NOVEL NEXT Chapter 40 - Machine God Chronicles - Ending (1)
“Childhood’s End”.
A novel written by the famous SF writer Arthur C. Clarke in the mid-20th century.
It’s probably a work so famous that among people interested in this field, there’s hardly anyone who hasn’t heard its name, even if they don’t know the detailed content.
In fact, even if someone doesn’t know the plot of this novel, I can guarantee that they’ve definitely seen works influenced by this novel.
Because among existing SF works, there are almost none that haven’t been influenced by “Childhood’s End”.
However, on Earth, almost 70 years had passed from when this novel appeared until I was reincarnated.
That means, while the ending of the novel “Childhood’s End” might have been very novel and shocking 70 years ago.
By the 2020s, it had fallen to something that had become cliché after being milked like bone broth in all sorts of works.
Especially because ‘that work’ which turned humanity into LCL… no, orange juice, was also influenced by “Childhood’s End”, its ending became even more famous.
But if we think about this in reverse.
In a fantasy world where not only has “Childhood’s End” not been published 70 years ago, but even similar concepts haven’t been grasped yet, this ending would be very shocking.
“…Director, if it’s not rude to say, have you finally gone mad? Or has something happened to your head?”
This was Kaya’s first reaction after hearing from me how I was going to end “Machine God Chronicles”.
And hearing Kaya’s words, Serika’s expression also changes to one of bewilderment.
What’s this, I thought Serika at least was on my side, but is she also a bit shocked by the ending of “Childhood’s End”?
“…Um, Lady Kaya.”
“What is it, Lady Grünewald?”
“It seems like your way of speaking to Ragna… no, the Director has changed a bit, what happened?”
“…..”
For some unknown reason, Serika seemed to be more concerned about Kaya’s change in tone towards me than all of humanity being connected by Kala.
For reference, Kaya’s way of speaking to me changed like this after she was forcibly made to board the Machine God and get off.
To put it nicely, the distance between us decreased and familiarity grew, and to put it badly, she became a bit more disrespectful.
Well, to be honest, I found Kaya’s current way of speaking a little more comfortable than before.
After all, since Kaya’s real status is that of an Imperial Princess, it was very tiring to always be careful with my words in front of her.
But now that Kaya is using such a comfortable way of speaking to me first, I can also speak a little more thoughtlessly, which is comfortable, I should say.
“Well. Should I say someone forcibly made me like this? I also thought it was pointless to be particularly polite in front of that person…”
“…..”
As Kaya muttered while glaring at me, I deliberately turned my gaze to look elsewhere.
Since there were things I had done, I had nothing to say even if I had ten mouths.
Meanwhile, Serika, who had been quietly listening to the conversation between me and Kaya, pouts her lips as if something displeased her.
“…?”
It seems like something made Serika feel a bit upset, but now wasn’t the time to worry about such things.
Because the cooperation of these two was essential to finish the final episode of “Machine God Chronicles” in the style of “Childhood’s End”.
“Anyway, I think this is too much even if it’s done. People are already extremely excited about how “Machine God Chronicles” will end, but if we end it in such a crazy way, how much abuse will they heap on us!”
“Hmm.”
If it were on Earth, it might be criticized as a bone broth ending at worst, but wouldn’t be called crazy, I guess this culture is still a hundred years too early for these uncivilized fantasy world people.
I sighed lightly inwardly, but outwardly I opened my mouth in as serious a tone as possible.
“Well. I don’t think this ending is that crazy.”
“…Pardon?”
At my words, Kaya’s face changes to an expression of disbelief.
“Not crazy? This ending where all of humanity dies?”
“That’s right.”
I nodded vigorously at Kaya’s words.
“It’s a bit late to say this now, but do you remember the content of episode 25 of “Machine God Chronicles”?”
“…How could I forget that? There was a time when I resented having made such anime content with my own hands.”
Saying so, Kaya shuddered as if it was very frightening that she had almost blown up the Earth with her own hands.
“Do you remember the line that Dr. Rachel said in passing there?”
“Ah… You mean that line about Unit 0 awakening as a true god and starting the creation ceremony? What was it, something like all false creations would die as the price for a new creation…”
“Oh.”
I let out an exclamation of admiration hearing Kaya’s words.
It was a line I had deliberately inserted in passing so that it wouldn’t remain well in people’s memories, but to think she still remembered it.
“Please think about the development of episode 25 once again. At that time, Unit 0, which had awakened as a god, was originally going to reset all of humanity while exploding the Earth. It was only prevented because the Illuminati and Senate side desperately stopped it, even using the holy sword.”
