Ishura - Volume 8 - Chapter 19

Chapter 19- Confluence

There was a young girl walking the city streets far away from the royal palace.

Her name was Kia the World Word. She hugged her shoulders, and quivered.

“Wh-why…why would you do something like that…”

The horror that happened in front of the royal palace had completely exceeded Kia’s comprehension.

Had that man crouching down really blown himself up? At the very least, it didn’t seem to be something the other two military officers there with him had set up themselves.

“H-he tried to die…of his own will…?”

Just as it had been for Rosclay in the fourth match, and with Lana from the New Principality of Lithia.

Kia’s body was unscathed. Even when suffering an explosion at short range made by a weapon from the Beyond, her omnipotent Word Arts could avoid any and all danger at all times.

However, the Word Arts that automatically protected Kia, naturally, only had an effect on her. But a mere child herself, Kia hadn’t even imagined until that very instant that Kyaliga the Music Reed would blow himself up.

The other two military officers had been barely breathing, her Word Arts perhaps shielding them to some degree.

For Kyaliga, in the epicenter, however…

I can do anything…and yet. Bringing someone dead back to life is the one thing I can’t.

She should have been able to fully heal the bodies of all three of the people caught in the explosion.

Yet one among them would never open their eyes again.

…Is it my fault?

This area was far from the royal palace grounds. With Kia’s power, it was easy to instantly move across this much distance.

Still, she had run away. She hadn’t wanted to remain in that place.

Kia didn’t want to witness terrifying death.

Someone…

The citizens didn’t know anything. Of how many tragedies had occurred in the underside of Aureatia, or how many people had died on that day alone.

She could hear applause from somewhere.

The roadside stores, with their illustrated posters and balloons, were going crazy with excitement in anticipation for Rosclay the Absolute’s match.

Someone, help me…

She didn’t know how long she continued to run.

However, while she was running, simply to put distance between herself and a man’s death, Kia the World Word had wandered into a district of Aureatia she wasn’t familiar with.

Kia knew, logically, that Kyaliga the Music Reed’s death was not her responsibility.

His cause of death was his suicide bombing attack, and he had planned on doing that regardless of how Kia acted.

However, if by any chance that hadn’t been the case, what was she supposed to do?

Kia’s power was far too strong. Elea had strictly told that Kia that she shouldn’t overuse it however she saw fit. If Kia visiting the royal palace caused something to go wrong, and end up the way it did…

She could make anything at all happen, so perhaps, she had unconsciously changed everything for the worse on accident.

Will it happen again? If I go to the royal palace, is the same thing going to happen?

It was that moment when an echoing metallic sound of something overturning reached her ears.

A group of ne’er-do-well men fled from the alleyway in front of her.

“Hey, wait!”

A young girl’s voice tried to get the men to stop from further down the alleyway.

“Sheesh… I was just asking in passing, you don’t gotta run away like that!”

“Uhhh…?”

She had been cautioned at school about scoundrels that chased after young girls, but what about the reverse? Kia peered down the alleyway out of pure curiosity.

It was a young girl with green eyes and a single long braid in her hair. She didn’t seem to be carrying any weapons.

The girl immediately noticed Kia’s presence.

“Waaait. Have you and I met before?”

“Um, where’d that come from…?”

Kia wasn’t very knowledgeable about this stuff, but if the girl was trying to invite Kia to some weird guild, then she wasn’t going to have any of it.

She had been taught that they apparently had several tricks to do so, such as using a good-looking girl like this.

“Oh, actually, maybe you know! Seems like you two are pretty close in age! Oh, right, my name’s Tu.”

“Wait, was that you asking for my name? It’s Kia…”

“Kia! Do you know any way to meet with Sephite?”

“With Sephite?”

If there was such a method, then Kia wanted to know, too.

Kia’s Word Arts were capable of absolutely anything, but if it was possible, she wanted to meet Sephite properly, without using said absolutely anything.

Since it was possible that even Kyaliga the Music Reed’s death was all because Kia had cheated her way there.

“Sephite and I used to go to the same school, but…now it’s a bit different.”

“It is?”

