Chapter 166: The Career Struggles of Conan, the Distillery Intern
Upon seeing this scene, Conan felt a desperate urge to drag Moriarty out of hiding and pummel him with a barrage of iron fists until he was beaten to death.
However, his extraordinary reason eventually won out. He quickly calmed his emotions, even realizing that Ran Mouri's current appearance might be a factor he could exploit. After all, her killing intent was still overwhelming—sharp and bone-chilling.
Ran gazed up at the Giant of Light standing upon the earth, the blood-light in her eyes shimmering with cryptic malice. In her Magical Girl state, she could feel the sheer power and terror radiating from the Giant. This was not an enemy "humanity" was meant to challenge.
But that didn't matter. Even if the residual information of the First Loop in her soul held no complete memories—leaving only fragmented ripples that could be called "obsessions"—it was enough to keep her from wavering before this titan. She was long accustomed to facing enemies whose horror defied description.
For her, only one fact mattered: Conan's scent was on that Giant of Light. That was enough.
Truth be told, in her transformed state, Ran's mind was somewhat muddled. She didn't know why she had to find Conan, nor did she know how she even knew the name "Edogawa Conan." She only knew one thing clearly: if she killed Edogawa Conan, she could truly find and see Shinichi Kudo.
This realization was like a fixation, seeping into her marrow and coiling around her soul.
By her power alone, challenging the Giant of Light was insufficient. But luckily, her other Magical Girl companions had arrived at the scene, bringing with them her "6-Yen First-Recharge Gift Pack."
Even more fortunately, a certain nameless director behind the scenes had no intention of filming dozens of episodes of Magical Girl fluff. Thus, Ran didn't have to wait three or four episodes for a teammate. Combining the power of the Miyano sisters, the Mouri couple, Professor Agasa, and Sonoko Suzuki, the Pseudo-Magical Girl Armor evolved into its six-headed, twelve-armed fused form, providing a physical interpretation of the meaning of "friendship and bonds."
Ran didn't care about the logistics. Influenced by the First Loop's residue, she had a high tolerance for any grotesque or terrifying phenomenon. Her frost-white hair fluttered in the wind, and the Moriarty Shard in her hand began to resonate with the two shards embedded in the armor.
The twelve-armed monstrosity opened its cavernous maw and swallowed Ran Mouri whole!
The mysterious viewpoint that had hijacked the television signals maintained a perfect angle, broadcasting everything in Beika to the world.
The audience, watching with bated breath, witnessed the Giant of Light crush the monster in a battle that lasted barely over thirty seconds. Though they didn't know the monster's origin, they knew the Giant was an alien invader, so they instinctively cheered for the Kaiju.
But if audience support actually worked, horse racing wouldn't need to exist. The objective gap was made painfully clear. Although the Kaiju had stood back up and briefly transformed into a Dark Giant similar to its opponent, it was quickly blasted into microscopic dust.
The viewers' hearts sank. Then, they saw the Giant of Light—letting out a villainous laugh—ordered the "Legion of 666 Beasts" to commit crimes and conquer Beika as traitors to humanity.
At that moment, the mysterious camera provided a sweeping aerial view of the city. The audience saw that the once peaceful Beika was now a smoke-filled battlefield of ruins, fire, and thick smog. Most prominent were the members of the Legion. Their eyes glowed red, their faces were hideously distorted, and their muscles bulged as they let out the same "Keke" laughter as the invader while laying waste to the city.
Thanks to the Japanese government's cover-up, these viewers didn't know that Beika was already a "Super Capital of Crime" where criminals likely outnumbered civilians. They only saw that a nation with the "lowest crime rate" in the world (according to statistics and propaganda) had suddenly become a hellscape. They roared in anger, blaming the government for not sending the Self-Defense Forces to protect the city.
The blame didn't last long, however, as the response was swift. Flight wings of fighter jets soared through the sky, launching a coordinated strike with ground forces.
The Giant of Light simply stood there, not even bothering to move. Artillery shells, missiles, and large-caliber machine guns struck his body in blooms of fire, but when the smoke cleared, he didn't even have a scratch. This total disregard for modern human weaponry broke the spirit of many viewers.
Then, a gloomy, low voice spoke through the televisions:
"O foolish humans. Your strongest individual combat power and your modern weaponry are naught but fragile tofu before our vanguard, the Light Demon. Beika is about to fall; other cities will follow. If you are wise, surrender now. If you surrender early, you can become the auxiliary forces of the M37 Nebula, just like the Legion of 666 Beasts, and enjoy official status and benefits..."
"Of course, you can continue to resist. But tell me, foolish humans: is there a hero among you brave enough to challenge the Light Demon? I think not. You should perceive the gap by now. Why do the weak bother to resist?"
The voice seemed to carry a cryptic magic, seeping into the hearts of the audience, swaying their minds and manipulating their emotions. Some viewers with strong "Providence" sensed something was wrong; their Stands manifested automatically to block the magic of the whispers. But the world is unfair; those with strong luck were a minority. Most were being slowly brainwashed.
This was the quiet manifestation of the Moriarty "Mouth" Authority seen in the previous world line. Mo Yu was using the Moriarty Imprint to interfere with the mortal realm, which was why the government and TV stations found themselves powerless to reclaim their broadcast signals.
