Chapter 198. The Destroyer, No. 13 (1)
“Mom, I’m home from school!”
At that moment, the door suddenly burst open and a boy who looked like an elementary school student came inside.
The instant No. 5 saw him, she froze.
The longing and affection buried deep beneath her consciousness surged up all at once.
No one needed to tell her.
There was no need for that in the first place.
No. 5 immediately knew who this child was.
“Y-You’re Hikaru?”
No. 5 asked in a trembling voice.
The boy looked up at her.
“I’m Hikaru. Who are you, ma’am?”
Before he could even finish speaking, No. 5 pulled the boy who had introduced himself as Hikaru into a tight embrace.
An indescribable flood of emotion crashed over her.
It was so overwhelming that No. 5 could barely speak.
“I... I’m...”
She did not even know how she was supposed to explain herself.
And right now, none of that mattered.
She simply held the small warmth she had longed for so desperately and cried.
“She’s a friend of Mom’s. She came because she wanted to see you.”
Megumi hurriedly covered for her with a lie.
Hikaru simply nodded.
“Oh. I see.”
No. 5 was relieved that Hikaru did not reject her.
Still crying, she slowly studied his face.
Then words filled with emotion escaped her lips.
“Hikaru... You grew up so strong.”
“You’re wonderful.”
“I’m so proud of you.”
“Hehe. Thank you.”
Hikaru merely smiled at the praise from this mysterious guest.
After staring at his face for a long time, No. 5 slowly stood.
Then she forced herself to smile.
“Hikaru.”
“I’ll protect this world you live in.”
She stared at him intently.
Once this moment passed, she instinctively knew she would never see Hikaru again.
But that was fine.
There was something she had to do.
“I love you.”
Leaving only those words behind, No. 5 hurried out through the front door.
Then she ran.
And ran.
Toward the place where the call echoing inside her head was coming from.
Crunch. Crunch.
Yukgap gritted his teeth and kept chewing kimchi.
Every time its sharp, sour aroma hit his nose and mouth, his mind cleared.
Victoria, still being carried in his arms, looked at him worriedly.
“Yukgap, can you hold out?”
“I think I can resist somehow as long as I keep eating kimchi.”
Alpha’s call was still echoing inside his head.
Even so, he was holding out by continuously eating kimchi.
Without it, he would probably have been swallowed by Alpha long ago.
“If I could, I’d take Nova with us too...”
Even while escaping, Victoria could not let go.
The fact that Nova’s corpse would be left behind here alone still weighed heavily on her.
“Victoria, Nova wouldn’t want us risking our lives because of her.”
Yukgap quickly tried to reassure her.
Victoria thought for a moment, then reluctantly nodded.
“Let’s just get as far away from here as possible.”
“Once we’re far enough, we should be able to escape Alpha’s mental control too.”
Then a sharp electronic beep rang through the base.
At the same time, a monitor suddenly emerged in front of them.
Alpha appeared on the screen, her face twisted with rage.
[Do you really think you can escape from me?]
Alpha glared at them.
Victoria shouted back,
“Alpha, please stop!”
“What are you trying to do by absorbing all the Archons?!”
[I’m going to become the final Archon.]
[No. 13, Omega.]
[And then I’ll destroy everything and bring it all to an end.]
Alpha’s answer was merciless.
Victoria snapped at the image on the monitor.
“What are you supposed to accomplish by destroying everything?”
[Victoria.]
[I saw the conclusion to everything.]
[And I realized something.]
Alpha’s eyes widened unnaturally.
Then she declared,
[This world has no value in existing.]
The instant she finished, a series of mechanical beeps came from the monitor’s speakers.
The call echoing in Yukgap’s mind immediately grew stronger.
It felt as though an absolute command were being forced directly into every single brain cell.
“Ughhh!”
Yukgap groaned and dropped to one knee.
“Whoa!”
Victoria fell to the floor with him.
Alpha sneered at them.
[Did you really think you could overcome my conditioning with that foul-smelling food?]
A massive wave of flesh surged toward Yukgap and Victoria.
It filled their entire escape route in an instant.
Apparently, Alpha intended to simply absorb them into her body.
[Sixth friend.]
[Stop resisting and come to me.]
[The Wisdom of God is complete.]
[All that remains is for the Body of God, divided into twelve pieces, to become one.]
Alpha spoke gently from amid the approaching flesh.
Yukgap only shook his head.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can do that.”
Breathing heavily, Yukgap forced himself back to his feet.
But it was obvious he was reaching his limit.
Alpha scoffed.
[I created you.]
[Do you really intend to disobey me?]
“I have somewhere I need to go back to!”
Yukgap roared.
His bones began expanding with loud cracks.
Beastlike muscles surged violently across his body.
A feral presence unlike anything before settled over him.
His skull transformed into that of a predator.
Yukgap manifested his true Archon form.
Holding his daggers in reverse grips, he spoke to Victoria.
“Victoria.”
“I’ll use my acceleration to make us a path.”
“Can you keep up?”
Victoria immediately understood what he intended and nodded.
“Yeah.”
