Hiro and Rize's battle was exceptionally intense. The two of them lost all awareness of heaven and earth and had no sense of time. Just like that, they did not leave the bedroom for two full days.
Amid this blissful time, the day agreed with Eto soon arrived.
The phone chimed. Hiro picked it up and glanced at it. It was a message from Eto, simple and clear: [The person sent to pick you up is downstairs at your apartment.]
He had not expected Eto to know his address. Although he had not deliberately concealed it, it still showed she must have investigated him.
Hiro got up and changed clothes. Rize lay lazily in the bed, her voice carrying lingering softness. "Be careful. I'll wait for you to come back, dear."
He placed a kiss on her lips. "Don't worry. I'm heading out."
Hiro put on his mask, pushed open the door, and went downstairs.
As soon as he reached the bottom, he saw a familiar figure: Kirishima Ayato.
He had not expected Eto to take this so seriously, even sending a cadre to pick him up.
In the night below the building, Ayato leaned against the wall with an impatient look. "Tch. Finally down. Let's go."
Hiro's brow lifted slightly. "You brat talking to me like that. What, don't want to save your dad anymore?"
"Tch." The boy turned his face away. "None of your concern. I'll save him myself."
Hiro could not be bothered to waste words with this rebellious teenager. Once the operation started, someone would naturally teach him a harsh lesson.
He suddenly stepped forward and grabbed Ayato by the collar.
"What are you doing?" Ayato jumped in fright. His kagune burst out halfway instantly. He thought Hiro was going to hit him.
Hiro did not bother explaining, only said flatly, "You didn't even prepare a vehicle. Were you planning to run there?"
Before his words finished, a pair of dark red giant wings suddenly spread from his back. Grabbing Ayato, he shot into the sky and sped straight toward the 23rd Ward.
Violent air currents blasted his face, making Ayato nearly unable to open his eyes. Shock filled his heart. He had not expected Hiro to be able to fly.
At Hiro's extreme speed, they reached the 23rd Ward in no time.
Hiro's voice remained clear in the rushing wind. "Direction."
"Ah?"
"The assembly point's direction," he repeated. "Point it out."
"Southeast."
The wings adjusted slightly. The two cut through the sky like night owls, flying rapidly toward the southeast.
At the assembly point outside Cochlea in the 23rd Ward outskirts, over a hundred ghouls in red hooded robes had gathered.
At the assembly point, Yoshimura Eto and Tatara seemed to sense something and both looked up into the pitch-black night sky.
A streak of crimson light was tearing through the air at astonishing speed, especially conspicuous against the night.
"They're here," Eto said with a hint of amusement.
Tatara remained silent, merely standing still.
Boom.
With a dull impact, dust burst from the ground and the surrounding Aogiri Tree members let out low exclamations.
"Cough cough… ptoo." Kirishima Ayato staggered as he landed, spitting out sand in embarrassment.
Hiro released his grip and nodded toward Eto and Tatara.
Tatara returned a nod, then turned to the fully assembled ghoul force, his voice steady and powerful.
"The operation begins."
With the order given, all the ghouls surged toward Cochlea prison like a dark tide, moving swiftly and in order.
The outer sentries had not even reacted before being silently eliminated.
Cochlea prison stood in the outskirts of the 23rd Ward. The massive hexagonal ground structure was only the tip of the iceberg.
Its main body was buried deep underground, shaped like a bottomless vertical shaft, with layer upon layer of cages densely lining the walls.
Each level was separated by heavy circular iron gates. At the center stood a giant columnar structure, whose top was the hub of the entire prison: the central control room.
Suddenly, the giant ventilation fan at the prison's top level stopped turning.
Almost simultaneously, inside the control room, a duty officer stared at the screen and voiced confusion. "Hm? Why has Gate Zero opened?"
Another replied, "Receiving prisoners at this hour? I didn't get any notice." He gestured to a colleague. "You go check."
The assigned guard stood reluctantly, muttering, "Manpower's been cut so much. What a hassle…"
When he reached Gate Zero, the sight made his pupils contract. A tide of Aogiri Tree ghouls was pouring in.
"Enemy attack. Enemy attack. Aogiri Tree att—" He slammed the communicator and shouted. Before finishing, he was instantly torn apart by multiple kagune.
But the warning had already reached the control room.
The piercing alarm screamed like a dying beast, instantly ripping apart the prison's silence and echoing through every corridor.
The shrill alarm reverberated violently inside the prison, yet did nothing to halt Aogiri Tree's advance.
The ghouls' faces were cold as they continued pushing steadily deeper according to plan.
Almost at the same moment, CCG headquarters received Cochlea's highest-level alert.
The command center moved immediately, urgently contacting all investigators not on assignment.
Houji Kousuke's direct line connected first to Kuroiwa Iwao. "Special Class Kuroiwa, Cochlea is under large-scale attack by Aogiri Tree."
"Understood." Kuroiwa Iwao's voice was firm. "We depart at once."
The instant the call cut, Kuroiwa slammed the accelerator. The official car shot into the night like an arrow loosed from a bow, racing toward the 23rd Ward.
Inside Cochlea at this moment, all guards were fully armed, standing ready on the level where the control room was located.
Tension filled the air. Every guard gripped their firearm tightly, eyes locked on the metal structure above.
Just then, the circular iron gate directly above the control room emitted heavy mechanical sounds and slowly slid open to both sides.
All guards looked up in unison.
On the massive ventilation fan blades stood densely packed Aogiri Tree ghouls in crimson robes and eerie masks.
They stood on the rotating blades like a flock of crows perched upon a wheel of death.
As the iron gate fully opened, these red-clad figures dropped like spilled fruit, descending from above with suffocating momentum.
Amid the blaring alarm, all guards simultaneously raised guns and fired upward.
Dense firepower wove a lethal bullet net. The first few falling ghouls had no room to evade in midair and were instantly riddled with holes.
Yet ordinary firearms ultimately had limited lethality against ghouls. As more ghouls poured down like a tide, the control-room level was quickly breached.
Amid flashing kagune and blood, guards fell one after another, screams rising and falling. Only a few escaped through side corridors.
At the console, a ghoul's kagune smashed down. Sparks flew, and the entire control system was completely paralyzed.
At that moment, a mechanical roar came from the prison's lowest level.
The special cells holding S-class and above dangerous ghouls were slowly rising from underground.
The instant the cell doors opened, pairs of crimson Kakugan lit in the darkness.
These long-imprisoned ghouls stepped out cautiously. Seeing the fully armed guards, they immediately understood the situation. Whatever the reason, the prison's order had been broken.
Since the cell doors were open, no one could make them return.
Almost without communication, these most dangerous prisoners revealed bloodthirsty smiles. Kagune erupted instantly, lunging like blades toward the panicked guards.
An even more brutal slaughter began.