In the car, the silence was broken by Kagura's alarmed voice. "Guys, there are skeletons coming out of the ground!"
Ahead of them, several skeletal figures clawed their way out of the frozen earth, their bones clicking and rattling as they moved with unnatural purpose.
Shion rose from his seat, his eyes blazing with theatrical fury. "Pitiful remnants of forgotten bones… you dare rattle your misery before me?" he boomed. "Witness the power born not of this era—my will made steel, my wrath forged in fire! Behold... Bullet Storm!"
He touched the assault rifle he had brought along, and with a flash of light, his ability replicated the weapon. He let loose a storm of bullets, and a hail of lead slammed into the skeletons, knocking them down in a heap. They lay still for only a moment before their bones began to slowly knit back together.
Kagura watched, her frustration a mix of professional annoyance and genuine concern. "They're still moving!" she stated as she focused her will on them. The skeletons, now standing once more, began to tremble. Their forms shook, and with a sound like crumbling chalk, they were reduced to fine particles of sand, which the wind quickly scattered.
Just as she finished, Maria's phone buzzed with an urgent alert. She read the message. "It seems we are aborting this mission. We'll rendezvous at the extraction point where a stealth aircraft will take us back to Japan. We'll have to use my ability to get on it mid-air."
Kagura's eyes widened in confusion. "Just what's going on?"
Shion, who had been scrolling through his own phone, looked up with a grim expression. "The veil has fallen… and the world now dances to the rhythm of the dead."
He showed them the anonymous forum board on his screen. The news was already spreading like wildfire: reports of the undead rising in Russia, attacking people, and spreading chaos. The clips were horrifying—fresh corpses, decaying bodies, and skeletons of both humans and animals were shown walking and bursting from the ground.
The comments were filled with a mixture of fear and dark humor, with various memes already popping up to cope with the bizarre reality. There were also clips of people, with guns and other weapons, fighting back against the undead, a testament to humanity's desperate resilience and perhaps foolishness.
The board also mentioned a mysterious phenomenon where people were falling into a comatose state near the edge of the Siberian region, the area where Maria and the others were located.
AluM7 (High Priestess): "Kaito accidentally released a 'No Life King' from prison, and now undead are rising from their graves all over Russia."
Lord Fitzwilliam (Emperor): "What is the response of the United States to this?"
Palette Princess (Temperance): "They're moving a massive number of troops and military equipment to NATO territory. But there's no intention to directly assist Russia."
Baroness von K (Death): "Indeed, it's an excellent opportunity to both weaken Russia and strategically position ourselves to put an end to the war in Ukraine."
FXUnicorn_Cat (Fortune): "What if Russia, overwhelmed by the undead and Ukraine, decides to use an atomic bomb? It's a terrifying possibility."
SkyHigh_Roller (Magician): "I'm unsure if they would actually resort to nukes. It would harm their country more than it would help, both in the war and against the undead."
FXUnicorn_Cat (Fortune): "What if the undead can't be contained? It would be like those zombie apocalypse movies."
SkyHigh_Roller (Magician): "I highly doubt that. This isn't some B-movie script."
Bookworm_Reg (Hermit): "We've built an extensive network of underground bunkers in the U.S. If that event does occur, we can easily survive and rebuild."
Cipher (Moon): "A good plan. We can rule over the ashes of the world, that is, if the United States manages to fall. However, we should focus on Russia for now. I've sent an agent to try and infiltrate Russian high command to obtain their nuclear weapon access codes or vital information. This current chaos is an opportunity; they do not seem to possess a supernatural force akin to the United States."
G. Hawthorne (Star): "If you can, try to acquire any nuclear research they possess. It would greatly speed up my research into a miniature nuclear generator. These AI databases are eating up far too much energy to be operational in New World Online."
Diamond_Diva9 (Empress): "Indeed. We've been pouring money to lobbying Washington to open access for nuclear power plant. But the stall of bureaucracy, red tape and various environmental activist blockade, I estimate it will likely take another three to five years for it to get off the ground."
AluM7 (High Priestess): "I'll assist too. I'll send you a thumb drive containing a custom virus. Plug it into any secure terminal you reach. Oh… one more thing. Kaito's preparing to confront the No Life King directly. He's requested help locating the entity."
Larry the Lush (Sun): "Is that a good idea? 'The No Life King' sounds like a rather intimidating title."
John Curator (Tower): "It would be a tragedy if he were to be lost."
Palette Princess (Temperance): "Can we send some of the Hierophant's Automatons to aid him?"
Bus Drifter on Rent (Hierophant): "The No Life King seems to possess the capabilities to control the dead, and perhaps even souls. From the battle with Tamamo no Mae, I theorized that my puppets possess a spirituality or soul of some kind. It would be too risky to lose them or have them fall under the No Life King's control, so I must decline the option of sending them."
StreetLaw (Chariot): "A reasonable answer. I wouldn't want to lose an important asset of mine either, if I could help it."
Lord Fitzwilliam (Emperor): "For now, let's help him by providing the No Life King's location and hope that he can resolve it."
Palette Princess (Temperance): "Wouldn't it be wiser to allow the United States, or perhaps the Order or Circle in Europe, to resolve this instead of risking Kaito?"
AluM7 (High Priestess): "The No Life King seems to belong to the Circle."
Baroness von K (Death): "Oh, it seems an old adversary has arisen once again. A true hero's journey in the making."
Lord Fitzwilliam (Emperor): "Indeed, all the more reason as to why we should allow him. I have seen the fire in his eyes when I first met him. Besides, who are we to stop him? We are undoubtedly unable to change his mind."
Palette Princess (Temperance): "You only saw him through a monitor..."