Apocalypse Witch: To the Strongests of an Age of Plenty
Episode 23

The promised time has come.

It is called morning rather than night. Karuta and Marika leave the RV at 4:10 a.m., which is almost before the sun rises. They were in a truck rest area for long-distance drivers. Usually such places are always crowded even at night, but this early morning period turned out to be an exception. Everyone leaned over in their seats while sleeping under the covers on an empty stomach.

The sky changed from dark blue to purple.

Just like in the memories of his past in the Ocean Crystal Magic Academy, he found it hard to imagine the array of stars as the darkness faded away.

Marika with wavy hair resembling a ponytail looked up and shuddered in coldness before finally protesting somewhat resentfully.

"I know why we chose this time. Of course, we're going to head to the weapons production plant of the world's largest arms company that doesn't even get help from the giant sword lady, so I doubt the place is this quiet."

"If only we knew Anastasia was there, we wouldn't have had to sneak in like this. It's going to be the last battle, so we'd better get in and end it quickly."

Of course, assuming that this opponent was someone they could defeat that way.

As they walked out of the truck stop and headed to the semiconductor factory, they received a transmission from OSIS President Omotesandou Kyouka waiting at the RV.

"Karuta-kun's. It's the safest factory in the world, but do you remember how it got in?"

"Not too complicated."

To ward off industrial spies and terrorists, the factory will install cameras and sensors inside and outside. Surely there will be thousands or even tens of thousands of sensors installed.

But there is a way out of the situation.

In simple terms...

"Sensors are meaningless if they can't trigger an alarm when they detect an intrusion" he said.

"Yes, we just need to make sure the alarm goes off 24 hours and be reluctant to turn it off" Kyouka said. "Security may go to great lengths to seek intrusion at first, but they will slowly give up. Once they realized that the sensors were in trouble, they didn't take long to start yelling at the alarm to stop sounding."

"Nobody will notice us when we sneak in when all the sensors have sounded the alarm? Wow, that's like the opposite of a ninja stunt," jokes Marika while walking next to her.

It might sound silly, but there was no chance of sneaking in and achieving the goal secretly when they wanted to fight one of the Problem Solves. Chaos will come sooner or later, so it all depends on when to decide when it happens.

The factory area has an area of 3 square kilometers and includes employee dormitories because it is in a very quiet area, so it looks like a small village. All are guarded by fences and gates. There are several large factory buildings and warehouses for temporary storage of products and materials.

Along the road leading there, they saw a distribution substation surrounded by a high fence without a supervisor. It is likely that the backup power supply will be activated if they succeed in destroying the substation, and very high technical ability is required to infiltrate the current diverter and disconnect the power supply to the sensor.

However, if all they want is to create an uproar, then it is much easier.

"Marika, blow it up" Karuta said.

"Oh, so we're finally going to start."

After he uttered "Tezcatlipoca, growing stronger", the Crystal Flower used on his chest shattered and covered his arms and legs and wings with a transparent armor and wings. He waved forward with his rapier sword to fire a laser beam from the unit inside the overturned handle like a broken umbrella during high winds. It splits easily through fences and sub-station buildings of checkered transformers.

The alarm began to sound from the sleeping factory and the lights lit up brightly like a nighttime baseball game.

Karuta laughed a little.

He had already experienced this while traveling to London while the city was on alert. The bright light will help find suspicious people, but the extreme contrast creates a blind spot in the shadow. They don't seem to have to worry too much.

"OK, we have to follow the next situation."

"It's getting more exciting!"

Marika again used her laser beam to cut through the iron-plated fence and gain access to the factory area.

But something seemed strange after they entered inside.

"What?"

"Is something wrong?" ask the Chairman of OSIS.

“Um, we have triggered the alarm as planned, but there is no one inside the building,” Marika said. “There are no signs of security units or workers having to check after this very loud alarm wakes them.”

“…”

Alarms and bright lights may react automatically when the sensor detects something. They are overwhelmed with feelings that are difficult to explain, such as coming to school as usual but waking up on their own, even when the bell rings signifying the start of class.

