Percher didn't answer Saigou Homura's question. It wasn't that she was unwilling, but the memory alone made her stomach churn. The visceral revulsion made it impossible for her to speak.
Even the usually calm and composed Kudou Asuka couldn't help but turn pale at the memory of what she had seen.
Seeing this, Izayoi didn't press them. He left the two at the entrance and led Saigou Homura deeper into the laboratory.
The moment he saw the forest of flesh mountains in the lab, Saigou Homura immediately threw up.
The unprecedented sight assaulted his mind.
It wasn't bloody—in fact, by the standards of a slaughterhouse, it was almost clean. But when what was hanging were not poultry but humans, the cleaner it was, the more horrifying it became.
"These... bastards!"
Forcing himself to continue, after browsing through the base's internal experiment logs, Saigou Homura squeezed those words from his throat.
A great fire burned in his eyes. He finally understood why Izayoi's expression had been so grim, why Percher and Kudou Asuka had looked the way they did.
This place was truly a hell that one shouldn't even gaze upon, that words could not describe, that the mind would subconsciously block from memory.
Enriching the Third Stellar Particle through cannibalism, studying the degradation effect, and simultaneously testing uncalibrated BDAs directly on discarded test subjects.
Because of what his own father had done to his older brother, Saigou Homura had always resented and loathed him, feeling he had no right to call himself a scientist.
But after seeing these experiment records, he realized that compared to these people, his father's moral baseline was practically saintly.
Izayoi's expression was just as terrifying as Homura's. Given his sense of justice, his anger at that moment was no less than Homura's.
But he still placed a hand on Homura's shoulder and spoke.
"Homura, I brought you here to witness the sacrifices of these people, not so you could seek revenge."
"I just want you to understand that we have to speed up... If we can't save the world, it will be ravaged by this scum to the point where it has to be destroyed. We need to be fast. Faster!"
"Izayoi-nii, I understand."
Saigou Homura nodded grimly.
"Anger alone is meaningless. We have to save the world our own way. That's the only way to prevent tragedies like this from happening again."
He naturally understood his brother's difficult intentions.
Despite being a product of human experimentation himself, Izayoi possessed a more upright character than him. While Homura's personal feelings fueled his excessive anger toward the researchers, Izayoi could remain clear-headed even in his rage, understanding the fundamental conflict.
"Still, we can't let these bastards get away with it. Anyone who knew about these experiments and still participated—we have to drag them all out!"
Saigou Homura said through gritted teeth.
He would accelerate his research, but that wouldn't stop him from striking at the enemy at the same time.
"That goes without saying. Leave it to me!"
Izayoi, of course, wouldn't object to such a proposal.
Even in his eyes, their crimes were unforgivable.
"Even if their countries don't have the death penalty, I'll have the Group extradite them to one that does!"
Saying this, Izayoi suppressed his own anger and handed another stack of documents to Saigou Homura.
"This is? Minotauros... The cultivation data for those bull-headed monsters?"
Saigou Homura flipped through a few pages and quickly understood.
The Minotaur, a symbol of human sacrifice in mythology, was in reality used as food for other test subjects.
According to the data, during the cultivation process, these Minotaurs were put through extensive screening, cannibalism, and other methods to cultivate an individual with a natural BDA.
This BDA-like physiological structure gave the bull-headed monsters the power to manipulate water vapor.
This experimental base used this achievement to barely grasp the concept of BDA and, through reverse engineering, created the corresponding 'A' device—the Bull of Heaven.
Saigou Homura's earlier premonition had come true. The enemy was only able to create the Bull of Heaven by using a massive number of Minotaurs as test subjects.
Then, they used the 'A' to absorb the Minotaur's structure and simulate an independently acting individual—which was the very weakness Kudou Asuka had previously used to melt the Bull of Heaven with high temperatures.
"Based on this data, these people haven't fully grasped the Bull of Heaven's properties. Their so-called 'control' is minimal at best."
Saigou Homura nodded as he read.
