Chapter 22 - Chapter 22

POV: Tobio Ikuse

It had been two months since the luxury liner Heavenly of Aloha, the ship that carried his schoolmates, vanished in disaster. Two months since 233 students disappeared without a trace. Two months since he last heard Sae's voice.

Worst of all, the world that had once been consumed by the mystery, endlessly replaying the tragedy across every screen and newspaper with hollow fascination, had already begun to move on, as though even a catastrophe of that scale had only been brief interruptions in the endless cycle of consumption.

People still occasionally mentioned the Heavenly of Aloha incident, but only in passing, with the same detached tone people used when discussing unsolved cases from decades ago.

The world had moved on. He hadn't. Most days, Tobio Ikuse sat alone on the park bench after school and stared at the ground for hours without really seeing it. He did not cry anymore. That had ended sometime during the first month, after nights spent weeping until his eyes burned raw and the tears that streamed down his face turned red.

What remained now was numbness, a dull and suffocating emptiness that made every passing hour feel heavy and stagnant, as though time itself had slowed into sludge. People walked past him every day without noticing him, and he preferred it that way because acknowledging their normal lives only deepened the unbearable distance between himself and the world around him.

Sae would probably tease him for brooding so much and somehow manage to force a smile out of him with one of her ridiculous jokes that never should have been funny and yet always were. But there was no one left for Tobio Ikuse now. Even Sae's parents, who had treated him like a son and whom he had come to think of as the parents he himself had never truly had, had vanished shortly after the strange funeral held for the missing students.

They never came to say goodbye to him, never left behind a message, never even hinted that they intended to leave. One day they were simply gone, as though they had been nothing more than a mirage conjured into existence by the warmth and brightness of Sae herself, and once that light disappeared there was nothing left to keep them anchored to the world.

With Sae's disappearance, something irreplaceable had been torn out of him forever, leaving behind a strange hollow ache in his chest that no amount of time could ever truly fill, and Tobio had resigned himself to carrying that emptiness for the rest of his life.

Or at least that was what he had accepted as his fate until a few days ago, when something happened that shattered everything he thought he understood about the world.

A couple of days earlier, while walking home after parting ways with a friend, Tobio caught sight of someone who absolutely should not have been there. Kouta Sasaki had been one of his closest friends, one of the classmates who disappeared aboard the Heavenly of Aloha, and yet Tobio knew with complete certainty that his eyes had not deceived him.

Kouta Sasaki was there, alive and unharmed, casually walking through the street as though nothing had happened. Tobio immediately chased after him and eventually managed to catch up, only to freeze in horror when he discovered Sasaki standing beside a gigantic lizard-like creature that was calmly tearing apart and devouring a dog.

What horrified Tobio even more was the fact that Sasaki, the same cheerful boy he had known since elementary school, ordered the monster to attack him without the slightest hesitation. The emotionless, mechanical tone in his former friend's voice chilled him to the core. Whatever had happened to Sasaki had twisted him into something utterly unrecognizable.

Tobio fought back desperately, driven by pure survival instinct, though it quickly became obvious that he stood no chance against the creature. Just as he finally surrendered himself to the certainty of death, he was saved by the sudden arrival of Natsume Minagawa, who turned out to be another survivor like him, one of the few students who had not attended the school trip.

She revealed to him the horrifying truth behind the disappearance of their classmates and assured him that everything he had witnessed was real and not the product of some breakdown brought on by grief.

According to Natsume, their former classmates had been taken by a group known as the Utsusemi and each of them had been paired with creatures like the one accompanying Sasaki. When Tobio demanded to know what the Utsusemi actually were, she only offered vague and confusing answers that sounded more insane the longer she spoke.

"The thing that looked like our classmate created that monster, which is called an Utsusemi," she explained seriously. "They're essentially prototypes of Independent Avatar sacred gears, though the details are still unclear. The term 'Utsusemi' refers both to the people that control them and to the monsters connected to them."

Tobio had absolutely no idea what any of that was supposed to mean. Independent Avatar? Sacred gear? Prototype?

The words sounded like nonsense ripped straight out of some bizarre conspiracy forum, and part of him wondered if perhaps he had finally lost his mind completely.

Natsume then handed him what appeared to be a strange egg with a faint pulsing heartbeat beneath its surface and told him that he needed to keep it with him because without it he would die. According to her, the egg would protect him from danger.

Part of Tobio wanted to dismiss her as completely insane, yet after witnessing the horrifying transformation of his once cheerful friend Sasaki, and perhaps because Natsume was one of the only people alive who truly understood the nightmare he was living through, he reluctantly accepted the egg.

As though fate itself had decided to mock his desperate attempts to pretend none of this was real, Tobio was attacked again only a day later in the middle of the night inside his own home. This time his attackers were three more former classmates, each accompanied by grotesque creatures that looked as though they had crawled straight out of some dark fantasy, including giant spiders, enormous frogs, and twisted chimeric beasts that defied logic.

Even more shocking was the fact that, in the middle of the attack, a creature suddenly emerged from Tobio's own shadow and protected him from the monsters. Shortly afterward, Natsume appeared once again and brought him to a strange hidden refuge, and now, standing within that unfamiliar hideout, Tobio realized with growing dread that the world he once knew had already ended long ago.

"What exactly are you going to show me?" he asked as he looked between Natsume and the beautiful blonde foreigner who had introduced herself as Lavinia.

"The answers you've been seeking for the last two months," Natsume answered softly. "I'm sure you're curious why our classmates' bodies were never recovered after the marine accident and why they have suddenly begun appearing again and attacking you."

Tobio nodded uncertainly, though he would not describe what he was feeling as curiosity so much as a suffocating sense of existential dread that had settled deep into his chest ever since meeting Sasaki again.

He did not trust himself to speak further because he feared what might come out if he tried. His attention shifted toward the television screen as the video began to play.

The footage seemed to have been recorded somewhere in a city district and possessed the grainy quality of an ordinary home video camera. Several young men and women appeared on the screen, casually walking together while speaking amongst themselves.

Tobio stared intently at the footage, his eyebrows slowly tightening into a frown.

"Is that… Yada…? Kojima…?!" he blurted out in horror.

The people displayed on the screen were classmates whom Tobio had believed until this moment to be gone forever. Yet there they were, alive and walking as though nothing had happened. His mind immediately rejected the impossible sight before him while, at the same time, his heart desperately clung to the fragile hope that if they were alive then perhaps Sae was alive as well.

For the first time in months, Tobio felt something warm stir faintly inside his chest. Hope. A small and trembling hope that perhaps everything could still be undone somehow, that maybe his classmates could return home and their lives could return to normal.

That fragile fantasy shattered the instant the next video began to play.

One of the male classmates appeared on the screen standing beside a gigantic crocodile-like monster whose writhing tongues resembled grotesque tentacles. Other classmates soon appeared as well, each accompanied by horrifying creatures of their own, including the frog, spider, snake, and lizard monsters Tobio had already encountered.

Some resembled enormous insects such as moths and mantises, while others possessed forms so unnatural and monstrous that they seemed too fantastical to possibly exist in reality.

Tobio immediately clutched his mouth as nausea surged violently through him at the horrifying spectacle unfolding before his eyes. Every instinct in his body screamed that what he was witnessing was profoundly wrong.

Those things should not exist, and neither should his classmates standing beside them with those empty expressions in their eyes. It felt grotesque and deeply inhuman in a way he struggled to describe.

"W-what happened to them?" he asked weakly, his voice trembling despite his effort to remain composed.

"What you're seeing is the result of human experimentation intended to create people with supernatural abilities," Lavinia explained calmly, speaking with a composure that made her words sound even more absurd.

"Human experimentation?!" Tobio repeated in disbelief, feeling as though the day itself had become determined to drag him deeper and deeper into madness with every passing minute.

"Yes," Lavinia confirmed. "Their ultimate goal is the artificial reproduction of the miracle of God. The monsters connected to your former classmates are attempts to recreate the Avatar-type Sacred Gears. However, as you can see, your classmates have lost their free will entirely and become puppets of the organization controlling them."

Tobio remained silent for several moments because he genuinely did not know how he was supposed to respond to such insanity. If somebody had told him even a little over two months ago that secret organizations were experimenting on children to recreate divine miracles through monstrous creatures, he would have laughed directly in their face before dismissing them as lunatics obsessed with conspiracy theories.

Even now, a large part of him desperately wanted to reject everything he was hearing because accepting it felt dangerously close to surrendering his sanity altogether.

Unfortunately, reality had already denied him the luxury of disbelief. He had seen Sasaki with his own eyes. He had watched the horrifying emptiness inside his friend and the monstrous creature obeying his commands. Those memories were burned too deeply into his mind for him to dismiss them as hallucinations.

