The Nebula's Civilization

Chapter 265: The Way to Peek at the Sky

Ion Iolkaf felt an immense and overwhelming force enveloping, pushing, and pulling his body. It was a god. There was no other way to describe the situation than that.

As he was flung out of the train, the windows shattered, but not a single shard touched him. He didn’t so much crash through the window but float out, as if sliding down a slide. Instinctively, he clutched the handle of the bag he was holding and hugged it, remembering Ramin's warning that it could explode if released. However, the winds gathered around his hand, subtly guiding him to let go without saying a word.

-It’s okay to let go.

Ion hesitated, but eventually trusted this force and let go of the handle. The moment he did, he began to fall, while the bag with the bomb soared upward at a much faster rate. In just over two seconds, the bag ascended higher than any building in Orazen and exploded.

Boom!

The explosion lit up the sky.

‘...I’m alive.’

However, the god was not as kind after the explosion. Unlike the gentle uplift before, Ion was roughly thrown back into the train, rolling on the floor and hitting his head on a seat, getting a bump where he was hit.

“Are you alright?”

As Ion shook his head to regain his senses and looked up, Ramin was standing there.

"As expected, God doesn't seem to favor secularists much.”

"If that were true, they would have let it explode. Their apparent unkindness might just be because they were a bit busy," Ramin replied, looking out the window.

It wasn't just Ion's bag. Numerous bombs prepared by the Power of Reality for that day were being detected and catapulted into the air by the eyes of the Intelligence Agency and the Pantheon, exploding.

***

"Things are done here. How's the situation in the south?"

"It's done here too.”

The gods of the Pantheon discussed the situation regarding the bomb disposal in each of their assigned areas. They were already aware of the plan to assassinate Sarcho to expand the influence of secularists and launch a political attack against the Pantheon. Cases like Ion's, uncovered through the Sky Net network, were just a fraction of the whole.

Interpreting the vast amount of information that surfaced, discerning its accuracy, and dealing with misinformation required significant time and manpower, but it wasn’t an impossible challenge.

Sung-Woon also finished his assigned area by snatching the bag from Ion and throwing him back into the train.

‘It was better not to prevent it in advance,’ Sung-Woon thought, seeing a psychological battle with the invisible evil god, Jeolyo.

The information revealed on Sky Net was so vast that comprehending all of it was a struggle. Much of the information seemed false, created not only by secularist groups, known as the Power of Reality, but also by the regular users of Sky Net themselves. It seemed like Jeolyo was familiar with this kind of multi-access network.

‘Well, if there were nuclear weapons in ancient times, it wouldn't be strange if something like the internet existed.’

Therefore, Sung-Woon pretended that the Intelligence Agency was panicking without a clue, while actually being on the right track. At the same time, another task was underway. To Sung-Woon, Jeolyo seemed to be playing the game with a real objective, aiming for victory. Therefore, he ignored all the irrelevant stories found on Sky Net.

Instead, he focused on what Jeolyo could do to harm the Pantheon and the Empire, what activities would be suitable for such purposes, and secretly sifted through Sky Net for information about these activities, and this was the result.

‘If tracked earlier, they would have withdrawn, making it harder to discern their true intentions.’

If a preemptive response had been taken, it could have made the opponent's actions more restrained, but it was uncertain whether it would bring any real benefit since the purpose of the opponent would have remained unknown. So, the tactic was to pretend to be slightly affected while infiltrating deeply.

There were precarious situations, but in reality, the players already had deep-rooted networks, including Sky Net, various priests, and occupational networks, which they could observe. The existence of the Intelligence Agency was just the visible part of the networks managed and interfered with by the players.

‘Still, there are parts that I can’t seem to understand fully…’

Sung-Woon looked closely at Ion getting up in the subway, rubbing the bump on his forehead. It was a normal Kobold youth, average in abilities, full of vitality but easily discouraged, yet he got up again. While not set in stone yet, there was a possibility.

‘It'll work out.’

Sung-Woon said to Crampus, "What about the central square?"

"Our special forces arrived just in time.”

Sung-Woon switched the screen. The central square of Orazen was revealed. Although it was called the central square, it was more like a park with wide walkways. In the background, the rebuilt imperial palace was visible, and the landscaped forest was a beautiful spot the capital boasted of. This square was actually connected to the central park, so some people didn't call it by a special name. In the middle of the central square, it looked like there had been an explosion, with dust everywhere.

A Renard, a species that resembled Foxes, and their greatest hero, Obin Mabru, reappeared, folding their poncho. Then Sarcho, the Bugbear chairman of the western continent who was physically larger than Obin, emerged from Obin's poncho, coughing continuously. When Obin said something to Sarcho, Sarcho nodded repeatedly.

Then, gunfire erupted, and several bullets rained down on the platform where the two were standing. Obin lightly flipped Sarcho over and fired two shots from a handgun into the dusty air, which seemed enough to silence the next round of gunfire. Obin gestured downward to Sarcho, urging Sarcho to stick close behind and descended from the platform.

While the general public was frantically fleeing, a few brave reporters captured the scene with their cameras.

