Yuriko Takagi froze for a moment upon hearing Saya Takagi's words. She never expected her daughter to secretly follow her—and witness what had happened between her and Kenthelion… in bed. Her mind went blank. What should she do now? Saya already knew. Yuriko panicked.
"I… I…" Yuriko murmured, glancing at Saya Takagi, who stood with her head lowered, face flushed. She was probably remembering last night—what happened between Yuriko and Kenthelion. Yuriko didn't know what to say. Would she believe me if I told her we just drank too much wine?
"Mom… I'm not blaming you," Saya said quietly. "I know you haven't been happy at home. I know you and Dad have been sleeping in separate rooms."
Saya looked at her mother, confused and speechless. My father and mother's relationship has been broken for a long time. But… how could she end up with Kenthelion? Their age difference alone…
"Sweetie, I don't even know what happened," Yuriko admitted. "Even though it's only been a few days since I met Kenthelion, I've felt so happy. We drank wine together last night, and… that's why things ended up like this—like what you saw."
She turned her eyes to the sea. It's been so long since I've felt this peaceful. The weight from the past… it's like it's all vanished.
Saya watched her mother closely. There was something different about her—her temperament, her expression. Yuriko looked beautiful in a way Saya hadn't seen before. What changed? She didn't know. But somehow… her mother looked like a woman in love.
At that moment, the loud roar of engines filled the air. They both looked up toward the sky.
Dozens of high-tech aircraft—Banshees, Vikings, and Valkyries—were taking off one by one, soaring across the sky with incredible speed.
"Mom, what are those?" Saya asked, eyes wide as she watched the strange-looking planes in flight. "There must be more than fifty of them!"
"They're heading out to bomb the zombies," Yuriko replied calmly, still watching the aircraft. "The undead are getting close to Tokyo."
"The zombies are already here. Aren't you afraid they might come this way, Mother?" Takagi Saya said calmly.
"Don't worry," Yuriko Takagi replied, trying to reassure her daughter. "Just wait and see—if they ever get here."
"Come on, I'll take you to the command center." Yuriko Takagi took her daughter's hand and led her through the facility.
Inside the command center, Kenthelion stood, eyes fixed on the massive screen with sharp focus. One by one, bombers took off from the runway, slicing through the sky toward the battlefield. On the ground, the Astra Militarum faced an unimaginable horde of zombies—more than ten million of them, advancing relentlessly.
"The forces are split into four sectors: North, West, East, and South Tokyo. Each has a hundred thousand soldiers ready for battle!" a commander's voice echoed firmly through the radio.
The battlefield roared with the sounds of lasgun fire, artillery blasts, and the thundering cannons of Leman Russ tanks. The tanks rampaged through the hordes, sending zombie bodies flying. Yet no matter how torn apart, the undead pressed on, driven by primal instinct. The gunfire seemed to only attract them more.
Kenthelion frowned as the screen showed several zombies breaking through the outer defenses. They spread rapidly into the city, threatening what remained of the civilian population.
"Mr. Kenthelion, have the zombies arrived?" Yuriko Takagi asked as she entered, her daughter Takagi Saya walking beside her.
Takagi Saya looked at Kenthelion in silence. The longer she observed him, the more she realized how little she actually knew him. From the day they first met at school, on the bus, at her house, and now here in the command center—Kenthelion remained the most fascinating and enigmatic figure in her life.
"Yes. This place is now one of their mass burial sites," Kenthelion said, pointing at the large screen.
On the screen, zombies pressed tightly together, pushing and being thrown around, yet relentlessly advancing. Yuriko and Takagi Saya felt their scalps go numb watching the endless sea of the undead—like an unending wave of humans.
One by one, Banshee and Valkyrie aircraft began dropping bombs, followed by lasgun fire, artillery blasts, and volleys from Astra Militarum's Leman Russ tanks. The battlefield erupted in flames as zombie bodies were torn apart and hurled in all directions.
Yuriko and her daughter instinctively turned their faces away, scared by the horrifying sight.
But the fighter jets kept dropping bombs, while the zombie hordes behind kept pushing forward. The place had turned into a gruesome meat grinder.
Once the bombing run finished, the planes quickly turned back and returned to Haneda Airport. At the same time, Viking units transformed from flight mode into ground vehicles, unleashing gatling gun fire on the zombies. On the battlefield, only zombies consumed by flames or crushed by tanks, artillery, and gatling fire remained.
Kenthelion stood silently, watching everything on the large screen in the command center. The waves of zombies kept coming, advancing over piles of charred, scattered corpses. But now, their ranks were becoming disorganized and less concentrated.
The battle had raged from dawn to dusk. Now, the gunfire had gone quiet, the air heavy with smoke and the scent of blood. But the silence wasn't peace—it was only the eye of the storm.
Another wave of zombies could arrive at any moment.
