Editing Apocalypse Witch:Volume3 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 3===

“Please compile all of your data related to this operation. And organize it so even I can understand it. Try to avoid hiding the truth below a deluge of data, will you?”

As soon as she was done with her greeting to Student Council President Omotesandou Kyouka, the silver-haired brown-skinned soldier named Letnahe Kurent made that rude demand.

And with that said, the messenger from the coalition force surrounding them out at sea promptly left the control tower.

Water poured down in a shower.

But this was not the artificial rain pounding on the reinforced glass from the outside. It came from the shower room installed in the airport’s personnel standby area.

“Japan has such terrible air and it’s so humid,” Letnahe had said. “So please let me do something about my sticky hair and skin before I have to use my head.”

That was her rationale.

(She forces her claims onto you without creating any chance for a conversation, she lets her own feelings dictate the schedule, and she even disses your country. …I imagine this is a stereotypical test to see if Grimnoah will obey the grownups’ rules or if we will give into anger and do our own thing.)

This special envoy had been sent by the coalition force.

She was from the Indian military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. Specifically, from the navy.

But no matter how much her titles complicated matters, Omotesandou Kyouka was never going to forget what Natlena Blast had said.

When the Problem Solvers had been destroyed and her sister Anastasia had died, someone had approached that 12-year-old girl and given her information she should not have had to set her up as an avenger.

And the name Natlena had given was…

(How far does it go?)

The President thought to herself while her long black hair fluttered behind her.

(Is the Indian military behind it? Is the coalition force behind it? Or is there some even higher organization that’s bossing the coalition force around? My first task is to determine the scale of the problem.)

“Now, then.”

Her wheelchair’s wheels creaked as she moved to the dressing and laundry room next to the shower room. The faintly sweet aroma may have been from the shampoo or conditioner being used in the shower room. The shower room must have been poorly sealed because it felt humid in the adjacent room. The President was of course not doing some laundry in this downtime. She was interested in the white uniform that Letnahe had removed and folded up.

The uniform and rank insignia were valuable sources of information. She could learn something from the stitching or fabric alone.

(Hm, this does appear to be a legitimate Indian Navy uniform. And her salute was accurate too. I doubt this is a costume meant to place the blame on the Indian military.)

It was a lot like a crossword puzzle. Each new piece of information acquired provided a hint to the next piece. But if you started on false assumptions, you would stray further and further from the truth.

The President continued her analysis like she was performing an autopsy or crime scene investigation.

(Her underwear is a New York brand…but not necessarily because she travels the world a lot. She may have just ordered it online. But this is still a surprise. The only bulletproofing she uses is thin special fibers – no plates at all. Was she more worried about looking good for the cameras than about getting shot while on the front line of a clash between the real Threat and the world’s strongest magicians? Or did she assume wearing a bulletproof jacket would not actually save her?)

Kyouka unfolded and searched through every item in the basket, but she could not find any ID, any firearms, or any communication devices such as a phone or tablet.

(Hm? But I thought she had something on her left wrist.)

“You aren’t going to find anything in there,” said the sensual silhouette in the frosted glass.

The President sighed.

“You’re the type to pack any valuables in a plastic bag to take them in the bath with you, are you?”

“A standard precaution.”

The ring she had been wearing was also nowhere to be found. That suggested she valued her privacy instead of just being a workaholic.

Kyouka gave up on this tactic, refolded the clothing, and returned it to the basket.

“You brought an axe with you?” she asked.

“Oh? You can tell without actually seeing it?”

“The shape of the leather case is fairly unique. The handle is too close to the end to be a collapsible shovel.”

“Carrying a weapon is convenient and I personally find this more useful than a survival knife. I left behind my gun out of respect for this country’s rules.”

Axes and knives also violated the country’s rules, but there was no point in telling that to a professional soldier. This and the shower were probably part of the test to see how far she could push the girl until she responded with anger.

Kyouka sighed.

[[Image:ApocalypseWitch_v03_08.jpg|thumb]]

“What message does the coalition have for us?”

The frosted glass door slid open.

The sweet-smelling steam grew thicker.

Letnahe stepped into the dressing room with a towel lazily wrapped around her. Her small plastic bag of valuables was held in her mouth by a string while she used both hands to quickly do up her wet hair.

Her brown left wrist wore a mobile watch that synced with a phone.

