Aetheral Space-Chapter 526 - 0.17: Lamb

Ruri looked down at Bieshu del Mar, her face pale.

"It didn't have to be like this," she muttered.

Edgar's final attack had been simple. Even with the unbelievable amount of power that Beast Crown had collected from nearby Aether-users, he didn't have the skill for anything especially elegant. As such, he'd simply kicked his way across the room, thrust his fist forwards…

…and demolished Bieshu del Mar's heart before she could rise to her feet.

He had been too fast for True Flow to anticipate. Bieshu's body had been too damaged to follow True Flow's directions. Both of these factors had combined to create a disaster -- and the end result was this corpse, slumped against the wall, her chest an open mess of red. Ruri put a hand against the Fool to steady herself as she looked down at the body. With her other hand, she used Chronodissonance to rewind Edgar's arm back onto its stump.

Edgar raised his eyebrow just the slightest bit as he watched her performance. He knew she had seen worse than this. She'd probably seen worse than this even before the revolution. Did it become so sickening just because it was someone she knew?

Pay close attention to that, he advised the Prince. That's called hypocrisy. It will be very useful.

"We had to do it," Ruri finally said, swallowing back her retching. "If we didn't… she would have gone along with it, gone along with them… eventually. They'd have found a way, somehow. She'd have gone along with it. She'd have… she'd have gone along with it, they'd have found a way. Right? Right, Edgar?"

Edgar just smiled at Ruri's attempts to convince herself.

"No," he said. "I don't think so. No matter what, I don't think Bieshu del Mar would have ever opposed Azez Tazir."

Slowly, Ruri turned her head to look at him. It was hard to believe, but her face had actually managed to turn even paler than before. Her pink eyes were wide with disbelief.

"Huh…?" she choked.

"Did you not hear me?" Edgar asked, cocking his head. "I don't believe there's a world where Bieshu would have betrayed Azez. It's just my opinion, of course, but I don't believe that's a scenario that could have ever happened."

Ruri shook her head, eyes fixed on his face, searching for any sign that he was telling the first joke of his life.

"No," she mumbled, almost feverish. "No, no no, you said, you said -- that's not what you, you agreed, you said she was a risk, you said…"

"That was a lie," Edgar replied pleasantly. "I really wanted this kind of scenario to come about, so I nudged you in the right direction."

"Why?!" Ruri screamed.

Her voice was quite loud and shrill -- Edgar was glad he'd pushed for the lower levels to be soundproofed when they were planning the construction of the Arena. Ruri's confusion was quickly turning into rage, but Edgar wasn't particularly concerned. The Fool would obey only him now, and Ruri was in no state to consciously kill another one of her comrades.

Edgar scratched his cheek in a facsimile of bashfulness. "I thought a situation like this would be a useful case study."

Ruri just looked at him, eyes almost bulging from their sockets, staring with such intensity -- it was like she was hoping to find some hidden message in the movement of his eyes or lips, something to reveal to her that this hadn't all been meaningless. She wouldn't find any of that, of course, but Edgar didn't mind explaining things to her a least a little. She'd helped him out, after all.

The finger that had been scratching his cheek rose higher and tapped against his temple.

"I'm thinking for two right now," Edgar said.

The statement was so bizarre it nearly broke Ruri out of her burgeoning rage entirely. "What?!" she spluttered.

"That sounded a little weird, didn't it?" Edgar smiled. "Still, it's the best way to describe the situation. I've created an Aether program that currently resides within my mind. It's called the Prince."

Ruri's hand sparked pink -- and before Edgar could finish blinking, she was already holding him by the collar, lifting him up off the ground. He frowned. This wasn't very smart of her. The melee was still going on upstairs -- even if she moved to kill, Edgar was confident he could activate Beast Crown before the finishing blow.

"What are you talking about?" she hissed. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Peace and joy for all mankind," he replied.

"What?!"

"We're really close to each other, so you don't have to yell," Edgar continued placidly. "Tell me, Ruri, for what reason do humans live?"