“Forget school… Right now I don’t even have a house, and Aureatia’s chasing me down…”

“Whoa, really?! What a weird coincidence! Me too!”

“You can’t be serious…”

However, in a strange turn of events, Kia’s suspicious feelings toward Tu began to dissolve. Despite looking far more like an adult than Kia physically, Tu’s mannerisms and way of speaking were much more straightforward and honest than any of the adults Kia had ever met before. In that sense, her attitude vaguely resembled Acromdo the Variety’s somehow.

“Hey… So, I actually wanted to meet Sephite, too.”

“Wowee! We’re three for three?! Okay, let’s look for a way together, then!”

“Let’s look… Right, that’s what I was going to say.”

She needed to search for the best possible method, even if it was something she could do by herself.

In order to do that, even the invincible Kia needed allies.

People encountered one another. This coincidence may have instead been something even more powerful than omnipotent Word Arts at work.

Their journeys that had crossed once before now converged together.

Meanwhile, opposite the grand coup d’état by Iriolde’s camp, in an area far removed from Aureatia’s attention, there was another armed force on the move with a different goal in mind.

They were the remnant forces of the Old Kingdoms’ loyalists. Among the group of armed men were also golems of various sizes.

Dense forest surrounded them on all sides. Flowing spring waters, with the light of the sun blocked by the tree leaves.

The mansion erected in the forest was Obsidian Eyes’ base of operations within Aureatia’s borders. Kiyazuna the Axle had been the one to expose the location that had been so thoroughly concealed from the eyes of others.

By following the homing device signal coming from the plundered Mestelexil, they had deduced the location.

One of the soldiers walked along the ground, covered in branches, without making a sound, and gave a report.

“General Caneeya. The west side search report indicated that they’ve gotten a visual on a residence.”

“That’s good. Prepare to storm the place immediately. Though hopefully there’s no battle, of course.”

Even when placed in this strange situation, Caneeya the Fruit Trimming wore her unchanging smile.

On the other hand, Kaete and Kiyazuna were discussing their strategy.

“A bit late to ask, but do you have any vampire antiserum, Grams? I was inoculated as one of the Twenty-Nine.”

“Of course I don’t, why would I?”

“So then, our only method to fix Mestelexil is to destroy him and make him regenerate?”

“Haven’t I been saying that from the damn start?! Smash through Mestel’s armor, and knock Exil outta there, along with his preservative amniotic fluid! Violence is best! What’s hard to get?!”

“…I understand that’s the only option, but is Mestelexil going to be okay with that?”

“It’s fine! I’ve taught him as much already.”

When she asserted herself like this, there wasn’t anything Kaete could say back.

Kiyazuna the Axle’s love for her golems was unquestionable, but it was just as true that her sense of ethics was far removed from that of a normal person’s.

“…Fine. Let me just tell you my idea then. Even if using the antiserum is impossible, if this really is their base of operations, isn’t there another method that won’t require us to struggle with destroying Exil?”

“Huh? Well, ain’t like you ever think up anything good. What is it, then?”

“…Anyone could come up with this. If anything, it seems like the one with a far better chance to work.”

Kaete looked west. Up ahead, past these trees blocking the way, was the mansion they were after.

“Assassination. We can wrap this whole thing up just by killing the parent unit, right?”

Linaris might get killed.

Yuno the Distant Talon was tired.

She had returned to Obsidian Eyes’ mansion almost entirely on her own. While she had made it back for the tenth match, she didn’t know if she had truly returned in time.

The Gray-Haired Child was already enacting his plans for revenge. She didn’t know what they were, or what she needed to do to stop them, but she needed to let Linaris escape before anyone else.

Can I do it? What can I even do right now…?

She didn’t have a single person on her side. She tried to at least get in touch with Lendelt, but was unable.

Yuno wasn’t even sure about the number of arrowheads she still had hidden in her sleeves. Ever since coming to Aureatia, she had continued to make her arrowheads day in and day out, but her plan to make Soujirou head to his match had used up a lot of them.

“…Don’t tremble. Not here, not now…!”

She cursed at her own feet with irritation.

