As the Tactical Forecaster, Hana had determined the combat strategy, so Tieria naturally had no objections. The four Gundams immediately scattered to eliminate the transported Arm Slaves.
However, amidst a pile of ruins, a figure emerged from a Hell King.
If Reid and the Xia sisters had been present, they would have instantly recognized this person—it was Kowloon.
In fact, had Reid been able to observe the cockpits of all Arm Slaves in the Mollaria Republic at that moment, he would have noticed many familiar faces.
The individuals transported from the world of Full Metal Panic were the elite forces of Mithril and Amalgam. However, due to unknown reasons, they had all entered a berserk state—devoid of reason, unable to speak, and viewing everything around them as enemies, attacking anyone in sight.
Kowloon was no exception, though this man was inherently insane, possessing a passive ability where the crazier he became, the clearer his mind grew.
According to the terminology of a certain world, this individual, having long existed in a state of frenzy, naturally possessed the Berserk EX skill, allowing him to maintain self-awareness even during rampages—because his so-called self-awareness was the rampage itself.
Thus, Kowloon was the only one among all those transported who could still distinguish between friend and foe, as well as assess advantages and disadvantages.
The Hell King that had previously attacked Exia was piloted by Kowloon. He keenly realized that his Mobile Suit was at a significant disadvantage compared to others on the battlefield. Electromagnetic weapons were manageable, but Beam Weapons could not be withstood for long, even with the Lambda Driver.
As a result, Kowloon planned to seize Exia to acquire a more combat-capable Mobile Suit, aiming to indulge in slaughter on this inexplicable battlefield.
Indeed, Kowloon had no idea how he had arrived here. Even his memories prior to this were hazy, only recalling that he had been severely ill and injured in Hong Kong, ordering his two adopted sons (novel version: Kowloon raised a pair of brothers) to bring Kasim to him, hoping to die while witnessing Kasim's expression, which he deemed "Saint-like" (by Kowloon's standards, as per the original dialogue). And if possible, to take Kasim with him in death.
But now, he was fully intact, seated in the cockpit of a Hell King, delivered to the battlefield with an overwhelming urge to kill.
Initially, Kowloon even suspected that the Reaper had taken a liking to him, resurrecting him and tossing him onto the battlefield to harvest more souls.
However, after encountering Exia and witnessing the subsequent arrival of Reid and the others, Kowloon began to feel that he might not be the reaper, but the prey.
To ensure better opportunities for killing in the future, Kowloon decided to make a strategic retreat. He had already circled the city twice and discovered it was a human settlement with many mercenaries, making it easy for him to blend in.
Before fleeing, Kowloon observed that when Arm Slaves were shot down, they seemed to dissolve into red particles and vanish. Simply abandoning his Mobile Suit would be futile, as others would notice an intact Arm Slave on the battlefield and realize someone had deserted it.
Therefore, Kowloon activated the self-destruct system of his Hell King, waited for the countdown to end, and after the explosion, returned to confirm that no wreckage remained before making his escape.
With explosions echoing throughout the entire Mollaria Republic, the self-destruction of a single Hell King went completely unnoticed.
And that twisted expression and murderous intent on Kowloon's face—such people were now everywhere in the Mollaria Republic.
So this madman Kowloon had easily slipped away from the combat zone right under everyone's noses.
The only silver lining was that while this world had gained another lunatic, before he could cause widespread destruction, he had only increased the World Change Fluctuation Value by 0.5% (15.796%).
However, this also meant that Reid, whose attention was entirely focused on the Behemoth, failed to notice this relatively minor fluctuation in the World Change Fluctuation Value.
At this point, Reid's side had only one Behemoth left to deal with.
For Reid's squad, which also possessed the Lambda Driver, the output of the AC Universe's Micro Fusion Reactor far surpassed that of the Behemoth's. Moreover, the mental strength of the Biological CPU inside was probably only on par with Salia and Hilda, who had lower Awakening Attributes (the Black Tri-Stars had no Awakening Value).
In any case, Reid, Ange, Noin, and the Xia sisters were all capable of forcibly breaking through the Behemoth's Lambda Shield.
Thus, Reid left the final Behemoth to Xia Yulan, who was piloting the Mystic Lightning, since the Mystic Lightning had fewer long-range options, and the M9s darting through the streets with cat-like agility were not well-suited for the task.
