Apocalypse Witch: To the Strongests of an Age of Plenty
Episode 16's

Time remained flowing even during the disaster, so it was late at night before long.

Aine likes small spaces, though, so she goes to sleep on the prototype spaceship shaped like bamboo leaves (because it is more sinister if her hands and feet protrude from Karuta's body when she rolls around in her sleep) and Marika is haired the strawberry blonde sleeps in her usual spot on the sofa bed (with just one blanket covering her body, again). He ended up rolling around on his own so that the blanket looked very inadequate.

The dim light of the laptop screen is the only thing illuminating the RV at the moment. Cable connects the device to the smartphone.

Student Council President Omotesandou Kyouka stared at the computer screen wearing a large shirt.

“You still won't sleep?” ask Utagai Karuta from behind him.

“I have to take care of these babies.”

Apparently he was referring to computers. The remark made Karuta curious, how he looked at Crystal Girl Aine mentally.

The screen featured several windows, but they were all filled with lots of alphanumeric text that rolled quickly. He could have guessed that he was trying to break into some kind of encryption, but he doubted whether the human eye could be fast enough to keep up with what was happening. At least Karuta's eyes can't.

“Come, it won't take long to re-encode. Karuta-kun, you can sleep first.”

“If it won't take long, then I will stay and keep an eye on.”

“Ouh, baby. Stuck by my own language style.”

He gave a bewitching smile and tilted his head slightly to the left. At first he didn't realize what he meant, but when the woman traced her finger along the shoulder whose delicate skin was left exposed by the loose shirt, he finally realized what the woman was asking to do.

"I'd be so embarrassed."

"This is my thank you for accompanying me."

He felt that she would not continue the journey unless she followed him. He held the silence for a while, but he finally succumbed to the awkward atmosphere of the elevator.

He placed his chin on the shoulder of the woman who had been "open" to him. The two of them looked at the screen, as if the photographer was rubbing his cheek against the model's cheek while hugging it from behind.

She could feel the heat of her soft cheeks and the scent of her hair.

And while giving it his all, he also whispered to himself.

"After we find out what's inside the Giant Sword Woman's phone, we should have some information about other Troubleshooting. So we can finally start working."

"...Right."." Right."

"Karuta-kun, do you expect the decryption to fail?"

Since he was basically hugging her from behind, he felt something slightly hit. He may also be aware of his increased heart rate.

If not for the need to protect helpless students and teachers, they might not have to open their fangs like animals.

If it wasn't for their revenge, the people in this RV might be able to smile together in a classroom or club.

Part of him clearly felt that way, but part of it was what made his childhood friend cry in London.

She had asked him not to leave her - to leave them - behind.

"Don't worry" said Omotesandou Kyouka. "I feel the same way."

"Yes?"

At first, he thought this was a question that culminated or fished, but then he realized his intended intent.

"Vengeance, vengeance, make them pay. Quite simple to say, but I think we will definitely fail at some point. I think our desire for revenge will falter at some point and it will make it obsolete, change, and fade. And that's almost certainly what would happen if I was thrown into the world alone with nothing but this wheelchair. In fact, I probably won't be able to take the first step. There's no way I can do something as impressive as rooting out the Problem Solvers who rule this world."

"..."

"But it's weird." The President of OSIS was wearing a smiling shirt, but he was too close to see his expression clearly. "People I could call friends gathered around someone as weak as me and the coincidences piling on each other made us survive to this extent. My desire for revenge was never extinguished, and I was actually working to eliminate the Problem Solvers. "In the crucial moments, we just need to work together." Hidhi. When I said that at a school meeting, I never imagined that it would mean something like this. At that time, we found a blanket and cooler hidden under the heliport and we tried to figure out who made the wrong attempt to provide the perfect resting place with shadows and a pleasant cool breeze."

So then...

What it means ...

"I'm sorry" said Karuta. "If we hadn't met you, maybe you wouldn't have swayed like this."

