episode_0119

In a remote section of Eclipse Point’s lower city, a gunfight resembling a war was unfolding.

Fifty people relentlessly emptied their magazines, creating gunsmoke, flames, and noise so intense it would deafen anyone, yet only one entity absorbed it all.

A white giant capable of tearing apart and exploding buildings with mere physical strength.

Even armor-piercing and gyrojet rounds, designed for penetration, were blocked by its tough, snow-white skin, only leaving minor scratches.

“Ugh, Ughaaaaa! Don’t come! Don’t comeeee!”

The first victim was a Xenotech Security operative at the very front.

His head gripped in a colossal hand, he screamed, dropping his gun and struggling to escape, but—

*Crunch- grind—*

As the ballistic tech helmet slowly crumpled under immense pressure, blood streamed down to the floor, his scream becoming a thin, metallic shriek, and then, *squelch!* his head was crushed.

The headless corpse of the operative then fell limply to the floor from the now-loosened grip, staining the gray corridor with blood. Groans of horror erupted from various places at the shocking sight.

“Spenda… that.”

“…I know.”

Most of those present shrieked almost like screams, pouring all their energy into stopping the monster, but the monster hunters known as Wild Hunt couldn’t hide their complex emotions.

Even though its skin had whitened, its eyes turned black, and its body become monstrously large, the face was still that of someone they knew.

Their friend and vanguard, lost in the last conflict with Xenotech.

“Damn it! Why is he in such a state…”

“Fucking Xenotech bastards!”

It wasn’t just Spenda and Pasio who realized this; enraged curses flew from all directions.

Emotions stained with anger and hatred began to blaze fiercely, consuming the surrounding air.

And that was extremely bad news for the Xenotech Security operatives caught between the Wild Hunt behind them and Logan, who had become a monster, in front.

The engines, which had been silent until now, roared with a mighty bellow.

The security personnel, equipped with gear comparable to corporate soldiers, were slaughtered without offering any significant resistance.

Body parts were instantly shredded by the furious spinning of bike wheels, and they were crushed and pierced by incoming hammers and sharp spear tips.

Furthermore, as the Wild Hunt focused on suppressing the monster, they lost sufficient containment, allowing the monster’s unleashed punches and kicks to tear apart cyberware-enhanced bodies with each strike, reducing their numbers.

Even with reinforcements from within the facility rushing to join, the security forces, facing overwhelming defeat, were helpless.

In that chaotic battlefield, researchers who barely clung to life, hiding in nearby buildings, desperately sent out repeated requests for support to headquarters.

“Quickly! Quickly! Quickly! Send them quickly!!!”

Even if they were indispensable talents to headquarters, they would be useless if they died in an unforeseen accident.

They strongly insisted that corporate soldiers be dispatched immediately to protect them, but headquarters’ response was lukewarm at best.

The answer they finally received was:

[“Upper management has determined that dispatching corporate soldiers in the current situation would pose an immense risk to headquarters. The disposal will occur after the drug’s effects wear off, so eliminate the Wild Hunt and the test subject as much as possible.”]

“What…?”

She doubted what she was hearing.

“H-How do we deal with… with those things! Can’t you see all the security personnel are being wiped out!”

[“We’ll leave the situation to those on site. I’m busy, so I’ll be taking my leave now.”]

*Click—* The hologram vanished without a trace.

Even when she repeatedly sent communication requests like a machine, there was no connection.

That simple statement meant one thing:

They were abandoned.

It meant simply dying cleanly and being buried there.

“Aaaaaaah!”

While a series of incidents unfolded at the border of the Golden Circle and Tony Boney’s restricted access zones, the repercussions spread to the central area as well.

A sudden, massive explosion.

Not just once, but continuous, irregular, massive vibrations and rising pillars of dust.

The EP news agencies’ eyes reddened at the exclusive scoop that appeared amidst their boredom, and they began spreading conspiracy theories about terrorism by the USA against Eclipse Point or whatever.

Naturally, attention focused on Xenotech Holdings, the managing corporation of that district, and Xenotech casually announced that it seemed gas remaining in an abandoned pipe had exploded.

[“That’s what they say… but there’s no way that’s true.”]

“I told you to go recruit some people, and now look what’s happened…”

Nexus Block’s Cylinder 77.

In the executive office of R&B Risk Control, an emerging corporation and subsidiary of Ayakashi, Hiko was communicating with Luna via hologram, and they were exchanging opinions.

“Xenotech will try to cover it up somehow. Looking at the footage Jay Q is sending, if this matter becomes public, Xenotech will suffer a significant loss.”

It was a fact known only to Luna for now, but a portion of the lab data transmitted through Martina showed that the white giant wasn’t simply a super-human with body modifications.

A gene pool differentiated from current humanity due to mutation, yet reproductive capabilities remained.

That being, which could be called an entirely new species beyond transhumanism, practically should not exist anywhere in the world, let alone in Eclipse Point.

[“I shall help the news agencies unable to conduct their coverage flights due to those Xenotech scoundrels.”]

“Do you know that if he’s caught being involved, it’ll be troublesome for us too?”

[“Hahaha. Of course. But precisely because of that, we must give the impression of being deeply involved in this matter. R&B Risk Control is nominally a subsidiary of Ayakashi, and Jun has been introduced as a direct descendant who received the Ayakashi family name, so external intervention attempts must be blocked.”]

Fight fire with fire [lit. use poison to combat poison].

An opponent whose power difference was too vast for a head-on confrontation.