Yuno didn’t know what was waiting for her up ahead, or what sort of dangers there were.

At the very least, she thought, she didn’t want feel scared when she still didn’t know for sure.

Above all, if she was going to save her friend, Yuno needed to advance forward, even if she was gambling her life to do so.

…I’ve never stopped thinking it, after all.

Nagan Labyrinth City burned, and Yuno’s dear friend died.

She felt like she needed to redeem that regret someday.

“At that time, I could’ve saved her.”

That time was now.

The absolute weakest piece in play was advancing forward alone.

“I see, so Obsidian had their base of operations hidden in a place like this.”

Enu the Distant Mirror walked along the forest path, murmuring with admiration.

“A true private villa, not even contained in the Central Kingdom’s records… I’m surprised they even found this base of theirs. They never filled me in on where they were staying, you see.”

“I haven’t been told, either.”

Lined up with Enu’s footsteps was a leprechaun in a dark brown coat, walking silently.

Kuuro the Cautious’s face was messily wrapped in bandages.

“Then how did you know they were here?”

“I have my Clairvoyance. No matter where they had their base of operations in Aureatia, if I tried searching for it, it wouldn’t even take a full day. The reason I found them is because they made me want to search them out.”

“What wonderful confidence.”

On one hand was Obsidian Eyes’ strongest killer, a man who had so much stolen from him by the spy guild.

On the other was a sponsor with his life firmly in Obsidian Eyes’ grasp, who was now scheming to use them for himself.

“I’ve made sure not to pry, but…”

Kuuro the Cautious asked with the same sullen look.

“…What’s your objective, Enu the Distant Mirror? It appears that you all were the ones who supplied the National Defense Research Institute with its base of operations. You also have connections with Viga the Clamor. And, for some reason…you’ve been gathering living vampire specimens and made contact with Obsidian Eyes. Your activities began long before the start of the Sixways Exhibition, and you’ve been moving secretly among several of the different powers in play for this sole goal of yours.”

“I don’t intend to do anything ominous or disruptive. The opposite, if anything.”

“A peaceful use for whatever it is, huh?”

“Does it appear that I’m lying?”

“…It doesn’t. I’ve just never seen someone say that and mean it before, so it felt a bit unsettling is all.”

“What about yourself? Any doubts about your revenge against Obsidian Eyes?”

Kuuro bore a strong grudge against Obsidian Eyes.

However, the fact of the matter was they were his former comrades as well.

“I’ll do that my way. Deal the proper reprisals to the proper people, and that’ll be the end of it. I’m not seeking to harm them any more than necessary.”

“Hm. You’re worried about Linaris the Obsidian, aren’t you?”

“When I was still there, she was a good-natured and bright child. She never had any involvement in our work. If I had to give my opinion…I can’t say I’d be fine with you handling her however you see fit.”

“Nevertheless, she is killing people.” Enu thrust out his cane. “That is a fact. You don’t need your Clairvoyance to see that. While I admit she ended up being treated somewhat inhumanely, I don’t believe it’s uncalled for in the girl’s case, either… Can I convince you with the explanation that, even in the worst case, there’s no need to deprive her of her body parts?”

“…A valid line to draw, I suppose,” Kuuro the Cautious answered with obvious displeasure.

The leprechaun likely knew that there were several effective means of torture that didn’t involve any bodily harm.

“In that case, if anyone besides Mestelexil or Obsidian Eyes were to interfere, what was your plan then? I don’t want any meaningless killing if possible…”

“Others? There can’t be anyone else who would come to a place like this on purpose.”

“They’re already here.”

Kuuro pulled the breechblock on the submachine gun from the Beyond.

In his eyes, he could see everything, always.

“Better hurry. If your goal is to capture Linaris alive.”

The warehouses connected to the Tim Great Canal.

Though camouflaged on the outside to look nothing of the sort, a section of these warehouses was in fact a research facility for the grotesque and fantastic—known as the National Defense Research Institute.

Among the conspiracies swirling around the Sixways Exhibition, occasionally the name would pop up, but there wasn’t anyone who actually knew its location or what they did. It was that type of organization.

There was also a man who had been tracking down its existence for a long time.