If that's the case, it would explain why the enemy's reaction was so slow, and why they never tried to fight back in any other way.
The Bull of Heaven was merely a result they had achieved through practice; they didn't understand the principles behind it.
"But if that's true, how could they create over a hundred prototypes of the Bull of Heaven at once... Wait! Just what is the scale of the human experiments these bastards are conducting?!"
From his perspective as a scientist and engineer, Saigou Homura had assumed the Bull of Heaven had been fully analyzed and mass-produced on an industrial scale to create so many at once.
But now he saw that wasn't the case at all. The enemy's level of understanding of the Bull of Heaven was astonishingly low.
How could they unleash such a large-scale threat with such a primitive level of understanding?
There was only one answer.
"They compensated with the sheer number of test subjects? Each Bull of Heaven was the result of a separate creation process?"
Seeing this conclusion, even Izayoi couldn't help but suck in a sharp breath.
This meant that behind the one hundred-plus Bulls of Heaven, there were over a hundred experimental bases.
And each base had at least a thousand victims as test subjects.
A rough estimate meant at least a hundred thousand people were living lives worse than livestock.
"Izayoi-nii, we have to hit them hard!"
Saigou Homura's eyes were red.
"Have the Group make a move! Wipe out these bastards' nests!"
"I know."
Hearing this, Izayoi nodded, then spoke again.
"But calm down first. Our Group may be financially powerful and have a sizable security department, but our greatest strengths are our backing from the Church and the assets we've accumulated over the years."
"We're not North America; we're not the most dominant organization in the world. Otherwise, the Bull of Heaven would have appeared under our Group, not them."
"With the Group power, we can only rescue these people by contacting various other organizations. It's impossible to take down a hundred bases at once."
All the bases around the world—that's no small number.
Hearing this, the fury in Saigou Homura's eyes intensified.
"If the Group can't do it, what about us? With our power, do we really need to worry about those scumbags fighting back?"
He pointed out the crucial factor.
Dealing with a hundred bases through the relationships and values of traditional human society would be difficult.
It would not only take time, but the enemy would also be able to relocate their positions.
Never mind the Holy Cross Group; even if North America itself gave the order, these bases wouldn't necessarily obey.
But if they disregarded all that red tape and resorted to pure violence, then none of those restrictions would apply.
Forget Izayoi; even Saigou Homura as he was now could be considered invincible.
What was destroying a hundred-plus bases? With his power, he could even wipe out all of North America if he wanted to.
"If we make a move ourselves, it's certainly not a problem."
Izayoi nodded.
He had possessed nearly unrivaled power since childhood. Having wielded that power for over a decade, he understood the threat it posed to modern society far better than Homura did.
He knew that if he truly wanted to do something, no one in the world could stop him.
But what he understood even better was the impact that revealing such power could have on the world.
"But if we do that, we'll become the greatest force of violence dominating this world. We'll replace North America and become the world's strongest rulers... Whether we intend to or not, the global power structure will be completely overturned."
With that, Izayoi looked at Homura and asked seriously.
"I'm not saying this to stop you. I just want to ask: are you prepared to rule this world?"
To wear the crown, one must bear its weight.
The very act of displaying the power to change the world's structure would, in itself, change the world.
These bases were disgusting, to be sure, but the world had no shortage of even filthier corners. If Saigou Homura was prepared to intervene with pure violence, was he mentally prepared to rule the world that would result?
"..."
Saigou Homura was silent for a moment, then looked up.
"I'm not prepared, but... I think we could at least do a better job than those bastards in power."
At least the few of them would never give such inhuman orders.
"That does make sense."
Izayoi stroked his chin, not objecting to Homura's point.
"But then we'd become the new power, and we could endanger the world just the same."
"If we can overcome the Bull of Heaven, humanity's former Final Trial, then the outcome of a ruler destroying the world should also be overcome. In other words, a scenario where the supreme ruler decides everything shouldn't happen..."
"But it's too early to be discussing this now. Don't rush, Homura. There are other ways to deal with the other bases, don't worry!"