Chapter 105: Complete Destruction

After a few hours, their 'spar had ended; no clear winner emerged from it. Every time Surtr used a decisive strike, Shiro blocked it with 'Infinity'. Even though his mana got depleted entirely, he can fully recover it within 3 seconds at most thanks to his "A Foreigner's Buff" and advanced perception that complemented his max-level control stat.

Though, Shiro separated once more to deal with a matter that he placed on the sidelines - Haydn Pharmaceuticals. To be precise, their remnants who built another company under a disguise.

It is unknown how they remained free, but he guessed that it's most likely due to Columbia's government itself.

Heck, he wouldn't even get surprised if Rhine Labs and Haydn Pharmaceuticals are connected, considering that the former is one of the biggest company in Columbia.

Going further in this deduction, he concluded that this can be used as a 'good friend material' against them if he's right.

When things become less troublesome and his company becomes influential enough, he can basically do anything with them - be it destroy them or expose their darkest secrets.

As to why he's more inclined to do so, its due to his memories. The "Fenrir" has a rough childhood, and the greatest challenge that he faced is to escape from that Alchemist's Laboratory.

When he escaped and gradually became stronger, he saw this problem the most in his kinsmen, the demonic beasts. Even if they gained sentience and have a humanoid form, they still treated them as trash and slaves, simply because of one reason - Fenrir's downfall.

Afraid that someone like him would emerge once more, Odin's Pantheon did their best to lower the beasts' standing, to the point that they only have gods that could be counted in one hand.

The other Pantheons stayed silent in this treatment, giving a neutral stance to it. Though, there's also a few ones that took pity on them, such as the Gods of Death.

That's why "Fenrir" became best friends with the King of Underworld, Hades.

'No wonder I felt so familiar back then.'

When Shinji first used his spear arts, he somehow felt nostalgic for no reason. This problem is now solved after that.

He stopped reminiscing and teleported nearby Haydn Pharmaceutical's new company under the name of "Siv's Pharmaceutical".

With his [Six Eyes], he saw their underground laboratory. In it, dozens of young children consisting of Sarkaz, Liberi, and Aegir lied down on metal beds while strapped.

"Tsk."

While Shiro doesn't consider himself as a hero of justice, he himself is biased in such situations. It's more apt to say that he's satisfying his self-interest, but his actions says so otherwise.

"Time to go with a bang." He murmured as he casted white shields on each children present in the laboratory. Then, he swept in many documents and the "Royal Flame Demon" shards from afar by engulfing them in his [Dimensional Storage]; it can be opened anywhere, thus this happened.

When he got a few documents stating Haydn's allegiance to Rhine Labs and the being involved with something called "Project Diabolic", he soon began casting his Hydrogen Arts.

At that moment, countless hydrogen atoms transformed into hydrogen isotopes. They might be different from each other, but their main characteristic is the same—they are the main components of a hydrogen bomb.

These hydrogen atoms started fusing all in under a second. The energy produced by their nuclear fusion naturally didn't escape the laboratory's scanning equipment.

"What did just..."

"Large amount of energy, in this laboratory?"

It grew even stronger as time passed. When he was about to detonate it, one of them somehow noticed its similarities with hydrogen bombs. His pupils grew smaller as he exclaimed, "Run... We have to run!"

BOOOM-!

Nonetheless, he's too late to notice it as a huge explosion occurred. Hollow flames appeared before it slowly spread out, filling in the hollow parts. The entire building got scorched as many fragments of it flew high in the sky.

Soon, its entire surroundings became burned ground; flames crackled as they marked the sudden destruction of a company in the capital of Columbia.

*****

Not far away from it, a mechanical man wearing a pair of brown overcoat and pants stared at the explosion from the distance.

"...Someone beat us to it."

This person is none other than "Tin Man". The reason why he's called like that is due to his robotic body. Unlike Kal'tsit and the other Feranmuts, some managed to find immortality in their own ways. One of them is just like what Kayaba Akihiko did, which is the transfer of consciousness.

