“I see, the world has gone to shit.”
“What do you mean?” Larissa asked, blinking as the lights that shone from her eyes receded. “All's well that ends well, I think. With the help of Divine Emperor, humanity prospers again.”
“Do you have shit for eyes or eyes for shit?” Yana asked her, looking like she wasn't asking a question but just confirming. “Everyone's fucking dead. Imagine you had a kid and went for… let's say milk, for eighty fucking years, then came back and learned that ninety-five percent of people are dead! So she would be ninety-five, no, ninety-nine percent fucking dead and one percent fucked to death! Besides, you're a fool if you think that that emperor of yours is doing that all for the sake of humanity. Emperor? Yeah, right. Divine my ass.”
“How come?” Larissa asked, clenching her arm. What a specific example… What kind of parent would leave their child for eighty years anyway… “You know that His Majesty Kernel is our grandfather, right?”
“Anyhow.” Yana clapped. “Next slideshow! But this time with some epic soundtrack. Can you do that? Like some background music from The Terminator or Rocky.”
“Do I look like a music box to you…?”
“I mean, you can still sing, yes?” Yana leaned back on her chair, staring at Larissa, who stood beside her. “Forget it. You probably shrill like a titan. My ears will bleed, and I will pass out from all the blood loss.”
Yana then smiled. “Heh, I saw you smiling. It suits you better than being all snotty. You fucking crybaby. You need a shower more than I do.”
So she's now pretending to be someone from the Pre-Apocalyptic Era. I'm surprised she knows those things, though. Even I, a history fanatic, have barely heard of them… Ha, as if I'd ever believe she got possessed by some ancient crackhead! Larissa focused on one point as mechanical apertures adjusted in her eyes once again. Lodged optics click-clacked. She blinked once, then once more, the edges of her left iris projecting beams of light. After a few resounding blip-blips, a hologram materialized. Her cybernetic implants tracked the data streams. Yana is still Yana, she's never deceiving anyone. At least partial memory loss is somewhat believable, albeit nothing of the sort that would help her delay her military duty.
“Dudududuuuuuu-dududuuuuu~ Babambabambabam— Babambabambabam!” Yana sang. Surprisingly, it wasn't that bad. Perhaps she had talent. The rhythm was terribly off, though. “Babarababambababam— Pambambarapabambam— Dududuuu-duduuudu—”
“Shut it.” Larissa pulled her sister’s hair. To think that she was crying her eyes out a few minutes before in the fear of her brought her great shame. “Please.”
Her sister in turn smacked her in the back.
“So many times, it happens too faaaast~
You trade your passion for glooouury~
Don't lose your grip — on the dreams of the past,
YOU MUST FIGHT JUST TO KEEP THEM ALIVE!~~~”
“Oh for fuck’s sake—”
***
After the establishment of Kernel, a long period of internal conflicts followed. Some beastkin indulged in blatant extortion, mermen fed on human flesh, giants occupied massive spaces, and the fairies bewitched some innocent children — just to name a few among many.
Humans weren't innocent either. In fact, the deeds they did against the otherworlders far outweighed theirs in magnitude.
These days however, after the prolonged conflicts, some compromises had been made. 2099 went relatively peaceful, for instance.
In approximation, around two million dragons, five million giants, ten million dwarves, twelve million fairies, twenty-five million mermen, fifty million beastkin, and ninety million elves, respectively, with few other races with relatively small numbers also taken into consideration, in its totality, two hundred million otherworlders lived in Kerlin. Taking into account the three hundred million humans, the population of Kernel amounted to a little over half a billion. A bit less than the number of humans on the planet altogether.
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The otherworlders were in status and rights equal to humans. On paper, that is. Discrimination still ran, especially against dwarves for their cunning and dragons for their same condescending attitude.
In retrospect, elves only cared about peace and didn’t bother with petty quarrels, fairies ran massive protests against industrialism and did their best to preserve the little nature they had but were very helpful in spiritual studies, mermen lived in the waters afar from where humans usually dwelled so they didn't have much opportunities to collide with humans, and giants were… kind and tolerant in general.
Beastkin mostly ran the gangs and the underworld with sole care about money. Yet they were kindred spirits with humans for their hate for dwarves and had impeccable charisma to make up for the crimes committed.
With such an amalgamation of various races and cultures full of color and personalities, dozens of syndicates and organizations plotting against each other and the government, and dozens more religious and political ideologies, a question would arise in the onlookers from the outside — Just how did the bunch live together?
Under the iron fist of a monarch, of course.
The Kernel Empire to this day was ruled by Divine Emperor. He delegated the territories between his loyal children and founded seven ministries that were each presided over by the most skillful among the half-a-billion populace living within the various corners of Kernel. A simple social hierarchy was established.
First came the nobility at the top of the pyramid.
To become one, one would either have to be of His Majesty's blood or extremely extraordinary to be selected for such a high role. Ministers, several corporate heads, and some who made it to the Top 100 Superhero list were such examples. It all came down to merit, and to fulfill high-end missions and commissions for the said merit, one would need strength. Incredible strength. The more, the better.
The only distinguishing factor for those attaining nobility through merit was that they didn't receive territories. However, that didn't diminish a noble's status in any conceivable way.
After the nobility came operators and mages.
Operators, as their names suggested, were genetically and technologically modified from their birth, predestined to operate a warden.
Wardens were giant robots, either specialized, multi-purposed, offensive, or defensive. Primarily defensive.
Although operators couldn't venture into dungeons due to many limitations, such as size and the mobility of their wardens, they were to be reckoned with on the battlefield outside it.
It cost an exorbitant price to raise an operator; as such, their value was immense.
Mages on the other hand didn't require such costs, yet a talent for magic was extremely rare.
And even if one had a talent for magic itself, they'd still need superior intelligence to put the magical formulas into use.
Below the operators and mages on the ladder were demolishers.
They were trained to clear the dungeons before an outbreak occurs. With the highest death rate, becoming a demolisher entailed both risks and riches. Some would stumble upon invaluable artifacts and be set for life, others, most, would one day meet an infernal hound tenfold their strength, be eaten alive as a snack, and be set ablaze.
It went without saying that only desperate outcasts, gambling degenerates, just degenerates, or genuinely crazy people opted to become demolishers as those madlads went into the unknown depths with a full understanding that they could be lost and starved to death, be grilled to shreds, fall into spiky traps and forked into many pieces, or raped by a passerby minotaur in its adolescence to bear his sprouts.
Though most who did become demolishers usually had nothing to lose anyway.
Finally, at last, were soldiers and fruits.
Soldiers were a part of the regular military.
Fruits were the non-combatant populace, which consisted of 80% of the whole empire. There were teachers, doctors, office workers, and many other professionals, all referred to as fruits.
All in all, no matter what social caste, being a citizen of Kernel was overly prestigious in and of itself and a dream of many outsiders.
Those who didn't have it were called vigilantes. Most of those vigilantes worked their whole lives so that at least their children would become Kernelian.
Similarly, there were those on the opposite spectrum who were fed up with Kernel and abandoned their citizenship, setting their sight to Wilderness, though very few in numbers. Deserters, they were called. Once a deserter, always a deserter — those who left weren’t ever welcomed back.
Some committed a serious crime against Kernel, receiving the title of a criminal. Criminals were hunted down by specialized mages and usually had bounties on their heads.
Most heinous of all, though, were demons. Demons were the people who not only committed many crimes but also committed the crime amongst all crimes, actively opposing Kernel.
One hundred strongest demons made a list of Top 100 Villains, each having an egregious bounty on their head and actively hunted by hundreds of mages across the globe, as catching such demons also granted citizenship with bonuses.