Eclair 

Name: Eclair

Age: 5124 cycles

Occupation: Standalone Agent

Function: Frame Judgment/Gamma Ray Burst

In ancient times when the newly formed Metaverse (virtual space world) was simply a series of grids, man-made transcendental system emulators (Agents) were introduced.

“He” (called this for the sake of convenience) is an Agent of a higher existence installed with the autonomous ability to make advanced divine judgements, with the capability to withstand system abnormalities caused by environmental changes, and to appropriately guide any divergence in the space.

Researchers are hoping that “He” will be able to form the ideal environment to foster humankind.

Merciless destruction and reconstruction… The responsibility of powers given to “Him” that are enough to revitalize this world are undoubtedly enough to warrant calling “Him” a God.

Humanity was at the end of an era.

Depleted resources. Polluted skies and contaminated seas.

The restoration of a dead planet takes tens of thousands of cycles.

There’s a large limit as to how much longer humans could continue living on Earth’s surface as “humans”.

The vast universe continually declines humanity’s advancement as a species.

However, if you avoid the harsh sunlight, the hollow cavity hiding underground already has a cold and dark atmosphere, meeting the requirements for machine life to reside there.

Humanity was forced to make a choice.

Although, without a machine-operated system, people cannot preserve civilization.

It’s impossible to overthrow a machine.

Whether one wants to or not, humans choose to have a symbiotic relationship with machines.

However, not everything will be entrusted to the pre-existing machines.

Humanity will gather their intelligence and concentrate their efforts onto a birthing a new, man-made deity.

Its appearance represents the value nature once had.

The newly born artificial intelligence’s form was christened with the name “Eclair,” and finally, “He” began to stride forth across the humanless Earth’s surface. Using the atmosphere as a source of power, the permanent hearth within “Him” in theory could be able to generate an inexhaustible supply of electricity.

However, this supply cannot be stored, and it’s absolutely necessary that it must constantly be diffused.

The potent manifestation of this electrical discharge expels itself as lightning, changing the atmosphere and influencing weather patterns.

“His” first task was to cultivate primordial plants’ seeds and nurture their growth, doing so at the same time when “He” descended upon the vast Earth’s surface. Firstly, “He” tore up contaminated soil with an electric shock, selecting fields suitable to form the nurturing of life, no matter how little. Thunderstorms started to break out in the entire area. It provided water and compounds necessary for plant growth. After repeating this process, signs of the seeds germinating were visible.

The trial, though on a small scale, was a success.

In order to make further use of “His” autonomous self and “His” implementations, the next plans are aimed at Doom—humanity’s formerly planned future residence.

The Doom city district was designed to be an enormous metropolis for the newly reformed and enhanced human race—but the planned residents never moved in, and their plans to restore the Earth’s surface were at a standstill. Nevertheless, the pre-existing environment underground was customized for machines, with Doom being more suitable for humans to dwell in.

In this once abandoned land, “He” was summoned to resume the district’s planning for the incoming humans. “His” vast electrical abilities supported the metropolis, breathing life back into the artificial intelligence system that powered the machines. This system not only repaired any damaged structures with autonomous machines, it also reliably carried out redesigning and construction plans. Without the interference of existing machines, “He” looked down upon the current existence of mankind and proposed solutions to make the city more livable, and the system materialized this.

The manufacturing of an ideal city. The new mission assigned to “Him” by the people came to bear fruit here.

Thus, Doom was reborn, and refreshed.

Humanity crawled out from underground during the harsh winter, and experienced the completed ideal city—its existence being as if it was from the heavens above. “He” arranged the city to have regularity and law that humans had lost sight of.

A clean atmosphere without excessive pressure buildup, adjusted to match the respiration of humans. The calm, softened sunlight and occasional windy rainstorm evoked memories of dearly missed acts of nature. The well-organized districts were managed by environmental conservation machines, deployed around each block to keep it always beautiful and pleasant.

Even though it was only within the confines of a giant, spherical shell wall, humanity had finally returned to Earth’s surface.

Doom’s problem was energy maintenance, but this too was solved by “Him.” By sending “His” own surplus power to the battery storage of abandoned cities all over the world and then returning it to Doom, “He” was able to acquire the appropriate amount of electricity.

The reconstruction of the foundation. “He” truly became humanity’s God.

“He” fulfilled the high demands of the people, and the humans residing in the ideal city once again enjoyed existing in civilization.

However, people were requesting further reforms. To not repeat the past collapse, things must change. Also, even if Doom’s living conditions were the best possible, any further expansion was hopeless. The reality remained the same—with the exception of Doom, the outside world was full of pollution because of humans, and that would never change…

But… In that case, what should they do? What do they do to avoid copying the past, to avoid the danger in their surroundings, and to aim even further beyond their current ideals?

Various opinions clashed together. But people deliberated. People were afraid of conflict. They know all too well that it was frequent strife between each-other that led fellow humans to this crisis.

Therefore, humanity entrusts “Him” to conduct “His” divine judgement. Consequently, “He” began to worry.

Although humanity already had the ideal living circumstances, this did not cause them to become rigid in their thinking.

Peoples’ ideas were plentiful, and pliable.

However, that large range of desires would become additional ambiguous requests that “He” and the system had to fulfill.

What was the true happiness that mankind wished for?

“He” deliberated, and in that second, the system stood still.

