Kumo desu ga, Nani ka? Past Arc ⑳

Armageddon.

Past Arc ⑳

With heavy footsteps, the people walked along while avoiding the mountains of rubble. Walking ahead at the front of the group was a man in a dusty suit that would surely have been spotless in normal times. The people following on behind him were similarly dirty, with their faces showing a sense of hopelessness. Until just the day before they had been living in peace. But on this day, that was suddenly lost. The buildings were flattened, the roads including the ground itself were turned upside down, and the weapons that should have stopped the destruction were scattered around in pieces. In this hellish landscape there was one thing that particularly stood out – as if skewering a high-rise apartment block, was a corpse. Of a dragon.

Similar scenes had happened all over the world. Suddenly the dragons had bared their fangs at mankind. Faced with that terrible power, there wasn’t much that mankind could do. Even by using weapons made with plentiful amounts of MA Energy that were developed by Potimas, it wasn’t possible to oppose the dragons. Even with weapons that were beyond anything developed until now, the most they could possibly do was to stall the dragons for a small amount of time. However, by creating that small amount of time, in the sense that it was enough to reduce the damage until Sariel could arrive on the scene, it could be said that using the weapons was meaningful. Those very weapons were what had incurred the wrath of the dragons though.

As for why the dragons suddenly started attacking, the people gradually came to find out over time. Along with the truth of what exactly was the thing known as MA Energy that they had been using. They heard it from nothing other than the mouths of the dragons who were committing the atrocities. At first, the higher-ups in the countries that were promoting MA Energy tried to conceal the truth. However, due to the development of global communications, such attempts to hush the truth couldn’t last long. Gradually the truth seeped out.

Even so, people couldn’t part with MA Energy. If for no other reason than to protect themselves from the dragons. Faced with the power of dragons, there was little that people could do to resist. However, that was still more than nothing at all. Ironically enough, in order to make use of that little resistance, they couldn’t avoid using MA Energy. And then, they waited. For salvation in the form of Sariel.

Along with the truth about MA Energy, the fact that Sariel’s existence was saving mankind, also came to be known amongst the people. Only Sariel could contend with the dragons. And so, the only form of resistance that people could take, was to buy time until Sariel could come rushing.

Even so, the damage was great. Countless towns were devastated, many people died, and those who survived lost their homes. They came to know. To know just how merciless dragons were, all too much like an embodiment of irrational power. To know despair, from their utter inability to resist.

Two beings countered that despair. One was Sariel. The only one who could contend with dragons, the saviour of mankind. The other was Potimas Hyphenath. The discoverer of MA Energy, and the main cause of the current situation. For that reason, anticipating this situation, he had hastily prepared to oppose the dragons in advance.

Naturally, Potimas was always aware of just what MA Energy was. Including what would happen if it was used. Also, that it was possible that the dragons and Sariel would try to prohibit it. In case that happened, Potimas had rushed to develop weapons. During spare moments in his primary quest to achieve perpetual youth and longevity, he disseminated blueprints for weapons to many countries. If he did that, then those countries would make weapons of their own accord. The countries that obtained the everlasting energy known as MA Energy, began creating weapons in order to compete with each other. In order to stay one step ahead of the other countries. Potimas was internationally wanted, but his intellect was highly valuable. For that reason, many countries supported Potimas behind the scenes, in return for being provided with a part of that intellect. Not realising that they were dancing on top of Potimas’s palm.

And so an anti-god defence network was constructed. If there were any miscalculations in Potimas’s plans, it was that the dragons took action unexpected early, and that he had underestimated their combat potential. He had estimated that even if the weapons that he had personally developed weren’t able to beat the dragons, then they should at least put up a good fight. However, considering the results, rather than being able to put up a good fight, playing for time was the best they could do. Even so, because reinforcements in the form of Sariel existed, they were still meaningful. If Sariel had never sided with mankind, then the conflict would have ended with mankind being trampled down.

At this rate, he’d be killed by the dragons eventually. With that sense of impending crisis, Potimas put even more effort into his research. It’s not like he had been cutting corners on that until now. However, faced with the dread of impending death, Potimas threw off the last remaining common sense remaining within him, turning to even more extreme and ghastly experiments. And finally he achieved it – to convert living things into MA Energy. Then, by using that extracted MA Energy for evolution experiments, Potimas made himself evolve. In a method that differed to any evolution until now. Focusing on a method of evolution to lengthen the lifespan, Potimas succeeded in obtaining a lengthy lifespan far beyond any evolutionary improvements thus far. He evolved into a species that would be called elves in later generations.

However, even with his extended lifespan, the looming threat of the dragons was still going strong. No matter how many dragons Sariel slaughtered, mankind would be destroyed before all the dragons could be killed. Sariel was alone against multiple dragons after all. On completing that calculation, Potimas chose to escape rather than to resist. Taking refuge in space. He made rapid progress to achieve that.

However, luckily or unluckily, Potimas did not take off into space. Before that, the dragons left. While robbing the planet of its MA Energy completely.