The Ambition of Evil Men

"…Miyazono presence everywhere."

"Yeah. They've established their selves pretty well in here."

"The bombing must've affected their numbers as well. They're obviously being cautious since a hideout of theirs are out in the open right now."

We arrived in Chiba which was a lot livelier and populated than Shibuya or Sunogahara. Although our van's windows are tinted and a Diminisher core is absorbing our Astra energies, some of the passerby and mercenaries that are around the place still looked at us and followed us with their gazes.

"…Put on your earpiece, Kirin-san. Oyabun-sama has something to say."

"Got it."

Sensei placed an earpiece on her right ear and listened to the words of their leader who must be looking at our area from a set of cameras that the S.S.S hijacked and are sharing with them.

"As you wish, Oyabun-sama… Yes. I understand. Thank you, we will do our best."

"What did Oyabun-sama say, Auntie?"

"Oyabun-sama reminded me about how vital it is to properly finish this task. If we win here, we will cripple our enemy's capability to extend their limbs out of New Tokyo."

"I see… I should do my best as well."

"Since you two are raring to go, I guess this is a good place to stop."

Furuta-sensei stopped our vehicle just in front of the ruined office that was still being cleared by the Miyazono corporation's workers who seem like they are nothing but normal construction employees.

"Kai. The Diminisher core is nearly full. The moment it reaches 99%, hold its release node and use the absorbed Astra energy to make a Subspace."

"Gotcha boss. Guess I don't have to remind you how quickly they'll notice they're inside one, right?"

"You're right. Now, watch it for me as I make my own preparations."

While Furuta-sensei was using a tablet computer in the dashboard, all of us looked at the left windows of our van where the office was located. If the security teams and the checkpoints leading to this intersection was tight, the perimeter around the ruined area was tighter.

All around the place were mercenaries carrying firearms and hiding amidst the pedestrians or customers of nearby stores. Some are posing as regular Miyazono corporation office workers although from our eyes, we can see them emitting Astra energy, showing that they are Psychics sent here as primary security workers.

"There's so many of them here… It's faint, but I can sense more defenders underneath in the basement of the destroyed office. Renjiro, can you look into that basement?"

"I'm connecting my tablet panel to the S.S.S surveillance drones and hijacked cameras. I'll try to look for a less conspicuous entry point to that basement. If I can't find anything, let's just bust in with the element of surprise on our backs. Hey, Fujikawa, can I borrow your Agency ID?"

"Here, sensei."

After inputting Mana's ID number and passcode into the panel, it showed the various cameras and drones that are around us. With all angles visible to him, Furuta-sensei looked for a place where we can enter the place without arousing suspicion.

"…No way in. They're thorough with their defense here."

"I can't sense any nearby Subspaces too. Seems like they're not risking making a shortcut into the place through a Subspace."

"It's good that you looked into it already Kaede. With that, there's only one way for us to get in."

With all preparations done and our course of action being settled as a surprise all-out attack, Furuta-sensei opened the Diminisher core panel that was attached at the ceiling of the van which Kai held and awaited for the signal to start it.

"…Now!"

"<Subspace Creation!>"

Using the Astra energy that the core absorbed from us during our trip, Kai created a Subspace that encompassed a 2-kilometer area around us that will last for a long while.

"H-Huh?"

"O-Oi! Sound the alarm!"

The confused mercenaries and Miyazono Psychics took a moment before they realized what was happening. Just enough time for us to come out of our vehicle and take them by surprise.

"<Pyrokinesis!><Fire Bolt!>"

"<Electrokinesis!><Voltage Overload!>"

Kirin-sensei and Kaede-san was the first to burst out of the vehicle and use their powers to dispose the surrounding mercenaries and Psychics. From Kaede-san's back came out several fireballs that burned our enemies' limbs, immobilizing them as Kirin-sensei slammed her palm down to the ground to spread a high voltage current into our enemies that killed them instantly.

"Rai! Keep them in place!"

"Gotcha! <Hemokinesis!><Artery Constriction!>"

"Urk!"

"W-Wha?!"

"Eat this! <Pyrokinesis!><Fire Strike!>"

Meanwhile for Fujikawa and I, I solidified my blood on the panicking enemies' feet and Mana threw fireballs on the backs of the heads that incapacitated them immediately.

