Chapter 137
"You say that as if you'd seen it yourself."
Parna said, casting him a suspicious glance.
"Oh, don't get the wrong idea. There are simply recordings of it left in this facility. I haven't seen it myself. Anyway, humanity was trampled by those things that appeared out of nowhere... The only ones who could fight back were the people called New Humans, Mutants, or Transcendents back then."
"What are... mutants?"
"I suppose you could call them evolved humans. Their bodies evolved, giving them special abilities or strength several to hundreds of times greater than that of ordinary humans. In other words... they're your predecessors."
Everyone was shaken by his words. In their world, such people were commonplace, nothing strange at all. And calling them predecessors meant that they themselves were evolved humans, beings unlike the ordinary people who lived in this world.
"In the end, they proved that no matter how superior your weapons are, they're useless if the people using them are weak. That said, even with their powers..."
"Hold on. You said they're our predecessors? What do you mean? What are we to you people? What is the relationship between Earth and Earthclear? Tell us plainly!"
The others seemed to share Rex's opinion. As they nodded along with him, Kurusu shook his head from side to side with a weary sigh. "I suppose I have no choice," he muttered, then snapped his fingers.
Immediately, the space enclosed by white walls gradually turned black, until they were surrounded by complete darkness. After a while, orange light spilled up from beneath their feet, and everyone looked down.
A vast, circular pit stretched below them, so deep they couldn't see the bottom. At its center stood a gigantic pillar, taking up more than half the space and shining as if it were pulsing. Countless small capsules were set into the sides of the pit, each giving off a faint orange glow.
"What is this...? What is this?!"
The moment Tina saw it, Rex and the others displayed expressions of astonishment unlike anything they had ever shown before. They rushed over to Kurusu and demanded to know what the scene below them was.
Kurusu, in turn, smiled as if Tina's panicked reaction was exactly what he had expected.
"If you're that flustered, you've figured it out, haven't you? And... you're right."
After Kurusu said that much, Tina seemed to understand. She dropped to her knees and silently kept her eyes fixed on the sight below, as if she couldn't believe it.
"Tina-san, what's wrong? Why are you so flustered...?"
"...You don't understand?"
Worried by Tina's panic, Kururu hurried over. Trembling, Tina pointed down at the nearest of the countless capsules below.
Everyone followed her finger and looked at the capsule. It was encased in a special glass that glowed orange as if pulsing, making it hard to see inside. Not quite understanding what had shocked Tina, they stared at the capsule for a while.
But the instant its light grew brightest, Takako realized what Tina must have noticed. Her eyes widened in astonishment.
"There's... there's a person inside?"
At her words, those who hadn't noticed yet kept staring at the capsule until they saw it for themselves.
Just as Takako had said, at the instant the light grew brightest, a faint human-shaped shadow appeared inside the capsule. No, there was no mistaking it for anything but a person, floating inside.
At that moment, Alice and Menou, unlike Tina, showed an extraordinary degree of shock at the revelation.
"Well, well. You two there, and the priestess-san, have sharp eyes. Just as you said, what's inside those capsules is human... and what's more—"
Kurusu drew out his words as if to stir up everyone's anxiety. But they already understood what he meant, even before he said it.
Japan, a country located in the same place as Hexaldoria in Earthclear. Countless capsules spread out below them, with people inside. And the fact that those capsules closely resembled the white, spherical devices they'd found when they awoke in this world revealed the truth—that...
"Every inhabitant of the Kingdom of Hexaldoria in Earthclear... they're all sleeping down there."
It meant that, without realizing it, they had lived false lives, imprisoned inside a cage.
"That gigantic pillar at the center is Earthclear itself. It's one of the last hopes humanity found."
Then, as if watching memories flash before their eyes, everyone recalled the things Kagami had said, one by one: the concept of Status, the concept of Roles, and the way the world seemed designed to make them grow stronger. Everything led back to this truth.
"That's incredible... Truly incredible, Kagami-san."
They were shocked to learn that Kagami had been entirely right to doubt and resist that world, yet once again they were struck by how extraordinary Kagami was.