Luke was feeling quite pleased with himself as he worked the senators into a frenzy, watching their anger grow with every word he spoke. They were all seeing blood by this point, imagining the money they believed had been stolen from them and the enemies they could blame for it. The best part was that Luke had not even needed to use the blackmail he had prepared for the occasion, because the senators had practically worked themselves into a frenzy on their own. After nearly half an hour of speaking, however, Luke decided it was time to get the show moving and push for a vote.
He wanted this matter settled as quickly as possible so that he could return to the military and tell them that they had authorization to kill the people responsible. As far as Luke was concerned, once the Senate passed the bill, the matter would become a military problem rather than a political one. He could already imagine himself standing before the military commanders and explaining that they now had the authority to eliminate the supposed traitors. There was only one small problem, and that was the president refusing to approve the bill.
Luke was not particularly worried about that possibility, however, because that was exactly what the cameras were for. If the president rejected the bill after everything that had happened, Luke could simply use the media coverage to portray the rejection as another example of weakness and incompetence. It was the perfect opportunity to boost his own popularity while simultaneously putting pressure on the administration. Since the bill was not directly harmful to any major interest group, the media had eagerly devoured the story and turned the entire Senate debate into political entertainment.
Luke was just about to push for the vote when a deafening boom suddenly echoed through the chamber. The doors to the Senate floor had been kicked open with enough force to make everyone inside turn toward the entrance, where a handsome young man stood calmly in the doorway. His mana was completely unleashed, and the pressure rolling from his body made it immediately obvious that he was a Stage One human. The senators instantly understood just how terrifying that was, because not a single person among them was remotely close to reaching that level.
Most of the senators were far too old to have any hope of catching up, assuming they even had the talent to cultivate in the first place. If Gaia had been able to see their souls directly, she would probably have found them thoroughly stained by decades of greed, corruption, and selfishness. More importantly, none of them had any way of knowing what kind of abilities the young man possessed. For all they knew, he could have been a mage capable of destroying the entire chamber before they could even react.
"I must say, it is quite painful to see that the once-great United States Senate has fallen to such a point that conspiracy theories are allowed to be discussed on the floor and, even worse, taken seriously," the blond man said. His voice was calm, almost disappointed, as though he were speaking to a group of children who had done something embarrassing. The sheer confidence in his tone made several senators visibly uncomfortable. Nobody in the chamber could ignore the fact that the person insulting them was standing at Stage One.
"My name is Ögge Ericsson, ambassador for the European Union on this specific expedition," Ögge continued with a slight bow. His introduction only made the senators more confused, because nobody had expected a European ambassador to suddenly appear inside the Senate while they were discussing an entirely different matter. Ögge, however, did not appear bothered by their confusion in the slightest. He simply straightened himself and continued speaking as though he had every right to be standing there.
"It has come to our attention that you were accusing the people in that picture of interfering with your secret realms and stealing from your country," Ögge said, his voice suddenly becoming louder. "I am here to disprove that claim." His voice boomed throughout the chamber, but the senators soon realized that the sound was not coming from the Senate's normal speakers. Ögge had somehow hijacked the entire sound system with his mana, ensuring that everyone inside the chamber could hear every word he said.
Luke immediately began screaming for the guards to remove him from the room. "Get him out of here! What are you waiting for?!" he shouted, pointing toward Ögge with an increasingly desperate expression. The guards, however, did not respond, and Luke's shouting only made him look more frantic. Meanwhile, the journalists inside the chamber were practically salivating over the spectacle unfolding before them.
The journalists were completely unaware that their producers were desperately trying to contact them and order them to stop broadcasting. For some unknown reason, none of the producers could shut down the live feed from their side, leaving the cameras running while Ögge addressed the entire Senate. The public reaction was even more extreme, as people across the remaining cities with functioning electricity began calling friends and family members to tell them to turn on the news. Whatever political argument had been taking place before, this had become something entirely different.
"Those traitors, as you have called them, are our citizens," Ögge declared. His voice carried through the chamber and out through every television and broadcasting system still functioning across the country. "The System has given them the task of defending the portals and killing the corrupted creatures that emerge from them." The statement immediately caused murmurs throughout the chamber, but Ögge raised his voice before anyone could interrupt him.
"And do you know why?" Ögge asked, his expression hardening. "Because those portals were left undefended by your government for so long that our citizens had to step in and help defend your country and the rest of the world." He paused for only a moment before continuing, his anger becoming increasingly obvious. "You were incompetent, so ordinary people from Europe stepped forward and risked their lives to protect you from creatures that could have killed thousands, and now you have the audacity to call them traitors and demand that they be killed?"