“…..”
“And viewers who saw such a development would have been dumbfounded. Naturally. Because humanity was almost annihilated. But-”
I smiled and said.
“At the same time, this thought would have flashed through people’s minds. Fortunately, humanity wasn’t annihilated as Unit 0 stopped operating.”
If humanity had really been annihilated by the creation ceremony performed by Unit 0, what would have happened after that?
Probably, I don’t know for sure, but most viewers would have harbored such a question deep in their hearts.
Because unless they knew nothing from the start, once they learned that there was a possibility of something happening, curiosity was inevitable.
Kaya might not know, but this was the so-called ‘Chekhov’s gun’ problem.
If a gun appears in a work, there must be a scene where it is fired.
Also, if any foreshadowing appears in a work, that foreshadowing must necessarily function meaningfully.
To be honest, when foreshadowing related to the Perfect Life Form appeared, didn’t people secretly want to see Kazu’s appearance after becoming a Perfect Life Form?
If there was foreshadowing related to the destruction of humanity, it means that scenes related to the destruction of humanity must appear to increase the completeness of the work.
“…..”
Indeed, Kaya just quietly looks at me, unable to refute my words.
“In other words, foreshadowing related to the destruction of humanity has already been laid. Also, here I plan to give the protagonist Kai the final choice.”
“…The final choice?”
“In fact, Kai’s active role in “Machine God Chronicles” is as good as concluded in episode 25. Because from the point where he defeated Nyarlathotep, the strongest Outer God within the work, Kai has no more rivals.”
That’s why from episode 26 onwards, “Machine God Chronicles” focused more on the conflict between the Commander-in-Chief, the Senate, and members of the Illuminati rather than fights with Outer Gods.
“Kai returned from god to human again at the end of episode 25. That means Kai is a being that can be called a half-god and the only one qualified to judge humanity.”
“…I see, I understand what you want to say, Director.”
Kaya closed her eyes.
“Under the pretext of protecting themselves from Outer Gods, humanity not only sealed Kai’s younger sister in Unit 0’s core but even created Saya, a clone. And Kai, realizing this truth, came to harbor strong hostility towards humanity.”
Therefore, it would be a very natural development for Kai to make the decision to destroy humanity in the “Human Ascension Plan”… no, “Human Complementation Plan” in the ending part of “Machine God Chronicles”.
…Of course, even so, the fact that this ending is crazy will never change.
But because I had already laid numerous foreshadowing elements from the planning stage of “Machine God Chronicles” thinking about the orange juice ending, Kaya wouldn’t be able to easily find words to refute me at this moment.
‘Moreover, if the reactions of the Emperor and others are not good, I have one means left that can be used as insurance.’
Of course, I don’t want to use it if possible, but this is something I can’t help.
It’s something unimaginable in a 21st century modern democratic society, but this is an uncivilized fantasy world where the caste system is alive and well, so my neck could literally fall off.
Kaya organized her thoughts for a while with her eyes closed.
It was after quite some time had passed that she opened her eyes.
Of course, the first thing she did as soon as she opened her eyes was to glare at me.
It seemed clear that she had completely fallen for my words.
“Sigh…. Alright. Let’s try it. But, even if His Majesty tries to kill you, Director, I absolutely won’t stop him.”
“Would I have it any other way?”
I shrugged at Kaya’s words.
“Oh, by the way, I thought it might be a bit bland if humanity just dies, so I came up with a brilliant idea.”
“…A brilliant idea? What is it?”
“In episode 15, when Luke died, inserting a children’s song as the OST got quite a hot reaction from people, right? So I’m thinking of inserting classical music as the background music when humanity is destroyed this time, what do you think? Professor Hermione recommended a piece called ‘Come, Beautiful Death’, and I think it’s quite good-”
“No! Anything but that is absolutely not allowed!”
By the way, my plan to insert classical music into the scene of humanity’s destruction was ultimately not implemented due to the extreme opposition of Serika and Kaya.
It was truly a pity beyond compare.
Incidentally, episodes 49 and 50 this time were aired without being censored by the Emperor, according to the agreement made previously.
So, the day after episodes 49 and 50 of “Machine God Chronicles” were successfully aired.
Kaya came to find me early in the morning and opened her mouth.
“…Um, Director. His Majesty has summoned you. He said to come to the Imperial Palace right now. Immediately.”
“…..”
Could this be a big problem?