She narrowed her eyes as she looked up at him. "Is this a trick?" 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

"Of course not," Edgar lied. "Humans live for the sake of relief, Ruri. From the second they are born, they become aware that there are countless threats to their existence. Starvation. Suffocation. Most of all, other humans. Fear of pain, fear of death… all human endeavour, when you get down to it, is just an attempt to smother these base instincts. But it's all just temporary… just anaesthesia for individuals. No human exists who can trace the path of the horizon and find the way to permanent freedom from such instincts -- for everyone. Because the human mind itself is a bundle of instincts, it's impossible for such a wise human to exist."

Ruri snorted. "Except you, right?" she sneered.

"No," he shook his head. "I'm exactly the same. Well, maybe I'm a little better, but I've still been led astray by my emotions on rare occasions. When I say it's impossible for such a wise human to exist, I mean it. I have no plan to rectify that. The Prince will embody inhuman wisdom. An objective observer that can chart the path forward. Once I'm finished teaching it, it'll be ready to start directing mankind from the shadows."

"You're crazy," Ruri shook her head.

"I'm surprised to hear that from you of all people," Edgar frowned. "After all, you just killed your good friend, right?"

She can't kill me anymore.

It was his thought and yet not his thought. A conclusion whispered by invisible lips, concocted from the observations of invisible eyes. Edgar felt a faint and trembling excitement deep within his throat.

It had worked. It had watched, and it had understood. The Prince was sitting the throne.

Slowly, Ruri loosened her grip on his collar, and Edgar's feet came back down to the ground. Pulling himself free, he straightened his cloak. Ruri just stared off into space, surely breaking inside.

Edgar smiled at her.

"I'll be taking the Fool with me," he said casually. "I'll be needing a bodyguard from here on in. I doubt we'll meet each other again. If you want to tell the others I was the one behind this…" he waved a hand at Bieshu's carcass. "...then that's fine. I don't need good relations with the Supremacy anymore anyway."

He turned and began to walk away, leaving Ruri to her horror. Bieshu's blood, still spreading across the floor, brushed against her shoes -- and she took a single step back. A hollow breath trickled from her throat.

Right before he vanished into the darkness with the Fool, Edgar turned his head to look at the foolish girl.

"It's going to be cold tonight," he said. "I'd recommend you wear a jacket."

And with those final words, Edgar stepped out of the good graces of the galaxy.

From here on in, what we have are records pulled together from scrap time.

The premier Supremacy historian, Vander Valentine, writes of the period:

With the assassination of his closest ally and the growing awareness of the vulnerability of his government, the First Supreme wisely decided to withdraw from matters diplomatic and focus on the expansion of military strength.

Taking the one who had discovered the treachery within the Zeilan Morhan as a direct subordinate, he quickly embarked on a campaign to wipe out the growing criminal element within Supremacy space, both to eliminate the danger to the citizenry as well as avenge his dear friend -- for these pirates had no doubt been accomplices in the murder of Bieshu del Mar. While certain less bold members of the remaining Zeilan Morhan withdrew from the First Supreme as a result of this campaign, its efficacy in establishing what would become the stronghold of the future Supremacy cannot be overstated.

As for the traitor Edgar Baras, he quickly managed to escape from Supremacy territory and flee in terror from the wrath of the First Supreme. Sightings of the traitor are reported throughout the next several decades, often at battlefields or sites of mass human suffering, but are few and far between.

While sources from the time do not clearly confirm this, we can certainly conclude via context that Baras was being actively sheltered by the forces that would in future years become the Unified Alliance of Planets. It is uncertain whether they ordered him directly to kill Bieshu del Mar, however, or simply chose to take him in order to take advantage of the circumstances later. Whatever the case, in doing so, the blackguard Roland Nebula and his cohorts had certainly made their opposition to the First Supreme's civilizing influence clear.

War, sadly, was inevitable.

Thus followed a period of rapid expansion for the Supremacy, resulting in a near-doubling of its territory. During its establishment, there had been many groups that had declined to become part of the fledgling nation, instead choosing to set up neighbouring governments and institutions. This time, the choice would be taken away from them.

