Guild Wars

1312  Interlude - The Interview That Shook The World 2

"So you see, it's ridiculous, isn't it?" Draco asked while folding his arms behind his back, seeming somewhat amused.

Nadia was a powerhouse herself, so she quickly recovered from the shock and asked cautiously: "What is ludicrous, Mr. Morningstar?"

"Look, I can destroy whole sections of a city using my basic, casual power. If I were to go all out, it is not impossible to turn an entire continent into a barren wasteland," Draco stated as a prelude to what he was about to declare next after some thought.

He could say that he could destroy the entire planet and a few others within the solar system, but that was too unbelievable for these guys. They would doubt that he was exaggerating, which would reduce the impact of what he was about to say, so he purposely limited his 'power level' to the continental tier.

Even then, this revelation was enough to make the hearts of many tremble, because it meant that at any time, if this guy was pissed off, they and their loved ones could completely say goodbye to life. This kind of understanding was completely different from the presence of nukes, since such weapons of mass destruction were mutually destructive for the users as well as their target, not to mention the various stringent requirements before use.

Draco brought his hand to his chin and made a thoughtful pose. "Since I can dismantle entire countries on my own, how ludicrous is it to come and talk to me about taxes?"

Everyone was left speechless by this, and not in a funny way.

Many frowned and felt that Draco was right, especially those with ambition, those with power, and those generally allied with him in some way. For the first, it would benefit them if they achieved their goals; for the second, it would benefit them right now after they reveal their strength; and for the third, it was just normal.

Of course, some felt this was outrageous. Even if you were strong, that didn't mean you were above the law, right? Otherwise, why should we allow you to exist in society?

It would have made for a nice back-and-forth argument that would include philosophy, morality, and ethics if those people could voice out their dissatisfaction, but unfortunately for them, they were capped as spectators.

Not to mention, Draco didn't care.

Nadia looked at the smiling Draco and seemed to understand what he was trying to do. As such, she smoothed her hair and decided to cooperate as best as she could, because what Draco did not need right now was a sycophant but an antagonist!

"Mr. Morningstar, are you saying that by virtue of your overwhelming personal power, you should be exempt from the same laws as average people like us?" Nadia asked with a frown of challenge.

Immediately, the people, whether subconsciously or otherwise, no longer found her annoying and rather rallied behind her to oppose Draco. Draco saw this and smiled deeper, planning to have Supernatural rewarded for sending such a perceptive woman.

"That's right, that's exactly what I am saying," Draco assented with a nod.

Nadia scowled even harder. "Mr. Morningstar, I respect your power and honestly, standing before you, I feel a little scared, but that doesn't mean that you can do whatever you want. As far as I know, you have family and friends, how would you feel if someone with your level of power abused that power to mistreat them?"

Draco hummed. "First off, there are only two other people with my level of power in the entire world, and everyone already knows them. Second of all, the next tier of power are all of those close to me, including family and friends."

"So therefore, your fictional scenario to try and trap me morally doesn't work, because realistically, my family and friends are incapable of being harmed by anyone on this earth." Draco made a gesture of helplessness.

Nadia was completely confounded. Even though she was playing a role, she still felt the headache of dealing with a person who did not care. Usually, the easiest way to deal with a person of any form of extreme power was to drag them down to the level of the average person through varying means and then beat them with basic morals until they cried uncle.

Darth Vader was beaten like this, Nagato was beaten like this, Fat Majin Buu was somewhat beaten by this and even Obito was beaten by this.

It was usually 100% accurate as long as you navigated well, but when it hit the 'immovable wall' of 'I sincerely don't give a fuck' - or in this case 'it's impossible' - then what do you do?

"So Mr. Morningstar, by virtue of your power, you want to be able to kill, steal and rape as you please?" Nadia recovered and decided to attack from a different angle.

"It's not that I want to, dear Nadia, but that I can. I just slaughtered nearly a hundred men of the military as well as police in the past hour and there is nothing anyone can do about it," Draco revealed with a shrug.

Nadia did not know how to continue for a while because she too didn't care about the lives of mere ants, so she couldn't muster a reasonable argument to paint Draco as a monster, not to mention that wasn't the purpose of her actions, so Draco decided to help her by continuing.

"Look, what is the purpose of the law? To maintain the peace of society and sustain the stability of the social contract, right? And then you ask, why do people obey the law? For some, it's because they want to maintain the peace that they do so, but for most people, it's a fear of consequence."

"The law comes with punishments for breaching it, right? But how do you make people fear these punishments or be beholden to them? It's through enforcement! Without being able to enforce the law, it's nothing more than a paper tiger, unable to scare anyone."

