What kind of person was Ein, really?
If Anthony had to answer that, he'd stand by what he'd always thought: Ein was a man full of contradictions, deeply complex — and in a certain sense, possessed of a remarkable, almost magnetic personal charisma...
And yet, for all that, there was one crucial quality about Ein that could never be overlooked. Talent.
A talent so rare that you could search the entire city and likely not find its equal.
Creating Angela, nearly single-handedly developing Singularity Technology from the ground up, and later driving the entire operation of Lobotomy Corporation... it was precisely because of this talent that Ein possessed the very real potential for something called — the Director.
So if that potential existed, why not draw it out?
And so, smiling all the while, Carmen reached her hands out toward the stars and blew a light, cheerful whistle.
Just like that, she held in place the existence known as the Tuner Persona — Ein.
For Gallion, however, the situation unfolding before her eyes could only be described as absolutely, certifiably insane.
She narrowed her eyes, staring at the Ein standing before her — and for just an instant, a flash of pure disbelief crossed her face.
Among the Directors of Company A, the position of Tuner should only ever exist as a single seat... and yet — how could a Director be appearing here, of all places?
But that use of the Lock just moments ago, and now, the faint glow of the Fairy flickering back to life in his hands... there was no room for doubt.
The next moment, without time to think, light blazed in Gallion's hand as a Pillar manifested — and it crashed directly into the Fairy surging from Ein's.
Her expression grew several shades heavier. "This is... a somewhat unfamiliar power."
Ein wielded the Singularity Technology with an unpracticed hand, and after a moment, he couldn't help but furrow his brow and let out a quiet sigh.
Well... when you got down to it, he was a researcher. He didn't have anything like Kali's combat aptitude. He could fight on instinct — on the Persona's muscle memory — but it was still lacking in certain areas...
Of course, he wasn't the only one fighting right now.
"Hey... hey, listen—"
It came out of nowhere — like wind rushing past her ear. Gallion spun around sharply, and found herself face-to-face with Kali's wide, feral grin.
"Did you forget about me?"
The next instant, Gallion's hand swept downward — and from beneath her feet, a dark tide of black surged upward. Kali, meanwhile, wrapped herself in the long coat of her EGO, and in that same moment, her Mimic swung — a sweeping slash, falling hard.
But at that moment, a displeased gaze was cast from somewhere within the river.
Is that really all you've got?
You think this little show is enough to take on a Director?
And so, in that instant — with all the exasperation of someone watching a student fumble a lesson they should know — Carmen went to work once more from within the river.
Tell Anthony I'm the real master builder around here.
Once again, Gallion's brow furrowed. Some instinct screamed at her — something terrible was beginning to descend upon Kali...
Deep in the river, Carmen swayed her legs lazily, humming a light little tune, and selected Kali's Personas.
[Lobotomy Corporation Era · Head of the Disciplinary Department]
[Ruined Library Era · Language Layer Librarian]
Two overlapping possibilities, with an astonishingly high compatibility rating, loaded onto Kali in the same instant — and immediately, Kali's speed seemed to leap upward by another third, while the Mimic in her hand shifted, transforming into a blade that Gallion didn't recognize at all.
Along the jet-black length of the sword, countless yellow compound eyes blinked open — and then, Twilight slashed down.
Kali — Trinity.
In that moment, the blade carved through the dark tide and hurtled toward Gallion — nearly close enough to cut her throat in a single stroke.
In the last fraction of a second, Gallion barely managed to dodge the blow, stumbling backward at speed. The remaining seven lackeys surged forward in a swarm — and Gallion turned her head back toward Ein, suddenly feeling that things were becoming decidedly unpleasant...
Meanwhile, back inside the laboratory, Anthony was floating in midair, watching the whole scene unfold — while enthusiastically chatting with the viewers in the stream:
"Oh wow, look at that — this Gallion is terrible. One hit from Kali and she completely lost the rhythm..."
"Huh, Ein's actually holding his own out there — starting to get the hang of the Fairy?"
"Ohh, another lackey down. I thought they were speed bumps at this point..."
[AAA City Ghost: Anthony! Anthony!! How come I'm the one doing all the support work here?!]
[AAA City Ghost: Where even ARE you?!]
[Konoha's Yellow Flash: Somebody's slacking off. Not naming names.]
"Excuse me?!"
