SIS B4: Chapter 117: 5,000,000 and Disputes

It didn't take long for Daz and Crusher to return to Fort Home. They had flown a decent distance with their weapons but once Daz had cleared his head a bit, he took out his car and using that, they were back to New Earth's capital before sundown.

Thunderous applause and unending screams of joy and celebration were not among the things that met them upon their arrival as one might expect for returning war heroes.

The recent shaking of the planet had caused too much destruction and devastation for anyone to truly be happy about their victory.

Almost everyone was busy with the immediately rebuilding that was required to keep society moving forward. They didn't have the time to stop and celebrate their king's win when it came at such a massive cost.

Daz frowned as he stepped out of his car. 'How many people died because of me? Well, more so because of Mother Danielle. The only way I could rid the world of that mythical city and free myself was to destroy it. The only method I had was to use the star. I doubt the public will see it that way though.'

And while that thought weighed down on his mind, he was willing to accept it. Not a single person in history had become a great ruler without some setbacks. 'I will bring the people of Earth together to face the players and everything else as one entity.'

"Give me a call when you need me," Crusher said as she exited his vehicle and stretched. "I'm gonna take a nap for now."

"You do that. I'll have need of you when I deal with the press," Daz said which earned him a nod and a wave.

Daz stored his car back into its key then he entered Castle Crowthorne. He needed to speak to Rose since she was likely going to have the most information out of everyone regarding the cracks and the damage they had caused.

He'd only gotten a brief overview of what had happened over his earpiece but now he both wanted and was ready to hear her full report.

***

"I need your crew in Taiwan, they don't have enough people there to handle the damage on their own," Rose said before she frowned. "No, you don't have a say in this. Go now. California has more than enough construction crews to handle the local damage as it is. Now get to it before I dock your pay. If I don't get a report from the Archons within the hour that you used their teleportation station then you'll be hearing from my brother next time, not me. Are we clear?"

She glanced up when she saw Daz enter her bedroom. "Speak of the devil and cometh he shall..."

She hung up the phone and muttered, "Here comes the hero."

"Hardly, given what's happened as a result of my actions," he shrugged.

'Not like it was your fault,' Rose thought. 'Even I had no idea it would rattle the entire planet like a fucking smoothie in a blender. Hell, even your Future Vision couldn't tell, neither could Grandpa's. You really shouldn't be looking so... depressed over this.'

"So, why the visit?" Rose asked as she quickly shifted her focus to her laptop.

Daz smiled slightly. "Working from home, huh? Can't say I mind but it's odd for you."

"Sure, avoid my question and ask your own," Rose replied with a roll of her eyes. "NCIA work is done at the NCIA building, everything else? I can do it here on my bed while I wait for Vanessa. I still need to confess to her, remember? I plan to do it tonight just before she leaves."

Daz nodded. "I'm glad you'll keep your promise."

A silence descended with only the sound of their breathing and Rose's typing and mouse clicks filling the room.

'Well, this is awkward as fuck. Is he trying to find the right words to say or something? Lacking confidence? Daz, of all people? Insane. Did the star crack his mind too along with Earth?' Rose wondered.

"My Ember of Empathy works perfectly fine, y'know? You have a lot of emotions, Rose, but I am learning to sift through them. I don't need you to be worrying over me," he said emotionlessly.

Rose shrugged. "Fine, so long as you spit out why you're here instead of in front of dozens of cameras and mics."

"Haha, fair. What's the damage report, globally?" Daz asked.

"As far as am currently aware? About 15% of all structures worldwide have collapsed, China was split in two, a couple hundred islands have sunk entirely, including Hawai'i, Fiji, and most of the Caribbean islands. On top of all of that, a good 5,000,000 people lay dead," she answered.

Glanced his way, Rose saw Daz clenching his fists. 'Yeah, I know. That's a massive percent of the remaining people just... gone. Can't imagine he feels great about that.'

"So many?" he asked in shock.

Rose nodded. "While everyone left is strong in their own way, even kids, barely anyone can fly or can survive falling down a crack several miles deep. Now, no one really knows what caused the explosion at the Truthian's home base, just that it originated there and that you survived it."

"What are you implying?" Daz questioned.

"Well..." Rose really didn't like how just his previous race had made him. His stat in the subject hardly helped either. "Why don't we just lie? Say it was a suicide attempt by Mother Danielle to try to kill you in the name of their god? We can totally get away with it since only you, me, Madison, and Vanessa, know the truth. Ah, maybe Crusher too if you told her."

Daz immediately shook his head. "No. I will tell the truth. It was an accident and one I had to do in order to escape the mythical city. I will be called a monster and perhaps even claims stating it was intentional will be thrown my way, no doubt."

Rose bit her bottom lip. "Then why? It'll make becoming Earth's leading ruler much harder."

Daz smiled warmly at her. "Because as much as it might help us, everyone has a right to the truth. Not the bullshit truth of those cultists, but the actual truth. I won't lie to the citizens of Earth."

"Ha-ah... Fine, but let me control the media to at least spin it in a self-sacrificing way or something. No need to lie, but I can at least bend the truth," Rose demanded.

"Do what you want, but only after I've held a press conference, okay?" Daz replied.

"Deal. Now, unless you have something else to say to me, I have to call up like, six more construction companies and make arrangements to hire some from the system to clean up the damage in our territories. Also, when you have the time, think about what we'll do with the new ravines that dot our planet," Rose said.

'It's such a pain. Ocean levels have dropped, overall landmass has shrunk, so many people are dead or displaced... What a fucking mess, and he has to figure out how to clean it up,' she thought. 'My jobs can get tough but at least I don't have to deal with that shit. Being a leader must suck.'

Daz smiled wryly. "I'll be holding a matter regarding that and I'll likely even take public opinions. I imagine we have a lot of options, but yes, I'm done for now. Thank you."

