What Is the Human Alliance?

The four of them had spent every day in the Hanging Gardens these past years. The theme of their lives was lying in coffins.

Unlike others, who needed forced hibernation in life-support pods to prolong their lives and woke up without knowing how much time had passed, they possessed Longevity and Agelessness and had no need for life-support pods to extend their lifespans.

With the Mystic Code Adam had left behind, as the maintainers of order in the Hanging Gardens, they remained conscious even inside their coffins and still maintained the normal sleep patterns of ordinary people.

Over that long and boring stretch of time, perhaps because people tended to miss the past as they grew older, or perhaps because it was a defense mechanism their brains developed out of sheer boredom.

They could never stop themselves from recalling the past, and a considerable portion of their most unforgettable memories involved Adam.

Adam's tone was not particularly stern at that moment, yet Eugene and the others all recalled, at the same instant, the days when Adam had presided over the Human Alliance.

It could truly be summed up in one sentence—

You should be grateful I'm still willing to reason with you.

Or perhaps another sentence could be added—

You'd better pray that I'm still willing to reason with you afterward.

"This... doesn't it seem a little too extreme?"

Klon hesitated.

"After all, the Human Alliance has already dissolved. Other than venting our anger, continuing to pursue this won't mean much."

"Who said it doesn't mean anything? Isn't venting our anger itself meaningful?"

Adam laboriously pulled out a hand and patted Klon's head.

"Besides, who said the Human Alliance dissolved? Did anyone ask me? Even if the Human Alliance were to dissolve, it would need my approval..."

As he spoke,