Bunkyo District, Saint Maria Cathedral.
Emily finished her conversation with Father Kimura, organized the necessary notes, and placed them into a docunt bag, which Katerina then picked up.
"Father Kimura, thank you for your cooperation. It’s getting late; we should take our leave now."
"It was a pleasure talking to you, Miss Emily." Father Kimura smiled; he wouldn’t dislike a cute and polite girl. "Before you go, would you like to have a look around the church? Believe , at this hour, you can truly understand the majesty of God."
Emily replied offhandedly, "Mm."
She didn’t have much interest in Tokyo’s largest church. Its cold architectural structure looked more like a modern skyscraper than a sacred and solemn sanctuary.
But she didn’t refuse Father Kimura’s suggestion and followed him into the nave.
The place was spacious and dim but didn’t feel oppressive. The midday sunlight shone through the glass windows, illuminating the area near the altar. Walking forward from there felt like stepping out of darkness and returning to the embrace of light.
A feeling of solemnity and awe washed over her, and Emily had to retract her earlier judgnt; this was indeed a very fitting church.
"If sothing troubles you, you can pray to God. He will listen to everything and save your soul." Father Kimura’s voice was calm; he intended to cultivate Emily into a devout believer.
Unlike ordinary people, for those with power, every additional believer in the Lord ant an increase in church funds. To Father Kimura, believers like these were a case of ’the more, the rrier.’
Emily, affected by the atmosphere, sat in a well-lit chair, clasped her hands, and attempted a brief prayer to the Lord, hoping to remove the Z Drug from her body.
Katerina didn’t advise against it and also clasped her hands. She hoped the Z Drug in Emily would disappear.
As the two closed their eyes to pray, a seductive voice suddenly sounded from behind them, "Instead of praying to the God on the Cross, why not pray to ?"
"Who is it?!" Father Kimura was furious. This was a sacred church; who dared to utter such blasphemous words?!
He turned his head and discovered that, at so point, a tall, blonde man had taken a seat on a bench. His attire, appearing very casual, was completely out of place in the solemn church.
The scolding words caught in his throat. Father Kimura felt an imnse pressure emanating from the blonde man; the man’s arms were thicker than his own thighs, and his cold gaze was like a snake stalking its prey.
GULP. Father Kimura swallowed his words.
With a swift chop to the neck, Katerina knocked Father Kimura unconscious. Her expression was grave as she exclaid, "Dio!"
Her eyes were filled with alertness. She knew she couldn’t resist him, but she still instinctively assud a defensive posture.
Emily unclasped her hands and turned around. "Dio, what do you an by that?"
"Exactly what it sounds like," Aozawa said, extending his right hand and whispering like a demon, "Pray to , kiss the back of my hand, and the fierce poison troubling your body will dissipate."
「...」
Marvelous resurgence.
This was the superpower Aozawa had obtained this week.Just from the na, one could tell this superpower was related to healing.He recalled Emily struggling with the Z Drug and how Chitose seed very concerned. He wanted to see if Marvelous resurgence could cure the fierce poison within Emily.Even if it couldn’t heal her, it wasn’t a problem.After all, they were enemies; he could easily pass it off as a joke.
Emily’s heartbeat accelerated as she looked at his raised hand. Its skin was paler than a woman’s, yet his fingertips lacked any effeminate softness, possessing instead a masculine robustness. Overall, it possessed an almost demonic beauty—definitely a right hand that a connoisseur of hands would want to sever and preserve as a specin.
Would kissing the back of his hand actually work?
Good fortune had arrived so suddenly that Emily didn’t react imdiately.
She had never given up on deploying her honey trap, but she never expected the opportunity to arise so suddenly.Being poisoned and then healed by Dio—this would inherently bring them closer.
Of course, if Dio expected her to rember this favor, he was underestimating a woman’s capacity for ruthlessness.
Towards an enemy, she would never harbor any gratitude.
With this thought, Emily’s face displayed appropriate hesitation and struggle before she feigned being overco by the desire to live, softly asking, "Really?"
"Of course," Aozawa replied.
Emily took a deep breath. She prayed in her heart for Dio to remove the Z Drug, then gently lifted his right hand with her own small one, pressing her soft lips against the back of his hand. It felt icy, almost unnaturally cold. If she had to describe it, the sensation was like touching a hand exposed to the harsh winter wind. Cold as ice.
Aozawa activated his Marvelous resurgence superpower.
A warm current instantly suffused Emily’s lips, dissipating the icy sensation. It then quickly surged towards her brain and heart, bringing an imnse sense of comfort. It felt as if she were soaking in a hot spring during a winter holiday. She almost couldn’t resist crying out but managed to suppress the urge.
