Daru and Maki appeared in a flash of light, the dust kicked up by the recent explosion still floating in the scorching air. They teleported right next to Yamero, who was sitting amidst the rubble, panting.
His bare torso bore the marks of the fight: burns, gashes, and sweat beading on his skin. His pants, scuffed and soiled, hinted at the intensity of the fight he had just waged.
Daru looked him up and down, a tired smile on his face.
"You really need new clothes, Yamero."
Maki, crossing his arms, nodded with a small, mocking smile.
"Indeed... you look more homeless than a legendary hero."
Yamero looked up at them, a genuine laugh escaping him despite the pain.
"Haha, I know, I know... But let me enjoy the fresh air for a bit." After such a victory, I deserve a moment of calm, don't I?
He sat up completely, leaning against a still-warm section of wall, letting out a long sigh. The warm wind swept the ashes around them, creating an almost peaceful silence.
But Daru, whose gaze suddenly darkened, broke this brief truce.
"Unfortunately, Yamero... we don't really have the luxury of rest."
Yamero slowly raised his head, intrigued.
"What do you mean?"
Daru looked away toward the horizon where strange lights danced in the distance.
"A new apocalypse is approaching. And this time... it will be much worse than the last."
Yamero remained silent for a moment, his eyes hardening.
"Have you heard from Suka and Miya?" It's been a long time since we've heard anything from them.
Maki shook her head gently, concern evident on her face.
"No... none. Their signal has disappeared since their last mission. We have no idea where they are."
A heavy silence fell. The wind rattled a piece of metal in the ruins, reminding us of the fragility of the world around them.
Yamero frowned, staring into space.
"That's really weird... they did go after Griselda, didn't they?"
Daru nodded slowly, his expression grim.
"Normally, yes. That was their initial mission."
Silence fell again, broken only by the breeze stirring up dust. Yamero clenched his fist, his gaze darkening.
"So why have they been away for so long without any news? What could have happened to them?"
Maki looked away, his voice trembling slightly.
"We have to avoid thinking about the worst-case scenario."
Daru sighed, his eyes fixed on the horizon.
"Maybe... but something tells me that this time, we're facing something much bigger than anything we've faced before."
Thunder rumbled in the distance, as if to confirm his words. Yamero stood up slowly, his eyes filled with demerit.
"In that case, we'll go get them. Griselda or not, I won't let anyone down."
Suddenly, a strange presence was felt behind them.
A chill ran through the air, thick, almost suffocating.
The three companions turned around as one.
Behind them stood a young girl, barely ten years old.
A small Japanese girl with silky green hair that fell to her waist, and sky-blue eyes of a disturbing purity.
She wore a simple schoolgirl's outfit, immaculate despite the ash and dust still floating in the air.
Yamero, surprised but suspicious, frowned:
"Kid, what are you doing here? Get out of here quickly and go find your mother."
The little girl gave a mocking smile, slowly raising her head towards them.
Her voice, soft but strangely assured, resonated with an unusual maturity:
"My name is Aika, and I've come to help you."
Daru raised an eyebrow, visibly puzzled.
"How could a little girl help us?"
Aika crossed her arms, a faintly amused expression on her face.
"Let's just say I'm not an ordinary girl. I'm... sort of Merphis's adopted sister."
A heavy silence fell instantly.
Yamero, Maki, and Daru froze, their expressions frozen between shock and disbelief.
They all straightened up, their gazes fixed on Aika.
"What?!" Yamero cried.
"You mean... you know that bastard Merphis? Where is he?"
Aika nodded calmly.
"Yes. But before you bombard me with questions, let me clarify two things:
First, he's not a bastard, like you just said. And secondly… no, I don't know where he is.
The last time I saw him was when he left to join your rebel organization. About a year ago.
Daru frowned, her tone becoming more serious.
"You owe us a lot of explaining, young lady."
Aika burst into a small, crystalline laugh, but her gaze remained strangely serious.
"Of course. But not here. We're being watched. The extremist organization's henchmen are lurking nearby."
She took a step forward and pointed to a half-destroyed alleyway, shrouded in shadows.
"Come on. There's a quieter spot, a little further on. There, I'll explain everything."
As they walked down Kabukichō Alley, the atmosphere grew increasingly heavy.
Sirens wailed from all sides—firefighters, police, paramedics—converging on the still-smoldering ruins of the titanic battle between Yamero and Momoshi.
Flashing lights tinted the cracked walls an aggressive red and blue, contrasting with the blackness of the night sky.
Aika walked calmly ahead of the group, her light footsteps echoing on the still-damp asphalt.
She glanced briefly over her shoulder and said in a confident voice,
"Don't be fooled."
Her tone grew colder, sharper.
"They pretend to help civilians to keep a minimum of followers. A population completely united against the government would be disastrous for them. And then... imagine the bad image it would give if the state resorted to mass slaughter." She paused briefly, her gaze shining with a calculated gleam of intelligence.
