A million light-years from Earth, there was a stable stellar system that Earthlings had never observed. On a planet they named "Einstein," humans and creatures lived—yet their origins could be traced back to the prehistoric era billions of years ago.
The lustful dragon race had scattered their seed across the entire universe, producing all kinds of strange descendants. Generation after generation, the Dragon Descendants on Einstein Planer were their offspring. Of course, their bloodline had grown so thin it was practically gone. But Kid's Ripple had activated the hidden dragon gene buried deep in them, allowing dragons to reappear in the universe, soaring freely through the void.
Kid carefully examined the mother dragon's claws—four of them. That meant the ancestor of the flesh chunk inside the Claymore held a high status.
"So, what will you do now?" Kid looked at the mother dragon and asked.
"I'm going somewhere first. Then I'll leave this planet to search for other dragons. Thank you again." She twisted her body and rode the dark clouds toward the sea.
No telling if they'd ever meet again, Kid thought. But then it struck him—if dragons existed on this planet, didn't that mean this place had been… since ancient times…? Heh, better not think about it too much.
"Can you stand? We have to go. Otherwise, Riful of the West will show up." That massive youki definitely alerted Riful.
The Claymores knew that too. But they were still too stunned. That towering Awakened One was terrifying. They couldn't wrap their heads around the idea of a dragon, so they just told themselves it was an Awakened One.
Supporting each other, they moved toward the woods. There, they saw Clare frozen in place. She'd seen the whole thing. Her head was tilted up so long her neck had gone stiff.
"Isn't that Clare? What a coincidence." Kid pretended to be surprised, though he'd noticed her long ago.
"What a coincidence." Clare had let her guard down again. She was deep-thinking by nature but often got so caught up in her thoughts that she forgot her surroundings.
"Let's retreat together. I can already sense Riful heading this way." Kid led the four of them into a swift retreat.
Actually, he didn't even need to sense it—the thunderous rumbling nearby was enough proof that Riful of the West was closing in. Good thing they ran when they did. Otherwise, Kid would've had to bully another loli again.
They found an abandoned village where Kid and the four Claymores stopped to rest. They started talking again.
"Clare, did you find the person you were looking for?" Kid asked.
"No." Thinking of Raki, Clare fell silent again.
After a short pause, Jeanne suddenly asked Clare, "Did you defect?"
"…" That question hit hard. Most Claymores had some dissatisfaction with the Organization, but real defectors were rare. Unless one had Awakened, most Claymores wouldn't betray them. After all, they didn't even know where their childhood villages were. Their parents had probably been killed by the Organization's cleaners.
But this cycle was ending with this generation. A group of half-Awakened Claymores had emerged. Rubel had staged fake missions for them to hunt Awakened Ones, all to wipe them out. That trick made the half-Awakened Claymores start suspecting something and gave rise to the idea of overthrowing the Organization.
This was a deadly political game. Rubel knew the half-Awakened could control partial transformation, which made them controllable weapons. He couldn't let the Organization find out, so he secretly tried to eliminate them.
But the half-Awakened Claymores kept leveling up in battle. They narrowly survived again and again. It gave Rubel a headache, but he had to keep trying. Once or twice might've seemed like coincidence. But too many close calls made the Claymores suspicious. What they didn't know was that all those hunt orders came from Rubel himself, not the Organization. But since he issued commands through the Organization, the Claymores could only blame the Organization.
That's why political fights were scarier than battlefield bloodshed. On the battlefield, at least you knew how you died. In politics, you wouldn't even know why.
Clare hadn't officially betrayed the Organization yet—but she was actively avoiding them. That was basically betrayal. In short, her mind hadn't turned, but her body already had.
"I just want to find someone first. I haven't betrayed the Organization," Clare said.
Yeah right—that was totally betrayal. The three Claymores instantly went cold-faced. They didn't draw their swords, but that was probably just because of Kid's presence. Guess it's true—real bonds don't form without shared suffering.
Thinking about how Jeanne and Clare had that nice yuri vibe in the original story… now they looked more like enemies. Clearly, another butterfly effect. But solid girl-girl friendship wasn't something a man could destroy—not even the protagonist Kid.
When Jeanne saw Clare's unshaken gaze, her heart skipped a beat. That was fate. No running from it.
Kid offered up some intel. Originally, Rubel the spy had passed this on to Miria. But Kid figured it didn't matter who said it. He'd already heard a lot from the mother dragon. The Claymores were just missing a few key pieces, which left them with doubts.
"Actually, the continent beneath your feet isn't the only one on this planet. Across the ocean, there's a much larger landmass called the Continent of Flames."
"…" It wasn't like what he said was totally unbelievable, but what was his point? Giving them a geography lesson?
"The Continent of Flames, as the name suggests, has been in constant war. For hundreds of years, hundreds of nations fought nonstop. By 100 years ago, only two remained. Then, one of them struck a deal with a race that claimed to be Dragon Descendants. That tipped the balance."
"…" Still not following.
Kid went on: "The opposing country couldn't win using just human troops. So they came up with the idea of modifying soldiers to fight the Dragon Descendants. They implanted flesh and blood from Dragon Descendants into soldiers' bodies. These special soldiers were usually kept deep inside the army, only brought out when it was time to fight dragons."
"But they weren't stable. Once they went berserk and transformed into monsters, there was no turning back. They'd just keep fighting Dragon Descendants until they died. Worse, many transformed before even reaching the battlefield and turned on their own comrades…"
Why did that sound exactly like what they were?
The four girls listened quietly, but their thoughts were racing. What did the Continent of Flames have to do with them? Were these 'special soldiers' actually Claymores?
"So, that country found a remote place to carry out these experiments—a place with only a handful of humans hiding from war. No government. No laws. It was the perfect site for unrestricted and dangerous experiments."
At this point, the Claymores got it. Kid was saying they were the test subjects.
"Not gonna lie, that sounds pretty convincing. But do you have any proof?" Jeanne asked.
"The proof is that dragon from earlier. It was an accident, but her ancestor's bloodline got activated, and she became a true four-clawed dragon. And think about the swords you all carry. Don't they feel too durable? There's nothing else on this entire continent tougher than those swords. It's like they were designed specifically for fighting Awakened-level enemies. Doesn't that seem suspicious?"
And then Kid raised one more question: "Do you really believe those so-called yoma have existed since ancient times?"
That last question struck deep. The Organization had been pushing that claim from the start. Everyone on this continent accepted it as truth. But Kid was here to tell them—it was all wrong. Completely, utterly wrong.