Editing Apocalypse Witch:Volume5 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 1===

What did she say?

What did that even mean?

Utagai Karuta’s mouth flapped wordlessly for a while. He had completely missed the moment when he should have drawn that puny weapon, his modified military flashlight, from his hip.

Marika and Kyouka were in a similar situation.

And if they didn’t say anything, it remained her turn.

The woman calling herself Transline smiled and continued.

“I am Transline. The central being of what you call the Threat.”

“That we call?”

It was true the humans had come up with that name on their own.

So did they have another, more official name?

“Why would we call ourselves the Threat? In your language, the closest term for us would be Metal-Based Naturally-Occurring Lifeform.”

Metal.

That was clearly different from humans, but some metals were still necessary components of the human body.

“From our perspective, you would be Carbon-Based Naturally-Occurring Lifeforms. Oh, and because you are the world’s strongest, I could add the ‘superior’ qualifier to that.”

Omotesandou Kyouka pressed a hand to her chest and took a slow, deep breath.

After refocusing her mind that way, she made a cautious attempt at making contact.

“Why go out of your way to add ‘naturally-occurring’? Are there other kinds of lifeforms?”

“Yes, there are. Such as most of the ‘Threats’ you have seen so far. Although the difference between natural and mass-produced is a trivial one to us,” replied the dark woman, tilting her head curiously.

The look on her face said she wasn’t sure why they felt the need to ask about that. It was like she had been forced to explain that most fishing line was synthetic these days and you rarely saw natural lines anymore.

“We have put together a factory for such things. And even your Earth has taken the first steps in that direction. You know, cloning and stem cells. Your efforts have stalled, but it is unclear to me if that is because you lack the necessary technology or you have stopped researching it because you find it distasteful.”

What path of evolution had these beings taken?

It was unclear if they had even achieved diversity through reproduction the way humans did.

The Threat did not gather up humans or any of Earth’s resources, but they did strengthen their own power by cannibalizing their fallen and taking their parts. The decoy and real ones had both done that. They might fluidly adapt to changes in their environment by repeatedly tearing away the necessary parts and customizing themselves rather than using the Darwinian theory of evolution.

“Why are you called Transline? In our language, that makes you sound like a power line or a wire or something.”

“That is not inaccurate. I act as a transmitter and a pipeline, so I combined the words in your language.”

She didn’t bother to hide the answer and even smiled as she responded.

Marika had reported that the Threat operating on the ocean during the Port of Kobe battle had periodically received supplies. And Kyouka had convinced Letnahe to tell them the sea anemone ones made fuel by gathering and concentrating the energy that poured down from space and dissolved into the ocean.

In other words…

“You alone provide the power to keep 300 million Threats running?”

“''Hee hee''!!”

A strange zapping sound made the humans flinch.

It came from the space station wall.

The wall had burst from within and the remnants of a thick cable jutted out.

The dark woman probably hadn’t meant that as an attack. She elegantly placed a hand over her mouth.

“Oh, dear. I apologize. I got a little overexcited there. ''Hee hee hee.'' Sigh. I am trying to restrain myself, I promise. ''Hee hee hee.''”

“…”
Karuta felt another prickly sensation.

It wasn’t visible, but there was some kind of energy roiling within Transline. She said this was while she worked to restrain it, so if she were to let it go free, would it be enough to fry them until not even the double helixes within their cells remained?

“There. I’ve calmed down☆”

Transline placed a hand on her large chest and took a deep breath. A breath. It was unclear if she needed to do that to live, but she was apparently working to calm herself.

That was how she saw it.

She didn’t even see this as a battle.

She was only making sure she didn’t ''accidentally'' kill Karuta and the others.

“I am no more than a power transmitter, so I do not create anything myself.”

Wasn’t Crystal Magic defined as techniques that read the waves similar to high and low pressure fronts which were created by the clash between the energy pouring down from space and the energy of the Original Crystal Embryo found at the center of the earth?

In that case…

“Were we borrowing your power to use magic?” asked Karuta.

“I can’t blame you for failing to notice. We have had very few chances for direct contact since we slowly follow a ‘loop’ separate from your galaxy. But since we were in the neighborhood, we might as well take you in, don’t you think?”

She had the look of someone in the comfortable, open ocean watching a small fish try desperately to survive in a small puddle leftover on the rocks. And from her point of view, that was probably accurate.

Her legitimate sympathy only made it more disturbing.

That thought led Karuta to realize something important: disturbing? He sensed a nagging feeling in the back of his mind. He felt a doubt that made him hesitant to even ask this being standing before him.

Marika asked a different question.

And being Marika, she asked an even more dangerous question than the one Karuta was hesitant to ask.

“Who is this ‘we’ you keep mentioning?”

“The unlimited numbers we can produce in our factory. But I couldn’t look after them properly if there were too many, so I’ve limited them to just 3 cargos.”

Karuta felt faint.

The difference between humans and the Threat was too great. They had no upper limit and all the Threats they had fought were a reduced number to make things easier on Transline?

If that was 3 cargos out there, then a cargo likely meant 100 million. And she made it sound like 3 of those units was keeping the numbers low.

They had never stood a chance. From the very beginning.

Meanwhile, Transline didn’t even seem to consider the possibilities of winning or losing. Even after reducing Earth’s population to 5.5 billion, she didn’t even see it as a battle.

In other words…

“We have come here to take you in. To protect you.”

There it was.

They hadn’t misheard that incomprehensible part after all.

