Chapter 152: Notice of Death

It was just another day in the post apocalyptic Japan. The people who lived inside walled settlements protected by factions controlling an army of awakeners are going about their days working horrendous hours in order to survive the harsh reality they currently lived in. Japan's awful working conditions, which were fuelled by capitalism and greed, has become worse than ever due to the monster apocalypse, especially for essential businesses such as farms and power companies. It's like no matter where they go, they will always be doomed to work for a black company.

It has become much worse now that entertainment industry become scarcer and scarcer, not allowing people to rest and heal mentally after working so many hours, not that most of them have time for it in the first place, though some settlements, like Akihabara, tried their best to retain entertainment to boost the morale of their people.

But their peaceful days are suddenly interrupted by a magical hologram that suddenly appear in the sky, a projection of a hooded figure wearing a terrifying skull mask. Every settlement that has living people… and some ruins without living people… saw the giant skull in the sky.

"Good day to you, people of Japan. I am the Occult Killer, the one who brought the apocalypse upon this world, a name I'm sure you all know well. I am here to make an announcement." His terrible, demonic voice rang loudly through each settlement, making sure every single living soul hear it, tremble and despair.

"I'm sure you've heard of my previous declaration of war in Messiah. And I've made sure to keep my words as I destroyed several settlements already. And of course I noticed that the government of Japan, particularly the imperial family, has made their move in order to gather an alliance to oppose me." The giant skull mentions the imperial family, which made many people, who are unaware of the imperial family's growing influence, to be confused as they thought the government of Japan has long since collapsed and that they are now ruled by several factions instead.

"And no. I am not here to discourage you from gathering to oppose me. In fact, I highly encourage you to do so. Which is why I am announcing that in a week's time, I shall be invading Tokyo and destroy every last traces of life within it. And after I'm done with Tokyo, I shall invade the rest of the settlements until I return to Messiah, which would be the last settlement to be destroyed as I promised." The giant skull declared his intention to attack Tokyo, the capital of Japan and residence of the imperial family, protected by the prime minister faction, which is actually under the management of the imperial family.

"Do make sure to resist as much as you can. Make this even more fun for me. Heh heh heh." The giant skull ended the broadcast with an evil chuckle before dispersing the hologram, returning the sky to normal.

And panic immediately ensues as the people, who are barely informed of the recent developments, now gained confirmation of the threat that the Occult Killer poses, especially the citizens of Tokyo, which is the Occult Killer's next target. Some panicked citizen in Tokyo and some other settlements, already fed up with the awful working conditions imposed upon them, starts rioting on the streets of their respective settlements, going crazy after receiving a notice of their deaths.

The people of Tokyo in particular, starts protesting against the government, demanding answers, especially about the imperial family, whom they blamed as the reason why the Occult Killer targeted Tokyo first. The young prime minister, Shibuki, who was not exactly elected to the position and was instead appointed to the position by the imperial family, was forced to make an emergency press conference to quell the outrage and try to explain his reasoning for hiding the imperial family, which failed to appease the people.

The emperor was forced to leave the shadows and step out to the light and announced that he would resist the Occult Killer as much as he can, refusing to surrender. He also asked, no… ordered the people to contribute more to the cause, which meant more work. In response to the people disagreeing to work even more than they have, he unleashed his own army of awakeners upon the ringleaders of the protests, killing some of them as cautionary tale for the rest.

The city of Tokyo is then put under martial law to prevent anyone from escaping and the people, already overworked as they were, have now essentially been put into forced labor in order to strengthen the city's defences. The imperial family's army of awakeners patrol the streets 24 hours a day to ensure no one escapes or stop working.

Other factions and their respective settlements, especially ones that have joined the grand alliance, did not escape this fate, as the emperor demands them to contribute to the cause and provide military aid to increase the defense of the Tokyo.

And so, with a single announcement, chaos ensued in Japan… much to the delight of the Occult Killer.

