Vol.3 Ch.135: Declaration Of War 2

Decleration Of War 2: This is the hundred and thirty-fifth chapter of Volume 3 of Tower of God. It follows Holan, Perseus, and Pudidy as they are still posing as castaways, but this charade ends when Gustang exposes them and declares his intention for war with the Lo Po Bia Family.

Synopsis
At the library accessible to outsiders at the Ark of Knowledge three days after Khun Aguero Agnis was taken prisoner, the branch leaders Lo Po Bia Perseus and Lo Po Bia Pudidy and branch leader candidate Lo Po Bia Holan are leaving the library. The tradition of reading books was started by Po Bidau Gustang, who started it while travelling up the tower with the other Great Family Heads during the The Great Journey. While leaving the library they are stopped by a Po Bidau family member who tells them about the public reading that is about to happen, which is performed by the family leader himself. At the day of the public reading the branch leaders and candidate are present in a small Floating Ship among a crowd of other ships waiting for Gustang to arrive. Although Gustang is a known bookworm Pudidy is still surprised that he bothers to come to the public reading in person, and event that will take about 6 hours due to the last public reading being cancelled. Perseus notes that it is unexpected privilege to witness a family leader for six hours, as the other family leader, especially Lo Po Bia Traumerei do not appear in public very often.

Gustang appears in a flash of light and everyone watches in wonder, as he starts reading, but it is not from a book as expected but rather Gustang is describing events that have happened at the Ark of Knowledge. Gustang describes an evil group within the mothership, a group of Lo Po Bia family members who are spreading false history through a certain book that they read in secret, the forbidden book is the same one Khun was tasked with reading at the private reading. Gustang ends the speech by revealing that there are some branch leaders hiding among the prisoners posing as ordinary castaways, as he points them out he set their floating ship ablaze. As the ship burning to a crisp, the branch leaders escape the ship with the help of Dobo, but the appearance of Lo Po Bia family branch leaders causes a ruckus among the Po Bidau family. Gustang proceed to use the book as well as the presence of the branch leaders to declare a just casus beli against the Lo Po Bia Family on the grounds of heresy for spreading of a false history. After Gustang's impassioned speech, the Branch leaders realize they are likely to be killed if they remain, so they make a break for it in each direction, with Pudidy leaving on Dobo, Perseus on Percheron Athens, and Holan on Pikaia.

As the branch leaders and candidate spread out in each direction, Gustang nails Pudidy on Dobo with a fire attack leaving him fried to a crisp, with Dobo being finished off by a Po Bidau Wave Controller. Gustang uses the Treasure Eating Stingray to teleport Perseus on Percheron Athens right in front of him and proceeds to burn them with an intense jet of fire, with Perseus being finished off by the Red horned Po Bidau. Gustang decides to spare Holan, who he sends back to the Lo Po Bia Family together with the heretical book, with the order of delivering a message to Traumerei. Lo Po Bia Candidi and Lo Po Bia Meyer is also sent back together with Holan, but they appear to be in poor condition after seemingly being tortured for a while.

A show, a staged performance is what Po Bidau Bellerir calls Gustang's condemnation of the Lo Po Bia Family's spreading of a false history, a show to manipulate public opinion about the oncoming war. Bellerir is impressed by the flames of righteous anger that Gustang has stoked, which is important since one of the Great Family Heads may die in this war.