The enemy's lair naturally referred to the highest authorities.
Saigō Homura's meaning was simple. Since they couldn't find the experimental facilities, why not just go after the source of all the problems—the highest authorities?
If they were the ones responsible for all these sins, then wouldn't eliminating that trash allow them to find the remaining facilities and save the other victims who were still suffering?
This simple and brutal method sent the others into deep thought.
However, upon hearing it, Izayoi shook his head.
"Homura, I understand your anger. But as I've said before, even if we take out the highest authorities, new ones will just take their place. It's impossible to clear this Trial by relying on violence alone."
The Saigō brothers had discussed this same issue before, so there was no need to elaborate.
A decapitation strike was ineffective against the authorities, who existed as an abstract concept. Even if the current leaders died, new ones would simply be born.
Following Homura's method might cleverly sabotage the Dystopia project, but it wouldn't allow them to clear the Trial. The newly born authorities would just start similar projects all over again.
They might be able to destroy the current Demon Dragon Satan once, but they couldn't be sure they could do it a hundred or a thousand times.
"Ultimately, we must defeat the enemy in the proper manner, with the proper methods, to truly overcome Humanity's Final Trial."
Izayoi stated the sound argument.
"And where is this 'proper manner'?" Homura asked.
"We haven't found it yet."
Izayoi met his younger brother's gaze calmly.
"Are we supposed to ignore the sins those bastards are committing just for that reason?!" Homura demanded, a rare challenge directed at his own brother.
"Every single second we do nothing, countless victims are enduring hellish suffering and paying a price we can't even imagine!"
The images he had seen at the human experimentation facility twisted his face in a pained grimace.
Faced with this fury, Izayoi remained calm.
"I know, Homura. But even so, we must clear this Trial the right way. That is the only way to win a future for humanity."
"I won't say their sacrifices are a necessary price, but I must tell you this: we are trying to overcome an apocalyptic calamity. Our mission is to prevent the entire infinite multiverse from falling into ruin."
"If we choose the wrong path out of a moment's anger, it won't just be our world—the entire infinite multiverse will be plunged into a state of eternal damnation!"
Izayoi was well aware of how many innocent souls the enemy had just claimed. His own sense of justice filled him with an uncontrollable killing intent, but for the sake of their ultimate goal, he endured it and warned his brother.
They could not pay a greater, perhaps eternal, price for a moment of satisfaction.
"…"
Homura clenched his fists and fell silent.
He knew better than anyone that Izayoi was right. But when he thought of the scenes he had just witnessed, of the thousands of victims who had lost their lives because of their own weakness, his body couldn't help but tremble.
If sacrifices had to be made for the future, why—why was it always these innocent victims who had to be sacrificed?
Was there truly no way to save them?
Seeing his brother's silence, Izayoi placed both hands on his shoulders, his tone softening.
"Homura, you should know this. We may be savior candidates, but we don't always have the advantage in power."
"Just as we discussed last time, if you try to solve problems using the methods of evil, you yourself become the problem. Evil is always defeated by a greater evil. That cycle has no end."
If they followed Homura's idea this time and used violence to eliminate the highest authorities, the next authorities to rise would only conduct even more wicked, more horrifying experiments to gain the power to surpass Homura, until they had completely erased this anomaly.
That clearly wouldn't solve the problem; it would only escalate it.
The true solution had to be like the Bull of Heaven incident, where Kudō Asuka, as the representative for the popularization of Stellar Particles, defeated the enemy in an open and honorable contest.
Force was important, but a strategy that could guarantee their advantage in force was even more important.
Izayoi's words couldn't have been more correct. To truly overcome the Dystopian Demon Lord before them, they had almost no choice but to do as he said.
"I know…"
Homura nodded. He understood the correctness of Izayoi's logic better than anyone, but he also resisted it more than anyone.
In the end, didn't it just mean they had to stand by and watch those victims be sacrificed?
The high-and-mighty authorities committed one sin after another, creating one apocalypse after another, while savior candidates like them were forced to run around frantically, cleaning up the messes the authorities made, watching helplessly as the authorities treated the innocent with wanton, inhuman cruelty.
Was that fair?
Honestly, he felt his comrades had already done their absolute best.
But in the face of the authorities' relentless sins, their strength was still stretched thin.
Izayoi might look full of life now, but his injuries hadn't fully healed. If he didn't possess the Third Stellar Particle Host Master, he would be lying in a hospital bed right now.
Under the enemy's assault, Typhon was on the verge of death, with only a three-day countdown left on her life; Lady Asuka's power was completely sealed, reducing her to a mere mortal; Percher and Kudō Ayato had both sustained minor injuries; Kasukabe Yō was rushing everywhere, easily the most exhausted of them all.
Even more tragic were the victims who had already lost their lives under the authorities' schemes, those who were about to lose their lives, and those who were currently suffering.
