The fall of Mariejoise!

"Please spare me! I'll give you anything! I will make you a king! Of a kingdom! Anything just pleheaease....!" Rosward cried on the floor.

"If I wanted a kingdom, I could get one myself. Hell I could take over the world if I wanted and you couldn't stop me if you tried. And besides, I don't think you are in any position to negotiate for anything!" I laughed, raising my wrist at him before deciding otherwise.

I picked up Rosward's gun from the groundand looked at the old man in the crowd.

"Hey, old man. You were saying how I can only do this because I'm powerful? That I couldn't have stood up against the Celestial Dragons if I was weak?

Watch this!" I said, pointing the gun at Rosward's head.

Bang!

His head splattered across the street.

"Just like that. The Celestial Dragons? They aren't special, or powerful or any of that superstition mumbo jumbo.

Any random bullet could kill them. Easy as pie. The Celestial Dragons are weak. They are pathetic. Look at this one." I pointed to Charlos, Rosward's son, or rather to the yellow puddle at his feet.

"He pissed himself. These are the people who you allow to rule over you? Are they really worthy of being feared?

You could easily overthrow them if you decided to. And I'm not just saying that. Let me prove it to you. To all of you watching right now." I said, turning to the camera.

"Let's make a bet. If I destroy Mariejoise today, I want all of you listening to me right now to make me a promise.

You do something against the world government. It doesn't have to be big. You don't have to blow up your nearest marine base or burn a palace to the ground. If you can't afford to, start small. Instead of greeting your local marine chapter on patrol, ignore them. Instead of bowing to your royalty, slip away into the alleys upon their approach. Let them pass by empty streets and desolate plazas. Let them feel your discontent.

If they come to your tailor shop, make their dress just a bit too short or a just a tad too long on one sleeve. If they eat in your cafe, salt their sandwich extra. Piss in their coffee. Or ale. God knows it tastes about the same."

"You know how piss tastes?" Clockblocker interjected.

"Ye- I mean no." I laughed, "Clockblocker!"

"Just curious." He shrugged.

I shook my head.

"Anyway. Just do something. Boycott what the nobles sell. Lie on your taxes. Just the small bits. You don't need to be a revolutionary to express your discontent. You don't need to risk your life to fight back. But I want you to do something. Anything. No matter how small. Every bit matters. Every drop makes the ocean. So you better keep your end!" I smiled and wagged a finger at the camera.

Why was I going so easy on them? Why not ask them to do something grand, violent, flashy!

Because I know people are cowards. If I asked them to do something big, they'd never do it. But something small?

They'd do that gladly!

And that's only the beginning.

Those small acts would slowly inspire others to do the same, and turn into a feedback loops of confidence such that at least a few people would escalate to bigger, better things. An egging at first. Then some caltrops in the king's path. And finally, as they were further emboldened, maybe even an assassination!

And here's the kicker. Even if the people don't rise up, my words right now will sow the seed of doubt into the minds of the world government.

Now everytime they pass a streets and someone gives them a wrong look or fails to greet them, they'll wonder.

Is this a brewing rebellion? Are they going to rise up? Will they kill me?

Slowly those thoughts will consume them, drive them mad, every incidence and coincidence nudging them furtehr into paranoia till someone cracks. Till someone fires the 'shot heard around the world'. All for the smallest and most petty of reasons. And then?

Chaos! Civil war! World War!

Rebellions and revolutions all around!

Hehehehehheahhahahhahaa!

Sure, I could have exposed their many crimes and slowly guided the world to a united revolution, brought on better governance.

But where's the fun in that?

No. I want them to fall, right upon each other, like dominoes of death and destruction.

I want to see this world collapse onto itself. Even if it takes a long while.

I am a patient man.

"Now, without further ado!" I said, as the ground thumped with the sound of boots marching in unison.

The marines were coming. Playing right into my hands.

I snapped my finger and my ring projected a screen into the air, the feed depicting a bird's eye view of the shining city on a hill.