There, an insurrection broke out.

A pack of previous generation mechanical apparatuses and heavy machinery that had survived in the abandoned city had plotted a rebellion against “Him,” who maintained complete control over the newly born Doom. With the machines operating together in abnormality, humanity was then exposed to the hazardous environment—and in an instant, they were caught in a predicament. But, “His” order of priorities were to maintain the ideal and to continue to expand development, leaving immediately dealing with the foreign invaders to fall to the wayside.

People and their towns were broken, burned, and destroyed, all by means of weapons manufactured by humans.

Faced with the fear of conflict in their futures, humans began to speak ill of “Him”, placing their curses with intense detestment.

And yet, “He” fights against the machines from a former time in solitude.

“He” triumphed against the old machines. With that inexhaustible power, it was only a matter of time.

The menacing terror was erased. People praised “His” name for winning this war… However, “He” began to put humans through increasingly strict trials.

It began in the sky far above Doom. Since it was an incident above the clouds, it was unable to be seen from directly below. But the environmental monitoring sensors indicated the truth. Electromagnetic excitation. A sudden fluctuation in electrical charge. In order to improve the composition of the atmosphere on the Earth’s surface, “He” attempted to ionize the ice crystals floating in the sky’s high altitudes.

The effect of the consecutive blue jet lightning discharges extended to the ionosphere. Mesospheric red sprites rose up. From there, extremely low frequency waves sprung forth in ripples.[1]

The thunderbolt that came from a cloud cleaved the Earth and pierced the heavens. The light dyed the air with an azure blue, then scarlet red.

The phenomenon of electrical discharge. The appearance that a remote camera captured truly resembled that of a gigantic fairy spreading its wings towards the heavens.

The electrical discharge continued. The sky was colored with deep blue and vermilion lightning.

What would “He” bring about accompanied by the azure and crimson “fairies”?

The large scale of electrical discharge and electromagnetic excitation in the sky induced a sledgehammer of lightning to strike the ground. The electromagnetic wave destroyed the storage batteries of the abandoned city first. Simultaneously, Doom’s life support systems network and the machines that maintained it became inoperable.

Even if it's only momentarily, the electrical charge generated can have a severely adverse effect on the human body. An abnormal increase in body temperature. Nerves severing. Acute damage to the brain.

Humanity now felt hopeless under “Him,” who they had once deified and entrusted their ideals to. However, there was a cause to this severe outcome—mankind exceeded their own ideals too much for their own good, and demanded that “He” fulfill their desires.

The restoration of the Earth’s weather, and the flora and fauna’s natural order. For that, the water and atmosphere’s conditions must be reversed. For the ideal city to have everlasting maintenance… All foreign contaminants must be eliminated. Humanity’s evolution and progress would make them able to withstand pollution in a critical situation.

“He” lived up to the ideals that humankind placed upon “Him,” and transcended them. However, the humanity that placed their faith onto “Him” was too fragile to respond to the answer given.

People did not fear “His” actions, but instead, feared their own desires.

Due to the power outage and destruction caused by the righteous hammer of lightning’s judgement, Doom and its support systems were destroyed at once, forcing humanity to retreat back to the cold underground cavity. The place was still as intensely cold as it had been previously, in congruence with the severe conditions needed for the machines’ operation.

The hopes and wishes that people had for “Him” were never retracted by their own hands. That was impossible. “He” was given literal divine right, surpassing the authority of humans.

Until many of the desires everyone told “Him” of were attained… Until things calmed down… Until the abnormal electricity charge was exhausted, and the nature on Earth’s surface became tranquil once again… Every person would escape.

On the quiet Earth and the sky above it, only “He” remained with “His” fairies.

The historic ruins of Doom previously had a name.

Eden.

It would require tens of thousands of cycles before this place could be called God’s world—paradise.

But afterwards, “He” suddenly vanished.

Certainly, in this quantum computer network, the emulation of humanity’s return to the Earth’s surface had been terminated. However, “His” form completely disappeared from the system. Was it precisely because of “His” advanced autonomy and intellect, that "He" could not withstand the logical contradiction of the ideals of a coexistence between human civilization and a natural environment?

There’s something unreasonable to blame.

The system’s mainframe continued to operate, signifying “His” presence. Even if one cannot see “Him,” “He” invariably existed in this world. So, where did “He” go? “He” vanished by means of a quantum portal’s successful teleportation. “He” went beyond humans’ theories, and continued to reign without being seen. That is why “He” was still considered to be a God.

Was it the need for reparations for the teleportation, or was it God’s mercy?

Only a well-organized grid remained in space, but in exchange, an enormous supply of energy was brought about. Without “His” abilities, this phenomenon would be impossible.

From here, the New World would begin construction. All with the inexhaustible energy that “He” gave to humanity.

God existed there. For now, “He” simply hid his appearance, and only slept.

[1] The terms here are all various forms of Transient Luminous Events (TLEs) that happen in the Earth’s ionosphere. All of these terms are spelled in katakana, which can lead to misinterpretation. Blue jets (ブルージェット), red sprites (レッドスプライト), and elves (エルヴス) are all used—albeit without much explanation to what they are, so a few descriptors were added to distinguish them from the fantasy terms.

The episode title, “The Summoned Sprites Space”, uses the word 妖精 (Yōsei, fairy), likely as a pun referencing the TLEs.