City Series:Volume8a Chapter5
Chapter 5: The End of the Millennium[edit]
Welcome back!
Straight from DT Prison’s cathedral, it’s time for “Ma’am! It’s the Oracle Message Board!” with Racter Nosrup Txt, member of the 13 Demigods and American with a bad Kansai accent!
Today’s topic is hypocrisy.
Today is the day of the open release, so everything will soon be out in the open!
The Son of God gave this warning before he visited a few different places and drove out a demon!
“You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
(Matthew 7:5)
Comments: My Daughter’s Eyes -Beer Bottle
I’m a 47-year-old man who works as a racer in the outside world.
I heard I would get an answer in about 7 seconds if I posted it here.
So lately I’ve been thinking about doing some real work, but it sounds like my only daughter doesn’t trust me. Saying I’m doing it for her seems outdated, but that is part of it and I can’t decide if
07/07/2000 DT 09:34 AM (-17:26)
Help Text[edit]
Benefits and Products of the 100x Boost
DT’s interior is boosted 100x, but that boosted speed is actually made by slowing the virtual world which naturally exists at the speed of light. After World War Two, when DT first became a virtual world, its speed was unstable and its OS was formatted to fix that.
People normally function based on bioelectric signals, so when they are virtualized, their senses are replaced with virtual ones that give them a maximum sensory speed of about a million times normal.
But only increasing reaction speed only makes time stretch out longer, so programs applied the boost settings to physical movement, chemical reactions, and such to transform DT into a world where everything moves at 100x speed.
Thus, DT’s interior is actually a trick used to make the 100x speed look like a world moving at ordinary speed.
But simply applying a 100x boost with programs would cause objects to overheat from the heat of their movement. Thus, a cooling program must be constantly running to reduce the heat as much as it is increased. Similarly, a tuning program is used to boost a portion of the metabolism to prevent accelerated aging, allowing residents’ aging to progress at the same speed as in the outside world. This tuning program is relaxed on individuals when they are injured or recuperating from illness, but it is generally applied to all of DT.
The accuracy of the cooling and tuning has increased dramatically since the early days of DT, but for the settings change on July 7, 2000 DT, the plan is to first increase the boost from 100x to 110x and perform some research.
There are a variety of benefits to spending so much money and technology on creating a 100x boosted world, but the primary ones are convenience of technological development, accelerated data processing, bug recovery using the resonance with backed up data, holding prisoners sentenced to long terms, and giving terminally ill patients some extra time. However, chemistry research is difficult since the chemical reactions related to the metabolism are so heavily tuned. On the other hand, engineering, design, and data processing are accelerated so that DT residents are often hired when the item being developed is worth the cost.
Also, since adjustments to the tuning program can allow for short-term recovery from injuries, it is often used by athletes and soldiers.
One virtual benefit that is less obvious while within DT is that being a virtual world means no physical wiring or chips are necessary for communications and computing. Anyone can buy a program trigon giving them authorization to reduce DT’s boost on them and they can borrow a portion of the DT OS’s functionality, open a keyboard anywhere in the city, and carry out their computing or communications task.
The ability for anyone to create data can be seen as the greatest technology supporting DT.
Algo’s Board Mode: In the Southfield District of North DT[edit]
<Algo’s Over Reload>
You are in Castle Entrance, a Top Page of Castle Street, North Castle District.
The current time is 9:34 AM.
There is a wooden bridge spanning a castle moat in front of you and a large castle gate on the other side.
To your left and right, you see a large dirt road, a castle moat, and a castle wall.
There are many Bodies around. Your speech is restricted to those immediately around you.
Algo: “The morning market is even busier than normal what with the festival preparations.”
<Algo’s Over Reload>
A morning market is set up alongside the moat. It is bustling with energy thanks to the approaching festival. There are simple foods like fruits for sale, but most places are selling secondary products like sweets.
Almost everyone is discussing the boost settings change and the open release.
A digital clock is set up in front of one shop. It indicates five and a half hours until the Day of the Oracle.
Alternative is walking alongside you in white.
