The Red Hand

Chapter 155 – Akagi Addresses Humanity.

The weekend went by exceedingly slowly for Akagi. Kana stayed at Mika's over the weekend, and school was temporarily closed for a while, so she decided to stay Monday as well. The Demon kept contact to a minimum, only calling or texting her sister briefly to make sure she was fine, and to bring needed items. Kana understood why her sister was keeping a distance, since Akagi wasn't great at this type of thing, and because she respected Kana's need for space. She was grateful for her sister's understanding, and decided to head home once Akagi finished up her work in the United States. She'd speak to her sister about what happened on Friday once she returned, and was worried that this might have put a wedge between them.

Monday eventually arrived in the United States, and the time for Akagi's speech to the United Nations drew near. Rosewood was initially annoyed that Akagi disappeared, but upon hearing what happened, she offered her condolences. She even offered to reschedule her appearance at the UN, but Akagi said there wasn't a reason to do so. Kana would be fine, and it wouldn't change much if she went home now anyway.

The UN General Assembly would meet at 10 am, and Akagi would speak shortly after, once some initial business was dealt with. Before that, however, Akagi had a meeting with both the U.S. Ambassador to the UN Albert Wakemore, and Muhammad Alhaadi who was the current Secretary for Outer Space Affairs from Kenya. They wished to discuss her speech and a few other issues before the Assembly began, and Akagi didn't mind. So that morning, President Rosewood, Mizumi, Yumi, Akagi, and Nariyuki, flew to New York City, where the General Assembly building was. Upon arrival, the group was immediately taken to the UN building where the Ambassador and the Secretary were waiting in a separate conference room. President Rosewood did not attend the meeting, and went to speak with some other nations' representatives in the meantime, while Yumi and Mizumi followed Akagi. Agent Nariyuki was excluded from the meeting, and another translator was provided, something that aggravated her.

Upon entering the small room, Akagi greeted the two men, shaking their hands and giving introductions before sitting across from them.

"So, what can I help you with?" Akagi asked the two of them.

"I wanted to be sure of your intentions going forward." Alhaadi answered. "While my position was technically created to handle extraterrestrial life, I figured that you are sufficiently alien to qualify." He laughed. "My goal is to understand what you want and how you wish to interact with humanity going forward. President Rosewood was kind enough to give me the rundown on who and what you are." He turned to Mizumi. "And I understand that you and you're people are a special case, as you were originally from this world. But for simplification, let's just consider you aliens as well for my purposes." He said.

"That's fine." Mizumi shrugged. "We don't really have a connection to our past anyway, so we don't consider this world to be our home."

"I see." Alhaadi nodded. "I would like to speak to you at length another time, if possible. I want to try and form a good relationship between your people and humanity. Hopefully, this time, we can do things right so you won't be forced to flee from us again."

"That would be great." Mizumi nodded. "I also think that running from our issues has only exacerbated our problems." She figured that had her people actually tackled the human issue more directly, rather than ignoring it, they might not have been branded as evil.

"So then, Ms. Akagi. What can you tell me?" Alhaadi asked.

"Well...." (Akagi)

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After Akagi finished speaking with Secretary Alhaadi, it was time for her address. The General Assembly was called to order, and some minor matters were dealt with before an announcement was made, giving Akagi her time to speak.

"I now give time to Ms. Akagi Dumetor, representative of the soon-to-be-established Kingdom of Dumetor and the Demon Lord." (Chairman)

Akagi slowly walked up to the central podium, changing into her Demon Lord mode as she did, which startled some people. Standing before representatives from every nation in the world, she gave an address that would go down in history.

"Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will try to keep this brief, but I cannot guarantee that." She smiled, her distorted voice causing some discomfort among the representatives.

"I am here today to speak to all of humanity. To every man, woman, and child that inhabits this earth, because I felt it important for you all to understand who I am and just how lucky you all are. She took a breath. "I am the Demon Lord. That is not just a fancy title or something I've styled myself as. Rather, it is the designation given to me by this reality itself.” She tapped the podium. “My kind are created when a world has become stagnant, or when it is determined that a world is no longer worth keeping. Either because it is a net drain of resources or because it has fundamental structural problems. This decision, to annihilate a world, is controlled by natural forces dictated by the fabric of the universe itself, much like a natural disaster. There is no intelligence behind our creation, merely cold hard logic.” She paused for a moment to let that intro sink in.

