Chapter 267

The strike team descended, slicing through the gloomy gray sky. Bodies plummeted like bullets through the air.

The coat, a mix of blue and gray camouflage, billowed behind them.

Every time the harsh wind whipped past, a buzzing sound resonated in the air.

Behind her goggles, Irene’s golden eyes darted around. The signal from the two-dimensional signal device was getting closer.

She recalled the discussions with other officers before the drop.

-If the Federation and Restraid are so hesitant to speak, it means they don’t want to expose the Apostle. I don’t know why, but it seems to involve something sensitive.

-I’ve received advance payment from the Cascadia side, and he’s a dangerous one, so we can’t just pass him by. However, involving the three major clans will complicate things. We need an excuse.

-That’s right. We’ll have to present the scenario we devised earlier.

Her mouth was already set. The prepared setup was as follows.

The mixed strike team of the Helios Clan was urgently dispatched to rescue under the request of Aegis Academy.

Suddenly, a distress signal from the two-dimensional signal device was detected beyond the barrier.

Analyzing the signal pattern, it was presumed to be a missing VIP. Ultimately, they took on the danger to enter.

And there, they faced a variant monster designated with the identification code Omega.

They would surely be told they fought bravely.

‘And, we must conclude with the ending that we returned victoriously. Absolutely!’

Irene’s resolve solidified.

The ground approached. The group of Hunters maintained their formation as they descended.

Her eyes quickly locked onto the nearing ground.

It was getting closer. Gravity soon thrust the classical cityscape right in front of them.

Just before landing, they twisted their bodies sharply, almost at a vertical angle.

The magical energy flowing through the device attached to their waist activated the anti-gravity device, emitting a blue glow.

-Thud!

A sudden deceleration. The soles of the Hunters’ combat boots lightly touched down.

The ground crunched underfoot. The once-paved earth was rough with dust and broken bricks.

Crackling voices from short-range communicators filled the air.

As they emerged from the windstorm, the Helios Hunters were greeted by loud noises and screams.

“Target acquired.”

Irene pointed her unarmed left hand towards the source of the noise.

Fortunately, there was no longer any need to track the signal with difficulty.

-Kaboom!

Just a few blocks away, a giant the size of a three-story building smashed through the roof of a neat structure that looked like a temple.

Below, violets from the Special Operations Division Violet, clad in Helios combat uniforms, were embroiled in fierce combat.

All gazes focused on the monster, and in that instant, the Hunters’ expressions twisted.

“…Gah! What is that…”

“Uh, ugh… what the hell is that?”

It wasn’t a problem of appearance. The ones gathered here were veteran Hunters who had faced numerous battlefields and all sorts of monsters.

The issue was an indescribable feeling of discomfort that words could not express.

‘Ugh…’

Irene felt a desire to turn away. The indescribable sensation emanating from that monster known as the Apostle.

This unprecedented discomfort made her stomach churn.

Maybe it was an apt comparison, but it felt like the perspective of a mouse seeing a cat for the first time.

“Damn it, is that the monster that the little ones from the Special Operations Division talked about?”

Morgan nervously pulled the lever of his rifle.

A stubby round was pushed into the chamber.

“Chief, this is…”

“Yeah, the Scholarship Officer and the little ones were right. It’s mental contamination. Just looking at it is enough to cause this kind of trouble! It’s not even close to ordinary dangerous relics!”

“That’s why those Restraid bastards are after it. Enough of the chit-chat. Let’s move!”

Victor slapped Morgan on the back, who had failed to hide his distaste.

“We will proceed as planned. I will take the central front, and Chief Morgan and Chief Victor will take up the flanks for support.”

With his instructions lined up one after the other, Irene quickly put on her face mask.

The sound of clinking gears filled the air.

In an instant, a golden wave spread around them. The sunlight’s guidance enveloped the surrounding Hunters.

A second layer of protection was placed on their skin, amplifying their power.

The members scattered to their positions with precise and coordinated movements, armed and ready.