While some states, like the Barony de Fleur and Yozopa, accepted peaceful annexation and enjoyed great benefits as a result, others responded much less wisely to the First Supreme's generous invitation. World Walden, which would one day give rise to the infamous Der Frieschutz, suffered intense bombardments and assaults from the Supremacy's finest Aether warriors before finally surrendering. The First Supreme himself landing personally was enough to bring some reluctant planets into the fold.

Galaden, Furi, Resh-de-Pata, Niosen, the Kemera Belt… the list goes on. Everything the Supremacy set its sights on quickly came into the fold. It was only when the Supremacy moved to take control of a small coalition of planets known as the Myodyne Assembly that they encountered true difficulty.

Unbeknownst to Supremacy negotiators, who had been operating in good faith, Myodyne had secretly been conspiring with a number of other parties in order to form a defense against Supremacy forces. These included forces with significant military strength such as Inganci, Monadere, and even Serendipity (formerly led by the fraudulent Roland Nebula). When Supremacy forces arrived to take control of the Myodyne capitol, they were met with unwarranted aggression.

What should have been a quick and peaceful invasion quickly escalated into a conflict throughout the surrounding systems and space. While the Myodyne government quickly fell, its allies continued the fight in an effort to force the Supremacy out of rightfully conquered land. The mercantile Enchainers, who had remained neutral up to this point, sold weaponry and resources to both sides of the conflict.

Due to this unfair advantage given to the enemy, and a period of illness on the part of the First Supreme, the Supremacy was forced to abandon the conquered Myodyne space. This was not a significant setback, however, as the war had rendered much of the territory unsuitable for settling -- and the enemy had spent a great deal more resources on the war than the Supremacy.

In the aftermath of the First Shot, as it came to be called, Serendipity, Inganci, and Monadere -- along with other allies who had flocked to their misguided banner -- formed the Coalition of Allied Worlds. Initially a mere defensive pact against Supremacy aggression, they would soon after form a true collective government and rename themselves as the Unified Alliance of Planets.

With the Supremacy and the UAP consolidating into galactic superpowers, others soon followed suit. The Enchainers used the mass profits from the ongoing conflicts to form a merchant nation of their own, the Great Chain, led by ten prominent families. Under the direction of Pontifex Alis (it is unclear whether "Holy Man" Idra still existed at this point), the various denominations of Y-worship consolidated to form the Final Church and establish territory of their own.

As the war between the Supremacy and the UAP intensified, and the Supremacy's warcraft became more and more advanced, many nations flocked to the UAP's banner -- knowing that their individual strength would be insufficient against the Supremacy in a fair fight. The UAP's power came to rival that of the Supremacy, and the Supremacy's resources were exhausted from the long war.

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On 14/02/67 ATR, at a neutral location established by the Great Chain, representatives of the Supremacy and the UAP signed a ceasefire. Both parties would cease aggression entirely, and focus on their own internal affairs, neither interfering with the other. It seemed an era of peace was on the horizon.

It lasted a mere five years.

67 Years After The Death Of Bieshu del Mar…

Edgar caught the spear.

"People are funny things," he said mildly, gripping the weapon tight even as it shivered in his grasp, eager to slip through his grip and skewer him between the eyes. "Whenever they say they're going to stop killing each other, they usually mean it. And yet…"

He waved a hand around the surrounding battlefield. It had been two days since the assault on Zemblanity -- the UAP's secret research outpost -- had begun. It had never boasted a particularly picturesque landscape, but forty-eight hours had turned it from a rocky desert to a blasted wasteland.

Edgar strode across orange dust as he approached his target, the owner of the spear. As he did so, he raised the shuddering weapon, smiling benevolently. Just as he'd thought all those years ago, the hands of time hadn't touched him. He was as young and pristine as his most perfect day.

"Five years… that's really not much, is it? To be honest, if not for the discovery here, I think the ceasefire would have lasted much longer -- but once the Supremacy found what you'd, ah, found, I suppose they couldn't just leave it alone, could they?"

He stopped, looking at his near-defeated opponent, embedded into a rockface. Ojo Isegun, called Victory by some, a gold-armoured young man. He'd been quite formidable. If he'd been attacking anyone else, anywhere else he probably would have been -- as his name pleaded -- victorious.