Alternative: <It’s been so long since I was out and about. I wish I could stay full size forever.>
Algo: <I can imagine. If only you were simply taking a pleasant stroll with your father.>
<Algo’s Over Reload>
Suedomsa is behind you in a green robe.
Behind him are two robed figures with the hoods up. One is a black man dressed as a butler. The other is a young man carrying a long metal staff.
The passersby make way for your group.
Algo: “This market puzzles me. Almost none of the ingredients are grown in DT.”
Suedomsa: “Because the DT OS’s metabolism restriction affects the growth of all forms of life. Just as the DT residents’ lifespans are about a hundred times longer than in the outside world, DT’s crops and livestock have their lifespan boosted 100x. A bean sprout that grows in a week in the outside world would require 700 days to grow in DT. Removing the boost setting for each individual bean sprout would be a pain and increase the cost, so no one bothers doing it.”
Algo: “So any supposedly fresh meat I see here was imported from the outside world?”
Suedomsa: “Pets and decorative plants are the same. They live 100x as long as in the outside world, but that means they require 100x as much food and water. Thus, they become luxury items that cost 100x what they do outside the city. That’s why most people get by with dummy data or an NPC Body.”
Algo: “I see one place willing to pay for that kind of luxury.”
<Algo’s Over Reload>
A giant wooden bridge spans the castle’s moat. There is a checkpoint at the end of the bridge.
Knights stand on the left and right sides of the bridge. They wear simple white armor and carry a long sword on their back and a submachinegun at their hip. Two dogs wait next to the knights. The large black hounds stand a yard tall.
Algo: “Those are real, aren’t they?”
<Algo’s Over Reload>
The butler behind Suedomsa walks toward you.
Algo: “There you are, Anon1 – no, Excel Raphael…what’s your Word Race?”
Excel: “The Raphael-class acted as the foundation of the Sys Word Race. I cannot be anything else.”
Algo: I see. Now, Excel, you’re up first today. Those two are both negative, so you win the initial bet. Prepare the virus program.”
Alternative: <What bet?>
Algo: “Whether or not the NPC Bodies at the castle checkpoint would be the ones swapped in by Excel’s group. 10 of the castle’s guard NPC Bodies were replaced using Suedomsa’s Demigod Program, Alter Ego. We were hoping all of them would be the ones guarding the audience chamber.”
Alternative: <You made a bet over something so important? What does he win?>
Excel: “His praise.”
Algo: “Excellent work. Have a gold star.”
Excel: “I am truly honored.”
Alternative: <…>
Suedomsa: “Excel, what are the guards up to?”
<Algo’s Over Reload>
Excel turns toward Suedomsa and bows.
Excel: “They are suspicious. The Yard’s main force was moved to their castle station this morning, but they do not appear to have considered the possibility of you entering the castle to perform a godtact experiment.”
Algo: “Sounds like they don’t have any solid proof of a connection between Master Suedomsa and me.”
Excel: “Once they realize the full truth, they will likely analyze my program and develop a countermeasure. Master Telyb is a strict man. …But it should still function for the time being.”
Excel: “After all, the only person capable of opposing my programs is in this very castle, not with the Yard. Only Lady Yuo poses a threat and only because I once taught her my Celestial Program Activator.”
<Algo’s Board Mode has ended>
Algo’s Sight Mode: In the Southfield District of North DT[edit]
<Algo’s Over Reload>
Algo looked around in Sight Mode.
He could see the morning market set up alongside the moat. Even the wooden convenience store – blurry since it was in an adjacent Page – had firewood and charcoal stacked up out front.
There was a flood of people around him, but there was no one in the approximately 5 yards from his group and the checkpoint. Everyone was whispering to each other and focused on his group.
But he ignored the attention. “Now, then,” he said with a twist of his head.
After cracking his neck a few times, he swished out the bottom of his white robe.
“Excel, we’ll try to get in with your program, but if that doesn’t work, fight your way in with Daikatana’s help. Swiftly provide Master Suedomsa and me a dignified path to our audience with the queen.”
Once he was done talking, he casually walked forward – toward the checkpoint.
As he approached the checkpoint, the two knights approached him.
They blocked his way.
