The events that had just occurred were merely a gentle breeze, signaling a great storm about to sweep across Japan, and perhaps even the world.
At a mysterious location beneath Tokyo.
Five individuals gathered around a round table, in the center of which was a pentagram symbol, with a wing extending from each point.
Here, only one person was a physical entity, while the other four were three-dimensional projections. Simultaneously, in the four other areas outside Tokyo—Osaka, Hokkaido, Hakata, and Sendai—a similar scene was taking place.
"Putting aside everything else, this individual is genuinely very interesting."
A person spoke up, resting both hands on their chin, as a report was displayed in image form.
"I'm sure you haven't forgotten, Gastrea has different levels of recovery, right?"
The other four had no objections. The Gastrea's super-strong recovery capability was commonplace, not something new.
Gastrea had four ordinary evolutionary tiers, and one extraordinary Tier 5. The recovery capability was also divided into five tiers; however, it did not necessarily correspond to the equivalent Gastrea level.
"For Tier I, ordinary Varanium weapons can completely neutralize the recovery ability and kill the Gastrea. For Tier II, although Varanium can still suppress it, it is no longer absolute. For Tier III, it is necessary to coordinate strikes to vital areas such as decapitation or cremation of the corpse. Tier IV is relatively dominant; the Gastrea's cells link together even when separated. Their bodies are like Legos that can be disassembled and reassembled at will. Finally, Tier V, where recovery occurs at the molecular level; vacuum, lava, etc., are all ineffective."
"Everyone here must know this, so why bring it up?"
"And this person... is completely different."
"Completely different?"
"Yes. Among the Level 4 Gastrea he killed, one of them even possessed Tier IV recovery capability, making it incredibly difficult to kill. Ordinary Varanium fundamentally could not stop it; only Super Varanium, meaning Varanium of much higher purity than normal, would stand a chance of injuring and killing that thing."
Most Varanium circulated in the market, made into ammunition, weapons, or even the Monolith blocks, was not 100% Varanium but had been diluted to a specific ratio. This saved the supply of the rare metal, which was already scarce due to restricted mining areas, and also avoided waste, as Gastrea with low recovery tiers did not require high-purity Varanium to be killed.
"But in the autopsy results, the Gastrea virus's recovery ability was completely extinguished—or rather, it was burned down!"
"I don't know where he drew this power from, but this fundamentally cannot exist in this world. It is a power completely different from the Gastrea! The Silver King... is the nemesis of recovery."
The man became more and more excited as he spoke, truly seeming as though he had discovered a new frontier. But the four people around him did not indulge him.
"Professor, I apologize for interrupting you, but how the person calling himself the Silver King conducts himself is none of our concern. Have you forgotten the Gastrea Genesis a decade ago? Assume this is the same."
"Haha... you don't understand..."
The Professor laughed mockingly, but finally said no more.
The Silver King was indeed not a threat to them, but what if he could kill all Gastrea? Even a Level 5 Gastrea?
...
"Your Highness Seitenshi, this is everything that has been investigated."
In the room, Tendou Kikunojou respectfully handed a stack of documents to Seitenshi. Inside were the traces of the Silver King's activities in the period before his grand disturbance. The entire itinerary was nothing special, but the time of his appearance was worth noting.
Some time ago, Scorpion—one of the Level 5 Zodiac Gastrea—was annihilated until not a single residue remained. This caused a massive shock to the entire world, and the entity that killed Scorpion was identified as the final Zodiac Gastrea—Aries.
But this was ultimately just hearsay; no one knew the truth.
What was noteworthy here was that a period after Aries appeared, the Silver King also appeared in the Tokyo Area—the area closest to where Scorpion was destroyed.
"Tendou Kikunojou, I understand what you want to prove, but this is not wise."
He wanted to frame the Silver King as Aries, using the pretext of vanquishing the Gastrea to attack him. However, when discussing actual combat power, if the Silver King was truly Aries, the entirety of Tokyo would have been destroyed by now. And setting aside combat power, attributing the characteristics of a Gastrea to someone who was clearly not one, with clear capability, behavior, thought, and communication, was unreasonable from any angle.
It was just that Seitenshi did not completely discard that hypothesis from her mind; perhaps she only lowered its probability a little. Like, the Silver King obtaining power from Aries, for example?
Seitenshi sighed, pretending not to notice Tendou Kikunojou's face darkening.
He had lost his entire family in the Gastrea War, leading Kikunojou to hate the Gastrea to the core. Cursed Children, the cursed children carrying the Gastrea virus, were also the target of his hatred; he fundamentally did not consider them human.
It was easy to understand why Kikunojou was so bitter toward the Silver King.
Furthermore, the new Gastrea rights legislation, aimed at restoring the rights of the Cursed Children, remained slowly stalled from approval and implementation due, in very large part, to Tendou Kikunojou.
Regrettably, Seitenshi's entire faction belonged to the Tendou family. It was no exaggeration to say that this family was what elevated her to power. So, even though Seitenshi was the ruler of the Tokyo Area, and the Tendou family served her, Seitenshi could not make all decisions unilaterally.
Kikunojou respectfully took his leave, but when he stepped outside, his face was as black as the bottom of a pot, his eyes blazing with a crazed look. He went to a hidden place and began contacting someone.
"Change the target."
"I want the Silver King's Dominion destroyed."
...
Rentaro had been wandering for a long time.
In Purgatory.
He saw black ground, red sky.
He saw houses in disarray, saw Monoliths collapsing.
He saw piles of human corpses, saw Gastrea moving in herds.
But Rentaro just... kept walking, like in a daze, like not paying attention. As if he had abandoned this world entirely.
Until, he encountered a person.
"Ki... sara?"
Rentaro looked suspiciously at the person in front of him, a person completely swallowed by darkness, becoming terrifying to the extreme. But he could still make out a faint familiar shadow from her.
Rentaro began to feel confused, then panicked, and finally regret and despair, even though he couldn't understand why he felt such emotions.
He saw the darkened Kisara look towards him, simultaneously drawing the familiar sword at her hip.
The blade flashed, stained red with blood.