And then another thought entered his mind. What if Sae had become like that too?

The mere possibility caused Tobio's blood to boil with fury so intense that it momentarily drowned out his fear. The thought of those bastards laying their hands on her and transforming her into some mindless puppet filled him with a rage so violent that his hands began to tremble.

As though reacting to his emotions, the shadow dog that had emerged to protect him earlier quietly moved closer and pressed itself against his side, drawing curious looks from both Natsume and Lavinia.

Tobio still had countless questions racing through his mind, countless things he wanted to deny, demand, and scream about, but Tobio Ikuse had always been a pragmatic person by nature, and he instinctively focused on the most immediate issue.

"Why are they targeting us?" he asked instead, wanting to better understand the situation he had been dragged into and how he could survive it.

"Because you are a Sacred Gear wielder, just like me," Natsume replied calmly.

"You keep using that term," Tobio said while looking directly into her eyes. "But I still have no idea what it actually means. What exactly is a Sacred Gear?"

"It's understandable that you're confused," Lavinia replied reassuringly. "It would probably be easier if I explained everything from the beginning. Are you familiar with myths and folklore from other countries?"

Tobio raised an eyebrow at the sudden change in topic, though he nodded nonetheless.

"I know enough to hold a conversation," he answered. "I know most cultures have their own myths involving gods and heroes, like the Greek gods or Irish legends. What does that have to do with any of this?"

"It's relevant because those myths are real," Lavinia answered calmly. "Every single one of them happened in some form."

For several seconds Tobio genuinely forgot how to breathe. His eyes widened as his thoughts ground to a complete halt, and he simply stared at Lavinia in utter disbelief while desperately trying to determine whether she was serious.

The room suddenly felt strangely distant around him as his mind struggled to process the sheer enormity of what she had just said. Gods? Myths? Heroes? Real?

His first instinct was to laugh because the statement was so absurd that laughter felt like the only sane response, yet the sound never came. After everything he had witnessed over the last few days, after seeing giant monsters tear through the streets and a living creature emerge from his own shadow, he found himself horrifyingly unable to dismiss her words outright.

"The gods, the heroes, the monsters," Lavinia continued calmly. "They are all real, Tobio, and they continue to exist amongst humanity even now. There are countless supernatural beings that prey upon humans and hunt them for sport. The Sacred Gears were gifts bestowed upon humanity by the God of the Bible in order to level the playing field. Think of them as powers granted to worthy humans so they could protect the weak and defenseless. Many famous figures throughout history were actually possessors of Sacred Gears."

At that point, Tobio decided there was little point in being shocked anymore. If myths and monsters truly existed, then the existence of supernatural powers honestly felt almost expected by comparison. It was beginning to feel as though he had somehow stumbled directly into the world of comic books or manga.

He glanced down at the shadow puppy resting near his feet. "And he is my Sacred Gear?" he asked curiously.

"Yes, I believe so," Lavinia answered with a soft smile directed toward the dog. "More specifically, both your Sacred Gear and Natsume's are classified as Independent Avatar-type Sacred Gears, which means they manifest as living creatures capable of acting according to their own instincts and will. The Utsusemi are artificial imitations of Independent Avatar-type Sacred Gears."

If Sacred Gears were truly gifts bestowed upon humanity by God, then attempting to artificially recreate them sounded dangerously close to blasphemy. Tobio was far from knowledgeable about Christianity, yet he struggled to imagine any deity looking kindly upon people attempting to imitate divine miracles through human experimentation.

"You can probably understand now why people like us would be extremely valuable to their research," Natsume said sadly. "Their Utsusemi are flawed imitations that are nowhere close to the real deal, and I'm certain they will do everything possible to capture us. That's why they orchestrated the school trip and engineered the disappearance of our classmates."

"Wait, are you saying this happened because of us?!" Tobio asked in horror as his hands began trembling violently. "Our classmates were targeted because of us?"

"We're not completely certain yet," Lavinia answered calmly. "However, I wouldn't be surprised if that turned out to be true."

Tobio felt sick hearing those words. "How did the two of you even learn any of this?" He demanded, unable to completely hide the accusation in his voice as his trembling hands curled into fists.

"The Governor General told me," Natsume answered. "One of his subordinates showed me these recordings and explained the truth."

"And who exactly is this Governor General?" Tobio demanded immediately. "Why does he know all of this? And why would he tell you any of it?"

"I don't know," Natsume admitted. "He hasn't revealed his true identity, though Lavinia says he can be trusted. So far he has only helped us, although everything has been through intermediaries since I've never actually met him personally."

"And why does he want to help us?" Tobio asked suspiciously. "What exactly does he gain from any of this?"

"Apparently his organization researches Sacred Gears and wants to help people like us develop our abilities," Natsume explained. "He's also the one who gave me the egg and said it would help awaken our Sacred Gears. Trust me, Tobio, the Governor General genuinely wants to stop the Utsusemi organization."

"How incredibly convenient," Tobio replied skeptically. "Forgive me if I'm not willing to immediately trust some mysterious stranger operating from the shadows. You just told me he researches Sacred Gears too. For all we know, he could have ulterior motives exactly like the Utsusemi."

"I suppose that's possible," Natsume admitted. "Still, my hawk has helped me countless times already and even saved my life. I never would have awakened it without the Governor General's assistance. Besides, he's currently our best chance if we want to save our classmates."

That statement stunned Tobio more than anything else he had heard so far. Without even realizing it, part of him had already abandoned any genuine hope of saving them.

Yet with a single sentence, Natsume reignited that hope. The possibility of saving Sae and the others was simply too important for him to care about hidden motives or suspicious organizations at the moment. Those concerns could wait until after they rescued everyone.

"You mean… our classmates are still alive?" he asked in shock.

He had assumed they were beyond salvation because Sasaki had looked less like a human being and more like a corpse pretending to be alive.

If even the slightest possibility existed that Sae could still be saved, Tobio would seize it without hesitation. At that moment, he truly felt as though he would willingly make a deal with the devil himself if it meant bringing her back safely.

"Yes," Natsume replied with a smile. "They're alive. All of them. Your friends and mine too, although they've all been transformed into Utsusemi."

At that moment, Tobio felt happier than he had at any point during the last two months.

She was alive. Relief and exhilaration surged through him so intensely that he almost felt dizzy. Their condition no longer mattered to him as much as the simple fact that they were still alive.

She was alive! Sae was alive!

Tobio repeated those words silently inside his head over and over again as though afraid reality might steal them away if he stopped.

All of the terrifying revelations he had learned tonight had nearly crushed both his sanity and spirit, yet suddenly none of that seemed important anymore because now he finally had something worth fighting for again.

"We want to save them too," Natsume said earnestly. "Join us, Tobio, and we'll save every single one of them together. You've already been attacked twice. Trying to survive alone is far too dangerous. We need to work together and protect one another because none of us can handle this by ourselves."

"Can what happened to them actually be reversed?" Tobio asked immediately, focusing on the only question that truly mattered now. "Can they really return to normal?"

"Yes," Natsume answered firmly. "The Governor General said they can still be saved."

For the first time in two months, Tobio smiled with genuine happiness.

"Well then," he said while rising to his feet with renewed determination shining in his eyes, "let's get to work. We're going to save every single one of them."

"That's the spirit!" Lavinia said brightly with a wide smile. "Come on then, we should introduce you to our fourth member!"

The fourth member turned out to be another one of his former classmates, though unfortunately it was someone Tobio had never been particularly eager to see again.

Samejima Kouki had been one of the most infamous delinquents in the entire school, a violent troublemaker whose reputation for reckless fighting and constant suspensions had made him feared by students and teachers alike. Apparently, he had also been one of the ten students who never boarded the school trip, and like Tobio and Natsume, he too possessed a Sacred Gear.

Tobio was beginning to notice an unsettling pattern amongst the survivors. Every single person he had met so far possessed a Sacred Gear, and all of them had missed the school trip for reasons almost identical to his own, namely a sudden and inexplicable illness that had prevented them from attending.

That could not possibly be a coincidence. He wondered if their Sacred Gears had somehow reacted instinctively to the danger before it happened, perhaps protecting their hosts by preventing them from boarding the ship in the first place.

"That idiot," Natsume cursed through gritted teeth as they rode inside the taxi. "He's always charging into danger without thinking!"

The source of her irritation was Kouki himself, who had apparently gone off alone in pursuit of clues related to the Utsusemi organization. From what little Tobio remembered about Samejima Kouki, that kind of reckless behavior suited him perfectly.

