That outburst didn't bring the cathartic release she'd imagined. Instead, it felt as though the very last drop of strength had been wrung from her body.
Tendou Kisara's legs buckled.
Those long, shapely legs—wrapped in black knee-high socks, their graceful lines now drained of all power—could no longer support her weight.
Thump.
She collapsed back onto the dust-covered floor, her black sailor uniform's skirt fanning out around her.
She was exhausted.
Truly, utterly exhausted.
All these years, every time the memory of that night ten years ago resurfaced—the sound of her parents being devoured by the Gastrea...
And dragging her broken body through endless days and nights of swinging a sword, watching the bright red blood flow through the dialysis tubes with numb indifference...
And then...
Just minutes ago.
The one who had promised to always stay by her side. Her last remaining knight—Rentarou.
Had simply walked away.
"Heh..."
Tendou Kisara hung her head low, tangled black hair hiding most of her face. A bitter laugh seeped from her throat.
Everything was gone.
Her family was gone. Her healthy body was gone. Her clan was gone. And now, even her last pillar of support had crumbled.
What was she even fighting so hard for?
Was she lashing out?
Or was she secretly hoping that this man—who possessed the terrifying power to instantly heal her dying partner—would simply put her out of her misery?
And yet, right now—
The silence around her was deafening.
That unnatural stillness made Tendou Kisara instinctively raise her head.
Her gaze pierced through the curtain of disheveled hair.
She saw that man.
Just sitting there. Watching her quietly.
Not a single word.
No interruption. No rebuttal. He hadn't even furrowed his brow.
Cross-legged on the floor, chin resting lightly on the back of his hand, those deep, dark eyes reflecting her wretched figure.
The sight made Tendou Kisara instinctively glare at this self-proclaimed God.
She waited for him to argue back.
Waited for him to show displeasure.
Waited for him to act like every other adult she'd ever known—to lecture her from on high with some drivel about "showing proper respect to a deity."
But instead—
Haimer simply tilted his head slightly.
"Finished venting?"
A single, featherlight sentence. Utterly devoid of emotional inflection.
Tendou Kisara's heart clenched violently.
She had steeled herself to be lectured. Steeled herself to be mocked. She'd even braced for this self-proclaimed God to suddenly turn on her.
The one thing she hadn't prepared for was this.
She stared blankly at Haimer.
On that unfairly handsome face—no anger, no impatience. Not even a hint of any negative expression.
If this man had been even a little more menacing. Or if he'd shown her even the faintest flicker of contempt—she might have been able to cling to that, to use it as fuel to hold herself together.
Even if it meant dying, at least she'd die like the sword-demon she aspired to be.
But this...
It was precisely this that effortlessly shattered her outer shell—already riddled with a thousand cracks.
"Nn..."
Tendou Kisara's eyes burned once more.
The tears she'd been holding back for so long finally broke free, rolling down in fat, heavy drops.
At first, it was silent weeping. Then came the sobs she could no longer suppress. And finally, it erupted into gut-wrenching, soul-tearing wails.
Human emotions are such contradictory things.
You armor yourself into a hedgehog bristling with thorns, baring your fangs at anyone who dares approach, all to mask the softness within.
Yet once that disguise is stripped away—a person who could silently lick their wounds in the dark for over a decade without so much as a whimper might completely crumble from a single word of comfort at the edge of collapse.
Tendou Kisara didn't want to cry. She truly didn't.
As the sole inheritor of the Tendou Sword-Drawing Art—a vengeful demon who had sworn herself to retribution—how could she break down sobbing like this in front of a stranger?
But her body seemed to have reached its breaking point and no longer obeyed her will. A decade's worth of bottled-up anguish demanded to be emptied in this single moment.
Haimer watched in silence.
He didn't interrupt. Nor did he scramble to console her with some cliché "don't cry" line straight out of a cheap romance drama.
Better to let it out.
Some poisons, if left inside, will rot the heart from within.
And so.
Haimer simply waited. Patiently.
Until Tendou Kisara's wailing tapered into intermittent hiccups, until she had cried herself completely dry of strength, until all she could do was kneel on the floor with her shoulders shaking in small, rhythmic spasms.
