The Red Hand

Chapter 91 –  The Reality of the Situation.

"What the hell is the meaning of this!" Prime Minister Nodoka yelled through the video call. "How could you allow an attack like this to occur Commander Yukikaze!" The Prime Minister was furious. He'd only taken office after Akagi's attack on Camp Katsura, and the last thing he needed was Libra to launch an attack like this. Things were already tense with the previous Libra attacks, but the Nagoya attack was on a whole other level. His political career was already on thin ice, so a massive attack like this could see him forced out of office and even bring down the entire government. He was already hearing calls for international intervention even from within his own party and his frustration boiled over. Aoi had flown to Nagoya to see things in person and to speak with Hishya directly, hoping to figure out a game plan.

"Do you have any idea how many people have died!" He continued. "My latest reports are saying at least eighty thousand. EIGHTY THOUSAND!" He repeated. "That's a number on the level of the bombing of Hiroshima or Nagasaki! An event that happened during war! What is the point of having your unit if you can't prevent such an attack?!?" He was fuming.

"Mr. Prime Minister, if you would please-." Aoi tried to interrupt, but he was having none of it.

"No excuses! We allowed you to create the RRT to prevent such attacks. I've been generous with my support and lenient with things so far. But after this, I'm beginning to think you are unable to do the one job your team was created for!" He was considering sacking her, but that would come with problems of its own. The other members wouldn't take kindly to that, especially since they'd been trying their best with what little resources they had. 

"I don't think Aoi is the one you should be yelling at." Suddenly, the door behind Aoi burst open as Hishya walked in, startling the guards and causing a minor panic.

"Wait Hishya, she's...busy...." Superbia tried to stop her but was too late. "Sorry Aoi... I tried to stop her..."

"And who are you to tell me who to be angry with? This is a private meeting between me and Commander Yukikaze. I have no interest in speaking to-" The Prime Minster was cut off as Hishya spoke.

"My name is Hishya, and I'm the one who just stopped this attack from turning into an even worse massacre." Hishya was having none of his attitude. "Aoi is not to blame for what happened. She doesn't have the resources or manpower to deal with Libra. You must know that six combat players cannot fight nearly twenty. It's basic logic that the RRT is in a losing battle with Libra, even with the military's help things are going in a poor direction." Hishya continued. "This attack was a wake up call that things are much more dire than otherwise suspected. It's clear that they removed Wexel to prevent the RRT from tracking their movements and so that this attack would go off as planned. Hence why no one could detect the cloaked puppets entering the outlying areas."

"I understand that things are not easy, but as Commander Ms. Yukikaze is responsible for these failures." The Prime Minster stuck to his guns. "The RRT was created to stop such events, and it failed. Now I must decided what to do for the future of Japan."

"So does that mean the military gets off scot-free?" Hishya asked. "Because they proved to be just as ineffective at handling Libra. Tell me, how did they not detect such an attack? How did they fail to drive back the enemy? And where were the Americans? I thought they were supposed to help." Hishya pressed on. “There was only a small JSDF contingent nearby to deal with the puppets and the Americans only showed up after it was too late, sure they wiped out a good chunk of the puppets once they got going, but had Superbia and I not been here you'd be seeing hundreds of thousands, if not over a million dead.”

The Prime Minster pursed his lips in frustration. He couldn't talk back, since she was right.

"I see you know very well the reality of our military situation. You are correct, our troops are less than effective in this situation and I seriously doubt our ability to defeat Libra as things stand now." The honesty in his statement stunned Aoi who never expected him to say something like that. "So let me ask you this, as one who knows these members of Libra well. Can you defeat them? That power you displayed earlier would indicate your on a much higher level than those of the other returnees. You are not part of the RRT, but your intervention was key, and I thank you for it, but does this mean you will fight them? Can we count on you to deliver us victory?" He was hoping that Hishya's intervention meant she'd join their anti-Libra efforts and perhaps defeat them on her own.

The other members of the RRT who were not physically present had connected to the call in time to hear his question and wanted to know the answer too. She'd seen the footage of the attack and were appalled, but Hishya's insane power spike had them convinced she'd easily defeat Libra.

"Frankly," Hishya thought. "I cannot defeat them myself." Hishya shook her head. "My power has increased significantly from what it was in the game, but dealing with twentyish other players is beyond what I could do. Earlier, I had to bluff my way past Spellhauser, Sabia, and Merkyul since fighting them would have been about even, perhaps slightly in my favor." Her statement disappointed and confused people. “I know you all think I'm some magical answer to Libra, but I'm sorry to disappoint you and I refuse to give you false hope and lie about what I can do. I know damn well just how my power stacks against Libra's members since I trained/worked with most of them.”