“Wonder if they’ve already got started on their end.”

Yukiharu the Twilight Diver brought his hand up to shield the sun and looked in the direction of the city.

A plump man with a camera hanging from his neck. For some reason, he carried a wooden box on his back.

Thin smoke trails rose from the city. The Aureatia army was going to claim unilateral victory anyway, but the mere fact that any war broke out meant that a flawless victory was impossible. Victims and sacrifices would always follow.

The being inside of the small wooden box spoke up.

“I know you’re thinking about how much you want to cover what’s going on over there.”

“Ahah-hah-hah, sorry, my bad. I mean, I was a war correspondent, so it’s just sort of instinctual, really… But now’s basically the only chance we’ll have to directly go inside the National Defense Research Institute. Don’t worry, I know what to prioritize.”

Yukiharu was a journalist who had been tracking down the National Defense Research Institute since before the start of the Sixways Exhibition.

He had even gotten his hands on the broader information, like what sort of organization it was, and who was the person behind its operations.

However, as a journalist, he needed to directly learn the deeper truths for himself.

Several of the dark sides to Aureatia that Yukiharu was continuing to chase after had originated from the National Defense Research Institute.

“But this is weird, isn’t it? You managed to pin down information on the True Demon King, and the hero, too, right? Heck, you even talked about the hero with Shalk the Sound Slicer the other day. Rude, really. You don’t have any idea how I feel.”

“C’mon, what’s the big deal with that… He’s not someone who’s super involved with you anyway, right?”

“Okay, fine, putting that aside, why have you spent more time on this National Defense Research Institute instead of on the secrets everyone in the world’s looking to know? I’m pretty sure at this point, any report you made on the National Defense Research Institute would be too late, anyway.”

“Hmmm. Honestly, I don’t think you’d sympathize with me, even if I did tell you… Either way, this is all about my way of thinking as a journalist, so I never thought it’d be something everyone would understand.”

Yukiharu put a hand to his soft chin and, in a rare twist, looked serious.

“The True Demon King and the True Hero stuff, collecting the material on all that was fine—but it doesn’t make for a really interesting news report.”

“Why?”

“There’s no story to it.”

“It’s all back to the entertainment factor, is it?”

“See, I knew you’d say that. But seriously, I want you to actually think about it. If I told this to everyone, what would they even do? This person’s the hero, this person was the demon king, the end—what else is there? That’s not what it’s about, y’know… Ultimately, I think everyone wants the sort of truth you get from the people involved in a story having these complex hearts and minds, and the sort of result that comes out of it all.”

“I really don’t get that fixation of yours, Yukiharu.”

“Everyone has a part of them in their heart somewhere, so I really think they should just be more honest about it…”

As he talked, he had already stepped inside the warehouse.

While most of the soldiers were all out participating in the grand coup, there were still a fair number on guard.

Nonetheless, Yukiharu had done plenty of prep work this time. There weren’t so many that he couldn’t break through them all.

“You! Stop right there.”

Then, he was rightfully stopped. Yukiharu wasn’t trying to conceal himself at all.

The guards were equipped with the normal, widely circulated muskets, but it was obvious these weren’t plain warehouse staff.

“This land belongs to Lulaze Transport. Civilians aren’t allowed here.”

“Oh, sorry, today’s my first time so you probably don’t know, huh.”

Yukiharu spoke very naturally and with confidence.

“I’m a Life Arts caster sent here by Yide the Bundle Garment. Oh, if I remember right, you’re the head of security… Orija the Ear Tearing? Looks like Yide forgot to mention me to you when he talked with you during the new drug deal. Oh yeah, here’s the referral stamp. So anyway, is Viga the Clamor in? I’ve some business I need to talk to her about ASAP.”

“…This referral stamp does look legit. Viga the Clamor is in the biological experiment building, but…”

“Oh, do you need to search my belongings or anything? This is a camera. I’m here because they said they needed to leave a record for the latest experiment. You’re going to check inside the box, too, right? Give me a sec to open it up.”