"Now you're just too worried about yourself. Like I can't do anything alone, I doubt the rest of you can get this far without me. You must have lost at one point or failed to make the first move and stuck to your own doubts. Don't you think so?"

"Maybe right."

“In addition, I doubt we can live as usual even though we never start seeking revenge. As I have said, we will only reflect in uncertainty. My eldest who has many reasons for evasive reasons. Maybe, I will live a life where I blame my feet every time I fail or give up on something and try to arouse sympathy from everyone around me,” said Karuta.

Karuta has no right to decide on a better path for his life.

He has to live in his own way.

That's what he's got to do.

Suddenly the laptop screen changed. The alphanumeric text that was scrolling stopped and a new window appeared. It shows a list of files that humans can read.

"In the order of coincidence that there is, we have one more thing to add" said the OSIS chairman wearing only a shirt. Some of his voice sounded enthusiastic and others disappointed. "Now we have to look for clues and information. It seems our revenge path is not over."

Problem Solvers are the strongest in the world. They are the only clear way to counter the Threats that are shaking the international community. This means his wealth naturally gathers around them along with many assets, properties, and real estate.

Searching for their hiding place or base is not as easy as finding a house in a residential area that they have taken out a loan to buy it. Nearly 2000 properties are registered in its name worldwide.

Twintails Marika sighed in annoyance in the RV car.

"It won't narrow its existence at all" he lamented.

"To be more precise, they look like international entrepreneurs who move around the world so they don't think about home or citizenship" Karuta said. "It's more like they're just borrowing a place in a mansion or a luxury apartment wherever they're at the time."

"But, do you see any strange activity between them?" ask the Student Council Chairman, Omotesandou Kyouka while using a remote projector to display a list of data distributed as dots across the map. "It looks like they have completely given up on guarding the space elevator and flying around the world with their schedule of activities set to this very moment. Really, all five members working together as in taking care of the elevator is a rare occurrence and it seems like they generally work alone."

The answer of the Student Council Chairman was simple.

"How many seats do you think they have on five continents, except Antarctica? They may be specialists on one particular continent, but their influence spans the entire world. And each of those locations is heavily guarded, so making an imprudent approach is enough to cripple us. And I'm talking about a huge army of 'common people' who are gathering for profit. Individuals like us who do not have real support cannot expect to be able to compromise on such a thing.”

“...”

“Ugh,” sigh Marika.

Kyouka laughs.

“Do not worry. There's gaps. It seemed like they were likely to return to a certain location after completing some work. This is not a stop halfway to their next destination and this is something they have been doing for a while and continue to do now.”

“Where is it?”

“Finland. Countries we hide now.”

The Arctic world is visible outside.

Looking through the foggy windows showed thick snow and an ice-covered lake. It's hard to believe that they just took classes in the sweaty tropics not long ago.

“This is most likely their real hiding place or base. Every time something happened, they gathered here and had a secret discussion between them. They don't have to worry about paparazzi, leaking information to social media, or laser tappers here, so this is where they reach consensus. If they didn't want anyone to hear their talk, I imagine they would have held it here. It's more useful than the space tower they've left.”

Five Problem Solvers have been reduced to two. After more than half of them were killed it would definitely shake even the strongest in the world. Their presence in the usual elevator would be too prominent. They wanted to escape the crowd of government officials and media reporters so that they could bring out the feelings that were awakened in their hearts and plan their return as soon as possible, so there's a good chance they'll be here.

"If we find them here, we get what we want" Karuta said. "And if they're not here, it's also convenient. We know they come here a lot, so we can set up a bomb or sabotage a gas line or something. Then we just need to watch from a distance and wait for someone to show up."

“In addition, I found some personal information regarding the remaining members. Although only a little,” added the President of OSIS. “The two remaining members are named Susannia Evans and Anastasia Blast.”