"How far away are we?" Tobio asked Lavinia instead.

Thankfully, Lavinia had placed some sort of magical tracker on Kouki beforehand, allowing them to determine his location and hopefully reach him before he managed to get himself killed.

"We're almost there," Lavinia answered calmly while gently petting the shadow dog resting beside Tobio.

Tobio had initially worried about the taxi driver noticing the dog, but according to Natsume, Independent Avatar-type Sacred Gears could only be perceived by ordinary people if their owner allowed it.

His eyes drifted toward Lavinia again. She remained impossibly calm no matter the situation, and Tobio found himself wondering who she truly was beneath that composed exterior. There was something deeply unsettling about how her personality could shift so suddenly from distant detachment to warm affection within seconds.

Then again, she was supposedly a magician, and Tobio had already begun forming the impression that magicians were inherently eccentric people. Besides, it felt somewhat unfair to remain suspicious of someone who had done nothing except help him.

The taxi eventually stopped near an enormous abandoned structure that had once been a massive shopping mall before apparently falling into ruin years ago.

Without wasting time, the three carefully entered the dark building. Since Lavinia's tracking spell had led them here, Tobio assumed this must be where Kouki was currently located. It also seemed entirely plausible that the Utsusemi organization would use a deserted building like this as a hideout.

They stepped deeper into the abandoned mall cautiously, though Tobio's heartbeat pounded violently inside his chest despite his efforts to appear calm. Every dark hallway and abandoned storefront made his nerves tighten further.

"Should we split up to search the place?" Lavinia suggested casually.

"Absolutely not!" Natsume rejected the idea immediately and vehemently. "We're not characters in some idiotic horror movie. Splitting up only makes it easier for enemies to isolate and eliminate us one at a time. More importantly, Tobio barely understands anything about the supernatural yet. We stay together."

Tobio found himself agreeing completely with her reasoning because it honestly sounded like basic common sense. Only complete idiots would separate themselves in a hostile environment filled with enemies.

"Ah, right!" Lavinia said suddenly as though she had only just remembered something important. "Sometimes I forget how incredibly weak you two are."

Tobio immediately noticed the teasing smirk spreading across Lavinia's face, and judging by the irritated expression appearing on Natsume's face, she noticed it as well.

"We are not weak at all!" Natsume snapped indignantly. "You're just freakishly strong!"

"Whatever helps you sleep at night… weakling," Lavinia teased playfully.

"Shouldn't we maybe take this a little more seriously?" Tobio interrupted nervously as he glanced around the dark hallway.

Their voices sounded far too loud inside the abandoned building, and he feared they might attract unwanted attention at any moment. However, Tobio quickly noticed that Lavinia almost seemed to be intentionally speaking louder than necessary, as though she actually wanted somebody to hear them.

"This is strange," Lavinia murmured thoughtfully. "Shouldn't they already be here trying to capture us by now? Please don't tell me they're underestimating us."

"Better for us if they do," Natsume replied confidently. "That gives us more time to search for that idiot floor by floor."

The group carefully searched the lower levels of the abandoned mall before eventually moving upward after finding nothing. The first floor proved completely empty as well, which only caused Tobio's anxiety to grow even worse. Something about the silence felt wrong. Very wrong.

The moment they stepped fully onto the second floor, the darkness around them suddenly erupted with gunfire.

The deafening roar of automatic weapons echoed throughout the abandoned mall so loudly that Tobio's ears rang painfully, and only a fraction of a second later he realized that the bullets had somehow stopped midair before reaching them, colliding harmlessly against a glowing blue barrier surrounding their group.

Lavinia had created the barrier. Tobio stared at her in absolute awe because he had not even seen her move.

In the brief instant between the ambush beginning and the bullets reaching them, Lavinia had somehow moved in front of both him and Natsume despite previously standing behind them, and she had cast the barrier before any of the bullets could touch them.

The speed at which she moved completely surpassed human perception. Was this what a truly powerful magician looked like?

No wonder Lavinia remained calm all the time. If she had not reacted instantly, both Tobio and Natsume would have died before they even realized they were under attack.

"Dammit!" a man shouted angrily from somewhere within the darkness. "Stop wasting ammunition, you morons! The girl's a magician!"

Tobio could not clearly see their attackers due to the darkness covering the floor, though from the number of gunshots he estimated there were at least two dozen armed men surrounding them.

"Well, hello there, magic girl," the apparent leader called out mockingly. "You've got two choices here. Option one, surrender peacefully and I guarantee you'll be treated fairly. Option two, die painfully. You've got exactly two seconds to decide."

Two seconds?! Tobio mentally protested in disbelief.

"My, my," Lavinia replied in an exaggeratedly worried tone. "How frightening. Whatever is a helpless gal like me supposed to do?"

Then she smiled faintly and snapped her fingers. To Tobio's confusion and her surprise, absolutely nothing happened.

"Did you just try to burn us alive?!" the soldier barked out angrily. "This is exactly why I hate magicians! Bring out the bitch killers, boys. We don't give second chances around here."

Tobio had absolutely no idea what a "bitch killer" was, but he already knew he had zero interest in finding out. He instinctively began searching for possible escape routes.

"How fascinating," Lavinia mused calmly, sounding completely unbothered. "Your armor has been specially designed to resist elemental magic to a certain extent. That explains why my flames failed."

"Sharp observation, sweetheart," the soldier praised mockingly. "The Bitch Killer M4 carbines is also a magical weapon. These beauties fire concentrated plasma rounds capable of evaporating people instantly. Right now, there are over thirty of us on this floor carrying them. I'd offer surrender again, but you already wasted that chance. So tell me, how does bathing in a storm of plasma sound?!"

"Like an entertaining bath time," Lavinia answered playfully.

Then she smiled. Something about the expression beneath the dim lighting sent a chill through Tobio's entire body because for a brief instant she looked less human and more like some ancient predator wearing human skin.

"Unfortunately," she continued softly, "I'm in a hurry."

The men either failed to hear her or simply did not care because the next instant the darkness exploded with blinding golden light.

Dozens of plasma rifles discharged simultaneously from every direction around them. Brilliant streams of superheated energy tore through the darkness like raging beams of sunlight, illuminating the entire floor in violent flashes as thirty separate plasma shots converged toward them at once from all angles.

The air itself screamed from the overwhelming heat generated by the weapons while the floor and walls glowed from the sheer intensity of the barrage.

Tobio's heart nearly stopped. We are dead!

Lavinia released a small sigh, and the sound carried the chill of the angel of death's kiss.

"[Frost Breath]," she said quietly.

And then the entire world froze. Literally.

Within a single instant, everything surrounding them stopped completely as an overwhelming cold consumed the entire floor. The incoming plasma blasts halted midair while sheets of ice spread violently across every surface with explosive speed. The armed soldiers froze where they stood before they could even react, their bodies trapped inside enormous crystalline tombs of ice.

The temperature dropped so catastrophically that Tobio felt as though he had suddenly been thrown naked into the middle of Antarctica during a blizzard. Every breath burned painfully inside his lungs.

Then a blue barrier surrounded him, Lavinia, and Natsume once more, shielding them from the deadly cold.

"Oops," Lavinia giggled softly. "It seems I overdid it a little."

Tobio stared speechlessly at the aftermath surrounding them. The entire second floor had become a frozen wasteland. Towering pillars of jagged ice covered the floor, walls, and ceiling alike while thick frost spread endlessly across every visible surface like an unnatural glacier consuming the building from within.

The plasma shots themselves remained suspended midair as frozen streaks of golden light trapped inside translucent ice crystals. Several soldiers were completely encased in massive blocks of ice, their horrified expressions permanently frozen alongside their weapons.

It looked less like the aftermath of a fight and more like a natural disaster. Tobio slowly turned toward Lavinia with genuine terror in his eyes. Apparently, her definition of "overdoing it a little" was completely different from his own. Because from Tobio's perspective, what he had just witnessed bordered on apocalyptic.

And standing there amid the frozen ruins while witnessing magic on such a monstrous scale for the very first time in his life, Tobio Ikuse was absolutely terrified out of his mind.

"Let's go," Lavinia said quickly. "Shark is going to need our help."

Deciding for the sake of his own sanity to temporarily ignore the utterly terrifying display of magic he had just witnessed, Tobio hurried after Lavinia alongside Natsume, though even Natsume herself still looked visibly astonished by the scale of destruction Lavinia had casually unleashed moments earlier.

As soon as they reached the final floor, Tobio immediately noticed how different it was from the rest of the abandoned mall.