With an attitude that made the guard never even dream he was an outsider trying to sneak inside, and the speaking skills to overwrite the guard’s thoughts in rapid-fire succession, Yukiharu got out ahead of any wariness and dispelled it.

On top of it all, the information he casually mentioned offhand were all facts that no one besides those involved with the National Defense Research Institute should have known about. In Yukiharu’s experience, the more an intruder was confident and bold, the less likely they were to be distrusted.

“All right. Put the wooden box down there and…”

The guard noticed something. Yukiharu’s reaction was even faster. He fell down to the ground.

There was a pow from a gunshot, and the guard’s head exploded.

“Yikes.”

Yukiharu’s eyes went wide as he was showered in blood.

“It’s the Aureatia army!”

“What’s going on?!”

“Tell me how many they’ve brought, and where they are! Head over to intercept!”

From listening to the guards’ voices in the distance, Yukiharu could tell that the Aureatia army had launched a surprise attack.

Gunfire immediately rang out, and there were constant moans and shrieks, though it was impossible to tell which side they belonged to.

This was an unexpected development for Yukiharu, too.

“…That’s weird.”

“What, no it isn’t. If the National Defense Research Institute is connected to Iriolde’s Army, then obviously Aureatia’s going to want to crush them, right?”

“On any other day, maybe. But right now, the city’s under attack, right? Do they really have the luxury to take over the National Defense Research Institute today, given how much trouble’s happening all over Aureatia? Who knows what sort of constructs could be waiting here, right? Could be a revenant like Vikeon in here, even.”

“…So you want to say that this is being done on the side?”

“I wonder. Either way, this is our chance! All the patrolling guards are dead, so time to use this opening to slip in.”

“You’re really too positive, you know that?’

Ignoring the grumbles from the voice in the wooden box, Yukiharu entered into the warehouse.

Rubbing his hands together for no reason in particular, he glanced around the building.

“Whew boy, this stuff always gets me excited!”

“There are dead people here, aren’t there?”

Though it was called a research facility, it was exactly as its outer appearance suggested for the most part: a warehouse that was partitioned into several rooms with thick walls. However, each individual room was progressing with their own research.

Right at the outset, Yukiharu went up the metallic stairs inside the warehouse and, passing through the second floor accessway, headed toward the location he had wormed out from the guard, the biological experiment building. It was the next structure over—

“Uh-oh.”

Right after entering into the biological experiment building, Yukiharu’s feet stopped.

“What’s wrong?”

“Soldiers have come inside. Those aren’t Iriolde’s troops. Must be Aureatia’s army…”

“You’re skilled at running and hiding, aren’t you?”

“That’s true. Guess I’ll handle it as usual.”

Scratching his head, he made for the closest room in front of him along the wall.

There was a loud smacking sound.

Yukiharu thought it was the sound of a door closing forcefully and turned around.

He then collapsed where he stood.

“Yukiharu?!”

“Huh…? What? Hold on…”

The intense pain didn’t hit him until afterward. Yukiharu’s right ankle had been blown off.

The Aureatia army had entered into the downstairs floor of the biological experiment building. Yukiharu was on the second floor, which would have been a blind spot from where the soldiers stood. They couldn’t have possibly shot him from their position.

However, this was a windowless interior, and there wasn’t any logical way his leg could’ve been sniped from outside.

“What happened?”

“I-I was shot…from the accessway…! But, seriously?!”

He had known that someone was advancing from the accessway.

He dragged his body to conceal himself in the shadow of some machinery.

“C-crap…! Is it the Aureatia army?! Someone with the National Defense Research Institute?! It wasn’t a stray bullet was—gwaugh!”

Yukiharu’s body bounded upwards from his sitting position, and his left shoulder slammed into the wall.

It was the impact from being shot. His left shoulder had burst wide open.

“Didn’t you find some shadows to hide in?!”

“I was hidden…! I’m still hidden! Th-the bullet…they curved the bullet’s path, after they fired…! Th-the…the only one who can do that, though…!”

Yukiharu found himself at a loss for words because he in fact had an idea about who this champion was.

Except…she should have been dead.

There was someone approaching them.

There was a silhouette illuminated in the light. A lithe female arm holding a bayonet-affixed rifle—spinning it around as if beating out a rhythm.