Their only advantage was that external protests or checks, not political infighting behind the scenes, would have to be blocked by Nojaburo, the family’s elder.

It meant creating a huge incident and then forcing them to clean up the mess.

And Luna realized that if one disregarded the fact that the plan was quite aggressive and had a large ripple effect, it would be quite effective.

Interfering with such an agreement would involve at minimum megacorps and the agreement committee. A coalition of immense power and wealth that even Chairman Nojaburo would have to block, enduring losses.

The Ayakashi princess, with her black hair gracefully cascading down, smiled chillingly with red eyes.

[“Now, let’s start a corporate war.”]

***

*Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump—*

At some point, news helicopters began to fill the skies.

They captured the war unfolding on the outskirts of Eclipse Point with ultra-high-performance cameras whose appearance might be mistaken for large-caliber cannons.

Contrary to Xenotech Holdings’ announcement that it was merely an accident, the fierce intensity of the battle, where the Wild Hunt, Xenotech Security, and the white test subject were mixed, was captured by cameras and broadcast.

Naturally, chaos.

Another massive war, following the Rossboard Uprising last year.

Xenotech Security personnel whose presence in such a place was unknown, bikers wearing full-face helmets and plate armor, and a white-skinned giant.

Viewers of the broadcast speculated about their identities, igniting their communities and chats with heated debates, and Xenotech had to endure an enormous influx of protests from megacorps.

And only a few people noticed something in one corner of the screen.

They noticed someone wearing a white jacket standing on the rooftop of the building next to the completely collapsed facility.

***

Torn and mangled corpses lay strewn everywhere, emitting a foul stench.

This was all the work of a single entity.

*Whoosh—!*

As the fist passed with the sound of compressed air, a security operative and a Wild Hunt member, who had been facing each other, were turned into a spray of blood and sent flying.

He picked up a motorcycle, with only its lower half remaining, like a club and smashed it down, causing the fuel tank to explode. Several people nearby were caught in the explosion, suffering burns and screaming as they writhed on the ground.

The vanguard rider, Spenda, twisted the throttle at that sight.

“Spenda!”

“…”

“Don’t go! It’s a dog’s death!”

Pasio, the reserve rider, who had struck the incoming test subject with a hammer, sending it flying, shouted, but Spenda simply pulled the throttle for a long time without a word, letting out an even fiercer exhaust roar.

As if to say, “Look here.”

*VROOOOOOOOOOOMM—!!!*

A deafening roar.

As the 160-decibel exhaust roar echoed through the street, the white giant’s gaze fixed on the rider atop the silver steel steed.

Their gazes met.

However, with one’s gaze obscured by a visor and the other’s black pupils swallowed by inverted eyes, it was impossible to tell if their gazes truly connected, yet the former vanguard rider and the current vanguard rider, without a moment’s hesitation, charged toward each other.

“Spenda!!!”

*CRASH—!!!*

The collision occurred in less than two seconds.

The white giant’s palm pressed down on the bike’s frame.

*Crun-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch—!!!*

A sickening stench of burning rubber rose, along with tar-mixed smoke and fragments of the asphalt road that were being ground away each second.

With its height slowly lowering as if sinking, *crack!* the bike fully settled with an ominous sound.

On the crumpled bike, the vanguard rider stood on their own two feet, not the bike’s wheels.

*Squeeze!*

He seized their wrist and lifted!

However, Spenda was instead overpowered by a monstrous strength that wouldn’t budge.

*Snap—*

Both leg joints shattered, and the cyberware-replaced legs completely broke off and flew away.

The white giant then rotated its wrist, twisting and snapping the metal-armored arm in a circular motion.

The monster, having easily twisted the metal exoskeleton and cyberware arm, grabbed the head of the current vanguard rider, who had lost both arms and both legs, and lifted them.

The neck muscles stretched, and the body hung limp, swaying with gravity.

*Crunch—*

The grip tightened, and the helmet was crushed and shattered.

The vanguard rider’s bare face was revealed by the fragments of the helmet breaking and falling.

A tough woman with blue hair looked down at the monster with hazy eyes.

“…Logan.”

Blood streamed from her eyes, nose, ears, and mouth as she called his name.

“…S-Spenda?”

“Yes, my Logan…”

The monster murmured that name, whose meaning it might not have understood, and startled as if it had broken something it shouldn’t have, releasing Spenda’s head.

*Thump—* Spenda’s body, freed from the monster’s grip, fell limply to the ground by gravity, and the white giant, at a loss, bent down.

“…I have a favor.”

“A, favor?”

“Kill me… with you.”

She forced her completely twisted and broken arm up by moving her shoulder and placed her hand on the monster’s cheek with her final request.

“Fuck off.”

*Slam!*

The white giant was sent flying, smashing through a building’s display window and tumbling inside.

As Spenda winced at the falling artificial sunlight, a boy in a shining white jacket, backlit by the light, was holding a half-empty liquor bottle.

“Oh~ only you get to take drugs? I can do it too!”

*Gulp- gulp- gulp—*

High-proof distilled liquor vanished down his throat in an instant.

*Clink!*

He casually tossed the empty bottle to the ground, then wiped his mouth with his sleeve, a wry smile on his face.

*Thump- thud—* The white giant, stirring from the debris, rose again, its muscles bulging as it lost its sanity once more.

“Hoo-ha! It’s Round 3. This isn’t the main event, so don’t even think about accidentally going to Round 5, okay?”