Hecate looked at Rain with a sly smile. "Hehe. Of course you can, dear," she joyfully responded, and a hyper-realistic image appeared in front of him.
The man looked to be Japanese and around the age of 40. His natural black hair seemed to be dulling, and his black eyes looked frightened. Behind him stood a woman around his age and two small children. He had positioned himself in front of them and held a small metal rod tightly in his hand.
"A-are those his…"
"His family? Yup!"
Rain went silent at this and continued to watch the man. As he watched a group of armed officers enter the room and begin to escort the man to safety, Hecate started to introduce him.
"The man's name is Taki Yoshiro. He's a regular salaryman in Japan. He graduated high school at 18 and entered the workforce right afterward. He got married at 35, with his first child born only a few years before that. He's scared of spiders and loves sushi—nothing out of the ordinary about him."
"So why do you want him dead so badly? So badly that you would offer up a 5 million OS bracelet?"
"A trade secret. Just think of this as a test—a test for me, not for you."
Rain looked at Hecate with clear discomfort. She didn't need to actually explain herself to this country bumpkin. Rain shook his head as the thought of killing the man entered his mind, refusing to admit he was actually considering taking this devil's offer. However, the urge to discover this brand-new world in front of him became more and more tempting with each glance at the OS bracelet. Who could possibly resist the urge to uncover the secrets and joys of the universe?
"I know you want it. Just give in to your desires."
"N-no... I won't kill a man for my personal gain!"
"Hm, it's not personal gain; it's, um, personal development. Haven't we all done things to get ahead in life?"
"M-maybe. But killing an innocent man is wrong!" Rain yelled in response to Hecate's questioning. He wanted the OS bracelet badly—so badly—but he wouldn't compromise his morals for it.
"Morals? Values? Heh. While you do need them, I'm sure they'll drastically change once you've truly experienced the UIR. How about we get some rest and continue this conversation in the morning? Don't worry—I won't do anything to you while you sleep. I promise. Not like I can actually do anything," Hecate proposed, suggesting they pick up the conversation in the morning. Though Rain was skeptical at first, he decided to take her up on that offer. As he lay his back against a tree trunk and slowly drifted off to sleep, he wondered what that last part she mumbled had been.
As Rain spoke with Hecate in the forest, a conference of the world's leaders had begun. The conference was being held behind closed doors and away from the public's eye. The room sat in uncomfortable silence as everyone shuffled into their seats, and the caller of the conference began to speak.
"Hello, everyone. I'm sure you all know why I called this conference. The fate of our world and its inhabitants rests on our shoulders. Now, does anyone want to start us off?" The caller was the president of the United States, Evan Lightberg.
The first to speak was Russia's prime minister, Valderic. "I suggest we blow Antarctica up along with those pesky invaders in a combined attack with our nuclear warheads."
"That would be foolish! The global impact would be catastrophic, and we don't even know if that would work with their technology!" the King of England shouted in response to Russia's absurd plan. He then proposed, "Instead, we should try to take control of their spaceship and dismantle their technology."
"Hah! You senile old man, you call my plan foolish, yet you think your preposterous idea will work better than mine?"
"Who are you calling an old man, you damn—"
"Okay, let's take it down a notch, eh?" The prime minister of Australia offered his own suggestion. "I say we just ignore them. I bet they'll lose interest in us eventually." As the conference room devolved into shouting and cursing, Evan, the U.S. president, suddenly raised his hand and said,
"I suggest we not spiral into little fights like children, for starters. Also, I think you're all forgetting that we don't have much of a choice here. Who knows what they'll do to our planet if we ignore them? Instead, I suggest we decide between submitting to them as a vassal state or joining the United Alliance of Races—our only two realistic options."
"Hm. I agree with that notion. So, will we become vassals to a human empire or join an unknown alliance? Sigh. I wish we had more information," the Chinese president, Li Zhou, voiced after a prolonged silence. With both major superpowers supporting the idea of joining either the kingdom or alliance, the other voices of opposition slowly calmed. Li Zhou continued, "However, I believe we should focus our efforts on the massive wave of chaos that erupted from this event."
At that comment, most of the people in the conference groaned in fatigue. Just the mention of it caused them headaches. Evan, in agreement with China's president, added, "I agree. At the moment, I have troops and enforcement officers sweeping the states. Martial law has been applied in every province. Yet, it just never ends." He ended his input with a groan and looked for any new ideas other countries might have.
Luckily, one country had a solution to their problems. Valderic heartily laughed as he declared his plan, but as he continued, the faces of each person in the room grew increasingly grim at his unorthodox approach.
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A/N
Miss me yet? Aww, don't worry you will eventually, hopefully... Anyway! I just wanted to say hello and announce that I would love to add whatever abominations.. I-I mean perfectly balanced and totally normal characters that you might think of, with maybe slight alterations. However, I simply don't have anyway to know what they might be. Ah what a pity! If only thier was a tool on this app/site to share your ideas by comments. If only...