"Well then… To open up this darned gate of yours…"

Furuta-sensei was the last to get out from the van as he massaged his wrist and focused on the destroyed office building that began to creak loudly.

"<Ferrokinesis>…"

He stretched out his hands and the Psychics that has just gathered there to defend it began to panic as the floor they were standing on was lifted out of the concrete ground and folded with them still stuck between of it. Crushing them flat with only their blood showing their deaths.

"…That's one bloody mess, Renjiro."

"I have my own style of handling things, Kirin. I won't heed complaints about it."

He then took out his Augmenter weapon. A revolver made of steel that looked indistinguishable from a normal one. However, even I can sense some kind of strange power in the weapon as it was held by its wielder, and it began to emit a strong wave of Astra energy.

"…Well then, open us up an entrance, Renjiro."

"On it… Taihou (Earth Splitting Cannon)! Heed my call!"

As Furuta-sensei shouted the weapon's name and pulled its trigger, a bullet left its barrel that looked normal except that it was carrying a tremendous amount of Astra energy.

"Brace for it."

"Huh?"

Kai finally left the van and said those words to me as he hurriedly shot mahogany seeds using his shotgun in front of us that grew rapidly to shield us from what he mentioned.

*BYUIK-!!!!**KA-BAAAAAA!*

"KYAAAA!!!"

If not for the mahogany tree barrier, I would've flown back from the sheer shockwave that happened after that bullet detonated in the rubble. Fujikawa shrieked for a moment as she flew backwards but was caught by Kaede-san.

"Ick-!"

"Hold my hand, Mana-chan!"

"Y-yes, Sensei!"

"Hold your ground, kid."

"Yes, mam!"

"…"

While all of us are hiding behind the tree barrier and holding each other to not be swept by the shockwave of the explosion, its creator was just standing there, unfazed and unmoved as he looked at it directly with no change in expression or care for the audible screams of the enemies that was trapped inside the entrance tunnel that is now burning to death.

"That's a new one, boss. Was that the thing that you've been testing for a long while?"

"Yeah, that's the Acetone peroxide bullet. Because of my ability, using it with Taihou simplified the process."

"You sure you didn't make it too effective?"

"…No."

Even I was horrified as the last of the screams ceased and the place that used to be the hill of rubble that hides the entrance tunnel to the underground hideout disappeared into dust and gravel.

"Don't say anything, kid… This is just how Renjiro does things."

"Kirin-sensei… but this is-"

I was about to raise my voice in protest of the thing that just happened, but Kirin-sensei placed her hand over my mouth to stop me and whispered something to my ear.

"You'll understand everything once we get inside their hideout. Right now, I need you to shut up and follow us without complaint…"

"…Understood, Sensei."

After the dust has settled, we went out from behind the tree barrier and walked slowly towards the small flight of stairs leading to the basement while around us lay the dead or half-dead corpses of our enemies who was caught in the fireball and explosion of Furuta-sensei's enhanced metallic-chemical bullet.

"It's just as how we expected it. It's connected to their other hideouts nearby. This must be a central hub for them to deploy their men around Chiba."

"Just like how the S.S.S bunkers are used, huh?"

"Yeah. It's the same principle, but this one is still rough around the edges. It's obviously newly made so that means…"

"It means that the Miyazono corporation just thought up of this plan to expand to Chiba and are just starting it."

We walked around the place that looked desolate although it must've been an active corridor for our enemies before the bombing of the Mori cult and our attack just now.

"Intruders! Get them!"

"Take out the bio-weapons!"

"Bio-weapons?"

From a door in the other end of the hall, Miyazono Psychics prepared for battle and called for something that they call as a bioweapon. This made us to turn to them with our battle stances ready.

"Kaede, you heard what they said. I'll leave this to you."

"Got it, Furuta-san… Momotaro (Vanquisher of Demons)! Heed my call!"

Kaede-san opened the black case that she has holding in her hand and a folding fan whose struts are made of lacquered porcelain and cloth made of intertwined gold thread and silk came out and levitated back into her palm.

