The city fell into chaos.
Purple crystals spread like a plague, devouring everything in their path. Terrified screams resounded as people scattered in every direction, only to be swallowed by the burgeoning crystal.
The sky glowed an eerie purplish-red, as if the end of days had come.
In the center of the city, a towering structure of crystal—formed by countless crystallizations—rose skyward. A sinister red glimmer flickered atop it.
Under that blood-red glow, the sky was threaded with strange purple lines criss crossing like a spider's web, turning it ominous. Small fragments of viral crystal drifted down, each reflecting twisted, agonized human faces.
At the tower's base coiled innumerable purple, eye-studded tendrils. Artillery fire thundered continuously.
"Charge!!!"
Armored GHQ soldiers rushed forward, struggling to fight those crystalline tentacles. Some fired their guns, but every second, someone else got crystallized by a tentacle's onslaught.
"Aaaah!"
Screams rose amid the roar of cannon fire, merging into a dreadful chorus. An even more bizarre melee, though, took place: GHQ forces clashed head-on with Funeral Parlor.
Both aimed for the tower, while also forced to deal with fresh crystal spikes that speared up from the ground. Each side knew of the Apocalypse Virus and the existence of Lost Christmas.
Keido Shuichiro and Ouma Gai:
They both believed the second Apocalypse outbreak had been triggered by Ouma Mana, and each wanted to see her, hoping to fuse with her to become Adam. Hence, they fought to stop each other.
"All troops, retreat! The second defensive line has fallen!"
Gai's voice boomed through a loudspeaker. His body had aged so drastically that he needed a life-support exoskeleton to stand, but he still insisted on commanding.
Funeral Parlor had fewer than twenty members left, and GHQ was in poor shape as well; heavy mechs exploded one after another within the purple crystal clusters. Both sides were desperate to claim the position of Adam.
Just then, several figures suddenly appeared in the center of the battlefield.
"Ouma Shu, are you not going to come out?"
Rei Ao's cold voice rang out. Everyone halted. The GHQ commander, Keido Shuichiro, pushed aside his guards, eyes peering in astonishment from behind his glasses. Ouma Gai stood there with a stunned expression, staring at one of the figures who had arrived: Ouma Mana.
He remembered how he'd escaped from the lab in the past, drifting around until he ran into Mana, who gave him some food. From that day on, he admired her deeply.
But later, when Lost Christmas happened and he learned Mana had caused it, he resolved to become Adam himself. Now, unbelievably, Mana was here in the flesh! Though more mature than that memory, he couldn't possibly mistake her:
"Mana! Is it you?!"
He opened his powered suit's visor, shouting excitedly. Mana glanced back, eyebrows raised:
"Who are you?"
"!!!"
Her disregard failed to anger Gai; rather, he grew even more elated.
"I'm Ouma Gai! You saved my life once, and I want to save you now. Let me become Adam!"
Now that it truly was Ouma Mana, he pulled out a Void Genomic vial and gulped it down in one go.
"Look, this is my power as a King!"
"…"
Watching his display, both Tsugumi and Ayase wore looks of disgust. Once, they'd trusted him. Now he was using the Funeral Parlor as disposable pawns. They'd witnessed countless comrades perish.
"No, I'M the rightful candidate to become Adam! Mana, let's reign over the new world together!"
Hearing Gai's declaration, Keido Shuichiro also stepped forward, unwilling to let anyone else take the seat of Adam.
Mana frowned in utter revulsion. She clung to Rei Ao's arm and said in a sweet, aggrieved voice,
"Rei Ao, they're bullying me!"
Rei Ao smirked.
"Don't worry; they won't survive long."
He turned to the pair with a mocking grin.
"You two aren't after 'Adam's seat'—you're after Eve's seat."
Since Ouma Shu was Adam, that made Mana the Eve. A messed-up love triangle, if there ever was one.
Seeing Mana so intimate with an unfamiliar man made both Gai and Shūichirō seethe with jealousy. One simply felt envy, the other angry he might lose the position of Adam.
At that moment, the tower suddenly emitted a deep hum. Innumerable crystal spikes rained like a monsoon onto the ground.
"Sister, so you came after all."
Ouma Shu's voice boomed from the tower, merging with a hollow echo.
"But you brought him."
"Very well. If he's the reason you won't be Eve, then I'll just kill him!"
Crashing down, a mass of purple crystal shattered, revealing Shu's body fully crystallized in an eerie, monstrous form. The moment he appeared, Gai and Keido Shuichiro, who boasted the Void Genomic power, froze in shock. They sensed a calling from him—Adam!
"Impossible?"
"Why has Adam appeared?!"
Realizing something was off, they noticed Mana didn't possess the "Eve" aura at all. They recalled Rei Ao's taunt: They were fighting over the seat of Eve—meaning the one to fuse with Shu was Eve. But Shu was paying them no mind, staring at Rei Ao with cold, inhuman eyes. He had to kill the man making Eve refuse her role.
"Ah."
Rei Ao stood calm.
"What gave you such blind arrogance? The Apocalypse Virus? If so, I'm curious what you'd be like if I took away your Void powers."
"Huh?"
Ouma Shu frowned, mystified. To his senses, Rei Ao had neither a Void Genomic factor nor any infection. Just an ordinary human?
"What are you even talking about?" he demanded.
Rei Ao didn't bother to respond. He stepped toward the battlefield's center. The crystalline ground retreated from his footsteps. He wasn't joking about taking away Shu's Void power.
Every step forward caused translucent weapons to flicker into existence all around him—tens of thousands of Void weapons, projected in endless numbers!
~~~
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