“We’re moving in!”

Irene and the Hunters charged down the path.

Their explosive rush sent them leaping, covering hundreds of meters in just a few bounds.

While not as solid or heavy as the armored knights’ charge, their speed pierced through effortlessly.

‘Can the Violets really pull this off?’

The writhing Apostle could be seen.

Resembling a human but emanating discomfort and an unnameable eeriness.

According to the Violets, it was said to be weakened.

‘It really is.’

Her golden eyes captured the abnormality.

The Apostle was approaching, but with each step it took, it stumbled unsteadily.

The reason was clear. The grayish objects stuck all over its body.

The Violets were plunging blades into the Apostle and clinging on relentlessly.

「Argh! Get off! Get off of me!」

「No way! Hehe! You can’t leave!」

The appetizers were lightly dealing suppressive fire.

-Ping!

Heavy shots soared above.

Medium bolts fired by snipers who had climbed atop the rooftops embedded themselves into the Apostle’s body.

-Boom! Boom!

The heavy gunfire rang out from both sides. Morgan and Victor dashed over the rooftops, their heavy bullets slamming into the Apostle’s chest and head.

Every time they pulled the lever, the shells rolled on the ground.

A rain of bullets and bolts poured indiscriminately, not distinguishing between Violets and the Apostle.

「Agh! Helios is firing!」

「Eek! I’m going to die again!」

“Damn it, it exploded! Is this even okay?!”

“It’s just a clone. Shut up and shoot!”

The moment the shooting halted, the central members dashed forward, leaping before the Apostle.

“We’re moving in!”

The main dish was the flower of battle, close combat.

-Kaang!

A golden spearhead cleaved the Apostle’s ankle. The members armed with spears, greatswords, and massive axes swung down at the Apostle.

The Apostle retaliated with a mental scream. Evade, retreat.

As unavoidable attacks came flying, the violet-haired girl stepped forward to face the most threatening blow.

“Stand back!”

-Ka-boom!

The Apostle’s blade flew straight at Irene. The sword, imbued with indescribable hues of magical energy, clashed against the golden spear.

Though she flinched, brilliant sunlight erupted as the magical energy burst forth again, deflecting the attack.

The clash of swords continued. A series of three impacts. The ground below cracked and waves of shock radiated outwards.

Irene held her ground.

「Cocky!」

-Kaboom!

On the fourth strike, Irene’s body was hurled into the air.

With a commotion, she crashed into a series of walls from the skyscrapers.

Had she been overpowered? No, it wasn’t over. Brilliance erupted once again.

Fueled by her burning will, she leapt back from the pile of debris and charged toward the Apostle once more.

“I’m fine! Keep pressing on!”

There was no time to be surprised by her unexpected endurance.

As the central unit raised their left arms, the bolt launchers on their wrists began raining fire.

Before they could retreat, the flanking units charged forward in rapid succession.

“…!”

The spear pierced flesh. An axe severed a finger.

The grotesquely shimmering blood flowed onto the ground.

The Apostle was terrified.

Why? Why was it getting hurt? It had to regenerate. It had to recover. If this continued, it would die.

And the Violets continued to interfere.

「No! Don’t use your healing!」

「Let go! Let me go! Please!」

It was horrifying; the repulsive bugs clung to its body and obstructed it.

「Aaaah!」

The skirmish continued. The Violets bound the Apostle tenaciously.

In both the mind and the physical reality, the Helios strike team relentlessly waged war against the bound Apostle.

Shooting, retreating, advancing.

“At this rate, there’s no need to call the chief.”

The Helios whale-hunting tactics ravaged the Apostle in the most brutal manner.

The method of hunting powerful monsters was akin to how primitive ancestors caught beasts.

They stripped away its mobility, slowly wearing it down and weakening it.

Just as an elephant dominating the vast land or a whale swimming freely in the sea would be ravaged before fragile humans, even might exists to be bent when given enough time.

Moreover, the Apostle had a bigger problem.

