Just then, a flurry of hurried footsteps echoed.
"Stop! Everyone, on high alert!"
A squad of fully armed guards rushed into the plaza, their dark muzzles all aiming at the two people by the edge of the pit.
Leading them were a man and a woman.
The woman was tall with red hair and red eyes. Her name was Nana, and she was one of the people in charge of Plantation 13.
The man was burly and named Hachi, the Commander of Urban Defense Operations at APE Combat Headquarters, responsible for operational command.
"Disarm immediately! Regardless of who you are, trespassing into Plantation 13..." Nana shouted sharply, her pistol already cocked.
However, her words caught in her throat before she could finish.
Because Hansen turned his head and glanced at her.
In those eyes burning with Platinum Divine Fire, there was no killing intent, only an indifference akin to a god looking down upon all living things.
Countless complex information streams, logic chains, and cognitive barriers were crudely shoved into the brains of all the "adults" present at that moment.
Their original worldview was restructured in the blink of an eye.
Imaginary Divine Power, cognitive rewriting.
It wasn't simple hypnosis; it was a patch applied to the world at the level of causality.
Within this patch, Hansen's existence was logical, supreme, and... the highest authority sent by APE.
*Vwoom—*
The air seemed to freeze for a second.
The vigilance and hostility in Nana's eyes melted away instantly, replaced by trepidation and reverence.
*Click—*
Nana holstered her sidearm, straightened her slightly disheveled collar, and then, under the strange gazes of all the children, knelt on one knee.
"So it is the arrival of His Excellency, the Supreme Special Advisor. Please forgive us for our lack of a proper welcome!"
Behind her, Hachi and the guards holstered their guns, stood at attention, and saluted in unison, their movements so fluid it was as if they were performing muscle memory practiced countless times.
"Is that... Nana-nee?" Ichigo clutched her aching chest, watching the scene in disbelief. "What is she doing?"
Hiro's pupils were similarly shaking with shock.
The intruder... is the Supreme Advisor?
You've got to be kidding me!
...A half-human, half-machine old man pushed past the guards blocking his way and stumbled into the central plaza.
He had replaced his original human limbs with metallic prosthetics, half of his face was covered by a heavy visor, and his remaining eye was cloudy and crazed.
It was none other than the person in charge of the Klaxosaur Weapon Development Project, Dr. Franxx.
When that single eye focused on Zero Two beside Hansen, the elderly scientist froze in place as if struck by lightning.
The power of cognitive rewriting worked frantically within his cerebral cortex, forcing the logic chains into a closed loop.
"You're 002? The... perfect specimen from back then!"
"This level of life intensity, this perfect genetic expression... it's impossible!!"
Dr. Franxx tremblingly reached out with his mechanical arm, wanting to touch and analyze Zero Two, but he was slapped away in disgust by the latter.
"Don't touch me."
Having followed Hansen all these years, Zero Two was not entirely ignorant of her origins.
She let go of Hansen's arm, her high heels clicking sharply against the marble floor.
Her cherry-blossom pink hair billowed behind her without any wind, and the red horns atop her head shimmered faintly.
The surrounding guards instinctively wanted to raise their guns, but were pinned in place by Hansen's cold gaze, their trigger fingers completely losing sensation.
Zero Two walked up to the doctor and leaned over.
In her emerald-green slit pupils, the old man's ugly face, a mix of shock and obsession, was reflected.
She slowly raised her right hand, her neatly trimmed fingernails suddenly extending into claws sharper than scalpels, hovering just a centimeter away from the doctor's remaining human eye.
The Klaxosaur factors in her body, nourished by divine power, allowed her to freely control and reshape her physical tissues.
At this moment, with just a slight thrust.
The culprit who created her tragic childhood would have his brains splattered.
"Old geezer, you're the one who created me," Zero Two's voice was soft, yet it carried a chill that seeped into the marrow. "Those days in the lab, that pain... I still remember it all."
Dr. Franxx did not flinch; or rather, as a scientific madman, he had long ceased to care about death.
He only cared about the creation before him that surpassed theoretical limits. "Kill me! I have already witnessed the birth of a perfect organism. It's just a pity..."
A pity that she wouldn't let him study such a wonderful creature.
"In your dreams."
With the girl's disdainful hum, the claws swept through the air, leaving an afterimage.
"Aaargh—!"
Amidst the scream, blood splattered, and a severed arm flew into the air.
"I originally intended to just kill you."
Zero Two straightened up, a brilliant smile appearing on her pretty face, her cute little fangs gleaming in the sunlight.
"But, if you hadn't created me, I wouldn't have been locked in that transport vehicle, and I wouldn't have met Darling on that snowy plain."
Zero Two turned around and hopped back to Hansen's side like a kitten seeking praise, taking his arm again and even pushing her luck by hanging her entire weight on him.
She looked back and made a face at the doctor, who was collapsed in pain. "Since you're the reason I met Darling, I'll let you keep your miserable life for now."
"Consider that hand the interest."
Hansen dotedly rubbed the girl's head, not surprised by her decision.
When you have embraced the sun, you naturally no longer care about the maggots in the corner.
However.
He looked at the severed arm on the ground, his gaze piercing through the sleeve and the grotesque structure of flesh-machine fusion to see the deep blue substance sealed within.
That was the gene of the last Klaxo-sapien, Zero Two's prototype—the Klaxosaur Princess.
Dr. Franxx struggled to get up while clutching his stump, cold sweat soaking his lab coat.
Just as he was about to say something, the ground beneath his feet shook violently.
*Rumble—!!!*
An alarm more intense than any before blared throughout Mistilteinn.
"Strong high-energy reaction detected! Five kilometers from the city... it's a large type!!"
An operator's distorted scream came through the communication channel.
"It's a Gutenberg-class (Gutenberg) Klaxosaur! Approaching at high speed!!"
"What?!"
Hachi's expression changed drastically. A Gutenberg-class was a terrifying existence capable of destroying a mobile plantation on its own!
"All members of Squad 13, listen up! Board your FRANXX immediately! We must stop it at all costs!"
The children scrambled toward their respective hangars.
Just then, the earth trembled, and the artificial dome in the distance was crudely smashed by brute force!
A mountain-sized, black-and-blue behemoth crashed through the Birdcage. It resembled a giant two-headed serpent with blue magma-like veins flowing across its body, exhaling high-heat steam with every breath.
A massive shadow instantly enveloped the entire plaza.
Ichigo looked up, staring at the beast in despair.
"What... what kind of monster is that...?!"
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