When it comes to hard power, the government side was thoroughly suppressed. A two-fold difference in esper population was just the surface. Everyone is smart enough to know they would be hiding things from each other.
Unfortunately for the Zaibatsu, they are the losers when it comes to intelligence.
Amane's Omniscient Brain is as unreasonable as it could be. The majority of the holes found within the Zaibatsu—those willing to defect, their secret plans, guard positions—were scoured thoroughly in the past ten days.
Click.
The world turned into a familiar shade of gray.
Eishi leaped past the residence's five-meter-tall wall, landing atop it. He did not stop moving as he charged straight to the condominium. He did not touch the guarding espers for the time being.
His current spirit attribute allowed for forty seconds of stopped time. His figure left a blur as he went straight to one of the condominium's rooms.
Bam-!
The thick door's automatic security lock was punctured. Eishi pushed it open easily.
Sensing the duration of his superpower ending, he found a blindspot.
Click.
The world reverted back to its colorful state.
'Two more times…'
Click.
Time stopped without a hitch.
Eishi did not hesitate and moved towards the stacks of coolers and refrigerators inside the cold room. He did not bother checking them. His palm came in contact with them, followed by getting stashed inside Eishi's spatial backpack.
For the next dozen rooms, he followed the same routine. Whenever Eishi reached his limits on his superpower usage, he consumed a set of [Stamina Restoration Pills].
He had just stashed more than half of the green lights when dozens of orange lights appeared all around this building.
'They sure do act fast.'
Unfortunately, his superpower is more unreasonable.
By the time they got up and checked the third room he ransacked, Eishi finished stashing the last bit of evolution fruits.
'One last performance.'
*****
Almost two days of dealing with Eishi gave rise to speculations about his powers.
His physical body, for once, is insanely strong. They cannot hope to beat him with regular pistols. Even high-caliber rifles won't work.
Their best bet is to use timed explosives.
'Holy shit… am I tripping?!'
One of the guards sitting in a large surveillance room stood up.
"Zoom it in… Camera 10."
"...Shit."
One of the doors was flung open.
As the group assigned to guard this important location, all of them are loyal to their families. They knew which room was empty and which one was filled with the evolution fruits.
Before they could react, more doors were flung open. It all happened simultaneously.
"Quick. Quick! Call everyone!"
Their response time was extremely fast. All the exits to the condominium were sealed tight. More than a hundred men encircled the condominium from the outside.
Soon, they came to the fourth room to be burst open by Eishi. They were about to enter it when a shocking sight unfolded.
'Was that… my body?'
The bodies of the espers flew all over the room. All of them had huge holes. Some had them in their chest while others had their heads blasted away.
It wasn't just the scout team. The surveillance room is also filled with a bloody sight. The next second, it spread towards the encirclement outside.
Just like that, Eishi reaped the lives of another three hundred espers. He had single-handedly wiped out 35% of the Zaibatsus' forces.
He casually moved away from the ransacked storage area. Eishi did a brief scan inside his spatial backpack.
Amidst the piles of evolution fruits, there are a dozen that stood out. Each of these fruits contained an A rated talent.
The most precious one…
[Mutated Evolution Fruit (First Grade)]
Details: Previously an ordinary fruit, it underwent a mutation after being saturated with evolutionary energy. It contains pure evolutionary energy. Consuming it can break the inherent limits of human genes, awaken one's innate talent, enhance talents, and has a small chance of awakening karmic-related talent once (S rated).
An inconspicuous-looking mango rests in his palm.
'S rating…'
Eishi discovered the pattern throughout the evolution fruit pile.
The majority of them are fruits that give out B rated talent and below. Out of the hundreds, only a dozen are of A rating. Not a single S rated fruit was present except for this mango.
He had a feeling that somebody must have taken them away. Someone who possessed a fruit-appraisal talent and the likes.
It wasn't surprising considering the Yokohama City Hall's possession of such an esper.
'If it is the Shinomiya Clan… tsk, tsk.'
Their concessions are not truly concessions. If they could specifically pick out S rated fruits amongst the ones blindly submitted by other families, they would be making huge profits.
This kind of 'chaos' was another reason why the government's side did not publicize the information about esper classifications. It is better for them to be headless flies in grasping the esper power system than to give them a clear goal.
'Karmic-type… Don't tell me it would be something like Gae Bolg and the likes.'
Eishi scouted the remaining A rated fruits as he walked towards his next target. There are some that were redundant to the talents he currently possessed, though there are also some that interested him greatly: a qi-type ability, life-type ability, and a strength-type ability.
At this point, he is well aware of his focus—a physical combatant. It is meaningless to take up long-ranged abilities. It is better to focus more on increasing his physical capabilities.
What if the enemy was long range? One time stop solves the problem.
What if his ability gets locked down? Withstanding enough attacks enables his escape.
It is a matter of sheer power and survivability.
'I'll give these ones to Saeko…'
Like him, Saeko is a close-combat specialist. Using her blood tide to attack others in long-range is pretty useless. It is better to have them surround her, ensuring both her survivability and combat prowess in close combat. Granting her talents that increase her recovery and durability is a must.
As for the others, they had varying talents. Mahiru, Saya, and Mrs. Yuigahama, for instance, are more suited to improving their extreme speed and senses. It enables their escape when facing risky situations as an auxiliary/support-type esper.
