"After the surgery, my brain feels... lighter, and I think I’ve become smarter," Storm Princess said, somewhat lost.
"All you need is a new, safe environment. Your power is substantial, so you easily attract many enemies. Even if you wander abroad, you will be coveted by the entire world. Seeking refuge with the Witch Goddess is a good choice. She doesn’t care about your past, only the role you will play in the future," Cyber Specter said.
"Thank you," Storm Princess said, "and also..."
"After the surgery, I feel like many of my thoughts have changed... So am I not the same person as before?" Storm Princess doubted her own existence.
Before, she would have destroyed everything without hesitation, continued fighting, continued killing. But now she seems very calm.
"Your continuity hasn’t been broken, just consider it forgetting some unimportant things. A new life has begun," Cyber Specter said.
Storm Princess covered her cheeks with her hands, as the cruel fragments of the past played out in her mind, she could see her own maniacal version, joining the battlefield under the urging of Black Fire Innovation, wreaking havoc.
"I heard that 101 and 102 also serve Farosa," Storm Princess put her hands down, "If they can leave Blackfire to start a new life, maybe I can too."
"They are searching for the Children of Phantom Light laboratory in the Taiya Archipelago, ready to eliminate the source of their agony. If you recover well, you’ll be able to keep up with them."
"This is magical... I... I can’t comprehend it," Storm Princess was exhausted.
She needed time to think about her future.
Black Fire Renewal Association will become a term of history, as one arms dealer after another sells off their assets, and corporations from the Eastern Hemisphere like Nestor Corporation will take over, taking charge of the vast, fertile Taiya Archipelago.
Leaving the ward, Cyber Specter stepped onto the dusty road.
"Come take a walk with me," Farosa said from outside.
"The body of Zanges," Farosa stepped out of the shelter.
Cyber Specter and Farosa walked through the silent wastelands of the Hot Tree Continent.
From a distance, it was just a giant mechanized armor leading a beautiful witch.
"Did you speak with the creatures in the lake?" Cyber Specter asked.
"I did. They will bring up the magical ores from the lakebed to trade. Those stones are all magical. Just like your armor can withstand endless damage, they are natural good conductors," Farosa nodded.
She seemed distracted, as if caught in another layer of thought.
"There must be something on your mind," Cyber Specter ventures.
"Seven Seals manipulate humans and witches at will. How significant is the impact of those things they do in the news..." Farosa said quietly.
"Very significant. Take currency issuance, for example. The era where a swipe of a Funds card, a cash transaction could take one around the world, has ended. Decentralized currencies are no longer popular worldwide. We will take big steps backward, returning to credit money. Everyone who holds currency is invisibly tying their fate with some economic entity, free global markets and barrier-free trade are things of the past, as humans once again divide each other with borders," Cyber Specter said.
The earliest Corporate Alliance believed that all humans should embrace corporatism, all markets should be transparent, open, and competitive, thus making everything thrive and establishing a constantly evolving corporate ecosystem.
Transactions themselves also needed extreme optimization, reaching zero barriers. Thus, the Corporate Alliance employed cognitive means to erase concepts harmful to human equality in trade, such as nation-states, ethnicities, and sovereign currencies, and promoted the use of "Funds," a decentralized trade currency that could be used worldwide.
Two cash cards touching each other could transfer Funds on the spot, without needing extra networking, without any specific banks, and the security of the currency guaranteed by its own encryption properties. This was the most advanced means of transaction that corporations have left to this world.
Now, the legacy left by the Corporate Alliance is being wiped out one by one, replaced by the unsightly "West Coast Pact."
"They will also use this ’currency measure’ to harvest all sub-tier companies in one fell swoop, harvesting the globe," Farosa contemplated.
"In the future, there will be only giant corporations and individuals; mid-sized companies of intermediary states will have no bargaining power, nor the strength to issue their currency, so in every transaction, they are compelled to exchange their true assets for so-called ’Taixi Dollars,’ which is equivalent to surrendering to the Western Seaboard Treaty Organization," Cyber Specter explained.
"It’s such a useful measure, I would have done it earlier if I were them," Farosa said slowly.
"It was mainly the rise of Nestor Corporation that made everyone realize that the Corporate Alliance cannot maintain order, and Seven Seals took their place opportunistically," Cyber Specter explained.
"However, the economic crisis will continue," Farosa believed this was far from enough to fix the mess.
"That’s right. They will inject Funds into some businesses by using low interest rates, printing currency, and purchasing bonds to revitalize economic liquidity. But there will still be a prolonged Great Depression, civil wars, chain bankruptcies of corporations, stock markets without hope. Only after all subpar businesses are removed from the list, and a large population is ’harmlessly processed,’ clearing the market, facilitating the economy to ’start fresh,’ will the next economic growth cycle emerge," Cyber Specter said.
Is this the future of this society on the brink of destruction? Farosa pondered.
Aside from the top powers, no profession, no social class dares to say they can stand apart. All are mired together, facing an unknown fate.
Corporations do not need to maintain stability, only to seek profits, thus they stop at nothing. Now, what "Seven Seals" does is like amputating everything below the head, not just killing the lower class but also severely beating the middle class along with them.