Anthony's mouth twitched. He shot back at the stream with a shout — but then glanced over at the battlefield, seeming to mull things over with a mildly pained expression, before finally letting out a slow sigh.
This is... going to take a while. Doesn't look like it's wrapping up anytime soon.
Alright, alright. Done slacking.
Time to actually do something, right?
And so, with a smile spreading across Anthony's face, the Origin Furnace behind him erupted with a deafening roar — and deep in the laboratory, a considerable amount of Enkephalin was converted into points in an instant.
"Honestly, forcing a craftsman into a support role is a pretty unrealistic ask..."
Anthony mused for a moment, then chuckled softly. "Not promising results."
But at the very least — just dumping raw energy in and recalibrating Kali's numbers should be doable, right?
Forging begins!
And so, under Anthony's expectant gaze, countless streams of soul energy were seared within the Soul Flame of the Origin Furnace — reduced to their most refined, distilled essence.
In that instant, a torrent of souls surged inside the Origin Furnace — and as Anthony opened the furnace valve, it erupted outward in a single gushing wave.
Every last drop of it poured directly into Twilight, the blade in Kali's hand.
Countless compound eyes snapped wide open — and in that moment, the greatsword seemed to have been given a soul of its own. Its grotesque maw opened and closed — and then Kali's eyes lit up.
...This thing feels a whole lot meaner than it did before.
Her silhouette flickered — and on raw physicality alone, she hit something approaching W-Serum speeds. She swung Twilight freely through the air, and after using another lackey as a speed bump and rolling right over him, she was standing in front of Gallion again.
Once more, she brought Twilight down.
What — a temporary buff on top of everything else?!
Feeling the blade in Kali's hand grow sharp and vicious all over again, Gallion's face contorted like she'd bitten into something deeply unpleasant. No matter how she turned it over in her head, she could not figure out how things had gotten this bad.
She raised the dark tide again, layered Lock and Pillar on top of it — and yet found herself forced to split her attention once more, managing the constant harassment of the Fairy coming from Ein's direction...
The situation was beginning to make Gallion's head swim.
And it was in that one dizzy instant that she felt a sudden chill at her throat — and a small spray of blood.
...She'd been cut.
That hasn't happened in a long, long time.
A strangely nostalgic thought, Gallion realized dimly — and she looked around, her expression momentarily unfocused, scanning her surroundings — only to notice something wrong.
Why did Kali's presence seem to be still rising?
And what on earth was that new weapon she was pulling out?
For a moment, both Gallion and Kali stared in equal bewilderment at the pristine white scepter that had materialized in Kali's hand.
Finally, Kali raised an eyebrow.
This... also seems pretty impressive?
Deep within the Primordial River, Carmen quietly withdrew her hands.
Hmm. I can't let Anthony show me up.
Then I'll just stuff a little more in.
She thought this with immense satisfaction — while back in the laboratory, Anthony glanced back at the Origin Furnace still thundering behind him, then looked over at Kali, and felt a wave of profound indignation.
Now it's turning into a competition?!
Fine. Fine! If it's an arms race, then it's an arms race — bring it on!
And so the Origin Furnace roared back to life — the Soul Flame within it blazing more furiously than ever. Anthony clapped both hands together, and a virtually inexhaustible torrent of souls surged once more toward Paradise Lost in Kali's grasp.
And so it was: one male ghost and one female ghost, locked in an escalating arms race — and facing the most immediate consequence of that arms race, Gallion fell into silence.
She was starting to think.
What in the world is going on in this tiny little laboratory?
Kali brought Paradise Lost sweeping down — countless thorns lashed out, pinning Gallion in place — and then Twilight fell, driving toward her throat.
Ein exhaled quietly and raised his hand once more, a brilliant radiance blazing to life between his fingers.
In that moment, the only thought left in Gallion's mind was a single, crystal-clear conviction.
Whatever is happening — this laboratory is completely, utterly wrong.
She needed to get back to Company A. She needed more people to deal with this.
And so, in that instant, Gallion made her choice without a moment's hesitation — among all the Singularity Technology at her disposal, she activated her emergency teleportation device. It required a brief moment to channel — but as long as she wasn't killed in the next split second, she could, in theory, escape safely...
But the instant the channeling began, the color drained from Gallion's face.
The channeling... failed?!
Far above, on the Primordial River, Anthony sat high upon the bronze seat of The Angler's Throne, silently reeling in his fishing line, and shook his head.
Trying to teleport long-distance, are we?