But it was too soon to assume she was righthanded. That kind of assumption could lead to a critical mistake at some crucial moment later on.

She was wearing her glasses, so she may have cautiously wanted to keep all her senses sharp even in the shower.

Once her wet hair was out of the way, the messenger grabbed the plastic bag in her hand to free up her mouth. Then she dropped a bombshell.

“Our coalition force has no intention of interfering in your mission here.”

“I highly doubt you came here just to tell us that.”

“But if we determine you are unable to continue your mission, we will take over. I assume you will understand the general situation if I tell you we are preparing a Pinaka III for use.”

“…”

That was an endless cruising nuclear torpedo deployed by the Indian Space Force that had been separated from the other three branches of their military.

Once it was launched into the ocean by a ship or submarine, the undetectable weapon would circle the earth as many times as needed. It was powered by the 30 low-orbit power generation satellites surrounding the earth, so it would surface just long enough to receive microwave power, allowing it to continue operating indefinitely. Of course, all 30 of the satellites ''surrounding the entire world'' would send down a charge every single time, so it was nearly impossible to search out the torpedo’s location based on the area of sea receiving the microwaves.

As long as it remained deep below the ocean surface, there was no fear of it being intercepted with anti-air lasers.

And after preparing a weapon as bizarre as that, no one was going to waste it by filling its warhead full of ordinary explosives. While messing with the radio in the control tower, Kyouka had learned that a landing craft out at sea was full of hazmat suits and chemical protection vehicles.

“The Pinaka III’s payload is extraordinarily large for a torpedo,” said Kyouka. “If I am not mistaken, filling it with as large a hydrogen bomb as would fit would reach 140 megatons. I recall the Indian Space Force putting together this ridiculous plan just so they could break the record set by the former Soviet Union. And the test detonation was done deep below the Pokhran desert.”

“You are a knowledgeable girl. But if a bomb that large were actually detonated on the surface, it would trigger a new ice age. To avoid that, it will only scatter 20 smaller nuclear warheads once arriving in the target area of sea. Each one will only be around 400 kilotons to ensure a minimal effect on the environment.”

“You’re sending in a strategic nuclear weapon that’s direct heat rays and blast would cover a radius of 14km and that’s radioactive contamination would cover the entirety of Japan and also thinly spread out across the entire planet’s stratosphere?”

“I said minimal, not zero.”

A Crystal Magician could recover from a powerful nuclear attack as long as they did not suffer an immediately lethal wound. Even if their skin blistered, their flesh tore from their bones, and their bones broke, they would return to normal in 30 seconds. So not even the direct shockwave and heat would necessarily mean immediate death.

But the real danger was the radioactive material known as fallout. Internal exposure was especially difficult to remove and it might repeatedly trigger the regeneration, preventing the Crystal Magician from moving. Crystal Magicians had to be careful with both poisons and medicines and radioactive materials were like an extreme version of that.

Letnahe brushed up her silver bangs that were dripping with water.

“Thus, we would like a copy of Grimnoah’s plan. That way we can monitor the situation and know exactly when your plan has failed so we can launch a weapon that is guaranteed to hit.”

(Karuta-kun began this counterattack on his own, so I have no way of knowing the details myself.)

“And if I refuse?”

“Then we will have to make our own determination.”

The President asked a daring question without revealing her ignorance of their plan, but Letnahe Kurent was not daunted. She might as well have been following a conversational flowchart she had set up in advance.

“We might end up launching the Pinaka III when you still have a chance of succeeding, but if that is what you would prefer.”

“I see.”

“This is in your best interest.”

Kyouka’s wheelchair creaked quietly, but not because she had backed away. The woman in only a towel had leaned forward and placed her hands on the armrests.

She leaned over the girl in order to take the initiative here.

“Preventing a misinformed decision on our part would eliminate some excess risk from your already risky mission. So I would like to know your general schedule along with an outline of your plan. Refusing puts your students, the Kansai region, and perhaps the entire Japanese Archipelago at risk of nuclear contamination.”

Omotesandou Kyouka gave a snort of laughter.

“What happened to respecting Japan’s rules?”

“I would prefer not to break this country’s three non-nuclear principles, so please help me avoid that by cooperating.”

“Don’t act like you aren’t itching to launch that thing.”

(Basically, she wants to take control of the world back from the children while also stealing our Crystal Magic tech that has become the world’s new image of the strongest. Our plan will of course use Crystal Magic, so you need to understand how it works to determine whether or not it would work.)