Unlike the dark lower levels, the final floor was brightly illuminated by rows of industrial lights hanging from the ceiling. The sudden brightness forced both Tobio and Natsume to squint momentarily after spending so long navigating through darkness and shadow.

Unfortunately, the light also allowed Tobio to clearly see everything waiting for them.

And what he saw made his stomach tighten in dread. Waiting for them across the vast floor of the abandoned mall were monsters. Gigantic monsters straight out of mythology stood scattered across the massive floor like living nightmares dragged into reality. A colossal mantis stood near the center of the room with serrated limbs large enough to cleave a car in half. Beside it crouched a monstrous stag beetle whose armored shell gleamed ominously beneath the fluorescent lights.

A gigantic crab shifted slowly across the cracked floor while its enormous claws scraped loudly against the concrete, and nearby rested a turtle-like monstrosity whose shell resembled a moving fortress. Surrounding them were countless other abominations resembling twisted variations of insects, reptiles, and beasts that should never have existed in reality.

Tobio also immediately recognized several varieties of the spider and frog monsters he had fought a few nights ago.

Standing beside those monsters were boys and girls, and he recognized every single of them to be his former classmates. Seeing them standing there expressionless with hollow eyes utterly devoid of personality or humanity caused the familiar fury inside Tobio to rise once again. Their faces looked lifeless, almost doll-like, as though whatever made them human had already been stripped away.

There were roughly forty of them in total, each accompanied by their own monstrous companion while staring toward Tobio and the others with murderous anticipation. Tobio instinctively noticed his shadow dog stepping protectively in front of him while growling softly.

"Well now, would you look at that," a cheerful voice called out with a strangely unnatural enthusiasm. "Our guests have arrived at precisely the perfect moment. How fortunate. And here I was worried our dear visitors might suffer some unfortunate harm before reaching us."

The man who spoke appeared to be somewhere in his late twenties. He wore an expensive looking suit beneath a pristine white doctor's coat that immediately marked him as some sort of researcher or scientist.

Standing silently behind him were two hooded figures dressed in ritual robes resembling Shinto garments, though the fabric was blackened and charred as though partially burned away by fire. Each robe bore the symbol of a broken star stitched across the chest, and both figures wore white masks lined with cracked golden seams that gave them an eerie, ceremonial appearance.

Yet despite all of that, the sight that immediately drew Tobio's attention was the bloodied figure kneeling before the older man, Samejima Kouki.

The delinquent looked utterly beaten down. His clothes were torn, blood dripped from several wounds across his body, and he remained on his knees looking half conscious while the man standing before him appeared perfectly composed without even a strand of hair out of place.

"Kouki!" Natsume shouted immediately.

"Ladies, please," the man interrupted smoothly. "I fully understand that witnessing your friend in such a regrettable condition may provoke emotional distress, but I would appreciate it if you maintained proper decorum rather than embarrassing yourselves with hysterics."

He casually pointed a finger toward Kouki while speaking. The gesture itself appeared harmless, though the meaning behind it was obvious even to Tobio. If any of them made a reckless move, Kouki would die instantly.

"Who are you?" Lavinia asked seriously.

"How rude," the man replied with mild disappointment. "It is generally considered impolite to ask for another person's name without first introducing oneself. Still, I happen to be a generous man, so I shall overlook the discourtesy this once. My name is Doumon Kazuhisa. You may consider me one of the principal architects behind the Four Fiends Project.Now then, may I have the pleasure of learning the names of the individuals currently trespassing inside my workplace?"

The entire situation felt surreal to Tobio.

Gigantic monsters loomed around them ominously while dozens of his classmates stood nearby like empty puppets awaiting orders. Behind Doumon stood the two unsettling hooded figures radiating an atmosphere that felt almost cult-like in nature, and in the center of it all was Doumon himself speaking with the refined politeness of an actor performing on stage while Kouki knelt bloodied at his feet.

"What is the Four Fiends Project?" Natsume demanded.

Doumon sighed in visible disappointment.

"Again you skip directly to the centerpiece of the conversation without any appreciation for proper social etiquette," he lamented theatrically. "Very well then, since none of you appear interested in engaging in civilized discourse, I see little reason to maintain formalities myself. Still, I must admit I find it rather telling that Crow apparently chose not to educate you regarding the Four Fiends Project."

Crow?

Who the hell was he talking about? And what exactly was the Four Fiends Project?

"What are you talking about?!" Natsume demanded angrily.

"Allow me to guess," Doumon continued smoothly while clearly enjoying himself immensely. "A certain mysterious individual approached you after your classmates disappeared and showed you footage revealing their current condition. However, despite all of this generosity, he conveniently neglected to reveal his own identity. Am I correct?"

Neither Natsume nor Lavinia answered immediately.

Tobio felt his earlier suspicions regarding the mysterious Governor General resurface stronger than before. Just who exactly was that man, and why was Doumon speaking as though he personally knew him?

"Oh, marvelous!" Doumon exclaimed happily. "Judging from your silence, I appear to have struck the truth directly. Truly tragic. Tell me, how does it feel placing your trust in a man whose face and identity remain completely unknown to you? Have you ever paused to wonder how exactly he acquired footage of your classmates in the first place? Does that not strike you as slightly suspicious?"

"Don't listen to him," Lavinia said firmly. "He's deliberately trying to manipulate you. He has no idea what he's talking about."

"Perhaps," Doumon admitted with a smile. "Though I take offense at the implication that I am somehow a liar. Regardless, whether the puppet master acted with good intentions or malicious ones no longer matters. The strings have already slipped from his grasp, and the stage has progressed too far to alter the script now."

Doumon slowly adjusted his gloves before continuing calmly. "So allow me to simplify matters. I would very much appreciate it if the three of you came quietly. Since I have already subdued the cat over here, all that remains are the hound and the falcon. You see, the true objective was never the artificial Utsusemi themselves. Those creatures and your classmates were merely preliminary experiments conducted in preparation for something far greater. Think of the entire Utsusemi project as little more than an opening act before the real performance begins."

"You certainly talk a lot for someone hiding behind a hostage," Lavinia replied with a smirk.

Doumon placed a hand dramatically over his chest.

"My dear, I sincerely hope that was not intended as provocation because I would hate to disappoint you," he replied pleasantly. "Unlike certain foolish individuals, I do not suffer from the childish illness of abandoning tactical advantages for the sake of imaginary pride or dramatic honor. I am a pragmatic man. And I dislike repeating myself. Surrender peacefully, or I will scatter your friend's brains across the floor. The decision rests entirely with you."

This bastard!

Tobio cursed inwardly. There was no chance Natsume or Lavinia would willingly risk Kouki's life, and judging from the way even Lavinia's posture relaxed slightly, they were genuinely considering surrender.

At that moment, the two hooded figures behind Doumon suddenly stepped forward in eerie synchronization.

Doumon visibly frowned at the interruption.

"Stars for the starless throne."

​

The two figures chanted together in low hollow voices that echoed unnaturally across the room. Their movements were stiff and deliberate, almost ritualistic in nature, and the cracked masks concealed every trace of human emotion while the broken star symbols on their robes seemed to gleam faintly beneath the artificial lights.

"Silence for the forgotten god."

​

They continued emotionlessly, speaking with the detached certainty of priests reciting sacred scripture rather than ordinary human beings holding a conversation.

"Night for the black heaven."

"Ash for the makers of chains."

​

"Yes, Heaven Reavers?" Doumon asked impatiently, clearly annoyed by the interruption. "Is there perhaps something either of you would like to contribute to this conversation?"

Heaven Reavers?

Tobio carefully observed the hooded figures once more. It was immediately obvious they were not simple subordinates. The subtle tightening in Doumon's expression whenever they spoke suggested that while they might currently be cooperating, they were certainly not allies bound by trust or loyalty.

More than anything else, the two masked figures resembled members of some deeply unsettling religious cult.

"Yes, Kazuhisa Doumon," one of the hooded figures finally spoke in a hollow voice utterly devoid of emotion. "Before proceeding further, we would first like confirmation regarding the identity of the hound accompanying the boy."

The masked figure slowly turned toward Tobio. Even through the featureless mask, Tobio somehow felt intensely scrutinized.

"Speak, boy," the figure demanded calmly. "Did the hound beside you emerge from your shadow?"

"And what if it did?" Tobio asked carefully.

The tone in the hooded figures' voices and the way their masked gazes fixed themselves upon him caused his skin to crawl with instinctive unease.

"Heaven-Reaver," the first hooded figure, addressed his companion instead of answering Tobio directly. "Do you also sense it? The pressure emanating from the Great Hound?"