“Some might be happy with constantly keeping our numbers up using the factory and rejoicing in our prosperity as metal lifeforms, but I don’t see it that way. That might bring stability, but it will not lead to evolution. No matter how far we expand the status quo, repeating the same stimuli on and on forever will only lead to gradual decay. Biologically and culturally. Thus, I am constantly seeking out new lifeforms. They don’t need to share our origin. They can be nitrogen, silicon, or carbon-based. I just want to find as many of them as possible and collect the greatest units of each species.”

Carbon-based.

Utagai Karuta kept a cautious eye on Transline while looking to something else. He looked to the back of the crystal girl’s head while she stood protectively in front of him in zero-g.

Crystal Girl Aine.

Did she fall under the silicon-based category?

“So you’re saying you have no reason to fight us?”

“Yes.”

“And we don’t have to worry about dying?”

“Yes, yes! ''Hee hee.'' But of course!! I will accept you and the sword-wielding one as a set.”

Transline smiled and promised them their safety. At the same time, several of the artificial lights on the ceiling nearby burst from within.

And still smiling…

“''So let’s just clean up the rest, shall we?''”

Something about her peaceful face felt wrong.

No, there was some fundamental disconnect here.

Yes, that was it.

If Transline was commanding all of the Threats and she had never intended to fight, then what had all of those Threats been doing? Had they gone berserk while down on Earth? Of course not. The Threat had clearly been acting as a group toward some kind of goal.

“It was not easy searching out the strongest lifeforms among so many. And while flipping over those cards to check, the population of nearly 8 billion dropped to only 5.5 billion.”

“So all of those battles were a test to identify us!?”

Marika shouted without thinking, but Transline’s demeanor did not change.

She continued smiling.

“And whenever I did narrow it down to one or more strongests, they just kept refusing my offer. Some challenged me to a meaningless battle, some inexplicably killed themselves right here, and others panicked and fled right out into the vacuum of space. But that just proved none of them were who I was looking for. And now I have found you and it didn’t even require flipping over half of the cards first, which just goes to show how clever I am☆ So now I will take you in. Do not worry. There is really, truly nothing to worry about.”

The human string pullers down on the surface had only been able to check whether or not the shuttle had launched and the Threat’s invasion speed.

What if the previous strongests had all fought self-destructive battles against Transline after launching the empty shuttle into distant space so no one would feel a need to visit the space station and find out what had happened? And even if there were any doubts, the human string pullers would have to believe it worked when the Threat actually did stop.

Karuta’s throat was trembling.

He tried to speak, but it didn’t work the first few times. He eventually did get the words out.

“Just to be certain. You say you’re taking us in. You mean you’re rescuing us?”

“Yes.”

“So you’re interested in humans and you want to acquire the four of us if you can?”

“Yes! Oh, yes!!”

She had a beaming smile so full of adoration that Karuta was afraid she was going hug him to her chest. Given the energy she contained, that would probably be enough to vaporize him.

And with that established…

“So why target Earth? We’re already here, so you have no reason to attack the surface anymore!!”

“Yes. Because I do not need them anymore.”

Transline did not even tilt her head.

The crackling around her died down. This was apparently a calmer topic for her.

She had no interest in ruling the planet or wiping out humanity. She really did see securing these four as more important.

And with that in mind…

“I am not attacking them because I want anything from them. I am simply cleaning them up so you have no lingering regrets here. We are only interested in the strongest ones. Well, with a species split between male and female, I would like to have a pair of them. But since I already have that with only the strongests here, the rest are not necessary.”

She wasn’t destroying them out of hatred or disgust.

But she would do it anyway.

She was so different. This leader of the metal-based lifeforms known as the Threat could verbally communicate with them, but the foundation of her thoughts was just so different.

She had said the previous world’s strongests had acted suicidally after learning the truth. Which was why she had not yet acquired the world’s strongest humans.

Why had they done that?

Maybe there was no reason and they had simply been unable to handle the truth.

But Karuta thought he knew the answer.

If Transline took someone in and was satisfied, she would then slaughter the rest of humanity. But she would let humanity live until she had accomplished her goal. So had those people chosen to die in order to delay that moment of utter destruction?

They had been exiled from Earth and thrown out into space. They had been pushed out of their ordinary lives and forced to choose death. But they had still wanted to be strong people.

Karuta’s dizzy spell was not going away.

How many layers of hell did this world have waiting for them?

“Karuta-kun,” cautioned Omotesandou Kyouka, floating nearby.

She was looking to the thick double-pane window.

Something was squirming there. The giant spider crabs, water bears, blue-ringed octopuses, and other Threats were moving away from the window. The view opened up. The blue ceiling visible there was in fact their home planet.

A red fireball was soaring toward it.

No, not just one.

There were so many. And each and every one was probably a ball of thousands or tens of thousands of Threats clumped together.

“Wait! Please wait!!”

“Sigh.”

“Why do you have to do this!? You said yourself the rest of humanity doesn’t matter to you! You’ve already accomplished your goal!!”

“''Hee hee.'' The perfect strongest response. You have been through so much, but you still wish to protect the fellow humans who created that hell for you. Oh, how wonderful!”

Something somewhere overloaded and burst.

Even belligerent Marika took a step back when she felt the tingling on her skin. Some small translucent crystals had formed on her cheek. That was the Crystal Magic preset of regeneration. Something similar to a serious sunburn had been identified as an injury. Karuta would probably see something similar if he looked in a mirror.

How long would this giant space station last?

Transline continued with a beaming smile.

“''Ah ha ha''! Yes, yes! I figured it out this time. ''Hee hee.'' You aren’t just mindless violence!! The world’s strongest I want must also have a love for their fellow humans!!!”