Returning threats

[majestic_keiki]

[Following the battle on Ankaia, Kei can be found looking over a number of reports on recent political events and debriefings of recent battles.]

Jiart returned, despite having died. Remnants of the Zentraedi invasion turned up with him. Several Zentraedi fleets are coming. Then the Void returned and Fumerco popped up again despite Ishin killing its leadership, the revelations about its actions and the needs of maintaining the peace with Ankaia. And it proceeded to continue what it had been doing before.

Lots of enemies are coming back when they shouldn't.

So I wonder...How likely is it that this isn't related to the Lady?

Comments

[rekindletheflame]

Mmmm well I mean it could all just be a big coincidence...maybe

[A certain Kijin has been trying to wrap her head around the situation and is doing a rather bad job of it.]

I never thought that we'd be able to reconnect with the Kijin realm, and I don't think that's related...I hope.

[majestic_keiki]

I don't [i]think[/i] the gate to the Kijin world is likely to be involved. Those events seemed to have been in motion before the Lady broke out. I might be wrong, of course, but that's how it seems.

[rekindletheflame]

I really hope that's the case...

[The ear-like hair intakes on her head seem to droop down a bit.]

I'm pretty sick of always ending up playing into the hands of our enemies...

[majestic_keiki]

Yeah, it's like they always have the initiative and we always have to play catch-up.

[caressedthedarkness]

I was not here when most of the fights against the Lady happened...but...she wishes for a story, does she not?

[majestic_keiki]

Yes...And anybody who's seen the stories Izuru likes knows that enemies turning out not to be gone after all is a common element.

[caressedthedarkness]

The ones about superheroes...?

Though, if what I have heard is true... Loni was to be the Lady's hero. Would that not make us the villains who will return again?

[majestic_keiki]

Yes. I don't know what story she's trying to tell, but I just can't see all of these happening by accident right after the reality warping, godlike alien broke free.

[caressedthedarkness]

I do see what you mean...

And it is just...unnatural...for us as the antagonists to be the center of this much attention.

[majestic_keiki]

Yeah. The whole thing is weird. It does seem odd that the Lady would focus on us this much, but I can't think of a better explanation.

[caressedthedarkness]

It could be a side-effect of simply being involved as well...

...I am used to being such a villain, though.

[majestic_keiki]

Yeah, she might just be dragging everybody into it.

...But what do you mean you're used to being a villain?

[caressedthedarkness]

In the Kijin Realm, I had to make many decisions... most of which were not easy.

Because of that, there are Kijin who still see me as an oppressor and a tyrant.

[majestic_keiki]

I didn't know that. But given what Invicta's followers were like, I guess it was inevitable.

[caressedthedarkness]

...Invicta was a leader who bestowed freedom to his own people, and that is why some still follow his ways. Outside of their duty as warriors, the Kijin have had very little in the way of laws and regulations.

I... have been hoping to change that. So, they are not entirely wrong.

It makes me think... perhaps the way they see me is the same way the Unity Group has viewed those who attempt to force their will upon the world.

[majestic_keiki]

Maybe...But it's probably not a bad idea. We've seen what some Kijin do when they don't have any laws. I imagine that lawlessness gets pretty dangerous for some of the Kijin too.

[herodrawing]

You think she's pulling the strings behind all of this?

But Loni isn't even around, so...

[majestic_keiki]

She likes stories, but is quite bad at telling them. Trying to do the shocking reveal of an enemy thought dead returning and overusing it seems like something she'd do.

[herodrawing]

You're right, but Loni is the hero... I mean, err, from the Lady's perspective. We're just another enemy.

An enemy getting a shocking reveal that another enemy comes back kinda lacks the punch, you know? Unless the Lady thinks we're the good guys now.

[majestic_keiki]

Maybe she read a lot of those fantasy series that are like twenty books long and each book is more than a thousand pages.

Besides, I can't think of a better explanation for how many shocking reveals happen.

[herodrawing]

Maybe it's like domino blocks, falling one after another... actions of one bad guy push another to act, and so on.

[majestic_keiki]

I wonder how that'd work, some of them are pretty distant from the others.

[herodrawing]

I guess. It'd be easy to just lump them all together as "the bad guys", but...

[majestic_keiki]

Yeah. The Lady transcends that, but most of them don't on their own. It might still just be coincidences, though. It just seems suspicious.

[herodrawing]

Remember when it was just the Wulgaru? I mean, it never really was just them but... it kinda feels like everything was simpler back then.

[majestic_keiki]

Yeah. It was pretty straightforward before gods started to get involved...

[herodrawing]

Gods and all kind of people. Who knew the world had so many wonders!

[For some reason Izuru is happy at the thought.]

I mean, a lot of them were bad guys, but just as many were friends, too.

[majestic_keiki]

Yes. It's a pretty weird place compared to what we expected. I wonder what else is out there.

[herodrawing]

That's what I'm about to find out!

Once all this business here is over, saving the world and all.

[majestic_keiki]

[There's a pause for a bit.]

Yes. I wonder if you'll find more alien aliens or if they're most pretty human or something out of a monster movie.

[herodrawing]

I'll make sure to send a picture to Asagi. Well, that's after I make sure to send myself back home safely, of course!

[majestic_keiki]

To Asagi?

[herodrawing]

Ahh, you know... because he always had a thing with weird, scary creatures and aliens! So, I thought I would... I mean I don't mean that...

[majestic_keiki]

Right...

[brought_it_back]

That's a detestable line of thinking.

[majestic_keiki]

...What?

[brought_it_back]

Um...maybe not for Jiart. I can't explain that. But for Fumerco...that sort of thinking, it absolves people of their failures.

Instead of saying judges and investigators failed to do their jobs, it says an evil space god is responsible. So no one is to blame.

...I hate that.

[majestic_keiki]

If the evil space god is behind it, the evil space god is behind it.

And it's not like she doesn't have to rely on illusions or persuasion to have her way, so either they don't exist, literally didn't have decent evidence or they chose to play along.

[prismphantom]

Well, which would you prefer it to be?

[majestic_keiki]

Does it really matter? It is what it is. My job is just to keep Earth safe from the Lady and other threats.

[prismphantom]

Good call. Personally I'm all fine with getting all of these people out of the way while we can. We're going to need all our strength and focus for the Lady... so clearing out what's left while we can is a bit of a small grace.

[majestic_keiki]

Yeah. I wonder when it'll be over and there are just normal threats left.