Ethereal Paradigm: Arcadia of Darkness 53 A Concern for Equilibrium

"You must let what happens, happen. Everything must be equal in your eyes, good and evil, beautiful and ugly, foolish and wise."

- Michael Ende

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"Yes", everyone replied in a synchronized manner.

Then, as though insulted by hearing that, her piano faltered in its beautiful playing and came to a despicable cease.

"Unfortunately, that information is incomplete."

"Huh?" Everyone demanded further extrapolation...including me.

"That information is incomplete. Hermes either did not or forgot to tell you about one thing..."

"And what did that exotic psychopath failed to mention?" An angry man alongside a mob, came upfront.

"Please do calm down, but have you been acquainted as to how the fairness of this game is considered a virtue to be implemented above all else?" the spirit asked the incognizant crowd who stood speechless.

More likely everyone did not notice how Hermes implied that 'fairness, in fact, should be kept at all costs'.

And, I did ask my self that query sometimes before, and I concluded that what this spirit is saying is inevitably true. Lacrimosa said so in the same manner and that she also advised me to 'fake' join the Chaos Armada as it will likely benefit some major headstart to compensate the whole team for being outnumbered by the other faction. But up to now, I don't know what this major headstart would be.

"As you can see, you are outnumbered by the Mirage Armada." The anima of music exclaimed the overt.

"Yes, we know. It is rather weird as to how the proportion and division are somewhat biased right from the start." A four-eyed tall lad came to explain his evident observation, although it'snot that 'weird' why we are outnumbered, it's presaged already. What's weird is the reason for his conclusion that more should have had chosen this group.

"And do you know how much 'exactly' are you outnumbered?" Amadea directly bombarded the question to her.

"For that, I don't know." the lad stepped down.

"Hmmm. As of now, I should let you know. There is something called the SCC in this warfare."

SCC? What should that be...

"SCC. Stands for 'Sentient Contender Count'. What is this you ask? It's simply a daily report to be delineated to everyone by Goddess Athena, and I believe she already said some statistics...345,457. Do these numbers ring a bell to anyone?"

"Its the current count of everyone alive right?" Everyone so thought the same, but only one stood bravely to spell out the answer.

"Correct. And in that 345,457 remaining participants, it's unfortunate to say that the Chaos Armada is only .2 percent in the statistics, which makes you 691 in total.

"What? So this Armada is less than a thousand? And the other faction, is around Three hundred thousand more?" I thought inside of my head, but I am not alone in realizing the revelation.

"ISN'T THAT JUST UNFAIR? A THOUSAND LESS GOING AGAINST HUNDREDS OF THOUSAND PERCENT MORE??" someone shouted inflicting to everyone a shiver, down their spine. Yet, it's going a bit overboard to say that its 'hundreds of thousands percent more'.

"It certainly is." the spirit answered, being considerate of the fiasco of the mathematical calculation and it is as of this moment that I think I know where this is all going...

"Then how are you going to maintain fairness in this situation?" someone asked.

"Oh, pardon, that I may not have had delivered the message to you clearly But, it has been made fair. To re-explain to you...The very compensation of this unfairness is that you can explore freely without worrying about any danger in the meantime. So to say, you have been summoned in a 'much more' peaceful part of the realm."

"So you mean?"

"Yes... The Sentient Contender Count as of now is decreasing rapidly. Truth be told, as we speak, drastic statistical change is in effect. 245,987...187,00...157,236..."

"Hey tell us what's going on on the other side already?!!" Everyone, even though knowing what she meant started to rally..."

"You all really want to know?"

"JUST FRICKING EXPLAIN IT TO US!" Everyone began to act rather furious of the confusion they are feeling, and of the truth that they all don't want to believe."

"Okay. And I will not just explain it to you... I will show it to you...The process of maintaining control over the equilibrium."

Everyone, who got the response that they wanted and even better, started to shut their mouths, in anticipation of knowing what is indeed happening for the Armada who houses a total by which outnumbered us on a sliding scale.

Then, Amadea made her piano consequently sound in its own will as she closed her eyes in meditation. The music? Ranked at the list of the scariest classical pieces of all. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's 'Don Giovanni'.

"Summon...The Looking glass of Clairvoyance!"

And then, out of thin air, appeared a giant mirror-like figure with golden frame and through the glass, an unwanted horror movie appeared, although it's not right to call it fiction. A blatant scene from afar...that nearly explains how this warfare, prioritizes Equilibrium above all costs."

"HELLLLPP!!"

"DON'T LEAVE MEEE!"

"P-PLEASE JUST TAKE MY CHILD!" Sounds like that came lively from the mirror as if we all are brought behind the none-fictional scenes, and as the 'Don Giovanni' piece's sonata came coalescing with the horror, in the brutal clairvoyant looking glass...

Uncensored moving pictures of people being eaten alive, being burned, being brutally massacred, by these unknown and aggressive bestial creatures that are just too ugly to be defined through simple terms, horrified the 690, making some feel nauseous, some crying and some covering both their ears and eyes, while some stood stunned, watching the terror within, as though watching their own race become cannon fodder for the grotesque flesh-devourers.

This is how the warfare gives ends meet to the concern of equilibrium. They summon the more numerous faction to a place similar to hell to meliorate the exaggeration of numbers while summoning the lesser group to a place of boundless gaiety. Then suddenly...

"Who is that girl? She-she's saving everybody else!"

Then, the horror movie suddenly and unexpectedly metamorphosed to a live-action epic as someone began to awesomely and single-handedly help those in peril, slashing the ugly creatures up, with every one slash powerful enough to slice a hundred. It's Celes...The renowned Prima Donna, utilizing the holy relic, 'Trancy' that her Deity for whatever special reason, entrusted to her.

Now, for someone who has made up her mind to obliterate humanity for probably a long time now, together with the divine will Deus made her bare...why the hell is she there?

She does know what she's doing right?

In all of the myriad of questions that I have in my mind, I know for sure that I can't answer it all through a baseless hypothesis. Seriously though, she's digging up a hole for herself here for being the first Herrscher to be widely exposed.

Yet, that Goddess... I never knew that this was why she wanted me to keep a low profile while faking my presence here in this rather fortunate (for now) Armada.

I guess, that this is the long-presaged compensation we're receiving for being vastly outnumbered... being sent to a safer side as our primal starting-place.

Chapter end