The faces below their military caps were not blank. The middle-aged knight on the right and the rookie knight on the left were both frowning in consternation. The easy to read expression was a common trait of NPC Bodies.
They moved within arms’ reach of Algo.
The middle-aged one look past Algo to Suedomsa.
“Excuse me, but are you Sir Suedomsa’s-”
Before the knight could even finish, Algo cleared his throat and spoke with his head lowered.
“We are Master Archon Suedomsa Txt’s bodyguards. Our job is to protect him. As is yours, Sir Knight.”
“I thought Sir Suedomsa was due to arrive alone?”
Algo prepared to answer that question.
“…?”
But he stopped. He was looking down in puzzlement.
The pair of castle guard dogs stood alertly to either side. The rhythm of their growls was unsteady. That confirmed they were real.
Algo nodded and crouched. He ignored the knight and reached both hands toward the dogs.
Both hands meant his left prosthetic hand and his right hand with the ring. The middle-aged knight gave a warning.
“Touch them and they-”
“Will bite me, as they are trained to do? However…”
Algo easily rubbed the black dogs’ chins.
After some thought, the dogs narrowed their eyes and pressed their throats against his hands.
They did not bite.
“They seem to know I do not need biting, Sir Knight.”
The people watching on from a short distance breathed a sigh of relief when they heard that. The frozen ring of people broke apart and returned to the morning market.
Before that was complete, Algo stood up and swished the bottom of his white robe. While the white cloth seemed to block out the sun, he took the two knights’ hands as if to shake them.
He was smiling and spoke quietly.
“Excel.”
Immediately, character strings ran from his hands to the middle-aged knight and rookie knight’s hands.
It only lasted an instant.
The text was gone too fast to notice. In its place, a window opened in front of him. It was located between him and the middle-aged knight, so his robe hid it from the crowd’s view.
<Excel→Algo: 2 NPC Bodies: Settings Change: Change target administrator from Akalabeth Bubezleeb Sys to Archon Suedomsa Txt: Run>
The window disappeared when he let go of the knights’ hands.
Then the knights relaxed their defensive stances.
Neither one looked at Algo. They simply tugged on the puzzled dogs’ leashes and returned to their positions at either side of the bridge.
A few of the distant onlookers tilted their heads at the knights’ silence, but none of them had seen what happened thanks to the robe in the way.
Before long, the crowd went on their way.
Algo sighed and the four behind him caught up.
Alternative placed a nearly weightless arm on his left shoulder.
<I thought for sure they were going to bite you.>
“Dogs bite only because if you think they will. They obey anyone who looks like a master to them.”
Algo began walking with Alternative nearly dangling from his shoulder.
The wood bridge creaked below his feet.
Excel hurried up alongside him.
He looked back at the others following.
“Hurry. This was thrown together in a hurry, so it will be eliminated in about 2 minutes.”
“The Yard must not be aware we are working with Master Suedomsa.”
“I believe you are correct. These NPC Bodies rely on the castle’s security system for their memories and decision making, so they are nothing but tools. We will have complete control over them once we take administrative control of the castle.”
Excel had an obvious smile in his voice, which made Algo smile bitterly.
“By we, you mean those of us working to fulfill the task that was left undone and erased from history out of compromise 2000 years ago?”
Algo looked back.
<Algo’s Over Zoom>
He saw Suedomsa and the black hooded man carrying a long metal staff.
The city already looked far off.
Past the checkpoint, most people were going about their business, with only a few looking this way.
But he could no longer bring them into focus.
He kept walking while he bowed toward Suedomsa behind him.
“Time to begin the first phase of the plan. The castle knights are on our side, so no one can stop us. Myst and Mekton will deal with the Yard. That means Babel, the Questron within the castle, and the sacrifice we need for the great god’s vessel are all yours for the taking, Master Suedomsa.”
Suedomsa coughed once while walking, but soon cleared his throat.
“You have a ‘but’ to add, don’t you, Algo? There is someone who will doggedly pursue us no matter how much we fortify our defenses, isn’t there?”
“Yes,” confirmed Algo, reaching a hand out toward Suedomsa.
Suedomsa held out his own hand and took Algo’s. It was the right hand with the ring.