Amidst the warmth, Aozawa lifted her head slightly and withdrew his hand. A wisp of black smoke now curled around his right index finger.
Emily looked at the swirling black mist, sowhat puzzled. "What is that?"
"That’s your poison," Aozawa replied. He had figured out how Marvelous resurgence worked: it healed patients on contact and then directly extracted diseases or potent poisons from their bodies. He could either transfer it to soone else imdiately or store the potent poison to inflict it later.
Aozawa flicked his fingers, and the black smoke dissipated.
Emily’s face showed astonishnt. "The Z Drug in my body... it’s gone?"
"Mm," Aozawa replied indifferently.
Emily already knew in her heart that superpowers defied science and logic, but witnessing it again only reaffird that superpowers truly were beyond science and reason.Ito Oto had racked her brain, pondering countless antidote formulas. Yet, for Dio, resolving the issue was an effortless matter of a re second.This was a complete defeat for modern dicine!
"Dio, I’m indebted to you for saving . If you need help with anything that doesn’t violate morality or conscience, you can ask . But after that, we’re even!"
Emily was trying to leave the door open for a future eting.
"You just need to focus on your own affairs." Aozawa smiled, then used his Elent Replacent ability and vanished from the cathedral like an invisible breeze.
His recent test had shown that the greatly nerfed Elent Replacent no longer possessed the terrifying power of the previous week. His body couldn’t expand to thousands of ters, only tens.Furthermore, the leap range for elents like the Fire Elent or electricity had also diminished. However, this reduction wasn’t sothing to regret. Thanks to Schrodinger’s Cat, effectively, the range was practically unchanged.
"Damn it, he completely underestimated !" Emily stamped her foot, her cheeks puffed out in a pout.
Despite her words, she felt a flicker of pleasure. Her charm must still be potent; otherwise, Dio wouldn’t have co specifically to heal her.Her honey trap might actually succeed.
Katerina asked, "Emily, what about Father Kimura?"
"Just leave him on a chair. We need to hurry back and get ourselves checked to see if we’re really okay."
Emily wouldn’t completely trust Dio’s words. She needed scientific verification, using ans within her control, to confirm her body was truly unhard.
「...」
「Tokyo University dical Laboratory.」
After a series of complex examinations, Emily didn’t look dejected as usual; instead, she was filled with anticipation.
"Ito, what are the results?"
"You’re really okay." Ito Oto looked at the reports, a hint of shock appearing on her usually impassive face.
As a doctor, she understood the implications of Dio’s superpower far more clearly than a layperson could; it was nothing short of a miracle.
The Z Drug was concocted by researchers at Biological Research Lab 47 by mixing nine types of potent poisons. These poisons achieved a very delicate, yet bizarre, internal balance. Once inside a human body, it would rapidly embed itself near vital organs like the brain and heart, gradually effecting changes. There would be almost no abnormalities before it activated. Once the Z Drug took full effect, the outco was either evolution or death. Attempting to treat it with external intervention would likely backfire, potentially disrupting the balance and causing the toxicity to erupt prematurely.
Ito Oto’s previous tests on lab mice had all failed without exception. Ito Oto hadn’t even dared to let Emily see the state of those failed mice, fearing it would traumatize her already fragile nerves.
"It’s unbelievable. Any interference would cause it to activate. Look, these are the previous failed cases." Ito Oto, no longer concerned about her patient’s feelings at this point, showed Emily the records of the mice’s deaths.
"WOW!" Emily was generally brave, but seeing the pitiful state of the mice—their bodies swollen beyond any recognizable murine form—her face filled with horror.
"You deceitful woman! Is this what you ant by ’no problem’ before?!"
"Don’t get hung up on those white lies. The Z Drug is said to force evolution, but such forced change actually exceeds what the human body can endure. Basically, it’s an impossible feat."
Ito Oto deftly steered the conversation, speaking frankly, "To tell you the truth, the probability of developing an antidote to cure you was only ten percent. And that was assuming extre luck."
"HAHA!" Now that she was fine, Emily burst into laughter, her spirits soaring. "It must be destiny! The heavens have fated to pursue Dio. That’s why I’m still alive—or rather, that’s why Dio himself cured !"
"Indeed," Ito Oto replied, her eyes again showing a pensive look. She pondered whether Dio’s superpower was specific to toxins like the Z Drug, or if it could indiscriminately cure all diseases.If it were the latter, the last shred of her pride as a doctor would be utterly shattered.
Reviews
All reviews (0)