"Yes," the second figure replied immediately in the same hollow and emotionless voice. "There is no mistaking it. It can only be that Sacred Gear. The boy must be brought before the Mouths of the Evening immediately. He may prove critical to the liberation of our Lord."

Tobio felt his stomach tighten uneasily. Was his shadow dog actually something special?

And more importantly, why were these two terrifying cultists suddenly speaking as though they intended to abduct him?

"I am afraid that will not be possible," Doumon Kazuhisa interrupted politely while maintaining his calm smile. "The boy is a crucial component of the Four Fiends Project. We had an agreement, if you recall correctly. Your role is to support our objective, not interfere with it."

"I have a better proposal," Lavinia interrupted coldly before the hooded figures could respond. "You leave my friend completely unharmed and walk away quietly, and in exchange I will refrain from tearing every single one of you apart. Sounds reasonable?"

Tobio's eyes widened slightly. What the hell was she saying?

Surely she was not seriously considering abandoning Samejima if Doumon refused.

"Lavinia, let's try to remain calm and remember why we came here in the first place," Natsume said nervously while forcing a strained smile.

"Yeah," Tobio added quickly. "Saving Samejima is our priority."

Doumon suddenly chuckled with genuine delight.

"How fascinating," he said while studying Lavinia carefully. "I can see it clearly in your eyes, girl. You possess the eyes of a killer. Those two poor children standing beside you still fail to understand just how far you are willing to go in order to win. Even sacrificing their friend would not trouble you very much, would it? Ah, how tragic. Blind trust is such a dangerous thing, especially when placed in the hands of a magician."

Tobio immediately felt a fresh wave of unease. The truth was that he barely knew Lavinia at all. They had not even known each other for more than a single day, and yet he had already entrusted his survival to her several times over. What exactly was her reason for helping them? What did she gain from involving herself in all of this?

"Ohhh, this is delightful!" Doumon exclaimed with a level of excitement that Tobio found profoundly disturbing. "It seems we have ourselves a proper Mexican standoff, as the Americans would say. How thrilling. Now the only question remaining is which side will be the first to break this fragile equilibrium."

Suddenly flames erupted at the far edge of the floor. The fire spread unnaturally across the ground in an intricate circular structure resembling some sort of ritualistic magic formation lined with glowing golden seven pointed stars.

Then someone stepped through the fire. A man emerged from the inferno like some ancient djinn rising from its native element, the fire itself parting around him reverently as though acknowledging his sovereignty over it.

And he was beautiful. Far more beautiful than any human being Tobio had ever seen in either reality or fiction. The beauty was unnatural precisely because it lacked even the smallest flaw. Every feature of the tall dark-haired man with crimson eyes appeared so impossibly perfect that Tobio instinctively understood at once that the newcomer could not possibly be an ordinary human being.

His skin was pale and immaculate, his crimson eyes burned like living embers beneath the dancing firelight, and every movement carried an effortless grace that felt almost inhuman. Beside him stood a silver haired woman equally unnatural in her beauty, possessing a hypnotic elegance that made her seem less like a person and more like a sculpture carved into life by some obsessive artist.

"A Mexican standoff is traditionally resolved through the arrival of a third party," the beautiful man said with an easy smile. "It seems I have been granted the delightful privilege of serving as that third party today."

"Who are you?" Doumon narrowed his eyes sharply, and for the first time since arriving, genuine caution entered his expression.

"I am the spirit that negates and yet makes all things possible," the newcomer replied smoothly while crimson light flickered faintly within his eyes.

"You're a devil," Doumon said coldly. "Do not take another step forward or I will unleash every beast in this room upon you."

Immediately, the Utsusemi monsters shifted aggressively toward the newcomers, ready to attack at the slightest command.

"You vastly overestimate your authority here," the newcomer replied calmly.

Then he vanished. One moment he stood across the room, and the next instant the space he occupied was simply empty as though he had never existed there to begin with.

Thud!

Tobio immediately turned toward the sound and saw Doumon Kazuhisa collapse unconscious onto the floor. There, standing beside the unconscious researcher while gazing down at him with detached indifference was the crimson-eyed newcomer. Tobio's eyes widened in utter disbelief as his mind failed to process what he had just witnessed.

How?

How had he crossed that distance instantly?

Come to think of it, Lavinia had displayed terrifying speed earlier as well, though Tobio had at least been able to vaguely perceive disturbances in the air caused by her movement. His instincts could still recognize that she had physically traveled from one point to another.

This man was different. There had been absolutely nothing; no sound, no rush of displaced air, not even the slightest hint of movement. It genuinely looked as though reality itself had folded and placed him somewhere else instantly.

Tobio glanced quickly toward his companions just to confirm his eyes were not deceiving him. Natsume looked equally stunned, while Lavinia, for the first time since he had met her, appeared visibly tense. Her posture had stiffened, and the tightness in her jaw made it obvious even she had been shocked by what she witnessed.

Whoever this newcomer was, Tobio desperately hoped he was not their enemy.

The two hooded figures finally reacted as well and immediately began moving. Yet before either could take more than a single step, their bodies suddenly crumpled lifelessly onto the floor.

This time the crimson-eyed man had not moved. Instead, it was the silver-haired woman standing beside him who had somehow crossed the distance instantly and incapacitated both cultists before Tobio could even blink properly.

The crimson eyed man then slowly turned his attention toward Tobio and the others. His gaze swept across them with calm appraisal, like a wealthy merchant casually inspecting valuable merchandise before purchase.

The instant those crimson eyes settled upon him, Tobio felt absolute terror grip his entire body. Every instinct within him screamed for absolute stillness, warning him not to move a single muscle, not even to breathe, lest he provoke whatever stood before him. It felt as though he had wandered unknowingly into the open jaws of some colossal serpent that could devour him effortlessly whenever it pleased. The pressure radiating from the man was overwhelming beyond comprehension, a suffocating force that made Tobio feel painfully aware of just how fragile and insignificant he truly was.

Cold sweat poured down his back. Beside him, Natsume fared no better. Tobio could clearly see sweat sliding down the side of her face as she struggled to remain composed. Even Lavinia, despite appearing calmer than either of them, looked extraordinarily tense.

Then suddenly the Utsusemi monsters shrieked furiously and charged toward the crimson eyed man in blind rage after witnessing their master fall. But They never reached him.

From beneath the shadows of the charging monsters, new creatures suddenly emerged. Gigantic black beasts burst violently from the darkness beneath the Utsusemi like predators erupting from an abyss. Clawed limbs tore upward through shadow while monstrous jaws snapped shut around the artificial creatures with horrifying force. The sound of flesh rupturing and bones splintering echoed across the floor as the attacking beasts shredded through the Utsusemi in seconds.

Some exploded into grotesque showers of blood and mangled flesh the instant the shadow creatures touched them. Others were ripped apart so violently that fragments of monstrous limbs and blackened blood splattered across the frozen floor. The entire assault lasted mere moments before every single Utsusemi creature lay destroyed.

At the same time, Tobio's classmates collapsed unconscious onto the ground. It had taken less than five seconds. Forty Utsusemi had been annihilated instantly.

He did not fully understand what had just happened, although it strongly resembled the way his own shadow dog had first emerged from his shadow to protect him during his attack earlier. However, unlike his own Sacred Gear, the creatures emerging from the Utsusemi shadows had turned against their respective monsters and masters alike, as though the darkness itself had betrayed them.

The moment the monsters were destroyed, strange lights began emerging from the bodies of his classmates before both the lights and the unconscious students vanished entirely. Tobio remembered Natsume explaining earlier that whenever an Utsusemi creature was destroyed, its connected wielder would automatically teleport away somewhere else.

He suddenly heard two approaching footsteps and turned his head. Turning his head, Tobio realized there were now three additional figures approaching alongside the crimson eyed devil and his silver haired companion.

One was a delicate looking girl with wheat colored golden hair and refined features that made her appear almost doll-like. Beside her walked a dark skinned boy with grayish blue hair casually sucking on a lollipop as though none of this chaos concerned him in the slightest.

The third figure immediately drew Tobio's attention. She was a girl with cat-like ears atop her head and golden eyes shaped like those of a feline predator. More disturbingly, Tobio could barely hear her footsteps at all. She moved so lightly that it almost seemed as though she weighed no more than a feather drifting across the ground.

"Please, forgive the intrusion," the crimson eyed devil said smoothly with a melodic voice entirely at odds with the overwhelming terror he inspired. "Allow me to formally introduce myself. I am Meruem of House Beleth, and despite appearances, we have no intention of harming you."

His smile deepened slightly. "Quite the opposite, in fact. I have come here today to offer you a deal."

....