Only then did Haimer produce a handkerchief from inside his coat and hold it out to her.
Tendou Kisara froze for a moment, then instinctively shrank back, turning her head to avoid it.
She wasn't accustomed to intimacy with others. Even less accustomed to accepting this kind of charity-like kindness after exposing her vulnerability.
But Haimer gave her no room to dodge.
The tear tracks were wiped away, bit by bit.
Haimer's gaze fell unabashedly on Tendou Kisara's face.
He had to admit—
As a high-potential candidate, Tendou Kisara possessed truly stunning assets.
Even now, crying like blossoms battered by rain, her nose tipped red, it did nothing to diminish her beauty. On the contrary—that cascade of disheveled black hair set against a face rendered paper-white from years of chronic illness only amplified a certain heart-stopping fragility.
Tear-beaded lashes trembling delicately. The faintest flush at the corners of her eyes.
She was practically a siren designed to drag every protective instinct out of a man's soul.
If the old perverts up in the Heavens caught a glimpse of her, they'd probably start a war over it.
With that—
As the tears were dried, Tendou Kisara sniffled and stared somewhat dazedly at the man so close before her. The hysterical tide of emotion gradually receded, and reason slowly began its return.
A belated wave of shame started spreading through her chest.
What... what on earth had she just done?
She had screamed at the very man who had saved her life with the power to pull people back from death's door—and then, to top it off, had bawled her eyes out in front of him.
"..."
Tendou Kisara's voice came thick with congestion, her eyes blinking uncertainly at Haimer.
"...You're not angry?"
After everything that had just happened, whatever confidence Tendou Kisara once had was clearly spent. Her words were cautious, tentative.
"Angry?" Haimer arched a brow.
"Why would I be angry?"
"I denied the existence of Gods. As someone who claims to be one, shouldn't you—"
Tendou Kisara mumbled, trailing off.
After all, for any being of great power, dignity was an inviolable line—let alone for someone who called himself a God.
"Should what? Fly into a towering rage? Call down divine thunder? Or toss you straight into the deepest pits of hell?"
"If that's truly what you think, then your understanding of the divine is far too narrow."
"Do humans get enraged by the posturing of ants?"
"Of course not."
"Then it's the same for Gods."
"And besides—"
"If one of your own children suddenly has an emotional breakdown, what can a parent do but feel their heart ache?"
At those words, Tendou Kisara stiffened slightly.
She instinctively moved to look up at him for confirmation, then quickly averted her gaze in a fluster.
One of his own children?
The words this man had spoken to her echoed through her mind—
—That he had come precisely for her.
Five minutes ago, she probably would have dismissed all of it as honeyed words and empty flattery.
After all, from childhood onward, she'd seen more than enough people who approached her under every conceivable banner—trying to use her, or the Tendou name.
Those people had mouthed lofty words about "the greater good," "the future," or "the will of the Gods," while hiding nothing but sordid schemes behind their backs.
But now—
For just one fleeting instant, her mind went hazy.
The last rays of the setting sun filtered through the window lattice and spilled across his frame, gilding that impossibly handsome face with a rim of gold. His entire being looked as though... he truly wasn't mortal.
As if he were a deity straight out of some ancient myth, gazing down at a lost lamb.
"Furthermore," Haimer said, raising a single finger and giving it a light wave.
"Regarding the very question you raised just now—if Gods truly exist, then why don't they come and save this world?"
"That question itself contains a fundamental flaw."
"Do you genuinely believe that your world ending up in this state is the Gods' responsibility?"
"What do you mean?" Tendou Kisara raised her head blankly, her brain still struggling to keep up with his leaps in logic.
"The Gastrea Virus."
Haimer uttered the term that sent the entire world into cold terror.
"The catastrophe ten years ago did indeed set human civilization back decades, killed over seventy percent of the population, and turned the entire world into a playground for monsters."
"But—"
Haimer's voice dropped a register, taking on a tone of patient, guiding persuasion.
"Have you ever stopped to consider where this virus—the one that nearly drove humanity to extinction—actually came from?"
Tendou Kisara's lips parted, but no sound emerged. She could only shake her head.