‘Could have made a better scene, but…’

There was no need to overdo it, as there was no need to make everyone bow their heads to the Pantheon or follow them with deep faith. That would only cause unnecessary rigidity.

‘Even for that Kobold, that’s the case.’

Sung-Woon promptly began to investigate incidents occurring in unchecked areas. There were no unresolved cases.

***

A few days later, Ion received a note.

[LiveKindly: Hope you are well. I was out of my depth that day too. You must have seen the news, but it seems things have been resolved.

There were some injuries, but they were minor. The Power of Reality spread rumors that the Pantheon fanatics tried to assassinate Chairman Sarcho, but thanks to the cooperation between the Pantheon and Chairman Sarcho, that rumor was quickly dispelled.

Even if you hadn’t said anything, Night Sky was watching, so I guess things would have been fine, but I think if you hadn't trusted me and told me, it could have been a big problem. Or maybe not, since Night Sky sees the bigger picture. But isn't it better to believe you can change something, rather than everything being predetermined? ...Is that sacrilegious to say?

It might be hard to believe, but I consider myself a secularist. I don't believe the gods know and decide everything. They too have things they don't know and can't do. Having lived so long, I know this now. I just wanted to say that secularism isn't just about opposing the gods.

Maybe think of the gods as ordinary people. They have amazing powers but aren't completely skilled in handling them. The miserable events in history caused by gods are the result of that. They have no right to do so, but I don't think it's fair to see them as always leading us in a bad direction intentionally.

So, how about finding your own path?

P.S.: The answer to the question you were eager to know.

That fairy wasn’t directly involved in this incident.]

Ion felt relieved when he read the last sentence, but thought the note was somewhat perplexing overall.

‘My own path?’

Ion pondered for a moment, then minimized the Sky Net window on his operating system. That brought the many documents he had organized into view.

‘Looking at them again, they seem clearer.’

Ion was able to compare materials that had been neglected or misunderstood in the past and examine them from a new perspective.

He went to work as usual, returned home, and sat at his computer to recheck, review, and revise various documents. By the time the third draft was completed, it was worthy of being called a thesis, and a week later, with the fourth draft, the logic seemed flawless to him.

‘Well, this is it for me, I guess.’

Despite the possibility of problems, Ion, having stayed up all night, rubbed his eyes and took the article to the Imperial Aeronautics and Space Agency. He made several copies there and left them in the offices of staff who had previously expressed interest in his research, then started his day's work.

Ion received a phone call about 30 minutes before lunchtime.

"Administration Division 2, Ion Iolkaf speaking. How can I help..."

"It's Saijin. Where are you?"

"Excuse me?"

Ion knew only one person named Saijin, and they were not particularly close, just acquainted. Saijin Shat was a female Dwarf and the director of the Imperial Aeronautics and Space Agency.

"Where are you?"

Ion responded, "You called the office, didn't you?"

"Come to the main conference room on the first floor right now."

Ion, baffled by the high-ranking official's summon, entered the conference room, wondering what errand he was being sent on.

The conference room was quiet. Saijin was sitting at the head of the table, and around her were scholars, whose names he recognized. They were looking intently at the compiled documents. Some of them were quietly discussing among themselves.

Saijin asked as if angry, "Did you write this?"

She pointed to a stack of papers at the end of the table, which the scholars were reading.

Ion checked and nodded. "Ah, yes."

That was a bigger stack than what he had copied in the morning.

Saijin nodded and sighed. "Anyway, since I've called you, take a look. I should go to the palace to see His Majesty now. Or should I go to the Intelligence Agency? Would that be faster in this case? There's no proper procedure in this country. Our ancestors surely..."

Grumbling, Saijin walked out of the conference room.

Ion watched her slam the door and leave, then awkwardly turned to the scholars.

"Um, what's this all about…"

Yolruka, a Gnoll, five years younger than Ion and head of the Astronomical Observation Division at the Imperial Aeronautics and Space Agency, said, "Sir, I have a question about your recent study, Using Tidal Variations to Compare Lunar Mass.”

"Oh, please speak freely."

"I already am."

“...Right. But, I don't think all these people are here…just to discuss my paper, are they? Is the question long? I have work to finish in the administrative division by lunchtime."

Yolruka slightly furrowed their eyebrows. "You can't leave here today."

"Pardon?"

"The Pantheon has read your thesis. Not just the Imperial Aeronautics and Space Agency, but the Empire, no, the whole world's fate hangs on this. If your thesis is true..."

Yolruka spoke on behalf of the other scholars.

Only then did Ion realize the impact of his paper.

"...It means that behind our moon, the evil god of a second moon is threatening us."

***

Beyond the sky, above that darkness where the Pantheon’s power did not reach, a silver moon looked down upon the planet Avartin—a forgotten world divided into four continents. But on Avartin's moon, only ruins remained. Ancient beings had traveled from Avartin to its moon, Yonda, but that was it. Their civilization ultimately collapsed.

However, behind Yonda's shadow, a second moon called Loom, was in a different state. Someone on Loom sighed.

-We've been discovered.

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