Algo then answered the question with a smile.
“This is only the prologue. We will not stumble at this early stage, but there will be an error at some later point. Someone will certainly slip through a supposedly nonexistent gap between frames, peel back the supposedly seamless textures, and attempt to get an attack to our hitbox.”
He took a breath.
“A fool like that is bound to show up.”
<Algo’s Sight Mode has ended>
Yuo’s Sight Mode: Inside DT Castle[edit]
<Yuo’s Over Reload>
Yuo was pacing her own room in the castle in Sight Mode.
She wore only light green underwear as she walked to and fro in the stone 12-square-meter room.
The window was open, but that arch-shaped slice of the sky was 3 stories up and pointed south. Only someone right up on her windowsill would be able to see her.
The feet sinking into the thick carpet in the center of the room were bare. That was a habit she had picked up during her time in Japan.
She was humming and tossing several different colors onto to the bed located next to her desk by the western wall.
They were dresses.
She was trying to choose one.
After throwing quite a few, she breathed a satisfied sigh and walked to the kitchen on the other side of the western wall.
She opened the fridge, pulled out some diet orange juice with x0.5 on it, poured a glass of it, and drank it. Then she looked back over to her bed in the distance.
<Yuo’s Over Zoom>
The red, white, green, light yellow, and yellowish green were all bright, lustrous colors. But…
“Knowing Senpai, he’ll show up in a black tank top.”
Her shoulders drooped in a sigh.
<Mom always wears reddish purple, so maybe I shouldn’t go with red.>
She returned the juice to the fridge, walked to the center of her room, and looked at herself in the mirror. After pushing some skin near her armpit below her bra, she looked to the color of her hair.
It was brown. And a light brown similar to her skin tone.
“That’s not the best balance. It would look nice contrasted with a white dress, but then my underwear would show through if I stood in the shadows during the day. What do you think?”
She turned toward her Mouse, the ferret named Puppy, who was sprawled out on the bed.
Puppy tilted her head and looked to the dresses on the bed.
She eventually gestured her chin toward the yellowish-green one on the far right.
Yuo smiled bitterly and looked down at herself. Her underwear was the same color as that dress.
“You aren’t telling me to go to the audience in my underwear, are you?”
Puppy tilted her head, deepening Yuo’s bitter smile.
Yuo checked the clock sitting on her bed’s built-in table. The analog hands said it was 10 AM.
“Puppy, any response from the providers?”
Puppy nodded and opened four windows. They each displayed a list of names.
“Good, good,” said Yuo as she tapped the side of the open windows to combine them into a single file. She then began a search of the data. The result popped up instantly. However…
“No matches. I was afraid of that.”
She sighed in disappointment. And after some hesitation, she shook her head.
She mouthed her nickname for a certain man and nodded. Then strength filled her gaze.
“Time to settle this. Puppy, I want to send identical Word Mails to Telyb and Senpai.”
<If I knew Senpai’s coordinates, I could send him a morning greeting on the Sight Page.>
Oh, well, she concluded and approached the bed.
She picked up the green dress just as Puppy opened the requested mail window and tossed it her way.
She caught it and thought for a moment.
“Let’s see,” she began. “Set it to voice input. I can dictate the message while I get dressed. Oh, and attach the program I made last night to the one going to Senpai. The modified version of his attack management release program. It’s a bit big, but the system can handle it.”
Puppy nodded on the bed.
The mic symbol indicating voice input appeared on the mail window.
So did the triangle symbol indicating a program trigon.
She started speaking after seeing that. She described her suppositions for Telyb. It was the same conclusion she had settled on during her talk with Aoe last night.
While she was thinking and speaking, another window opened. It was a castle-level Word Mail window. It was sent by Akalabeth and was short and to the point.
The white window said, <Sir Suedomsa has arrived. Come to the audience chamber at once.>
<Yuo’s Sight Mode has updated>
Aoe’s Sight Mode: In DT Yard[edit]
<Aoe’s Over Reload>
Aoe saw a large room.
This was the machine force command center on the Yard HQ’s 3rd floor.