She didn't know.
And it wasn't just her. The overwhelming majority of people in this world didn't know either.
The official explanation regarding the Gastrea Virus's origin had always been: unknown.
Rumors ran wild, of course—bio-weapons deployed by aliens, an ancient plague unearthed from deep underground, a conspiracy theory about some mad scientist's doomsday experiment.
Speculation was rampant, yet none of it held water.
"The Gastrea Virus," Haimer continued.
"Was never some extraterrestrial substance, nor some ancient curse."
"It was—"
"Created by humanity itself."
!!!
Tendou Kisara's pupils shrank to pinpoints.
"And so—"
"Everything your world has suffered has nothing to do with the Gods."
"None of it has anything to do with the Gods."
"Because this entire chain of catastrophes—"
"Was humanity's own doing. You brought it upon yourselves."
Those words detonated like thunderclaps in Tendou Kisara's ears.
Before she could even begin to process it, Haimer fired off three more questions in rapid succession.
"Did you think the Gastrea fell from the sky?"
"Did you think those Stage V monsters—with the power to annihilate entire cities—were random products of nature?"
"Did you think those girls you call 'Cursed Children' were truly just fate's cruel joke?"
With each question Haimer posed, Tendou Kisara's face grew a shade paler.
By the end, her body was trembling uncontrollably.
"And do you really believe that the kind of organization capable of creating something that defies the laws of nature would be some run-of-the-mill third-rate outfit?"
"That a force capable of orchestrating near-simultaneous outbreaks across the entire globe—and then flawlessly erasing every trace afterward, leaving everyone to believe it was a natural disaster—what kind of power do you think that takes?"
"It was precisely because—"
"The original Gastrea Virus was manufactured by humans. For war. For slaughter. For the sake of so-called 'power.'"
"To obtain the ultimate biological weapon capable of overturning the existing paradigm of warfare, the governments, militaries, and conglomerates of your world—every major faction—descended on it like a pack of rabid dogs that had caught the scent of blood."
"In the shadows, they conducted massive, inhumane human experiments."
"And as for the test subjects—"
"What could possibly be more convenient than orphans? Children no one watched over, no one asked about—children who could die in batches without a single soul caring?"
"Cheaper. Safer. And with zero loose ends."
"Through repeated experimentation on those children discarded by society—"
"Your scientists made a thrilling discovery—"
"That the bodies of human girls within a specific age range could miraculously adapt to modification by a particular virus, achieving symbiosis with it."
"And so—"
"Pandora's box was thrown wide open."
"They began frantically rounding up girls of the right age, locking them away in lightless underground laboratories, injecting them with viruses like lab rats, observing reactions, recording data."
"The result—"
"I'm sure you've already pieced it together."
"The experiments spiraled out of control."
"The virus mutated at a speed far beyond anything they had anticipated."
"The virus inside those little girls breached the critical threshold. Their bodies underwent irreversible mutations. The virus that was meant to create super-soldiers devoured its creators instead."
"They were no longer human."
"They had become monsters."
"Ultimately, they became what your world speaks of in hushed terror—creatures capable of leveling a city overnight: Stage V."
"Do you know about the Seven Stars Legacy?"
"Those are items capable of summoning Stage V monsters."
"But do you want to know why they can summon Stage V creatures?"
"The children who became Stage V had already lost their lucidity. Even their memories of being human had grown dim."
"But—they still remembered one thing."
"They still remembered the toy they had clutched tightly in their hands when they were still human."
"It was the only thing that had ever truly belonged to them—before they were dragged into the laboratories and stripped of everything."
"And so—"
"Whenever a Seven Stars Legacy appears, those Stage V entities wandering the globe—those girls, once upon a time—are drawn to it."
"Not because of any summoning ritual."
"Not because of some monster's instinct."
"Simply because—"
"It was the sole remnant of their existence as human beings, before they became monsters."
Haimer's words fell into silence.
The office plunged into a deathly stillness.
As if even the air itself had frozen solid.
Tendou Kisara sat there on the floor, utterly stupefied.
The Gastrea—those monsters that had destroyed human civilization, that had shattered her family and taken everything from her—
Were manufactured by humans themselves?