He approached her and held the back of her head before kissing her on the temple. "I know you're busy, but have a good night and good luck with Vanessa. She's a nice girl."

Rose sighed. "Yeah, yeah, now scram. You're distracting me."

"Haha, sure," he replied before he left the room.

A bunch of tension escaped Rose's body but her mind was still racing. "I haven't even thought of what I'll say yet or what I'll do if I get rejected... Urg... Romance sucks."

***

'I wonder how her confession went,' Daz thought as he stared down the barrel of numerous flashes, cameras, and microphones.

Rose hadn't gotten back to him after Vanessa had left her room which meant one of two things in Daz's mind; one, she had been rejected, or, two, she had chickened out and not actually confessed.

Neither was ideal. Sadly, Daz didn't have the time to follow up on the matter since he had this press conference to deal with.

Finally, after waiting for a good ten minutes, Crusher arrived. Her attendance drew many eyes and cameras though she didn't answer any of the throw-away questions thrown her way.

Instead, she just silently took a seat next to Daz and folded her arms - a far less intimidating action now that she was of an average size.

"Now that Crusher is here, we can proceed with this press conference, interview, expose, whatever you lot want to call it," Daz said harshly.

Lyle nodded towards the first journalist who had been allowed to ask a formal question.

The setting today was just as serious as when Daz had declared war on the Truthians, perhaps even more so, hence why he had given permission to his personal advisor to host and manage the event.

"First I'd like to say it's an honour to speak with you, Your Majesty," the man said in English with a distinctly Brazilian accent. "I would like to ask when you stated in the invitation to the conference that you were behind the cracks on the planet, what did you mean?"

'Neutral, not jumping straight into the damage or death toll. Good. It'll set the tone for this whole thing. Well chosen, Lyle,' Daz thought as he slowly nodded.

"An explanation would be order. Well, as the public recording of yesterday shows, I had brought the war between my nation and the Truthians to their doorstep. My intent was to battle with as few people as possible to minimize casualties. Some may say otherwise, but I genuinely care for all remaining humans on Earth. Regardless, to confront Mother Danielle, I had to enter the mythical city that was the source of their powers," Daz explained as he thought carefully on his next words.

"The entire city was just a set of ornate hallways with no entrances that all converged onto a central chamber. Of course, when inside, I was unable to use my system powers similar to when I was fighting the cardinals," Daz said.

"Then how did you destroy the city, Your Majesty?" the Brazilian journalist asked.

"I crushed a very valuable yet volatile item which I cannot tell you about due to system restrictions. What I can tell you though, is that I was promised that due to Earth being a trial planet, no harm would befall it. Normally, destroying the item I did would make an entire planet vanish, if not the whole solar system," Daz answered.

"I see. And this 'item' being destroyed, that's what caused the cracks to spread across our planet? It was enduring the remnants of the explosion caused by this?" the man questioned.

Daz nodded. "That is correct. Next."

Several similarly tame questions were brought up in a row, most of which related to how Mother Danielle reacted, his killing of the young cardinal, or how he had survived the explosion himself.

Daz answered every truthfully though he was evasive when it came to his Curse of Loneliness. That didn't go unnoticed but no reporter seemed too bothered to follow up since if Daz didn't want to elaborate, he wouldn't.

If there was one thing everyone worldwide knew about Daz, it was that he was painfully blunt and that he tended to do whatever he promised.

If he didn't want to touch on how he had survived the assault of the cardinals and the explosion of the mythical city, then his lips were as good as welded shut in the reporters' opinions.

The next question, however, was a rather serious one.

"High King Crowthorne, please do forgive me if I'm overstepping my bounds here," an Italian journalist said, "but what happened to the people inside of the cathedral when Crusher destroyed it? I understand you gave them 15 minutes to evacuate, but still, to kill so many people in the name of war... Aren't you afraid of being likened to the monsters of Earth's history?"

Daz held his hand in his chin as he slowly shook his head. "People can liken me to whomever they wish, whether they are right or wrong, only my actions can determine that."

He sighed softly as he thought about how to better tackle to man's initial question. "As for the Truthian's within the cathedral, as you stated, I gave them time to evacuate. As it just so happens, they did."

"Really?" The reporter seemed shocked. "Where to?"

"To the mythical city," Daz answered coldly. "If I'm to believe Mother Danielle, then she 'sent' all of them to their god's side. I'm fairly certain this means they murdered them, but I am no expert on this 'Aren' figure."

After that, the questions became more pointed and specific. Daz willingly sat there for a few hours answering every single question.

Crusher was also directed a few inquiries which she responded to in a very Crusher-like manner - dismissively or with a joke.

Daz closed out the press conference by explaining that while he did not expect the world to crack or to experience any adverse effects whatsoever from his detonation of a Star of Eternity, he would do his best to help with any and all restorative efforts.

He also made it clear that he was still fully intent on uniting the entire planet under one banner - his.

Once he had a bit of privacy, he checked the two system notifications that he had received during the conference.

[[President Larry Billard] has disputed your majority rulership of [The United States of America]. His dispute type is diplomatic.]

[[Former President Archibald Jones] has disputed your majority rulership of [The United States of America]. His dispute type is diplomatic.]

"The old administration finally shows itself and Larry's decided to make a move... Can't say I didn't see this coming. Well, I'd best spend all of tonight using Future Vision before I deal with these guys," Daz said to himself as he cracked his neck.

Reika floated down from his halo and shook her head. 'What's wrong?'

"My rulership is being contested," Daz explained plainly.

Reika arched her brows in disbelief. 'After you just destroyed a force so powerful it could stop the system in some regards? Fools. Absolute fools.'

"Haha, your support is refreshing, if nothing else," Daz chuckled.