Bab 1303: Accountability
Vahn had known from the very beginning that some of his enemies would go to extreme lengths to serve their interests and agendas. Da Vinci's simulations even put the median mortality rate during the coming transition at 54% so he had already hardened himself in preparation for the loss of life. Still, knowing that Alexander was willing to destroy a large portion of his estate, along with a sizable portion of London itself, he felt absolute, unadulterated, wrath...
With little to slow the speed of their descent, several ten-meter long rods made of a dark mithril composite continued to accelerate until they were nearing ten percent the speed of light. This wasn't a speed Vahn couldn't react to but, with an incalculable number of runes and several powerful magic circles, directly intercepting the rods was beyond him. They were weapons of mass destruction that had been designed to strike with such speed and intensity that manors designed to withstand even direct hits from nuclear warheads would be annihilated.
Vahn knew all of this because the weapon system was something that had been designed by the Atlas Temple. They had developed a number of weapons, some of which even had the theoretical potential to destroy entire planets, so it wasn't that surprising their plans had been stolen or traded through the black market. It was impossible to completely halt the flow of information to the outside world as, if they truly cut themselves off, acquiring the necessary resources for their research would be very difficult...
Unfortunately, Vahn didn't have the time to come up with a method to deal with the rods on the spot as, shortly after his instincts alerted him of the danger, concentric, ring-shaped, magic circles descended from the sky. Each was more than 100m in diameter and, based on what he could sense, they served as acceleration gates that also converted the space inside the rings into a vacuum. This would allow the rods to accelerate even faster than their initial specs so Vahn had to take immediate action to avoid a tragedy.
Even before Vahn's thoughts had sorted themselves, his body and mind were already in motion. He instantly transformed into his Xuanwu state while fusing a powerful defensive spell, [Custos Terra], into his [Magia Erebea]. This caused his skin to turn onyx-black as his body bulked up considerably. At the same time, his hair turned platinum-blond as a complex snake-pattern spread across his entire body.
Vahn wasn't actually intending to block the spears with his body but, if his plan somehow failed, it was better to be in a form that allowed him to withstand a bit of punishment. His actual plan was to use one of his trump cards and, while it may reveal his hand to others, this incident had shown him that given his enemies any breathing room at all was unacceptable. They were obviously intending to try and pin this on him so, when all of this was resolved, he intended to do some house cleaning on behalf of the Noble faction...
Having made his decision, Vahn's face hardened as he stated in a rumbling tone that caused the guiding circle to fracture and break apart, "ORT, destroy..."
With a purely synthetic and emotionless voice, ORT simply responded, "Acknowledged." before a spatial tear, several tens of meters wide, appeared in the sky. From the interior, a massive metallic spider emerged, its limbs twisted to form lethal blades that could harvest the lives of millions in minutes. It was a true weapon of mass destruction and slaughter, one which even the most powerful people in the world dreaded to encounter.
The moment ORT emerged from the spatial tear, its body actually transformed into a humanoid form but, before Vahn could even get a good look at it, ORT vanished in a blur that left a literal black tear in the void. Its base speed was almost incomprehensible, to the point Vahn felt like it wasn't actually moving so much as it was forcibly positioning itself within space and time. It seemed simultaneously stationary and hypersonic as, from the very moment it ascended, ORT hadn't changed its orientation in the slightest...
Mere seconds after the entire incident had begun, several small explosions could be seen beyond the troposphere. Then, immediately after these tiny lights flickered in the distance, emerald green waves of energy spread out for hundreds of kilometers in an instant. The sun's light no longer seemed to reach the planet as the entire world seemed to be shrouded in an emerald green glow. It was actually quite beautiful but, considering this wave was purely destructive in nature, the backlash of this incident would shake the foundation of societies worldwide...
Despite the troposphere extending to nearly 10km above the surface of the planet, the shockwave from ORT's attack reached London only a few seconds after the emerald glow covered the sky. This caused a pale-blue membrane to ripple across the entire city, indicative of an extremely powerful and ancient barrier being activated. London wasn't the heart of the Mage's Association for naught so, while every influential family had a powerful Bounded Field to protect their property, the city itself had several layers of protection to preserve the magical community as a whole.
Unfortunately, the barrier protecting London didn't extend to the surrounding areas so, with the wave of destructive energy, thousands of trees burst into flame while anyone unfortunate enough to be outside experienced an intense burning sensation like being exposed to powerful ultraviolet light. Most of the children in the area were immediately teleported to relative safety but, with blackouts extending all the way to Paris, more than 470km away, this was an event that eclipsed even a natural disaster.
It wouldn't be until much later that Vahn learned the true extent of the devastation but, as this was primarily due to the rods being destroyed, not ORT's actions, he did not blame the destructive entity. If the rods had directly impacted the estate, a large portion of London's population would have been wiped out in the resultant blast. This would have amounted to several hundred thousand people on the low end so, after recalling ORT, his focus shifted to the recovery effort.
Before this, however, he turned to Scáthach who, at this point, had reverted back to her usual cold and emotionless self. She already had a spear in hand and was simply waiting for his orders before she took immediate and decisive action. This nature of hers was something Vahn had come to rely on so, without beating around the bush, he stated, "Someone must be held accountable for this. Do not kill them..."