Then all the alarms went off.

They chose a method that made it difficult to turn off the alarm, but all became silent.

The voice of a young woman was heard from emergency broadcast speakers installed around the area.

"There's no need to be shy. The doors are unlocked and the PMC has been cancelled. Quickly in. I'd really like to talk to you."

"..."

"Do you want to talk or not, you need to meet with me, right? You must have wanted so badly to kill me because I was the last survivor. So hurry. I'm waiting in the reception lobby of Building A 1st Floor."

"(Hey, Karuta.)"

"(Yes. We know there's someone suspicious here, but there's no guarantee they'll wait there)."

They stood their backs to watch their surroundings while slowly walking towards Building A.

Meanwhile, the young lady continued chatting through the loudspeakers.

"Hey, Utagai Karuta. What do you think of the threat?"

"..."

“Oh, did I make you alert? It is not easy to gather information about you. I mean, examining the bodies wasn't an option when everything sank with the ship, so it was very difficult to figure out who we failed to kill. Report cards held by various governments and the completely separate Crystal Blossom you call Aine end up being key there. Rare weapons can have flaws in practice.”

It's more than just a one-way broadcast.

He knew where they were and could see his mute reaction.

“I don't care about Threat at this point. Wouldn't surprise me to find out you faked it all.”

His unreasonable response.

But he doubted if this woman was lying at this moment. The woman did not beg for her life, so she did not have to worry about how they felt about her. If he would silence them with death, he would not need to protect his image before them.

So what does that mean?

"The threat does exist," a hoarse voice sounded from the speaker. "Very strong, ruthless with no room for negotiation, and even the five of us united could not defeat him. Known as the Metal-Derived Autonomous-Origin Higher Lifeform Combat Weapon, but who knows what that means. Whatever it is, it brings real damage and governments around the world are definitely not satisfied with just the way we limit it. That's why they decided to develop and introduce new technologies like your Crystal Blossom."

"Why did you step on our school? Can't we all be at peace?"

"Did you not know enough that we have a completely different format?"

His words sounded resolute in getting rid of something.

“Your strengths are useful. Actually, that power has pushed us to this point. However, bringing a new weapon suddenly onto the battlefield will inevitably introduce confusion in the maintenance and use of all weapons. We will block each other and fail to harness our potential causing the near-awake balance to collapse. We have limited the damage to just a few areas or cities, but from then on, the future of the 5.5 billion population will only get darker and darker."

"..."

"Greater power is not always a good thing. We suggest a future where the five of us are constantly updated until one day we can defeat Threat. Everything outside of that will only hinder that future."

"Are you kidding? You slaughtered so many people just because they followed different standards, yet you expect us to repent?"

"No."

Does he hate the Karuta group as much as the Problem Solver group after their friends are killed?

"There is a penalty for every crime. Either I kill you or you kill me. But even if you defeat me, you will not escape this Hell. Once you become the strongest in the world, the reality of Threats will be thrust before you. Whatever happens, you won't find peace."

Marika's eyes glanced as she asked.

“Sialang. Is he really crazy? You've killed so many people and you don't even speak in terms of good and evil? Just say! Don't you realize what you've done is wrong!?”

"We have a different position. And do you remember what it is our duty to protect? We should be able to see it from the big ship."

Like useless ornaments, though,

A skinny silhouette that appeared vertical from the horizon.

Karuta recalled what Kazamuki Gekiha said while laughing.

“L outer space... elevator? What about it?”

"The world is reshaped by those who win. There was a mythological age, there was an age of natural science, there was an age of majority rule, there was an age of God's great magic, and now the age of crystal magic is arriving."

“And you don't want that?”

It all comes back to the different positions we have. We brought our magic to the table because we sensed that ordinary scientific technology would not be enough to build a fortress against the Threat. The expansion of the Sunny Side Up planet is one option. But there are many other options. Elicia wants to build a dive city that perfectly recycles all of its waste, Yukino wants to expand the planet as mentioned, Jessie wants to use cold sleep on a large scale to travel pseudo time tens of thousands of years into the future when she believes the world's environment will recover, and Susannia wants to use special clothes based on biological structures to survive in harsh environments. I also made choices like that. Although my choice was a bit strange. But more than that, it depends on whether we can build a way to counter the Threat independently. You could even say that it was a requirement to join Problem Solvers. Not everything is necessary. As long as one of us succeeds, we will have a chance to defeat Threat.