Those red-eyed children who were spat on in the streets, abused, and treated as harbingers of doom—
Were deliberately created by human governments?
"You're probably wondering—if this is true, why hasn't it been made public? Why does no one know?" Haimer spoke as though he had read Tendou Kisara's mind, answering his own question.
"It's simple."
"Because the moment it went public, those governments, those factions, everyone who participated in or tacitly condoned the experiments—"
"Would instantly become the enemy of all mankind."
"The enraged masses would tear them to pieces."
"The resulting civil war would be far more devastating than the Gastrea catastrophe itself. Human civilization would disintegrate from within."
"So they chose silence."
"They chose to fabricate lies."
"Surely you didn't actually believe that those girls born carrying the Gastrea Virus were truly some random natural mutation?"
"Why is it that humanity—driven to the very brink of extinction—suddenly possessed weapons capable of fighting the Gastrea?"
"All of these coincidences are just a little too perfect."
"So perfect—"
"That it's as if they were meticulously engineered by human hands."
Tendou Kisara's body began to shake violently.
Deep within her memory, all those inconsistencies she had once overlooked now snapped together like puzzle pieces, forced into place by an invisible hand.
Forming a truth that made her stomach turn.
"The catastrophe ten years ago did indeed bring humanity to the brink of annihilation."
"But precisely because of that—"
"The experimental results that had been hidden away in dark corners suddenly proved enormously useful."
"The Cursed Children were shoved to the very front lines of humanity's war against the Gastrea, paying with their lives to atone for a sin that was never theirs to bear."
"As for those who truly created this disaster—"
"They were never punished as they deserved."
"Instead, they continued to exploit those children, to exploit the catastrophe itself, further consolidating their power and enjoying their positions of privilege."
This was the cruelest irony of all.
Those red-eyed children—pelted with stones in the streets, cursed at, driven away—
They weren't merely innocent victims.
They didn't even get to claim the title of "victim" on their own terms—it was forced upon them.
From the very moment of their creation, they had been designed as scapegoats.
—To take the blade meant for the true sinners.
Find a scapegoat. Heap all the blame upon it. Then carry on sinning with a clear conscience.
From ancient human sacrifices, to the witch hunts of the Middle Ages, to the ethnic cleansings of the modern era.
Only the forms changed.
The essence remained the same.
As long as there existed an object upon which hatred could be directed, the fury of the masses had an outlet.
And the true architects of the crime could hide safely behind that torrent of rage, untouched.
The room was terrifyingly silent.
Outside the window, the last vestiges of the sunset had sunk below the horizon entirely.
So this was the truth of this world?
Tendou Kisara felt as though something had lodged itself firmly in her chest, choking her.
"But..."
"Everything you just said..."
"I still can't fully believe it..."
"I'm not the kind of foolish woman who sits around waiting for a prince to come save her."
"You saved me, and you've told me these secrets—so you obviously have your own agenda."
"But if you truly want me to go with you..."
"I... I still have something unfinished..."
With that, Tendou Kisara lowered her head.
"Miss Tendou."
But then—
Who could have predicted it.
Haimer suddenly addressed her by that name.
Tendou Kisara's head snapped up instantly.
She had never once told this man her name.
"I know a great many things."
"Such as the true cause of your parents' deaths."
"Such as what truly happened that night."
"Such as..."
Haimer paused briefly.
"Such as every single name on that list."
The list of those who had conspired to murder her birth parents.
It was the sole reason she was still alive.
And yet—
Before Tendou Kisara even had a chance to ask—
Snap!
Haimer slowly raised his right hand and snapped his fingers with a crisp, sharp sound.
In that instant, Tendou Kisara felt as though the very air around her had suddenly frozen solid.
Then—
The next second.
Everything before her eyes began to warp and stretch into infinity!
And then—
Before Tendou Kisara could even react, a sudden, violent gale seized her thoughts by force.
"WHOOOOSH——!!!"
Wind howled around her.
When Tendou Kisara finally saw where she was—
Her body went rigid. Words failed her completely.
Beneath her feet—
Was an altitude of ten thousand meters!
Below stretched a city ablaze with glittering lights!
____
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