Burn at His Stake and The World is Burning

After the sound was no longer heard, not long after, Heissvogel informed the SEE-SAW satellite that something strange had been detected. Heissvogel said, “Look, there’s something strange coming from Bavaria.”

Schonewolken also noticed something unusual: “Something is getting closer to the Quietus Cloud over there. That’s definitely not an ordinary plane. What is that thing doing?”

The object that Heissvogel and Schonewolken considered strange was a plane made by Starkgeist. In the narrow space between the plane’s engines, Starkgeist sat controlling the plane. He directed his plane towards the Quietus Cloud.

The plane was an early version of Starkgeist’s design. With his early-generation plane, Starkgeist tried to take his own stake. The bet was, if he succeeded, his plane would be able to close the hole in the Quietus Cloud created by the launch of the Witch’s Broomstick.

The plane was indeed designed by Starkgeist to move the Quietus Cloud. The goal was to ensure that humans would continue to be imprisoned on Earth under the Quietus Cloud. For a few moments, it seemed that the ship had achieved some success. After entering the Quietus Cloud, there seemed to be a change that was also seen by Heissvogel and Schonewolken.

Heissvogel said, "Look, there is a little movement from the Quietus Cloud."

Schonewolken confirmed this: "Moving slowly and little by little closing the hole in the Quietus Cloud."

From the outside, it seemed successful, while inside his ship, Starkgeist continued to try to increase this success. He continued to spur his ship's engine so that he could completely close the hole in the Quietus Cloud. "Come on! Come on! Come on!" said Starkgeist, who was sure that his bet would succeed.

At that moment, the Starkgesti ship's engine suddenly died. Then several explosions were heard from the engine, and sparks were also seen that, in a short time, burned the components of the ship.

Starkgeist was shocked and panicked. "What? Why did it happen like this? According to my calculations, my ship can still last a long time!"

The plane circled, accompanied by several explosions and flying fragments of components. From inside the Quietus Cloud, the plane fell to earth. All of that happened in just a matter of seconds; Starkgeist had no time to save himself.

"Noooooo!!!" Starkgeist only had time to scream hysterically without being able to get out of his plane.

Starkgeist's plane fell so hard onto some rocks, causing a thunderous sound and a huge fire. The rocks where Starkgeist's plane fell were rocks on one of the small islands in Hinter Lake.

With the magnitude of the explosion, Starkgeist was certain to die in the flames. He died in the same place as Fermi Isai Herzwarm, whom he killed. Starkgeist did not die in the cold water with an ancient ducking stool. He died in the heat of the fire inside his modern tool, which he bet would be able to close the hole in the Quietus Cloud.

Burned at his own stake.

(***)

I stand on the hill of Raustrat. This time, there seemed to be two guards around me. Now, just like Princess Aria Sunna Heissvogel, I also had to go accompanied by guards.

At that time, I, whose name was Essa Eruhi Schonewolken, had been appointed as a member of the Big Five, replacing Enrico Smarta Starkgeist. I chose a personal insignia that changed to the symbol of the Witch of Agnesi. The insignia was seen hanging on my left chest because at that time I was wearing my uniform.

The sky above me was already clear; the Quietus Cloud was no longer covering it. It seemed to be in contrast to what I witnessed before me. That's right, there was still the Quietus Cloud covering this area of ​​the earth.

Only in my country had the Quietus been cleared. Meanwhile, in other countries, the 1332-kilometer-thick cloud was still present. Indeed, the government of the Federal Republic of Deutschtonia was unwilling to transfer the technology for clearing the Quietus Cloud.

I was appointed as a member of the Big Five; the real reason was so that I would be "imprisoned." I, who closed my eyes at that time, remembered a question from a policeman named Lallo Kaplan Langfelder during the examination of Mr. Warm's death case. The question was a question about the realpolitik that was happening within the Five institution.

Now I could really feel that realpolitik. There were groups that could influence this and that. This and that that I meant, including the objects that I saw when I opened my eyes. In the sky of Deutschtonia, a ship-plane 1023-0 was seen flying with an escort of several smaller planes.

The military objects were about to cross over to another country to carry out an attack operation there. They will do something—which Mr. Werrnherluft calls it—to make Niederdorla no longer the geometric center of our country. They are an invasion force to attack another country.

It seems that the ship-plane 1023-0 that I saw will add to the list of ship-planes 1023-0 that are nesting in other countries' territories. Maybe they will succeed in achieving their goal to take over a country, either completely or partially. The last example, for example, happened in the Republic of Frankcia. Mr. Wernherluft succeeded in proving his words that he could demonstrate how to split a hexagon.

The Thousand-Year War continues. The world will burn. The world is burning. A mass extinction event. The world is completely destroyed.

That's when I remembered my conversation with the voice that contacted me when the princess and I successfully launched the Witch's Broomstick. The voice—which I later assumed was Mr. Starkgeist's voice—made me ask myself, could it be that the idea of ​​letting humans die under the Quietus Cloud was actually the right idea?

I could see with my own eyes my country's war machines being sent to other countries' territories. Even if the humans on my planet managed to reach other planets, maybe they would continue the Millennial War. Absurd, like the myth of Sisyphus, who had to lift the stone from the bottom of the hill again once he reached the top of the hill.

I closed my eyes, then opened them again. I bent down, picking up a small stone. What would I do? I remembered what I said to "that voice": Maybe we could do stone work.

I threw the small stone I was holding down. I said to myself, "The world is ending, it's true, but let's try to do stonework."