Humans played as dirty as ever even with the Threat preparing to attack them. Someone always stepped forward to use the situation to their advantage.

And if Kyouka went with the easy answer of “I will not give in to threats”, Letnahe and the coalition probably would launch the nuclear weapon. Their method of defeating the Threat was certainly a heroic thing and they probably felt like they could ''expose Crystal Magicians to any amount of violence'' because they were the world’s strongest. Just like a small child busy pretending to be a superhero would feel no guilt about hitting their father who was playing the villain.

To stand at the peak was to be an oddity.

No one would worry about whoever had been designated strongest. Just like no one had ever questioned how the Problem Solvers were made to fight the Threat back when they had been the strongest. And if someone did jump the gun and launch that nuclear torpedo early, the only ones injured in the blast would be Karuta and the others fighting on the front line.

Kyouka decided to correct the fundamental mistake here.

“You can take command if you want, but are you prepared to take responsibility as well?”

“We will have the legal basis for it soon enough. Our coalition is the will of the world itself.”

“Not what I meant,” whispered Kyouka in a voice that knew how to derive a sadistic pleasure from tormenting others with her words. “Your decision – or the coalition’s decision – is based on the assumption that you can defeat the real Threat with that nuclear weapon. But what if you use that nuke and spread radiation everywhere, but the Threat shrugs it off? You’d be in a real bind then, wouldn’t you?”

“…”

“Nuclear explosions are flashy, so you can’t exactly pretend it didn’t happen once it fails.”

Everyone knew Grimnoah did not have nuclear weapons and there was zero chance of some unrelated nuclear war starting right now.

The coalition force would be unable to pin responsibility for the nuclear explosion on anyone else.

“And if that happens, we will become more than just the world’s strongest. We would become ''victims'' as well, wouldn’t we? We could have defeated the Threat if we had been allowed to fight, but the grownups intervened and screwed it all up. Try telling people their city will be the next one to go because of that and I feel like you will have a hard time convincing the world to do much of anything you want. There would be riots around the world and you could never again leave your dark and musty shelters.”

In other words, the coalition’s attack had to be successful.

Nukes were the ultimate bargaining chip. They could force through most any demand. But if they fired one and it failed to defeat the Threat, they would lose everything. They would lose face, lose trust, and lose influence. Later historians would question their sanity.

“It’s all or nothing,” said Kyouka with a pause between each word. She smiled in a poisonous yet alluring way. “Do your higher ups really want to make such a risky gamble? You really think the top brass with more wealth and political power than they know what to do with would want that? Gambles are made by those who have no future if they lose. We aren’t talking about rich shoplifters who do it for the thrill – those grownups have their every desire fulfilled to the point of boredom, so I seriously doubt they would choose to take on such a risk now.”

“Well…”

The towel fell away.

Almost like Kyouka’s clever logic had stripped her bare.

But even with all her brown skin exposed, Letnahe did not remove her hands from the wheelchair’s armrests.

This was not enough for her to back down.

She carried an even greater weight as messenger. If she focused on her personal feelings and flinched here, people would doubt the power of the coalition’s will.

“All of that is based on the assumption that the nuclear attack would fail to defeat the Threat. We are merely exchanging empty arguments based on optimistic and pessimistic assumptions. Buying time like that will not cause the coalition to change its mind. I guarantee you that.”

“…”

“The Pinaka III will be launched if you do nothing. So put away those baseless fantasies and make a decision based on real data.”

“What if I told you I have real and very specific data backing up my claim?”

That smooth response caused Letnahe to gasp momentarily.

The talk of a nuclear attack had come as a surprise, so Kyouka would not have had time to put together a flowchart and practice this argument with a fellow student. So how had she managed to get the better of Letnahe Kurent’s perfect preparations?

The girl was like a spider tangling its prey in invisible threads.

“Needless to say, Crystal Magic is the world’s strongest combat technology. That is the age we live in, after all. Those strongest magicians are working together as they fight on the front line, yet we have not received a single report of anyone destroying a Threat. As far as I know, the only success was Karuta-kun causing two of them to destroy each other out at sea.”

“…”

“The real Threat is very different from the decoys. …If I am correct, this Threat would survive a nuclear attack. They are made to. How else could they be a true ''threat'' to humanity?”