“That's it?” After waiting for a while and not getting a response, Marika expressed her disappointment. “Eh, there is no information about the magic they used in the God Cult or the records about their previous battle?”

“I told you that it's only a fraction of the information I got, right?” Kyouka did not sound happy with the findings. “I feel like they already know each other's magic so well that there's no need to record it anymore. Maybe like when we don't need to write our own phone number in the address book.”

"Lupain how they fight. What about their combat infrastructure? We might be able to find out something about their magic from there."

Marika held back her steps because she wanted to get whatever information she could get, but the Student Council President sighed.

“Susannia controls large-scale agriculture. He seems to be helping to build a food base and contain the spread of the wilderness. It said its presence in the business world was particularly pronounced in Africa, but it was working to improve greenery on all five continents except Antarctica. Since there is no guarantee that he will be in Africa, it is fortunate that we can narrow down his goal to Finland. However, it is unclear what role he played in large-scale farming. Civilian satellites only show very large mechanical farms. Does he control plants, control machinery, or control humidity or weather?”

Karuta had heard of it.

With uniform large-scale agriculture covering most of the world's grain-producing regions, regional brands are becoming extinct. Specialized farms that produce things like French wine, American beef, German potatoes, or Japanese rice work to create the best versions of their products through selective breeding and genetic modification, and, once the taste and nutrients reach an acceptable level, the genetics are incorporated into agriculture in grain-producing regions that spread to different parts of the world for enormous profits. It's like a treasure tour where you're given a vague map of where to dig.

The food that the Karuta group eats every day is moistened by the sweat and tears of their friends' killers.

And his flesh and blood showed his fangs.

"Ehm, then what about Anastasia?" ask Marika.

"Military."

Marika was hoping to get a more pleasant answer, but this was a more surprising answer.

"Anastasia Blast is most strongly associated with North America and, in contrast to the other four, she is directly involved in managing military infrastructure. But it is unclear what he actually did. Does it provide intelligence and firepower to troops on the battlefield, transport personnel or materiel, or develop and manufacture new weapons? What does it mean to control the military globally? If it holds a central position that exceeds the interests of individual nations, then how can the world function?"

All of this gives no answer.

Even the intellectual Omotesandou Kyouka became doubtful about his own information.

Karuta summed it up for them.

"So in the end, we will execute the plan without a referral.”

“I found some of their photos.”

The OSIS president used a remote projector to display two photos on the wall.

The red-haired woman with the long pigtail is Susannia Evans.

The blonde woman with wavy hair is Anastasia Blast.

This section looks like a list of submissions for model registration requests. Do they have natural beauty, have spent a lot of money on it, or both? And no matter how beautiful, they were without a doubt two of the five strongest women in the world.

These monsters were strong enough to stand next to the dinosaur woman, the light spear holder, and the giant sword.

Fortunately, we have their pictures.

At the very least, they would not foolishly attack the wrong person. They did not want to start a direct confrontation if they could avoid it, so it was extremely important for them to be able to start fighting without having to call them and confirm their identity first.

On the other hand, that's all they have.

Despite planning carefully beforehand, they had only managed to win narrowly in the previous battle. The tragedy of the sinking ship gives clues as to what to do. But now everything is different. They had no idea what Susannia and Anastasia could do.

When he first saw the dinosaur, Karuta did not know what to do and ended up creeping among the shattered crystal statues. He could not prevent the 700 students and teachers from being trapped in an almost eternal sleep.

They're facing something on the same level here.

And they have to win at one chance.

It will be like early hell.

It will be a repetition of that nightmare.

They basically throw themselves back into a colorful world of trauma that they never wanted to experience again.

"We have to survive this" Utagai Karuta said.

They were avengers, so this was a strange thing to say. They should be the ones to sneak in and kill their opponents in sleep.

But that's how he sees it.

“Aine, Marika, Omotesandou-san. It all depends on this, so let's survive.”