Chapter 89. Silence and Darkness (2)
“Mijiiiin! No! My daughter! Mijiiiin!”
A middle-aged woman screamed in horror at the sight.
Apparently, she was Mijin’s mother.
No. 10 ignored her completely.
He opened his jaws wider and swallowed half of Mijin’s small body in a single bite.
Blood that clearly belonged to Mijin ran down from the corners of his mouth.
Gulp.
No. 10 tilted his head back and forced the rest of her body into his stomach.
Her body slid helplessly into his mouth.
“Nooooooo!”
Yukgap screamed as well, his eyes bloodshot.
But No. 10 only muttered coldly,
“Sample acquisition complete.”
After swallowing Mijin whole, his stomach looked slightly more swollen than usual.
Yukgap could only let out a long, broken sound.
“Aah... aaah...”
She was dead.
The girl who had chattered beside him from the moment they met.
The girl who had rushed at No. 10 with that tiny body because she wanted to save him.
She had been crushed and swallowed in an instant.
And Yukgap had been unable to do anything.
Nothing.
A crushing sense of guilt pressed down on his mind.
“You son of a biiiiiiitch!”
Yukgap gritted his teeth and reversed his grip on his daggers.
Hatred and rage surged through his yellow eyes.
Then a savage roar burst from his throat.
“ROOOOOOAR!”
His body became a yellow streak and repeatedly slammed toward No. 10.
The daggers in his hands flashed like an animal’s fangs as they struck No. 10’s armor again and again.
Clang! Clang-clang!
The sound of monomolecular cutters colliding with reinforced armor echoed without pause.
“I told you, your attacks don’t work!”
No. 10 shouted while tracking Yukgap’s movements with his eyes.
But Yukgap never stopped swinging.
Four strikes per second.
Sixteen.
Sixty-four.
One hundred and twenty-eight.
His blades accelerated further and further as he lost himself to rage.
Every strike began concentrating on the same spot.
Like water dripping against stone, the attacks slowly ground away at one point.
Then, at last...
Crack.
A fracture appeared in No. 10’s reinforced armor.
“W-What?”
Shock crossed No. 10’s face.
His overtechnology weapon boasted absolute defense.
He had never even imagined it could crack.
“Don’t worry.”
Yukgap panted heavily as he glared at him.
“I’m not going to kill you.”
His eyes locked onto the fractured section of armor.
“But I swear I’ll cut open that stomach of yours.”
Yukgap accelerated again.
There was nothing left in him but violent, indescribable fury.
Surrendering himself completely to that emotion, he raised his arm and aimed directly for the cracked armor.
“No. 6, you’ve become quite emotional since we last met.”
At that moment, white mist suddenly gathered in front of him.
It slowly took the shape of a person.
Yukgap immediately recognized the one calling him by his old name.
“No. 11?”
His former comrade.
Another of the Twelve Archons.
The sudden appearance of No. 11 made Yukgap stop his attack.
No. 11 greeted him with a friendly wave.
“It’s been a while. Have you been well?”
He sounded like an old friend asking after him.
Yukgap growled.
“Move! I don’t have time to deal with you!”
“Oh, I’m afraid I can’t.”
No. 11 smiled pleasantly.
“We have orders from Abraxas.”
Then he simply looked at Yukgap.
Agonizing pain, as if his chest were being seared from the inside, suddenly erupted.
“Ghhk! Kgh! Ghk!”
Yukgap collapsed to his knees.
Bright red blood began pouring continuously from his nose and mouth.
He could barely breathe.
He could only choke and cough up the blood flooding into his throat.
“I would rather not have gone this far with you.”
No. 11 watched him calmly.
“But you did not seem likely to calm down.”
“Well, you are one of the Twelve Archons. I trust this much damage will heal with time.”
While Yukgap struggled to breathe, No. 10 smacked his lips and asked indifferently,
“The experimental sample has been secured.”
“There’s no reason to remain here.”
“Is that so?”
No. 11 nodded.
“I just finished disposing of the original as well.”
No. 10 looked around.
“What about the rest?”
Many experimental subjects derived from the original still remained.
The daughters born without fathers, inheriting their mother’s genes exactly.
No. 10’s eyes gleamed ominously as he looked at them.
If given the order, he seemed ready to slaughter them all immediately.
“The combination was completed just now.”
No. 11 casually struck the ground with his cane.
Thump.
A short but powerful vibration spread through the area.
“Ghhhk! Kghhh! Aaaaaagh!”
“Cough! Ugh! It hurts! It hurts!”
“Ghhhk... please... save me... please...!”
At once, the surrounding women began collapsing just like Yukgap.
Blood poured from their noses and mouths.
The area filled with screams and agonized groans.
No. 10 briefly commented on how quickly everything had been settled.
“Clean. I like it.”
