"I thought my Divinity would return once the enemy was defeated, but it seems it's not that simple."
Kudou Asuka tried to keep her voice calm, but she couldn't completely hide the bitterness within it.
After all the effort to reach the top tier of the Salvation Group, her power was now sealed by the enemy—and it seemed to be permanent. That alone was enough to fill her with regret.
But right now, more than her lost power, she was concerned about being useless in this crisis.
Since the Red Dragon Satan and the Bull of Heaven were both mass-produced monsters, then just like how defeating one Bull of Heaven was followed by a crisis a hundred times greater, the Red Dragon Satan must also herald a crisis at least a hundred times more severe.
Even if she could still use her power, without the enhancement of her Divinity, it would be completely useless on a battlefield of this level.
Doesn't that make me a burden?
Holding everyone back at such a critical moment was a huge blow to Kudou Asuka's pride.
"Damn it!"
Seeing Kudou Asuka's pale face, Saigō Homura clenched his fists, his inner rage burning even hotter.
The enemy's feint this time was a stroke of genius.
On the surface, it seemed the enemy was defeated by Typhon without achieving much, but in reality, they had only lost a single mass-produced unit, while the price the Salvation Group paid was immeasurable.
In less than thirty seconds of combat, Percher and Kudou Ayato were lightly injured, and Kudou Asuka completely lost her power, unable to join the fight.
One of the Salvation Group's three strongest combatants had been taken out of the picture.
They hadn't suffered such a major loss since the trials began.
As rage burned within him, Kasukabe Yō had already returned to the main base at godspeed, and Saigō Izayoi arrived a few minutes later.
"We have to thank Typhon properly when he wakes up!" Kasukabe Yō said with a serious expression after learning what had happened.
The moment the second Evil Dragon Satan appeared, she and Izayoi realized there was a problem.
With no time to get bogged down in a fight, she left the second Evil Dragon at the research base to Izayoi and rushed back to the main base herself.
At her godspeed, it would only take thirty seconds to get back, but she still felt uneasy.
Because before the communication system was destroyed, she had seen the Evil Dragon Satan that appeared at the main base. Both its size and aura were ten times stronger than the one she had just fought.
For a monster of that level, thirty seconds was enough time to destroy an entire country, let alone the main base.
Heaven knows what she felt when she returned to find nothing but a field of ruins. She almost thought everyone at the base had been wiped out.
Fortunately, her hearing was extremely sharp, and she quickly detected movement below, allowing her to find her comrades.
Therefore, she was immensely grateful to Typhon for eliminating the attacker.
"As we should be."
Kudou Asuka nodded.
"If it weren't for him, we might all be dead."
"Let's save the thanks for when he wakes up! I also agree we should reward him handsomely!"
Saigō Izayoi nodded in agreement, then changed the subject.
"But for now, let's focus on the enemy. After all, who knows if that thing will come back..."
Hearing this, a chill ran down everyone's spine.
"Exactly! If a few more of those things show up, Izayoi and I can still avenge Asuka, but if a hundred of them appear like the Bulls of Heaven, we'll be in trouble," Kasukabe Yō said.
She and Izayoi both had the power to defeat an Evil Dragon on their own, but they would be overwhelmed if the numbers were too great.
"The key is still the Young Miss..."
Izayoi turned to look at Kudou Asuka.
According to their previous strategy, Kudou Asuka's power was best suited for dealing with swarms of enemies. They even thought she could easily control the enemy's entire army.
But when it came to the Evil Dragon Satan, not only did Kudou Asuka's ability fail, but even her control over the Bull of Heaven was nullified.
What was going on?
"To break the seal on the Young Miss's Divinity, we need to understand the mechanics of the Evil Dragon Satan," Izayoi analyzed.
"I've already saved the combat data logs from the previous battle. I'll go analyze them now." As a researcher, Saigō Homura readily took on the task.
"But this data alone won't be enough to understand its internal workings. After all, we don't have any samples this time..." Saigō Homura added as a reminder.