For all their efforts, they could only slightly stanch the victims' bleeding and tears. They were almost completely powerless to help the other victims they knew about.
And while they were doing all this, what were the highest authorities doing?
They were impeccably dressed, watching the fire from the other side of the river. They were the very source of the sin, yet they remained untouched.
"I understand what you mean, Izayoi… The end of fighting evil with evil is only destruction…" Homura repeated.
He didn't doubt Izayoi's wisdom, and he believed his brother would eventually find a way to overcome Humanity's Final Trial. Those in power would ultimately pay the price.
But by then, the victims who were struggling right now would likely have long since lost their lives.
When that time came, would the price the authorities paid truly be enough to atone for their sins?
Of course not!
Even if they were torn to a million pieces, it would never be enough to offset their sinful karma.
Therefore—
Homura's head snapped up, the fire in his eyes startling even Izayoi.
"Judge great evil with ultimate evil… If I myself stand at the pinnacle of evil, won't I be qualified to eliminate all lesser villains, to crush all authorities, and give them no chance to commit evil in the first place?!"
Homura's declaration was nothing short of madness.
He hadn't given up on taking action against the current authorities; in fact, he intended to take action against all authorities that would ever exist!
Izayoi had said that evil would one day be defeated by a greater evil. Fine. Homura decided he would become the greatest evil himself, reigning above all authorities and passing judgment on all their sins.
"What nonsense are you talking?!"
Izayoi subconsciously thought he was joking, but seeing his expression, he knew he wasn't and immediately refuted him.
"If you do that, won't you become the greatest evil yourself? Besides you taking the place of the authorities, what difference is there from before? Humanity's Final Trial remains unsolved. Where is the justice you hope for?"
Going to such extremes would never lead to a good outcome.
Hearing Izayoi's words, Homura's gaze was incredibly firm.
"If I become the ultimate evil… then justice will be found upon my corpse!"
"If I sever all sin, then all anyone has to do is defeat me to overcome Humanity's Final Trial. Wouldn't that be perfect?!"
Unlike before, when he had been left speechless by Izayoi's questioning, in this instant, Homura had truly reached an epiphany.
If the foolishness and sin of the authorities were unending, and if cutting off that sin with violence would only provoke them to greater evil, then wouldn't him severing all sin and completely blocking the authorities solve everything?
As for the future of the infinite multiverse, as long as someone could defeat him, the representative of absolute evil, wouldn't they be able to overcome all of Humanity's Final Trials born from malice and lead humanity into a new era?
On this point, Homura had great faith in his older brother.
The theory was logically self-consistent and perfectly interlinked.
Aside from the need to sacrifice himself, Homura could find no flaw in it.
If sacrificing himself meant those victims no longer had to be sacrificed, that the authorities would be sacrificed along with him, and that his comrades could live on safely, then he felt it was a worthy trade.
The only ones he would be letting down were probably his teachers, and…
"You're insane!"
Izayoi grabbed his brother by the collar, leaning down to stare into his eyes, trying to make Homura abandon this crazy idea.
Even he couldn't find a practical flaw in Homura's logic, but—
"Are you asking me, your older brother, to stand by and watch you do something so suicidally foolish?!"
His feelings as a brother would never allow such a thing to happen.
A perfectly good savior candidate wanting to fall and become a Demon Lord? He would never permit it!
With his collar in his brother's grip, Homura offered no resistance. He met Izayoi's gaze with an abnormally calm expression.
"To save those children, this is the only way."
"…"
Izayoi was at a loss for words.
It wasn't because he couldn't refute it, but because this was the first time Homura had faced his furious gaze without flinching.
Even if his idea was too extreme, Izayoi had to admit one thing—his little brother had grown up.
However…
"I'll find another way. Until then, you are not to do anything stupid!"
Izayoi let go of Homura and left without looking back.
He realized that if he couldn't find another way, his foolish little brother truly intended to carry out that idiotic plan.
Watching Izayoi's retreating back, Homura didn't raise a hand. The dragon's phantom behind him extended a limb to adjust his glasses for him.
"If only it were that simple to find a way," Homura sighed.
"…"
Having witnessed the first-ever conflict between the two brothers, the Kudou Sisters and Percher looked at each other, not knowing what to say.
After straightening his clothes, Homura was no longer flustered as he had been before. He turned to his comrades with a normal expression.
"Lady Asuka, Lady Ayato, and Miss Percher, I'll leave Typhon in your care. I need to hurry back to my research."
"Oh." X3.
The three of them nodded dumbly.
Then, Saigō Homura, his aura completely different, as if he had become another person, nodded and quickly walked away.
Just then, Percher suddenly noticed that the shadow behind Homura cast ferocious claws and fangs like a dragon-serpent under the light.
She jumped in fright.