Draco then folded his arms with a questioning look right into the camera. "And so I ask all of you watching, who the hell do you think can enforce the law on me?"

This simple speech was like hitting everyone over the head with a club, causing them to become dizzy. In truth, people were not as stupid as they usually presented themselves on social media. Usually, they had surface-level consciousness that could process some basic things, and one of the things they could process - mostly through consuming fantasy fiction - is that superpowered people would not follow the same rules as normal people.

Even if they were not burdened by their powers to have heightened senses leading to increased emotional instability and higher desire, and even if they were humble people whose egos did not inflate due to possessing power, such people could not be dealt with at all.

For one, the term of imprisonment for a serious crime like rape was 25 years. If you put a normal person in prison for 25 years, that's a significant chunk of their life gone with very little hope of restarting, so it serves to deter others. But if you jail a cultivator for the same crime, that 25 years might be one Core Formation or Nascent Soul powerhouse's seclusion time.

Or you apprehend Superman and give him the death penalty. You hang him, he even willingly turns off his flight ability but the rope snaps in trying to touch his neck. You try and electrocute him, but he giggles because it tickles. You try and use fast-acting poison, but it gives him mild diarrhea.

Even if a superpowered person willingly allowed you to punish them, did you even have the strength and capability to punish them as a normal person?

Why is it that when Vulture, Rhino, or Doc Ock are causing trouble, it is Spiderman who has to come and save the day, not Joey McJoeface down the street? Because only a person of equivalent power can deal with such people.

So back to Draco's question, who can enforce the law on him?

He just casually punched a portion of a sprawling city into a ravine that could become a new River Thames. Are you going to send your police and military to stop him? As he just boasted, he had slaughtered all that came his way, and those burly tattooed men who stood in the background might not be enough.

The faces of countless normal people worldwide became ugly when they realized this. However, in their hearts, there was little fear, because they knew there was one failsafe.

"Ah-ah-ah…" Draco swung his index finger left and right with a coy smile.

"Don't even bother thinking that 'as long as we have nukes, we can deal with him'. I told you that my destructive power was continental, I never said my endurance or defensive power was at the same level." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The hearts of everyone listening sank to the bottom, their bodies trembling slightly as they did not want to think of the implications of his words. What did he mean by this?

Draco's eyes curled as he wore that sick and perverse smile he showed Shuro Muramasa in the Wizard Realm after he killed Sengo.

"That's right. I can stand at the centerpoint of a nuclear explosion and survive both the flame, the shockwave, and the radiation. In fact, I invite the World Council to test this right now. Drop a nuke on me, right here, right now, I won't run away."

The faces of everyone watching this changed, even the tattooed warriors here. They themselves could not withstand a nuclear explosion head-on, or how would Eighth Councilor Leero Onassis have subdued their entire tribe of powerhouses?

And he was even daring them to drop one right now. My Brother in Christ, once a nuclear warhead is launched, no matter how fast you work your legs, you won't be able to escape the danger zone before it lands. For him to have the guts to do this, either he was confident or stupid, or maybe both!

Meanwhile, the World Council were greatly shaken, because nuclear warheads were their biggest confidence in dealing with the Lineages and primordials, but this guy claimed that he could ignore them? If that was true, then wouldn't that mean that he could dismantle their power at any time?

"Morningstar… Morningstar…" Meanwhile, David Collins was feverishly repeating Draco's last name over and over again, as he was beginning to understand something.

Suddenly, his eyes widened when he saw Draco's perverse smile, because he recognized it deeply from one of his travels to Italy when he was young. David rose to his feet and banged the table before him, roaring with fear and horror.

"No, this fellow isn't just a gamer nor a Control master, he is a Lineage member! A member of the Lucifer Lineage!"

The hearts of the other eight councilors almost exploded in their chests from horror. In as much as they talked down on the Lineages, there was no group they feared more because knowing about the lineages meant that you largely knew about the origin of humanity, and of the 9 Original Humans.

Whether these nine original humans left the planet as stated or were slumbering on earth, still in hiding, who could tell? Whatever the case, each lineage member was a threat because they could manifest powers and be one-man armies if their purities were high, not unlike Draco who just decimated countless troops.

They had mostly been subdued because they had severe infighting, constantly weakening each other, while they liked to group together, so a nuclear threat was viable. But if they spread out around the world and decided to upend society, there would be no way to stop them!

And now, they had smacked the hornet's nest by agitating one of the members of the most troublesome lineage!