The machine force command center was made of wood, but it provided the HQ’s central data, chain of command, and virtual armament management. The Yard was made up of the machine force, the strike force, and the gun force, but the machine force acted as the foundation that held it all together.
The same was true during the office work. All data was centralized in the machine force command center.
The command center was 30yds long and wide and had a single wooden pillar in the center, but a commotion was underway there.
The green uniformed Yard members were giving each other instructions, asking for data, and sending handwritten memos when Word Mail wouldn’t be fast enough. It was faster to circumvent the entire mail program and instead send all the memos flying around with a small floating object program. White paper flew rapidly around and people called out names.
But despite calling names, they spoke with their windows. They completed their work with a focus on speed.
They all had a single goal: exchange information on the yesterday’s NPC Body and determine who had modified him.
The center point of the voices and action was the desk on the south side of the central pillar.
The desk contained an ultra-thin monitor, a foot-long white testing device carrying a data trigon, and lots of documents and memos.
Telyb sat at the desk. Aoe stood by his side.
The monitor showed them footage of yesterday’s explosion.
The data trigon in the testing device contained the explosion Yuo had shrunk down within the shield.
Telyb watched the looping explosion footage with a hand on his chin.
“The data Yuo took during the battle tells us the knight caught in this explosion was an NPC body. But you said last night he Downloaded, didn’t you?”
“Mh.”
“And…you heard what she said in that Word Mail, didn’t you?”
Aoe nodded toward Monkey on his shoulder. Monkey nodded back and opened the message he had just received from Yuo.
She had already told him what it said.
She was asking about what she had discussed last night. However…
<The attached program is awfully big.>
The pie graph indicating the transmission percentage was still only at around 60%. The program would temporarily remove the restrictions on his attacks. She said she had sent it to him “just in case”.
He wasn’t just going to wait around.
So he asked Telyb.
“Hey.”
“Yes? Do you have some thoughts on this matter?”
Telyb looked back toward him, so he answered.
“What do you think that giant knight’s Download really was?”
Telyb adjusted his position in the chair and folded his hands atop his fat belly.
“That knight must have had the complexity of his subprograms boosted to something close to the level of someone’s real Lives. That made them too big to use under ordinary circumstances, so a Download was necessary.” He nodded. “You could call it a Pseudo Download.”
“How could someone modify an NPC Body like that?”
“It would be possible with Suedomsa’s Demigod Program. But…we have no proof.”
Telyb’s eyes turned to the wall clock. Aoe checked it too.
<So it’s already 10.>
“Time for the audience to begin. Which means Suedomsa has entered Akalabeth Bubezleeb’s castle.”
“Has the Yard station there said anything?”
“That Suedomsa and his bodyguards passed through castle security without issue.”
“If there will be an issue later, what would happen?” Telyb turned toward Aoe and Aoe gave a snort. “Hmph. Yuo said she thinks Suedomsa might be her father.”
“Can’t you wait until the open release for these questions?”
“Waiting isn’t going to solve this problem, you fool. Who are these bodyguards who entered the castle with Suedomsa? I bet one was a man in a white robe.” Aoe sat on Telyb’s desk and crossed his arms. “Not telling us the truth doesn’t make it any less true. What will happen if Algo and Suedomsa have met?”
Telyb sighed.
He slowly let out the breath and then spoke quietly.
“Then Suedomsa’s memory was probably restored.”
“Is it possible to restore his or Yuo’s memories?”
“It is. It just isn’t easy. Because their memories were only sealed away,” stated Telyb. He looked up, but not at Aoe. But when he spoke, there was no hesitation in his voice. “We sealed away his memories after he was badly injured. We felt guilty erasing his past, but we knew the Archon would be trouble if he kept his memories and turned against us again.”
His tone was plain and emotionless.
<Is this what will be revealed in the open release?>
“It isn’t just this. It includes Yuo as well.”
Telyb smiled bitterly.
“Probably shouldn’t have said that,” he muttered, scratching his head.
Just then, the command center door opened and a small figure rushed in.
<Aoe’s Over Zoom>
It was Fooblicky.
Several windows floated around her while she ran over with a piece of paper in hand.