The Violets persistently interrupted its ability to use its powers.

「Hey! Don’t cheap-shot me with that!」

「No!」

Unlike the indirect interference through the network of the Apostles, a disturbance of an entirely different magnitude poured forth.

Not only was reality manipulation blocked, but even the use of magic was hindered.

The Apostle’s right hand staggered, aiming at Morgan, who was approaching with an axe.

Setting coordinates, the instructions matched the natural combustion equal to the temperature of a star.

Magic activation. Will infusing—

One second before the ability could activate, Unit 1271 mentally smacked the Apostle’s head.

「You! Don’t cheat! If you cheat, I’ll kill you!」

And the will twisted.

Accompanied by a cheerful popping sound, a joyous shower of paper flakes enveloped Morgan as he charged.

“…?”

「Hahaha!」

The Apostle’s will continued to distort.

Chemical attacks. The lethal surprise that should have lunged at Irene transformed instantly into chocolate milk.

Soaked in sweetness, Irene stabbed at the Apostle with a bewildered expression.

“Violet? You can’t be…”

「W-Why! Why!」

The mercilessly fierce translucent blades that adorned the sky transformed their shots into bursts of fireworks, lighting the dull heavens with joy.

A rain of candy fell.

Gravity manipulation altered the direction of attraction that should have slammed Victor down.

The pull forcefully supported the attack, and the struck Apostle flinched in shock.

「Wow! This is fun!」

「Did you do this all by yourself?」

For reasons unknown, the Violet somehow had the ability to twist the Apostle’s powers to her will.

As a result, all malice was miserably mocked.

The full power summoned in a farewell equal to the supernova’s last breath morphed into dazzling club lights, and the Apostle screamed.

「Aaaah! You monster!」

It couldn’t win.

This bug had long embedded itself too deeply into its own psyche.

In a moment, a chilling thought crossed Aedos’s mind.

At this rate, wasn’t it no different than a large monster? The end it reached would be annihilation.

「N-No!」

At the crossroads of life and death, with its very dignity threatened, the Apostle desperately swung its thoughts.

The Violets clinging onto it burst apart like insects under a newspaper.

「Ugh!」

「Eek!」

The Apostle announced with a trembling voice.

“I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you all! I won’t forgive you!”

Simultaneously, a fleeting shockwave swept through the reality.

The Hunters slowly withdrew.

At the moment the Apostle, which had been preparing to counterattack, was stained with despair.

“I got a bit careless since it was such a ridiculous situation. Request for support. I’ll wrap this up immediately!”

As Victor brushed off the remnants of candy sticking to him and shook his head, Irene sighed. What on earth had Diamond done?

It was now time to end this joke. Irene pulled out her trump card with a sense of resignation.

“…Sigh, Father. Please.”

The Apostle’s intuition, battered by the Violet’s mental attacks and the relentless onslaught of the Helios elite Hunters, sensed the impending crisis.

The moment it raised its head, a colossal bipedal weapon dashed through the buildings.

「D-Damn it!」

Stregonics advanced with a thunderous roar.

With each step, the ground and walls around it shivered under its weight. The square launchers mounted on its shoulders spit flames.

Missiles, each worth a building, crossed through the air at supersonic speeds.

-KABOOM!

Then came flames and explosions. The Apostle was sent tumbling.

The machine pressed on without hindrance. As the barrels of the machine gun mounted on its left wrist whirled violently, bursts of rapid fire tore through the distance.

Countless beams of light riddled the Apostle. When the bullets hit, flames erupted and bodily fluids sprayed out.

From its shoulder, mortar shells soared into the air. Each fragment that exploded above was a piece of artifact brimming with harmful magical energy.

Smoke billowed from each impact site as they melted away.

「N-No! Don’t come near! I said don’t come near!」

In terror, the Apostle attempted its final reality manipulation. That attempt was blocked the instant the Violet unleashed a flurry of jabs to its face.

All that remained was its final resistance. The Apostle barely managed to raise its blade once again, but Orion stood firm.

