"I can grant you the power to change the world..."
Deep within the Crete Hollow, at one of the rebels' encampments, Iseult slowly opened her eyes, and the glowing, special markings on the back of her left hand gradually dimmed along with her awakening.
"It seems our esteemed Bishop has indeed been working diligently for the sake of our Lord."
"Sarah, do you have some business with me again?"
Wearing that same playful expression as ever, Sarah walked up before Iseult, yet her gaze was not fixed upon the other's face, but on the back of her hand.
"It's nothing—I was just thinking that our righteous, upstanding Bishop would actually do something so cruel. It rather caught me off guard."
The amusement in Sarah's eyes grew thicker and thicker, and the sight of it left Iseult feeling somewhat sick.
"Drop that hypocritical little act of yours—I know exactly what you're thinking."
Iseult knew what she herself was doing. Although using these soldiers' lives to achieve her own ends did fill her with some distaste, all of that was utterly insignificant before the accomplishment of her goal.
Faced with Iseult's hostility, Sarah merely smiled faintly.
"Is that so? In that case, you ought to understand..."
The amusement in her eyes vanished in an instant, replaced by an endless coldness and resolve.
"I will never permit anyone to stick their foot into something I want—not even you, Bishop Merolac."
Sarah no longer addressed the woman before her as Iseult, but by the name she used within the Praise Society—Merolac.
This meant that the identity she was now addressing was the Bishop of the Praise Society, and not Colonel Iseult of the Defense Force.
"You took it upon yourself to make use of the pawns I had arranged. Just what, exactly, are you trying to do?"
Sarah's tone was as cold as ice.
Those soldiers had been arranged by her in the first place, precisely so they could be captured by the military or by HAND.
By the time they launched their final operation, these soldiers would be able to throw New Eridu's rear into disarray.
At that moment, even a small disturbance, in the face of a life-or-death crisis, would become the last straw that broke the camel's back.
After all, Sacrificial Ghouls... are by no means confined to the Hollow.
"I have my own arrangements. As for whether it interfered with your plans—what has that got to do with me?"
Iseult's attitude was extremely uncompromising; after all, she was still, in name, the highest authority in actual power within the Praise Society, and she was not the least bit worried that Sarah's interrogation would bring about any ill consequences.
"...In that case, I wish your plan a complete and resounding success."
Sarah spoke these words of blessing for Iseult with her mouth saying one thing and her heart another, and before leaving she didn't forget to shoot the other a vicious glare, after which she nonetheless obediently took her leave of the tent.
Only once Sarah had gone did Iseult finally no longer need to keep up the pretense; the stance she'd been forcing herself to hold could be maintained no longer, and her body went limp as she collapsed to her knees on the ground.
"Haah~ haah~ Was the toll too great after all? I only hope my choice was the right one."
After a stretch of muttering to herself, Iseult staggered her way back to the bed and began to rest.
What she schemed for, an aim utterly different from Sarah's, was advancing bit by bit in the direction she desired.
It was just that—in the final ending, who could say whether she would leave herself a conclusion that could be called perfect?
Meanwhile, on the other side, after watching the enormous cocoon of Filth tear its way up out of the ground, the first thing Geno did was to shield Twiggy and the others behind him.
Geno was all too familiar with this thing—it was precisely because of it that he'd ended up in such a wretched state back at Weifeidi.
The Filth inside Geno's own body had coalesced within a cocoon of Filth after absorbing the Filth of the Ethereals.
And this cocoon of Filth that had now appeared once more—whatever it was gestating was, without a doubt, an enormous threat to them.
At this thought, Geno raised his longblade, intending to strangle this not-yet-fully-hatched threat in the womb.
But the moment the longblade struck the outer shell, Geno—just like Number 11 before him—was sent flying back by the power of the Filth.
"Ngh! This thing—it's really f*ing hard!"
Trigger and the others made their own attempts as well, yet far from breaking the shell, they couldn't even leave so much as the faintest mark on it.
Geno realized that he seemingly had no way to deal with this thing, and Twiggy, off to one side, knit her brow and reached the same conclusion.
"It looks like your attacks aren't doing any good. For now, we'd better leave this place first."
Facing the cocoon of sin before them that had devoured dozens of human lives, Twiggy told everyone bluntly that this thing was not something they could currently handle.
The most sensible course of action right now was to run.
Although Geno felt some reluctance, he understood that what Twiggy said was right.
The rest of them all voiced their agreement as well, and so the group, bringing along the trussed-up Mouse, made ready to leave this place.
However, before they had gone far, the enormous cocoon swelled open, fissures spreading all across its outer shell.
Soon, great quantities of Filth burst forth from those cracks, and then a tall, pallid figure walked out from within.
The creature that walked out of the cocoon was only the size of an ordinary adult male, yet the sheer aura it gave off was enough to twist the very air.
Pallid white skin, sharp claws, two horns atop its head and pointed ears, yet its face bore no organs whatsoever—only a single golden cyclopean eye.
After emerging from the cocoon, it closed that eye, sensing everything around it, as if searching for something.
"Found... you..."
Having confirmed its target, the monster began to act.
Moving on what could scarcely be called feet—tendril-like limbs—this monster, born of the Sacrificial Ghoul and the Filth, came hurtling toward Geno and the others.
"I offer you up to the great Lord!"
On the other side, Geno, who had already put a fair distance between himself and the rest, still felt a heaviness weighing on his heart at this moment.
It was as if he was still wary of that monster within the cocoon.
"I'm still not at ease. Twiggy, you all go on ahead—I'm going back to take a look."
Geno suddenly halted his steps and, in the end, decided to hold to his own view: he would let Twiggy and the others leave first while he went back to deal with that monster himself.
"What nonsense are you spouting now? This is no time to go playing the hero!"
Twiggy spoke with anger in her voice—what fit of madness was this idiot Geno having now!
There was no time to let Geno waste right now; that monster within the cocoon was, no matter how one looked at it, not something the few of them could handle.
"I'm not playing the hero. I just have the feeling that thing seems to be coming for me."
As he spoke, Geno turned his gaze toward Twiggy.
"And for some reason, I just can't shake the feeling that even if we run away like this, that thing will definitely come chasing after us. It's my intuition."
Geno had no evidence, but this premonition had simply welled up from the bottom of his heart.
And as if to prove the truth of what he'd said, Fairy soon issued an alert.
[Warning: An object of unknown, high Ether concentration is approaching at high speed!]
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