"Why is this happening?!" Ellen cried out in disbelief.
Isaac, however, simply stared fixedly at his left hand, his face void of expression. The calm demeanor he had earlier had completely vanished.
"So the particle dissolution really can't be stopped..."
Hearing Isaac's murmur, Ellen's emotions flared up again.
"No... This isn't right. The particleization of your right arm was successfully halted. That means the same should be possible for the left!"
Without waiting for Isaac's response, Ellen strode out of the surgical room and quickly brought back the doctor who had performed the earlier amputation.
Without any hesitation, she ordered the doctor to amputate Isaac's left hand as well.
Isaac did not object. At this point, there was no other choice available to him.
However, unlike the complete amputation of his right arm, this procedure only removed the particleizing fingertips.
Losing half a finger was far preferable to losing an entire arm.
Thus, the surgery was carried out smoothly.
But what happened next plunged Ellen into utter despair.
After the severed portion of Isaac's left fingers was removed, the particleization did not cease as it had with the right arm. Instead, it silently reappeared at the stump and continued to spread slowly upward.
The doctor, having witnessed this disturbing scene, was visibly shaken. The oppressive atmosphere of the surgical room left him trembling, too frightened to speak.
From these two surgeries, he could tell that something was terribly wrong with DEM's founder. But there was nothing he could do about it.
Noticing the doctor's nervous stance, Isaac calmly addressed him:
"That'll be all for now. You can leave."
The doctor immediately felt a wave of relief but kept a composed expression. After bowing respectfully to both Ellen and Isaac, he exited the surgical room.
Once he was gone, silence returned to the room.
More than a minute passed before Ellen finally spoke in a low voice.
"Isaac, this is all my fault. If I hadn't suggested sending someone to approach 'Deus,' none of this would've happened to you..."
Seeing Ellen's face filled with guilt, Isaac gently reassured her:
"Ellen, this wasn't your fault. I insisted on approaching 'Deus' myself. Honestly, this kind of outcome was always a possibility."
"But..."
Ellen wanted to say more, but Isaac cut her off.
"No buts. What's most important now is figuring out who that mysterious girl beside 'Deus' is. Not only did she know my identity, but she also seemed aware of DEM's true objective."
"And I'm nearly certain this strange condition afflicting me is her doing. I saw malice in her eyes—aimed specifically at me. 'Deus' didn't show any of that."
Yet Ellen had no interest in digging into those questions at the moment. To her, nothing was more important than her comrade's life.
"At a time like this, what could possibly be more important than your life? We need to focus on finding a way to stop this. Judging by how quickly it's spreading, we don't have much time."
"Aren't I already trying to find a new solution? At this point, the only one who can likely resolve this is the one who placed this strange power on me in the first place."
Hearing this, Ellen finally managed to calm down a little.
"You're talking about that mysterious girl? But even if we find out her identity, it won't be easy to get her to retract the power she placed on you," Ellen said.
"Even so, we still have to try, don't we?"
Isaac forced a faint smile. Though he appeared composed, he was actually falling apart inside.
Had it been sudden death, he would have had no fear. But the slow, creeping sensation of his body gradually vanishing—this prolonged march toward death—was enough to shatter any sense of calm.
Taking a light breath, Isaac continued, "Since she knows my identity, why not consider whether she might have some connection to our DEM organization? Like Elliot, perhaps?"
Before he could finish his thought, Ellen flatly rejected it.
"Impossible. If she were really related to Elliot, he would never let her do this to you."
"Really? What if Elliot is the obedient one in their relationship? That girl didn't seem weak."
Ellen froze at the suggestion, but then slowly shook her head. "Still unlikely. Didn't I tell you before—I've seen the future, thirty years from now, through the chat group? I can say for certain: no such person existed in that future."
She knew the chat group's memory images didn't record every detail of the future, but if someone like that truly stood behind Elliot or the Spirit of Origin, there's no way the future could've looked as it did.
Unless something significant had changed in the intervening thirty years.
Isaac fell silent for a moment at Ellen's words. He glanced at his now mostly disintegrated left hand and then looked back at her.
"The future isn't set in stone. The moment you learn it, it begins to change in ways you can't predict."
"You have a point. So, do you have any information about that girl? Because without it, finding out who she is won't be easy," Ellen replied.
"Not much, but I did catch her name from her conversation with 'Deus.'"
"Even knowing a name is a good start. What is it?"
"'Eriri'—that's what 'Deus' called her."
The moment Ellen heard the name, it was like she'd been struck by lightning. She froze, and her face went pale.