Typhon's pillar of light possessed destructive power of an annihilating nature. The destruction was so complete that there were no remains to study, making it difficult for him to perform any reverse engineering.
"In terms of project completion, the Evil Dragon Satan is far superior to the Bull of Heaven. Without more detailed information, it's hard to determine its principles."
During the Bull of Heaven incident, Saigō Homura first confirmed its watery immortality, then captured a sample, and was finally able to fully analyze it.
This time, with the Evil Dragon Satan, they weren't so lucky.
To understand this project in depth, they needed additional intelligence.
"More detailed information... That's right!"
At this, everyone paused, exchanged glances, and thought of an important person related to the Satan project.
"That little girl, the victim!"
A few minutes later, Kasukabe Yō went and brought back the girl named Lapko.
The girl had black hair and was less than 1.4 meters tall. Though she was a petite loli, she was quite well-developed, even rivaling Kudou Asuka.
"You said you were involved in the Satan project and remember what it was like?"
"Y-Y-Yes! I remember everything, and I've already drawn it all. Look!"
Lapko nodded immediately and presented her sketchbook as if it were a treasure.
The contents were less like drawings and more like photographs, with every angle marked with perfect clarity, showcasing the artist's unparalleled confidence.
"Are you sure your memory is completely accurate?" Saigō Homura asked, astonished by the drawings.
If these were actual photographs, he could pinpoint the base's exact location from the star patterns alone, with a margin of error of less than a kilometer.
He had heard of hyperthymesia, but to remember things this clearly... wasn't that a bit of an exaggeration?
"I'm sure! I can remember everything I've ever seen perfectly, storing it as data in my mind. I can even use that data to perform calculations and achieve something like prophecy."
Lapko nodded firmly, confidently explaining her ability.
"Digitizing everything, even predicting the future? A Laplace's Demon?"
As a researcher, Saigō Homura was naturally familiar with the thought experiment, and he now understood why the long, black-haired loli before him had that name.
"According to the files, you were indeed moved between several unknown bases, but you weren't subjected to any human experiments?"
Izayoi looked through the girl's file, finding it a bit strange.
Although the girl was one of the victims, her treatment was much better than the others.
"My job was to use my power to help them predict experiment results and fight for budget," Lapko said honestly.
"The advice I gave by predicting the future helped them get money and even cook the books, so they didn't make me do experiments."
Compared to tedious experiments, cooking the books was obviously more profitable.
Naturally, the researchers were happy to have Lapko help.
And for Lapko, it was a way to ensure her own safety while reducing the suffering of her fellow victims, so she had no reason to refuse.
Lapko's story intrigued everyone. After passing her file around, Saigō Homura suddenly spoke up.
"With your ability to predict the future, can't you also predict what will happen with the Satan project?"
He had already taken her drawings to look up the exact address, but he realized the value of Lapko's ability. If her computational power was truly that great, her predictions might be more accurate than anything he could figure out after hours of analysis.
"It's less about predicting the future and more about calculating a single possibility from the data," Lapko corrected Saigō Homura before continuing.
"As for the Satan project, if you're talking about that big red dragon, I'll need more information to make a prediction."
"No problem!"
Saigō Homura nodded and pulled up the video recording of the battle at the main base for Lapko.
After watching the entire recording with a serious expression, conducting an on-site investigation, and thoroughly questioning everyone, the girl named Lapko closed her eyes and began to concentrate.
Using his instruments, Saigō Homura detected a rapid increase in the activity of Third Stellar Particles around Lapko's body.
Clearly, she was using her innate BDA precognitive talent to construct a model of the Satan project in her mind.
A few minutes later, Lapko opened her eyes.
"Did you find anything?" Kudou Asuka asked immediately.
"Yes."
Lapko nodded slowly, her gaze unfocused as she stared at Kudou Asuka and spoke in a dreamlike tone.
"He is the devil of Eden, the king of Hell;"
"He builds a blasphemous Paradise Lost in the name of God;"
"His name is Satan, the Enemy of God. His purpose is the Final Trial of Humanity. His title is... the Dystopian Demon Lord!"