“Hooh—wielding a sword, huh? I don’t know which school you trained under, but let’s see how you fare against —”
Eight walked past the swordsman renowned for their skill.
“You... you won’t get any further... beyond here... Ugh—my, my head...”
He passed a powerful psychic, leaving them clutching their head in agony.
[You are currently trespassing on private property. This is a serious legal violation and—]
He bypassed the corporation’s androids, ignoring their robotic warnings.
Pushing through countless obstacles, Eight finally reached the core of the secret research lab. As he glanced around, he let out a hollow laugh.
“No wonder you wanted to keep this hidden.”
At the deepest part of the lab were rows upon rows of tanks filled with formalin. Inside, dozens—no, hundreds—of what looked like newborn infants floated, their tiny forms resembling sothing that had only recently erged from the fetal stage.
It didn’t take much to deduce the nature of the experints being conducted here. Human cloning—an act considered even more reprehensible than murder on Earth. And this wasn’t rely about creating humans; it seed they were using the clones as raw materials.
If federal investigators saw this, they would erase all evidence of such atrocities from history. Eight, however, didn’t say a word. With a simple wave of his hand, his two assistants, Hanee and ister, stepped forward and began smashing the rows of tanks one by one.
‘These bastards don’t even deserve to be called human...’
As the lab was systematically destroyed, Eight sifted through the hidden docunts and realized this wasn’t the facility he had been searching for. But that didn’t matter.
There were plenty of other secret labs to investigate, and the night was long.
“Destroy everything and et up top.”
After issuing the command, Eight silently stepped into an elevator and ascended to the surface. His two assistants followed shortly after, leaving the lab just as the entire structure began to collapse.
With dust and debris billowing into the air from the crumbling buildings, Eight climbed into a vehicle manufactured by Evilus Corporation. Relaxed and unbothered, he drove off, leaving the ruins behind.
* * *
“Damn it!”
Crash!
The chairman kicked over a chair, smashing it to pieces, but even that didn’t quell his rage. Still fuming, he began wrecking everything in sight, his secretary flinching with each loud crash. It almost looked like he was enjoying her discomfort.
It wasn’t until his arms and legs began to ache that the chairman finally stopped his tantrum.
“How is this even possible!? What age are we living in, and you’re only bringing this news now!?”
“Well, it seems the information was heavily restricted...”
“Let guess—it’s that damn AI again, isn’t it!?”
The secretary hung her head in silence, unable to offer a rebuttal. The chairman paced angrily, trying to calm himself, but his thoughts kept returning to the impossible news he’d just received.
“A secret research lab... wiped clean! And not just one, all of them! And now, days later, we’re only finding out about it!? How does this even happen!?”
“Yes, sir... the usual protocol dictates that contact isn’t made unless it’s an urgent matter, and...”
“If this doesn’t qualify as urgent, then what the hell does!?”
“It appears the intruders were exceptionally skilled...”
“Damn it! Do you know how much money I poured into those labs!? Just because the enemy is competent doesn’t an we get to be incompetent!”
The secretary stayed silent, knowing any response would only fuel his anger further. Her subdued deanor, however, only made the chairman angrier.
Clutching his forehead and neck in frustration, the chairman suddenly had a thought. He grabbed his phone and began calling other city leaders. When the call connected, he wasted no ti getting to the point.
“Hello? Tell , have you been hit too?”
[...Hit? What are you talking about?]
“Looks like you haven’t heard yet. Check into it and call back.”
He hung up. Within five minutes, his phone rang again. This ti, the other party’s tone was sharp.
[Was this your doing?]
“As if. If it were , do you think I’d tell you like this?”
[Do you know who’s responsible?]
“If I knew, don’t you think I’d have told you by now?”
[Hmm... Let check how much damage we’ve sustained.]
“Yeah, I’ll be doing the sa.”
Both leaders began contacting their networks. While they didn’t have direct lines to all the other rulers, it didn’t matter. One connection led to another, and soon enough, word spread to everyone.