"That's why they let the extremist organization do their dirty work for them."
Daru, arms crossed, replied calmly, "We know all that, kiddo. We've been fighting those bastards for years."
Yamero, speaking in a more direct tone, cut the discussion short:
"Instead of arguing about things we already know the answer to, tell us what we want to know."
Aika pretended to think, then turned her head with a slight smile.
"And what do you want to know?"
Maki stepped forward, serious.
"Who's watching us for the extremist organization?"
Aika stopped, placed a finger to her lips, and replied calmly, "All the people you pass by without ever really looking at." She raised a finger and pointed around her, as if to indicate the void.
"Ice cream vendors, shoemakers, homeless people, even ordinary civilians. Each of them has a device embedded in their body. This device transmits voice and visual data to their superiors in real time."
Silence fell as they moved deeper into the alley.
The fluorescent lights dimmed one by one, the sounds of the city fading away until they disappeared completely.
They finally arrived in front of a large, crumbling brick wall, surrounded by a few metal trash cans and an old, flickering streetlight.
Yamero frowned, arms crossed.
"Is this your famous quiet, secluded place?"
Aika gave a small smile.
She clapped her hands—a short, sharp sound. Suddenly, the ground began to shake, and a circular trapdoor opened beneath their feet.
The group barely had time to react before being sucked into a huge transport pipe, a spiral of blue light that swept them away at high speed.
A few seconds later, they landed in a vast, high-tech basement.
The place seemed timeless—a gigantic room lined with screens, holographic panels, and whirring machines.
Luminescent cables snaked across the ceiling, and in the center sat an energy core pulsing with blue light.
Aika took a few steps forward, turning to face them with a confident smile.
"Welcome to my headquarters."
She spread her arms proudly.
"Here, no signal, no wave, no spy can reach us."
Her gaze became more serious.
"Now we can talk freely... about Merphis, and what's really going on."
Maki, arms crossed, frowned slightly. Her voice, calm but tinged with interest, broke the silence at headquarters.
"You say you've known Merphis for a year, right? How exactly did your paths cross?"
Aika, still standing in front of them, gave a faint, almost melancholic smile.
"Merphis and I met the day he saved me from the extremist organization."
She took a deep breath before continuing:
"I was being chased... I was almost captured. They tracked me to an old, abandoned industrial district. That's when he appeared. He neutralized my pursuers before they could even understand what was going on."
Yamero snorted, a look of both amusement and bitterness on his face. —That bastard, always so chivalrous…
Daru, more serious, stepped forward slightly, fixing his piercing gaze on the young girl.
—And why did the extremist organization want you at all costs?
Aika sat down on a dark leather armchair. Her legs didn't even touch the floor, and yet, in her voice, one could hear the maturity of a survivor.
—For their genetically modified human program.
Her voice barely trembled.
—They also need potential chosen ones of mythical power to fill their ranks. I had a dormant power within me, not yet awakened.
She clenched her fists, her eyes shining with suppressed anger.
"I was in an orphanage under their supervision. They administered… horrible… tests to the children to detect potential holders of mythical powers."
A shudder ran through Maki. —And those who failed…
Aika lowered her head, her voice almost hushed.
"Those deemed weak or useless… were immediately thrown into a ditch filled with crocodiles. A hole dug especially for that purpose."
Silence fell over the room.
Maki, her face distraught, put a hand to her mouth, shocked by what she had just heard.
"It's… it's truly horrible."
She straightened up, indignant, her fists trembling.
"How can one be so cruel to one's own kind?"
Aika slowly raised her eyes, a hard flame in her gaze.
"Griselda possessed a relic, the one they still use in their projects today. Thanks to it, he could see that hidden potential in me. He knew I was a future wielder of a mythical power."
She inhaled slowly, her throat tight. "The day before I was transferred to a secret laboratory, I managed to escape. All thanks to my benefactress… a courageous woman, broken by life, but who always took care of me and the other children."
His tone softened, filled with gratitude.
"It's thanks to her that I survived. Then… Merphis found me. He helped me disappear, hide. He gave me a second chance. And then he left again… to continue his fight against them."
The three of them remained silent for a moment, absorbed in the story.
The noise of machinery and the whirring of the HQ's power core filled the space.
Daru, arms crossed, watched her closely, looking suspicious. His deep voice broke the silence of the headquarters:
"And you awakened your power last year?"
Aika nodded slowly, her sky-blue eyes darkening slightly at the mere mention of the memory.
"Yes... more precisely in July."
She paused briefly, looking down.
"That's when my innocence vanished. Before that, I knew nothing. I was just... an eight-year-old girl, lost in a world beyond me."
Yamero, who had been listening distractedly while stretching, suddenly spread her arms wide, her eyes wide.
"Wait, what?!"
He took a step toward her, mouth agape.
"You were eight 'back then'?!" You call that an era?! Wtf, you sound like you've lived three lives! How old are you now?
