Arc City Slum District, outside Kiana's temporary residence.
Following the frantic gunfire and clashing blades from the room earlier, all nearby civilians had spontaneously evacuated to other blocks.
The commotion from the four-story building grew steadily louder. What began as gunfire and the clash of blades evolved into a series of muffled yet violent explosions and the sound of snapping fingers. The vibrations from the ground at one point made the brave few who remained to watch wonder if the building would collapse at any moment.
"So why haven't the Arc City Guard and the Anti-Riot Mobile Squad shown up yet...?" the onlookers whispered among themselves.
"They're probably tied up with other incidents. I heard these strange, sudden disasters have been happening more and more frequently these past few months."
"Sigh... What about those girls who call themselves Schicksal Valkyries?"
"Them? I heard they've been investigating the cause behind these frequent disasters. They're probably too busy to spare anyone."
"So you're saying no one's available to handle this for now?"
"Exactly... The departments we just mentioned are the busiest in the city right now—Hey, look! Someone's finally here!"
"Huh? A white-haired woman. She must be one of those Schicksal Valkyries, right?"
"I heard those Valkyries are like Superman from the movies. With them here, we can all rest easy—"
A few of the more knowledgeable onlookers began explaining the situation to the confused crowd around them.
"Anyway, shouldn't we clear out first?"
"Isn't there a saying? 'When gods fight, mortals suffer.'"
The onlookers, sensing something was wrong, began to back away from the scene, slipping off into the distance.
"Right, let's stop gawking. Everyone, disperse! The young and strong, help the elderly who can't move quickly—"
"Staying here just makes us a burden to Her Excellency the Valkyrie. It would be a grave sin if she got hurt trying to protect us common folk."
A respected community leader from the neighborhood seemed to be among the crowd. He began directing people to help the elderly, young, sick, and disabled retreat from the scene.
-
"Hmm, they're quite self-aware and organized."
Imhotep nodded as she watched the civilians retreat in an orderly fashion.
"Most of the people here are refugees. They're well-versed in handling and understanding sudden incidents like this..." Gray Serpent's somewhat muffled voice sounded beside her.
"Forced to become experts through hardship, huh... Let's go check on what 'Small Island Bomb Duck' and 'White Blazing Cat' are up to in that building."
Imhotep shook her head and started walking toward the four-story residential building.
"You seem to enjoy giving people rather... descriptive nicknames, don't you?"
"What, you want one too?"
Imhotep glanced sideways at Gray Serpent, a strange look on her face.
"...No, I was just making a casual observation, Miss Imhotep."
"...Fine."
-
Their pace was swift, and they soon reached the four-story building that had just abruptly fallen silent.
"It's suddenly gone quiet... Hmm, don't tell me those two unlucky kids were actually eaten by the house, like they said in their message."
Imhotep made a small joke, then drew her scepter and led the way inside.
-
"What a... demonic frenzy..."
Imhotep and Gray Serpent, having just stepped into the room, simultaneously offered the same assessment.
The walls were covered in eyes and fleshy cysts. The floor—or rather, the Zerg-like creep—was coated in a strange, constantly proliferating slime. From the far side of the room came a grotesque chewing sound; judging by the debris in the massive maw, it was devouring what had once been the living room sofa. The few surviving tables and chairs darted around the room like wild dogs let loose, their rigid wooden legs twisting and leaping like bizarre gluten-dough figures.
"Ah... Little lost ones, hurry home now—!"
Imhotep jabbed the sharp tip of her scepter at an animated flesh wall that tried to lick her. Frost instantly spread across its surface, and the wall of flesh let out a strange wail before withering away. But as the corruption on the wall receded, Imhotep and Gray Serpent saw no sign of the Black Dodo or Kiana they had expected to find trapped inside.
"Hmm... Could they have been eaten by the floor? Or gotten stuck inside the wall? That shouldn't be possible..."
After freezing another pouncing slime monster of some unknown species into shattered pieces, Imhotep scanned every corner of the room—
Then, her cyan eyes locked onto the corrupted floor, which was still greedily devouring the innocent sofa. The floor, having witnessed Imhotep impale the corrupted wall, shook its maw in a surprisingly human-like gesture, babbling incoherently. It even sprouted several pairs of eyes, as if desperate for the two intruders to notice, and frantically gestured toward the ceiling.
"Ew—so many eyes! How disgusting."
Squelch—
Ignoring the living floor's frantic signals, Imhotep plunged her scepter down again. Gray Serpent, meanwhile, decisively drew a *** and blasted the giant, mascara-caked eyes that had sprouted from the floor beneath them, along with the animated tables and chairs charging at them.
The corrupted floor and furniture—deceased.
"Mmm-hmm... so where did those girls go...?"
Just as the two remained puzzled, a familiar voice drifted down from the ceiling, her words laced with terror and trembling—
"God is just; He wills that I suffer; yet He knows I am innocent. My faith is born from this conviction. My heart and my reason cry out to me, telling me: my faith will never deceive me. Therefore, let men and fate do as they will—"
"I will learn to endure without complaint or resentment. Everything will return to its proper order, and my day will come sooner or later..."
The Black Dodo clung desperately to the room's only safe haven—the ceiling. With her eyes squeezed shut, she began praying to the God she had never believed in. After all... it didn't cost anything to have a little faith. What if a miracle actually happened?
Of course, the Black Dodo wasn't the only resident on the ceiling. There was also a blue-gray Dragon Girl and a Sirin Doll clinging desperately to the Dragon Girl's hair, refusing to let go. But Imhotep couldn't find the one she most wanted to see: the frazzled white cat.
"If you three keep hanging up there, you're going to pull the whole ceiling down...!"
Imhotep rolled her eyes at the "Three Ceiling Cowards," who were all squeezing their eyes shut, pretending they couldn't see or hear anything.
"Uh... Miss Imhotep?"
The Black Dodo trembled as she cracked open her eyes and turned to look down at Gray Serpent and Imhotep on the floor. Her nominal mentor and superior, Gray Serpent, had pointedly turned his head away, acting as if he had no connection to this embarrassing spectacle.
"Are... are those things all gone?"
Completely ignoring Gray Serpent's "I don't know you" attitude, Cioara clung tightly to the ceiling and sought confirmation from Imhotep below.
"They're gone... Now get down here, all three of you! The ceiling's about to— For fuck's sake..."
The slum district's long-neglected ceiling finally gave way, torn down by the sheer weight of the three.
"It's a real waste you guys aren't in the demolition business..."
Imhotep frowned, surveying the utter mess.