With fluid movement, a spear was drawn from his back. It was comparable to a telephone pole in size.

The sharp tip shimmered with golden magical energy.

A torrent of spears rained down. Despite its clumsy appearance, the cyborg’s spear technique was fluid and graceful.

-Crack!

With a single strike, the Apostle’s wrists were severed. The massive sword slid from its hands and plunged into the ground.

Next, as the hulking figure of the Apostle tried to retreat, its legs were severed.

The once-mighty figure dragged itself pitifully along the ground.

Before it lay the temple where it had lost its consciousness. There was only one way left to survive.

“Open, please—”

The willpower squeezed out until it forcibly pushed open the Gate. It had to survive. If it couldn’t, it at least had to inform others.

“It must be reported! They must know! Here, there is someone who could become our natural enemy!”

The current situation was nothing more than a tragic consequence of its foolish mistake. However, if this bug grew even more than it already had—

Hope was betrayed once more.

The expanding Gate shrank as if time flowed backward.

“Hm, is this how it closes?”

“!”

The Violet was astonished.

All she had done was grab the Apostle’s wrists and turn them backward.

Orion, sensing the trickery, moved with swiftness.

-KABOOM! CRACK!

The colossus relentlessly stabbed and slashed at vital points.

As the more than six-meter-tall figure thrashed in agony, everything shook around it.

The Apostle realized. The only reason it could withstand in the mental realm of the beast until now was thanks to its physical form.

If its body were to be destroyed here, it would be completely over.

-CRUNCH!

The functions of its body began to gradually stop. It felt every tissue and cell scattering and slowing.

For the first time in its life, the being from the other world felt the fear of annihilation.

Its self began to loose and sway.

The approaching Violets.

The Apostle trembled and pleaded. Just moments ago, its connection to its comrades was severed; with the passage closed, it had no means of escape.

“Ah! No! Please! I will give you my powers! My abilities! I surrender!”

“No way!”

In response to its pleas and appeals, the Violets resolutely replied with violence.

“Please! I can’t die like this!”

“Just die already!”

“I’ll surrender! I’ll give you forbidden knowledge and information!”

Unit 592 tilted its head.

“Knowledge? We can just kill you and take it!”

“…!”

The Violets tore and inflicted wounds upon itself.

Its authority as a ruling species.

Its dignity was thrashed away.

“No! I’ll die!”

The final blow pierced through its ravaged body.

The humongous spearhead stabbed into its head.

The Apostle’s consciousness sank into darkness.

Then came a wailing that reverberated through the streets.

An indescribable, chilling scream of existence pierced the ears of all present.

“■■-!”

No, the being capable of articulating had collapsed with that last, trivial cry.

“-GAAAH!”

The Hunters of Helios clamped their ears, bewildered by the sharp noise.

“W-What was that? Did everyone hear it?”

“What on earth was that?”

Could that truly have been the cry of the monster they had been facing?

At this rate, wasn’t it like trampling on a puppy?

The one who had severed the Apostle’s throat couldn’t escape the aftermath either.

Just moments ago, the metal colossus that had mercilessly ravaged the Apostle creaked unnaturally and stepped back.

-Ah… It seems there’s a problem with the voice sensor. I’ll have to realign it when I return.

Irene raised her head. Orion’s optical sensors opened and closed repeatedly in contemplation.

Feeling a sense of familiarity with the cry, Irene’s insides turned tumultuous.

‘Could it be… no way, right?’

As everyone pondered over the identity of the scream they had just heard, the Apostle’s corpse rapidly shriveled and dried up.

Its body turned to dust, scattering into the air.

“It… disappeared…”

Irene murmured as she watched the Apostle fade away.

At that very moment, a girl fell from the Violet Network’s void.

On one afternoon, the Apostle woke from an uncomfortable dream to find herself lying in the plaza.

“Ugh!”

Who am I?

I was an Apostle. Once a malevolent being that commanded monsters, but now…

I gazed at my small, white hands. They felt awkward and unnatural.