When a God of Crime performs a miracle, mortals cannot easily defy it.
Mo Yu's purpose was simple: a brilliant crime requires witnesses. Even if he didn't fully approve of the old man's crime, the man had wagered everything—his "Criminal Purity" was high. As a dependent of sorts, Mo Yu felt it was only right to give him a grand send-off.
Under Mo Yu's exceptional "eloquence," the audience began to spiral. Some were so angry they wanted to charge the Giant themselves; others were shivering in terror. But most were simply in a state of panic, instinctively craving the arrival of a hero.
Then, the miracle descended!
A blood-red mist swept across the city with a roar. In an instant, Beika fell silent. Even the television audience felt a heart-stopping sense of suffocation. Every thread of that mist was condensed, physical Killing Intent.
"Oh? I didn't expect such a powerful combatant to be lurking among humanity. Let us see what happens next!" the gloomy voice said with interest.
Within the red mist, a writhing, distorted figure swelled and grew tall, stepping toward the Giant of Light. The massive entity emerged from the fog, revealing its form. Flesh writhed to form biological obsidian scales, layered into a gargantuan suit of female-styled armor.
Frost-white hair danced like tentacles. A knight-like visor featured seven pairs of eyes, staring at the Giant with gazes of hatred, madness, void, pain, malice, battle-will, and slaughter. A blood-red horn stood atop the helmet, glinting with a sharp, cold light. The red mist swayed behind her like a magnificent gown or a war-cape.
It was an eerie, majestic beauty!
"Intense!"
The one who said this was Ichigo Kurosaki. He keenly sensed that this female knight was fundamentally different from the old man. She had no flowery schemes—only an indestructible, ultimate killing intent.
Ichigo's gaze fell on her right hand. There was nothing there, yet there was something that made one's skin crawl.
"Little Detective," Ichigo asked Conan, "is the social atmosphere of your world really that bad? A 'Blade of Killing Intent' forged from endless pain and despair, sharpened by eons of madness... that's not something that just pops up out of nowhere!"
As the War-God of Purity, a single glance was enough for Ichigo to deduce volumes of information.
Having transformed into the Giant, Conan's reason and perception had also skyrocketed. He too observed that non-existent but overwhelmingly present blade. It was like a massive iceberg; only the core, forged over ages, could achieve such hardness. That blade wasn't made in a hurry. It was held against the grindstone of suffering day after day, year after year, until the sheer madness was soaked into its essence, creating a sharp edge that inspired terror despite being invisible.
Conan fell silent, confused. He had thought Ran was just modified by Moriarty, but the situation was deeper than he imagined. Conan was the type who couldn't ignore dissonance; his curiosity and logic would always push him to find the truth.
He instinctively tried to think deeper, but an emotion he had never felt before suddenly flooded his mind.
Fear.
Stop. Don't look further. Below lies the abyss of no return!
As Conan tried to peel back the mist to see the truth in the abyss, the truth peered back from the depths, striking him with a glance of pure terror. Conan's brain stalled. Ichigo, sensing the anomaly, used his will like an invisible fist to "punch" the fear out of Conan's mind, snapping him back to lucidity.
"What was that? That feeling... it felt familiar!" Conan was puzzled, but his deductive links soon found the source. The Stand Arrow Moriarty had sent him! It wasn't interference from the future; it was a primal, instinctive fear.
Conan's eyes flashed. He had a lead, but he knew now was not the time for it. "I'm fine. Let's focus on the task. We divide the labor: you stall Ran, I solve the riot."
Conan took one last look at the armored Ran, then poured his consciousness into the Blood Oath mark on his right hand.
He "saw" an incredible sight. The Criminal Mist had formed a network, crisscrossing through Beika. Every mark was a terminal node and the hardware supporting the web. A skeletal beast-head floated within this network, whispering incessantly.
It narrated the old man's life, his thoughts, and his terminal wish: "We have nothing but bloody fangs. With them, we kill, we sin, we riot, and we tear our own ending from Fate!"
The whispers became a physical tide surging through the network—both a blessing and a curse! Those who followed the mark were empowered; those who resisted were ground away by the tide like stones in a river.
This was a self-sustaining memetic engine driving a never-ending case. Conan alone wouldn't have known how to solve it, but the "Alien Support" gave him a chance. The extreme Purity of Ichigo transformed into radiance, spreading through the network as a hot-blooded roar:
"GET INTENSE! YOU LOT NEED TO GET INTENSE!!!"
Conan checked the internal results and realized "fighting poison with poison" had unexpected side effects. The beast-whispers and the light-roars clashed, but they didn't cancel out. Instead, the roar of Purity seemed to embrace and empower the whispers. The mixture became even more intense and even more evil. In reality, the Legion members were becoming even stronger and more ferocious.
But it didn't matter. Conan hadn't planned to solve it with simple force. His will charged directly toward the skeletal beast-head, and he shouted:
"Submit to me! In the name of the #1 crime syndicate in Beika—The Distillery—I promise you: as long as you submit to me and the Distillery, all your wishes will be fulfilled!"
End of Chapter
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