Chapter 82: The Morality of Strength

"Four… hundred sixty-nine."

"..."

"..."

"Can they… even identify half of these bodies?"

With the number of students reaching almost 5000 including the ones from the other countries, all the debris and mangled parts of the plane were quickly cleared out even before the sun went down. The students were all initially tormented and weakened by what happened; not even daring to touch the debris as there could be a body buried beneath it.

But after a few hours, some of them were even carrying the charred bodies of those who died. The expressions of the students were still grim, but the anger and resolution burning in their eyes were enough to wash away any signs of weakness they had.

469 bodies. The students and the numerous staff of the Academy have lined up 469 bodies-- and those were the ones that were still… salvageable. According to the media outlets that were now reporting the news, there should be a total of 942 passengers on the 7 planes that crashed.

All were domestic flights… with people just wanting to get to their destination; with people just wanting to get home.

"We think… this is her mother."

"..."

"..."

And right now, Riley, Hannah, and the others were gathered in front of one of those charred bodies, but lying beside the skin of black and red, was the child that died in Riley's arms.

"Her body… was wrapped around the little girl when we found her," Gary then muttered as he crouched down, gently moving the body of the little girl closer to her mother.

"...We were supposed to protect them," Silvie whispered.

"There was no way we could have," Hannah muttered as she held Silvie's trembling hand, "The… Dark Millenium planned all of this… every little detail."

"There are almost a hundred veteran superheroes in the Academy… but to think no one was able to do anything," Gary then let out a small but deep sigh as he stood up, "They are as much to blame for this."

"...I don't think that's fair," Hannah quickly replied, "No one expected this to happen."

"Your father could have."

"You--"

"But as you said… the Dark Millenium planned for everything," Gary continued, "They lured him away with the first plane. The Dark Millenium knew enough about your father that they knew he was going to take action there."

"Dark Millenium… just what exactly is their goal?"

"They're just terrorists with more money," Silvie answered, "And after what they did today, the Hope Guild will probably take action to wipe them out."

"..." Hannah only nodded at Silvie's words before turning to look at the hundreds of bodies lined up on the horizon, "15 million."

"Hm?"

"This is 469," Hannah muttered, "Darkday killed 15 million in one day. Just… just how do you think it would look like if…"

"15 million dead bodies were laid in front of us?" This time, Tomoe joined in on the conversation; the look on her face was completely monotonous, "The entire land area of the Academy will be covered… there's a video about it on the internet."

"..."

"..."

"..." None of them knew what to reply to Tomoe; whether or not they would get mad at her or be amazed as to how calm she was considering the situation… but seeing as her monotonous voice was even more robotic than before, it would seem she was also affected in some way.

"You know…" Gary then once again let out a sigh as he looked at the little girl, "None of this would have happened if they had our strength and durability, Silvie."

"...What?"

"If you were offered to give your strength away for the sake of everyone else having a fraction of your power," Gary then looked Silvie straight in the eyes, "Would you do it?"

"Give… my strength away?"

"They would only need a fraction of your power to survive something like this."

"Why are you asking something like that here, you fucker?" Hannah furrowed her eyebrows as she slightly got in between the two. Silvie, however, gently patted her on the shoulder to tell her it was alright.

"I… probably would," Silvie answered, "I believe I gained my powers for the sake of helping people… and if I could prevent deaths like this from happening, then I would gladly give it away."

"Hm… Did I even need to ask?" Gary then let out a small chuckle as he once again looked at the little girl, "I… probably would do the same if it means saving the truly weak and helpless."

Noticing the two looking at her, Hannah could only let out a small but deep breath, "I think I would as well. I didn't want the responsibility of being a hero in the first place, what about you, Tomoe?"

"...I don't know," Tomoe shook her head, "I… feel my powers would be more useful if I am the one using them."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"What about you, Riley?" Silvie then turned her eyes towards Riley, who had been keeping quiet and just staring at the little girl throughout their conversation.