"Hellooooo Mariejoise! And now, goodbye!" I said, snapping my fingers again.

On the screen, a portal opened up above the golden city, and a massive glowing, beeping coronavirus shaped ball dropped from the sky onto the central square.

"People of Ryugu Kingdom, brace for impact. You might be experiencing some.... turbulence soon." I announced with a flourish, before the beeping reached a climax.

And then.

Boom!

A blinding purple light engulfed the city, exploding outwards disintegrating everything it touched.

The plateau shook and the Red Line, the single linear supercontinent of this world cracked.

Great shelves of rock broke off from it, witha thunderous rattle, tearing away into the clouds as they fell down the 6km drop, carving out shear cliffs like the claw marks of a bear on pine tree.

The plateau slammed into the cold, dark ocean sending great waves splashing away from the continent, before sinking into the sea.

Finally, the winds from the explosion stormed forth, rippling across the sky sending clouds aflutter, a ring of white blowing away from the site of the impact.

Moments later, the giant mangroves in the Archipelago shook, swinging violently in the wind, creaking and howling as sprays of dirt and mud splattered the streets.

"Whoohohohooo!" I screamed, jumping in joy.

"Now that's what I call an explosion!"

I looked around to see the horrified expressions on everyone's face, staring at me like I was some eldritch god.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"You ...you did it. You actually did it!" The fishman kneeling beside me muttered, shocked.

"Close your mouth." I said, closing his jaw, with a chuckle.

"You'll get a fly popping in for a visit at this rate."

I turned to the old man who was arguing with me, before I levelled a gaze at the Marines approaching me.

They had stopped in their tracks, watching the footage aghast.

"So.....still wanna arrest me?" I asked cheekily.

I could see the captain leading them gulp visibly and audibly.

He looked at me, then at the screen before he turned to look back at his troops, a 2000 strong.

I could see the hamster wheels turning in his head as he wondered if he could really afford the fight.

And he was leaning hard into the idiot ball pit.

He just looked the type.

Thankfully, his men were ...smarter?

Just as he began to harden his resolve, preparing to order them into a suicidal charge, a thud rang out from the side.

One soldier dropped his gun, and raised his hands.

Then another. And another.

One by one, the soldiers began to drop their weapons, raising their hands in surrender, until the captain himself sighed in defeat.

He pulled out his pistol, with shaking hands and looked up at me.

"You still wanna go?" I raised an eyebrow, amused.

He bit his lip and took a deep breath.

Bang!

He shot himself.

His brains splattered onto the street, and his limp body fell unceremoniously onto the floor, as his men just watched on.

"There we go!" I pointed out, looking at the old man.

"And you were crying about how they were so powerful. Look at him. Took the easy road out. Like a bitch!"

The old man though didn't answer, his eyes lost in the middle distance.

My mans soul literally left his body it seems.

Too bad. I felt I was making some real progress there.

But eh, whatever.

"Are the trees supposed to do that?" Tattletale commented pointing behind me.

I turned around, to see the giant mangrove tree at the edge of the gathering tilt like the leaning tower of Pisa.

"Uh... I don't think so?" I said, unsure.

A thunderous crack sounded out, as the trunk of the mangrove bent further, it's bark cracked exposing sinewy wooden fibers within, pulsing and green, when even they began to snap.

Bunch by bunch, the sinews snapped, flying around slamming into the mangrove trunk like a massive wooden whip, leaving scars dug into it's bark.

Slowly the tree tumbled, splashing into the ocean, breaking apart, smashed to smithereens.

Pieces of the tree went flying everywhere, crashing into the city, devastating the shops below, earning me the glares of the shopkeeps.

"Uh....sorry?" I said, sheepishly.

________________________

Mariejoise is nuked.

The era of the World Nobles comes to an end.

And it has ... unexpected consequences?

Find out next time with a reaction chapter!

What the world thinks.

Anyways if you want to read ahead or support me, you can do so at :

patr-eon.com/goldenfingers