Not long after, they managed to form a sort of victims’ group to piece together what had happened and try to identify the perpetrator.
“Hm... this much damage?”
[Yes. Seventeen groups hit.]
“So... does that an the culprit is among the remaining nine?”
Of the 26 cities, 17 corporations had their secret labs attacked. But just because the other nine were untouched didn’t guarantee the culprit was among them.
So might have lied about being attacked to avoid suspicion, or they might have deliberately sacrificed less important labs to throw others off.
Still, one city stood out.
[Would you look at that? E City isn’t on the victim list again.]
Evilus Corporation.
The damn Evilus. The very corporation that had turned the world into its current state. A ga-corporation so massive and dominant that it crushed all others beneath it, centing its place as the world’s number-one company.
The fact that Evilus had escaped unscathed naturally bred suspicion. Could they be behind this attack?
Of course, there wasn’t a shred of solid evidence—only baseless conjecture fueled by years of jealousy and resentnt.
But when it cos to hating soone, people don’t need evidence.
[Evilus Corporation is the culprit.]
The ruler of S City suddenly spoke up, her tone brimming with confidence. For a mont, the others wondered if she had proof. But her next words were utterly absurd.
[The spirit I serve told so—they’re definitely the ones responsible.]
“...Chairwoman Riu, could you please stop with the spirit nonsense? There’s no way we can take action against Evilus based on that.”
[Actually, I’d like to ask you this: now that the existence of souls has been scientifically proven, doesn’t that validate the existence of spirits as well?]
Her comnt left the other rulers speechless. They had no energy left to argue. Riu, undeterred, declared that if no one else would help, she’d retaliate on her own.
Frankly, her talk of spirits and whatnot was highly dubious, but most of the rulers gave her their support.
If she succeeded, great. If she failed, it wouldn’t cause them any harm.
[Very well. I’ll take that as your consent. Whatever happens in E City, don’t concern yourselves with it.]
With that, Riu ended the call. The other rulers, well aware that Evilus’s AI was likely eavesdropping in real ti, were baffled by her brazen confidence.
“Fools. All of them.”
Riu Spirit ended the call and stood, heading toward the altar in the corner of her office. It was the sacred place where the spirit she served resided.
Offering a small snack as a sacrifice, she began a ritual to awaken the spirit. Before long, the presence of the spirit filled her mind.
─What is it?
“I greet you, great spirit.”
─Don’t make repeat myself. Is it about those Evilus fools again?
“Yes, as you predicted...”
─What do you want from ?
Riu grinned wickedly.
“I want to bring them despair.”
─Very well. Offer a sacrifice. One, two... ten souls should do.
“Understood.”
At the spirit’s command, Riu ordered her subordinates to bring “it” forward. Monts later, her assistants dragged in ten tanks filled with liquid to the altar.
Months earlier, a certain scientist had proven the existence of souls. Using that discovery, Riu had acquired the technology to create living sacrifices imbued with souls.
Even the spirit, who demanded true, living offerings, was satisfied with these.
Since obtaining this technology, Riu had been freely wielding the spirit’s power, no longer constrained by the difficulty of finding living sacrifices. It was akin to discovering a cheat code in a ga.
The spirit devoured the offerings in one gulp and grinned.
─It is done.
Hearing this, Riu’s smile grew wider, reaching as high as the heavens.
* * *
“Ugh...”
“Scientist? Is sothing wrong?”
Regalia’s question prompted to wave it off casually.
“Must’ve eaten sothing bad this morning... my stomach’s a bit upset.”
“Hmm—be careful, then. Though, perhaps I’m not one to talk.”
“Did sothing happen to you?”
“This morning, I accidentally dropped the hamburger steak my maid brought . And then, to make matters worse, we ran out of ingredients, so I couldn’t have any before heading to school...!”
“That’s so bad luck, Boss.”
I tilted my head slightly, puzzled.
The boss, of all people—soone blessed with unparalleled luck—had sothing like this happen?
Today must be a strange day.
Better watch my step.
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