Yet they were pretty and slender. I rolled up my sleeves to see the number written on my left arm.

It felt necessary.

On my arm were the numbers ‘2501.’ I rose my awkward body and looked around.

Then I saw it. My reflection in the window.

What was reflected in the building’s glass was a girl with sparkling blonde hair and red eyes.

“Wow, is that me?”

Instead of my grotesque form, a cute little girl had emerged.

“Right, I am Violet Unit 2501!”

I nodded, thinking I had realized something important.

I didn’t know how it happened, but I was definitely in the Violet Network.

Let’s sort out the situation.

Just moments ago, Irene’s father had destroyed my body.

Immediately afterward, my ego was torn apart by countless Violets in this Violet plaza.

I thought I had died, but when I opened my eyes, I was here.

Rather than dying, a new path to a beginning had opened.

“I’m alive!”

But why do I think of myself as a Violet?

I must have come here with a great mission… No, not that, it was an evil mission.

It was collaboration in imperialism.

As I was lost in thought, the attention of the resting Violets in the plaza focused on me. The girls who sensed something odd approached me.

“Hey! Who are you?”

I hesitated before answering.

“I… I think I’m a Violet.”

Unit 678 flinched upon reading my thoughts and shouted.

“Don’t be fooled! She’s a fake! She’s an Apostle!”

Unit 2501 shrank under the piercing gazes of the Violets.

“No, I think I’m a Violet…! I am an Apostle, but…”

Countless memories and thoughts coursing through the network confirmed it.

This creature was indeed an Apostle. However, it was no longer an Apostle.

Our Violets quickly realized the situation.

“Could it be that we absorbed an Apostle?”

I couldn’t grasp the exact reason, but there was no mistake; we had assimilated the Apostle into our own existence.

And that malicious Apostle had clearly become Unit 2501. It was purely circumstantial, but—

“Sounds suspicious! We should investigate.”

It was hard to accept immediately. This was the first time for something like this.

It might be a fake disguised as a Violet.

“Hey, Unit 2501! Come here!”

Thus began our ideological verification.

In the Violet plaza within the network, an impromptu Violet hearing was held beneath the watchful gaze of two yellow and black statues.

“Alright, Unit 2501. You must answer honestly from now on. Got it? Democracy is?”

“It’s a good thing!”

“What about communism and totalitarianism? What about kings and nobles?”

“I don’t like them!”

Despite the storm of questions pouring in, I responded with a clear and honest heart.

“What’s your race? What do you think of monsters?”

“Human! Violet! I hate monsters!”

“Excellent!”

After five minutes of intense ideological verification, the 2500 gathered concluded their judgment.

“Yeah, you are indeed a Violet!”

“Am I a Violet?”

“Yup, you’re a Violet!”

I couldn’t contain my joy and raised my arms high.

“Wow! I’m a Violet!”

Though everyone was tired from rough and arduous battles, I celebrated the birth of my new self with a light heart.

For some reason, our Violets had succeeded in enlightening that wicked extraterrestrial being.

We had never achieved such a significant accomplishment before.

“I’m a cute girl!”

“That’s right, we’re cute girls!”

“Hooray!”

Unit 2501 skipped joyfully.

Being a cute and charming girl was certainly preferable to living as an ugly monster.

Perhaps I had saved the me that was once an Apostle.

Yeah, that’s right. I was purified.

Once an accomplice in evil conquests, I had developed a clear mind through the passionate democratic education of the Violets, gaining a new life.

“Monsters are bad! Apostles are bad! They’re undemocratic!”

“Right, undemocratic!”

Though many memories still eluded me, I didn’t care. With time, they would come back to me.

The only important fact now was one thing.

I, Unit 2501, had become a genuine democratic girl Violet.

“Woohoo! Yay!”

“True democracy is the real path!”

“Those who stand against us will reap the wrath of heaven!”

The Violets proclaimed and briefly celebrated another victory achieved through democracy.

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