A visitor gunner.

“K-Kazuki the Black Tone…!”

The shadow answered him. “THAT IS CORRECT.”

It was a grotesque beast that didn’t bear any resemblance to Kazuki at all.

An eight-legged beast with bluish-silver fur, who looked like a colossal, terrifying wolf. A red line ran horizontally across his streamlined body with one section of it open, and from it sprouted out a musket-wielding arm.

“THIS IS KAZUKI THE BLACK TONE’S ARM. I WAS A BIT UNDERSURE IF I COULD USE THIS TECHNIQUE JUST WITH HER PHYSICAL ABILITIES, BUT…”

Spinning the musket around as if these fingers were a single part of his own arm, it pointed the gun barrel at Yukiharu, left with nowhere else to run.

“IT SEEMS I CAN USE IT TO SOME EXTENT.”

“Ozonezma…!”

Ozonezma the Capricious.

The strongest chimera in history, and formerly part of the Gray-Haired Child’s camp, just like Yukiharu.

“PUTTING ASIDE THE FIRST SHOT… YUKIHARU THE TWILIGHT DIVER. YOU TOOK THAT SHOT IN THE SHOUDLER BECAUSE YOU WERE SHIELDING THAT WOODEN BOX. WHAT DO YOU HAVE IN THERE?”

“I-I don’t really want to tell you…!”

“Hold on! Isn’t Ozonezma on your side?! Why is he attacking us?!”

“He’s not…! The fact he’s using Kazuki the Black Tone’s arm like this means…he’s got a connection to the power that managed to collect her body…!”

Yukiharu’s hunch had been spot-on.

It had clearly been strange for the Aureatia army to come attacking on that day.

They had their sights set not on the National Defense Research Institute, but on Yukiharu, and planned to dispose of him.

“Th-this guy’s…on Aureatia’s side!”

Yukiharu the Twilight Diver knew far too much information that was deadly to Aureatia.

Aureatia had been constantly waiting patiently for their chance to get rid of Yukiharu without anyone knowing about it.

“I HAVE MY OWN REASONS FOR DISPOSING OF YOU. THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TRUE DEMON KING…IS SOMETHING THAT SHOULD NEVER BE TOLD TO ANYONE IN THIS WORLD… THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TRUE HERO, EVEN MORE SO.”

“Hah-hah.”

A laughter unbecoming of the situation slipped out from Yukiharu’s throat.

A journalist who knew too many things that he wasn’t supposed to, getting killed.

It was such a terribly cliché story, he found it hilarious that even in a world where tremendous power came and went, this was ultimately the plot that it settled on.

“I-it’s not just, me…you’re killing but Viga the Clamor, too, right? Now that she’s finished spying on the National Defense Research Institute…there’s no longer any reason to keep her alive…”

Which was why Aureatia had brought in someone who would definitely be able to dispose of them both.

Ozonezma the Capricious, unaffiliated with any power himself, possessing a deep connection with the demon king’s terror…and who could act for the sake of this connection on his own, if necessary.

Yukiharu was driven into a gap between machinery, but the door to enter into one of the rooms of the biological experiment building was right next to him, past the machinery. Was Viga the Clamor in there? Was there some means to turn the tables in there?

For starters, was there any way he could escape from this situation, given Ozonezma was pointing a gun straight at him?

From Yukiharu’s viewpoint, he could see that there was a single Aureatian soldier coming up the stairs from the first floor.

Psychological warfare was likely ineffective against Ozonezma, but even if the chances were close to zero, he had to make the gamble.

“Oh right, Ozonezma. There’s this interesting story I want to tell, see…”

“UNNECESSARY. I HAVE GIVEN PLENTY OF EXPLANATION.”

He wouldn’t make it in time. That was what Yukiharu had expected.

However, reaching the second floor, the Aureatian soldier’s right arm was then torn off and sent flying with terrifying speed.

It flew in at Ozonezma like a bullet.

“…”

Faster than any bullet, Ozonezma’s back opened up.

Countless blades, gushing out from the gaping hole, mangled the arm faster than the eye could see.

