Ch.314314. Asia (2)

The battlefield between the Yamato-Seorabeol alliance and the anti-Yamato coalition continued to expand, gradually drawing in Chinese intervention, Taiwanese involvement, and the pirate alliance forces inhabiting the South China Sea, all beginning to challenge Seorabeol’s hegemony.

They were openly opposing the order led by Seorabeol, and the fact that each had their own hidden agendas was truly headache-inducing.

Taiwan’s case was extremely simple.

“We want to restore our sovereignty and influence within China! Chu, Wu, and Yue states? Don’t make me laugh! We are the true China! We are now the genuine Chinese nation-state!”

They needed a stage to assert their legitimacy as the real China, and they believed that breaking the momentum of the emerging Seorabeol-Yamato alliance would greatly help their future unification of China, which is why they opposed Seorabeol’s hegemony.

Taiwan embraced the ghosts of Japan’s former Self-Defense Force and clan lords more quickly and boldly than the three states of South China, while simultaneously providing weapons and mercenaries to Eastern Japan.

In fact, they were able to effectively block the Yamato alliance’s advance partly because the mercenary forces dispatched by Taiwan were appropriately helpful, and above all, Taiwan also possessed a formal fleet that wasn’t inferior to the current Seorabeol and Yamato alliance.

“Are you trying to save us! Or are you trying to insult us!”

“Supplies.”

“It was too many supplies to simply rebuke.”

They requisitioned seemingly limitless resources as a nation, even outright buying portions of the South China Sea pirate alliance with money, genuinely presenting themselves as the real China with ambitions for Chinese hegemony.

“We can’t possibly defeat Seorabeol and the Yamato alliance, folks. You know this is all pretend, right? It’s just WWE as usual! America will take care of everything!”

However, in such cases, everyone would naturally expect intervention from America, known as the world’s strongest nation.

Taiwan was America’s ally, and simultaneously, Seorabeol and Japan were also American allies. The international community, as well as the parties involved in the war, thought that America would either stop Taiwan’s actions or mediate between them, considering this a dispute between allies.

“What’s going on? Why aren’t they intervening?”

“What? Don’t you know? It’s scary.”

Contrary to their expectations, America didn’t move.

In fact, when America showed no signs of movement despite threats to East Asian and Pacific shipping routes, it was Taiwan—who had provoked the Seorabeol-Yamato alliance—that was perplexed.

From an objective standpoint, Taiwan knew they had strategic disadvantages against both the Yamato alliance and even Seorabeol alone.

Moreover, the Yamato alliance, which had produced superhumans through abundant combat experience, would be an opponent they’d prefer to avoid fighting.

Taiwan’s original intention was to appropriate Japan’s legacy moderately, claim their confrontation with the Yamato alliance and Seorabeol was staged like WWE, and simultaneously negotiate through American mediation.

However, while America remained silent, Taiwan had essentially witnessed their staged WWE transform into UFC through live broadcast, and feeling the danger of both nations’ anger potentially coming down on them…

“Y-y-you crazy bastard, you started this first!”

They should have apologized, but instead, Taiwan became even more aggressive in their provocations.

This wasn’t Taiwan’s true intention, but from the moment they made nationalistic statements to demonstrate their presence in the international community, they lacked the power to stop themselves.

“If we stop now, we’re dead!”

“Not just that. Those Shanghai bastards who look down on us will invade!”

Rather, if they stopped ambiguously, they could be beaten to death by their own citizens. Without American mediation, Taiwan continued down a track they couldn’t exit.

If they backed down now, they wouldn’t gain the prestige they had originally planned for, and they feared attacks from Chu, Wu, and Yue states that were eyeing Taiwan opportunistically, which made them provoke both countries even more aggressively.

The one fortunate aspect was that Seorabeol and the Yamato alliance were preoccupied with the immediate war and didn’t have the luxury to worry about Taiwan’s sudden outbursts.

“I want to move. But I can’t.”

President Arthur of the United States was aware of the current chaos in Asia and wanted to mediate in America’s name to prevent allies from clashing with each other.

This could have served American national interests and would have been a perfect opportunity to reaffirm American leadership, which had been questioned since the apocalypse.

“The US presidential election is just months away! Ah, why must it be at such timing!”

However, the timing couldn’t have been worse.

President Arthur had ascended to the presidency through constitutional succession after the previous president died during the apocalypse, and thus lacked the power to postpone the upcoming election.

The domestic political sphere was highly vigilant against Arthur’s potential permanent hold on power, closely monitoring his words. They absolutely refused to allow any suggestion of postponing the election due to the apocalypse, and public opinion largely agreed that delaying elections was unacceptable regardless of circumstances.

“Given our domestic situation, we cannot intervene. However, we will share all information related to Taiwan’s current situation, so you can make your own judgment.”

“…Yes.”

America had essentially become an eagle with bound wings. The most they could do was share Taiwan’s internal information with Seorabeol, indirectly conveying that Taiwan had only declared a WWE-style confrontation against Seorabeol and Yamato without any genuine intention of war.

