Two hours later, after John had returned from his meeting with the president, he found himself seated inside the Pentagon with every top general gathered around a large conference table. The generals had been summoned without being given much information, and the uncertainty had left most of them wondering what kind of emergency could justify calling together the entire senior military leadership. Some were quietly discussing possibilities with one another, while others sat in silence and waited for John to arrive. The atmosphere was tense, but there was also a strange sense of anticipation spreading through the room.
John stepped into the conference room and looked around at the assembled generals. Unlike most of them, he did not appear particularly troubled by the situation. In fact, there was a noticeable amount of enthusiasm in his expression, as though he had just been handed an opportunity he had been waiting for. Once everyone had settled down, John placed both hands on the table and began speaking.
"Right, men, the president has ordered us to prepare for an invasion," John announced. "Our orders are to fight against the corrupted humans."
The reaction was immediate.
A wave of energy passed through the room, and most of the generals seemed to share John's enthusiasm. It was almost as though someone had finally opened the windows in a room that had been shut for years. For John, the feeling was especially satisfying because he knew exactly why the military was now in a position to respond effectively. Over the past few years, he had done what could only be described as some much-needed spring cleaning.
The process had begun during the Trail, when the first major military disasters exposed how deeply the armed forces had been compromised by political connections and corporate influence. John had taken a close look at the generals who had been promoted because they were useful to the military-industrial complex rather than because they possessed actual strategic ability. Some had been bought off, others had been placed in positions where they could protect the interests of their sponsors, and many had never been expected to make difficult battlefield decisions.
John had dealt with them in a very practical way.
Some of those generals had been transferred into unfavorable positions, while others had been placed in seemingly favorable positions that were far beyond their actual abilities. John had known perfectly well that they were incapable of serious strategic thinking, and the first attack wave had proven him right. The legions under their command had collapsed so quickly that they had practically destroyed themselves before the enemy even had to do much.
Once the results became impossible to ignore, John had demoted or dismissed every general whose leadership had caused their legions to fall apart.
It had not been a popular decision among the wealthy families or the military-industrial conglomerates. Those organizations had spent years building influence within the armed forces, and they had expected their preferred officers to remain in positions of authority. Instead, John had removed them one by one, replacing them with people who were more interested in military effectiveness than pleasing corporate sponsors.
The military standing before him was therefore very different from the one he had inherited.
It was no longer being dragged down by the same web of connections to the military-industrial complex. The corporations still possessed influence, but they no longer had the same ability to dictate military appointments or force the armed forces to revolve around their preferred projects. They were furious about the change, but there was not much they could do about it anymore.
John was particularly pleased by that fact.
The reason the conglomerates could no longer threaten him as effectively as they once had was that he had refused to rebuild the military around a massive gun stockpile. He was still interested in firearms as weapons, and he understood that guns had certain advantages, but he had never believed that the entire army should revolve around them. The amount of money being poured into gun development had been absurd, especially considering how poorly the weapons performed in the new world.
Before mana arrived, the United States had possessed an enormous industrial base dedicated to producing firearms, ammunition, and related equipment. After the transformation of the world, however, most of those manufacturing methods became unreliable or outright impossible. The old production systems simply did not function properly under the new laws of reality.
The wealthy interests had responded by throwing even more money into the problem.
They had extracted enormous amounts of wealth from Africa while they still could, attempting to fund their weapons-development programs and preserve the old military structure. Their efforts had consumed so many resources that several regions had been left economically devastated. The conglomerates had insisted that firearms were still the future, and they had poured millions upon millions of silver coins into trying to recreate the weapons they had once taken for granted.
Three years later, the results had demonstrated that John's decision had been the correct one.
The best the Americans had managed to produce were muskets that were painfully inaccurate and extremely difficult to reload. They packed a considerable punch when they hit their target, but getting them to hit anything reliably was another matter entirely. The weapons were also outrageously expensive to manufacture, making them impractical for widespread military use.
Each musket cost approximately fifty silver coins to produce, and that was for an inferior rarity rifle.
The cost of ammunition and gunpowder made the situation even worse. Every shot required materials worth approximately one copper coin, which might not sound like much individually, but became expensive when multiplied across thousands of soldiers firing repeatedly during a battle. A military force could burn through enormous amounts of money simply by practicing with the weapons, let alone using them in an actual war.
The reason for the expense was not merely the raw materials.
