Messiah awoke as his body was shaken.
How many times had he seen Maria's worried, tearful eyes now?
The high-mobility vehicle had stopped. The effect of the physical shift had vanished, signaling that the vehicle had returned to three-dimensional space.
Again, a migraine pulsed from the back of his neck to the rear of his head in rhythm with his heartbeat.
"What's happening to you today?"
Maria clung to his arm with trembling slender fingers, unable to hide her anxiety. This was the first time since the abnormal events began that she had openly shown such fear.
Ever since he collapsed in the subway tunnel after drifting in and out of consciousness, Maria had felt as though Messiah was somewhere far away. Even now, while the transparent vehicle phased through train cars and shocked cries burst from the mouths of passengers, Messiah leaned against Maria's small shoulder as though peacefully asleep.
At first, Maria thought he was simply leaning on her affectionately. But it quickly became obvious he had lost consciousness, and panic overtook her. At the same time, the train stopped, throwing the passengers into confusion.
The priest stepped out once the vehicle shifted back into three-dimensional coordinates. Looking down at the enormous fissure spread before him, then toward the giant battling the tentacles several dozen kilometers away, he clicked his tongue in disgust. It was obvious that debris hurled by the giant during combat had struck the highway like stray artillery fire.
"We're heading down to the spaceport."
Ignoring Messiah's condition, he issued the order to everyone.
"But Messiah—"
Maria protested desperately, tears nearly overflowing from her round eyes.
It was then that Messiah regained consciousness.
"Hurry. Stay here and you'll be eaten."
There was no trace of human emotion in his voice.
Messiah could no longer tell where he was or what was happening. Crossing back over the boundary between nightmare and reality had plunged his mind into utter confusion, his thoughts spiraling chaotically.
Urged onward by the priest, Irat hurriedly moved toward the exit. Yet the tall man and the sisters seated near the entrance made no attempt to stand.
Elizabeth placed a hand on Messiah's knee and peered anxiously into his face.
"Does anyone have something he can drink?"
The young soldier handed Elizabeth a tumbler wrapped in a black skin-like covering from near the driver's seat.
Beard Bull wore the expression of a man thinking only one thing: It would be troublesome if the savior died here.
Elizabeth offered the tumbler to Messiah.
"You should drink a little."
With weak fingers, he accepted it and poured water across lips so dry they had turned gray.
Maria looked up at her boyfriend anxiously while casting a dark, mist-covered glance toward Elizabeth. Something close to jealousy clouded her heart.
Watching Elizabeth's devotion calmly from the side, Fan raised his face toward the stern-eyed priest and asked in a voice as still as a lake.
"I have no objection to evacuating. However, before that, I would like an explanation of the situation."
Though calm, his words carried a sweetness laced with disgust, and the strange persuasiveness in his tone forced the priest back into the passenger seat.
Adjusting his glasses, the priest stroked the gun still in his hand before speaking. How much of the future should he reveal? The priest, already past fifty with streaks of white in his hair, hesitated before opening his mouth.
"You are all in an extremely dangerous situation."
He switched on the radio and adjusted the dial. Static filled the air, and everyone could tell he was trying to find a broadcast station.
Broken voices mixed with the static.
"There are still people trying to continue broadcasting?!"
Fan's voice carried both astonishment and disbelief.
"We continue our emergency report. This is an unprecedented crisis.
Today at 8:23 a.m., multiple meteorites were confirmed by observatories worldwide. According to NASA, at least seventy meteorites ranging from several meters to over ten meters in diameter have been identified.
They have fallen in dozens of locations around the world. Current confirmed casualties stand at thirty million in the United States, twenty-five million in Russia, two hundred seventy million in China, five hundred twenty million in India—"
Numbers of the dead unlike anything they had ever heard continued to be read aloud.
Everyone's faces froze as though encased in ice. Even Messiah, whose consciousness still wandered like a mirage, grew paler still, like the face of a Noh mask.
What the hell happened? Is this really reality? Messiah muttered inwardly.