"That is Kaede-sensei's Augmenter weapon…"

"The last time I saw her use that was when she defended Old Kyoto estate from weaponized Psych-malignances."

Mana joyously looked at the lady who opened the folding fan and stood with a graceful posture which accentuated her formal kimono. Her aunt, Kirin-sensei, spoke about the last time she wielded that weapon, seeming to tell me a bit about its history.

"Dance for me! Flames of Inugami (Dog god)!"

As she supplied it with her pyrokinetic powers, it emitted a small flame on its end that after being fanned out, formed into the shape of a dog that rammed into the Miyazono Psychics that was still in the middle of casting their abilities.

"W-What the hell?!"

"Hydrokinetics! Do something!"

"Our water is just getting vaporized! Run away or you're dead!"

"No need for that! The bioweapon is here!"

"Take its chains off!"

"W-w-what?"

"See? I told you that this will explain everything…"

I can't help but grit my teeth after the doors leading into the deeper levels of the tunnel opened and four men brought in a monster that initially seemed nothing but a typical malignance but after further inspection, it was…

"You don't need to show mercy to those who also can't show it."

"Why… why are they doing this to their own people?!"

The "bioweapon" is not a normal malignance. It is the same case as the ones I fought at the concert. It is a malignance, but one with physical form. It groans lowly as if in pain and attacks everyone around it indiscriminately.

"Help… Hwelp… I hwant twis to end…"

"…I apologize… I shall give you a quick end, former human."

Kaede-san closed her fan to recover the fire shaped into a dog and focused her power yet again into the fan.

"Dwo it! Please end twese!!!"

The mutated human slammed its fists and shouted in pain. Wishing to be freed from its pain and burden.

"Conflagrate his soul and send him to the afterlife, Kinkei (Golden Pheasant)!"

After opening the fan and waving it towards the enemy, the monster suddenly stopped moving as its belly glowed lightly until it formed a hole where white-hot flames licked out and quickly covered its body.

"GRUAAAHHH!!!"

"Rest in peace… Former human."

"…"

After closing her fan, the flames covering monster became stronger until it turned it into ash and left no trace of the mutated person behind.

"No way…!"

"They even got to finish off the bioweapon?!"

"That's the strongest that we got!"

The enemy was shaken due to the death of their monster, they backed off as we stepped forward and after crossing eyes with Furuta-sensei who seems to not have yet abated his anger, they ran away and began to call for everyone in their hideout to gather.

"IIIIEEE!!! Get everyone out here! We have to defend this place!"

"You three… I'll leave those little shitheads to you."

""Y-Yes, sensei.""

"Gotcha, boss."

"We Kanbu officers have bigger fish to go after."

We went further into the tunnel where a giant hall is located, and it is where the enemy Psychics gathered. Here, Furuta-sensei, Kirin-sensei and Kaede-san stepped ahead of us three rookies and told us to handle them.

"H-hey! What do you think you're doing, huh?! We won't let anyone to get past us!"

"I decide to differ."

"W-whaa-?!"

"Crap! They're getting through!"

Using the miniscule metal lapels on their suits, Furuta-sensei used his Ferrokinetic ability and waved his arms away. This made them to fly away from him as they passed through and entered the last door of the hideout.

"After them! We can't let them inside the stasis rooms!"

"Y-Yes! We will-"

Before they can chase our superiors, I used my Hemokinesis to its strongest possible extent and made them stay on the spot as we walked to the door which we have to defend.

"Don't strain yourself, buddy. We're also here, y'know?"

"Yeah. Now that Kaede-sensei is not here, I can get back to my normal self."

After they closed the door behind them, I let go of my control and caught the enemy crowd's attention as they all looked at us with enraged expressions.

"That damned kid… Now they're inside!"

"You better prepare yourselves, you brats! You will pay for this!"

As they prepared their abilities by starting fires or lifting boulders and such, we too, prepared to hold our ground until our seniors come back from the other side of the door.

"Are you ready?"

"You bet!"

"Let's do this!"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

After we entered the room that Renjiro strangely wanted to get into as quickly as possible, we saw what we expected to be in here.

"Humans… no, Replicants."

"So this is a production facility, huh?"

