Chapter 397

Just now, a female officer who worked under Hiragi was putting the torso of Jegyll into a medical capsule. It would not be able to regenerate the lost cells, but by sending nutrients to her body, her ability to self-heal would return. Jegyll had told him as much.

"Jegyll ordered you?"

"Yes, she did."

"...Now I remember. I did give you that order."

Karman was confused. Hiragi nodded. Jegyll confirmed it.

"So, she really was being controlled then...?"

"That appears to be the case. It's definitely difficult to believe, but we should get on the ship now. We can talk as we head over to where General Michelle is."

And so Hiragi invited Karman and his men to come with them.

While Karman wasn't completely satisfied with everything, he had known Hiragi for a long time.

He couldn't believe that Hiragi would betray him, and so he decided to believe him.

However, Jegyll was an entirely different matter.

Or so Karman thought...

'Jegyll, you're safe. I'm so glad that I made it in time.'

The mechanical voice rang once Jegyll's capsule was brought onboard.

"!?"

Karman looked surprised.

And then Jegyll's eyes blinked and she muttered.

"...It can't be. Is that you, Michelle?"

'Yes. It's thought waves. I took over this ship's operating system.'

"What!?"

"Are you kidding..."

The mechanical voice said something most shocking.

Could it be that some artificial intelligence was trying to trick them?

No, Karman knew that this wasn't the case. After all, while the voice was different, the manner in which it talked was clearly the same as Michelle.

And more than that, there was something about it that had a strong sense of authority.

<<Karman, I detected the thought waves. They are identical to the ones of General Michelle that exist in your memory data.>>

Huh. Karman nodded.

"I see. That's a... Well, you always exceed my imagination, General Michelle..."

"Well, that's what she does. Her voice is what woke me up. So I can't complain..."

Karman had a lot more that he wanted to say, but at this point, he had no choice but to believe.

Judging by Jegyll's shock and how she reacted as if she were seeing a ghost, he decided that she wasn't lying.

And it wasn't just Jegyll.

Reiz and his men had also regained their own will after being exposed to Michelle's thought waves.

"What have we been..."

Reiz and the others looked like they were waking from a dream.

After seeing this, Karman could not continue doubting it.

He put a cigar in his mouth and scratched his head.

"Tsk. All right then. So, General Michelle. What's the situation?"

Karman finally bent.

He swallowed his anger towards Jegyll and decided to listen to what Michelle had to say.

And then he learned that Michelle was currently cut off from her body.

Her body was running wild and unleashing massive amounts of energy...

"...With the encryption key that I have, I could connect Michelle's 'brain' to her body again. I have to hurry!!"

Jegyll said.

But it was very dangerous for Jegyll to get close to Michelle in this situation.

However...Jegyll still intended on going.

Karman also did not hesitate.

"Let's go, Mister Hiragi."

"We already are. And at full speed."

Not only Karman, but Hiragi, no, everyone aboard the ship was united on this.

They would witness the fate of the world...

While Karman was reluctantly convinced...

Kristoph was also listening to Michelle's 'voice.'

Now just Kristoph, all the officers and men on the battlefield and all of the resistance were also listening.

This was because Michelle was using the immense amount of energy that was overflowing from her, to unleash the thought waves in every direction.

As the thought waves were so strong, those who still had intact 'brains' were able to return to their original selves.

Of course, those who were just following orders would now obey Michelle.

As for the resistance...

Sharma had told them that Michelle was an ally, and so they quickly realized that something strange was happening.

Thankfully, Zaza was quick to believe.

"Stop fighting! This is without a doubt, the 'voice' of Michelle!!"

Because of Veldora, Zaza could no longer be shaken so easily.

And so he was able to accept all of this as if it were a mundane part of his every day.

In a way, you could say he had been poisoned by Veldora. But for now, it was working in a good way.

As the resistance's largest fighting force that Zaza was with had now stopped fighting, the Empire was also able to settle down.

And so the battle came to a close without too much chaos.

Once the fighting was finished, they were able to detect the release of unbelievably high-power energy coming from the city.

And with that realization, came the certainty that continuing to battle now would be foolish—both the resistance and Empire were in agreement on this.

"I'm worried about Michelle. We have to go and find out what is happening..."

It was as if Zaza's words represented the will of everyone present.

And then...

They all decided to head to that location.

It was there that they would bear witness to something they could never have imagined.

◆◆◆

Damn it. What was happening?

I take my eyes off them for one week and now a whole world is about to be destroyed.

No one would understand what I'm saying, but even I don't understand how things had come to this.

I had just escaped to take a light breather, as a present to myself. But it looks like I made a mistake in allowing Veldora and Ramiris to do as they pleased.

To think that they would lead a world to destruction...

My little trip seemed cute in comparison.

Yeah, these two were crazy.

They had no sense of what was normal.