“Now you may ask, what is my kind's purpose? Why we are created? And to those questions, I can give a simple answer, destruction. I was placed in this world for one single purpose, to kill all of you and exterminate all life so that this world would wither and die on the proverbial vine. My kind are genocidal monsters who revel in slaughter, and enjoy the very act of killing itself. After all, what good is a tool if it refuses to do its job?” She laughed. “Ordinarily, I shouldn't be speaking to you all today. My kind is not supposed to be capable of much rational thought, and we are intended to be controlled by our base emotions which blot out all cognitive reasoning. We are little more than machines of slaughter and destruction, with no room for co-existence with mortal life. However, as you can clearly see, I am not killing you all. I am not ending the world. In fact, I'd say rather than wish to destroy it, I actually enjoy this world and its people. While I am a Demon Lord, and still have those base instincts for destruction, I am a unique existence and something that should be an impossibility. Through a series of extraordinary circumstances and bonds with those who I've come into contact with throughout my life. I managed to do something that no other member of my kind has.” She paused. “I was given the power to choose. To choose my own future, and by extension, the future of this world. I've retained my destructive power, but am no longer compelled to use it against you. As I am now, I am free to live my life as I choose, and I have chosen peace. I will not stand here and say I have some deep love for humanity in my heart, for that would be a lie. I simply find you interesting and capable of providing entertainment, but I believe that is good enough. I seek not to destroy humanity, nor do I wish to rule over it. What I want is to live in peace, and enjoy time with those who I've come to call family. Since I awakened from the FWO incident, I've had to strike out against those who would threaten me and those I care about, but I've been careful to limit my attacks to those who've made me their enemy. But at the same time, I am also an assassin. It is a line of work I came to love from my time within the game, and it is one of the things I've come to enjoy most in this life. I mention this because I want to make it clear that I intend to continue my work, regardless of what you or anyone else thinks. While many of you will find such a line of work objectionable, I'd say that permitting me this bit of leeway is a small price to pay for the continuation of mankind.” Akagi smiled.

“So my demands to humanity are as follows. You are to leave me and my family alone and, in turn, I will allow this world to continue existing as it has. My presence and influence will always be felt. But I promise to limit my actions as much as I can, so as to not throw the world's balance out of alignment. Though, I have no issue with humanity working cooperatively with me and my people, or making use of our services. Understand that this is not negotiable, and refusal will have dire consequences for this world.” She glared out at the representatives, her gaze sending chills down most people's spines.

“Now, I would like to turn my attention to the blue-haired woman sitting in the guest seating.” She pointed to the Spirit. “Her name is Mizumi, and beyond being a representative for the Spirits, she is also the person responsible for the FWO incident. Her people hail from another world, a parallel dimension where magic is real. They were falsely blamed for causing a disaster on their home world, marked for death by those who lived there and were driven to the brink of extinction. Seeing no other choice, they conducted a grand ritual, which cost the lives of so many of their kind, to flee to this world. Unfortunately, as a result of this ritual, I along with three thousand other people were trapped within a Virtual Reality game for nearly four years, and nearly two thousand of those trapped did not survive. She understands that many will be angry with her and believe she is a murderer." She stopped for a moment. "After much reflection, she has accepted your hatred and anger, but she believes that she was left with no choice. When faced with the genocide of her people, she had to make a choice, and she chose the lives of her own over that of strangers. I challenge anyone to condemn humanity to its destruction if it means a few thousand unknown people died elsewhere. I suspect the number of you who would do so is rather low, but I will not stop you from voicing your displeasure with her. However, I have taken her in as my own subordinate, and as such, she has become one of my people, and any attacks on her will be considered an attack on me." She paused again.

"There will be tough times ahead as the world reorients itself in the face of all the changes over these past months. But I believe things can be handled respectfully and peacefully. Magical knowledge will begin to spread in this world, and slowly but surely, life will change for everyone, whether you like it or not. Thus, humanity has a choice. Does it seek to adapt and survive? Or will it remain stubborn and unchanging in the face of change? I personally do not care what path humanity chooses and how it handles these dramatic changes. I simply wish to be left alone, for in the end, I will be here eternally. Humanity's short existence is but a passing moment in time for me. But, when the last star goes out and the eternal night reigns over the cold, lifeless world that will eventually come, I would like to think back, glad that I choose to allow you to continue forward."

Akagi looked out to the room of representatives. They gave no applause, no cheer. Rather, they sat in total silence, unable to speak. Even Rosewood was taken aback by what Akagi said and the last comment in particular truly shook her to her core.

{S-she... she truly is a being beyond our comprehension...} (Rosewood.)