"But you were giving off such crazy energy," Superbia interjected. "How could you not beat them? You took out Gim and Grim in one shot each! And that explosion had to be powerful enough to level their compound."

"Those two were weak and stupid," Hishya shifted her eyes to the Oni. "They aren't good metrics for determining my power. And besides, as I said, I was bluffing. I pulled an Akagi and decided to use fear to make an opponent back down without fighting, though she wouldn't be bluffing in that case." Hishya sighed, knowing Akagi could have easily killed those three.

"That's crazy, Hishya." Aoi looked at her. "How could you have all that power and still not be able to win?!?" She didn't understand why Hishya said she was unable to defeat Libra. "Are you seriously telling me that their combined power is even more than what you showed today? Because that's both absurd and terrifying."

"Herlex is one of the reasons I say I cannot win, Aoi." Hishya answered. "He is the third strongest player, after Akagi and me." She thought for a moment. "His angelic/divine power is absolutely crazy. Recall that he took a shot from Mixu head-on with no gear and was only stunned. That should tell you just how strong he is and with his gear, its only going to be harder to damage him." Everyone recalled that event. “Not to mention that he has a transformation, one Superbia and Minazawa have seen before. It was never as powerful as mine, but you can bet that like me, his has been upgraded significantly.”

{And unlike me, he probably has no issue going full power.} (Hishya)

"Hishya is correct that his Angelic form is powerful." Minazawa said. "I've seen him do heavy damage to even World Bosses with it, and I'd agree with Hishya that he's probably a lot more powerful now if she's anything to go by."

"Also, the rest of Libra is nothing to scoff at, Gim and Grim aside. I might be stronger than each individually, but I am not good enough to fight ten-plus people at once. I've done enough practice fights with you all over the years to demonstrate that, while I can punch well above my weight, fighting more than two or three people is simply beyond me. And even if we all went in together, the odds aren't good. Especially since Imp can't fight and Mixu is useless up close." Hishya paced back and forth. "The problem is that we lack PvP experience, and our builds are not geared toward fighting other players. A necessity from our time in the game, something that is now limiting our abilities. Combine that with the numbers disadvantage and the fact that their crafting team is making items that can give class-restricted boosts to them, and we've got an issue." Imperial's special gear tilted things further in Libra's favor. "I don't think I need to explain how dangerous giving classes access to each others abilities is." There was a reason class abilities were not allowed to intermix since game balance would be ruined.

"Yeah, you said Spellhauser used Greater Ability Boost, right?" Minazawa asked. "Imp, could you make something like that for us? That might help even the odds a bit."

"Maybe-perhaps." Imp thought. "Difficult-hard. Time-consuming. Can try, no guarantees-promises."

"And we don't have time. I doubt they'll just sit around and let us build up strength, not after an attack like that." Hishya said. She turned and looked at the Prime Minister. "At this point, we don't really have a choice. Mr. Prime Minister, I am going to recommend you contact Akagi and accept her deal. She's our only hope at victory at this point, as much as it pains me to admit that."

His eyes went wide. "You can't be serious! The government cannot just give away territory, especially to someone like her! The fallout would bring the entire government down!"

"It's either that or Libra overruns the country." Hishya hit back. "At this rate, it's only a matter of time until the nation is in flames. Then what?" She asked. "Do you really want to be the Prime Minister during the second American Occupation of Japan? Or perhaps it will be the UN instead of the Americans? It really doesn't matter either way, does it? Since Japan will get occupied by foreign powers and who knows what happens then." Hishya was concerned that there wouldn't be a Japan once Libra was done. If some of the more bloodthirsty members had their way the number of casualties wouldn't stop until it was in the tens of millions.

The Prime Minister wanted to refute her statements, but he knew she was right. "And what makes you think we can trust this Akagi woman? And how can we be sure that she can handle this if we accept her deal? What garuntee do we have that she is capable of handling all of Libra if you say you are unable to." He was more open to the idea of working with her now than he was letting on, but needed a bit more information.

"Because I've seen her power myself," Hishya said with a serious expression. "Her power has increased to the point where she could fight every single player who kept their powers and easily win. Me included." Hishya knew better than anyone else just what Akagi could do and she knew for a fact that if Akagi got serious, nothing could stop her.

