D: "Here we are again — time for Ask D-sensei!"
*WHACK* Mei: "Oh my? Oh my, oh my! Decapitating yourself with such finesse! Couldn't you use that as a staple party trick?"
D: "I'll pass on that, since it hurts."
Mei: "If you can talk with just your head, you don't need the rest of your body, right? Here you go — minced meat!"
D: "Nooo! My beautiful body, reduced to a corpse that can't even be shown without censoring!"
Mei: "You've only got a head left and you're still this composed. It's honestly irritating."
D: "Because I'm immortal, you see."
Mei: "As punishment for your imprudence, you'll remain a severed head for the rest of this segment. Understood?"
D: "That's so cruel!"
Mei: "Is. That. Understood?"
D: "Yes, ma'am."
Mei: "Good."
D: "Welcome back, everyone. This is the third installment of Ask D-sensei. I'll be delivering today's commentary at slightly lower energy, given that I'm currently just a severed head."
Mei: "Obviously. Otherwise it wouldn't be punishment."
D: "Ugh… This won't do. My magnificent body, left in such a wretched state and on display without so much as a censor bar. Unacceptable."
Mei: "Just get on with it."
D: "Alright, alright. My beauty is undiminished even as a disembodied head, so, camera crew — please keep the angle below the neck out of frame."
Mei: "There is no camera crew. If you don't get moving, I'm stepping on you."
D: "Right, right. Let me collect myself and press on. This time, I'd like to give a rough overview of the Past Arc. If I had to sum up the Past Arc in one sentence, it'd be: it's basically all
Mei: "How utterly blunt."
D: "But it's true. The Past Arc takes place on the same planet as the main story, but far, far in the past. Back then, it had a scientific civilization slightly more advanced than present-day Earth. In that respect, not too different from Earth — but there were two major differences. One was the existence of the stray angel
Mei: "So gods were walking among them, essentially."
D: "Precisely. That said, only a handful of people knew Sariel was a god, and the Dragons kept a low profile so as not to provoke her, so there wasn't much direct impact. If I had to give an image, maybe an Earth where Godzilla actually exists."
Mei: "That feels subtly different, somehow."
D: "Well, something like that — some insanely powerful creatures exist. Take it or leave it. Dragons couldn't be beaten by humanity. Leave them alone and they were docile. But disturb them, and things got very ugly. People had that much knowledge, but the idea that Dragons were gods, or that they came from outer space — that wasn't generally known. Those who worshipped Dragons may have received vague, passed-down hints, though."
Mei: "Wasn't it the Dragon God Religion, or something like that?"
D: "Yes. It was probably spread around — under Sariel's nose, no less — to implant the idea that Dragons were supreme beings. And people fell for it hook, line, and sinker. They became followers."
Mei: "Well, from humanity's perspective, Dragons were a higher order of creature. It's only natural that some degree of worship would accumulate."
D: "And the result of that faith? They lost not just their prayer money, but their entire fortunes. *Ptoo.*"
Mei: "Please don't say 'ptoo' with a straight face. It's genuinely unsettling."
D: "Calling a transcendentally beautiful severed head unsettling?! The nerve!"
Mei: "The severed-head part alone makes it unsettling."
D: *sniffle* Mei: *(annoyed)* D: "Anyway, let's leave the Dragons there. The one who took notice of those mysterious Dragon powers was, as you all know, basically this guy's fault — Potimas Harifenas. Driven by his single-minded fear of death, he began researching immortality. But of course, such a thing couldn't be achieved. Undeterred, he set his sights on the sorcery used by Dragons. And then, with breathtaking audacity, he kidnapped a young Dragon — and began analyzing Dragonkind."
Mei: "That incident is what led to the meeting between Sariel and Gülie, right?"
D: "Correct. Gülie, a young Dragon. And Sariel, guardian of humanity. The two met. At first they clashed — or rather, Gülie was unilaterally picking fights. Eventually, it turned into a will-they-won't-they kind of dynamic."
Mei: "It was pretty one-sided on Gülie's end, though."
D: "You're not supposed to say that part. Anyway, while the two of them were going back and forth, Potimas continued his research into Dragon sorcery and discovered a hidden force — MA energy. The true nature of this energy he discovered was the planet's Life force. If you used it up, the planet would wither and eventually collapse. A terrifyingly dangerous energy. And yet, knowing this, Potimas made MA energy known to the world. Why? Because using MA energy could bring about the Evolution of humanity. Evolved humans would gain enhanced physical abilities and extended lifespans. Yes — the very immortality that Potimas sought. A glimpse of it was right there."