Ögge was enjoying himself more than he wanted to admit. He knew the cameras were still recording, and more importantly, he knew that the footage was now being transmitted around the world. Every accusation Luke had made against the European citizens was being dismantled in front of an international audience. The senators could not simply bury the story afterward, because millions of people were watching the confrontation unfold in real time.
Luke, however, refused to surrender. "He's lying!" Luke screamed, his voice cracking as he pointed toward Ögge. "Those are lies! Fake news! Get him out of here!" He continued demanding that the guards arrest the European ambassador, but nobody came to his aid. The absence of the guards was beginning to unsettle him far more than Ögge himself.
There was a very good reason for that.
If the senators had not been so focused on Ögge, they might have noticed something strange happening around the chamber. Small amounts of blood were beginning to drip onto the Senate floor from several different locations. Some of it seeped from beneath the desks, while other drops appeared to come from people standing in places where nothing seemed to be wrong. Nobody paid attention to it because every eye was fixed on the blond European standing before them.
"You say that I am lying?" Ögge asked with a small snicker. He reached beneath his arm and pulled out several sheets of paper that had been carefully kept together. "At least I have proof that what I am saying is the truth." With a casual movement, he released the documents into the air, allowing his mana to hold them above the Senate floor. The papers slowly unfolded as everyone watched, revealing their contents to the entire chamber.
A massive screen suddenly appeared behind the Speaker's desk, projected directly into the air. It was approximately five meters high and three meters wide, making it impossible for anyone in the chamber to miss what was displayed upon it. The document was enlarged until even the senators sitting at the far end of the room could read every line. The journalists immediately focused their cameras on the projection, ensuring that the entire world could see it as well.
The document contained orders authorizing members of the European trade families to enter and defend the secret realms inside the United States. It explained that corrupted humans had been spreading panic throughout the region, largely because they feared being hunted down by the Church and the military. Rather than invading American territory for personal gain, the people Luke had accused had been responding to an emergency. They had entered the secret realms because someone needed to protect the portals and prevent corrupted creatures from spilling into the surrounding population centers.
Luke stared at the document, but he still refused to back down. "Lies!" he shouted again, though there was far less confidence in his voice now. "It's fake news! You forged that document!" His expression had become increasingly desperate, and even some of the senators who had supported him earlier were beginning to look uncomfortable. The problem was that Ögge had provided something Luke had not expected: actual evidence.
"I had hoped that you would have something to defend yourself with," Ögge said, his expression becoming colder as he looked directly at Luke. "But judging from how desperately you are trying to deny everything, I am beginning to wonder if you have been converted into a corrupted human, Senator." The accusation immediately caused another uproar inside the chamber. Several senators shouted in outrage while others instinctively moved away from Luke.
"Slander!" Luke shouted. "How dare you insinuate that I am corrupted? Where is your evidence?" He desperately tried to regain control of the situation, grabbing onto the first defense he could think of. "I voted for the Kill Corrupted Humans on Sight Bill! I was one of its greatest supporters!" Luke believed that mentioning his support for the bill would prove his loyalty to humanity. Instead, he had just handed Ögge exactly what he needed.
"Good," Ögge said with a faint smile. "We have that confession on record." The calmness in his voice was somehow more frightening than shouting would have been, and the atmosphere inside the Senate suddenly became unbearably tense. Ögge looked directly at Luke, and whatever amusement had been present in his expression disappeared completely. "Then please die, Senator."
Three daggers suddenly appeared.
They struck Luke almost simultaneously, piercing his body before he could react. The entire attack happened so quickly that many of the senators did not even understand what had happened until Luke collapsed. For several seconds, the chamber remained completely silent as everyone stared at the body lying on the Senate floor. Then the silence shattered as senators began screaming, journalists shouted in shock, and chaos erupted throughout the chamber.
Someone had just been murdered on the Senate floor.
Not only had Luke been killed, but he had been killed in an almost absurdly brutal manner, and nobody had noticed the preparations until it was already too late. The realization sent another wave of fear through the chamber as everyone finally understood that the blood they had been ignoring had not been an illusion. The people surrounding them had been there the entire time, hidden in plain sight, waiting for the right moment to act.
Ögge did not seem particularly bothered by what had happened. He simply looked around the chaotic chamber before letting out a quiet sigh. "Great, now I hope that you will stop this ridiculous play and become the country you were supposed to be, as written by your founding fathers." His words were carried throughout the chamber by the mana-enhanced speakers, ensuring that every person watching the broadcast heard them clearly.
"If you can do that, Europe is more than happy to resume stronger diplomatic ties with you," Ögge continued. He adjusted his suit and turned toward the exit without waiting for anyone to respond. "But in the meantime, stay away from our citizens." With those final words, Ögge walked out of the Senate chamber, leaving behind a room full of terrified senators, stunned journalists, and a country that had just watched one of its politicians die on live television.