"That's right. Afterward, by studying Grace's physical condition, I discovered the most critical experimental material I'd been lacking." "And that is Filth!"
Filth originates from the Progenitor, and the Progenitor's power is applied to the domains of soul and memory.
This power protects the human soul from being worn down during the process of mutating into a Beast-Demon, allowing it to retain its reason.
"In the experiments that followed, I created many things resembling that Filth cocoon born within the Hollow, and the experimental subjects they birthed all retained the ability to survive outside the Hollow. Of course, after the trials I destroyed them all."
By this point, Geno and the others had begun to feel their hair stand on end.
At the same time, they were struck by the sheer terror of Twiggy's abilities.
The Beast-Demons, which the Order of Praise had spent who-knows-how-long researching to produce, had been all but cracked open in Twiggy's hands within the span of just a few days. With such a terrifying talent for Ether research, no wonder old Timefield valued Twiggy so highly.
He'd even gone so far as to bind Geno in order to indirectly bind Twiggy.
Having heard all this, Geno felt as though he'd just listened to an absurd and bizarre tale—yet the most damning part was that this tale was true.
"So, does your current state count as a success?"
Yanagi Tsukishiro pushed up her glasses, a hint of scrutiny entering her gaze as she looked at Twiggy.
If Twiggy's experiment had truly succeeded, it would stir up an enormous uproar in New Eridu—no, across the entire world.
And this upheaval would not be entirely a good thing; if anything, the negative consequences might well outnumber the positive ones.
A rational Ethereal transformed from a human—was it really still human?
One must remember that when the very first Thirren appeared in human history, what was endured was by no means as harmonious as things now appeared.
Hearing Yanagi Tsukishiro's question, Twiggy first nodded, then shook her head.
"Yes, and no. My current state is closer to Grace's case from before. And although my body has already begun to undergo Etherealization, its condition hasn't improved as a result."
Twiggy had researched all this precisely in order to cure herself, yet now, though her body had begun Etherealization, her own genetic defect still remained.
"I think it may be because my degree of Etherealization isn't sufficient. I've been trying all along to keep the balance of this transformation process under control, so I added many components into the serum to suppress Etherealization."
This was also why neither her own nor Grace's Etherealization had completed instantly the way it does for ordinary people.
"But perhaps it's precisely because of this that, although my Etherealization pulled me back from the brink of death, it did not cure my illness."
After using the serum, Twiggy had had her neck snapped by the Beast-Demon, Dagalle.
By rights she should have died then and there, but Etherealization brought her back.
"Still, even though it hasn't cured me, Etherealization has had some effect after all—at the very least, I now have more time to keep researching and running experiments."
It wasn't perfect, but at least it counted as a good start.
As for Geno and the others, who had listened to Twiggy finish, every one of them now wore an utterly bewildered expression.
"All right, honestly I didn't really follow much of that. Anyway, the gist is that even though your condition hasn't been fully cured, it's already starting to improve, right?"
Number 11, that scatterbrained girl, had been left thoroughly muddled by what Twiggy said, but at least she'd managed to sort out the current situation.
"Mm, indeed."
Hoshimi Miyabi nodded, her manner seeming to convey "I understood"—but anyone familiar with this Void Hunter of ours knew that a display like this meant she hadn't understood a single bit.
"In any case, this matter has more or less come to a close. As for the subsequent investigation into the rebels, just leave it to us to handle from here."
With that, Yanagi Tsukishiro brought this operation to a summary close.
Number 11 and Trigger had no objection to this; they were on leave to begin with, and compared to the shelved Section Six, they had even less autonomy.
As for how they had originally only meant to investigate a smuggling case yet ended up uncovering far more secrets—the two of them had no intention of letting the matter rest there.
"If there's ever anything we can be of use for down the line, just say the word. Number 11 and I are always willing to lend you our aid."
"I'm deeply grateful."
Hoshimi Miyabi extended her hand, and after shaking with the two of them, walked over to Geno and his companion.
"Oh, same with us."
A handshake here, a handshake there.
Having done all this, Hoshimi Miyabi finally gave a satisfied smile, then drew out a large honeydew melon from the basket she'd prepared well in advance.
"Want to share some melon together?"
"..."
Somehow it felt as if... this Void Hunter was... a bit easier to get along with than they'd imagined?
Over the next few days, everyone gradually returned to their daily routines.
During this time, at Geno's suggestion, a few acquaintances got together for a meal—though it was a pity they couldn't get hold of Jane Doe.
And in the days that followed, Twiggy continued her research without pause for even a moment, while her laboratory was also nearing completion.
Geno, for his part, was once again holed up in his own studio, pulling overtime alongside the Overtime Bangboos until the sky went dark and his head went dizzy.
Then, on one perfectly ordinary night like any other, a strange fellow appeared on his computer screen.
"...Fairy, what are you up to?"
[Error: Invalid username. Requesting a reboot of this system. Repeat, requesting a reboot of this system.]
Geno had been making good headway on his game when, all of a sudden, a giant eyeball popped up on the screen. He'd seen that design before—it was the salary thief that belonged to the household of the video-selling siblings.
The color was just a bit off, though—it wasn't blue, but a red that carried a warning connotation.
Its behavior matched its color, too: it kept spitting out error after error without cease, and beyond that gave no other response at all.
After a while longer, Geno finally couldn't stand letting this thing keep eating up his time on the computer, so he prepared to contact Fairy and have her deal with this virus that looked like some kind of "prank."
But before he could even act, the computer screen flickered once more, and then returned to normal.
"What's going on?"
Just in case, Geno contacted Fairy anyway, only to be told by her that there was nothing whatsoever wrong with the computer.
For this, Geno had squandered a great deal of time as well as paid Fairy a service fee of a hundred thousand Dennies—all with nothing to show for it.
"How strange. Forget it—there isn't much time left before the new game launches, I need to get a move on."
Though he was quite curious about what exactly was going on, Geno didn't have the spare time for it right now—he still had to put in overtime rushing to patch up bugs.
And in a corner he hadn't noticed, a red light flickered ceaselessly, watching him.
Like a ghost wandering the mortal world.
____
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