As America temporarily ceded Pacific hegemony to the Seorabeol-Yamato alliance due to domestic election issues, the balance in the Pacific collapsed instantly, and Seorabeol and the Yamato alliance began shouldering the responsibility in America’s absence.

“What is that? It’s scary.”

Seorabeol and the Yamato alliance watched America’s retreat with dumbfounded expressions, as America truly had no capacity to focus externally while dealing with urgent internal matters.

The reason was singular: the return of Donny Vermillion, America’s former president and a genius who defied even gods.

“I, Donny J. Vermillion, if elected president, can end this apocalypse in just one month!”

When the world collapsed, no one expected the former president to have survived.

Realistically, even the heavily guarded sitting president had difficulty surviving America’s apocalypse. As a former president of advanced age, it seemed impossible that he could survive the harshness of the apocalypse. Unfortunately, Donny Vermillion made a spectacular return to politics as an Awakened, as if to demonstrate his resilience through the apocalypse.

And his first words upon his flamboyant political comeback were exactly as written above.

“But even the Dragon God couldn’t end the apocalypse in a month.”

Common sense dictated that if even the mighty Dragon God couldn’t immediately end the apocalypse, claiming to end it in a month seemed absurd, but…

“Isn’t that because there wasn’t a genius like me as leader?”

It was just that Donny wasn’t there; with Donny in America, they could finish it in a month.

“A new world order centered on America! Dragons and magic under American law! The Dragon Priestess? She looks weaker than Miss Vermillion! Haha! And Arthur? He’s just an acting placeholder. Yes! I can do it. I can be the savior who will rescue America!”

And apparently, some Americans were captivated by Donny’s cheerful and strong demeanor.

Former President Donny quickly launched a public opinion campaign before the US election began. His supporters, centered around extreme conspiracy theorists, looter groups, and church militias, began amassing power threatening the American political establishment.

He even formed a private party called the Donny Federal Restoration Party, positioning himself as the focal point for numerous discontented factions in America, using their support to threaten President Arthur.

President Arthur was well aware of this fact, but…

“If the international alliance we’ve rebuilt collapses… the damage will affect the entire planet. Yet I cannot stop it.”

The problem was that Arthur’s inherent weakness became a dagger stabbing him.

Having succeeded to office as vice president after the president lost his life at the beginning of the apocalypse, he couldn’t deny the upcoming election. With only months remaining until that election, there were few willing to heed President Arthur’s earnest appeals.

It was essentially a lame-duck situation, and due to Donny’s powerful incitement, the public’s image of President Arthur was gradually deteriorating.

He had considered pretending to be crazy and intervening in the war several times, but the thought that failure could inflict irreversible wounds on America made the president hesitate even more.

If intervention failed…

“America will… become isolated again. Rather than diplomacy, we should focus on resolving domestic political issues first and deal with foreign affairs after the election!”

Yes, the moment America became isolated, it would fall into even worse circumstances.

Therefore, President Arthur had no choice but to focus on domestic politics rather than diplomacy, neutralizing Donny’s incitement while maintaining his own legitimacy and governance by successfully conducting and winning the upcoming presidential election.

He believed this was the best choice America could handle right now, but…

“If I went to Japan right now, I could fight and defeat the Dragon Priestess Baek Seol-hwa!”

The problem was that Donny was spouting nonsense every day.

“Bahamut? He’d want to meet me! Even the Dragon God should behave properly when dealing with America! Unlike President Arthur, I have no intention of negotiating in such a weak manner! I’ll control Bahamut coins within America through overwhelming tariffs!”

He was even making provocative statements toward the Dragon God Bahamut, who had demonstrated such terrifying power. President Arthur felt like his soul might leave his body at any moment due to these nonsensical remarks from a presidential candidate.

He wanted to quit right now rather than clean up this mess, but President Arthur continued to attend to state affairs because he loved his native country.

“How should I explain this away?”

Nevertheless, such reckless statements about someone who was essentially the leader of the most important allied nation put President Arthur in an extremely awkward position.

It was somewhat likely that Seorabeol, being focused on the war, might not be paying attention to US domestic politics, but the problem was that after the war ended, there was a high possibility that Seorabeol would react negatively to this incident.

He wanted to ask Donny to apologize immediately and explain that without the Bahamut coins, they couldn’t possibly control domestic Awakened, but…

“No. That’s not it. I need to do what I can right now.”

President Arthur remained silent, maintained diplomatic channels with each country, explained America’s situation, and requested understanding as he began damage control.

Simultaneously, he coordinated closely with allied nations, discussing when America could move again, and reassured them that America had absolutely not abandoned Pacific hegemony.

Thanks to this, America was able to present its temporary retreat from the world stage as a strategic silence due to the major event of the presidential election, claiming it could regain its presence at any time.

“Make America Greater!”

‘I wish I could shout about nanomachines and call the Dragon Priestess “son” like that senator from somewhere!’

If that were possible, Arthur might have accepted it as a great amusement.

But in reality, Donny’s level, despite claiming he could face the Dragon Priestess, was merely that of an upper Awakened who hadn’t even reached level 10.