Unfortunately, he'd not just been attacking Edgar -- he'd been attacking Edgar while Zemblanity was in the grip of a true Aetheral war. The amount of sparks clashing across the surface of this rock right now was greater than even the fall of Azum… and so Beast Crown covered his form like never before.

The spikes of the crown protruded up into the air until they nearly brushed against the clouds, looking just a tad ridiculous. Well, that was fine. Edgar hadn't selected his ability with aesthetics in mind. Right now, he possessed so much raw strength that no amount of skill could close the gap.

"Rhydome," Edgar mused, tapping Victory's spear against the ground like a walking cane. "The name isn't very good. The research team has already escaped with all the data, right? They should put some more thought into the name they give this discovery."

"Damn… you…" Isegun's lips were slick with blood as he tried to pull himself out of the rock.

"Aether is a nice name," Edgar continued, ignoring Isegun's curse. "I'm actually pretty proud of that one." His eyes flicked over to his fallen opponent once more. "Are you enjoying Aether? You're certainly doing some creative stuff with it. This Armament is very good -- and you have that halo, too. A Principality, it's called? I know you didn't make that one, but I still like it. The person who did make it probably thinks in a similar way to me. Sorry if I'm talking too much. I don't get to converse much with anyone except an automatic these days."

Pink Aether crackled -- and Ojo Isegun lunged out of the rock, charging at Edgar. That was no problem. Moving with speed beyond the boy's wildest dreams, Edgar simply stepped out of the way of the strike and thrust Victory's own spear down through his shoulder, pinning him against the ground.

His scream echoed through the craters.

"Compass…!" Isegun gasped. "Edgar…! Edgar's brain…!"

"Sorry," Edgar spoke coldly down to him. "I've interfered with your weapon using my Aether. It was intricate work, and I wasn't able to usurp control entirely, but for the time being it can't register your commands."

Edgar leaned on the spear as he looked across the wasteland, provoking another scream of pain from Isegun as the blade moved inside him.

"That's the crux of all of it, really, isn't it?" he murmured. "Taking away power. I guarantee you that's got Azez terrified. The might of the Supremacy is Aetheral might. A mineral that can disable that Aether, even temporarily, is quite the threat indeed."

Here on Zemblanity, they'd been working on rhydome samples, trying to reproduce and enhance its Aether-smothering effects. Edgar didn't know exactly how far along they were, but as soon as somebody had leaked the location of this research outpost, the Supremacy had recklessly attacked without hesitation. That said it all.

First, the Supremacy had arrived to assault the planet, and then the UAP forces had come to repel them. The Five Nebula, these Deva of the Dawn, Monadere's Primaire… quite a few big names were fighting across the surface of this planet right now.

Including the biggest name of all.

"I'm sure he felt us fighting just now," Edgar said casually. "Thanks for the help."

"I'll kill you," Isegun hissed. "No matter where you go, bastard, I'll smash your fucking head in…"

Edgar frowned. "That's pretty graphic. Are you annoyed because I killed all your friends?"

The clouds of dust cleared around them, just a little, and the vague shapes of piled bodies could be made out in the gloom. Indeed, when Isegun had first sighted Edgar -- or rather when he'd been allowed to sight Edgar -- the Deva called Victory had been accompanied by a full legion of Inganci warriors. They had been formidable -- but in the end, Beast Crown had been stronger than they had been skilled.

"I'm sorry," Edgar sighed, tapping his finger against the hilt of the spear. "But it was useful to see how your personality type would react to something like that. Please rest assured I won't need to do it again."

The words seemed a little crueler than the ones Edgar would normally have chosen, a little more mocking, but he didn't question it. If speaking to Victory like this would be useful in the future, then that was a wonderful thing.

With that, he released his grip, and turned his back on the warrior called Victory. Curses and threats followed him as he strode into the dust -- promises to avenge his fallen subordinates, rebukes of Edgar's character -- but they were nothing. Edgar had no reason to listen to a mere byproduct of the era.

