Chapter 57 - Deterrence

It was a week before any other Nation joined my Crusade. But like snow piling and rolling downhill, by the third week, there were already Seven nations participating in the Crusade.

Four of the Seven shared borders with Amestris and they were more than happy to beat the shit out of it.

Amestris was a strong nation certainly, but in its wake and rapid rise, it had sowed countless grudges and many deep seated vendettas against itself.

Aside from the citizens of Amestris, you would be hard pressed to find someone, anyone, having a positive view on Amestris.

They might not say it since Amestris is a military based nation, but they would agree behind their backs, that nation was a shit stirrer.

Your Nation could be quietly minding its own damn business and suddenly out of nowhere, Amestris would appear, it would the start citing various reasons only it could understand, and without care erupt ready for war.

It was as if War was a staple event for it. In fact in the last few decades, or since the new Fuhrer's rise, all it has done was campaign across its borders for various reasons.

I knew it was all due to the Dwarfs scheme, plans, and agenda. But who else knew that besides me, at least in the present. Maybe only one guy, Hohenheim.

So to say everybody hated Amestris was a real stretch. It was not that everybody hated Amestris, it was just that nobody could come to like it.

For the four nations that surrounded it, it was an even more deep seated hatred than the others, most of the other leaders present, were just unwilling to see it rise more.

The North used to have barely enough lands to farm and be content with, and out of nowhere Amestris attacked them and drove them away. The even more ridiculous fact is that they claimed that the land rightfully belonged to them. They had made the victim look like the thief, and they were even able to pull it off.

To the North this was infuriating but since it clearly lost the war, it was unable to turn the rumours around. The North could only see its demise after losing the war, and it already began to envision its legacy collapse under further economic strain. So to say the four Nations that share borders with, hated Amestris the most out of all present was an understatement.

The west a peaceful Nation, completely focused on Bio-Mechanic Technological Advancement, suddenly found itself losing a vast chunk of land under the banner that they were not sharing this piece of tech with their neighbours.

The East was already facing huge famines, since it was close to the desert and was unable to even support itself. Then enters Amestris in the equation out of nowhere, suddenly building a Dam on the pivotal river that flows through the East, citing various mineral deposit mining and projects, plunging the famine into an even worse disaster.

What can I say about The South, thats where Ishval is and let me state this. The child which became the trigger of the war was a very sad case, but the consequent losses afterwards, to that I can only say Ishval clearly deserved it.

All other Nations were fighting for what can be considered their legacy, their citizens, and not just their present but for their possibly bleak future.

Ishval was well it was only fighting, a little bit because of the child, the child was only a trigger after all, but mostly because they had already abhorred Alchemy.

Everybody had various reasons as to why they were unable to stand and fight together. Like the West could not support the North because, the West has a huge amount of people, victims of various accidents serving in the army.

They were unable to help because at least 35% of the army uses machinery limbs, and they are unable to function at their best in the cold.

The East could not help because most of its budget was already drained on keeping its citizens alive, it could not afford to spend any more resources on any more weaponry or armaments, this Crusade might be its last hope to conquer the river based areas and tear those Dams apart.

For the South, everybody dodged the issue smoothly, but honestly it was mostly because of the religion. The Ishvalan religion abhors whatever isn't in a natural state of order. So what do they hate the most after Alchemy, mechanical limbs, so the West could care less if such a Nation dissappeared.

The North is too far and The East has its own problems to consider, so no one wanted to care enough about this cultish nation.

No one doubted my identity, no one pointed my age and it made me realise, working with a smart partner is pretty nice. Until now the only teammate I had, kept on sabotaging me on various religion based statements, so this was a fresh change.

But the amicable atmosphere only lasted till we reached the borders, and by then each Nations Leaders were displaying the fastidiousness and majesty, a king or a ruler might have.

With order after order, the entirety of Amestris was surrounded by the now ever rising number of soldiers from Twelve different Nations from various parts of the world.

In the main tent, a round table was set up and everybody was sharing their opinion on a fast and instant finish of the war. All present agreed, with such vast numbers, if they failed, then they might as well drown themselves in a glass full of water.