Aika gave a small smile, amused by Yamero's almost caricatured reaction.
"I'm exactly fifteen."
The silence that followed was immediate.
Maki, Daru, and Yamero stood frozen, each blinking as if they'd just heard some unpalatable nonsense.
"What?!" Maki and Yamero exclaimed almost simultaneously.
Daru, for his part, frowned, his hands sliding slowly over his chin.
"How is it possible... to have aged seven years in one?"
His tone oscillated between fascination and fear.
"It's completely crazy."
Aika simply shrugged, as if the phenomenon didn't deserve such astonishment. —That shouldn't surprise you. With mythical powers, anything is possible.
Her gaze suddenly hardened, losing all trace of lightness.
"But anyway, let's get down to business."
She slowly rose from her seat, approaching the center of the HQ, where a large holographic map lit up beneath her feet.
Red dots appeared over several regions of the world, each representing a stronghold of the extremist organization.
"The most important thing now," she continued firmly, "is to find a way to put an end to these vultures once and for all."
Her aura changed, a slight breeze of energy could be felt in the room, vibrant, unstable.
Aika made several red dots appear on the map, pulsing gently, like hearts beating in unison with the same ache.
She placed her hand on the holographic interface, her voice, clear but deep for her age, echoing through HQ:
"Each red dot scattered around the world represents a reception center for genetically modified humans. These centers are already ready to be activated... and according to the data I've intercepted, operations should begin shortly."
Daru strode over, squinting at the screen. He pointed to several red zones concentrated on continents.
"Look at this... Most of these dots are located in the world's major cities—Tokyo, New York, Berlin, Dubai, Seoul... And the others?"
He zoomed in on the more isolated points.
"Secondary cities, but easy to access, perfect for quick transfers."
Yamero, who had slumped in a chair, watched the scene thoughtfully. His gaze shifted from the glowing globe to Aika.
"So if I understand correctly... they'll necessarily have to transport their guinea pigs or their human weapons. And to do that, they'll use either sea routes or air routes."
But before he could elaborate, Aika raised her hand to gently interrupt him.
"Not necessarily."
She conjured up a three-dimensional image of a huge circular portal, engraved with ancient symbols and shot through with blue lightning.
"In the past, a project was launched by several governments: Project Horizon. The goal was to build portals capable of connecting one point in the world to another in a matter of seconds."
She looked up at them.
"Thanks to this technology, a person could travel from North America to Asia in an instant."
She sighed.
"But as always... humans ruined everything." Her voice grew heavier.
"The project was hijacked by greedy leaders and military powers. The portals began to be used for smuggling, the illegal transport of weapons, and... humans."
A silence fell.
"Then came the Great War. The portals were destroyed or abandoned. Most have been out of service for decades... but some, well-hidden, still exist."
Daru narrowed his eyes, intrigued.
"You mean... if they manage to reactivate these portals, they could connect all these red dots together?"
Aika nodded slowly.
"Exactly. All they would have to do is repair the portals connecting major cities, and the entire network would reconfigure itself. They could move their troops or creatures from one continent to another in seconds."
Maki spoke in turn, looking serious but lucid. —It's a… worrying possibility, but not the easiest to execute.
She placed her arms crossed on the table and continued:
"Most likely, they'll use air or sea routes. Current technological advances make these methods faster and more discreet than in the past."
She paused briefly.
"Today's planes and submarines surpass anything known twenty or thirty years ago. They could move hundreds of units without anyone noticing."
Aika nodded, her features serious, the air of a child already shouldering too many responsibilities for her age.
"It's true, current technological advances have increased the stealth and speed of marine and aerial vehicles. They can cross entire areas without triggering a single radar if they are planned correctly."
Yamero crossed his arms, his gaze hard, a palpable tension in his jaw.
"The trio leading the organization aren't stupid. They're not going to risk just one mode of transportation. If they fly, they could be intercepted; if they go by sea, coastal defenses can react. Technological advances benefit both sides."
Daru raised a finger, concentrating, his voice calm but firm.
"Certainly. But you're forgetting an important detail."
Yamero narrowed his eyes.
"Which one?"
Daru approached the screen and, with a gesture, conjured up lines connecting several red dots. His breathing was steady, but his gaze burned with urgency.
"They can operate on multiple fronts simultaneously. Air and sea simultaneously. Hundreds, even thousands of units. We have neither the human resources nor the technological means to intercept everything. At best, we'll neutralize a few sites, win some battles... but not the war."
A heavy silence fell. Everyone was gauging the magnitude of the problem: the entire planet as a hunting ground, logistics networks capable of leaping from one ocean to the other.
Aika added, her voice lower, almost worried:
"And don't forget the international reaction. Countries that are complicit or purchase this modified energy won't sit idly by. If we hit certain sites, other governments could retaliate... and our rebel allies risk losing valuable support." We could find ourselves isolated, politically targeted, or worse—overwhelmed....