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Last Embryo Volume 7 Interlude Part 2

「You idiot, my brain is always flexible.」

「Is that so? I think that being able to assert things because you have absolute pride in your own opinion is a great strength of yours, and at the same time a slight weakness. Oh, I’m sorry. Keep talking.」

When I showed a grumpy face because I was interrupted in the middle of the story that I was telling, Canaria simply smiled and waved her hand to encourage me to keep on talking.

I hit the center of the Atlantic Ocean, or more accurately, the center of the North Atlantic Ocean on the map, and continued to voice my theory again.

「This is one of the major differences between the Pacific and the Atlantic…the Pacific plate occupies most of the Pacific Ocean, while in the case of the Atlantic plate, at its center there is a section where huge continental plates overlap with one another.」

「The Eurasian plate, the African plate and the North American plate.」

「Yeah. If the overlapping continental plates were to rise from deep within the earth and collide with each other, there is a possibility that land will be created on top of the cracks in the continent, much like it was in the case of the Japanese archipelago.」

To use a more familiar analogy: when multiple cookies overlap with each other, the overlapped part will be thicker than the other cookies.

As a result, the part of the thickness of this cookie that exceeds the surface of the sea becomes the land. In addition to the case where one huge mass crosses the sea surface and becomes land like it was with the Eurasian Continent, there are also land areas such as the Japanese archipelago that were created by the overlapping of different continental plates.

「If the Atlantis continent was born like that, then how did the Atlantis disappear? If we find the answer to that question, then we should also be able to unravel the mystery of why was the 「Old Humanity」destroyed as well. For example, if there was a torrent of power strong enough to blow away the entirety of the continent of Atlantis, which has formed on the boundary of the continental plates…」

The greatest torrent of power in the history of the planet, a catastrophic eruption capable of shattering an entire continent.

「If the continent of Atlantis really existed, it is possible that it was a landmass that was always prone to being affected by crustal movements like Japan, which is called a disaster-prone country. With that assumption, both the mysteries of the disappearance of Atlantis and the extinction of the Old Humanity can be explained in one go.」

「I see… in Greek Mythology, annihilation due to a volcanic eruption is often attributed to the wrath of the Gods, and the definition of Old and New Humanity defines the period before and after the volcanic eruption as old and new. Is that what you are trying to say?」

I silently nodded at Canaria’s words.

If the Atlantis continent really exists somewhere in the center of the Atlantic Ocean, it means that the continent existed in the middle of the overlapping continental plates. This is an inescapable fact.

However, if we establish the existence of the continent of Atlantis as a genuine fact, then explaining its disappearance would require some super sci-fi-level considerations, such as it actually being a continent that flew to the ground from the sky.

… Well, that is precisely what makes it so interesting to me.

This time however, I should proceed along with the reasoning based on the pieces of information that I have now.

「If the continent of Atlantis really existed, then my hypothesis is that in order for it to disappear, at least that kind of phenomenon would be necessary… However, if a catastrophe of this magnitude took place, it would be extremely unnatural that no traces of it had been discovered for so long.」

「Fumu Fumu. So you want to proceed along with the assumption that ‘The lore of the Lost Continent of Atlantis itself is not a lore, but rather a metaphorical retelling of some other historical fact.」

Sufficiently convinced, Canaria agreed with me.

If there was a catastrophic eruption that blew up the entire continent, the traces of it would surely remain present even to this day, no matter how many thousands of years have passed since then.

As long as this is not confirmed, the current assumption cannot hold.

「If the lore of Atlantis itself is a metaphor or a cover-up, then the task of defining 「Old Humanity」 and 「New Humanity」becomes extremely simple. The difference between the Old Humanity and the New Humanity, or to put it in other words, the humanity that got destroyed and the humanity that destroyed… is the history of aggression.」

I closed the magazine and threw it on the bed.

Ancient myths and traditions are things that were created for the convenience of the rulers at that time and rewritten as they saw fit to make it easier for them to manipulate the populace in later times.

Rather than leaving the history as that of people killing other people after they have been invaded, it would be much better to later come up with a legend that God destroyed the Old Humanity for their transgressions and created the New Humanity in their place, which would allow the new ruler’s public image and his subject’s faith in him to continue on untarnished.

Above all, it was probably a necessary measure to protect the people’s hearts.

Humans might have been created with the intention of growing, breeding and filling the earth, but human intelligence is too advanced for us to live without feeling guilty about killing our own kind. We are called Humans precisely because we can’t remain inhumane and cold-hearted.

To overcome the fear of people killing each other and the terror of risking your life running around the battlefield… you can’t keep your sanity intact from such a strain if you don’t embrace faith and righteousness, even if they might be nothing more but a hoax.

The winds of courage, faith and justice were absolutely necessary for humankind in the past to continue moving forward

「…..The sins committed by humanity as a whole cannot be wiped away by great kings or politicians. They simply won’t be able to bear their weight on their shoulders. If there is someone who could take on the burden of the grave sins upon themselves in their stead, then that would surely have to be…」

「An idol named God?」

When a person can no longer bear the weight of their sin, they cannot protect their heart any longer unless they rubs that sin on someone other than themselves. And the most convenient targets for blaming humanity’s sins onto is the true identity of the imaginary life forms that humans dubbed as Gods and Demons. Because e no matter how many sins are going to be rubbed off on them, both the God and the Devil will not object to it. They won’t even fight back against it.

If we don’t blame God for all the natural disasters, misfortunes, and unreasonable battles that have befallen the world, we won’t be able protect the weak hearts of humankind.

But if God was the one responsible for destroying humanity…

「If a man destroys another man, then surely it must be an evil deed.」

「Fate, I would say.」

「Well… mankind has sometimes blamed the uncertainties of 「God’s will」for the cause of war. One example is the Trojan War, which is the most famous one in Greece. However, it is always the humans themselves who pull the trigger when it comes to wars waged between humans. The original sin that humans carry inside of them is always going to be the source of all the decisions that humans ever made.」

Canaria said so and made a slightly lonely face.

She was not worried about wars, Original Sin or other things like that. She felt uneasy about the human history itself, which has forced the sins of humanity onto someone other than humanity itself.

「Shifting of the Original Sin’s burden. The False Evil that has been created as a result. The Absolute Evil that has been born of it. Collectively, we called these things 「The Enemies of the World」.」

「… 「The Enemies of the World」. 」

「Yes. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that defeating 「The Enemies of the World」 is mankind’s mission. This era of wealth is no exception. The physical boundaries between people, the boundaries of faith, and the boundaries of ethnic groups give birth to sin and evil as various conflicts. This is because diversity is one of humanity’s strengths, but at the same time it also carries with it the possibility of extinction… just like the 「New Humanity」 drove the 「Old Humanity」beyond 「The Ends of the World」once upon a time.」