A frigid wind howled, freezing the very clouds in the sky and causing them to fall as frozen clumps.
In a matter of seconds, Tokyo was plunged into winter. Even the outer Tokyo Bay began to ice over, a rare sight.
At the city's core, within the St. Cross Welfare Institution, the environment instantly transformed into an arctic wasteland.
The cooling device in Kudou Asuka's hands shrieked as if on the verge of breaking. A machine that, at full power, was designed to cause regional snowfall was now unleashing an ability capable of altering the climate of an entire nation.
It had to be said that Saigou Homura was an unparalleled genius in the field of research.
Even though he had merely been trying to satisfy one of Algol's selfish demands, intending only to create an entertainment-grade snow machine, he had in fact built a device capable of changing the climate of an entire city.
Even the Bull of Heaven, a being born as a meteorological weapon, was far inferior to Saigou Homura's snow machine in terms of environmental impact.
And just as terrifying was Kudou Asuka's talent.
In her hands, a mere recreational device meant to alter a city's weather was unleashing an output that could rapidly change the climate of a whole country.
This was a feat on par with a five-digit Authority from the world of God-Slayers.
If Saigou Homura had forged this device with a weapon in mind, it wouldn't even need to grow and expand like the Bull of Heaven. He would only need to hand it to Kudou Asuka, and she could easily wield power on a scale that could dominate the global climate.
If the two of them were to team up, their destructive power would be on the level of a Last Embryo.
The average Heretic God or God-Slayer would be no match for them.
"Did it work?"
Pest, now wearing a Type-A thermal suit lent to her by Kasukabe Yō, trembled as she asked, staring at the statue of the Bull of Heaven before them. It was hundreds of meters tall and as crystal clear as a sculpture of ice and snow.
At this level of cold, without the suit, she would have likely been frozen solid first. Not even her Gastrea genes from a penguin or a polar bear could have saved her.
But it seemed the freezing strategy was indeed effective. At the very least, the Bull of Heaven had stopped expanding and ceased all movement, as if it had truly been frozen in place.
The remaining bull-headed monsters nearby had also been turned into ice sculptures.
"It's still a long way from absolute zero, but it looks like a success?"
Kasukabe Yō also stared curiously at the divine beast's statue.
The temperature was only a few dozen degrees below zero; the nitrogen in the air had yet to liquefy. They were far from absolute zero.
However, the intense cold had already created massive convection currents, forming a powerful blizzard and clashing cyclones of hot and cold air.
Kudou Asuka's earlier judgment had been spot on. Even if the cooling efficiency was sufficient, such a large-scale mass of cold air would cause rapid heat exchange through convection.
If they couldn't isolate it from the environmental effects, it would be impossible to freeze the Bull of Heaven to absolute zero—unless the entire Earth was frozen solid along with it.
"Asuka-san, you can stop for now!" Saigou Homura, who had been monitoring the satellite data, quickly called out.
"The outdoor temperature has reached its limit! If you keep freezing it, people in the city will be in life-threatening danger from hypothermia!"
"Besides, the heat exchange has already reached equilibrium. Continuing to lower the temperature will only trigger a stronger negative feedback loop. It's pointless."
With that Type-A device, Kudou Asuka could unleash power beyond imagination.
Given enough time, she might actually be able to turn the Earth into a giant ice ball.
But in that case, whether the Bull of Heaven died was uncertain, but human civilization would surely be annihilated.
To avoid becoming Humanity's Final Trial themselves, there was a limit to what these savior candidates could do.
"Alright!"
Kudou Asuka wore a regretful expression. She wanted to push it further, but she didn't want to cause a tragedy.
"Based on the current situation, how long can this Bull of Heaven be kept frozen?"
After stopping, she looked up at her masterpiece and asked curiously.
This ice sculpture, hundreds of meters tall, should be able to last for at least a few days, right?
"Ten… Wait!"
Saigou Homura was about to give an optimistic estimate of ten hours when he suddenly noticed something.
Seeing an abnormal high-temperature spot on the satellite map, he raised his head to look at the statue.
Under the sunlight, the top of the Bull of Heaven's head glittered with the brilliant light of a diamond, so bright it was hard to see clearly.
But it was obvious that spot wasn't a reflective surface; it shouldn't be shining so intensely.