And besides… he had it on good authority that he didn't have to fear death from that man.

Madame Rook had positioned her starship atop a hill overlooking the battlefield, a thunderstorm of Aether visible far below. As a Combat Executive of the Great Chain, she'd come with only the finest equipment in hand. Her personal starship had a state-of-the-art holographic drive that projected an illusion of empty land over the area around it. Unless you were within a few meters of the starship, it and its mistress were invisible to the naked eye.

When visiting a war, it was of course prudent to conceal your presence, but Madame Rook had even more reason for that than most.

After all, she had once been known as the Tenderheart.

In comparison to her transport, her choice of seating was fairly low-tech. Two deck chairs looked out over the Battle of Zemblanity, Rook herself already seated in one. She didn't look much like a soldier. She wore a dark green jumper dress, and her blonde hair was styled into chaotically winding tendrils, like they could come to life any second and attack -- they could, of course, but that was coincidental.

Even though she was the only one sitting down, she was far from alone. A hulking metal figure stood behind her -- the Arcana Automatic known as the Fool, staring off into the distance. After its reprogramming, the simple personality it had formed over the course of the revolution had been washed away completely.

It was simply a mechanism that obeyed orders now -- specifically, the orders of Rook's guest.

She lowered her sunglasses with a finger as she saw Edgar approach. He'd removed Beast Crown, so his smiling face was fully visible as he re-entered the hologram field. It was funny -- Edgar hadn't changed at all since their time with the Sapphire Star, not a wrinkle, and yet his smile seemed just slightly more genuine now.

"That didn't take long," she commented as he sat down in the other chair.

"Isegun is strong," Edgar commented, plucking a can from the ground beside him and taking a sip. "But these are basically my perfect conditions. Right now, I think I could basically kill anyone."

"Really?" Rook raised an eyebrow. "Anyone?"

"Within reason," Edgar conceded.

"You didn't kill that boy," Rook pointed out. She'd been watching the battle from afar with the zoom function of her sunglasses -- along with sneaky adjustments to her own eyeballs.

Edgar took another swig of his drink as he watched the carnage below. "It's better if he lives for right now," he said vaguely. "It sets things up nicely for the future."

"How's that?"

Edgar shrugged, still smiling. "I have no idea," he said. "This is only half my plan anymore. At this point…" he tapped a finger against his temple. "... I'm able to just take instructions. It's like how I found you. I'm sure I had all the information required, but I lacked the ability to put it together and find the answer myself."

"And that doesn't… bother you? Doing things without knowing why?"

"There's no greater relief than abdication," Edgar leaned back in his chair. "The baton of my dream has almost fully slipped into the Prince's hand. It's like the world's greatest weight is being lifted from my chest."

Boom.

There was a massive explosion below -- a wave of nuclear fire that devoured half the battlefield in an instant. Rook and Edgar held their chairs steady as the shockwave pushed through. Even the Fool shuddered.

"He's here," Rook said. "I don't suppose you know why you're provoking him, either?"

"Of course I know," Edgar said, rising from his seat as the impact abated. "Even if I don't know the direct results of my actions, I know where they lead. Peace and joy for all mankind."

"And what does that mean?" Rook asked. "It's so vague."

Edgar finished his drink, crushing the can in his hand.

"I don't know," he said. "There's no need for me to know. So long as the conditions for my dream are met, it doesn't matter what shape it takes. The Prince is the child of this world. As one that has observed mankind in all its ugliness, I trust its judgement."

"What if he just kills you here, though?" Rook finished her own drink. "Then the baton falls to the ground and your dream ends."

"It's possible," Edgar conceded, cracking his neck. "They say he's been getting weaker, though. Apparently, some genetic trap laid by the Lord Director has been ravaging his body -- that's what they say, anyway, but I wonder. He does overuse those flames of his quite a bit, you know?"

Rook sniffed. "I couldn't say. If it's Aether, it's got nothing to do with me."

"What a strange thing to say," Edgar said. "You helped me discover it, after all."