Yet even if they covered their ears, reality continued to present its unshakable cruelty before them.
"With the meteorite impacts, natural disasters are occurring across the globe.
In Japan, Mount Fuji has erupted. Mount Baker in the United States, Trois Pitons in Dominica, Erta Ale in Ethiopia, Mount Cameroon in Cameroon, and Mount Ararat in Turkey have also erupted. In addition, earthquakes are occurring continuously due to tectonic plate activity worldwide. Those living in coastal areas are urged to evacuate to higher ground due to tsunamis."
The announcer spoke mechanically and calmly, but even he lacked any sense of reality. All he could do was read the information placed before him.
"Unknown lifeforms have appeared in multiple regions. Please take action to protect your lives. Details regarding these unidentified lifeforms remain unknown. Battles are currently taking place in countries around the world. There are also unconfirmed reports that military conflicts between nations have already begun.
There are furthermore reports of nuclear weapons being deployed. At this point, nothing would be surprising anymore. I repeat: please take action to protect your lives."
The priest switched off the radio. At the same time, he traced the sign of the cross across his chest.
The air inside the vehicle tightened like frozen steel.
"…Has the end times… Armageddon… truly become reality?"
Fan Loppen asked with strangely calm composure.
But the priest would not answer. Knowing the future, he could say nothing.
"So the same thing happening here is repeating all over the world?"
This time Elizabeth Gahanov asked uneasily, brushing her long hair behind her ear.
At last, Father Max Dinger adjusted his glasses and answered both of them at once. Their endless questions while showing no sign of evacuating had finally forced him to speak.
"You're thinking on the wrong scale. This isn't a global catastrophe. The end has arrived across the entire universe—across every dimension. Worlds humanity has never known, lifeforms humanity will never even encounter, are already facing extinction. Just as humanity is now."
No one could truly feel the weight of reality in those words. Yet outside the vehicle, the repeated scenes of destruction, the casualty numbers, and the giant's battle were undeniably real. That reality gave structure to the priest's unbelievable claims.
"You've gotta be kidding me."
Irat Gahanov crossed his legs angrily. Looking far younger than twenty-five, he spoke irritably.
"Where the hell did those monsters even come from?"
That too was one of their many questions. Everyone had assumed they emerged from the meteorites and were extraterrestrial lifeforms.
"Everyone outside."
The priest exited the vehicle alone first. He must have realized evacuation would be delayed at this rate.
The youths followed reluctantly, dragging their legs like heavy stones.
The summer dusk now blanketed the sky. The air still carried heat, but without the sunlight stabbing into their skin, the oppressive torture of summer had eased slightly.
The young soldier held his rifle tightly while glaring around at the surroundings. At any moment, the monsters could attack.
Following Fan and Irat, Maria and Elizabeth supported the weakened Messiah from both sides and helped him down from the cargo bed.
Though Maria desperately tried to support him, Elizabeth was doing almost all the work.
Seeing this, Maria tried even harder, only for her legs to tangle awkwardly and get in the way instead. Her face flushed red in embarrassment as her rivalry with Elizabeth backfired painfully.
Even from twenty kilometers away, the gigantic titan battling in the distance still appeared terrifyingly close.
"How do you all perceive those tentacles?"
The priest's sudden question left the youths speechless. They knew the creatures were alive, but none had ever encountered lifeforms of such monstrous scale.
"There are certainly things in this world that science cannot explain. Humanity is now being forced to acknowledge that publicly."
The priest stared deeply into the maelstrom of battle and gripped the revolver at his side.
"Devils. Those things are their filthy offspring… Devil's Children."
The sudden declaration was so absurd and fantastical that the youths could only stare blankly.
"It sounds ridiculous, I know. But the truth is standing right in front of you. That alone is enough."
Indeed, before their eyes, the raging tentacles and the giant locked in desperate combat remained unmistakably real. Below the highway, waves of flesh swirled through the streets, devouring people as blood sprayed across the city.
And yet believing in Devils still seemed impossible.