Chapter 672: The Most Mysterious Three Card Fronts
In Hokkaido, Japan, the temperature was already beginning to drop. During the early mornings and late evenings, the ocean water even carried a subtle, biting chill.
Yet at this moment, a young girl abruptly broke through the surface of the sea. Her face was deathly pale, and her condition was blatantly far from optimal.
As she marched toward the shoreline, she spat out a continuous stream of venomous curses.
"Damn it all to hell! Why did that absolute psychopath have to choose Tokyo of all places to set up his grid?!"
"If you're going to act that completely insane, go bring your madness to East Asia! No, correction: go find Mercenary Tao over in Myanmar and see who loses their mind first!"
The girl, widely known by the title [Heart Demon], knit her brow in deep frustration. Realizing she had finally and completely cleared the boundary of that bizarre, rule-bending sovereign authority, she prepared to identify a temporary shelter to patch up her vitals before returning to the Space.
She finalized a definitive resolution to systematically broadcast every shred of intelligence mapping that lunatic across the networks. Launching a wide-area saturation hunt against fellow Reincarnators within the real world, and proactively attempting to manually hijack a native government's sovereign authority, was a tactical line of action that carried an immense wave of disruption.
Although neither the Space terminal nor any independent coalition had ever explicitly hardcoded a rule forbidding operations of this classification, she held a crystal-clean comprehension that a select few top-tier Reincarnators were still desperately committing their capacities to maintain the fragile equilibrium of the real world.
The foundational principle self-identified as "The Glory of the Idealists" had by no means been completely snuffed out from the map.
When Mercenary Tao, Daheitian, and those other monsters launched their catastrophic clash over the Myanmar parameters, hadn't that absolute crisis ultimately forced a reigning Sovereign—and even the leader of [The Azure Sky]—to personally step onto the board to anchor the line?
The real world was layout-wise, simply not in a state to endure unrefined madness of this tier yet.
She forced her neck around to evaluate the extreme perimeter of the skyline. Hanging directly over the Japanese archipelago was an immense, multi-colored Damocles Sword, floating silently within the upper atmosphere.
The reality-warping weight of that sovereign authority was already subtly beginning to restructure an exceptionally vast expanse of local space.
Mulling over the variables, a flash of light erupted across her palm as she produced a heavy, pitch-black vintage brick phone. It was an archaic telecommunication device; as a specialized creation of the Space, it retained anomalous communication priority even when deployed inside the real world.
Vastly more critical was the reality that its structural generation was entirely outdated—meaning the information network governance commanded by that [Mad King] possessed absolutely zero priority to intercept or disrupt a satellite line of this classification.
The encryption frequencies quickly aligned, and the receiver picked up, exposing a female voice on the other end.
"Establish a direct patch to Mercenary Tao for me. My agency intends to... compensate his blade to liquidate an asset!"
Listening to the Japanese syllables streaming through her receiver, Eclipse maintained her composure. Although her character file had permanently unlocked universal linguistic comprehension, her memory databases verified that she harbored absolutely zero corporate partners active within the Japanese grid.
The young girl's vocal cadence carried a highly unique, stygian malice that looked as if it were trying to manually crawl out from the audio tracks. The sub-zero, negative emotional mass anchoring her energetic profile was layout-wise, astronomically more malevolent than a standard yin spirit.
Eclipse instantaneously parsed her absolute identity. She methodically pulled the device a fraction of a meter clear of her ear, her twin irises shifting to manifest as sharp vertical slits as her demonic energy smoothly flooded her meridian tracks, her active Haki concurrently plating her skin.
The bizarre, abstract capabilities commanded by [Heart Demon] were parameters she had personally monitored back in the B711 universe. That specialized methodology where an asset weaponized a memetic curse to launch a direct, un-blockable assault straight against a target's soul tracks was layout-wise, exceptionally difficult to neutralize.
"Rest your focus, Eclipse. My arrays hold a clean log verifying your profile as a subordinate asset belonging to that monster. My blade has zero strategic interest in initiating an offensive line against your coordinates~"
Heart Demon re-emphasized her definitive objective with absolute clarity.
"The asset my agency intends to liquidate is [The Mad King]. That freak has officially anchor-dropped his presence onto Tokyo, and the properties governing his sovereign authority... are exceptionally unique..."
Across a separate sector of the grid, a holographic display hovered before Kaito's vacant eyes:
[Item: Mind Stone]
Quality Classification: World's Rare Treasure.
Narrative Profile: One of the specialized cosmic gemstones originating from a certain Marvel multiverse, housing the primal essence of mental authority.
Equipment Requirements: Spiritual Focus attribute must comfortably clear 50 points; alternatively, the user must possess an active mental-side capability track.
Effect 1: Exponentially reinforces Spiritual Focus capacity, providing a flat 100% amplification to all mental-side energetic outputs.
Effect 2: Mind Control. Weaponizing the gemstone grants the priority to forcefully seize absolute, unyielding control over any target whose Spiritual Focus parameter fails to clear 35 points. Against targets whose Spiritual Focus rests below 50 points, initiates a high-priority cognitive intrusion loop.
Effect 3: Memory Implantation. Grants the capability to manually hardcode entirely false narrative memories into the neural pathways of any target whose Spiritual Focus is below 50 points.
Effect 4: Retains a native coordination sub-routine to link with companion gemstones, unlocking unmapped supplementary traits.
Kaito Shirogane evaluated the Mind Stone resting within his palm. To speak with absolute clinical candor, the structural intensity of this relic sat at a lower tier than his strategic calculations had mapped.
He was uncertain whether this depression was an automated consequence of the item originating from a cinematic variant of the universe, but it blatantly lacked the world-cleaving priority one would expect from a primordial singularity.
And furthermore...
