A few days later.
The sudden appearance of hundreds of millions of "Long-Lived Species" had created an entirely new problem for governments around the world.
Of course, almost everyone who knew the truth considered that designation far too sensitive to make public.
So, for the time being, the hundreds of millions who had undergone the transformation were officially classified as "Enhanced Humans."
They were considered a branch of "Superhumans," but were now formally distinguished from both the MANTISes, whose existence was known to only a small number of people, and the much more widely recognized Pathstriders.
As a result, amendments to the Superhuman Act were already underway.
Naturally, the order had come from the Newborn World Serpent, which now operated from the shadows behind human civilization.
It was worth noting, however, that MEI had played no part in issuing it.
Over the past several days, Vill-V's original body had been imprisoned and Sim Vill-V had disappeared. MEI, who had already been stretched far beyond her limits, simply had no time left to personally oversee every major and minor matter within the organization.
She still needed to refine the details of the "New Project ARK."
Every day, she worked on improving the structure of the enormous Ark vessels humanity would eventually need, while also meeting privately with Sim Mobius to discuss the Stigmata and the various evolutionary paths that might follow from them.
She was simply too busy.
If Prometheus and her super-AI cluster had not been there to shoulder part of the workload…
Even if the side effects of the Key of Blankness failed to bring MEI down, sheer overwork probably would.
And today…
"Honestly, why are you dragging this out so much?"
Inside the same hidden underground cavern, the Herrscher of Thunder stood beside Kali, looking over the rows of surveillance screens before them with a slight frown.
For once, she had resisted the urge to go out for a "stroll" and cause trouble.
"It's only the destruction of humanity. Does it really need to be this complicated?"
She knew Kali had spent a long time preparing for today.
All for the sake of destroying humanity as quickly as possible, with absolute certainty.
By now, Kali's "Spawn" had infiltrated Base Cities across the entire world.
Some had reached the central broadcasting facilities of major cities.
Others worked behind the counters of roadside cafés and restaurants.
There were Spawn everywhere in between.
And each of them carried a device containing the specially synthesized audio track.
But that was only part of Kali's preparation.
She had devoured the genetic material of a vast number of scholars from the Mu Continent.
Among them were even portions of flesh taken from both the original Mobius and Sim Mobius.
As a result, Kali's scientific ability was nothing to underestimate.
The scanners Vill-V had previously developed specifically to detect her Spawn were already obsolete.
The problem was simple.
Those devices had barely been updated since their original design.
After a minor dispute, Vill-V had handed over the blueprints and even declared that any later versions were not allowed to carry the name of the "Helix Workshop."
Now her original body was imprisoned, her Sim had vanished, and neither was in any position to continue improving the technology.
Kali, on the other hand, had already developed portable countermeasures capable of defeating those scanners.
The Spawn had become invisible to human detection once again.
Kali had even been deliberately sacrificing a handful of them every day, allowing the human side to find and eliminate them.
It was all meant to dull their vigilance.
To make them believe the scanners still worked.
Meanwhile, far more Spawn had quietly begun infiltrating human society all over again.
The "Impostors" had returned.
After all…
Who ever said the same plan could only be used once?
As long as the timing was right, there was no reason not to use it again.
And this time…
"If we personally start slaughtering humanity, then those 'powerhouses' only need to focus their attacks on us."
Kali spoke calmly.
"Those people have no qualms about collateral damage. Ordinary morality isn't enough to restrain them."
"But…"
The sky-blue Herrscher of Blood narrowed her eyes.
"What if the ones doing the killing are humans themselves?"
Her lips curled upward.
"The easiest way to bring a glorious kingdom to ruin has always been to make it collapse from within."
Kali was clearly enjoying herself.
Still, the Herrscher of Thunder was right about one thing.
Everything was ready.
There was no reason to delay any longer.
So…
"Begin."
Kali's smile widened.
"My Spawn."
The command was transmitted directly into the minds of every Spawn across the world.
And almost immediately…
Inside a bar, a bartender who had been showing off his mixing skills suddenly stopped and set everything down.
At a police station, a newly recruited young officer pulled out a data drive, plugged it into the computer before him, and began typing at astonishing speed.
Inside the broadcasting room of a corporate building, two friends had been working the same shift.
Without warning, one of them transformed his right arm into a blade of blood and cut the other down without hesitation.
The same thing happened in stadiums.
At recreational beaches.