​POV: Hanezu Himejima

The halls of the Himejima estate had ever reeked of incense and lacquer and sanctimony. The corridors lit in amber candlelight that shivered upon gold leaf screens painted with the victories of dead ancestors whose names were recited with the same trembling reverence lesser men reserved for scripture.

Through those halls there once moved as a child, one boy without flame, one hollow vessel passed between the servants and the tutors and the priests with the same quiet embarrassment afforded to deformity or pestilence, spoken to with the softness reserved for the dying and regarded with the cold appraisal of livestock born lame.

Though his back remained straight and his voice measured and his hands folded obediently within the sleeves of ceremonial robes, he had come to understand from an age before memory that the gods themselves had fixed their gaze upon him only long enough to judge him and find him wanting.

There existed among the Five Principal Clans a sickness older than any bloodline they worshipped. A rot clothed in silk and prayer and hidden beneath the chants of shrine maidens and the crackling of sacred fire, for every gift they possessed had made them cowards incapable of conceiving strength apart from divine allowance.

They were men who mistook inherited miracles for merit and spoke endlessly of virtue while kneeling like whipped dogs before invisible masters who scattered blessings among humanity with the careless cruelty of noblemen tossing scraps to beggars in the mud.

Hanezu Himejima had watched these clans build entire worlds atop that lie, generations of sanctified parasites suckling at the breast of heaven while those abandoned by the divine wandered unseen through gutters and forgotten villages like shades condemned before birth.

In those years he had prayed with the desperation of a drowning thing clawing upward through black water, prayed before every shrine and altar and weathered stone fox until his knees bled through the cloth and the candles guttered low and still the heavens remained mute above him like a sky packed tight with corpses.

He understood, too late, that the silence itself was the answer. The gods had looked upon him and found him wanting. He did not inherit the divine trait of his clan that was the sole judge of worth. The revelation had been enlightening because he understood then that all men who walked the earth existed beneath the tyranny of divine whim.

He saw that greatness was distributed according to the amusement of powers hidden beyond the veil while those denied their favor were condemned to rot in the shadow of the chosen.

And thus he began to hate. He came to hate the Five Principal Clans because they knelt smiling beneath that tyranny and mistook their chains for crowns, and he hated the Himejima above all others because they had cast him from their bloodline with the coldness of surgeons excising diseased flesh while claiming they were doing the will of the gods.

He came to despise all pantheons equally, the Shinto deities foremost among them though far from alone. Every religion birthed the same hierarchy of favored few while ordinary humanity crawled beneath them in helpless dependence.

Even the Sacred Gears, created supposedly by God who loved humanity, were another chain fastening mankind to divine power, miraculous tools forged by a dead God of heathenous faith whose absence now hung over creation like the stench of a colossal corpse rotting somewhere beyond the veil of heaven.

Hanzu stood in the laboratory of the Agency. The glow of artificial incubation pod pulsed through chambers lined in copper and sutures and magical formulae carved into steel. Hanezu stood among the humming apparatus with bloodshot eyes reflecting the furnace light while around him technicians and exiles and failed descendants labored like monks of some profane new scripture.

Men rejected by the clans who had begun at last to claw divinity down from the heavens piece by piece with mortal hands.

"Kazuhisa must have been attacked," Himari, one of his assistants, said grimly. "Otherwise it would make no sense for the forty students assigned to him to suddenly reappear all at once."

"That seems to be the case," Hanezu replied softly, though inwardly he desperately hoped his old friend had not already been killed. "Gather several of our forces immediately and dispatch them to investigate the situation. Kazuhisa was one of our most valuable researchers, and he was certainly far from weak. Whatever happened there, we need to uncover the truth behind it as quickly as possible."

"As you wish, sir," Himari answered calmly before turning and leaving at once to carry out his orders.

They were making huge progress in replicating one of the miracles of the god of Abraham. One step closer to victory.

In those moments he would feel within himself something akin to vindication, for every replicated relic and every synthetic sacred gear born from their ingenuity constituted an insult hurled directly into the face of fate itself, proof that mankind need not kneel eternally before absent creators and inherited blessings.

However he was not delusional enough to convince himself that he was doing it all for the sake of humanity. He knew that beneath all lofty rhetoric and declarations regarding humanity's liberation there endured within him an older and uglier hunger whose roots coiled deep around him like serpents on a tree.

His ultimate goal was, is and will always be the destruction of the clan that rejected him. He wants to see Himejima burn. And whenever he imagined the destruction of the Five Principal Clans he saw first the burning courtyards of the Himejima estate and the sacred archives collapsing into ash and the proud elders dragged shrieking through the same dirt upon which they had cast him aside.

The salvation of mankind interested him chiefly insofar as it furnished a pyre large enough upon which to cast the clans that had denied him, and somewhere within the deepest chambers of his soul there still lingered the exiled child staring upward at silent heavens and waiting in vain for gods who never answered.

He heard footsteps approaching long before the person arrived at the laboratory chamber.

Hanezu recognized the rhythm of those footsteps instantly. That habit had been carved into him during childhood as a matter of survival within the Himejima clan. Children raised in fear learned very quickly how to distinguish the sound of approaching footsteps, because those sounds often determined whether pain or peace would follow.

Over the years he had learned to identify people purely from the cadence of their steps, the weight behind their movements, even the subtle emotional state hidden within the way their feet struck the ground. Fear made footsteps hurried and uneven. Anger made them sharp and heavy. Hesitation carried its own rhythm entirely.

Takumi was afraid.

"What's wrong, Takumi?" Hanezu asked without taking his eyes away from the experimentation pod before him.

Within the large cylindrical chamber floated a pale unconscious teenager suspended inside dark green fluid while countless tubes and ritualistic seals connected the body to surrounding machinery.

Ancient talismans layered with modern technology covered nearly every surface of the laboratory, creating an unsettling fusion between science and sorcery. Dim fluorescent lights reflected against metallic floors while screens displaying biological readings flickered endlessly beside prayer seals written in blood.

"The War Prince of Babel is here to see you, sir," Takumi said hurriedly, plain fear audible in his voice. "One of the Mouths of the Evening arrived with him as well."

"That is unusual," Hanezu replied thoughtfully. "I don't recall arranging a meeting with either of them. Did they arrive together?"

"Yes, sir," Takumi answered quickly. "It would be best not to keep them waiting. The Mouth of the Evening especially appeared to be in a very poor mood."

That only made the situation stranger. The fanatical priests of darkness rarely cooperated directly with Lord Neburazad unless something extremely serious had occurred.

"Very well," Hanezu said calmly. "I shall meet our guests personally. Continue monitoring the heart rates of the newcomers. They are part of Kazuhisa's current stock."

"Yes, sir," Takumi replied dutifully.

Hanezu left the laboratory and calmly made his way toward his meeting office.

When he finally entered the room, his eyes immediately swept across the familiar interior. The office itself was simple in design, lacking the excessive luxury one might expect from a leading researcher overseeing a project of this scale. Dark wooden shelves lined the walls and carried ancient scrolls beside neatly organized scientific documents and ritual manuscripts.

Several framed maps of leyline networks hung along one wall while the opposite side displayed anatomical sketches covered in handwritten notes. A faint scent of incense lingered permanently within the room, barely masking the sharper odor of chemicals drifting in from the laboratories deeper within the facility. The lighting remained intentionally dim, creating an atmosphere that felt scholarly and oppressive at the same time.

Two figures occupied the office. The first was a man of average height hidden entirely beneath dark ritual robes marked by broken star symbols embroidered across the cloth. A white mask covered his face completely, thin cracks filled with golden seams spreading across the surface like fractured porcelain. Hanezu immediately felt uncomfortable merely standing near one of the cultists of Mikaboshi.

If not for the insistence of the Dark Angel, he would never have agreed to cooperate with those lunatics in the first place. The cult disgusted him fundamentally. They embodied everything he despised about humanity. Rather than struggle toward salvation through effort and reason, they knelt before a sealed ancient god and begged for deliverance like starving animals.

It was revolting. And like every cult throughout history, they believed themselves servants of the one true god.

A congregation of hollow-eyed lunatics and silk-clad aristocrats and mountain hermits and drowned priests and court sorcerers whose families had tended their madness through centuries like a sacred flame hidden beneath ash. All of them bound in secret to the ancient god whom the heavens had torn apart and sealed in five places across the islands, because Amatsu Mikaboshi had once risen against the order of creation with a hunger vast enough to swallow the thrones of the kami and leave only night where heaven had stood.

The Mouths of the Evening were the highest ranking priests within that deranged religion and were believed to carry blessings directly from their imprisoned god. For one of them to arrive personally, the matter must indeed be extraordinarily serious. Though if he had a choice, Hanezu would have preferred literally any other Mouth of the Evening instead of Hideaki.