Hishya's statement caused the room to go quiet. "Hishya isn't lying or exaggerating," Superbia spoke up. "When I saw her not too long ago. She was like a totally different person. The amount of power she now possesses is horrifying, and I can tell she's got much more to bring out of need be. I now understand what Hishya was so afraid of for all these years, she was right to be scared of her."

"And where did she get such power?" Hoshino asked. "Are you really still going on about that who Demon thing? I still think your exaggerating, she's just another player like us is all." She waived away their concerns.

"She is a Demon, Hoshino. That's a fact." Hishya's words were laced with irritation. "Let me ask, what do you think she did to Hijax and Sumeralia?"

"She killed them. I know that." Hoshino was confused by her question.

"Ohhhhh, she didn't just kill them." Hishya broke into nervous laughter. "She took them into her fuckin shadow body, where she controls everything, proceeded to torture them for god only knows how long, and then she killed them." Hishya looked at her. "Akagi herself confirmed that she was a Demon, not a human. And that she was so since the day she was born. The game did not give her that power like with us, she always had it.” Hishya continued. "She told me to my face that her real self, the self that's sealed away in her soul, wants to destroy the world." Hishya took a deep breath. “So trust me, if she wanted Libra would be dead in an instant. I'm 100% sure of it, hence them deliberately avoiding pissing her off.”

"So what? Does that mean she's also our enemy?" Hoshino still didn't appreciate Hishya's words.

"No," Hishya shook her head. "If she was, the world would have already ended." Hishya continued. "Akagi is trying to find a way to control that destructive part of her. It's why she hasn't unleashed her full power." Hishya sighed. "She just wants to live a peaceful and quiet life, funny as that is. It's just that her power is what would make her go crazy."

"Regardless of any of that." The Prime Minster chose to ignore that issue for now believing it to be nonsense. "It will be hard to convince the Diet to give into her demands. And the public might be quite resistant as well." Giving away territory was something that no country would easily agree too, especially Japan.

"Perhaps...."Hishya thought. "Perhaps a meeting? Between you, her, and members of the Diet. Would that be helpful?" Hishya wasn't exactly good at politics. “She can talk to your directly and you can understand just what I'm saying. Perhaps hearing it from her would help convince those in the Diet?” Hishya thought. “As for the public backlash, I'm not exactly into politics but I think you can justify it. I know politics doesn't like it, but being brutally honest might not be the worst idea. Tell people the honest truth, that without her help we can't win. It's either that or lie and then everything comes crashing down.”

"A meeting might be useful, but it would require the Americans to be present, as well." He said. "They're already involved in this whole affair and would likely have their own thoughts on the subject." It just went to show how powerful the US was in Japanese affairs if the nation's PM couldn't do such a negotiation without them. “If they put enough pressure on us, we might have to decline even if the Diet were to agree. As for an explanation to the public, I'll speak with PR about that.”

He took a deep breath. "As the person here who has the most rapport with her. Could you assist in setting up a meeting? Preferably over video. I don't think most of us would be comfortable meeting her face to face."

"That's understandable, and I'll see what I can do." Hishya gave a wry smile. She understood exactly where he was coming from.

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<Herlex POV>

Standing in front of the members of Libra who engaged in the attack, Herlex prepared to give a small address. The well-dressed man who started this entire group was also here, and his face had a devilish smile on it.

"Well done everyone!" Herlex thrust his hand in the air causing a cheer. "Things might not have gone exactly as planned, but the attack was a success! Losing Gim and Grim was an unfortunate tragedy, but they did not die in vain as now the whole world will understand just how powerful we are!" Tens of thousands had died in the attack, while Libra lost disposable puppets. The loss of Gim and Grim was de-minimus in nature and thus no one cared. "Hishya's intervention was unfortunate but within expectations. And do not worry. I have planned for this, and soon the Hero will be working for us! So let's celebrate!"

{Everything is going to plan, at least mostly, we even got our hands on a few important items with the RRT so focused on Nagoya.} Herlex, Elna and Armlathy had been busy breaking into a few key government and military installations for smash and grab operations during the chaos and obtained what their backers wanted.

The room broke out in cheer as the booze flowed. Today was a victory for Libra, and just as Herlex predicted, the attack would be the beginning of the end. But for whom?

The well-dressed man smiled as he watched Libra cheer and celebrate their whisper. His mouth curled to a nasty smile as he whispered quietly to himself.

“All according to plan.”