In fact, compared to the golden or white sunlight, that radiant, bluish-purple glow seemed more like… lightning?
"Ten? Did you mean to say ten days?"
Lacking his powerful eyesight, Kudou Asuka saw Saigou Homura trail off and pressed him for an answer.
"Nine!"
Saigou Homura swallowed hard.
"What are you talking about?"
"Eight!"
"?!"
"Seven!"
"Six!"
…
"One!"
Ten seconds later, the high temperature generated by the azure lightning produced a violent tremor.
Cracks appeared on the surface of the frozen divine beast statue.
In the next instant, the ice collapsed like a mountain, mixing with the already raging blizzard and spreading outward.
The intense heat from the condensed lightning detonated the Bull of Heaven's main body. Like a falling solar flare, crimson flames swept over everything, followed by an even greater explosion.
BOOM!!!
The shards of ice were melted by the scorching wind, turning into warm raindrops.
A violent explosion, more than ten times stronger than the previous one, ripped through the entire St. Cross Group complex, turning the ice into a misty rain, which then evaporated into steam.
After the shockwave passed, the warm water vapor gradually condensed into a cumulonimbus cloud, which once again took the form of the divine beast, its shape identical to before.
If there was one difference, it was that the Bull of Heaven, originally hundreds of meters tall, had now leaped in size after this explosive expansion, swelling to over a thousand meters high.
After being frozen, not only had the Bull of Heaven not been sealed, but it had actually grown stronger!
"How could this happen?!"
Seeing this result, Kudou Asuka bit her lip in frustration.
This thing can't even be frozen?
"It's my fault."
Saigou Homura's expression was grim as he took responsibility.
"I didn't expect the Bull of Heaven to be able to spontaneously supply its residual heat to lightning, using the high temperature of lightning to trigger an explosion and break the freezing effect. This is definitely not a spontaneous reaction!"
Before this, he had assessed Kudou Asuka's power output, knew that absolute zero was unattainable, and had considered the risk of extreme cold to the city's population.
Taking all these factors into account, he still believed that freezing would temporarily halt the Bull of Heaven's actions.
To be precise, his theory wasn't wrong, and everything had proceeded according to his calculations.
But he had overlooked one thing—one crucial point.
"Not a spontaneous reaction… you mean the abnormal heat was controlled by a human?"
If it wasn't a natural reaction, there had to be artificial intervention behind it.
The Bull of Heaven before them was a product of human technology, not a familiar of some god or buddha. Even in the form of a divine beast, it couldn't possibly possess self-awareness.
So it was obvious: the enemy behind the scenes had noticed the Bull of Heaven's predicament and deliberately triggered the explosion to break their seal.
"Damn it! Targeting us is one thing, but to unleash an explosion like this in modern society without a second thought… Are they trying to destroy Tokyo?!"
Kudou Asuka frowned deeply, her voice filled with anger.
Even villains should have some class. What kind of skill was it to involve ordinary people?
"If it's the labs from North America, they just might," Izayoi said with a shrug.
"After all, it's not like they haven't done it before. They just used incendiary bombs last time."
"…I'm not making dark jokes with you!"
Kudou Asuka shot Izayoi a weary look.
"Back then, you could argue this city deserved it, but this time, we are their target!"
"I'm not joking either. After all, only they would do something so inhumane," Izayoi said, shrugging again before shaking his head.
"But now isn't the time to track down the mastermind. This monster in front of us has become even more troublesome than before. Its size increasing several times over is a minor issue. A divine beast that can be controlled by humans and one that can't are two completely different things!"
As he spoke, his expression turned serious.
They had all assumed the Bull of Heaven was acting according to a pre-set automatic program. After all, the Third Stellar Particle didn't help in creating an independent consciousness, and remote control functionality wasn't something that could be developed easily.
But now it seemed the enemy's progress in their research on Type-A was far ahead of what they had imagined, and the results they had achieved were far more complete than anticipated.
Human intellect combined with the power of a divine beast—that was a combination that could challenge the gods.
"Freezing is useless, it seems. They're prepared for it now."
Kudou Asuka looked toward their group's only sage.
"Homura-kun, are there any other options?"
"…"
Saigou Homura remained silent for several seconds before speaking in an uncertain tone.
"Maybe we could try… a high-temperature Meltdown?"