Ultimately, Reid's mop-up operation against the remaining Arm Slaves concluded half an hour later. For a brief moment, the sounds of combat in the Mollaria Republic faded, leaving only the crackle of flames and the wails and sobs of the wounded and the bereaved.
It could only be said that with the indiscriminate killing by the Arm Slaves gone, the relationship between Reid's squad, the Mollaria Republic, and the Innovators immediately grew delicate.
But Reid had long been prepared for this. Taking a page from the Innovators' book, he had Hoshino Ruri hack into the global network to begin a live broadcast.
The host of this broadcast was naturally Reid himself, though to avoid being recognized in the real world later, he used a persona.
This persona was none other than Tem Ray, who hadn't been present this time. His age aligned with the public's perception of a high-ranking leader, and his scholarly demeanor and image could help explain away many inconsistencies.
Thus, Tem Ray's face and voice appeared simultaneously on large screens across the globe. Reid mimicked Tem Ray's usual speaking pace and said:
"My name is Tem Ray, and for now, I am the commander of the forces currently above the Mollaria Republic."
The background Hoshino Ruri created for Tem Ray's image was a live feed of his laboratory in Star Palace City, so no nation detected anything amiss. They merely felt that this address seemed improvised, as if he had been pushed into it at the last moment—a rather slapdash affair, in short.
But this was exactly the impression Reid intended to give, as he didn't want the world's nations to think there was some powerful hand manipulating him from behind the scenes.
So Reid continued in the broadcast:
"Since the phenomenon of Otherworld Entanglement can no longer be concealed, I intend to disclose some facts to the world to prevent rampant speculation from causing greater chaos.
First, the anomalies that appeared today in the Mollaria Republic, as well as those that occurred over half a month ago at the AEU's orbital elevator, were both caused by a phenomenon known as Otherworld Entanglement."
As Reid spoke, split screens across the world displayed footage of the two Otherworld invasion anomalies.
After the video finished playing, Hoshino Ruri pulled up a model of spacetime distortion (provided by Hoshino Ruri, a theoretical model of Bose-Einstein Condensate Jump. However, due to the enormous energy required and the lack of technology to pinpoint specific coordinates, it was fundamentally impossible to achieve).
Reid began explaining its principles based on the documents provided by Hoshino Ruri, lecturing like a real professor. In short, he conveyed one thing:
Our organization discovered the phenomenon of Otherworld Entanglement while researching Spacetime Shuttle and Wormholes, and we can roughly calculate when the otherworld will interact with the real world.
Moreover, based on theoretical calculations, it has been confirmed that the phenomenon of Otherworld Entanglement appeared worldwide around 1600 BC. Essentially, all mythical creatures and even deities across the globe originated from this phenomenon.
That is, beings from another world (otherworlders) transferred into reality, and through oral tradition, they were eventually distorted into the forms we know today.
At the same time, Reid emphasized that if an otherworld being remains in this world for an extended period, regardless of whether it poses a threat, it will cause the otherworld to merge with our world using it as a coordinate. This phenomenon only disappears upon its death.
The convergence of the two worlds would cause vibrations in the world itself, leading to natural and man-made disasters. This is why eras depicted in mythology often combine prosperity with major calamities.
Furthermore, research suggests that Earth's past mass extinctions may have been triggered by this very situation.
Reid was essentially using a mix of truth and pure lies to deceive, but because it was so bizarre, others dared not easily dismiss it, as the foundational theory—Otherworld Entanglement—had already occurred.
Thus, without giving the audience much time to digest, Reid began introducing his organization.
"Alright, the theory I just explained should allow researchers from various countries to at least verify its authenticity. Now, let's talk about our organization...
Well, in principle, we shouldn't be called an organization, because in reality, we are merely collaborating on the study of the Otherworld Entanglement phenomenon. Usually, we each conduct our own research scattered across the globe.
However, after confirming that large-scale Otherworld Entanglement would occur in this era, we pooled our resources to assemble the combat force you see now.
The goal of this combat force is singular: to eliminate all outsiders brought by Otherworld Entanglement and prevent a mass extinction in this era.
Therefore, any individuals, organizations, or nations that harbor or conceal otherworlders or otherworld creations—regardless of their reasons, even if they are completely unaware of sheltering otherworlders—will be attacked by our forces until the otherworld units are eliminated."
