The Seven Stars' Relic.
A mysterious artifact known only to a select few in this world.
It had only one purpose—
To summon a Stage Five Gastrea.
There were only twelve Stage Five Gastrea across the entire globe.
They were referred to as the Twelve Zodiac Palaces—
Named after the twelve constellations.
A Stage One Gastrea possessed strength and speed far beyond normal biological limits. They could be taken down by an official military squad or a relatively low-ranked Initiator and Promoter pair.
A Stage Two Gastrea typically had mixed or highly evolved single-type genes—With regenerative abilities that made them nearly unkillable under normal circumstances, plus unique evolutionary abilities.
They required specially armed squads equipped with Varanium weapons or competent Initiator-Promoter teams to subdue.
Stage Three Gastrea—like the one Haruto killed before entering the Red Pool—
Could break the sound barrier with ease.
Even with Varanium weapons, ordinary military units would be massacred. Only top-ranked Initiator-Promoter pairs, or a full police battalion, could defeat them.
Stage Four was nearly unstoppable.
These monsters could threaten Monoliths themselves.
They were calamities incarnate.
And Stage Five—the Twelve Zodiac Palaces.
Their mere appearance meant total destruction.
Only orbital weaponry or the number one ranked Initiator in the world, a legendary being, could face them.
If what Haruto had said before was just speculation—
Then now, with the Seven Stars' Relic and the threat of Stage Five—
It was a very real, immediate crisis.
Seitenshi nearly lost her composure instantly.
But Haruto, as calm as ever, continued outlining the game's win-lose conditions:
"Victory Condition One: Retrieve the Seven Stars' Relic."
"Victory Condition Two: If the relic is released, resolve the incident."
"You may not forcibly use Cursed Children to resolve the incident."
"You may not coerce or manipulate them into joining the battlefield. Though, realistically, you wouldn't be able to anyway."
"If you can't resolve the incident yourselves, you may request help from the Cursed Children."
"But if you do, the resolution will no longer be counted as a victory. Instead, we'll move to the next condition."
"That is—the New Gastrea Law Vote. If the result passes over 50% approval, the law is implemented, and the outcome is still considered a victory."
"Failure conditions: You fail to recover the relic, the Cursed Children are deployed, and the law fails to pass—all three at once."
"During this 'game,' Seitenshi is forbidden from revealing anything about the game's contents to anyone. Doing so results in immediate failure."
"Those are all the rules. You can request aid from other regions, but don't break the rules."
"Her Majesty should be receiving word of the relic's theft right about now... So, the game officially begins."
Just as Haruto's voice faded—
Seitenshi's phone vibrated on the desk.
She picked it up.
A single glance at the message—
And her face went deathly pale.
The Seven Stars' Relic had been stolen.
Seeing this, Haruto clapped his hands.
"Well then, the game is on. I'll await the results. Please don't violate the rules, Your Majesty."
With that, Haruto's figure twisted and vanished into the void.
She wanted to stop him, ask more questions—But she could only swallow the words back down. Collapsing into her chair, her mind was in complete chaos.
Not long after, a knock came at the door.
Seitenshi remained silent.
But the person entered anyway, without waiting for permission.
Tendo Kikunojo.
"Your Majesty, the Seven Stars' Relic has been stolen. Please mobilize the Civil Security forces to retrieve it as soon as possible. If not necessary, do not disclose information about the relic to avoid public panic. But immediately begin discreet military preparations in case the relic cannot be recovered."
Even with impending disaster—
Tendo Kikunojo remained composed, handling everything with methodical precision.
Although Haruto had called him a pure scumbag—
There was no denying it.
Tendo Kikunojo possessed a high level of awareness and exceptional political acumen.
His personality might've been disgusting—But for the Tokyo Area and the Tendo family, he truly was an excellent leader.
Even though the Seitenshi's status was more symbolic than authoritative—Tendo Kikunojo never overstepped his bounds.
In fact, he had always supported her loyally.
A real scheming warlord of a man.
Under normal circumstances, even if the relic had gone missing—As long as Kikunojo was present, Seitenshi could keep calm.
But not this time.
She wanted to tell him what had happened—Haruto's intrusion, the game, the stakes.
But Haruto's last words echoed in her mind:
"Do not break the rules."
He had entered unseen and vanished without a trace—
He likely had ways to monitor her every move.
If she broke the rules—It might truly be the end.
Seitenshi had no choice but to force herself to stay calm—And begin summoning all of Tokyo Area's top-ranked Initiator and Promoter teams.
Tendo Kikunojo noticed something was off.
But chalked it up to her panic over the relic being stolen.
After all, it might summon a Stage Five calamity.
She was capable, but still young. It was only natural she'd be shaken by something like this.
As for Haruto—
After leaving, he returned directly to the office. There, Tendo Kisara was lying across the desk, clearly bored out of her mind.
When she saw Haruto emerge from Kamui Space, she looked surprised.
"Miss Kisara, why aren't you in school? Today isn't a holiday, is it?"
Haruto asked casually.
Though he skipped school often—It still bugged him to see someone else skipping too. After two lifetimes of suffering through school—
He now had no intention of playing along anymore!
Tendo Kisara shook her head.
"The world's ending anyway. What's the point of going to school? Besides, there's some annoying people there."
Just as she finished her sentence—
There was a knock on the office door.
Kisara went to open it.
She assumed it was Rentaro returning.
But to her dismay, standing at the door was the last person she wanted to see.
A young girl with a refined, ojou-sama aura smiled gently at the door, eyes half-closed.
In her hand was a unique black folding fan, seemingly made of special metal.
"Good day, Miss Tendo. You took the day off from school, and I was worried, so I came to check on you."
Kisara gave a smile in return—
But hers was a cold smirk.
"Saying something so fake makes me sick. Can you crawl back to where you came from?"
Haruto glanced over.
Yep—squinty-eyed girl.
Definitely not the type to be taken at face value.
She and Tendo Kisara, the classic cold beauty with a hidden dark side—This was a perfect clash of blades.
Behind Haruto, Fuse Midori, still confused from their return, had hidden behind him.
Of course, if there was real danger, Midori would step up without hesitation—But dealing with strangers? That wasn't her strong suit.
"My, such hurtful words. I really was just worried about Miss Tendo~"
The girl still smiled, but her tone had a faint murderous edge.
She slowly unfolded her metallic fan, producing a crisp click-click sound. Kisara also moved, her hand resting on the hilt of her sword.
The tension between them was almost unbearable—Just one more trigger away from a full-blown fight.
But at that moment, a voice echoed from the staircase outside.
"Eh? Miss Miori?"
It was Rentaro, finally back.
Upon hearing his voice—
The girl, Miori, instantly retracted her aura and closed her fan with a snap.
"Ah, Rentaro, you're back. I just came to check on Miss Kisara, but it seems she misunderstood me~ sniff sniff."
Passive-aggressive.jpg.
Normally, Kisara would've drawn her sword already—Rentaro would break them up, then spend the day in a rage.
But this time—Kisara just put her sword away and walked over to Haruto.
This result surprised Miori.
Only then did she notice—
There were other people inside the office.
Which was rare.
After all, the Tendo Civil Security Company was poor and unknown—
They couldn't even afford to hire.
The only staff should've been Rentaro alone.