After 10 days, 10 long, endless, exhausting days, the entire Island of Fumetsu had been completely evacuated of civilians, who fled in anticipation of what was about to happen. Many deserters who had once worked for Goto also ran away, fearing they would be caught up in the coming conflict. And who could blame them? Their leader was now only a step away from the grave. He had lost all of his sponsors, political support, and many opportunities beyond the island. Less than half of his armed forces remained, while the scientists had been forced to work around the clock, secretly continuing the development of another dangerous weapon inside Goto's bunker, in addition to his "Omega Killer" armor.
Goto sat in his office on the top floor of his palace, his hands clasped together, his head resting upon them. The last few days had been hellish. The stress, the loss of his daughter's trust after she ran away from home to who-knows-where without being found, even by Goto's finest trackers, weighed heavily on him. Under normal circumstances, he would have executed anyone responsible for such a failure without hesitation, but now he needed every bit of help and every remaining force he could muster against what was coming.
"So this is how my kingdom falls?! ... Is it all ending? ... I'm sorry, Mother." (Goto)
A knock echoed through the room before the leader of Goto's tracking unit entered. He looked exhausted after spending ten days combing the island for information on those responsible and searching for Goto's daughter.
"Sir... we've searched everything again, even the places your daughter used to frequent. We checked the other districts as well while gathering information..."
"And?" (Goto)
Goto's voice was dry, yet still carried overwhelming authority. His subordinate knew perfectly well that Goto never repeated himself twice.
"As for the two districts, the North and South Districts are completely empty. Not a single person remains. They're like ghost towns... It's likely that they too have..."
"...Continue." (Goto)
"It's likely that they've fled as well. Our forces have dropped drastically. Muzan and Hikari remain on standby awaiting your orders. According to their reports, everything seems normal. As for your daughter, it's likely she boarded one of the civilian evacuation ships under a false identity and escaped the island. All the ships are heading toward the Japanese coast, and we won't be able to reach her there so easily without—"
"SHE ABANDONED ME? HER FATHER?! HOW COULD SHE?! HOW COULD KUGUTSU AND SHOGUN ABANDON THEIR KING IN A TIME LIKE THIS?!"
Goto slammed his fists onto his desk before forcing himself to calm down.
"Tch. Contact every investigator in Tokyo. Tell them to use every means necessary to find Kaori and bring her back here unharmed. The reward is 500 million yen, with a bonus if she's returned by tomorrow. And now get out of my sight before my mood changes." (Goto)
The man swallowed nervously several times before quickly leaving through the same door he had entered. He had no intention of staying any longer or trying to reason with the leader of the Black Corps, who could have killed him with a snap of his fingers.
"Traitors... traitors... traitors... traitors... traitors... I'M SURROUNDED BY NOTHING BUT TRAITORS WHO FILL THEIR POCKETS AND STAB ME IN THE BACK!!" (Goto)
Consumed by pure rage, Goto completely destroyed his office and much of the floor he occupied. Had everyone not already evacuated to another level of the palace, they likely would have been torn apart by Goto Mukuro's wrath.
Meanwhile, in a remote location beyond the island, beneath the ocean floor, stood a bunker known as "Leviathan", an underwater fortress built by the New Dawn in preparation for the day they had always known would eventually come.
Many forces had gathered there besides the rebel army: Shogun's samurai from the Northern District, Kugutsu's magically disguised puppets, and White Corps deserters.
The rebel forces had now reached roughly 20.000 troops.
They all awaited the arrival of a single person.
At the forefront stood Yukihime, her subordinates, and Shogun clad in his full samurai armor.
Kugutsu was not among them. She had already fled the island. She knew Goto's life was effectively over. Even if he somehow won the final battle, he would never recover from everything he had lost.
(We've assembled a small army, but it still isn't enough. Even after being reduced to the brink, Goto's forces still outnumber us.) (Shogun)
His concerns were justified. Shogun knew very well that Goto still possessed enough soldiers to crush the New Dawn without a proper strategy.
But Yukihime already had a plan.
She approached the central platform and gestured toward Fumo, ordering him to activate the projector. Then she began addressing the gathered crowd.
