Shido Koichi chuckled, sweeping his hair back with one hand.
So it really could be mass-produced now. A finished product.
Meaning everyone at the Dam 750 Power Station had already taken it. Immune to the Dead virus. Every last one of them a "savior."
And just like that, his dream of molding Komuro Takashi into a "savior," using him as the core of a new-world paradise under his control, shattered on the spot.
"Takagi Yuriko. So you're laughing at us? You're treating us like clowns, is that it?"
A moment ago he still looked every inch the gentleman, but by the end of the sentence his face had twisted, his lips trembling.
"Looks like we'll have to use slightly rougher methods to make you behave."
After he sighed those words out, Shido snapped his fingers.
That snap was the signal. His followers behind him brought out their weapons from where they'd been concealed.
In an instant, the people at the power station—separated by the dam's barriers—saw the guns and panicked.
They panicked hard, falling all over themselves, looking utterly ridiculous.
Shido was good at hiding what he really was, and he could tell at a glance that most of them were putting on a show—acting scared.
Still, some of them did flinch for real, worried someone on his side might accidentally fire.
More than that, though, was the confidence on their faces, like they genuinely believed that if this came down to force, his side wasn't worth looking at.
But Shido hadn't seen any weapons on them. And the distance between the two groups was close.
Even if his people had only touched a gun for the first time today, they still knew how to pull a trigger. At this range, they could hit plenty of targets without even trying.
So where was Takagi's group getting that kind of nerve?
The answer was standing right there—this guy.
A young man. From the beginning to the end, the way he looked at them was like they were monkeys in a cage, like he was watching a show. It made Shido's skin crawl.
Well. The masks were off now. No point holding back.
He made a flashy motion, drew the pistol he'd hidden inside his coat, and aimed—ready to be just as rude as they were.
He squeezed the trigger.
…Huh?
There was no feeling of a trigger pull at all.
Instead, his palm separated from his wrist and dropped, still holding the gun.
What…?
A split second later, agony detonated through his arm. Shido's mind couldn't even form a coherent thought before the scream tore out of him.
And it wasn't just him.
Behind him, the armed men were screaming too.
What the hell had happened?
Shido's eyes jerked up to the sky. A drone—sleek, shaped like a small fighter—hovered above. The thin streak of light he'd caught earlier… it had come from that.
The drone shifted slightly, and this time he saw it clearly: several beams flashed out, firing backward.
He turned—
And saw someone trying to run.
A clean red line appeared across the runner's body, perfectly straight. Then the body split along that line and collapsed into neatly cut chunks of flesh.
"Run faster," the young man said, sounding almost delighted. "All you'll become is meat."
Shido snapped his head back toward the voice—toward the man who'd been getting under his skin the whole time.
Then, in what felt like a blink, Shido was staring in numb confusion at his surroundings.
He still hadn't processed his defeat. He couldn't understand how the Takagi family had power like this.
But one thing was obvious.
He wasn't at the dam anymore.
He'd been hauled back to the Takagi estate. His hands and feet were bound, and he was pinned down in an open area like a criminal awaiting execution.
"Sa—Saya, believe me. I didn't mean it. I didn't mean to get your dad killed. You know the situation back then—there was no guarantee the serum would work on him. And it turns out I was right. I became the hospital's—"
Komuro Takashi rambled on, desperate to explain himself.
"...And when that happens, I'll become the most important person in the world. Humanity's savior. And you, Saya—you'll be—"
Just hearing it made Saya feel physically sick, nauseated enough to gag. But she didn't interrupt him.
She wanted to see how much worse he could get. How much uglier his heart could look in the open.
That way she could take revenge with no burden at all—clean, and satisfying.
"...And our child, maybe they'll become the leader of humanity's future—"
Saya nearly threw up.
"Shut up!"
Her mother finally couldn't take it anymore.
"Aunt Yuriko, I'm telling the truth. I'll take care of you too—take care of you properly. And if you don't mind, you… you could marry me too. You and Saya, both."
The moment the words left his mouth, everyone around them froze, stunned—like they couldn't believe a person's soul could be that hideous.
Saya couldn't hold back anymore. He'd dragged his filth onto her mother.
"Then—"
Bang!
The gunshot cut him off mid-word.
Takashi went rigid, then slowly, mechanically, looked down toward his crotch.
A heartbeat later, an animal scream tore out of him—so ugly and unbearable it made people want to vomit.
"S-Saya… why…? W-wait, don't kill me. We're friends, aren't we? We grew up together—didn't we?"
Saya kept the cold muzzle trained on her sobbing "childhood friend," wondering what sin she'd committed to ever have someone like this in her life.
"Rei—Rei, help me! Tell Saya to stop!"
The one he begged—Miyamoto Rei—stayed completely silent.
Her heart felt dead.
She didn't have an ounce of pity left for the person in front of her.
"Where's Hisashi?"
She still asked it anyway. Back then it had been the two of them together. So why wasn't Hisashi here?
"Hisashi? He…"
As Takashi explained, Rei's face went darker and darker, her hands trembling like she wanted to ram the gun into his mouth.
Hisashi was dead.
That night—after Saya's father died—Hisashi had tried to leave the group. Takashi claimed it was "betrayal," that Hisashi would expose their hiding place.
So Takashi "accidentally" shoved him.
Hisashi fell. He got bitten.
Then Takashi put on a show, insisting Hisashi should be a test subject—that drinking Takashi's blood would make him immune, stop him from turning into one of the Dead.
It failed.
"What a shame. Hisashi didn't receive heaven's favor, he didn't—"
Smack!
Rei's slap landed with everything she had. Teeth actually flew—several of them.
In her eyes, Komuro Takashi wasn't human anymore.
He was a devil.
And the moment her gaze shifted to the other man—Shido Koichi—her hatred surged even higher.
Takashi becoming this wasn't an accident. He'd been coaxed. Corrupted. Led by a devil like Shido.
Rei wanted to kill him right then.
But Shido—despite knowing exactly what was coming—didn't beg, didn't plead. He just sat there with that calm, resigned look, like, Fine. Life or death. Whatever.
It was infuriating.
"Hey," Saya said, voice tight with rage, staring at Shido. "Is there a way to torture him so he can't keep making that face? So he can't keep looking like he doesn't care?"
"There is," Kain said.
"What?"
"Make him drink Earth Elixir. Protect the places that would kill him instantly—his throat, that sort of thing—then throw him into a swarm of the Dead."
That was Kain's answer.
Shido's expression finally cracked.
The man who'd been acting like death meant nothing went pale in a single beat, blood draining from his face as terror flooded his eyes.
He understood immediately what that meant.
A punishment so cruel it was worse than dying.
A living hell you couldn't escape.
(End of Chapter)
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