The Astra Militarum remained on high alert. The intense firefight and multiple explosions earlier that day had likely drawn the attention of undead swarms from neighboring cities around Tokyo.
Inside the city, an estimated 50,000 zombies still roamed. For the forces of Kenthelion, this was a manageable number—easily eradicated if the order was given.
"I'm starving," Kenthelion said, rising from his seat and glancing at Yuriko and Saya Takagi. "Let's grab some food."
"I guess I could eat too," Yuriko replied with a soft smile, the weariness of battle showing in her eyes.
The trio made their way out of the command center and returned to the Takagi residence.
Dinner was quiet—too quiet. There was a lingering tension that hung over the table like smoke on a battlefield. Saya stole several glances at Kenthelion, as if she wanted to speak but couldn't quite bring herself to say the words.
"Something on your mind, Saya?" Kenthelion asked, turning to her with a calm, steady gaze.
Saya's hands clenched slightly on the table. "Can you… save my father?" she asked at last, her voice barely above a whisper.
Kenthelion looked her in the eyes. On the surface, she appeared composed—confident, even. But there was a storm raging beneath her calm facade.
"There are millions of infected out there," he said quietly. "I've eliminated most of them using my forces, but not even I can be everywhere at once. I don't have enough soldiers to save every survivor hiding out there. Not yet."
He paused, then added, "The city's still unstable. If I pull troops from this sector just to rescue one man—even if it's your father—we'd be risking the lives of everyone we haven't evacuated yet."
Saya bit her lower lip and lowered her gaze.
But after a moment, she looked back up, determination shining in her eyes.
"Then… could you sell weapons to my father's group? Just for 100 yen. Right now, most of them don't even have proper gear—they're using wooden sticks."
Yuriko turned toward Kenthelion as well, her expression serious now. She knew her daughter rarely begged for anything.
Yuriko looked at Kenthelion, her gaze deeper and more serious this time. She knew her husband wasn't weak. But fighting a horde of zombies armed only with wooden sticks… that was a suicide mission.
Kenthelion fell silent for a moment, his expression unreadable. He took a deep breath and said firmly,
"Yuriko Takagi, take your daughter to the military warehouse. Grab as many weapons as you need. Send them to your husband's group."
Yuriko's face showed a flicker of surprise. "Are you sure?"
"As far as I know, there's American military equipment stored in one of the containers—almost ten crates. Take everything if necessary."
Kenthelion didn't explain further. He didn't mention the debt he owed Soichiro Takagi, a man who had once humiliated him but was forgiven nonetheless. Nor did he mention the more personal reason—the nights he now spent with Yuriko, his wife.
This was his way of making amends.
Those weapons meant nothing to him—just backup gear, outdated technology in his eyes. If Soichiro could survive the next wave of zombies, good. If not, it was fate's call.
As the Emperor of the Imperium Caelestis, Kenthelion couldn't afford to think small.
But what he didn't know—and no one had told him—was that the Inquisitors and Adepta Senoritas had their own plans.
To them, Soichiro Takagi and his group were heretics. A faction that had insulted their Emperor time and time again. And tomorrow, over 50,000 zombies would be deliberately driven straight to Soichiro's location.
A cleansing by fire.
For the honor of their Emperor.
Takagi Saya gratefully thanked them and followed Yuriko Takagi to the military warehouse. After all, her mother knew exactly what to do. While American military equipment wasn't as advanced as what Kenthelion used, it was more than enough to survive a zombie horde.
As Yuriko led her daughter to the storage site, the Astra Militarum guards immediately stood at attention and saluted her.
"Open the gate," Yuriko ordered calmly, her voice carrying quiet authority.
"Yes, ma'am!"
Yuriko allowed herself a small smile upon hearing the soldiers call her Kenthelion's wife. There was a subtle pride in it.
Inside, Takagi Saya was stunned. Before her stood rows upon rows of open containers, filled with American military gear—assault rifles, grenades, tanks, even old fighter jets. Boxes of ammunition and explosives were stacked neatly in the back, and several unopened containers surely held even more weapons.
"I-Is this all, Mother?" Takagi Saya asked, nearly speechless.
Yuriko glanced at her. "Saya, how many guards are stationed at the mansion now?"
"About 3,000 to 4,000, Mother."
"Then we'll prepare rifles and handguns for 3,520 people. Add 20 flamethrowers, and five million rounds of ammunition."
Takagi Saya grinned. "That's more than enough, Mother. With this, Father can definitely hold the line."
Yuriko then gave the order to the soldiers to pack the weapons into containers and send them to the Takagi family residence.
But elsewhere, the Inquisitors and Adepta Sororitas had also received the news. Still, they did not waver. The fact that the heretics had received weapons from their glorious Emperor only fueled their conviction further.
If anything, it strengthened their resolve.
Fifty thousand zombies would not be enough.
They would gather a hundred thousand more. And tomorrow, they would drive them straight to the Takagi estate.
A holy purge by fire.