As it was an official order, Scáthach kneeled in mid-air before ultimately vanishing into the void to pursue Alexander, Allard, and anyone else involved in this matter. It was possible to summon them through the Throne of Heroes but, as inviting those monsters into his home was something Vahn couldn't stomach, he decided to leave their fates to his Shishou. She would undoubtedly show them hell before bringing their battered and broken bodies before him.
With the fate of the perpetrators all but decided, Vahn turned to the Trambelio family estate before teleporting back to Avalon to mobilize his forces. He was directly involved in this event so, while it was possible to leave matters to emergency response forces, Vahn would not shirk his responsibility in the matter. He directly convened an emergency conference before charging Gawain with leading three-hundred Homunculi to assist in aiding the citizens. At the same time, Kenshin would take her elite forces to secure the Trembelio estate, aided by Fenrir, Hati, and Sol.
While this meeting was taking place, Vahn's second body was back in London with Merlin standing at his side. The latter was directing the Slyph to muster up rainclouds to aid in dealing with the fires while Vahn extended his domain through the area, aiding anyone that was in imminent danger. The amount of devastation on the outskirts of the city made him feel a deeply rooted chill, one made worse by seeing how many people took advantage of the chaos to enact various crimes, some petty, others heinous in nature...
For a brief moment, Vahn empathized with Mordred's view of the world as, seeing humans act in this manner, they almost seemed like animals. There were people breaking into businesses to steal TVs and other electronic devices, even as people screamed and pleaded for help just meters away from them. It was like watching hell on earth and, with the standard response of the Magus community being to ignore the mundane world, only firefighters, policemen, and emergency response forces were taking action to restore order.
Seeing all of this, Vahn, knowing Merlin was paying close attention to him, stated, "Those in power would rather see the world burn rather than allow me to lead it towards a brighter future..."
As if he was unaffected by the chaos below, Merlin just shrugged before lightly replying, "Your vision of the future is something incomprehensible to most people. In the end, most humans would rather live a life bound by unfair rules and restrictions if it means they are able to live in blissful ignorance. Others believe their own prosperity takes precedence over the safety and security of society as, from their perspective, normal people are inconsequential in the grand scheme of things...its really quite troubling..."
Hearing Merlin's remark, Vahn turned silent as, on the edge of his domain, a man attempted to mug a woman who was trying to lead her children to an emergency shelter. The moment the man pulled out his knife and began to wave it in front of the woman's face, Vahn guided it toward a non-vital area in his chest, incapacitating the bug-eyed assailant as he fell back due to shock. This caused the children to scream but the women just pulled them along, leaving her attacker behind without sparing him a second glance...
Turning to face Merlin, Vahn could see the flowery Magus with his usual smile, a glimmer of light dancing in his amethyst eyes. He was using his illusion magic to provide aid on a much larger scale than Vahn's domain alone could cover but, regardless of the strain he was under, the white-haired Magus continued to smile as if he was entirely unperturbed by the reality they bore witness to. It was strangely grounding so, while his anger wasn't even remotely tempered, Vahn calmed down a little as he stated, "I will not give up...this incident only makes my conviction stronger..."
Following Vahn's words, motes of light began to flash around the city as hundreds of homunculi began to appear around the city. This was the emergency response force commanded by Gawain so they had a lot of experience dealing with fires and collapsing buildings. They were almost all attuned with the earth or water element so, while it would only make the aftermath harder to clean up, Vahn authorized them to use golems and familiars to aid in restoring order. This obviously caused further chaos but, after what the Trambelio family pulled, Vahn no longer felt the need to keep the existence of Magic a secret.
With a firm conviction present in his stature and expression, Vahn gazed over the devastation below as he muttered, "This world needs to change. Even if it means chaos and war, I will no longer stand by as an observer biding his time. The world may not be ready for the truth but the current system doesn't work. Even if I must be painted as an evil tyrant in the interim, I will not rest until this world is made safer for all future generations..."
All throughout Vahn's monologue, Merlin's expression didn't change in the slightest. However, at the very end, he stated in a very matter-of-factly tone, "Some of the most tragic periods in history came about as a result of a small group of people perpetuating the idea of 'the greater good'. Please keep that in mind as you move forward, Your Majesty. Never forget that there is an endless number of paths that lead toward a better future. Do not become blinded by a single course of action..."
Hearing Merlin's advice, Vahn nodded his head solemnly, even as he slowly ascended into the air. He knew better than anyone that his own perspective was, in many ways, biased beyond correction. This was the reason he relied on so many people so, in the chaos to come, he would be relying on them to help restore order to a tumultuous world. He would serve as the figurehead for everyone's hatred, allowing people to lay as much blame on him as they wish. Ultimately, the only thing that mattered was that the current system was abolished as it was high time humanity faced reality and accepted responsibility for their own lives...
After ascending to more than a kilometer above the city, Vahn extended his hand toward the sky as he sent a telepathic message back to Avalon. He could feel almost all of his reserves drain away in an instant as a massive magic circle, more than 700m in diameter, appeared in the sky above. Magical phenomenon was not visible to normal humans but, when a floating fortress suddenly appeared out of thin air above London, it drew a considerable amount of attention...
(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Weapons of Mass Destruction','No Mercy','The Dawn of New Era')
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