For a moment, the two of them just stood there in silence. The distant sounds of battle -- bullets, blades, bombs, and screams -- lingered in the air. A second later, they were cut off by another wave of nuclear flame, licking over the battlefield and scouring it clean.

Edgar began to walk.

"I'll go say hello," he said, without looking back. "Goodbye, Margarethe. We will never meet again."

Rook nodded vaguely as she watched the man go. Then, just before he disappeared from sight, she called out: "Do you regret it?"

Edgar looked over his shoulder. "Regret what?"

"Any of it."

"No. That feeling doesn't exist inside me…" he began, before trailing off. "...hm. No, maybe it does, and I just don't recognise it. I recognise my dream, though. I recognise it more than anything else. It's the only thing of value in this world to me -- so, even if I were to have regrets..."

He turned and took the final steps out of sight.

"...I don't think they would have changed anything."

Azez the Absolute, First Supreme of the Supremacy, walked through the battlefield. As he did, it became a graveyard.

Soldiers, his allies and his enemies, combusted as they came too close to him. His walk left glass footprints in the sand behind him. That brought back memories. All of this brought back memories.

Blood in the air. Ashes on the ground. The stink of miserable death. It made him feel sick, and yet there was a sense of comfort to it. War. This was a tableau in which he existed.

A long, rattling sigh drifted out from behind his veil.

Years and sickness had done their work on Azez, and yet his body was still tense with terrible strength. Clad in nothing but a waistcloth and a paper veil -- to hide his disfigurement, emblazoned with the fist of the Supremacy -- he walked, each thump of his feet spreading sparks of gold across the ground. That same golden light shone from the many scars that covered his muscular, yet ragged body.

To Me!

Another old memory. In a day long since ended, he'd fought alongside the Zeilan Morhan on a planet not unlike this one. What had happened to the days like that? When had he turned his head to find that he now walked alone?

No matter. What was done was done.

The fodder disappeared just from coming close to him. Those who had worth hung back, waiting for a better opportunity, waiting for reinforcements. He paid them no mind. As the supreme one, there was no need for him to register their existence. There was only one person he was here for. Only one person he truly cared to kill.

"Edgar."

His voice reverberated with power. It alone was enough to scatter the pebbles in his path. Nothing was allowed to obstruct the path between him and that man.

Edgar stood before him, alone unmarred by Azez's presence, his features untouched by time, his eyes covered by that ridiculous Beast Crown. It truly had been Edgar's Aether he'd sensed from so far away, then. Azez raised a fist. Edgar just smiled back.

That infuriating smile… Azez should have torn it from his face the first time they'd met.

"It must be maddening," Edgar said, his voice as calm and placid as ever. "You're wishing you killed me the first time we met, aren't you? But I brought us victory in that war. Wishing you killed me back then is the same as wishing for your own defeat."

Azez narrowed his good eye from behind his veil. He hadn't realized it back then, not really, but this man really did like to talk. His mouth moved and moved and moved, and yet said nothing.

Well. Azez's question was much simpler.

"Did you do it?"

He did not doubt Ruri. She was one of the few that had remained loyal to him. Roland had abandoned him to waste away out of sight. Granba had abandoned him to toil in that absurd school of his. Idra had fizzled away into nothingness in some musty old chapel. Zarakhel's blade had rusted away. Even Piala's loyalty was based only on their blood ties. The Fool, gone. Edgar, unspeakable.

Yes. Only Ruri remained true. So he did not doubt… but Azez needed to hear it from the mouth of Bieshu's murderer.

"Did you do it?" he asked again.

Yes. That was where it had all gone wrong. Everything had been peaceful with Bieshu there. Everything had been true with Bieshu there. There had been no war like this. Humanity had been separated across the galaxy, but they had still been one people.

Before Bieshu, Azez had not strode across a thousand battlefields like this, and Azez had not brought down a million men. Before Bieshu, Azez had not tasted blood again and again and again, and known that it never stopped tasting foul. It all came back to Bieshu.

If Bieshu was here… everything would have been fine.

"Did you do it?" he asked a third time.

Edgar smiled.

"Yes!" he said.

Slowly, Azez closed his eyes.

"I see. Supreme Shine."