But I had another thought which made them frown, "What if we incite Civil War inside Amestris ?". It was possible and pretty easy to do but what was the point of such roundabout way of dealing with your enemies

"If they are left alive with minimum resources, with a scourge to their Nations title, and all the deficits they will face. Just how long will it be before Amestris dissolves itself, a decade, a few years, however long it may take, won't it be more satisfying".

The North was instantly interested and he said "Your more sinister than all of us present, and I like it. We will pressure them, but won't they also possibly stand together and fight us to the death".

Everybody agreed this was a more surer xhoice they will face, so I asked Damun to bring out the portraits. When every leader was given four portraits, they weren't astonished to see the Fuhrer being present but more astonished of the child named Pride.

With all the information I had jotted down and how I made it seem like I had pieced it from various sources, made it have more credibility than just rumours.

It made everyone present feel a chill rise from their backs, but they held different thoughts. Some actually wanted to accomplish this Circle and some wanted to erase it from history itself.

"That Circle has a huge flaw". This was a shocking statement for everybody present, since they aren't Alchemists, but even they knew at the very least this Circle had been researched by that Ancestral being for hundreds of years.

"It's main problem is it is not made for humans, the next problem is the requirement of sacrifices. Every key point in that Circle needs to be dyed with the souls of at least a few dozen millions of people."

"Another problem is in fact that what will be achieved is not even Immortality or Power, it will only accomplish an amazing amalgamation of tens of billions of souls. So unless your mind is capable of withstanding and controlling billions of soul, you will just be assimilated and turned into an Immortal and Powerful but ultimately an Unliving and Mindless being".

"Also since I have already pointed it out I will also say this, its too blatant, the sacrifices need to be carried out under a certain time limit is too huge and its just not possible to hide it from people if everybody learns of it".

"The last problem is concerning Alchemy itself, how long will Truth wait until he asks for the ultimate price of trying to accomplish that task. Since objectively speaking no matter what you say the sacrifice of billions is not enough to achieve Immortality to the point of living forever".

"So to say If anybody accomplishes this task then none of you or your future generations is safe, since such a person will require more and more sacrifices to keep himself alive".

At first it must have felt like I was explaining its demerits but they realised, it was Deterrence. If anybody present tries this Circle, then no one is safe. This in itself will Deter most people and if by some insanity, somebody tries this task, as I said its too blatant, they will be attacked by all present.

What is more Deterring than knowing the possibility of the amount of destruction something can cause. I had applied this thought by looking at history.

Because the one who begins War will suffer scrutiny from all others. All humans have their own agendas, the leaders of a nation, even more so. So trusting each other on this matter will become a chore for everyone present.

"Gentlemen, peace is always an option, and you understand the implications of such a circle yourself. I will publish this Circle for the whole world to see, because no one will willingly become a sacrificial lamb for only one person".

Not even the most communist Nations will have their public agreeing on such a huge matter. As a great man once said 'Knowledge never causes problems, its always Ignorance'. Ignorance to the cause and effect of their actions.

"Hahahaha, I have never seen such a way of achieving peace ever in my life". The North's leader laughed, because it was a novel thought. Give the man and all his freinds and enemies a weapon of the same caliber, and disalllow its usage no matter what.

If anybody had ever told anyone present at this meeting before that this was possible, they would have laughed it off. But the fact is unless a weapon is too much destructive and causes problems for everyone, it is indeed impossible to stop its usage.

But when the scale climbs, so does the thought that it will be their trump card. Human psychology is indeed weird, they want to be the strongest but they themselves won't fight their equals unless they are sure to win.

"As for the Four they are my targets, I still have to dig Four more graves".

The East's leader then asked "Is it to honour or keep them as trophies ?".

It was a honest question, everybody wanted to know why I wanted to erect Graves for such sinister people, ones who could have caused the entire world to crumble.

Ahahahahaha, The North's leader laughed out loud and everybody could only think 'How Vicious'. But they still agreed with the decision and moved according to what we had planned.

"I will be dealing with those Four, lets see if humans have enough loyalty to their Non-Human masters, especially ones that remain in the dark".

We began pressuring Amestris onto a Civil War and reaping the final benefits. Bullying such a shit stirrer is alright, don't all Chinese novels say so.