In arcades.
Internet cafés.
Shopping plazas.
And countless other places.
Everything happened far too quickly.
Kali had not ordered her Spawn to begin massacring people themselves.
Instead…
Humm…
Buzz…
Humm…
Buzz…
A piercing burst of static containing a carefully tuned frequency suddenly filled the air.
Across the world, it was almost as though the same wordless funeral dirge had begun playing everywhere at once.
Then…
"…!"
Everyone who heard it froze.
It did not matter what they had been doing a moment earlier.
Almost immediately, every negative emotion buried within them began to surge.
Anger.
Resentment.
Fear.
Hatred.
Irritation.
All of it climbed higher and higher until…
It erupted.
Suddenly, everything became unbearable.
The flowers along the roadside.
The trees.
The clouds overhead.
Even the sunlight itself.
Everything seemed irritating beyond reason.
But above all else…
The people around them.
Bang!
The violence began.
Across the world, riots erupted throughout the Base Cities like dry tinder touched by an open flame.
There was no warning.
No time to prepare.
People were affected before they even understood what was happening.
Sound was invisible.
It slipped through every opening.
It was not a bullet that could be stopped by a shield.
It was not a beast that could be kept outside by a locked steel door.
Bloodshed spread from one incident to the next.
Within moments, entire cities seemed to descend into hell.
And at that exact moment…
The Spawn, completely unaffected by the synthetic audio, began to grin.
There was no need for them to reveal their true forms.
Their physical abilities alone were already far beyond those of ordinary humans.
Fists and feet were enough to kill.
And now there were already so many "Enhanced Humans" in the world, weren't there?
As long as a Spawn did not transform in public, who could say it was not simply another Enhanced Human?
In the past, whenever one of the Herrscher of Blood's Spawn revealed itself, nearby combat forces would quickly arrive and hunt it down.
But now…
Those same forces were caught in the frenzy.
For a time, only a tiny number of people on Earth could resist the emotional interference completely.
The MANTISes.
And a small number of Pathstriders who had already stepped onto their Paths.
Everyone else…
Chaos.
Pure chaos.
Somewhere, a couple who had been passionately in love only moments earlier suddenly had their hands wrapped around each other's throats.
Elsewhere, a gentle mother lifted the infant in her arms high above her head.
On another street, a normally level-headed older brother, or perhaps a father, slammed his foot down on the accelerator and drove straight toward the crowd ahead.
And then…
Things became even worse.
Because all of this was merely the effect the audio had on ordinary people.
They were never Kali's true targets.
Her real objective was the leaders of the major factions.
The people whose minds were already bound by Aponia's "Discipline."
The moment the synthetic audio began affecting them, the invisible collars already wrapped around their minds were violently disturbed.
"…!"
Conflicting memories began flashing through their consciousness.
Again.
And again.
Their personalities started to distort.
Yet Aponia's Discipline was extraordinarily resilient.
Even under this interference, it refused to break.
But by then…
Crackle.
Across most of the world, the strange noise abruptly vanished.
Prometheus had acted.
From the moment the Newborn World Serpent first detected the outbreak of chaos to the moment the super-AI cluster began shutting down the broadcasts…
Only two and a half minutes had passed.
Two and a half minutes.
And the global casualty count had already exceeded two billion.
As people slowly regained control of themselves, many stared blankly at the blood covering their hands.
Then at the bodies nearby.
Parents.
Children.
Friends.
Lovers.
People they had cherished only minutes earlier.
Countless survivors simply broke down on the spot.
"See?"
Back inside the hidden cavern, Kali smiled faintly.
"They're fast."
"Less than three minutes."
"All those days of preparation, and they shut it down almost effortlessly."
Her smile grew colder.
"But it doesn't matter how fast they were."
Because this had never been the kind of disaster that could be solved simply by responding quickly.
The only real way to prevent it…
Was to never let it begin.
Once it had started, the damage was already done.
"With casualties on this scale, cleaning up the aftermath is going to be a nightmare, isn't it?"
Kali's eyes narrowed.
"And while you're busy dealing with all of that…"
"Will you really have the time to notice what's happening to the people in power?"
A cold smile spread across her face.
"My apologies, humanity."
"I've taken away your right to make a move."
Kali raised both hands, lightly touching the tips of her fingers together.
"The next move…"
"And the one after that…"
Her smile became almost playful.
"They're all mine."