Every individual firearm component had to be handcrafted because the usual assembly-line process did not work properly. The precise construction required for a gun was too sensitive to the effects of mana. A crossbow could still be assembled using relatively conventional methods, but attempting to mass-produce a gun through the same process was practically impossible.
The weapon would often be reduced to ash before the assembly process could even be completed.
That left the conglomerates in an embarrassing position. They had spent at least a million silver coins apiece developing and improving their precious "fire sticks," only to end up with weapons that were expensive, unreliable, difficult to maintain, and unsuitable for mass production. They had invested fortunes into preserving the old order and had almost nothing useful to show for it.
For John, however, the situation was almost paradise.
He had diversified the military instead of allowing it to become dependent on a single weapon system. He had encouraged the development of multiple forms of equipment and training, making the armed forces more flexible and independent than they had been in decades. Now, with the president ordering preparations for a major conflict, John finally had the opportunity to demonstrate the value of those decisions.
"Before you all begin preparing the troops for the invasion," John continued, "there is one more thing the president made very clear to me before he left the meeting."
The generals immediately focused on him.
"He reminded me that the order requiring every corrupted human to be killed on sight is still in effect," John said. "Congress has now turned that order into law, and there are no remaining legal challenges. The Supreme Court has already ruled that corrupted humans are no longer considered human under the law because they have betrayed their own race."
A few of the generals exchanged looks, but none interrupted him.
"That means that if we can prove someone is corrupted, it does not matter who they are," John continued. "Their position, wealth, political influence, or family connections will not protect them. The president specifically ordered us to be even more aggressive when dealing with politicians and business owners."
A broad smile spread across John's face.
He knew exactly how much that statement would mean to the soldiers under his command. Many of the troops had originally joined the military because they had few other opportunities available to them. They had come from ordinary backgrounds and had spent years watching wealthy and well-connected people escape consequences that would have destroyed anyone else.
There had always been resentment toward the rich and powerful within the ranks.
John had become popular among the soldiers because he had removed what they called the "armchair generals," officers who had never experienced real combat but still believed they knew better than the people fighting on the ground. He had also made it clear that the military was no longer going to exist merely as a tool for protecting corporate profits.
Now, for the first time, the soldiers had been given permission to act against corrupted elites without having to worry about political interference.
"Yes, sir!" the generals answered together.
They saluted John before leaving the room, each of them moving quickly to take command of their assigned troops and begin preparing for the coming operation. The atmosphere had changed completely. What had begun as an emergency meeting had turned into something that many of the generals viewed as an opportunity to finally cleanse the country of the people who had been hiding behind wealth and influence.
"This is going to be fun," John thought as he watched them leave. "Let's create some chaos."
John immediately began organizing the National Guard stationed in Washington, D.C. His intention was to prepare them to storm the Senate and expose anyone who might be involved in protecting corrupted humans. He was almost certain that there were still several rats hiding within the government, and he was more than interested in forcing them into the open.
However, while reviewing the information available to him, John suddenly came across a single piece of paper.
There was only one name written on it.
At first, John barely paid attention. Then he identified the person connected to the name, and his expression changed instantly. The color drained from his face as he stared at the paper, realizing that the information was far more serious than he had initially expected.
"Oh, this is going to be a big deal," John thought.
Elsewhere, Gaia watched the chaos spreading throughout the United States.
"Good. Let's see if that is the highest one, or if there are still more rats hiding around," Gaia thought as she observed the unfolding events.
She was fairly certain that she had already caught most of the obvious offenders. The people who had been openly protecting corrupted humans were now being exposed, and the resulting panic was spreading through government offices, corporations, and wealthy families alike. However, Gaia knew that obvious criminals were rarely the only ones involved in a system this deeply compromised.
There needed to be more chaos.
More importantly, the people involved needed to become genuinely afraid for their lives. Fear was often the most effective way to force hidden conspirators out of hiding, especially when those people had spent years believing that their wealth and influence made them untouchable.
Gaia wanted the world to experience the horror of the Void.
Part of her even wanted that horror to be unleashed upon the United States, particularly because the country had been irritating her for quite some time. However, she was not capable of following through with that desire. Even if she wanted to punish them severely, allowing the Void to gain a foothold on the American continent would be an unacceptable risk.
If the Void established a foothold that stretched across the entire continent, Gaia would not be able to contain it.
She understood that she had become emotional, and that was dangerous. No matter how angry she was, she could not allow herself to make a decision that would endanger the entire world. The United States might deserve punishment in her eyes, but giving the Void access to such a massive landmass would be a disaster that even she might not be able to reverse.