Kaito knit his brow in deep frustration. He sat cross-legged atop the absolute apex of the obsidian Black Tower · Tower of Babel, the complex, chaotic mental noise radiating from the swarm of Reincarnators active within the Eden marketplace below continuously reflecting straight into his consciousness.
The unique trait hardcoded as [Hyper-Empathy] turned layout-wise, into an absolute, crushing structural burden whenever his coordinates occupied a high-density population sector. Kaito was forcefully compelled to spend a continuous wisp of focus to manually suppress a ravenous, blood-soaked lust for total slaughter that kept igniring within his cells; his primitive instincts repeatedly urged him to systematically wipe every single Reincarnator active below off the ledger simply to purchase a moment of absolute silence.
Yet ultimately, his deep, burning desire to fully master [The Concussive Pulse of the Spiritual Light] kept his muscle groups locked down.
Shoo~
Weaponizing his short-range transmission, [Mai] cleanly materialized atop the roof plates. He methodically extended a communication device, signaling that an encrypted line had crossed over from the Korean theater.
Kaito's mind flashed with a brief image of Eclipse's pale face; that woman's instinctual reactions consistently cede his processing matrix an exceptional tier of amusement.
He casually received the device, listening to her voice seamlessly relay Heart Demon's proposal to forge a joint combat alignment to systematically liquidate the Mad King.
The corners of Kaito's mouth split into a wide, manic grin.
For reasons his intellect couldn't fathom, there were epoch blocks where his tracks would traverse one or two entire weeks without a single high-value prey materializing on his display—yet right now, a succession of premier targets had simultaneously and flawlessly anchor-dropped themselves directly before his face.
His clinical mind began to meticulously organize his strategic choices.
The absolute Primary Hunt Target was naturally that mysterious Scarlet Mortal Sin asset. Existing under the system archetype of a [Mortal Sin Reincarnator], this individual had consistently maintained an exceptionally low-profile, shadow-veiled existence across the Eastern District; barely a handful of intelligence networks had even processed his specialized anomaly.
This empirical data verified that the individual was layout-wise, an exceptionally calm, highly rational practitioner who had completely refrained from allowing his ego to be consumed by the ravenous, runaway amplification mechanics native to a Mortal Sin profile—meaning he had completely avoided initiating a wide-area slaughter campaign to feed his parameters.
However, mulling over the absolute common sense holding that every single Mortal Sin Reincarnator was fundamentally a specialized classification of deviant, the more flawlessly calm, calculated, and rational an asset appeared on the surface, the more astronomically likely it was that his internal cells were forcefully compressing and hiding some profoundly mutated, twisted psychological lust.
Furthermore, Kaito's Agility attribute had been functioning as a severe structural bottleneck for far too long; executing this individual down to the atom would guarantee his engine an immense, un-attributed amplification to reinforce his Agility metrics.
The minor tactical drawback detailed across [The Heaven]'s database was that this target was continuously drifting across the southeastern borders of East Asia, and due to his extreme, physics-defying velocity metrics, his coordinates were monumentally difficult to lock down or safely corner.
At this precise microsecond, Su Qingqiu had already mobilized an elite tracking vanguard to force an active search sweep across the sectors.
The Secondary Hunt Target was logged under the codename Skylark. The definitive rewards generated by liquidating an asset of this tier failed to register as anything remotely jaw-dropping, yet Kaito Shirogane's ledger carried an active line of unresolved structural friction against Skylark's file.
Skylark belonged explicitly to that exact archetype of human Kaito thoroughly, intensely loathed—freaks who spent their days shrieking hollow metrics concerning "Fighting for Justice".
An organism completely devoid of a rational, calculated objective, whose strategic trajectories could never be mapped or predicted via standard profit-and-loss balances. Concurrently, Skylark's file confirmed that his biology carried that exceptionally rare, monumentally powerful [Cosmo / Small Universe] evolutionary path.
Kaito's predatory baseline held an intense professional interest in dismantling an engine of that specific classification.
Skylark's current coordinates mapped to a major urban sector within central East Asia. Because he continuously deployed his blades to operate under the archetype of a civic "Hero," his infamy was quite dense, making his spatial location exceptionally simple to isolate.
The singular operational hazard was that launching a full-scale offensive against a target of this tier within a heavily populated commercial district carried a high probability of escalating the local structural destruction straight to the Calamity benchmark—a result that would highly likely trigger a severe wave of dissatisfaction from the absolute reigning Monarch steering [The Azure Sky].
The Tertiary Hunt Target was that asset self-identifying as [The Mad King]. Kaito's memory tracks still clearly prioritized retrieving that [Bodhi Seed] historical asset associated with Solar Flare's file, and right now, this freak had officially re-anchored his presence onto Tokyo.
Expressed through a purely logistical framework, launching a naval approach to strike Tokyo across the open water blocks was layout-wise, monumentally more streamlined than attempting a high-intensity blitz straight into the vast, heavily fortified interior coordinates of central East Asia.
Kaito Shirogane casually tapped his left finger against the empty air, his vacant eyes looking down as if methodically calculating the exact progression to consume the three dishes materializing before his jaw.
It was at this exact microsecond of his calculation loop that an individual whose presence completely bypassed his tactical expectations smoothly crossed into the perimeter of his active Mind Web.
Song Xian!
A few short moments later, Song Xian walked straight up to Kaito's coordinates, delivering an unexpected line of intelligence resources—and with it, he seamlessly and flawlessly finalized the choice for Kaito's engine.
"My agency intends to deploy a high-tier intelligence asset to purchase a lone offensive intervention from your blade!"
"A datum explicitly mapping the location of one of the single most mysterious, high-priority Card Fronts logged across the entire Space archive!"
"I can proactively cede your index the precise structural layout of that specific card face right now."
[EX00? · THE GOD KING]
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