The cross section of the arm had what looked like plant roots extending from it, but Ozonezma obliterated them in midair without touching a single fragment of the roots.

Right at that same moment, the building shook with a vortex-like rumbling portending destruction.

It was a wurm. Appearing from inside the earth, it leapt at Ozonezma while pulverizing everything in its path.

“…REINFORCEMENTS, HM?”

Confusion and destruction ran amok.

As it did, Yukiharu jumped over the machinery, opened the door, and rushed inside the room.

It was less like an experiment lab and looked more like an operating room. On the dissecting table laid the body of a headless young girl—

“Blraugh!”

There, his vision spun.

He spit up blood. He realized a bullet had pierced through his stomach from behind.

Yukiharu was, for Ozonezma, nothing more than a target he could dispose of offhandedly while dealing with a wurm. There was an even more serious problem.

“…Ah, d-damn…”

If he was shot in the back, was his wooden box still safe?

Lifting up his head in a haze, Viga the Clamor, wearing an apron, was looking down on him. If she had heard Yukiharu’s conversation just now, she must have recognized that her life was in danger.

“I-I’m begging…you…hah-hah…”

He needed to tell her before he lost consciousness.

“She’s…a really good…partner, see…”

“…Yukiharu the Twilight Diver is in here?”

The Aureatia army soldiers who had stormed the National Defense Research Institute had suffered an unexpected attack.

First, one of them was infested by what looked like plant roots, and almost as if guided there by the same soldier, a wurm appeared, clearly targeting Ozonezma.

Ozonezma the Capricious dealt with both—or perhaps, the singular—biological weapon by himself, drawing it outside of the warehouse.

The wurm’s arrival had destroyed half the building, but they couldn’t let their high-priority target escape death.

Spreading ropes and boards over the collapsed sections, the squad crossed the destroyed scaffolding.

Yukiharu looked to have used an opening during the battle to tumble into an experiment room, but Ozonezma had still dealt him the fatal blow.

“Yukiharu the Twilight Diver might already be dead.”

“Even if he is, we have to verify the body.”

This wasn’t a man who could be ignored.

He was a threat to the world that that eventually someone needed to kill.

All that was left was Viga the Clamor—presently there were no signs of any dangerous constructs, the wurm from earlier perhaps their last enemy to worry about.

“Viga the Clamor…a self-proclaimed demon king, huh.”

“She’s a Life Arts caster. Double check your anti-poison gear.”

“Yeah. Don’t let your guard down. Everyone rush in on my signal.”

The elite squad stepped into Viga’s lab all at once.

Yukiharu the Twilight Diver was collapsed on the floor.

Beside the operating table, there stood Viga the Clamor.

There was one other person there.

A soldier held up their musket.

“…Who’re you?”

A naked young girl stood on top of the operating table with her back turned to them.

Her skin color wasn’t merely porcelain, but pallid.

What was bizarre was the blood bleeding across the nape of her neck in a straight horizontal line.

The wooden box on Yukiharu’s back had been grazed by a bullet and smashed apart, but…

There was nothing inside.

“Tee-hee… Hmm, isn’t that a good question?”

The young girl appeared to be laughing for the first time in a long while.

There was once a man by the name of Dakai the Magpie.

He remained behind to fight in Lithia after their defeat was written on the wall He knew that Lithia had no hopes of winning, but thought that even if they were going to lose, there still remained a chance to stop the enemy from claiming victory.

He was a bandit visitor with errant powers of observation.

He could even steal away the proof that Aureatia used a construct weapon to attack Lithia.

Either way, to Dakai the Magpie, incapacitating a revenant without destroying their life core was an extremely easy feat. This living proof would pass through the hands of the remnants of the New Principality, like a ticking time bomb waiting to blow as it wandered through different powers at play and through different hands—as the biggest scandal possible.

Yukiharu the Twilight Diver had, at long last, detonated the bomb.

“Hee, hee. Hee-hee-hee-hee-hee—”

Extending out from the girl’s naked back were nerve-like tentacles.

Then, holding both of her hands behind her, she turned around and smiled.

“I’m back.”