Chapter 94: The Imperial Capital Ablaze

Halt! This is a restricted area!

Oh, has no one informed you yet? Emperor Chronos has personally granted us the freedom to come and go as we please. Shall we contact him for you?

Th-The emperor?! N-No! My apologies, madam! You may proceed.

Good. Shall we, everyone?

What is this place?

This is the Imperial Command Room. No one will bother us here.

Th-The command room?! That doesn't sound like the kind of place we should be taking a coffee break...

No, she's right. This room is only used in emergencies and it's outside of the surveillance network. It's the perfect place for a private chat.

Mm. An excellent plan to catch the enemy unawares.

Please, Ashtear... We deserve to know the whole truth.

Yes, I suppose you do. Let me begin by explaining more about this time layer.

A long time ago in an era far, far removed from our own, the gods of chaos and order were locked in battle, A battle which order ultimately won.

Following this, the god of order decided to seal off the world where chaos had taken root from the rest of spacetime.

Let me guess. The world that was sealed... was the Hollow Time Layer?

Exactly. This makes it impossible to even observe the Hollow Time Layer from your world. The Hollow has been completely subjugated by the military might of the Empire, with Chronos at its head.

So you're saying that this time layer's Professor Chronos ended up as some kind of megalomaniacal dictator?

Wait! If there's a version of Dad here, does that mean Mom and Eden are here, too?

In this world...Madoka has already passed.

Oh...

Eden and Feinne were never born here. The Chronos Emperor and his wife had only a single child, Kamlanage.

...So what you said to him was true, then.

But is that even possible? How could the same parents end up with a different kid?

That's what I wanna know. My parents still had me in this world, didn't they?

Tell us professeure, how did madame Madoka pass away?

The Hollow Time Layer's Madoka had an unusual power, the power to link her mind with versions of herself in other layers. She wanted to use that power to create a perfect, idealistic world.

Like some kind of paradise?

Exactly. And she experienced visions as well. Sebastia was born earlier in the Hollow than she was in your world, and when she and Madoka first met, Madoka had a vision of her as an adult. Seeing the scientific genius that Sebastia would become, Madoka immediately began work on an android modeled in her image.

An android modeled after Sebastia?

Why? How was that going to help her?

Knowledge. Madoka used her powers to create a version of the android in every time layer. This allowed her to collect data from all over spacetime to aid her search for the ideal world.

H-Hold on just a second! The Sebastia android in our world! Is it, ?!

KMS all-purpose android TYPE 2-03...

...Riica.

I knew it!

That's the origin of my internal black box?!

Riica was modeled after the Hollow Time Layer's Sebastia? This is a lot to take in all at once...

Before giving birth to Kamlanage, Madoka lost her first child in a miscarriage. In some ways, Sebastia became the daughter she was meant to have.

Leave it to madame Madoka to dream up such an audacious plan.

Well it wasn't all smooth sailing, I can assure you. At times the data from different layers would overwrite itself or her location would desync, There were countless hurdles.

But her unusual nature was incredibly fortunate for us in the end. Especially for you, Aldo.

Huh? Why's that?

Riica exists in every time layer, which means that even if history is changed, Riica herself will not cease to exist.

Wait! Now it all makes sense!

That's why Riica was the only one who didn't disappear back then!

In the end, Madoka died before her plan could amount to anything, all because of that despicable emperor.

What?! What did he do?!

Emperor Chronos wanted to use Madoka's visions to further his own ambitions, and he pushed her to her absolute limit to do it. His overuse of her power broke her in both body and spirit, and I'm sure you can imagine how much worse the miscarriage made things. After her second child Kamla was born, her body simply gave out.

That's awful...

It's so cruel! Who would do that to their own wife?!

I don't appreciate you spreading baseless rumors, professor. Madoka is still very much alive.

Emperor Chronos!

While we did say you could look around, common sense dictates that you shouldn't be entering confidential military facilities. That idiotic guard who let you in here will pay the price for your mistake.

Sebastia's all grown up...

Did you say something?

...No, it's nothing.

What do you mean Madoka is alive?

I can forgive you for not knowing, since it came to light after you left the time layer. Before she died, it turns out Madoka found a way to digitize the human mind. Her mind to be precise.

