis, "You lost the fight, Valdis."
"And that's where you are wrong," Valdis interrupted Shido, "After arriving in America, it seems your brain has stopped working. Did you really think I would play such a simple tactic? If yes, then you had to reassess every possibility but you've started to take things at face value without putting much thinking into it. What a dummy... Having so much power in your hands has made you a meathead.
You know... Before the fight, Caos asked me if I was sure of my victory, and do you know what I said? I said I won before the fight started..."
Not knowing what Valdis was mumbling about, Shido was genuinely confused but before he could ask, he heard La Brava's voice in his communication device.
La Brava - :: Chief! Chief! Bad News! The Insurgence will start the moment LA is destroyed and the Nuclear Sirens are going off all around the city. The National Guards are evacuating people to Nuclear Shelters... What is happening, Chief?::
Hearing the information that he received from La Brava, Shido understood the reason why Valdis was saying he won because no matter what, LA is going to be destroyed... whether from Valdis' Zeus Wrath or the Nuclear Weapon. And after that, the whole country will descend into chaos as the insurgence starts.
"So... I am going to save the city. After that, Homeland Security will take care of your insurgence. And you lost--"
"Hahaha... Once a dummy, Always a dummy... Who cares about that insurgency... It's just a small distraction. And I won... I won the moment I passed [Law of Chaos] to you." Valdis said.
"I am the President of the United States, Jakob Valdis; I am the King of the American Underworld, Genesis; I am the pathetic loser, Reid Phillips... I planned to let you win and then take over your body to become the Undefeated Hero, Night Slash...
With all those identities, I could have easily shaken this world's order and made that bastard suffer but my plans failed," Valdis said in a sad tone.
"Then how are you the winner when your plan failed?" Shido asked to which Valdis just pointed in a random direction.
"What do you see there, Shido? What do you see around us?" Valdis asked. Shido looked in the same direction and then looked around. It was pure destruction. Not even a single structure or person could be seen around a radius of a few miles around the two. The two were sitting in a no man's land in between LA.
"You may say you see nothing but you know what I see? Hope... Hopeful faces waiting out there for the hero Night Slash to save the city from the menace of Genesis and the nuclear missile. And it is not just this city... the whole world is waiting for you to win.
And the missile was my plan but even I didn't knew that it would be successful or not. If the generals would've decided to deny the request, there would've been no missile above our heads.
Do you know what does that means?" Valdis asked to which Shido shook his head to say no.
"If you make yourself more than a man, If you devote yourself to an ideal, and if they can't stop you... then you become something else entirely... A Legend, Shido. A legend I created to destroy that myth that killed my family," Valdis then pointed his finger at Shido. After a few seconds, blue energy started to transfer from Valdis to Shido.
» » {[Law of Electromagnetism] has been scanned by the System}
Shido received a system notification when he read the notification, he became more confused.
"Take my last law, [Law of Electromagnetism], Shido... and become the legend I want you to be... this is the last step.
You have two choices now... Save the City or Let the City die. If save the city, you would fulfill everyone's expectations and be hailed as a great hero if you save yourself, you would be trampling on people's hope and become something even worse than a villain. But whatever you choose... You become the legend I want you to be... Be it a Glorius or an Infamous one."
Shido heard Valdis' explanation and went completely silent but his silence was taking time and the nuclear missile was going to crash in a few seconds.
"You still haven't explained how you are the winner?" Shido asked after a brief moment of silence.
"When you become a legend... you become an exception and [Order] doesn't like any exceptions... So he will find you and your clash is inevitable. You would be the one fighting him for me... Whatever you choose out of the two, you won't be able to come out of this trap that I've laid for you." Valdis said with a slight hint of mockery. He was too sure of his win.
"Then what would happen if I make the third option?" Shido asked and this simple sentence made Valdis' expression change from smug to pensive.
"What do you mean, Shido?" He asked but Shido didn't answer him, instead, he called his teammates.
"Guys, the last objective of this mission is to prevent the nuclear missile from crashing in the city and I will be the one doing it. Well, I just remembered something... Didn't you guys say this is the team's last mission... It looks like it's my last mission as well." Shido said to the communication device.
When the teammates were confused about what Shido was trying to say, Shido disconnected his helmet and picked up the frail Valdis.
"What are you trying to do Shido? I gave you two options to choose from--"
"The world has put me in another scenario where I have to make a choice and this time I am not running away... I am making my choice. I am making my own option and choosing it," Shido said and flew straight up into the sky with Valdis in his hands.
If someone checked Shido's flying trajectory, they would find that Shido was moving head-on towards the missile.
_________________
Roxanne Ritchi - "A-As you can see, Night Slash is moving towards the nuclear missile with Genesis in his grasp. And we just received news from the White House that the nuclear missile is an illegal one which Genesis has procured from the terrorists."
While Roxanne Ritchi was reporting with a grim tone, people around the estimated crash location stopped where they were and looked at the sky as Shido moved closer to the missile. They knew the nuclear shelter was not going to help them as they were so close to the blast.
They looked at Shido, as Valdis said, with hope in their hearts... hope their city and their lives would be saved.
Soon, Shido reached the nuclear missile and started using his newly integrated [Law of Electromagnetism] to turn the missile's direction but it was too hard for him with his newly found powers. He wanted to turn the missile's direction towards the sky but the problem was the propulsion of the missile easily dominated Shido's control over [Law of Electromagnetism].
So he decided to do it manually and slowly turn the missile as he put the missile's top of his shoulder and started flying with full force. With this, the missile slowly started changing direction. He held the missile with one hand and Valdis with another.
The people on the ground cheered as they saw Night Slash turning the missile but the job was not done yet. If the missile explodes now, the people would still die as the missile was just a few hundred meters away from the land.
[Music - Saitama's Theme Ballad Version || One Punch Man OST]
Shido held the missile and still flew towards the sky and soon they reached into the top portion of the mesosphere (12 miles before where the space starts). The Helicopter couldn't capture Shido as he was now out of their visible range but they had closely followed his movement when he crossed the troposphere.
"Shido! Shido! SHIDO! Stop this nonsense! Do you know what you are doing?! This is suicide!" Valdis shouted but Shido paid him no heed.
"Do you know Valdis? When people are at their last moments... They sometimes start recording their last words... So here it is," Shido said and started the recording option in his helmet and said something. After that, he closed the recording and looked at Valdis.
"Whatever battle we have raging inside us, we always have a choice... You taught me that, Valdis. It's the choices that make us who we are--"
"NO!!!" Valdis shouted loudly, shaking his whole body and then,
*BOOM*
The Nuclear Missile Exploded.
------
"PAPA!" * 2 Eri and Himiko jumped out of their bed with tears in their eyes and sobbing faces. The two ran towards the room's gate while shedding tears.
But a big embrace stopped them in their tracks and lifted Eri and Himiko up,
'--and we can always choose to do what's right.' Shido thought as he held his daughters in his embrace.
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L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS 
Gonshido
Gonshido It was a long journey but finally, we did it... I am so happy that this arc finally came to its end.
Thanks for reading!
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone