D.I.O

Chapter 231

“Arthur declared war on Japan. He stated that he will punish everyone involved in his mother’s death, even those who were very minimally involved.”

“… So?”

Looking at Yongno’s hardened expression, Youngmin said, “More than a thousand people have already died.”

***

“Why did you do that?” the Persian cat on the desk calmly spoke up in a human language.

With black fur and impressive golden eyes, this being had a cuteness similar to that of a Persian cat, which was an appearance that most young girls would like. However, the fact was that this cat, Melton, was one of the strongest transcendents of the Prajna species, and he was stronger than any of the Grand Masters of DIO’s Holy Lands.

“What do you mean?”

“Arthur—why did you let him implode? He was a guy who could have improved and constantly developed, but now he’s all messed up in the head!”

Melton knew that Tan had been involved in Hye-ran’s death. Of course, he had no evidence of this fact, since Tan never handled things sloppily. Regardless, Melton knew Tan’s way of doing things from having worked under him for a long time. So after reviewing the information of Hye-ran’s last moments before her death from a heart attack, Melton became convinced of Tan’s involvement.

“That’s exactly the reason why.”

“So… you took action because you knew he’d develop further?”

“Yes. To use the users properly, they need to be at a level just below that of a transcendent. The higher the level, the less control I’ll have over them. Seriously, this user development system is truly amazing. The Irregulars I saw throughout my life have always been broken and useless existences, but they are showing amazing results in this system.”

Instead of denying having a hand in Hye-ran’s death, Tan confirmed his participation outright. This forthrightness caused Melton to make an absurd expression.

“Even so, they’re all under our control anyway. The main purpose of this project is not to acquire a group of slaves but to increase our collective power. Besides, how strong could they possibly become if they get stronger?”

“You’re very ignorant in these matters, aren’t you? They probably wouldn’t have become a Jesus superstar or a monster like Buddha, but remember that the Empress of Magic, Jenica, and the human god Milleion were also human beings. With the help of the system, the Irregulars are developing too fast.”

“Tan…”

Melton gritted his teeth in disapproval, but he said nothing more. It was because Melton realized that Tan was not in a good mood.

‘Is it because of the Empress of Magic?’

Although Tan had partnered with a Demon King to eliminate Jenica and take control over DIO, he was unable to take full control over the mainframe system that Jenica had dealt with while leading the operation of DIO.

Jenica was not operating the existing system’s defensive firewalls and barriers anymore, but the defensive firewalls and barriers that had been in place when she was forced out still remained. No matter what the Noblesse did, they couldn’t break through these firewalls and barriers, indicating the huge skill gap between the Noblesse and the Empress of Magic. This reality was a thorn in Tan’s side as he had always been proud of the draconic species’ supremacy over other species. Hence, Tan felt humiliated by this failure.

“Well, this is the only plan of mine that worked out as planned recently. Anyway, now that he’s out of the picture, only Merlin and Cruze are left.”

“Are you going to go to work on them too?”

“Of course. You said that I ruined Arthur… but you’ll never if it would have taken him several more decades to reach the transcendent realm based on his current trajectory. I provided him with some stress, which is necessary for growth.”

Aung Nina was proof of this. She had reached Level 14 due to facing pressure from the Chinese government and the agony of experiencing ethnic conflict. It showed that when trials and stresses did not destroy a person, they usually made the person stronger. Due to this, Tan started his plan of stimulating the development of largely unmotivated users with various stressors. In essence, he was trying to light a fire under the users to get them to either fall to the wayside or advance.

“Is that why you sent down Miho, the seven-tailed fox?”

“That guy was so shocked by the death of the seven-tailed fox that his entire personality changed. Besides, he’s also a mage, so he’ll be able to see the true state of her existence. Since her body was ‘returned’, the seven-tailed fox—no, she’s a six-tailed fox now… Anyway, he’ll realize the fact that she can no longer be resurrected.”

The restraints the Noblesse faced as a consequence of meddling in Earth’s affairs were much stronger and more expansive than what Yongno suspected.

Currently, the Noblesse were forbidden from [looking down] on Earth using their spiritual powers. They knew about Arthur’s situation in real-time thanks to the body camera he wore, which he had consented to in the past. Moreover, the Noblesse were able to still enjoy global influence on Earth because of their employees and the communication network they had established in the past.

‘Of course, exerting mind control over the ruling class of humans was the simplest approach.’

However, as Yongno had already experienced, all types of mind control spells were blocked by the interference of the Nether World, which oversaw order and balance. This begged the question: if the Noblesse couldn’t even look down on Earth, how were they still able to meddle in Earth’s worldly affairs?

Even though it was impossible for them to interfere using supernatural abilities, the Noblesse’s influence on Earth was still enormous. Dynamic Island Online, DIO, was known all over the world, and the Noblesse earned an astronomical amount from it. In addition, politicians and rulers in each country did not dare to go against the Noblesse because of the necessity of sensors and blockers to fight against the attacking aliens and keep the Masters in check.

‘Besides, humans are stupid. A few words are enough to deceive them and stir things up.’

It was true that the Japanese right-wing extremists, who were infamous for being detested even by the Japanese, did a lot of crazy things. However, they would not have dared to cause such a large scandal without Tan’s influence and urging.

Various rumors of how the Heaven above the Heavens were able to get to where they were after partnering with the Noblesse were spread. The illusion that the Heaven above the Heavens members were enjoying their position due to this secretive relationship then became a rallying point for the Japanese far-right group. Tan had planted this seed of doubt in their minds, and the far-right group had taken action from there.

“What about Cruze?”

“She’s so low-level that it’s a bit difficult to motivate her through stressors. Besides her relatively low level, her ability is also very limited… She exhibits a good amount of firepower, but she’s ultimately just a being who is limited to the level of scientific weapons, right?”

Those who were below Cruze’s weapon’s Stage of Civilization were terrified of her ability. However, the Noblesse operated on a much grander stage—the great universe of transcendents. So from their point of view, her ability to produce and implement weapons was ambiguous at best. Case in point, the most powerful antimatter cannons that she could materialize were just standard armaments of the Noblesse’s medium and large-sized battleships.

“That’s certainly true. In the first place, I had my doubts on whether she could even reach the transcendent realm with such an ability.”

Melton nodded his head in agreement. Nevertheless, even this ‘ambiguous’ ability presented a tremendous threat to the people on Earth.

A Master’s sole weakness was that the time limit of their manifestation was only one hour. Yet if someone were able to create an antimatter cannon in that hour, they could cause catastrophic destruction comparable to multiple nuclear explosions. This was why various secretive national organizations that constantly collected information on Cruze from other Masters were secretly moving to capture and contain her.

“Well, I’ll stop here for now. Surely, you’re not going to hold a grudge against me for ruining Arthur’s potential, right?”

“I wouldn’t go that far… but it’s a shame. I was personally looking forward to what he would become.”

“Good. Anyway, you should leave. I’m behind on my work.”

“Alright.” Melton nodded, turned around, and jumped off Tan’s desk.

After leaving Tan’s room, Melton turned his head slightly to look behind him.

‘It feels like something’s out of place.’

Nevertheless, unlike Tan who was one of the elder members of Noblesse, Melton was only an employee, so there was nothing more he could do. Melton and Tan were in the same boat anyway, so he had to wish Tan well.

“Hmm, but why am I constantly sighing…”

The black-haired Persian cat returned to his station, where an artificial dreary autumn wind he conjured brushed over his luxurious hair. It was time for Melton to continue his efforts in bringing down the firewalls and barriers of the DIO’s defense system.

***

Seyoung—no, Arthur visited NNK, a famous Japanese broadcasting company, about six hours after he found out that his mother had been abducted.

After receiving Yusei’s call, the Japanese government mobilized a large-scale police force to find Seyoung’s mother, but the government’s efforts produced no results in the end.

With the Noblesse’s consent, Arthur pulled out the memory chip on his body camera, which was permanently attached to his clothes. He cut and edited the footage of Hye-ran’s kidnapping, including the scene of Hye-ran’s death, and stored the video file on a USB.

“Ahh! Aren’t you a member of the Heaven above the Heavens?”

“Oh! Oh, my god! I’m such a huge fan!”

“Oh, my god. I’m seeing Arthur in real life!”

“You’re so handsome!”

The far-right groups shouted slogans such as [Get the cockroaches and Arthur out of Japan!], but the general public’s sentiment was much more favorable toward Arthur. Actually, Arthur was quite popular in Japan.

Arthur was kind of a superhero who had saved countless people, and he was handsome too. So he had a good image even among the Japanese people, so much so that he had been slated to shoot various commercials as an ambassador for Japanese corporations during his visit.

Despite this, there were many Japanese politicians who took advantage of anti-Korean sentiment or people who unconditionally hated Koreans to slander Arthur. However, these people only made up a very small minority of the total Japanese population and most of the negative attention was only on the Internet, so Arthur’s overall image was not bad.josei

“Don’t be so welcoming. I might soon do something to you that you won’t enjoy.”

“… Huh?”

Seeing the announcer’s puzzled look, Arthur gave a bitter smile. What had this announcer ever done wrong? She was just a person who had been born in Japan. However…

Boom! Crack!

When Arthur lightly waved his hand, tremendous shockwaves shook the broadcasting station’s building.

The desks around him were pulverized, and a clear crack was now visible under Arthur’s feet.