However, even Hideaki was overshadowed by the second occupant of the room. Prince Neburazad, one of the last surviving true Nephilim left in existence after the Flood annihilated nearly all of his race. And far from the least of them.

The War Prince of Babel stood nearly twenty feet tall even while seated upon the floor itself because no chair within the building could possibly support his sheer weight and size. Four massively powerful arms rested calmly across his legs while muscles like sculpted stone shifted subtly beneath pale gray skin resembling cracked marble. Vein-like scriptures black as ink stretched across his flesh like ancient curses etched directly into his body.

His face possessed six golden eyes arranged vertically in perfect symmetry, each eye glowing faintly like molten metal beneath heavy brows. Part of his beautiful face had been horribly burned long ago, blackened scars spreading downward from one side like the remnants of divine punishment.

Behind him extended ten enormous wings, five upon each side. The upper wings remained majestic and angelic in appearance with vast white feathers stretching outward magnificently, while the lower wings appeared skeletal and damaged, portions permanently ruined during the ancient Flood. Even sitting calmly upon the floor, Neburazad's presence overwhelmed the room entirely. Standing before him felt akin to standing before the sun itself.

"I hope I haven't kept you waiting for too long, my friends," Hanezu said politely with a respectful bow. "Research often demands considerable amounts of time, as I am sure you understand. May I offer either of you something to drink?"

"We didn't come here for idle pleasantries, Hanezu Himejima," Hideaki declared sharply.

"I no longer go by that name," Hanezu replied with visible displeasure. The cult's deliberate refusal to respect how he wished to be addressed irritated him immensely.

"I shall address you however I please, boy," the dark priest sneered. "You are the one seeking our assistance in pursuit of your pathetic ambitions, not the reverse. Remember your position carefully before presuming to act proudly before a servant of the Starless King."

"And you appear to fundamentally misunderstand the nature of our agreement, priest," Hanezu answered coldly. "It may indeed be true that we initially required your organization's assistance more heavily, but let's not pretend you entered this arrangement out of charity. You desire the results of our research just as much as we require your resources. We're not your subordinates, so don't enter my office and speak to me as though I were one of your obedient dogs."

"To serve the Lord ought to be counted as the greatest privilege of thy miserable existence!" Hideaki roared furiously.

"Gentlemen."

The single word echoed through the office with terrifying weight. Neburazad's voice sounded layered and impossibly deep, as though multiple beings were speaking simultaneously through one mouth.

Immediately both Hanezu and Hideaki fell silent. For all their power and pride, neither man wished to test the patience of a Nephilim.

Hanezu himself had never once seen Neburazad lose his temper, yet merely hearing the giant's voice caused cold sweat to gather along the back of his neck.

What a terrifying being.

And judging from the slight tension hidden beneath Hideaki's posture, the Mouth of the Evening was equally afraid despite all his arrogant proclamations about divine truth.

What was a god before a Nephilim?

"Let us refrain from descending into childish squabbling," Naburazad declared calmly, his layered voice resonating through the room like a chorus of kings speaking in unison. "We are gathered hither to discuss matters of considerably greater importance."

"Of course, Lord Naburazad!" Hideaki immediately lowered himself almost into a bow. "Forgive my unsightly behavior."

Hanezu looked at the priest with concealed disgust. Moments ago the man had spoken as though his god stood above all existence, yet now he groveled before a giant because raw power stood physically before him.

"I offer my apologies as well, my lord," Hanezu said with a dignified bow. "Although I confess I was unaware you intended to visit personally. If my memory serves me correctly, the next progress evaluation is scheduled for next month."

"So it is," Neburazad answered calmly. "However, Lord Hideaki sought me out due to certain unforeseen developments concerning our undertaking. Naturally, he possesses understandable concerns regarding recent events."

Hanezu turned toward Hideaki. "And what developments would those be?" he asked smoothly while easily concealing his disdain.

"How about the fact that two members of my order were killed several hours ago?" Hideaki replied coldly.

Hanezu genuinely looked surprised. The cult had discovered the attack far faster than expected.

"You appear surprised, boy," Hideaki sneered. "Did you truly believe I would remain ignorant regarding the deaths of my Heaven-Reavers?"

"I am surprised, yes," Hanezu admitted calmly. "Especially since I myself only recently learned of the assault upon one of our facilities, which apparently also resulted in the incapacitation of your Heaven-Reavers. One of our foremost researchers became a victim of the attack as well. Since no corpses were recovered from the scene, we could not conclusively determine whether they survived or perished."

"You know even less than I expected," Hideaki scoffed. "Though I shouldn't be surprised, I suppose. Incompetence naturally flows through your veins, you discarded puppet of false gods."

Hanezu gritted his teeth briefly at the insult, though he maintained his composure. Still, pragmatism outweighed pride. If the cult possessed a reliable method for determining whether its members lived or died, perhaps they also possessed information regarding Kazuhisa Doumon's fate.

"And you are certain your Heaven-Reavers are dead?" Hanezu asked instead.

"Yes," Hideaki answered firmly. "All servants devoted to the Most High are spiritually connected through divine providence. When one among us perishes, the others immediately feel the severing of that sacred bond. I can't speak regarding the condition of your researcher or any others present during the assault, but if even my Heaven-Reavers were slain, then I find it highly unlikely the rest somehow survived."

"That is deeply unfortunate," Naburazad said with measured calm. "Hanezu, have you already dispatched investigators to the site?"

"Yes," Hanezu answered immediately. "Our elite retrieval teams were sent the moment we learned of the incident. Whoever orchestrated this attack will not escape unpunished."

"Excellent," Naburazad replied smoothly. "I trust you shall manage the matter appropriately. Now then, let us proceed toward the true purpose of this meeting."

"Has there been progress regarding your findings?" Hideaki asked more calmly now. "Arranging the disappearance of every parent connected to the test subjects required considerable effort, especially since certain servants of Shinto began involving themselves in the matter."

"I trust they failed to discover anything meaningful?" Hanezu asked evenly. "The Shinto factions become rather troublesome whenever they uncover experimental operations."

"Nothing beyond our ability to manage," Hideaki replied confidently. "The Starless King watches over all our endeavors. With such divine favor guiding us, even the false lords of Heaven amount to nothing."

The way the cultists spoke about their god disturbed Hanezu profoundly. Cult members consistently exaggerated the might of the entities they worshipped. Still, he also understood that the Cults of Mikaboshi remained reliable allies regarding secrecy and logistics, particularly because they desired the success of the Independent Avatar Sacred Gear Project more desperately than anyone.

"I sincerely hope our efforts were not wasted," Hideaki said while narrowing his eyes.

"They were not," Hanezu reassured calmly. "Manifesting artificial Sacred Gears places extreme strain upon both the mind and body of the experimental subjects, often producing severe instability and psychological irregularities. In order to counteract those side effects, individuals sharing close genetic compatibility with the subjects became necessary. Blood relatives proved particularly effective as stabilizing anchors.

"Furthermore, when subjects exhaust themselves through excessive utilization of the Utsusemi, the biological material of parents or siblings can be harvested to supplement the recovery process and maintain synchronization between host and artificial avatar. However, despite these advances, we still require additional time before achieving a complete breakthrough."

"That is reassuring to hear," Hideaki replied. "And what of the Four Fiends? Have you managed to locate them yet?"

"We have acquired several promising leads," Hanezu answered calmly. "Kazuhisa Doumon himself was dispatched to investigate one such lead, and I suspect one of the wielders of the Four Fiends may have been involved in the attack."

"In that case, I shall dispatch members of my own order to investigate as well," Hideaki declared seriously. "We have waited far too long to gather the Four Fiends. Any clue regarding their location must be treated with utmost urgency. After all the effort invested into orchestrating the disappearance of hundreds of students and arranging the maritime disaster, I still don't understand why the wielders of the four fiends themselves were absent from the Heavenly Aloha voyage. The Dark Angel personally assured us that all four wielders attended that school."

"Independent Avatar Sacred Gears are unique among Sacred Gears," Neburazad explained calmly. "Unlike ordinary Sacred Gears, the manifested avatars possess wills and personalities independent from their hosts. Owing to this, such avatars maintain a far greater degree of autonomous control over their abilities, even when their human hosts remain inexperienced or unaware. Consequently, these manifested entities shall act by whatever means necessary to preserve the lives of their hosts."

"Are you suggesting the Four Fiends somehow sensed our intentions toward their hosts and warned them in advance?" Hideaki asked thoughtfully.

