In the night, several figures were perched atop a high-rise, watching the disturbances in the neighboring city.
Two days ago, when night fell, that city had been just as noisy and bustling.
But now, under the night sky two days later, it was terrifyingly quiet.
In that ghostly stillness, even the tiniest movement felt as if it had been amplified countless times, rendered painfully clear.
"Heh-heh, it's done."
A small, pink-haired girl with short twin-tails grinned. She had fluffy animal-like ears, and at her neck hung a cute little pet with patterned markings, like a toy.
This was no ordinary drone, and no ordinary remote-controlled toy car.
There was a bomb installed on it.
It would definitely give that bastard organization Syringe a little surprise.
Call it payback for ruining her career as an idol.
Yes. Oriha Nashida, a middle school student, was an idol, and she'd been just about to launch a nationwide concert tour. But then this bastard organization turned the world into this, and now how was she supposed to hold a concert?
So as a member of Black Label, she was going to blow them up first and flip the tables on them.
"Oriha, don't do anything reckless!"
The blue-haired, mature woman in what looked like a nurse's outfit lowered her night-vision goggles. Her gorgeous face carried a stern warning as she reprimanded the child.
"Yeah, yeah, I know, Sayo-san."
Oriha stuck out her pink tongue with a wronged look.
Of course she understood the real mission right now, which was to find Syringe's true location.
Then Oriha also stuck out her tongue at the other person.
This red-brown-haired woman wasn't from Black Label at all, but a righteous policewoman named Konomi Suzue.
During the shock crisis after the virus outbreak, the group had accidentally discovered Syringe operatives hidden among the civilians, trying to sabotage things and stir up chaos, intending to plunge the shelter at Mochizuki General Hospital into disorder.
They'd moved to intervene on the spot, but the target got away, which left Oriha annoyed.
Because they had already noticed the suspect too. They'd been closing in quietly, planning to seize them in one go, and then interrogate them for anything useful.
But this policewoman had blundered in and alarmed the suspect, who immediately bolted.
And then, during the chase, the policewoman actually followed right along.
In the end, Sayo-san had no choice but to let the policewoman come with them. Otherwise, with a hotheaded officer like this acting alone, she would only interfere with their operation.
Worse, the suspect might have anti-surveillance capability. The policewoman could get spotted, lured into a trap, and meet a gruesome end.
So, with one pull, she was brought into the team, and under Sayo-san's lead they played a deadly game of hide-and-seek with the enemy.
Eventually, the suspect likely truly hadn't noticed their trail, and they made it smoothly into the urban area surrounding the shelter.
If so, they might be able to catch Syringe's base.
According to their deductions, Syringe Headquarters was also in this country, and might be hidden in one of the cities around Tobioka City.
"What is that…?"
Konomi suddenly noticed a light in the night sky rapidly approaching.
"What?"
Sayo-san—publicly a nurse, privately the heavy-weapons assault vanguard of Black Label's team—followed the detective's gaze toward the darkness.
It was a moving point of light traveling unbelievably fast. The speed was absolutely beyond the sound barrier, and the flight path was a straight line, while the altitude steadily dropped, as if it were going to arrive above the city.
Sayo-san's expression changed drastically. One possibility surfaced in her mind.
"Uh, Sayo-san… that isn't a missile strike, is it?"
Oriha, now watching it too, recalled the incidents from the past few days.
An ordinary missile wasn't an issue. There was no reason it would be aimed at them.
But if it was a missile with a nuclear warhead, then forget it. You'd just lie down and wait to die.
As soon as she said it, the object had already entered the city's airspace.
In the blink of an eye, it swept directly over their heads.
"That doesn't look like a missile, does it?"
Even though it was moving at supersonic speed, the blurred silhouette didn't resemble a missile.
More importantly, something jaw-dropping happened next.
"What even is that!"
Oriha let out a small, involuntary cry.
What kind of thing could fly at that speed?
Because it was too far away, she couldn't make it out with the naked eye, so she raised her binoculars and fixed them on the floating point of light in the sky.
She lined it up, and then she finally saw what it was.
It was—
"What the hell?"
Oriha's voice came out tangled.
It was something vaguely humanoid, with its flesh wrapped in some kind of ring-shaped apparatus.
If she had to describe it simply, it was like one of those "mecha girls" from anime.
No, not a mecha girl.
This looked more like a mecha guy.
Was she sure she wasn't seeing things?
She rubbed her eyes and refocused on the silhouette.
It was the same.
Then Oriha's entire body stiffened.
The figure lifted its head and looked over, straight at her, Sayo-san, and Konomi.
It really might have noticed them. Considering all that high-tech equipment on its body, detecting them wouldn't be strange at all.
So, that thing on him… was this really technology that should exist in this era?
But that still wasn't the key point.
His equipment began making sharp, mechanical clicks as it transformed. On the two tubes mounted on the mechanical wings on his back, parts shifted and combined into what looked like a gun.
Well, "gun" was probably the right word.
Comparing it to his body proportions, the barrel was as thick as a neck.
He aimed that "chest" toward the ground.
Then the wings on his back began to glow, as if they were drawing in starlight and moonlight from the already dim night sky, causing the surrounding brightness to drop further, making the world even darker.
Oriha didn't actually hear any crackling sound.
It was her own trembling.
Because she saw what looked like electric arcs jumping and flashing at the muzzle.
The muzzle grew brighter and brighter.
It looked exactly like a futuristic weapon attack from a sci-fi movie, the kind that sliced through space itself.
Oriha swallowed hard, her eyes locked onto it.
In the next instant, like a beam meant to pass judgment on darkness, it pierced the void, tore open the night, and unleashed a purifying verdict upon the sinful land swallowed by blackness.
For that moment, the world went silent.
That silence lasted only an extremely brief instant.
Then it would be followed by a heaven-shaking burst of brilliance.
(End of Chapter)
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