"Julie."

"Hm?"

"The child's name is Julie," Riley then said as he finally took his eyes away from the little girl.

"Julie… did she tell you before she died?"

"Yes… and her mother's name is Janice," Riley then shook his head as he finally joined the group, "What was your question again, Silvie?"

"If… you could have saved all of these people by giving them your abilities, but in turn give away your power-- would you have done it?"

"No," Riley quickly answered.

"...Can I ask why?"

"..." Riley did not answer immediately, but instead looked towards the horizon of dead bodies, "Out of all these people, how many do you think are bad people?"

"Riley!" Hannah wanted to stop her brother from saying any more, but seeing the solemn look in his eyes that seeped from the side of his sunglasses, the only thing she could do was halt her steps.

"I… I don't know," Silvie stuttered, "What if they were all good people?"

"One, Silvie," Riley then said as he turned his face towards Silvie, "All you need is one monster to have your powers, and the rest of the world will suffer for it. And without a Mega Woman-- or in this case, without an American Mega Girl to stop her, him, or them… what do you think will happen?"

"Then… the other people who gained my abilities can stop them!"

"There is a difference between having a superpower and being a superhero, Silvie," Riley then breathed out, "Out of all these people, how many do you think will step up and stop him?"

"I--"

"One," Riley once again repeated, but this time, he pointed towards the charred body of Julie, "Out of all the 942 passengers, only one of them deserves to have your power-- or at least that's how Mega Woman would have answered if she was here."

"..."

"..."

"How… do you know so much about Mega Woman, bro?" Gary then let out a small but deep sigh before looking at the rest of the people; most of whom were now sitting on the ground, completely exhausted from all the death they had to carry in their minds.

"Anyway… we should probably--"

"W… what!? What do you mean gone!?"

Riley and the group were about to return inside the Academy when a series of clamors and shouts suddenly started roaring in the air; most of the people that were shouting had their phones in front of them… and most were the foreign students.

And as soon as Tomoe saw this, she quickly checked her phone to turn on the news; trying to see if there was any other news besides what happened to Mega Academy… but found that what happened to Mega Academy was not even on top of the featured news feed anymore.

"G… Guys," Tomoe's monotonous voice slightly faltered as she called for the others; her eyes, however, were completely fixed on Riley, "Look… look at this."

"...What is it?" Hannah was the first to look over her shoulder to see what caused Tomoe to get riled up; her eyes quickly widening as soon as she saw the headline on the video Tomoe was watching, "What… the fuck?"

"What's going on?" Silvie muttered; but she too, let out a deep gasp as she saw what the others were looking at. The last one to check was Gary, who could only curse before looking at the foreign students.

It wasn't just 942 people.

The death toll wasn't just 942 people…

"H… how… How could this happen?"

"What do they mean collapsed!?"

"But… my brother… my brother is…"

"Dark Millenium… never… I would never forgive them!"

And soon, even though their numbers were just a fraction of the students of USMA, their voices were the only ones that could be heard. Most of the students of USMA could not understand what they were saying, but the anguish contained in their voices was enough for their feelings to reach deep into their cores.

"..." While Gary, Silvie, and Hannah were still busy watching the news, Tomoe's eyes were still stuck on Riley, who seemed to be completely free of any worries as he was just looking nowhere in particular.

Tomoe knew… She knew that Riley was capable of even greater evil than this. Like a crazed fan, she idolized him for years even fully knowing what kind of person he was.

But now that she was seeing him standing there as if he did not do what he just did… Tomoe finally realized how far her reality was from him.

The death toll wasn't just 942 people…

25,671-- that is the total combined number of students, instructors, supers, and staff inside the other Mega Academies.

26,613.

That is the number of deaths that would be pronounced at the end of this tragedy.

'Mega Woman…'

Riley then looked towards the sky before closing his eyes, 'I wonder…

...if you'll thank me for removing them if you're here?'