"Soldiers, warriors, citizens, sons, fathers, and victims. All of us have suffered because of what we are. For decades we have endured humiliation, torture, and slavery, especially here, on this island that became our home. Yet because of a madman obsessed with ruling, a tyrannical law was imposed upon us and disguised as a necessity. Crimes far worse than anyone realizes have been hidden from the world. People have been used as test subjects, tools, weapons, objects—discarded like broken toys once they were no longer useful.
Today, we say enough.
Today is the great day.
Today, the final battle begins to free Espers and Mages from the prison imposed upon them by Japan and all of Asia.
Today, we defeat the tyrant of Fumetsu Island, Goto Mukuro.
Today, his castle falls.
Today, his reign of terror ends.
Today, we fight.
We win.
AND WE WILL BE FREE!!" (Yukihime)
The members of New Dawn erupted into cheers, shouting and praising Yukihime. Once the excitement settled, she began explaining her plan a strategy she believed would guarantee victory against Goto and his subordinates.
Standing among the crowd, Hajime was overflowing with rage, hatred, and resentment.
(Goto... this time I'll kill you. I'll make you suffer a hundred times more than I ever did...) (Hajime)
A hand gently grasped his wrist, offering comfort and support.
It was Chloe.
Without saying a word, she reassured him. The simple touch of the woman he loved was enough to calm him.
"Yeah, I know... I promise. When this is all over, I want you to come with me. We'll travel the world and find a place we can finally call home." (Hajime)
"You have to promise me something, Hajime..." Chloe said softly. "No matter what happens, you must not die. You have to live for yourself and for me. That way we can stay together forever. I love you, Hajime." (Chloe)
After sharing a kiss, Hajime found himself carrying a promise he intended to keep, a promise that would give him the strength to keep moving forward and continue fighting for the people he loved.
Hours after explaining part of the plan to all the teams, every single detail necessary for success and to complete their final mission, or rather, less of a mission and more of a full-scale war on a massive artificial island capable of housing up to 3 million people, they were set to attack at 19:00.
Only 5 minutes remained before the start of the civil war that would bring the fate of the island, and the entire history of Asia, to a final conclusion.
Hajime was standing there, waiting for something. He had trained relentlessly with his new magic after recovering from the wounds inflicted by "Kuro's Mother."
And then, a notification arrived from Kohaku. Upon seeing it, Hajime's suspicions were confirmed.
(Tsk, I should have known it was you... you had my mother killed. When all of this is over...) (Hajime)
Hajime held back his rage. Now he had a single purpose: [KILL GOTO].
He arrived where his team and the team from another district were ready to support him, led by an Alpha-rank mage who used the fire element. Fumio was with him, acting as vice-captain for both teams.
"Listen up. On this mission, while all our allies hold off the majority of Goto's Black Corps, we will infiltrate the main palace. Aomori-san is already hacking the cameras to disable all alarms and internal defenses so we can move without a hitch. Once inside the wolf's den, we must be ready for anything. Kill without mercy, they won't offer you any either. Then, once we reach the top floor, we will face Mukuro Goto. He's a Hybrid capable of using earth magic and manipulating any type of metal, so I must ask you not to bring metal objects on this mission—"
"I'll store my scythe inside my shadow. He won't be able to manipulate it if it's in there." (Kuro)
The Alpha-rank was quite annoyed that Kuro had interrupted his speech, but he had to admit the kid wasn't wrong, and that it was a good move.
"...as I was saying, thanks to Fumio, we can seal his magic, and at that moment, he will be weakened. My flames can melt the metal inside the palace, but I'll need time to unleash my trump card. Is everything clear?"
"YES, SIR!" (Everyone)
"Good. We're almost there." (Fumio)
Fumio looked at his pocket watch. There were 10 seconds left before the operation began. A chilling silence fell over everyone, with only the ticking of the second hand audible as it approached the zero hour. Everyone present bore different expressions: some worried, others anxious, some furious, hopeful, or even thrilled by the rush of battle.
Hajime felt an absolute void his eyes were lifeless, completely devoid of emotion, and driven by a single goal: to kill Goto with his own hands.
Inside Goto's palace, on the other hand, efforts were frantically underway to locate the rebels at all costs and launch a massive assault against them. Forces had been deployed to every part of the island to scour every small building or potential hideout, but... it was too late.
While everyone was hard at work searching for any lead to reach the enemies of the Black Corps' supreme leader, a palace-wide alarm suddenly blared. Panic erupted. Desperate calls and requests for reinforcements flooded in from every corner of the island.
