[440] The Day of the Full Moon (4)
The metallic angel's sleek body caught the moonlight—designed after living beauty—but Sein's group could read the mercilessness hidden beneath that beauty.
Of course Babel was beautiful.
But it was biting cold. Just looking at it chilled you to the bone.
Sein's iron-wheel eye whirred as it spun. The computation was faster than ever, yet he felt it still wasn't enough.
'What is this?'
It lacked the trademark aura that only the truly powerful give off.
Instead there was a solid, ultra-cold composure, as if it would never waver no matter what opponent it faced.
- Target setting: No priority.
- Random target algorithm activated.
Babel's visual lens locked onto Rena.
No one could see the focus hidden behind the red panels, but only one person—Rena's father, Wicher—hurled himself forward.
"Danger!"
Had Wicher's choice of Rena over Kanya been a psychic reflex born of extreme paternal love?
The choice was precise, and Wicher's body that had shoved Rena stopped with a clank.
Babel, already upon them, pierced Wicher's chest with a cold hand.
"Da—Dad?"
Rena went pale.
She wavered on the edge of losing her mind.
"Daaaaad!"
Blinded by rage, Kanya lunged at Babel.
- Enemy approach detected.
- Response type: Instant kill.
Babel vanished without leaving even an afterimage, and Wicher's body—bereft of anything to cling to—collapsed.
Extreme relativity from its super-speed scrambled Kanya's brain; she couldn't register events in sequence.
Caught in the illusion that Wicher had fallen first and Babel had suddenly appeared, only one thing felt certain.
'He's going to die.'
Screeeee!
Babel's blade halted with a cold screech right in front of Kanya's throat.
Over her shoulder, Sein spun the iron-wheel eye sharp and assumed a combat stance.
Wicher's death left room for a single calculated equilibrium.
But Babel expanded its halo of holy light and dismantled the tangled computations of the gears.
'Impossible.'
Equilibrium was the supreme crowd-control routine that calculates both rational and emotional coefficients at once.
That it dismantled such a personalized code in less than a second meant this wasn't a preset program—it had learned in the moment.
'It's not intuition. Some kind of probabilistic algorithm?'
A method that repeats random sampling to reach conclusions about a target.
No matter how much of a servant Sein was, Babel's computational capability had to be considered overwhelmingly superior.
"Back off."
Sein said curtly.
"D—Dad is—!"
"Now!"
There would be no second chance.
If they still didn't get it after this, the only outcome was death.
Fortunately Kanya had something left to protect. Clinging desperately to reason, she ran toward Rena.
"Rena! This way!"
Hoisting the half-zoned-out Rena onto her back, Kanya fled while Babel stayed motionless.
Its visual lens remained fixed on Sein, analyzing his every move.
- Subject: Human. Accuracy 99.8%.
- Type: Programmer.
- Result: Maximum-level danger factor. Priority algorithm applied. First-priority elimination target.
Babel's body slowly turned toward Sein.
Two individuals unrivaled in computation glared at each other, each perceiving the other in a different way.
"Emergency! All units, prepare for combat!"
Crude's voice rang across the hangar, cutting through the night.
* * *
Clone Cultivation Room.
Two aides sent by Reysis carried water-filled barrels and braced themselves.
They had gathered the ingredients for Ilhwa's liquor; whatever was in those barrels was now just chunks of meat.
Reysis's method was simple: submerge the corpse of the Acid Venom King Muusa in water.
The potent acidic gas it produced would eat lungs away—any creature would die within ten seconds of inhaling it.
There was enough time to do the job and get out, but now that it was about to begin, their breathing quickened.
"If you even take one sip, you're done. Hurry and finish it."
"Tch, it still feels wrong. Even if they're clones—"
"Don't be ridiculous. Did you grow attached? They're livestock. Get on with it."
When the iron door opened, a blast of hot air rolled out.
The cultivation room was nothing but a large open space, and the clones—unaware of their fate—were absorbed in their tasks.
The man who set a barrel in the center pulled Muusa's corpse out. With a soft plop the chunks of flesh dropped in and the water boiled furiously.
"Move, quickly."
Mouths and noses covered with collars, the two ran for the exit. White steam began to curl up from the barrel.
* * *
With Ikasa's help, Shirone and Plu slipped out of the iron cage and sprinted down the command headquarters' underground corridors.
Everyone was focused on Ilhwa's liquor, so there were no patrols in sight.
That was also because those who hadn't reached the information core were already detained.
"We can take out the soldiers, but the problem is Akamai. If it gets caught in the sealing array it'll turn into a demonic mess."
"It'll be fine until Reysis notices. Let's move as fast as we can. Where's Garas?"
"I saw a map in the genetics lab. Let's go there."
Plu retraced her memory and led them into the genetics lab.
While Plu decoded the map hanging on the wall, Shirone lifted documents from the research desk.
Thanks to the Ultima System, simply seeing the sentences converted the signals into a single code and fed them to him.
It was an experimental report on the clones.
Since his own clone should be somewhere here, Shirone scanned carefully, but he soon frowned and let out a long sigh.
