That night, in Namba City.
This city, once the second largest in the Far East, had now seen more than half its area turned into ruins.
During the day, before Sirin left, she seemed to want to provoke Kiana and break her mental defenses. After a brief argument, Sirin repeatedly teleported to crowded areas, deliberately refusing to flee directly out of the city.
This tactic directly led to an increase in casualties within Namba City as the Impostors launched indiscriminate attacks.
Now, the city was filled with the sounds of mourning, and the medical system had long since collapsed under the pressure.
Countless ordinary families were shattered.
Some lost their husbands.
Some lost their daughters.
And others... whose lives had been perfect just yesterday, were now left all alone.
And, the fire of hatred in their hearts could never be extinguished.
This place was left a complete mess.
As for the two parties who started it... they obviously wouldn't care about the aftermath.
Of course, there was one other person.
Although he was paying attention to the aftermath, he merely stood as an observer, recording and analyzing it.
He would not empathize or generate any unnecessary psychological activity.
He...
"Name?"
"Caelus!"
"Age?"
"Uh~ Just turned 18?"
"Why the questioning tone... Please be more serious. Gender?"
"I'm saying, do we really have to go through this cliché routine?"
"..."
"I feel like no matter whether I cooperate or not, it's all pretty cliché."
"..."
The location was a branch base of The Moths Who Chase the Flames in the Far East Region.
At this moment, in a clean interrogation room, a gray-haired youth with golden eyes was being questioned by two professional investigators.
The two investigators' expressions were serious. They obviously wouldn't be considerate enough to wonder if the gray-haired youth was hungry and prepare a steaming hot pork chop rice for him.
And in contrast...
"You can see he's being very uncooperative."
"Or should I say: completely unrestrained?"
Right now, the live video feed captured by the surveillance cameras installed in the interrogation room was being transmitted in real-time to another observation room.
In that room, a tall woman with red hair reaching her hips stood with her arms crossed, talking calmly with another person beside her.
She was none other than Himeko, the Captain of the Fifth Squad.
The other person beside her was her Vice-Captain, who had worked with her for many years.
They could be heard saying...
"This person indeed has some issues."
The Vice-Captain's name was Yayoi, a woman with a neat short haircut, black thin-rimmed glasses, and a very formal way of speaking.
At this moment, she raised her right hand, habitually bringing her index and middle fingers together to push her black thin-rimmed glasses up by the bridge.
Her left hand held an electronic tablet, which she offered to Himeko.
"We can't find his personal file here in the Far East."
"Driver's license, passport, home address, school records, medical records... nothing."
"He's an undocumented person."
"In fact... I don't think he's even a real human," the Vice-Captain said, her words carrying a double meaning.
Obviously, if he wasn't a real human... what else could he be?
An alien monster created by the Third Herrscher!
"I don't think so," Himeko shook her head. "I've watched the surveillance footage from that area."
"Although he was at the initial scene of the incident, he was not only targeted by the indiscriminate attack, but also..."
She recalled the slightly stunned expression on the gray-haired youth's face captured by one of the surveillance cameras.
Clearly, he had no prior knowledge that a terrorist attack of such magnitude would occur near the Blue Sky Building in Umeda-cho.
Himeko had a hunch.
She felt...
"This man might be a Superhuman who has awakened his Power!"
"He's a Pathstrider."
She kept this theory to herself for now, not sharing it with the Vice-Captain.
But...
"Speaking of the footage, I found something very interesting."
The Vice-Captain pointed to the screen in the Observation Room, where the gray-haired youth sat leisurely in the Interrogation Room. "Today, Namba City suffered such a severe casualty incident. The scene was so horrific that 'strewn with corpses' wouldn't be an exaggeration."
"Even we, with our advanced equipment, almost didn't make it back."
"But Captain, look. This man remained completely clean throughout the ordeal, almost spotless."
Her finger traced a few circles around the gray-haired youth on the screen. "I think that even if those Alien Monsters were launching an indiscriminate attack, it might have just been a ruse."
"At the very least, they were pretending to, deliberately or unintentionally avoiding his location."
Regarding this analysis...
"..."
Himeko fell into deep thought.
She knew that while the Alien Monsters seemed to be just running wild and killing indiscriminately in Namba City today, there was a reason for their sudden, coordinated action.
Kiana... Himeko knew a lot of inside information about this name she had heard from "That Venerable Lord."
With her sharp mind, she even vaguely guessed that the reason Namba City suffered so much today was likely closely related to the complex relationship between Kiana, Raiden Mei, and the Third Herrscher.
Therefore, the reason the Third Herrscher suddenly exposed so many of her hidden pawns could be deduced.
It probably had nothing to do with the gray-haired youth.
But her Vice-Captain didn't know any of this.
Because she wasn't a member of the Newborn World Serpent.
This difference in knowledge led to a direct consequence: when Sirin suddenly appeared before her during the day, the other members of the Fifth Squad even thought she was just another Alien Monster disguised as a pseudo-human with extremely high individual threat.
So...
"Let's observe him for a while longer."
Himeko had a plan. "First, I don't think all those Alien Monsters around Namba City, who were hiding so well, would expose themselves just for one person."
"There's no benefit to that."
"After all, we only found him by looking back. There are too many unknown factors."
"There must be another reason."
"Second..."
She looked at the live feed from the Interrogation Room. "He's right here in our base now. Keep a close eye on him, make sure he's tracked and monitored, but don't tip him off. We might actually discover something."
Regarding this arrangement...
"In that case, I think we should give him a full physical exam first," the Vice-Captain suggested.
"Didn't I just say not to tip him off... Let's put that on hold for now."
Himeko shook her head and said, "I'm going to the Interrogation Room. Have those two come out."
"I'll handle the 'work' from here on."
"..."
The Vice-Captain fell silent for a moment.
Ultimately, she nodded, choosing to trust her own Captain. "Understood."
And then... she leaned in close to Himeko's ear and whispered, "I'll delete the rest of the Interrogation Room footage."
She seemed to have sensed something.
Not that she had uncovered some hidden truth.
But she sensed... that her Captain knew certain... secrets that couldn't be spoken aloud.
This wasn't unusual within the Moths Who Chase the Flames.
The Moths Who Chase the Flames were not a united front. Factional struggles were frequent, and one had to be careful about many things.
So, assuming her own rank was simply too low, she chose to cooperate.
As for Himeko...
"Thank you."
She nodded with a smile and patted the Vice-Captain Yayoi on the shoulder. "I'll have to trouble you again."
"It's no trouble at all."
It was obvious that this wasn't the first time the two had made such a "private agreement."