"You didn't mean to..."

"Yes, when you Crystal Witches rise to popularity, you get in the way of those things. Your side effects - very tall buildings and very large ships and planes - suck up resources quickly. No matter how strange a fortress civilization we manage to create, your new technology is always a hindrance. The planet will dry up and humanity will be wiped out before the Threat does. Nothing could evolve from a Crystal Proficiency that could defeat that Threat."

How much of what he said could they believe? Karuta can't tell which one is really true, but he knows that something isn't right there. However, as he focused on that camouflage story, he could not resist one thing. Whatever the details, the birth of Magic Crystals questioned everything that the God Worshiping Magic had built.

It is not a matter of individual strength.

The resurrection of the new power was like an invisible hand trying to bring down the Worshiping Magic of God from their thrones.

Is that what Problem Solvers struggle with?

“One thing you need to know is, we never think of you Crystal magicians as good or evil,” continued the sound on top of the speakers. “The real issue is the Original Crystal Embryo. It gives people something we don't need. We could have continued to fight Threat with good results, but the Embryo got in the way. His mind and his lifespan were unknown, but Crystal magicians could only be found inside humans. Perhaps the embryo hopes to wipe out the entire human species and allow a new green ecosystem to grow for tens of thousands of years. Maybe he wants to change the arrangement of the pyramids so that humans are no longer at the top.”

“…”

“You've started doubting yourself now? I don't even know what will happen to humanity if we leave every new path behind and stick to what we have now. Perhaps the resources and food will soon run out and we will all die, or perhaps the Crystal Experts will find a new solution that even the Original Embryonic Crystal has not thought of yet. I don't like the choice taken away from us. People have to decide whether we do something or not. We don't need to rely on those Original Embryonic Crystals."

They're almost at Building A.

Karuta and Marika gulped while the speaker continued talking.

"And it's not a matter of good or evil. It's about a different position. There was a mythological age, a natural science age, and an age of God-worshipping magic, and then a Crystal Magician came to the fore. It's not complicated. The world is changed by the strongest. The strongest who decides how the world works. In our efforts to cooperate and fight the Threat, we once deterred someone and caused the death of our predecessors and now others also deter us. We remain the strongest until we are eliminated. When we were defeated, it was when the title of the strongest moved on. That's all it means to be the strongest. It is a flimsy thing that leaves you so easy.”

"You..."

She's shivering.

Finally he understood why he did not work with another Trouble Solving. He wanted to fight the threat in every way he could and he wanted to use his strength to the fullest to achieve victory, but he did not think he would survive in the end. If the lives of others were needed to achieve victory, he would destroy it and he would not hesitate even if his own name was on that list. He was not trying to avoid an inevitable fall. He will wait until he reaches it and he will face it with courage. He had survived all this time that way. And he really was at the top if he managed to hold the title of the strongest with a bit of planning behind it.

“Easy, right? It could happen today or not at all. That's how we live.”

They never arrived at the lobby of the general reception of Building A.

Something happened before they could get there.

The entire factory was slit diagonally from the inside.

Everything collapsed and a lot of dust filled the scene.

But the screen was split and swept away so that nothing was left.

Under the purple sky, a woman smiled at Karuta and Marika. She had long wavy blonde hair and wore a tight skirt military uniform in yellow and black that signified danger.

"I beg you, Anubis, the Egyptian God of Judgment."

This is Anastasia Blast.

He is the last and indisputable Problem Solver the strongest man in the world.

He defines justice today, but probably won't define justice tomorrow.

"So, let's start another day in our apocalyptic life. There's no good or bad here. It's nothing more than a dream that doesn't stop until I destroy someone or they destroy me. The shape of the world supported by the 'strongest' person is nothing more than an illusion floating in the gap between dreams."