"How could they do this... what do they take humans for?"
The disgusting process of mass-producing clones through a triangle mechanism involving Shirone, Plu, and Garas was laid out in detail.
Hands flipping pages stopped and trembled.
The eyes that had been reading through the Ultima System flickered in shock.
"Hey, senior. Have you read this file? Clone cultivation research data."
Plu, wincing like she had a headache, focused on the giant map with one eye narrowed.
"Senior."
"…No. I only checked what I needed. The drone's decoding speed is terrible."
Shirone exhaled a long, weary breath.
He wanted to tell them what he'd read, but couldn't bring himself to say it aloud.
'What should I do? Still, I have to tell them.'
"Found it. Guinea-pig isolation room. Luckily it's not far."
Plu bolted from the lab.
They didn't know when Reysis might notice the escape, so every second counted.
Shirone felt oddly relieved—sometimes ignorance is a mercy.
They reached an iron door that rose to the ceiling.
Plu drew a Phoenix from the Cubrick and cast a flame spell; the lock glowed red-hot and melted into molten metal.
They grabbed the handles on both sides and pulled; the sound that followed revealed an extraordinary sight.
"My god…"
Like an ark from a flood myth, all manner of creatures were packed into a fourteen-story apartment-like tower.
At the end of the isolation room stood a single chamber blocked not by bars but by glass.
Inside a two-meter-tall glass tube, a black creature about the size of a human torso writhed.
The King of Proliferation, Garas.
That it was isolated even among so many organisms told them how dangerous it was.
Eight spider-like legs clung to the glass, and on the underside of its body an organ opened and closed like lips, constantly preparing to spit something out.
A single soft eye sat atop its gooey head, its eyelid fully open so it looked perpetually startled.
"Is this... Garas?"
"Garas has no fixed form. This is only one individual that has persisted through countless generations."
Garas's gooey head folded and the eye turned forward.
Shirone felt a chill when their gaze met; the creature used upper and lower eyelids to wipe the mucous over the eyeball.
Their desire was singular, and so was their purpose.
There might be creatures stronger than an individual Garas, but there was no species stronger than Garas.
Garas turned its attention to Plu and, with disturbing cleverness, assessed the species' traits.
When its eyelids narrowed as if smiling, Plu gagged.
The memory of what they'd seen in the storeroom flashed before her, and a stabbing pain bloomed at her left temple—an awful headache.
"Kyaaaaaa!"
At that moment Garas braced all eight legs like spears and unleashed a monstrous cry.
"This is—!"
Startled by the power that threatened to burst free, Shirone and Plu jerked their upper bodies back.
Only when they felt their backs damp did they realize how tense they'd been.
"What do we do, senior? Really release it?"
To neutralize Akamai and stop Ilhwa's liquor, they needed Garas's power.
But no one wanted to open Pandora's box.
No—perhaps it was literally a gate to hell.
If Garas was freed, the command headquarters would be wiped out.
Anything living would become a target for proliferation, and the population would explode exponentially.
"We have to do it. Free it and run no matter what. Rescue the captured rebels, then take out Reysis."
It was the best they could do.
There wasn't time to plan long-term survival; they had to act.
"Then... I'll open it."
Shirone's hand trembled as he reached for the lock.
No one could predict the outcome, but when he pressed the button there was a click and the lock released.
Having confirmed that, the two turned at once. Without daring to look back, they teleported away.
Crash! Garas burst through the glass tube and slithered out.
As its eight legs staggered to find balance, its body began to swell to match the space.
"Kyaaaaaa!"
Its howl swelled, and Shirone and Plu, as if it were right beside them, screamed.
"Argh!"
As if on cue, the two launched themselves, rolled left and right, and slammed the iron door shut.
Moments later the pounding was pierced by countless creatures' howls thudding against the door.
Shirone at last knew for certain.
He had opened a gate to hell.
* * *
"You stupid children!"
Reysis burst in, ripping the door open.
As the researcher had reported, Shirone and Plu were gone.
A shrunken Akamai lay pitifully collapsed like a deflated balloon, and only Ikasa sat inside the iron cage.
"I told you to confirm, didn't I?"
"W-Well, Akamai was there, so we were just preparing the experiment—"
With a thud, the researcher's face flew off.
The attack had been too fast to see, but Ikasa had seen it—a hideous whip hidden beneath her cloak.
"Hmph, you call that thing a body? How disgusting. Not even the ugliest Gorgol among the maras looks like you."
Krrrgggh!
Reysis clenched her teeth and a rough snarl tore from between her fangs.
"You weak, pathetic angel, daring to judge me? Soon you'll be inside my belly as well."
"Hohoho! Yes, I must be going mad wanting your beautiful body. But what can be done? No method will fix your hideous face."
Ikasa's barbed insults came without restraint.
She couldn't move—the Valhalla Action's cause held her—but the angel's pride was more noble than death.
"I'll tear you to pieces!"
With each step Reysis took, the ground thudded.
Her skin reddening and the monster's face revealed, she opened her huge maw and charged the iron cage.
"Kraaaaaaa!"