“I’ve found it! I was just looking through the Lives data salvaged by the science team.”
A mouse raised its front paw on her shoulder.
A window opened in front of the pillar behind Telyb.
A lengthy character string appeared in the window.
Several pages’ worth of text were scrolling across the screen.
Some of the characters in the string were colored purple.
“These are the inserted diseased portion. It was hard to locate because it was distributed and networked together. And…”
She kept talking while the mouse on her shoulder raised its front paw and displayed the very end of the string on the window.
“Check the bottom line of the string!”
<Aoe’s Over Zoom>
Aoe saw a lot of text appear in the window.
The patterns of some Lives data were written out in 0s and 1s.
But some actual letters were tacked onto the very end of the binary. A message had been attached after a comment symbol.
The message was emphasized by its altered color:
It is enough for students to be like their teachers, and servants like their masters. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household! (Matthew 10:25)
Fooblicky nodded in the now silent command center.
“This is a distinctive trait of Suedomsa’s Demigod Program, Alter Ego. It attaches a bible verse to the created NPC Body as a form of divine protection. It’s been a while since I last saw it, though,” she spat out. “Beelzebul is also known as Beelzebub. Spelled backwards, that’s Bubezleeb, Akalabeth’s last name.”
Aoe considered what that meant for a second before clicking his tongue.
Without warning, Monkey raised a front paw on his shoulder.
The opened mail window had frozen. The program transfer had been cut off and a “receipt failed” message had appeared.
“The message from the castle was cut off? What does that mean?”
<Aoe’s Sight Mode has updated>
Suedomsa’s Continued Board Mode: Inside DT Castle[edit]
Suedomsa’s Over Reload
You are in 1F Audience Chamber, a Top Page of the Royal Castle.
The current time is 10:12 AM.
The stone hall is 30 yards long and wide. The ceiling is two stories tall.
The queen’s throne sits at the end of the red carpet stretching to the back of the hall.
Many people are present. You are free to restrict your speech targets however you wish.
<Suedomsa’s Over Reload>
The queen is accompanied by minister NPC Bodies and bodyguard knights.
More knights are standing along the side walls.
Your four bodyguards enter behind you.
<Suedomsa’s Over Reload>
Queen Akalabeth is seated in her throne. She is approximately 15 yards away.
The queen is a middle-aged woman. She wears no crown. She wears a white stole over a reddish purple dress and a fox Mouse is draped over her shoulders.
Her graying hair is pulled back tightly behind her head. Her narrow blue eyes are directed your way.
Akalabeth: “You seem awfully curious about your surroundings, Suedomsa. Why not switch to Sight Mode?”
Suedomsa: <I would prefer not to take on the excess burden, Akalabeth.>
Suedomsa: “Now, how about we get the approval process done with? Since I’m last and all.”
<Suedomsa’s Over Reload>
A window opens to your right. It contains the final check for the matter you just mentioned.
<Do you offer your blood Lives data to confirm your approval? Y/N>
Suedomsa: “Y”
<Receiving Archon Suedomsa’s blood data from Intermediary Layer Lives Storage>
Suedomsa: <There, you have everyone’s approval. Simple enough in Board Mode.>
Akalabeth: “Take a look in Sight Mode. The ministers are applauding.”
Suedomsa: <Are you standing and applauding as well?>
Akalabeth: “I am.”
Suedomsa: <I see. In that case…>
Suedomsa: “I hate to interrupt the momentous occasion, but I would like a word in private, Akalabeth.”
Akalabeth: <What a coincidence. I was hoping to speak with you as well. About something very important.>
Suedomsa: <Oh? Does this thought display mean you joined me in Board Mode?>
Akalabeth: <Yes. This is faster than saying it out loud and it seems to be what you want.>
Akalabeth: <So what did you want to discuss? You can go first if you like.>
Suedomsa: <No, mine is going to take a while, but I’m betting yours won’t take long at all.>
Akalabeth: <You are, are you? If you think you know what I want, then tell me.>
Suedomsa: <Let’s see. Will you be asking everyone else to leave and then apologizing to me? And then making some kind of excuse for taking something important from me?>
Akalabeth: “Eh?”