Why don't you ask the Primordial River whether it'll allow that?
Short-range W-Serum was stable enough that it gave even Anthony a slight headache to manage... but an ultra-long-distance teleport? That was a whole different story.
A bit of interference with fishing line and Soul Strength, and just a nudge from Carmen inside the river... and instead of teleporting out, you'd be lucky if you didn't teleport into the Primordial River itself.
And so, as Kali brought Paradise Lost swinging down again, all of the lackeys were yanked and held in place by the thorns — and then Kali moved at blinding speed, carving through them nearly one by one, the sharpened Twilight dispatching every last one of them.
Finally, she came to stand before Gallion, who was bound and unable to move.
There was no longer any obstacle left.
In that moment, Gallion's eyes went wide. She strained with everything she had to raise her hand, a faint dying light flickering in her palm — she was trying to use a concussive shockwave to deal with the crisis in front of her...
But when she actually managed to do it, two hands caught her.
For just an instant, Gallion's mind went blank — and then she looked at the two figures who had appeared before her.
One was Ein. His face was expressionless. He pressed his hand lightly over Gallion's raised palm — and the shockwave dissolved naturally, as if it had never been anything else...
But then Gallion caught sight of the other — a face she didn't recognize at all.
She forced her head around with the last of her strength, staring at the young man who stood there smiling, his hands wrapped around hers — and for an instant, her mind went hazy.
"It's you..." This was a trap all along...
"Hey now, don't get heated."
Anthony smiled. Behind him, the phantom silhouette of the Origin Furnace rose and flickered. "After all — we're about to fire up the oven."
Without another moment's delay, Kali's Twilight drove through Gallion's chest, pinning her to the laboratory wall.
And Anthony, whistling cheerfully, moved with sharp, practiced speed — going to work on Gallion immediately.
The Origin Furnace's fire roared. Anthony, moving with quick and efficient hands, fed Gallion into it. Ein's gaze flickered — and he moved almost instantly to intercept her head, slicing it cleanly free with the Fairy and preserving the brain intact.
Just like that: the head went to Ein; the body was fed into Anthony's Origin Furnace. The estate of one Director had been divided up with casual, cheerful ease.
"Could you at least try to show a little respect?"
Even Ein couldn't help a rare murmur of complaint. Anthony shrugged and said nothing.
"Mm... anyway. I'd say that counts as handled, wouldn't it?"
Carmen's voice drifted into everyone's ears — and then, at once, the Persona overlay states on both Kali and Ein were fully released, and they returned to their prior baseline.
"Yeah. The Director crisis is temporarily resolved."
Anthony gave a small nod, turned his head, looked at the brain in Ein's hands, and let out a slow breath.
From here on out, if Anthony's memory served, it would be time to dissect Gallion's brain...
Extracting Gallion's brain would yield a great deal of critical information — including how to avoid the eyes of Company A's surveillance, and the conditions for becoming a Wing...
In other words, Gallion's death here was functionally indistinguishable from a disappearance. And with this, Ein could formally begin the next phase of his plans — launching the construction of Lobotomy Corporation, and setting the Light Seeds project into motion.
And with Carmen's help in extracting and overlaying possibilities, the pace of all of this was likely to move considerably faster than it would have originally.
Honestly speaking — faced with this situation, it would be completely impossible for Anthony not to be eyeing his opportunity.
Come on — this was Lobotomy Corporation.
Did they have any idea how much Enkephalin that place produced, and how many points that translated into?!
In fact, as far back as the day the Styx Ferry upgraded to Level 2, Anthony had already been quietly entertaining a few ideas about Lobotomy Corporation...
And so, in this moment, Anthony raised his head and looked toward Ein.
Finally, in a tone that even Ein found faintly, instinctively unsettling, he said quietly:
"Ahem. Ein — now that the Director threat has been dealt with... it's time we talked about the Lobotomy Corporation business."
"So — first question: any interest in opening a branch? I can help out with staff and all that."
A certain gleam lit up Anthony's eyes — and then he blurted out:
"Oh right, and — how's the progress on Angela coming along?"
In that moment, staring into Anthony's bright, sparkling eyes, Ein raised every single one of his defenses to maximum alert.
He had a feeling.
A feeling like... some golden-haired punk had shown up downstairs and was hollering up at him: "Hey old man, the ghost fire's parked downstairs — where's your daughter?"
A deeply, deeply strange feeling.
____
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