I did it. I used illusion spell to make a hologram projection of myself and broadcasted my message to every settlement in Japan, bringing with it absolute terror and chaos. I've become a full blown terrorist. Ohh… the sweet sweet beautiful fear. Claiming to be the one responsible for the monster apocalypse is the next best thing after being an evil lord in another world.

The only thing that's… lacking is the part where I made the mistake of broadcasting in some settlements where there are no longer people around too due to relying on outdated information provided by the rangers. And now some people started going into those empty places looking for people because they thought I knew there are people hiding there. Ughh… how embarrassing.

Wouldn't it be funny if there are actually people hiding there? Nah, that's impossible.

Anyway, it looks like I forced the emperor to step out into the light. A bit easier than I thought. One of the Rounds wouldn't show himself in public that easily unless it's to slaughter everyone. Still, the martial law he imposed upon Tokyo, which spreads to other cities as well… is simply delicious. I even heard he imposed forced labor upon the people of Tokyo! Will he follow the footsteps of the late Emperor Shōwa and declare himself a demigod while he's at it? And does he have plans to colonize other countries as well like what the late emperor did? I'm excited to see him doing that. Heh heh heh.

As for No. 001… I know you're in Akihabara right now. I do hope you would make this war fun for me.

And don't think I didn't notice your betrayal, red ranger. I know you've been in cahoots with the emperor. But I won't stop you. Finish it. It'll be fun. I actually expected you to do that ever since I slaughtered your men along with the priests and monks with Armageddon.

Ahh… so many exciting things will happen within a week's time. I feel like Cell right now, waiting for the day of the Cell Games.

Now then… how do I pass the time? Oh who am I kidding. I'm not idle. I am busy with the finishing touches for the Zords… which will no doubt be used against me by the traitorous red ranger, which I will allow. It will serve as a good test for the giant robot technology that I intend to bring back to the other world as giant golem or automaton (naturally I won't call them robots in the other world. Aesthetics are important).

Let the games begin.

Damn you Occult Killer.

I never thought I have to live through such a time… and it's all thanks to that monster.

The apocalypse he brought killed the real imperial family, a fact that I covered up when I took over the throne and became emperor. Since then I've been presented with headaches after headaches.

We barely survived the apocalypse thanks to the discovery of magic… but in order to go that far Japan has to split up into several factions. Prime minister Shibuki was a good pawn but his influence and his station, which came from a more democratic source, is too limited in order to bring order to this chaotic world. That's why I brought back the power of monarchy.

But America, being the opportunistic hyenas they are, will no doubt scrutinize me in the international stage if I openly and publicly rule over Japan and maintain order, which is why I had to hide in the shadows and had Shibuki be my mouthpiece.

The Occult Killer's return presented me with an opportunity to gather all the factions together under one banner… my banner. It also gave me an excuse in case America disagrees with my rule… those opportunists will behave as if old war treaties are still valid in a post apocalyptic world. After all, what choice do I have but to do what I did in order to oppose a walking nuclear bomb? Using nuclear bomb? I doubt that will work when America failed to solve their own monster problem using nuclear bombs.

With the grand alliance gathering, things should be going well… and I should be able to unify Japan through it… but it seems that he caught on to my plans if that broadcast is any indication. His declaration of war against Tokyo isn't what surprised me though… it was the fact that he knows where our secret labs are.

His terrifying broadcast reached to seemingly empty cities, which actually contains underground bunkers where I hid my secret labs that perform human experimentations in order to develop a mighty army of awakeners under my command, a fact that I hid even from that naïve youngster Shibuki as he will no doubt disagree with my ruthless methods.

I know what I'm doing is bad… that I've sacrificed countless Japanese lives for the sake of strengthening my army… but what choice do I have? Give up and let the monsters and the Doomsday Cult kill us all? Not a chance!

