episode_0258

In a sea of sorrow, Violet flailed. Painful memories flashed before her eyes like a revolving lantern.

“-It hurts…”

On the day of the entrance ceremony, a mid-level demonic beast suddenly appeared.

“-No! Save me!”

At the freshman welcoming party, the seniors who had been smiling kindly suddenly turned hostile and forced them to gorge themselves.

“-I’m, I’m full. I, I can’t eat any more, hehe…”

“-Hey, do you find our sincerity ridiculous? Do you find your seniors ridiculous?”

A dull thud echoed. As she threw up what was in her stomach and burst into tears, a rough hand shoved her head into the vomit.

“-Damn it, truly disgusting…”

Violet cried.

Somewhere in the academy. Violet was surrounded by another group of students in uniform, led by a woman with hair the color of a wheat field. The woman’s tied-back hair swished like a horse’s mane.

“-I, I’m sorry. Senior-nim… I accidentally stepped on your foot…”

Both her cheeks burned. When she tried to run, other students grabbed her shoulders. A torrent of violent slaps, imbued with magic, rained down.

“-Waaah!”

“-Ugh, seriously. You idiotic girl. What do you have to cry about? Hey, do you find me ridiculous?”

“-N-no! Absolutely not! I’m sorry! I apologize!”

Kicks landed on her face. Falling backward, Violet realized her nose was broken.

“-Snap out of it. Who do you think would take in a moron like you? Hmm, well. You’re pretty enough, so being a prostitute would suit you perfectly. Hey. Lick it.”

“-Hahahaha!”

In sorrow and fear, Violet frantically licked the sole of the shoe the woman held out. Her tongue grew rough.

“We will actively cooperate with the management of your organization’s test subjects. If we operate under joint management, unfortunate incidents like the last time won’t occur, will they?”

“-Haha, this was our mistake. We should have informed you beforehand that we were enrolling a test subject, but it was due to an individual’s arbitrary decision…”

Once again, the scene before her eyes changed. People laughed and chatted amicably, with Violet in the center. A young man with ash-gray hair looked at her.

“-N-no. I w-want to go home… Please, please let me go… I hate the academy…”

The psychokinetic pressure choking her was intense. Violet coughed and thrashed in mid-air. When the orange-haired woman standing nearby made a gesture to intervene, the psychokinesis released.

“-Calm down. There wasn’t a big problem, was there? Now, you’re Violet, right? It would be good if you remained still until everything is over. We don’t have any personal feelings towards you.”

The woman raised her staff and poked her in the stomach. As the brand was imprinted, Violet cried out again.

“-Waaah…”

Soon, the sky trembled. Numerous magic circles appeared, and the screams of countless people flooded into her mind.

“-Aaaah!”

Violet struggled.

It was around that time that Violet, clutching her head and trembling, felt something strange.

“「Oh?」”

In the white space, Violet suddenly stood up. The black liquid staining her body slowly washed away, flowing onto the floor.

What she had just seen felt incredibly unnatural.

Violet tilted her head.

“「This isn’t my memory, is it?」”

“「Right, clearly the ones we killed too…」”

Above the contemplating Violet’s head, the black grasp reached out once more.

“「Surely that was…Eyaaaak!」”

**

The secret to winning a war has remained unchanged throughout human history.

From the moment the first primitive human struck their brother’s head with a stone axe, through the Middle Ages when the knights of the Arnor Kingdom achieved great feats, the Golden Age when line infantry marched across the Trist Continent in their military boots, to the Industrial Revolution and the first interdimensional invasion, or the Great War, as the demonic beast invasion was called, the law of victory has always been the same.

Even the servants of Eidos, who had trampled and devoured countless civilizations beyond dimensions, and the magnificent Archon of Monad who commanded them, could not escape this law.

The law of war, written in the blood of countless intelligent beings, is steadfast.

Thus, the subordinate apostle of Eidos decided to faithfully follow the law of war.

While his comrade conducted an experiment on insignificant local creatures, he activated one secret to war.

Namely, severing the enemy’s information exchange.

-Crackle!

An ether wave accompanied by electromagnetic pulses and various radiations simultaneously covered the entire Asterea region.

Federation vehicles, weapons, and electronic equipment with protective measures managed to endure, but the problem was the precision communication devices.

“The communicators are broken. We’ve lost contact!”

Communication with the outside was instantly severed. Even the noise from directional laser communicators became extremely severe.

Each mobile unit fell into chaos.

Just as the operations chief, who was on-site instead of the incompetent parachute special task force commander, rushed to quell the chaos, the apostle brought out the second law of victory.

“Emergency! Emergency!”

Preemptive strike.

The mobile unit commanded by Major Klein encountered a tidal wave of demonic beasts, approaching without warning.

“Emergency! Emergency! Front 12 o’clock, large demonic beast forces appearing! Code Alpha! Code Beta!”

“Fire!”

As the insignificant four-legged demonic beasts surged forward, the Federation soldiers responded with medium-velocity bullets. Since each mobile unit had quickly responded to Ariel Group’s warning, the effect of the surprise attack was slightly reduced.

-Boom boom boom!