Suedomsa: “Can you not read? I said making an excuse. For taking something important from me.”
Suedomsa: “You know what I mean, don’t you? I know you do, Akalabeth.”
Suedomsa: <I mean my daughter.>
Akalabeth: <Your daught- no, it can’t be.>
Suedomsa: <Surprised? Then try and express it a bit more clearly in your text.>
Suedomsa: <Board Mode is a fascinating experience. All we can read are the words heard by our auditory program, the thoughts appearing in the windows, and the actions seen by our Over Reloads.>
Suedomsa: <We Minus Elites really did create this world for ourselves, didn’t we?>
Suedomsa: <If it’s a Minus thing to imagine what the other person’s expression and tone of voice must have been, then it is also a Minus thing to intentionally avoid doing that and ignore all emotions other than your own.>
Suedomsa: <Then you can say the nastiest things and sow misunderstandings without feeling a thing because you don’t even bother checking to see if you hurt the other person. Truly a dream come true for a certain type.>
Suedomsa: <The greatest benefit of Board Mode is in fact the narcissistic joy it brings to the people who love using that nasty language and those misunderstandings. Yet we created it to allow for candid meetings.>
Akalabeth: “Suedomsa, then it’s true!?”
Suedomsa: <Are you surprised, Akalabeth? I can barely feel it through the text. I might have the active imagination of a Minus Elite, but you still need to express yourself more strongly than that.>
Suedomsa: <You remind me of those cheap new NPC Bodies or of a Plus person. Where’s the edge?>
Suedomsa: <Or what? Did you think you could become a soft-spoken and considerate Minus Elite if you blunted your edge?>
Suedomsa: <It won’t work and it’s too late for you. This is goodbye, Minus Elite. It is time to become Minus through and through, just like we used to fear.>
Akalabeth: “…”
Suedomsa: <Silence? I thought you had something to tell me.>
Akalabeth: “What are you thinking!?”
Suedomsa: “Akalabeth.”
Suedomsa: <You’ve figured out that my memories have returned, I hope?>
Suedomsa: <Then I have only one thing to say to you: bend your knee and bow your head.>
Suedomsa: <Apologize for taking what I loved most, along with my time and my truth.>
Suedomsa: <And apologize for hiding the answer DT wanted for 2000 years.>
Suedomsa: <Do you get it now?>
Akalabeth: <Then you didn’t come here today to give your approval?>
Suedomsa: <Correct. So I do have one longer thing to say.>
Suedomsa: “I, Kobayashi Akon, have a request for Queen Akalabeth.”
Suedomsa: “I ask that you grant me authorization to use the Questron in the underground ceremonial ground, Babel in the south, and the many programs you possess.”
Akalabeth: “…!”
Akalabeth: “Arrest this man!”
Suedomsa: “Excel.”
<Suedomsa’s Over Reload>
The knights by the walls begin to move.
They run toward you, but six of them have removed their hands from their sword hilts.
They draw their submachineguns instead.
Those six aim their submachineguns at and open fire on the knights ahead of them and the NPC Bodies flanking the throne.
Suedomsa: “Now, then.”
<Suedomsa’s Over Reload>
Loud gunshots fill the audience chamber.
The minister NPC Bodies standing around the queen are blasted backwards.
The knights rushing toward you fall to the floor.
The lingering noise is unpleasant to human hearing. It will take another 18 seconds for that to fade.
The ministers and the knights begin to flash.
Suedomsa: “Did you see all of that, Akalabeth?”
Akalabeth: “…”
Suedomsa: “Now that silence I like. It is brimming with emotion.”
Suedomsa: “Allow me to quote the bible, just like I used to in my researcher days. This seems like a good time for a verse about not judging others.”
Suedomsa: “ ‘You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.’ ”
Suedomsa: “Apt, don’t you think?”
<Suedomsa’s Over Reload>
Akalabeth’s eyes widen in response. It is a look of surprise.
Suedomsa: “But I suppose a Minus Elite should use a different kind of reference.”
Suedomsa: “ ‘All your Lives and evil are belong to us.’ Is that better?”
<Suedomsa’s Board Mode has updated>
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