Inside the monitoring room, red warning lights spun wildly and the alarm blared harshly.
The prison warden with the watermelon shaped haircut, Hazuki Shime, stared fixedly at the wall of surveillance screens, his face ashen.
He suddenly slammed his fist onto the control console, making several buttons bounce upward, and roared into the communicator.
"Where is the intruder's location. Haven't you found it yet."
"Re. report." A subordinate's voice trembled as he pointed at one screen that had suddenly filled with static.
"Based on the last captured trajectory and the destruction pattern along the breach route. the intruder may have already reached the lowest level area."
In the next second, Warden Hazuki Shime's face changed drastically.
"This is bad."
He grabbed the internal communicator from the console, his voice urgent.
"The intruder's target is the One Eyed Owl. Immediately release CRC gas to the lowest level and the adjacent areas.
All security squads, immediately proceed to the lowest level to search and intercept the intruder. No matter the cost."
He had to contact headquarters immediately. The One Eyed Owl. that SSS rated ghoul had finally been captured with great difficulty. She absolutely could not be rescued from his prison.
No one was allowed to run wild like this in the prison he ruled.
Ever since the previous warden Misaka Kyouji died, he, Hazuki Shime, had been promoted from deputy to this position.
He cherished this position and its authority almost obsessively and had long regarded Cochlea as his own private territory that could not be violated.
Here, he was the rule. He was the ruler.
He would never allow anyone to challenge that authority.
The security squad quickly assembled at the lowest level. Everyone watched the smashed alloy gate with vigilance.
None of them dared to enter. They could only guard the entrance and wait for whoever was inside to come out.
After all, this was the solitary cell where the One Eyed Owl was imprisoned. Even the alloy gate had been specially reinforced.
Since the intruder could break inside, it meant they were an extremely powerful ghoul. Entering would be no different from committing suicide.
It was better to honestly guard the outside and wait for reinforcements from headquarters.
...
Amano Hiro lowered his eyes and glanced at Washuu Furuta's lifeless body on the ground, feeling a bit relieved.
The greatest unstable factor had been eliminated.
"Let's go."
As long as the Washuu main family sitting high above was removed next, his leisurely days of taking it easy were not far away.
The three of them had just walked out of the cell area and had not yet reached the upper exit when they saw milky white fog surging through the corridor like a living tide, rapidly filling every inch of space.
Eto frowned and waved her hand in front of her face with visible annoyance.
"CRC gas. It seems the roads outside have already been tightly sealed by the white doves."
This suppressive gas specifically targeted ghoul RC cells. Although it had little effect on her,
the sluggish feeling like being trapped in thick mud was truly unpleasant.
However, for Amano Hiro, who had already surpassed the limits of ordinary ghouls, and for Rize, who had been enhanced by Carnage, the gas was no different from ordinary fog.
At that moment, Amano Hiro suddenly stopped walking.
"You two go out first." His voice was calm. "There's another unstable factor that needs to be dealt with along the way."
"Unstable factor." Eto turned her head. "Need help?"
"No." Amano Hiro shook his head, sounding as casual as if he were going to throw out the trash. "It won't take long."
Hearing this, Rize glanced at him. Seeing his expression unchanged, she did not ask further and simply nodded lightly.
Amano Hiro planned to deal with Amon Koutarou's adoptive father along the way so the father and son could reunite sooner.
That priest was not an easy person either. It was better to deal with him early to avoid unnecessary trouble later.
The three of them had just stepped out of the corridor entrance when several tense figures suddenly appeared within the white fog.
It was the Cochlea security squad guarding the perimeter.
"Stop."
"You cannot escape. Surrender immediately."
The security members were clearly extremely nervous. The moment they saw the three figures emerging from the fog,
they almost simultaneously raised their ukaku type quinques and aimed their gun barrels forward. Their shouted warnings barely concealed their fear.
Amano Hiro did not even raise his eyelids, as if those threats were nothing but air.
He turned his head slightly and said briefly to the two beside him. "You go first. I'll follow shortly."
Rize and Eto exchanged a glance and nodded at the same time.
In the next second, dark red kagune surged around Eto's body as she instantly entered kakuja form.
The enormous One Eyed Owl form tore open the fog.
She bent down slightly, allowing Rize to leap lightly onto her shoulder. Then the giant kagune arms suddenly flapped.
Boom.
The airflow exploded outward as the two of them shot upward like arrows released from a bowstring.
In the blink of an eye they vanished into the rolling fog above, leaving only a hollow gap where the airflow had scattered the mist.
The security members stared upward in shock, completely unable to react in time.
Only after the two figures disappeared entirely did Amano Hiro slowly shift his gaze toward the guards in front of him who looked as if they were facing a great enemy.
His figure moved slightly, like a brief distortion of the fog. In the next moment he had already appeared in front of the squad captain like a ghost.
The captain could not even see the movement. He only felt his throat tighten.
A claw covered in dark red armor had already seized his neck like iron pliers and lifted him completely off the ground.
"Cough. urgh." His eyes widened as his face quickly turned red.
The surrounding members were horrified. Their quinques all turned toward Amano Hiro.
Yet none of them dared to act rashly. Their captain's life was held in the opponent's hand.
Amano Hiro's voice came through the ferocious mask, low and calm yet filled with suffocating pressure.
"Tell me where the priest is being held. After you answer, you live."
The captain's legs kicked helplessly in the air. Cold sweat soaked the uniform on his back.
The instinct to survive overwhelmed everything else. He was still young and had a wife and children waiting for him at home.
"Ea. east." He forced the words out through clenched teeth, his trembling finger pointing toward a direction.
"The rightmost corridor. solitary cell at the end. Please. please don't kill me."
Amano Hiro had obtained the answer he wanted.
He did not break his word.
His five fingers loosened and the captain was thrown aside like a broken sack, crashing into the panicking members nearby. Several of them tumbled to the ground in a messy heap.
The crimson figure in the fog had already vanished like wind, as if he had never appeared at all.
Behind the transparent glass wall of a special cell, the priest sat upright in a chair with his hands folded on his knees.
Through the glass, he calmly watched the ferocious dark red figure outside.
A gentle smile even appeared on his face.
"Heh. Are you here to kill me?"
Amano Hiro's brows beneath the Carnage armor lifted slightly.
The electronic voice sounded steadily.
"Why not think I came to save you."
"Heh heh." The priest shook his head lightly, his smile unchanged.
"We do not know each other. I do not believe you would have any reason to break into this iron fortress just to save an old man like me."
He leaned slightly forward, genuine curiosity in his eyes.
"But I am curious. Why kill me."
"Because," Amano Hiro's voice came through the mask without emotion, each word clear,
"I judge that you might become a stumbling block."
He paused slightly, as if stating something completely ordinary, and added.
"By the way. Amon Koutarou was also killed by me."
The smile on the priest's face froze for a brief moment. His fingers resting on his knees curled slightly.
But that gentle expression soon spread again as if the momentary fluctuation had only been an illusion.
"Heh. A stumbling block." He repeated quietly, then nodded with acceptance.
Slowly closing his eyes, he spoke calmly.
"In that case. go ahead."
There was no begging, no questioning, not even the slightest fear or anger at the face of death.
He simply sat there quietly.