The data allowed us to bring her back, powers and all, as an almost godlike AI.

You sick, ! She never would've agreed to something like that! It's a violation of her basic human rights!

...The dead have no rights.

Get over yourself. You're a scientist. You know how valuable an AI based on Professor Madoka's mind would be to mankind.

Valuable?! Madoka was a person! A human being! She's not some tool to be used for your disgusting science experiments!

I find your tone disrespectful. Did you forget who it is you're speaking to? I'll have you...

No. Let her speak. Why worry about respect now? This is the same woman who kidnapped the heir to our empire and went into hiding. She's already a traitor of the highest order.

What are you talking about?

Kamlanage. I'm the one who took him away from this time layer. Madoka begged me to protect him from Emperor Chronos's vile ambitions.

And how did that work out for you, hm? Last I saw he was glad to be back with his real family.

Indeed. We didn't force the boy to come here, he chose to of his own free will.

His own free will?! Spare me! He's struggling with all of this even now! Madoka knew the truth! She knew you would sacrifice even your own son to achieve your goals!

......

What you're doing is wrong! The ends do not justify the means! Science doesn't exist to exploit people!

Hmph... You never change, Professor Ashtear.

Emperor Chronos. What are you after?

I seek what lies beyond this world, beyond the limits of humanity itself. I'd be happy to explain my plans to you in detail, but before that, I'd like to know more about you, Ogre Rancorem. You are truly an anomaly beyond my wildest imagination.

What say you lend me some of your power? You wish to see that world destroyed, do you not?

...Hmph. An interesting offer. I will consider it.

Hey! You aren't considering anything, you got that?!

Fear not, boy, I have no intention of abandoning you. If I ever decide otherwise, I assure you you'll be the first to know.

......

Wait! I'm not done talking to you!

Now is not the time for petty debates.

Emperor Chronos... What is he planning? What does Ogre Rancorem have to do with all this?

He's planning to break the god of order's seal on the Hollow Time Layer, that much I know, but I can't tell you exactly how.

Something tells me that he would not be forthcoming even if we asked him.

Indeed. He's a difficult opponent to read.

We barely know anything. We don't even know why his fleet attacked the Hydra and pulled us into the Hollow.

Not just why, but how, How did the imperial fleet leave the Hollow to attack us in the first place?

When the dark god awakened, it likely put a heavy strain the Hollow Time Layer's seal. The Emperor must have taken advantage of the situation while you were fighting.

So basically that battle was the start of everything...

I used a similar method to escape with Kamlanage. Madoka had learned of Professor Chronos and King Palsifal's plans to alter history using her powers.

Once they put their plan into action, the seal on the Hollow was temporarily weakened.

And that was when you first entered our world?

Yes. I broke through using a Riftbreaker's escape pod. Madoka's visions were also what led us to entrust Kamlanage to the Chapel of the Goddess of Time. It would've been too easy for the emperor to find him in Elzion with Riica stationed there.

......

What did you do after parting with Kamlanage?

The plan was for me to remain in your time layer, but I couldn't bring myself to just leave Madoka behind. I tried to return, only to be caught up in the winds of time. I found myself in the Moonlight Forest shortly before you and Feinne arrived there yourselves.

I never would have imagined...

You should know everything that happened after that already.

Yeah. You worked as a scientist in Unigan.

Yep. Everyone was in an uproar about the genius scientist that had mysteriously appeared in town.

Haha, I don't know about the genius part, but I guess being from the future makes you look more knowledgeable than you really are.

In the end I retired to live a quiet life in Baruoki. I'd like to say I was making sure I didn't do anything to alter the timeline, but the truth is I was just running away.

But then I met you and Feinne, the very children of your time layer's Madoka. I had no choice but to face my past head on. It was as though Madoka...the Goddess of Time...had guided me to you herself.

Ashtear...

ALERT! ALERT!

Ah! Wh-What's happening?!

Attention! This is a code 1! We've lost control of Nullgear Unit 02, Grand Hades, and it's attacking the city! All Units in sectors B4 and B5 are to commence civilian evacuations immediately!

Nullgear... Isn't that one of the giant robots we saw in the hangar earlier?!

They said it's attacking the city! We need to get out there and help!