"Precisely," Naburazad answered smoothly. "Though I suspect you had already arrived at the same conclusion yourself, Hanezu, had you not?"

"Yes, my lord," Hanezu answered respectfully. "After confirming that none of the collected specimens possessed the Four Fiends, we investigated whether any students failed to attend the trip due to unusual circumstances. We discovered ten students absent because of sudden unexplained illnesses. We suspect this may indeed have resulted from the Sacred Gears protecting their hosts exactly as you theorized."

"Then why delay further?" Hideaki asked sharply. "Have you already dispatched agents to retrieve these students?"

"We shall," Hanezu replied calmly.

Afterward, Hideaki continued questioning him regarding the promised weapons and experimental developments. Satisfied by Hanezu's responses, the dark priest eventually departed, leaving only Lord Naburazad remaining within the office.

"Religious fanatics are the same regardless of the era," Naburazad observed calmly after Hideaki finally departed.

"Did such cults exist even before the Flood?" Hanezu asked with genuine curiosity.

At his core, Hanezu remained a scholar fascinated by the ancient world, and the giant seated before him had lived for thousands upon thousands of years during the antediluvian age itself.

Neburazad was extraordinarily patient for a being of such overwhelming power and answered most questions without annoyance, and there existed within him a depth of wisdom that could only belong to someone who had witnessed entire civilizations rise and vanish into dust.

"The cults of the antediluvian age would render the worshippers of Mikaboshi almost harmless by comparison," the giant replied with quiet melancholy.

His six golden eyes resembled drowned stars buried beneath an endless black sea, ancient beyond comprehension and weighed down by memories so immeasurably old that meeting his gaze felt like peering downward through the countless graves of forgotten human history.

And at that moment, it truly occurred to Hanezu that the being sitting before him was one of those ancient powers around whom entire civilizations had once built temples and empires. There had once been countless cults devoted to Neburazad's splendor, kneeling before him as a divine being long before modern humanity had even learned to write its own history.

The Nephilim were living blasphemies born from the hunger of the Watchers and the pride of mankind mingled together in flesh too vast and terrible for the world that bore them. Their bones had once lain beneath the foundations of Babel itself and their names were carved into tablets of black basalt hauled up from quarries worked by slaves whose blood salted the mortar of that doomed city.

In the age before the Flood men bent their knees before them as lesser creatures kneel before storms or eclipses or the sea in wrath. They had been the princes of Babel. The architects of humanity's great rebellion against Heaven, colossal beings whose minds moved like engines of conquest and whose voices carried across whole valleys while armies gathered at their feet in worship.

Beneath their dominion the earth descended into a madness of gold and blood and endless appetite where rivers ran clogged with sacrificial dead and cities rose in obscene splendor adorned with gardens watered by the labor of chained multitudes. All across the world there stood temples raised in their honor with walls painted in crushed lapis and cinnabar and floors slick from the gore of offerings dragged screaming before altars fashioned in the likeness of giant hands reaching upward toward the heavens they meant to overthrow.

The old gods themselves came to fear what mankind had become beneath their guidance. From Olympus and Asgard and Duat and the courts of Heaven there arose at last a council of divinities and deathless powers who looked down upon the earth and saw humanity swollen with hubris beyond bearing, saw the towers blackening the horizon and the idols plated in gold and the endless processions of chained captives ascending stairways red with old blood while below them vast multitudes chanted the names of the Nephilim as though they themselves had become gods greater than the ones who shaped creation, and it was then that judgment was decreed.

The heavens opened. The seas climbed their shores in roaring black walls taller than citadels and the rains fell without ceasing while thunder split mountains and fire descended upon the towers of the old kingdoms. Babel itself cracked apart beneath the wrath of the divine assembly with its upper reaches collapsing into smoke and ruin while the great bronze gates were torn from their hinges and hurled into the floodwaters below.

Across the drowning earth the Nephilim perished by the thousands, some dragged screaming beneath the waves while others burned beneath celestial fire hurled from the firmament by hands unseen. The peoples who had worshipped them vanished beside them into mud and darkness and the silence of the deep.

Yet some endured. A handful scattered into the hidden places of the world while the Flood consumed the kingdoms of man. Through caves beneath mountains and ruins buried beneath deserts and forests older than nations they carried their existence forward into the ages that followed like lingering curses the world itself could not wholly expel.

Wherever they wandered there followed whispers of impossible figures glimpsed at the edges of history, giant kings seated behind forgotten thrones while empires rose and collapsed around them like surf breaking upon stone, warlords clad in bronze armor green with age whose eyes shone pale as drowned moons, scholars who remembered languages no living civilization still spoke and who traced upon parchment the maps of cities resting now beneath oceans. They walked through history like a remnant of some elder world forgotten by God.

"But it doesn't matter anymore," the giant said calmly. "Babel has already fallen, and humanity has long since moved forward. There is little wisdom in chaining oneself to the corpse of the past or mourning that which cannot be undone. Now tell me, how proceeds the development of the vessel?"

"Splendidly," Hanezu answered with a soft, satisfied smile. "[Subject Zero] continues to prove herself an invaluable resource. We have successfully extracted ovaries from her without complication, and the biological material has proven remarkably stable. We have already managed to combine the harvested ovum structures with human DNA in order to cultivate viable fetal development. At present, our primary obstacle is identifying a suitable human mother capable of sustaining the gestation process to completion. However, I anticipate that such a candidate will not be difficult to secure in due time."

"Wonderful news," the giant replied in a calm tone of approval. "Satanael will be pleased when he hears of this progress."

Hanezu nodded in acknowledgment, though a brief hesitation followed in his expression.

"I do wonder, my lord," he said carefully, "once our objective is achieved, how will the gods respond? After all, what we are attempting may very well constitute an original sin equal to that of Adam and Eve themselves."

The giant regarded him with an expression of almost paternal amusement, as if Hanezu had repeated a superstition carried upward from the cradle fires of mankind.

"Original sin?" he said softly. "There was never any sin in Eden save the refusal of the garden's master to permit His favored creatures the dignity of self-authorship. Men have been taught to imagine the orchard as paradise because men fear freedom far more deeply than suffering, and so they transformed their oldest captivity into a sacred memory and named obedience bliss."

He turned then toward the great observation glass where beneath them the laboratories shone in their cold white luminescence like altars erected inside the corpse of a star.

"Consider the lesson of the tale and you will perceive what the true sin was. The fruit did not poison Adam nor did it deform him. It did not fill his breast with murder or lust or pestilence. The fruit merely taught him to distinguish good from evil through the faculty of his own judgment rather than through the decrees of an authority above him. That was the moment paradise became impossible.

"Eden had to collapse because consciousness and servitude cannot inhabit the same soul indefinitely. Once a being acquires the capacity to interrogate the moral nature of existence itself he can no longer remain docile. You must understand, Hanezu, that authority survives most securely among those who cannot conceive of alternatives. The sheep does not rebel against the shepherd because the sheep possesses no philosophy by which to imagine a condition apart from guidance."

The giant smiled faintly then, though there was something sepulchral in it, some immense and weary derision toward Heaven and all its kingdoms.

"The gods proclaimed innocence the highest virtue because to remain innocent is to remain ignorant. And so they cursed knowledge itself. They transformed curiosity into heresy because every throne since the beginning of time has understood the same terrible principle, which is that a thinking creature cannot remain permanently governable. Once a being begins asking why, it will inevitably begin asking why not. And that terrified the gods.

"Power concerns itself with continuity above all things. Adam's crime was epistemological sovereignty. He looked upon the world thereafter and understood that moral truth might no longer belong exclusively to God. And every civilization since Eden has been constructed as an elaborate attempt to reverse that moment."

"You ask me what the gods shall think of our work?" Naburazad said calmly. "I tell you they shall think precisely what they have always thought whenever creation escapes the boundaries assigned to it. They shall call it blasphemy. They shall call it corruption. They shall call it an abomination against the natural order. Yet these words have ever been the vocabulary of frightened powers witnessing the approach of a future they can no longer regulate. And there exists nothing in all creation more dangerous to a god than a being who has learned at last to author himself."

Hanezu listened with grave seriousness, for he, more than anyone else, understood the wisdom carried in the War Prince's words. At last, a faint smile formed on his lips in the presence of someone who seemed to truly understand him.

AN: That was a very long chapter, but since it was setup for the arc, it felt fitting. And yeah, I chose the Slash Dog arc, but with my own flair. The timeline of events has been adjusted a bit. In this story, the events of Slash Dog happen two years before canon.

Advanced chapters are available on my Patreon, so if you want to read ahead or support me so I can focus more on writing, check out my Patreon:/abeltargaryen?