Reid's statement was meant to legitimize his subsequent actions. Regardless of whether the world's nations acknowledged it, he would use this justification to intervene whenever otherworld invasions occurred.
Moreover, if events severely deviated from the original storyline, Reid could also use this reason to forcibly eliminate those causing the deviations, steering events back toward the original direction.
Honestly, the information Reid had just shared was so explosive that it essentially shattered all existing beliefs and concepts of deities within the AD Universe. As a result, both the public and politicians were struggling to process it.
As for religious figures, they had already jumped up, shouting that this Tem Ray was a liar and a fraud.
However, it's the 23rd century, and everyone knows gods don't exist. What this Tem Ray said is likely true, because Otherworld Entanglement has already genuinely occurred.
But Reid indicated the matter wasn't over yet. Glancing at the World Change Fluctuation Value, he noted his words hadn't significantly increased it. Having eliminated all Arm Slaves, the value had now dropped back to 12.796%, and the strange reversal continued. Even as Reid watched, it decreased by another 0.01% to 12.786%.
Reid speculated that today's events and his actions had likely accelerated the establishment of the Earth Federation. For the AD Universe, the formation of the Earth Alliance would undoubtedly be a landmark event.
As long as the Earth Alliance was smoothly established, the World Change Fluctuation Value should return to single digits.
Therefore, without giving the people of the AD Universe much time to ponder, Reid prepared to end this livestream.
However, just before concluding the broadcast, Reid recalled his earlier deception to Setsuna and said:
"Actually, regarding the forces currently appearing in the Mollaria Republic, everyone wants me to give them a name." But I'm not very good at naming things.
So, I'll offer a few historical terms people have used for companions:
Onmyoji, Brotherhood of Assassins, Witch Cult, Ouroboros, Clock Tower – you can refer to them as any of these organizations.
But we clearly state that all our companions are native Earthlings. Giving them a codename like ET is an insult. While I won't issue extermination orders over such matters, I can't control if the younger members privately punish those who insult them."
As Reid spoke, Hana listened with a sweatdrop on her forehead, thinking that the Reid Isaac she'd met earlier must have really minded that codename. She decided she should change it later.
Meanwhile, Wang Liu Mei was deep in thought. The ET codename had been decided internally by the Innovators. Now this organization claiming to be hidden throughout history already knew about it – who could have leaked it?
Considering Hana's instructions before the mission began, Wang Liu Mei now suspected Hana might have already made contact with this mysterious organization.
Just as Reid was about to cut the livestream, he suddenly realized half the organizations he'd listed had conflicts with the Papacy. So before ending the broadcast, he added:
"Oh, and most of the organizations I just mentioned have conflicts with the Papacy. The reason is simple – many of the saints they worship were visitors from other worlds. After we eliminated them, the Papacy labeled us as demons. That's how historical events like the Witch Hunt originated.
However, we actually have no desire to rule the world, and none of us submit to anyone else. So I can make this clear: for the current world, you should all continue with your business as usual. Once this wave of large-scale Otherworld Entanglement ends, we'll naturally disappear.
As for government cooperation – absolutely not. History has taught us too many lessons; we don't trust any government organizations.
Also, we don't recruit externally. Anyone claiming to conduct secret recruitment in our name is a fraud. We recommend reporting them directly to local police. For those determined to be deceived, we take no responsibility – this is our official statement."
"With that, Reid abruptly ended the livestream and led the troops out of the Mollaria Republic, returning to the Granshaow.
Since no one dared to follow, Reid and the others appeared to vanish suddenly above the Mediterranean Sea from the satellites' perspective—almost as if they'd seen a ghost.
The first thing Reid did upon returning to the ship was to ask Hoshino Ruri:
'Ruri, Veda must have tried to trace us back, right? I noticed you didn't cut the livestream proactively—did you successfully block it?'
Ruri nodded calmly and replied:
'After the livestream started, over six thousand data streams worldwide were searching for us. The largest one came from the Moon—its computational power even overwhelmed the combined processing of all the other data streams. That must have been Veda.
But this Veda doesn't seem as formidable as you described. It only relies on brute-force computational power for searches. I just lured it a bit, and it ended up clashing with the data streams from Earth's nations.
They're still hacking each other now, though Veda is probably about to win. But we've already cut the livestream—it has lost its chance to find us.'
(End of Chapter)