The people… especially the young ones… will never understand that such extremities are necessary evil in order to ensure the survival of Japan… nay… the survival of the entire human race! I did them all a favour and allowed them to exist in this hell of a world! But those ignorant fools will never listen! They will cling to their fragile and naïve morality, which will doom us all!

The next generation cannot be trusted. They have been spoiled by comfortable lives that they once had before the monster apocalypse and they continue to cling to those naïve memories and values. My very own children included… particularly that foolish son of mine, Satoshi. I will die ten times over before I hand over the throne to that spoiled womanizer brat. He will doom Japan to oblivion with his selfishness and stupidity.

That's why… I need to survive… I need to become immortal… I need to deify myself so that I can continue to lead Japan to survival and prosperity. That's the most important project that the scientists of my secret labs are currently undertaking, making me immortal, no matter how many lives must be lost... as long as I and humanity as a whole survives.

And since it has come to this, I have to use the late Emperor Shōwa's old propaganda material and declare myself a demigod, a descendant of the Sun God Amaterasu, even though I'm not actually related to the real imperial family. But they don't know that. I made sure of it. And when I become immortal, no one would question it.

When I become a god emperor, I will have the entire Japan bowing beneath my feet and accept my rule unless they want to die. Perhaps I will even rule the entire world!

I will lead humanity to a new age! A new era!

And this new era shall begin with the Occult Killer's death!

Mark my words, you insane maniacal serial killer! I shall be the one to win this war! You are merely a stepping stone for me to obtain supreme power! Mwa ha ha ha!

Author's Note:

The Occult Killer has issued another threat and we get a glimpse to the emperor's thought process. Now he is becoming less and less of an Eminence in Shadow and slowly approaching the level of the Rounds members. At first he justifies his actions but… his last line revealed his true character.

And so we have an honest villain vs a villain who tries to justify his actions.

Also… perhaps it's been a long time since we had a Misunderstanding in Shadow? Now we have another.

And in case you guys didn't notice, I changed a line in Chapter 101: The Book of the Dead about Alpha's stance on Rose Oriana in order to make it consistent with her current stance (which I was reminded of after writing the chapter before this one). It was an error on my part because I forgot about the misunderstanding with John Smith which taught Alpha to trust the lower ranking members more.

vikinggold32: Kamen rider faction gets directives? What is shadow?

Answer: Yes… and you may be surprised by the reveal soon.

What is shadow? It is a dark area or shape produced by a body coming between rays of light and a surface or used in reference to proximity, ominous oppressiveness, or sadness and gloom. Lol just kidding. Shadow is… somewhere I cannot reveal just yet.

DerTrap: Good to hear that you plan on watching JJK, it may not be flawless, but still pretty good at least in my opinion. The animations, especially certain fights in Season 2 are peak fiction, for some fights(like Sukuna vs Mahoraga) there is an extended 4k Blu-Ray Version with additional scenes that you should watch on Youtube after seeing the respective episodes.

The anime is also generally doing an incredible job at making fights even better compared to the Manga, Sukuna vs Mahoraga being a good example again. Certainly makes me wonder what kind of peak fiction Mappa will cook with the animations for the biggest fight of JJK, Gojo vs Sukuna(Which is not that much of a spoiler, since it was obvious that these two will have a real battle somehwere down the line. Because this fight has been teased since the beginning of the story. But most likely won't happen until Season 4 or even later depending on the anime's pacing.).

Hope Season 3 is getting a trailer and release date soon.

Answer: Yeah I heard and watched some clips of the animation (also happens to hear the horrible working conditions for the animators at Mappa some time ago). I'll be enjoying the anime when I have the time.

yoksana980: …I think i somehow forgot the whole story…time tk re-start

Answer: Take your time.

Guest: "I don't expect to survive here."

Don't give up hope Alpha. The moment you do, the villian has already won.

Answer: She will resist however she can, though still feeling hopeless after her and the other Seven Shades's crushing defeat at his hands.