All around us are soulless cloned bodies of people who have died recently. These are Replicants. Clones that are meant to replace someone whose death cannot be easily explained or be allowed to die during that time.

"An actor that recently committed suicide… A head researcher of the Miyazono general laboratories that had to be assassinated for leaking corporate secrets… A pro-Miyazono conglomerate congressman that had a heart attack."

"Such blatant disrespect to life… how deplorable."

"Why do they wish to extend the deceased lives' for their selfish reasons?"

These clones are kept in suspension pods that supports their maturation to the desired body shape of the inputted gene seed from the host person. Since most of them are not yet fully developed, their appearance is something that… even I feel disgusted of.

"…Is this the reason why you've been so forceful, Renjiro?"

"…Yes."

"It reminds you of that day?"

"…"

There was one empty pod at the corner of the room that he approached and touched lightly.

"I had no name. No identity. No memory to call my own nor anyone to call family…"

"Furuta-san…"

"I was a reject. The product of a damaged gene seed. I cannot receive my host's stored memories, nor do I even look remotely like him… I was a nobody."

My niece was about to reach out to him when I placed my hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"I hate this world who hated me first. I wasn't given any goal nor was I given any reason to exist… I just exist. And that is what horrifies me the most… The thought of living day by day with no goal in life nor reason to stay alive… it scares me."

Hearing what he has to say, I opened the black case that I was carrying and took out my Augmenter weapon.

"I saved you back then from that place and Oyabun-sama gave you a name and a reason to exist… Why pity yourself now of all times?"

"…Because I don't know if there are others like me who are still living in the darkness like this… Awaiting salvation and a reason to live… Have they been saved? Have they lost to despair? That is why I feel enraged that places like this still exist."

I raised my weapon and looked at him to ask for his approval to do it. He gave me a nod and took his hands away from the pod as I called out to my weapon.

"Jinrai (Thunderclap)! Heed my call!"

My katana's blade glowed with a bluish-purple hue alike that of lightning and with a single thrust into the ground, I short-circuited every pod which instantly killed the clones inside of it.

"…Rest in peace. Incomplete humans."

"Thank you for laying them to rest again, Kaede."

"It's the least that I can do, Furuta-san. Now then, to clean up."

Kaede opened her fan and made fires to enter the pods and cremate the dead clones.

"Are you satisfied now, Renjiro?"

"…Not yet. I can't sense that Gardener in here. But I know that this is his doing… For now, this will suffice. Let's go back to the kids outside and send our challenge later."

"Agreed."

We climbed back to the open hall, and as we opened the door, we found out that we didn't have to send that challenge anymore.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"What the hell?!"

"Who is this guy?"

Minutes after our seniors entered the other room and just moments after we defeated the Psychics, someone entered the place whom I instantly knew we cannot defeat.

"Get out of my way."

"Never!"

"Suit yourself, brat!"

Kai, who was in his full flow state form, owns a superhuman level of strength. Yet his punches seemed like nothing but pebbles hitting a mountain as this person blocked all of them and even threw some counterpunches that sent him flying away to the floor and walls.

"Rai! This guy is-"

"I know… His Astra wave emission is so high… He's probably one of them."

"A Gardener, huh? This surprise mission seems like it do is full of surprises."

I looked around for possible ways out or a method to defeat this guy. But I lack data. I can't make decisions for us when I am as clueless as a rock.

After giving him a beating that incapacitated him, the guy threw Kai to a wall and looked at us with a belittling expression.

"Unlike that raging buffoon, you two seem reasonable enough. Move, or you will be moved."

"…"

He demanded our surrender as he looked around the hall with a plain expression. Seemingly not even bothered about the innumerable members of their side that are laying dead around us.

"Are you stepping aside, or are you telling me to go around you myself?"

"None of that."

"…"

It was Fujikawa who spoke as she took out her flame machete and pointed it towards our enemy.

"I've been ordered to stand guard in this place. I will not abandon that order."

"…How about you, lad? Do you share the same sentiment?"

"Yeah. We're not getting away from this door until they come out."

"Suit yourselves."

In an instant, he released all of his power as a wave of Astra energy slapped our bodies and almost made us unconscious.

"C-Chronia!"

