At this moment, in the chat group.
[Whisperer: Um, did you notice? The Sun over there looks like its angle hasn't changed at all.
Fallen Angel Kuroneko: Huh? Has it? If the Sun's angle hasn't changed, what does that mean?
Dr. Katsuki: There are two possibilities. One is that Earth has stopped rotating.
Seventh Heaven: Stopped rotating? That's absolutely terrifying!]
Stopped rotating?
Kuroneko, still just a middle schooler, didn't yet have a clear picture of what that would specifically cause. But she did know it was extremely serious.
Practically on the level of an apocalypse.
[Martian: If Earth stops rotating, then this will happen...]
Martian logged on.
Of course, they weren't actually an alien. They'd let it slip before that they were simply a descendant of Earth humans who had emigrated to Mars.
And with how clearly they were about to explain it, could it be that in their world, Earth really had suffered this exact consequence, forcing humanity to migrate to Mars?
[Dr. Katsuki: Mm, you're right. But it doesn't look like that. It's the other possibility.
Fallen Angel Kuroneko: The other one? What is it?
Dr. Katsuki: Tidal locking.
Martian: Tidal locking.]
They answered at the same time, leaving Ruri Gokou completely blank.
After that, they explained to her what tidal locking was—like the tidal locking between Earth and the Moon, where one face of the Moon always points toward Earth.
And right now, Earth was most likely tidally locked with the Sun, so that one full rotation of Earth equaled one full orbit around the Sun.
Which, effectively, meant one side of Earth would always face the Sun.
And a situation like that would also make Earth's climate extremely abnormal.
So it was no wonder the forested region they were in looked so strange—some plants had clearly mutated in some way, likely to adapt to the climate.
As for why there were still fruit trees growing here, it was probably because this illuminated region was closer to the boundary line, so it hadn't been roasted to death by sunlight.
Of course, it could also be because a special microclimate formed here—like periodic overcast skies, followed by rainfall, turning the world as dark as night.
That would create a kind of day-night cycle, and make the area suitable for certain fruit trees.
However, none of that was what Kuroneko cared about most.
[Fallen Angel Kuroneko: That Golden Toilet guy seems to know what A2's world is like.
Dr. Katsuki: Judging by his tone, he clearly understands it very well. It's quite likely that, in his world, the "work" covering this setting is more complete—maybe it even has an ending already. That makes things interesting.]
And that guy was also extremely familiar with Kuroneko's world, which made her suspect he might understand the worlds of even more members in the group.
Right—he was also very familiar with Saeko Busujima's world.
Honestly, he might know them all.
Just as Kuroneko was about to tell everyone this, the livestream showed that guy starting to explain how humanity in this world had marched toward extinction. That made her stop typing and listen quietly.
...
The beginning of it all happened in the early 21st century, when a bizarre white statue-like entity and a lifeform resembling a red dragon appeared in Japan.
Later, humanity gave them names: "the Giant" and "the Dragon."
The two fought, and in the end, the Dragon won.
After that, the nation's military killed the weakened Dragon with missiles—and then the true disaster began.
A virus spread from those two anomalous beings, becoming the source that destroyed this world.
Those infected would gradually have their skin chlorinate into white "salt." Within days or weeks, they would either die, or undergo a drastic personality shift and become brutally cruel.
So the authorities named this disease White Chlorination Syndrome.
As the virus continued to spread, total war between humanity and the red-eyed began.
"Red-eye" referred to a visible sign that appeared after infection: as the name implied, the eyes turned red.
With further research, humanity eventually discovered the "virus" was actually a kind of particle emitted by those two monsters—something that was designated maso.
Later, through maso, humanity further discovered they could produce abilities called "magic."
After even deeper research, they achieved the separation of the human soul and body: the soul could be given form, and then returned to its original body.
As their understanding of maso advanced, they also implemented plans to modify the human body, achieving physical enhancement.
After that, they successfully created artificial life—something like duplicates, clones.
And the purpose of these beings was as "containers," to preserve the lives of those infected with White Chlorination Syndrome.
These people were like simple robots: they would carry out tasks originally performed by humans, while humans temporarily escaped the worldwide sickness by entering sleep.
As for why they entered sleep instead of living on through the duplicate bodies—because they would simply be infected with White Chlorination Syndrome again.
And living as a soul extracted into a manifested form also didn't go well. It was unstable. Personalities could easily collapse, turning into violent, unstable berserk entities.
So the only choice was to put the souls to sleep.
That "sleep of the soul" was carried out through a Grimoire Noir plan, becoming a warehouse for human souls.
Of course, because White Chlorination Syndrome could not be contained and its spread could not be stopped, total infection of humanity was ultimately unavoidable.
So humanity also carried out an android project.
The "android" here was not a clone. Put simply, it meant AI robots, used to manage the unconscious duplicate bodies.
They would both manage extermination missions and collect maso, then use a ritual to banish it from this world.
After that, humanity carried out further plans involving Grimoire Noir and Grimoire Weiss—and when the time was ripe, once White Chlorination Syndrome had been eliminated, they would activate the plan for human souls to return to their custom-made duplicate bodies.
But that plan failed to account for one problem: later on, the duplicate bodies began to develop self-awareness. They gave birth to consciousness.
After rapid development, they became almost no different from humans.
As time passed and after various events, most of the duplicates no longer knew they were duplicates at all. Instead, they believed they were the rightful "real" humans.
And when the maso had been fully banished and the original human souls were about to return, the duplicate bodies recognized the manifested human souls' attempted "seizure" as a monster attack.
Thus, the war between the duplicates and the original humans began.
And here, the protagonist appeared—Nier, who was also a duplicate.
He was deceived into believing his mission was to save humanity—the "humanity" of the duplicates. In truth, he was guided by Grimoire Weiss into a plan that would return the original human souls to the duplicate bodies.
And of course, the duplicate bodies' own newly born consciousness and souls would be erased.
The story's outcome was that Nier defeated the "Demon King," successfully preventing "humanity"—the duplicates—from being annihilated.
And the interesting part was that the "Demon King" was the original human Nier.
He had not entered sleep, because after his soul was manifested, he could remain awake without collapsing. So he made a deal with the organization back then.
That organization had the Demon King help provide small amounts of maso to other manifested souls that were sleeping. Otherwise, they couldn't maintain themselves.
So the Demon King lived alone for over a thousand years, providing maso for the original humans.
And the condition he demanded, naturally, was that the organization revive his sister and give her a healthy body.
After all, having your soul extracted and manifested so you could be revived in the future was not something ordinary people could participate in. Only the upper class had that qualification.
There simply wasn't enough money and resources to do it for all of humanity.
So in the end, Nier—the duplicate—successfully defeated Nier—the Demon King. The original humans became history.
Of course, Nier—the duplicate—wasn't really doing it for some lofty ideal. He was doing it to protect his sister—the duplicate.
And the sisters on both sides were the same kind of relationship: each had "their" sister like that.
And in the end, because artificial life could not reproduce, they too ultimately went extinct.
Thus, humanity completely withdrew from the stage of history.
So after hearing all this, Kuroneko finally couldn't hold back her excitement anymore.
[Fallen Angel Kuroneko: Isn't this the story from the second NieR game I played?!!!]
That was why Ruri was so worked up.
(End of Chapter)
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