Regaining her senses, she immediately stood and grabbed Isaac's remaining arm, staring into his eyes as she asked, one word at a time:
"Isaac, are you absolutely sure her name is 'Eriri'?"
Isaac was taken aback by Ellen's sudden shift.
"Of course. I remember it very clearly."
His expression grew puzzled.
"Ellen, judging by your reaction, have you heard that name before?"
Ellen didn't answer right away. Instead, she gave a bitter, almost pained smile.
"Isaac, our plan to take revenge on humanity... I don't think it's possible anymore."
After saying this, she let go of his arm and slumped into the chair behind her, utterly dejected.
Isaac's brows furrowed. "Why would you say that? Just because of a girl named 'Eriri'?"
"Exactly," Ellen said with a weary nod. "Because I never imagined someone like her would appear in our world, I didn't tell you about the other members of the chat group."
With that, Isaac began to understand her meaning.
"So you're saying Eriri isn't from our world, but one of the chat group's members?"
"That's right. And not only is she the most powerful among all the chat group members, but she also holds the highest authority. She's the one who kicked me out of the chat group."
Ellen paused briefly, then let out a deep sigh.
"I never imagined she'd actually come to our world... and side with the Spirit of Origin."
Upon learning that the one beside the Spirit of Origin was Eriri, Ellen fell into complete despair.
"I see," Isaac murmured thoughtfully.
Then he suddenly asked Ellen, "Is Eriri really that strong? How does she compare to 'Deus'?"
"If the power levels shown in the chat group are real, then Eriri could destroy our entire universe with a single blow. Do you think 'Deus' is on that level?"
"Destroy the universe..." Shock spread across Isaac's face.
Truthfully, Ellen's words had stunned him.
He understood what the universe meant. Though he didn't know its full scale, he was aware that the planet beneath their feet was less than a speck of dust in the grand scheme of it.
To destroy the universe in one strike… would that mean she could obliterate this planet just by exhaling?
The thought triggered a wild idea in Isaac's mind.
He wanted to borrow Eriri's power to destroy Earth and watch as all humanity wailed and perished with it. That would be the ultimate pleasure!
But before he could entertain the fantasy any further, the sensation of his left hand continuing to disintegrate snapped him back to reality.
He didn't even know if he would survive—there was no point fantasizing.
He fell silent, his desire to live now stronger than ever.
At that moment, Ellen, who had been despondent, suddenly regained her composure.
She slapped both sides of her face with her hands, stood up, and looked seriously at Isaac.
"Isaac, I can't just watch you die. Rest here—I'm going out."
Indeed, Ellen had decided to go meet Eriri herself.
Even though she knew Eriri had no fondness for her—and had even warned her when kicking her out of the chat group—Ellen still wanted to take the risk for Isaac's sake.
She hoped that, at the very least, her past presence in the chat group might earn her a sliver of mercy.
"Ellen, you're going to find Eriri, aren't you?"
Isaac easily guessed her intentions. It was obvious—she brought up Eriri and then decided to leave.
"Yes. It's the only way to give you a chance."
Isaac fell silent again. After about ten seconds, he finally spoke:
"Ellen, I can't die yet. Our revenge against humanity isn't complete. You might say our plan has failed, but I refuse to give up!"
With firm eyes, he stared at Ellen and said solemnly, "So… I'm counting on you."
"I will." Ellen nodded firmly and turned to leave the operating room.
As the doors closed behind her, a strange smile appeared on Isaac's face.
But when he felt that half of his left hand had already vanished, the smile vanished instantly.
He enjoyed watching others slowly descend into death—but when it was happening to him, he found no pleasure in it.
Despite his constant display of concern for Ellen, deep down, her safety never truly mattered to him.
If Ellen were to die before him, he might feel a tinge of sadness—but mostly, he'd feel delight.
If he had to quantify it, it'd be one part sadness to nine parts joy.
...
Not wanting to waste time and risk Isaac's condition worsening, Ellen left DEM's Tenkuu City branch in full manifestation gear and rushed straight to where Eriri and Mio were.
By then, Eriri and Mio had already finished their museum visit and were walking toward the Himekawa household—not far from their destination.
Though it was nearly five o'clock, the streets were still crowded.
When Ellen descended from the sky in her combat gear, she immediately drew everyone's eyes away from Eriri and Mio.
Setting aside her revealing attire, even the armor she wore was enough to stun passersby.
Naturally, Eriri and Mio also looked her way. After all, she landed directly in front of them.
Though Ellen's manifestation gear was quite lewd, Eriri—who had seen every kind of spectacle—wasn't fazed by such minor eye candy.
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