"I know! Keep your eyes open! We can't-"

Before I can finish my words, a strong gust of wind hit my chest with so much force that I felt my ribs creak lightly while I was being thrown back.

"Guhack!"

"Chronia!"

"In front of you!"

"Wha-?! Ich!"

I sensed another strong gust of wind approaching Mana which made me shout to her. She reacted just in time to split apart the wind using her flaming machete.

"A fire user and a skilled one at that… how amusing."

"Chronia! Back me up as soon as you can! I'm sure that I can't hold him off!"

"I know… Urk… Damn it…!"

I slowly stood up while keeping my focus on our enemy who is waving his hand in all kinds of directions. He seemed to be an Aerokinetic Psychic, which means that his attacks will be invisible to us to some degree.

"You kids seem to be too raw for something like this. Even though you have stood against me and did not heed my order, I will be gracious enough to not mutilate your dead bodies after I am done with you."

"You underestimate us too much…"

"What?"

"Kirin-sensei told me much about you guys… how easily you turn your back on others if it will suit your agenda. How you would stab each other if it will raise your fame or favor. How you have no solidarity and only serves yourself with no care about others."

"You little pest…"

*Ha-shik!*

"Chronia!"

I bit my hand to make it bleed and with that blood, prepared myself for battle.

"Against someone like your kind who has nothing to fight for other than your own vainglory… Even an insignificant rookie like me who has a cause to fight for can hold you back."

"The lassie said Chronia is your name, right?"

"And what of it?"

"You're dead!"

Placing an unstable ball of wind on his feet, its explosion shot him towards me with instantaneous speed.

"<Aerokinesis><Dust Devil!>"

"<Hemokinesis!>"

He was about to use two sharp gusts of winds to sever my arms off when I solidified my blood enough to protect myself and stop his momentum.

"Mana!"

"I know! <Pyrokinesis!>"

Mana was about to ignite the area in front of him when I felt the air being sucked into a single point and Mana's fire, being singed off due to the lack of combustible air.

"<Aerokinesis><Aerial Shock>"

*Crash!*

"Crap!"

He punched my blood shield and it instantly shattered like glass as the vibration from his fist repeated again and again. It would've also reached me if I didn't hop back and recomposed myself.

"What now, Chronia? This guy is too fast in reacting and I can't use my power since he's ridding the air I use of oxygen."

"I'll try to find an opening for you. Once I call you, take the shot with your Augmenter weapon."

"Got it. I'll trust you with that!"

We lunged forward as Mana continued to swing her machete while keeping her hands on the tungsten dagger at her hip scabbard. I made my attempts as well using my blood that I shot towards his feet and legs, aiming to trip him so Mana can take the finishing blow.

"You two are annoying me."

"Not our problem, bucko!"

"Oh, I pretty sure that it is."

He clasped his hands and we sensed a surge of Astra energy as the air current became strong around us.

"Is he…"

"Yeah, he's making a big move. Which means that he will be wide open!"

"Let's go!"

We ran forward although the air current is pushing us away from him. We sensed his hostility in the breeze, right now, he has stopped underestimating us and wanted to attack us with impunity.

"<Aerokinesis><Gene Seed Skill>"

"What?!"

"How can he-"

"<Tempest of Death>"

We didn't even have a portion of a second to react as the winds instantly converged and made us swirl around inside of it and wrung us in all kinds of directions.

"Fujikawa! Hold onto something!"

"I can't! I-! Uwaaa!"

"Mana!"

As Mana was taken by the wind current and thrown around the room, my hold on the ground slipped as well and the only thing I can remember is that I was taken to the top of the tornado before falling headfirst back down to the ground.

Everything after that was dark… no… it do is dark, but this darkness is something that I already saw before…

"Am I here again?"

A darkness that I saw once when I first received this power.

"Why am I here again?"

A darkness that I can only remember whenever I want to sleep yet cannot sleep properly.

"…"

An emptiness… that embodied my care for this world that did nothing but torment me and those that are important to me.

I am here yet again where all of it started… back at that night where I selflessly saved someone when I was expected to do nothing but run away and forget about things… just like a normal person should…

But…

I am not a normal person.

Even when I have not yet become a Psychic, I was already aware of this.