Mei: "That said, it wasn't true immortality or eternal youth, so it was still quite far from what Potimas was after."
D: "Exactly. Which meant Potimas had to continue his research. The problem was, his repeated horrific human experiments had been exposed, and he was an internationally wanted man. His research required enormous funding and proper facilities. The only way to get those was to secure backing from some nation or other. So he announced MA energy as a groundbreaking new power source and used it as bait to secretly receive subsidies from various countries. All while hiding MA energy's inconvenient downsides."
Mei: "Devious. How spectacularly devious."
D: "My guess is that publishing humanity's Evolution method wasn't just aimed at winning over wealthy benefactors — it also had a clinical-trials aspect to it."
Mei: "Truly worthy of being called Poticrap."
D: "Now, the part where the Dragons don't stay quiet. The Dragons, of course, knew the truth about MA energy, and immediately issued a formal demand for humanity to stop using it. But humanity refused to listen. And so, the Dragons moved to annihilate humanity."
Mei: "That does sound like something Dragons would do."
D: "Yes. Those lot look down on every other species. They almost certainly did it as pest extermination. Even though they're the real cosmic vermin."
Mei: "You're getting off track."
D: "Oh! Right, right. Let me get back on topic. Humanity had no means of fighting back against the Dragons and suffered devastating losses — but then, rising to the occasion, was our goddess Sariel! Saving humanity from the Dragons' clutches! *Whoooosh*, so cool~!"
Mei: "Meh."
D: "Well, humanity had been squandering the planet's Life energy, so from Sariel's perspective — whose duty it was to protect the planet — this intervention was bound to be controversial. That said, looking at it objectively, Sariel's actions only made things more complicated. But from humanity's standpoint, she was nothing short of a savior. Without Sariel, humanity might genuinely have gone extinct."
Mei: "True. Depending on whose perspective you take, Sariel's actions look completely different."
D: "From humanity's view, a savior. From the Dragons' view, a useless bug angel shielding vermin. The Dragons must have been absolutely livid. Serves them right."
Mei: "If only they'd just sulked and let it go. That would've been somewhat endearing."
D: "Expecting anything like that from them is a waste of time. No, the Dragons decided to pull their most outrageous stunt yet in that state — they stole what remained of the MA energy and fled into outer space! An absolutely brazen theft!"
Mei: "That's what you really wanted to say, wasn't it?"
D: "They really did steal something outrageous. And with that, the planet's countdown to collapse began. The only way to stop it was to replenish the stolen energy. And the method proposed for doing so was to sacrifice Sariel as an offering. And the one who proposed this method was, as you all know, basically this guy's fault — Potimas. Moreover, this plan was never meant to succeed. Potimas's true intention was to siphon off the energy gained from decomposing Sariel for himself."
Mei: "Devious."
D: "Humanity's savior, betrayed by the very humanity she saved. And at that moment, a goddess of salvation appears! That would be yours truly!"
Mei: "Salvation (laughter). Right. Yep, I know, I know."
D: "Not at all~! In reality, I had prepared a proper path to salvation~! And the current state of affairs is also basically Potimas's fault~!"
Mei: "That's annoyingly not entirely wrong."
D: "Having made a magnificent entrance, I promised the planet and Sariel a reprieve, and activated a system with Sariel at its core. This system works by recovering the power of living souls after death and using it to replenish the depleted MA energy. And, as a kindness, it's designed so that even after dying, you're reincarnated on the same planet — over and over."
Mei: "A 'kindness'…?"
D: "The power of a soul grows through combat. That's why the people of that world keep fighting. Until the debt is fully repaid — that's when it ends."
Mei: "When you put it that way, they sound like gladiator slaves."
D: "Not far off, really. And that, in broad strokes, is the Past Arc."
Mei: "Wait a moment. You've left out something important."
D: "What's that?"
Mei: "Do you have any idea why you're currently a severed head? It's basically all because of *that guy* — Potimas Harifenas — and the fact that *you* went out of your way to keep him alive! If you hadn't said something weird to Gülie, Gülie could have killed Potimas cleanly and that planet could have been saved much more elegantly! Why on earth did you do that?"
D: "Huh? But wouldn't that have been less fun—"
*WHACK* Mei: "That's all for today. Goodbye."