Clang, clang—
The coffee cup and spoon collided.
The floor beneath her feet trembled, and even the heavy nanmu wood desk in the Assault Department Director's office shifted. The intensity of this earthquake was at least magnitude six or seven.
However, what Su Yuzu cared about more was the clamor of the pitch-black [Throne] within her hollow chest.
Before today, she had almost never felt such a "surge of emotion."
Even when she embraced Leviathan, and the black thorns grew recklessly upon the earth, devouring the flesh and blood of the giant beast, she had not felt such a "surge of emotion."
Su Yuzu understood what that represented.
It was completely different from the dark personalities hidden deep within the hearts of ruthless protagonists in many novels, or the dark side formed by signing a contract with some demon... or Pharaoh.
Su Yuzu had been Su Yuzu from the very beginning.
And she was only Su Yuzu.
She was the [Seat of Karma].
There could be only one reason for her to feel such a "surge of emotion."
That was: an existence that could be grandly... recognized by the [Seat of Karma] as food, or perhaps an opponent, had been awakened.
And it was right in the urban area of the Tokyo metropolitan area.
What a troublesome matter.
"Shall I go take a look?" Su Yuzu looked at Director Saionji in front of her.
Su Yuzu was actually a girl who understood hierarchy and respect for elders very well.
Saionji Sagara looked at the bitter coffee splashing onto the tabletop and nodded gently, "Go..."
"Be careful."
She could also hear the piercing alarms resounding over the city. But that warning did not represent an Aberrant invasion, but rather a super-large-scale natural disaster. So Saionji Sagara was not overly worried.
However, out of a teacher's instinct, she still reminded Su Yuzu to be careful.
The woman watched Su Yuzu execute a beautiful swan dive straight out of the window, and a [#] mark popped out on her forehead.
"Hey—"
"This is the thirteenth floor."
But Su Yuzu, who had already jumped out of the window, obviously wouldn't hear Saionji Sagara's scolding.
The rushing wind from the fall lifted the girl's short hair. Her crimson eyes were filled with a kind of joy and excitement.
Inside the campus of Keigunen Private Academy, while taking cover from the earthquake, people looked toward the academic building in astonishment. At first, they thought some senior sister was suicidal.
Then... upon seeing it was the Assault Department's academic building, their hearts suddenly felt relieved.
Perhaps it was an escape drill assigned by some teacher. Or perhaps it was the momentary whim of some senior sister; there probably wouldn't be any issues.
However... there were also kind-hearted Healing-type girls who had already rushed toward the academic building, thinking, 'Really... how can she be so reckless, jumping directly from such a high place.'
Su Yuzu watched the ground getting closer and closer, and excitedly clenched her right fist.
The familiar mechanical woman's voice rang in her ears.
"[Behemoth] activated."
Clang, clang, clang—
It sounded almost like the mechanical assembly of mecha modules in a sci-fi movie. Countless pale blue lines outlined and solidified beside Su Yuzu.
Finally, they transformed into a deep red shuttle-shaped "motorcycle" with smooth and sharp lines, catching the girl's body.
The reason for the quotation marks was simply because this motorcycle had no wheels. Intense flames pumped out like a rocket engine, and the shuttle-shaped motorcycle carried Su Yuzu, sweeping rapidly through the air, rushing toward the downtown area.
Gripping the handles, Su Yuzu only felt as if her chest had been heavily slammed against a rock.
Next time, she would never do such a show-offy thing again.
[Behemoth].
The reward Su Yuzu obtained after completing the hunt for "Leviathan."
In the game, it was a Technology Division conceptual armament proposed by the "Epiphany Manufacture" laboratory... which had not yet been realized. Calling it a conceptual armament wasn't because of how powerful it was, but because... it really was just a concept.
Designed by reading the combat data of the Metal Manipulation User, "Absolute Blade."
Forged from multiple grades of Kaelum Metal.
Aside from the mount form Su Yuzu was currently using, it could also transform into a cool giant shield posture. Theoretically, it could withstand a frontal bombardment from a Fifth Sequence ability user.
But... it was only "withstand."
Whether the person behind the shield would die or not, it didn't know.
In battles at the Third Sequence level, it could be used as a conventional weapon.
The person most suitable for [Behemoth] should be Unohana Chiyo.
However... Ms. Chiyo probably couldn't use it yet~
Su Yuzu would use it first.
Piloting [Behemoth], Su Yuzu quickly rushed toward the downtown area near the harbor.
According to the supercomputer data within Keigunen Private Academy, that was the epicenter of the earthquake. Although no obvious Aberrant aura was captured at the earthquake's center, the suddenness of this earthquake and its timely impact on the Tokyo metropolitan area's defense status still led the computer to determine—
This earthquake was not some normal natural disaster, but... a "man-made calamity."
A straight-line distance of nearly thirty kilometers.
Even driving there might take over half an hour. But [Behemoth] arrived at the scene in only about ten minutes.
As the price... there were over a dozen inquiry letters sent from the Investigation Bureau to Keigunen. And... within this time of less than ten minutes, [Behemoth] had already consumed energy modules worth nearly one-tenth of a "Medical Unit."
This was also one of the important reasons why Su Yuzu didn't directly give [Behemoth] to Ms. Unohana Chiyo.
[Behemoth] was a genuine money-burning machine.
Teacher Chiyo would cry, she would really cry.
However... the scenario where Teacher Chiyo is heavily in debt and finally has to wear a naked apron or something to do housework for her, begging to be kept to repay the debt, seems pretty good?
Shaking the inexplicable fantasies out of her head, Su Yuzu leapt down from [Behemoth].
The deep red mechanical beast transformed and reassembled smoothly, turning into a hovering shield guarding behind Su Yuzu.
Because of the previous earthquake and tsunami warnings, the originally bustling main street was now empty. Whether ordinary people or Espers, they had all gone to nearby emergency shelters to take refuge.
On the empty street, only the girl's clack, clack footsteps were distinct.
This was the first time Su Yuzu had felt this way. As if she were in another world.
Very quickly—
Su Yuzu had arrived at the center of the anomaly alarm.
[Ding—] The familiar mechanical woman's voice rang out directly.
Su Yuzu looked straight ahead.
[Part.3 - Wind · Fire · Mountain · Forest]
[The sacred brilliance is crumbling, and evil minions have seized the opportunity to enter, having already infiltrated this city.]
[Defeat them.]
[But please note—]
[Do not just focus on dealing with the superficial crisis; the truly dangerous fellow has already arrived quietly.]
In front of Su Yuzu, a girl in a deep cyan cheongsam stood on the main street.
The girl tilted her head, her bangs hanging down and fluttering in the wild sea breeze. Her figure was slender, her waist grip-able with one hand.
Then... she straightened her head little by little, revealing a wildly arrogant and sadistic smile at Su Yuzu.
"Hello there~"
"Su Yuzu."
Under the bright sunlight, the cheongsam girl's eyes were brilliant and resplendent. Yet they made one's... back feel waves of chill.
Those were not human eyes.
Those were... vertical pupils like a beast's.
An Aberrant!!!
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