In Tin Man's case, he transferred it to a specially-created mechanical body.

In the surface, he's the chairman of Maylander's Association, a non-government organization that advocates children's rights to improve their living conditions. But, the said organization is actually the vigilante organization that destroys laboratories dealing with human experimentations and saves the subjects there.

Their information network is wide, having infiltrated each of Columbia's major organizations within.

As to why he paid a visit in the capital, their radar caught whiff of another pharmaceutical company that is related to Haydn; to Rhine Labs, to be exact.

They dealt with Haydn and many more in the past few years, thus it became a basic operation to them. Notably, it is also the time when Columbia decided to start Project Diabolic for military purposes.

If they succeeds, they'll break the power balance of Terra. Then, it's not impossible if things become too chaotic to the point that the slumbering Feranmuts would join in the war themselves.

Of course, the reason why he opposes the said project is due to another matter.

"A pyrokinetic art that used hydrogen atoms? The times had caught up to us, I see."

In the past, only the Sarkaz in the Royal Court can achieve such fine control with pyrokinetic arts, but it seems like everything would evolve given time.

Lowering his brown fedora hat, he silently left amidst the panicked civilians.

*****

"Sigh..."

Looking at the peacefully sleeping children, Shiro calmed down his boiling rage. It's much worse than he assumed when he saw them personally due to all three of his memories reacting as such.

Fenrir has a huge hatred with child experimentation.

White Hair's judgement also shares the same sentiment either because of him being a "Hero" or his "Good" side.

Shikikan is someone who also dealt with KANSENs (shipgirls) in a child form many times.

All three of them converged, causing the amount of rage that he felt to an all-time high.

"Since I saved them, it's my responsibility to take care of them." Shiro muttered as he wore his [Augmented Glasses] after removing his [Blindfold].

He didn't mind the expenditure of his mind and mana as he did so. Just on time, Cardinal emerged on her usual librarian clothing.

"So you're weak against kids." She said.

"Uh... It depends on their circumstances."

Originally, he doesn't get affected by his memories. Only when all three of them emerged did this happen. There's also his Fenrir Bloodline, though there's also the other one gave him thirst for more knowledge.

"I assume you need my help..?"

"You're right on that one..." Shiro said helplessly. He can actually do it on his own, but he prefers to be more laid-back. "Should I make you as my secretary and give salaries and vacations..?"

Hearing this, Cardinal acted confused and replied, "Aren't I one already?"

"Huh?"

"Did you forget? I am willing to help you in any way possible when you took me out. Being your secretary is one of them. Essentially, I am... yours."

"..."

Shiro went silent for a moment. His eyes shook a little, an evidence that he got startled by the sudden teasing of this calm girl.

"You learned this from Kouzuki and Touka, right?"

She only smiled and said, "Guess."

Cardinal soon disappeared from his sights, though not without handling his problem earlier.

'Did my charm affect AIs too?' He thought.

Only now did Shiro realize that he's been suffering from too much success...

*****

A/N: Welp, the new world is now released on the p*****n. So, everyone can rest assured that it'll only take 9 chapters before it happens. As to what that anime is, you might get shocked by it. Personally, I haven't seen much of it in the fan-fics that I've read. I don't know why, but it's unique, and it's a good one for me.

Fact #59: In the canon, Surtr is actually much weaker than anyone could've thought. Her physique, strength, and speed are at Standard while her Arts is labelled as Flawed; she couldn't cast any arts at all. Only through her great sword can she be able to manipulate flames and do her S3 (Just Surtr it). Strange enough, she has a resistance towards oripathy—to the point that her progress towards it is at 1%. Meaning, there's no visible originum crystals on her body. As to why I made her different from this, there's a plethora of reasons, such as her not absorbing that power remnant yet. I thought with the canon in mind and since Doctor found her in a catastrophe-stricken area with messy memories, it only signified her state being much worse than depicted here. This will be explored more in the future chapters of this fic.