"Who in their right masculine mind would run away from women who are already spreading their legs for him when he is expected to accept and enjoy it?"

Probably me, who was only a child back then and knew that even if I tell about it to other people, I would either be mocked for declining it or not believed to since I am a male.

"Who in their right mind would live under people with questionable backgrounds? One who is the disowned daughter of a corrupt politician, another who used to be a drug mule, another who used to be a government-backed hacker and another who ran away from an orphanage?"

Probably me who treated them like family and gave them a reason to reach out for a better life and achieve their dreams.

"Who in their right mind would lie to the police about who killed the terrorists who attacked his home and killed his friends?"

Probably me who was once again tormented by this world who thoroughly hated me.

I have a lot of questions to ask to myself in this darkness… but I knew that I must wake up now or else, that enemy of ours will get through the door and attack our seniors.

"I need to wake up."

[…]

"I must wake up."

["And what can you do if I let you wake up?"]

That voice-!

"You… you again…"

["Indeed I am."]

A tall person clothed in a white robe that has a hood that hides his face. Although that silhouette and hairstyle… I recognized it…

"Are you… me?"

["…No. It is more proper to say that after we became intwined with our Blood Oath, you have become me and I have become you."]

He raised his head and sure enough, that face… is like mine.

"Who… are you?"

["I have already given you my name long ago… I am Law."]

"Law? You mean-"

["Whatever you have in mind right now, that is not who I am…"]

He stood up and walked around me. I wanted to take a step back, but any kind of movement that I wanted to do wasn't done. I was just there, standing still as he walked around me and spoke.

["I am the identity of all the laws in the universe both from this reality and onto the infinite numbers of realities in existence and inexistence. I am among the few fragments of the original world, where this error called humanity came from and I was tasked to correct it with the power bestowed upon me."]

I did not understand what he said. Yet I knew that there is something more to this being than what I can sense.

["To put all of it simply, I am the personification of the idea of Law, Order and Tranquility. I am the spirit that exists in all rules and regulations. The arbiter of commonality and the judge of what is admissible and inadmissible."]

"…"

["If I will die anyway… I will curse this world more than all of you can worship it…"]

"-!"

The moment I heard that, I looked at him directly as he casted his cold and emotionless gaze towards me.

["Does that sound familiar, my vessel?"]

"How…"

["…"]

"How did you know that? How did you know what I said when I was about to die back then?"

["Because I heeded your call. I heard your wish and chose to give you a chance to do as you have shouted that night."]

"W-What…?"

["Many people in this world, both in the past and even in the present, have shouted the same words as you did… But deep inside their hearts, they are still lusting upon the vices that this world can give. In their tortured yet crooked minds and hearts, they may be cursing the world, but they are not like you who hated this world from the very depths of your heart."]

"What do you mean? I still have my-"

["They are not part of the world that you see and hate. Those three children of yours and the family you have back in your homeland… they are not part of the world that you have decided to curse because instead of hurting and depriving you of warmth and love, they are the only ones who gave you enough to not desire death in every day that you live in."]

"That…"

["…I know who you are and what made you as you right now. All of that sorrow, pain, misery and hatred that has hollowed out your heart… All of that is something that this world gave to you as it desired nothing but make you its scapegoat and fool. But now that you and I have made our oaths… It is time for you to regain what was deprived from you and…"]

"And?"

["Avenge those who died because of this sick world's joke."]

He extended his hands forward and from it, a spear whose blade is made of a red crystal and is ornately decorated with gold materialized and levitated around me.

"What is this for? And… this tingling sensation in my head…"

["I will be taking over for a while. Now that you have strengthened your body and raised your control over the element that I gave you, this should be sufficient for me to make an appearance for a moment."]

In just a few moments, I saw some foggy yet recognizable visions. Things that I don't know or experienced, yet I can recollect like a memory.

"You told me that you are Law, right?"

He didn't reply, yet I can sense some kind of approval in his gaze.

"If so… why did this world become so unruly and lacking in order…"

["I am but a spirit. In the end, it is humanity who chose to defile itself and become the failure that it is now."]

"…"

As the darkness dissipated and he disappeared from my sight, the glow of a light became stronger and stronger as he said his last words for this time.

["Let us begin… Chronia."]