Whatever happened to Kaname Chidori you may ask? After her termination as advisor for Empress Malty, she returns to her apartment in Rome, looking for new employment probably willing to take any job at this point. For her entire life, she has been raised in a family that served as advisors for the royal Roman family for many generations. She would probably get a job at one of the companies established within Rome, or maybe flee the country somehow. With rising food prices because food supplies have been going to the military and palace, it is either starve, find work, or flee.
In her apartment, Kaname begins looking through the papers, trying to find work opportunities. Those companies in Rome are not really hiring secretaries. Her next best option was to go down to the Russian embassy and request a work visa. That wouldn't really matter though, as someone knocked on Kaname's door. Not knowing who is at the door, she gently opens the door to find Sir Itsuki Kawasumi, accompanied by the Royal guards. All of them attack Kaname who immediately pin her on the wall arresting her.
"Excuse me, Sir Itsuki. What exactly are you doing" Kaname asks confused.
"Ms. Chidori. Under royal decree declared by Her Graciousness Malty Saceria Melromarc, we hereby place you under arrest for treason of the highest degree".
"Wait! I swear! I-I didn't do anything!"
"Sure, sure. Tell that to her Graciousness! And see what happens then you vicious traitor!". Kaname struggles to break free from her arrest, but all in vain as she is dragged off to the palace dungeon. She is one of the luckier ones who are not on Malty's torture list, as she just silently sat in her cell. Alone only for a short while, another familiar face enters the cell. The blonde Russian Ambassador Chad Dickson is thrown into the cell with his hands cuffed.
"Mr. Ambassador! Are you alright?".
"I don't know what happened" Chad responds to Kaname. "I was about to return to Moscow at the request of Her Imperial Majesty. But then some blue-haired devouti and other royal guards came as I was leaving the front door of the embassy. They said I am arrested for treason and plots against the Empress. The latter I sort of understand, but I bet the treason part was just a formality. I'm not even a citizen of this damned empire".
"I know what happened. And it is mostly my fault". Her somber voice gets Chad to recognize what she is talking about. It wasn't clear at first, but hearing that gave him all the confirmation he needed.
"Ah, it is because of the whole Prince Edward incident isn't it?".
"Sadly yes".
"Well, you did the right thing telling someone about it. But I am afraid that this will only create more hostility between the empires of the world". As Chad finished talking with Kaname, a guard entered the cell asking for Kaname. She complied with Chad wishing her God speed. In chains, Kaname returns to the throne room to revive punishment from Empress Malty, and there she was, looking down at her angrily.
"Ms. Chidori. I assume you know why you are arrested?".
"I am doing what I thought was right your Graciousness".
"Right? You think I care about what is right?". Malty laughs in insanity. "This is about our power! This is about other empires not messing around with us! We are the world's greatest empire with the world's largest military! If they think they can mess with us, we'll all show them!".
"Your Graciousness, that makes no sense whatsoever".
"It'll make sense once I do this!" She pulls out a set of controls which was what Kaname feared most. The big red button, several keys, and other command buttons. It is the one and only, nuclear command. All were created by Senku Ishigami a while back in the nineties. "With this wonderful invention by Bock-Choy boy, you know very well I will be able to unleash nuclear hellfire upon my enemies. With you out of the cabinet, I am now able to fulfill my desire to obliterate the moral of our adversaries before we head off to war". Malty's military advisors bring her the map of the world and the empires. Having keen aspects on one city within the German empire.
"Since you ratted me out to the Germans, I think I will conduct a tour de force against those sauerkraut bastards. I reckon I would hit them where they are the most heretic to the Three Heroes. The city of Warsaw is where they worship that accursed Ishvala. We'll soon see who their true god really is".
"You Graciousness, I think it would be also wise to launch another nuke to even out the nuclear stockpile" Corporal Amaki advises the empress.
"But won't that mean we will have fewer nukes! We can't have that".
"Of course we can make more. It's not like we care for what the International Senate says" Sir Motoyasu chimes in.
"As per usual, you are wise Sir Motoyasu! We will launch another nuclear attack on...... hmm....... Ah! The Japanese colony of Pyongyang! That accursed town is full of those demi-human scum. The less we have of that filthy kind, the better". She begins to put in the coordinates to said locations and is ready to launch a nuclear strike on those cities. The commanders are waiting for the empress to give the signal of celebration, a what would be a fine and glorious victory for the Roman Empire. But Kaname remains anxious.
"Your Graciousness, before you take me away again, please head my words," Kaname says trying to keep her composure and courtesy towards the empress.
"Ugh. What do you want this time?" Malty responds in a disgusted tone, clearly done with Kaname's persistence against her demands.
"I know you will ignore my plead. But I must say this your graciousness. That you have spelled doom throughout your empire is certain. That the world has become fed up with your tyranny towards you people is becoming more of a reality. That the world has become tired of living in fear of slavery and war that you and your family have created, while the world braces for democratic freedom and revolution. The world has changed, I must ask you once again, are you sure you want to do this?". Malty doesn't even give her a glance or a moment before giving out a sound of disgust.
"Launch the damn nukes" she shouts as she punches the big red button. As soon as she does that, the one nuke going towards Warsaw launches off in a roar as the warhead moves up towards the sky. The sound of the rocket could be heard across the peninsula.
"Now get this traitor out of my sight. This empire is going nowhere". Kaname is then sent back to the dungeon where she awaits further punishment as the commanders celebrate their greatest victory.
"You Graciousness, should we prepare to march into war. We will need all of our manpower for this conflict after all".