"WHAT IS GOING ON?!" (Goto)
"Goto-sama! All agents stationed across the 4 districts are under attack by the rebels! They appeared out of nowhere!"
"How is that possible?!" (Goto)
"We don't know! Mana radar readings detected a massive concentration of energy that shifted and vanished the moment our soldiers appeared!"
(Spatial magic? Only one person is capable of... I see, Yukihime... how could I not have realized sooner?) (Goto)
The leader of the Black Corps rose from his chair, retrieved an expensive-looking bottle of whisky from his display cabinet, poured a shot into a crystal glass until it was half full, and pressed a button hidden inside the shelf. The furniture slid downward, revealing a secret tunnel.
"Goto-sama?"
"Don't worry. I have the perfect weapon for beings like her." (Goto)
Walking step-by-step, he arrived at a room that appeared to be made entirely of crystal, filled with machinery supporting a suit of high-tech, pure black armor: [OMEGA KILLER].
"At last, I can use you and show my power to the world. The Omegas will bow before me, and I will rule over everything. NO ONE WILL EVER STAND IN MY WAY AGAIN!"
With that, Goto crushed the glass in his hand, tightening his grip out of rage and the thrilling ecstasy of the battle to come.
As the battle intensified outside, the storm worsened, and rainwater began to mix with the blood of the first casualties. In less than an hour since the start of the conflict, numerous corpses lay scattered—dismembered, charred, and worse—from both factions.
"EARTH MAGES, RAISE A WALL TO PROTECT YOUR ALLIES!!"
"WHERE ARE THE HEALERS?! WE HAVE WOUNDED!"
"HEAD FOR THE BRIDGE!"
Amidst all the chaos, no one expected the group of 12 to infiltrate the Black Corps' main palace with such ease. Kohaku had jammed the cameras and sensors, ensuring her team remained undetected.
At that moment, Kohaku was standing behind the server room door alongside Hajime, Kuro, and Chloe as support, while Kimiko and Fumio watched their backs against any surprise attack.
Kohaku held up three fingers, then lowered them to two, and finally one. It was the signal for Hajime. With a direct kick to the metal door, he breached it as if it were a thin, fragile sheet of glass. The door flew off its hinges and struck one of the hackers providing tactical info to the Black Corps, killing him instantly on impact.
Three other guards were about to sound the alarm, and another reached for a shotgun to fire at the silver-haired boy. However, Chloe intervened using telekinesis, dismantling and shattering the shotgun in mid-air before lunging forward to pierce the guard's heart with her claws. Before the remaining two guards could raise the alarm, one was decapitated by Kuro, while the other was struck in the throat by an ice spike created by Hajime, which rapidly spread until the opponent was turned into a frozen statue.
(Hajime...) (Chloe)
(It's obvious he's not okay...) (Kuro)
Interrupting their thoughts, Fumio and Kimiko arrived after taking care of the guards outside, while Kohaku used her laptop to connect to the central server of the Black Corps.
"Alright... it's going to take me about 28 minutes to breach their servers... Hmph... they don't have one of the most secure networks in the world for nothing. It's almost on par with the Americans'." (Kohaku)
"Good... then Chloe and I will protect you according to plan." (Kimiko)
This time, Fumio paid close attention to the gaze of his student, Hajime Kamijou. He had never seen him kill people in such cold blood, a sensation Fumio had experienced years ago and remembered all too well.
(He killed two people just like that, in cold blood, without a second's hesitation... Those eyes... I've seen them before. Hajime... I hope you don't take the wrong path after all of this is over.) (Fumio)
"What is it, Fumio-sensei?!" (Hajime)
"Nothing... What about you, are you alright?" (Fumio)
"This isn't the time to worry about who's alright and who isn't..." (Hajime)
The boy pressed his index finger against the ice, which slowly began to crack along with the body frozen inside it. A sharp shattering sound echoed as the ice disintegrated into tens of thousands of pieces along with the corpse, leaving virtually nothing visible to the naked eye.
"...Now we just need to focus on killing Goto once and for all." (Hajime)
With those heavy words, filled with hatred, rage, and sorrow, Hajime walked out of the server room, brushing past Fumio's shoulder. His demeanor was noticeably colder now, driven by a single objective: to eliminate Goto.
"..." (Fumio)
Kuro and Fumio followed Hajime toward the top floor, where grim surprises awaited them.