Mortar shells flew over the heads of the demonic beasts, blasting holes. A torrent of machine gun fire from armored vehicles ripped through the demonic beast’s front lines.

The ether shield covering their hides was torn apart by overwhelming physical force. Demonic beasts that charged through the beams of light were shredded by the soldiers’ electromagnetic rifles.

As ghouls’ sniping and demonic beasts’ magic rays intersected with human army shells in the air, sturdy demonic beasts finally broke through the barrage and reached the front lines.

“Assault squad! Prepare for close combat!”

As the regular soldiers quickly retreated, awakened soldiers carrying large riot shields and square greatswords stepped to the front. Sparks flew as claws and blades clashed against the shields.

-Crunch! Thwack!

The greatswords mercilessly carved through the demonic beasts.

While the enemy’s surge faltered, a barrage of grenades and bullets from the flanks weakened the enemy’s density.

“Retreat!”

Lightning bolts struck where the awakened had retreated, and the ground turned into a swamp. After attacks and disruptions from the embedded mages, artillery fire once again rained down, cutting off the enemies.

“7 o’clock direction! Enemy demonic beasts circumventing!”

When demonic beasts bypassing into the building were detected, Major Klein immediately gave orders.

“Vehicle No. 3! Fire!”

-Boom! Boom boom boom!

More than ten barrels mounted on the heavy armored vehicle simultaneously unleashed fire.

A torrent of magic shells, each costing as much as a middle-class monthly salary, battered the building walls, sending a storm of blood through windows and cracks. The heavy armored vehicles, deployed for urban warfare operations instead of tanks, displayed overwhelming power in this ruined battlefield.

-Boom!

In the vast ruined battlefield, the apostle, who was manipulating the demonic beasts by separating his consciousness, felt the first offensive falter and ordered a circumvention.

“Towards the monastery! Movement detected! Demonic beasts!”

“As expected. Detonate!”

-Bang!

Starting with Klein, each commander activated their pre-prepared traps.

As Ariel Group’s advice combined with the soldiers’ suggestions, the demonic beasts moving through the underground passages became trapped within the monastery ruins.

Several waves of attacks followed. The Federation special task force successfully repelled the demonic beast forces.

As they blew up the first defense line and retreated to the second, a messenger caught the major’s eye.

“The passage! When will it open??”

“They say 10 minutes is enough!”

Feeling relieved, Klein joined the second defense line with his subordinates. Waiting there was a line of hunters with swords and spears, the rescue team, and volunteers from the exhibition hall.

“Hey, you’ve worked hard! From here on, we’ll take over!”

-Crackle!

Countless sword strikes once again halted the wave of demonic beasts. As bolts and magic barrages flew in, demonic beasts that had endured even artillery shells collapsed without resistance.

-Clang!

“What, these aren’t much, are they?”

A hunter shouted, swinging his spear.

If the soldiers weakened them with bullets, all they had to do was swing their swords from behind the barricades and collect them.

The apostle watched all of this with indifference.

「The offensive? How is it progressing?」

「It’s going smoothly. The Knights of Restraid aren’t visible yet, but they’ll appear with a little more pressure.」

Although the offensive faltered due to human resistance, the apostle didn’t care. The servants made from local creatures were weak, and humans had become relatively stronger than before. In any case, the important thing wasn’t to annihilate them. The goal was to draw out the knights and lure them into a trap.

「Then we will implement a diversionary tactic.」

The apostle took out a crystal and activated it. The range and affected individuals were random. The symptoms were also random. It was time to activate the infectious curse they had implanted.

Immediately, the excitement of victory that had invigorated the Federation army and hunters was abruptly dampened.

“Demonic beasts have appeared at the exhibition hall!”

“What?!”

**

Ariel was still dizzy. The whispers tormenting her mind had become even more intense than before.

「…Let us become one.」

The whispers more roughly compelled her to follow their words. The heat was intense. Her entire body was already drenched in cold sweat.

「Open your eyes. Come to us.」

They whispered that her body would be comfortable then, that everything was futile, and that she should follow them.

Ariel somehow felt as if she should follow it.

‘No!’

The girl violently shook her head.

‘I’m going to enroll in Aegis Academy. I’m not going anywhere else.’

「If you come to us, you can become a student.」

Ariel instinctively felt that it was lying.

‘Lies!’

Once again, blood streamed from her nose. Amidst worsening dizziness, screams suddenly erupted one by one from the exhibition hall.

“Aaaah!”

“Aaaah!”

Ariel soon saw the source of the noise. People writhing in pain. People convulsing, unconscious, foaming at the mouth.

And then, one person’s body began to twist. Skin peeled off, and their head and arms grotesquely deformed.

“Aaaah! We become one!”

With a final shriek, the humans who had become monsters began to attack others.

“Run!”

“Aaaah!”

Feeling fear, Ariel, dragging her heavy feet, immediately tried to flee.

“Mom! Dad!”

Seeing her parents running towards her, Ariel struggled to smile. Had she felt a small comfort? Her smile vanished the moment she saw her parents.

“M-mom?”

Ariel wanted to close her eyes. Her parents began to twist and run towards her.

“Ariel! My daughter! Come here!”

“Let us become one!”

**