"Yes Sir Motoyasu, gather the troops and proceed to march onto France and Germany. But first, we need to prepare a sacrifice to the Three Heroes for a victorious and glorious war. A war that will truly be the end of all wars". The military staff and the empress prepare to go to war, with the winds of change coming over the horizon.
Meanwhile, another wind blows, but it is not of war and conflict but celebration. At one of the pubs in central London, almost the entire Greek delegation and their families are enjoying themselves, as it was today Prime Minister Raphtalia's birthday. She blows out the candles on her cake with the delegation celebrating her birthday.
"Happy birthday Raphtalia!" they all cheer, Raphtalia smiles.
"Oh my, thank you so much, everyone! I am so fortunate to have good friends to celebrate".
"Well, we are fortunate to have such a kind and caring prime minister who cares for her country," Queen Melty says. "Providing a place for Roman refugees and providing funding for orphanages".
"With your permission of course your majesty"
"No one except for you has ever come up with the idea to help our children. I think that deserves recognition. A toast to Ms. Raphtalia!" The delegation cheers her. Raphtalia is delighted with the wonderful gifts she has been given.
"Yes, happy birthday Raphtalia," Naofumi says to her. "It's a special day for you isn't it".
"Thank you so much Naofumi! You are such a wonderful person".
"Yeah well, other people would say otherwise".
"Those people just hate you. I have never known anyone nicer than you".
"That's nice of you to say". With that, the party continues. All of a sudden Raphtalia's cellphone rang. She opens it up and sees that British Prime Minister Yakko Warner was calling her.
"Must be calling to greet you a happy birthday" Melty says to her.
"Can we eat cake now?" A young child, Filo, asks.
"You guys go ahead, I'll take my call". Filo gets all excited, the cake gets sliced, while Raphtalia goes into a corner of the pub and answers her cellphone.
"Hello, Prime Minister?"
"Ms. Raphtalia, Good afternoon. Uh... my siblings and I want to give our most sincere condolences today".
"Oh, Mr. Warner," Raphtalia says laughing, not noticing the tone of voice that seemed apparent in Prime Minister Warner's mouth.
"What do you..." over the phone, Yakko realized that it is Raphtalia's birthday. "Oh. OH!". Raphtalia begins to notice that tone of worry and sorrow. "I am most terribly sorry. I wasn't calling for that. I was sure you have received the news about what happened". Raphtalia was now in a state of concern. Surely the prime minister of England would not have called her if it didn't involve her. She would return to the party. All the fun going on was going to be interrupted.
"Excuse me, barkeep, would you turn the television on please?". The barkeep does so hearing the urgency in her voice. Some of her friends notice that too and gather in front of the television, wondering what could be causing Raphtalia's worries. They will soon find out the most shocking news of the new decade.
-BBC News-
You heard this sad news here first ladies and gentlemen. Two nuclear missiles have been launched from the Roman empire. This was unprovoked as several treaties have been enforced to limit the nuclear arsenal. The Roman empire has not formally declared war on these nations. These nations appearing to be the German and Japanese empires.
The first nuclear missile was launched from Roman home territory whose target was the German city of Warsaw, the Holy city of Ishvala. We can not give a precise number of casualties, but we can say that there are quite possibly more casualties than in the atomic bombing of Tenochtitlan of 1978. German Kaiser Alphonse Elric has not given any remarks on this event. We do know, however, war has been declared.
The second missile has been launched from one of Rome's Chinese colonies and landed in the Japanese city of Pyongyang on the Korean peninsula. The military has been sent to count the casualties of this catastrophic event. We just got word a few hours ago from Nippon Hoso Kyokai's correspondent Noriko Mochizuki that one of the casualties of the nuclear bombing of Pyongyang was Ms. Rifana, one of the young envoys from the Greek empire.
Military engineers and nearby workers have been sent to these areas to clean up the fallout and radioactivity. Any information in regards to the attacks by the Roman empire has been shrouded in mystery. The International Senate has been called once again to an emergency meeting, which has been enacted yesterday for the actions of the Roman empire.
We will bring more updates when it comes. This is Dan Anchorman of BBC News bringing sad news.
-BBC News-
The television is turned off. The party seems to have taken down a mood with murmurs being heard in the pub. Queen Melty looks down with guilt, but Raphtalia whose best friend was Rifana, was just shocked to hear her sudden death. She slowly breaks down on the floor and tears begin to roll down her face. She would cry and sob hard. Naofumi tries to comfort her but to no avail. The Greeks might be having a hard time with the news but not as much as the Germans, the ones who were attacked.
On horseback, Kaiser Alphonse Elric in a hazmat suit walks through the ruins of Warsaw, what was the great holy city of the religion Ishvala is now nothing but a pile of rubble. A huge radioactive pile of rubble, brimming with fallout. He continues to travel through the ruins and eventually making it to a safe spot where nurses tend to the survivors. After a wash down by workers protecting others from radioactivity, Alphonse visited this tented area of survivors suffering from the burns, radioactivity, and other injuries. This sight that he had never witnessed made him most upset. It was terrorizing to him of the thought of his people suffering this fate.
He meets one of the lead nurses, Rose Thomas who was giving one of the survivors food.
"Your imperial majesty" she softly says in respect. Alphonse just waved in sadness.
"Don't spare me the details" he says in a somber tone. "Give me everything".
"It appears that the entire population apart from 10,000 survivors have perished. But I'm not sure if they will make it. The radioactivity, the burns, I'm sure they will die as well. I gave some of them food, but I'm not sure if it will be of any use". She was going to continue, but she saw that Al was shedding tears. He covered his eyes so no one would see him. Rose left him alone. The sadness caused by Rome will surly not be forgotten, for war... war is just beyond the horizon.
-End of Chapter Nineteen-