'Raiding one building netted this amount. Once I raided all of them…'
Eishi's next target is bound to suffer an unfortunate fate.
*****
A dignified middle-aged man sat beside a desk. His office contained trophies showcasing public service awards and the likes. It is a culmination of their entire family's achievements.
Thinking of the recent conflicts, the man let out an exasperated scoff.
'This is not Shinzou's final struggle.'
Politics and families are deeply intertwined in the Japanese Government. More than half of the official positions are taken by clanspeople. The ones who remained sitting on their positions are non-partisan independent officials.
Simply put, they don't have a large family behind them.
When the Zaibatsu faction drew a clear line from them, the government lost the majority of its support.
If it wasn't for Motoi's tight grasp over the independent officials and his anticipation that this would happen, they would have been dissolved since day one.
Nonetheless, there are some officials who are plagued by their conscience… and one of them is Shinzou Motoi's brother-in-law, Fujiwara Daichi.
The former's ascent to the Prime Minister Seat has a lot to do with the Fujiwara Lineage. When the Zaibatsu Faction separated, they were placed in an awkward spot. The Zaibatsus isolated them while the government side showed vague reactions to them.
In short, things have been rough in the past twenty days.
'Being kept as a leverage…'
Daichi feared that he was right. That they were being kept by the Zaibatsu Faction as 'hostages' against Motoi.
What they wanted was to take down the government faction with the least amount of sacrifices.
The Fujiwara Clan, with the former Prime Minister and Daichi's brother dead, is but an empty shell of its once glorious background. The majority of their networks had long abandoned them, leaving them isolated within enemy lines.
Just then, the sound of a large explosion awakened him. He hastily stood up and pulled apart the curtains.
"...He's done it."
Amidst the dark sky, a large pillar of flames arose. It wasn't just one, but several of them. Daichi was familiar with their locations. They are the outposts, training camps per se. Their destruction signalled the loss of hundreds of espers.
His heart sank as he took hold of his phone. He was about to tell his family to evacuate when a familiar number appeared.
Daichi's eyes widened as he thought of the worst outcome possible.
'It can't be..!'
He answered the call.
"I have to thank your trusted attendant, Daichi."
A familiar voice came from the other side. He came off as unrestrained, though Daichi knew he wasn't anything but that.
"You must know what happened. Your entire family is in my hands." He paused before continuing, "Go and set up a meeting with your good brother-in-law. Your failure… you already know what will happen."
The call ended abruptly.
Daichi fell silent. Cracks appeared on the phone's tempered glass as his grasp grew tighter.
Just then, another call came, this time from an unknown number.
A guess settled in his mind as he answered it.
"Brother-in-law… are they safe?"
"...No."
"I see."
Silence lingered between them.
"We will save them. Did that man… the Shinomiya's eldest, tell you the conditions?"
"He wants to meet you."
"I understand."
Their brief exchange was enough to understand each other.
"Wait for a while. We will save them."
The call ended abruptly.
Daichi couldn't say the things he wanted to say. He was ready to point his brother-in-law towards the plot set up by the Shinomiya Zaibatsu.
Part of him wanted to call him back, but another part wanted to trust his words.
In the end…
'I really am not suited for this.'
…his indecisive self could not decide on anything.
*****
The Shinomiya Clan is Japan's largest zaibatsu. Their influence far outclasses their original counterpart. The fact they could stand high in this mixed world speaks volumes of their capabilities.
The largest amount of power was held by Shinomiya Gan'an, its current Clan Head. Following him are his three direct children:
The eldest, Shinomiya Oko.
The second eldest, Shinomiya Un'yo.
The only daughter, Shinomiya Kaguya.
Setting aside the half-brothers and unacknowledged sons and daughters, the next generation of Shinomiya Clan rested between these three.
The one with the largest influence is the eldest. The second eldest holds hope for contention, but not by much. The only daughter has the worst configuration; she hasn't built up much official power. Her backing solely relies on Un'yo, who took her in to strengthen the meager influence that he has.
It could be said that the only daughter does not have much right to speak in this household. She is very respected by its servants and others on the surface, but that was it.
In this apocalypse-sunken world, Kaguya had a turning point.
She turned out to be one of the 'high-cost' espers. Characterized by their special superpowers and greater requirements in upgrading, the Zaibatsu Faction did not abandon them.
They increased their focus towards these 'high-cost' espers, viewing them as the main force once they grow up. The mercenaries and private soldiers they invested in were nothing more than the stop-gap measure at the beginning of the apocalypse—the cannon fodders, that is.
Aside from Kaguya, the Shinomiya Clan discovered several other 'high-cost' espers. Forcefully or voluntarily, they brought them to their fold.
"Father…"
Kaguya looked at a girl crying in the corner of her bedroom.
Iino Miko, the Auditor of the current Student Council at Shuiichin.
When the apocalypse broke out, she awakened a 'high-cost' superpower related to growing plants. Once the Shinomiyas discovered it could be used on those precious evolution fruits, they forcefully kept her within their residence, acting as the appraiser and the handler of the newly-planted evolution fruits.
To keep her mental capacity in check, they did not subject her to cruel treatment. They ensured her daily meals and guarded her all day.
Her only cause of concern was her father. Miko's proficiency in her superpower increased when she was told that the Shinomiyas are looking for her father. She buried the resentment and frustrations of being held against her will, all to have a chance of seeing her parents again.
'Should I tell her..?'
Kaguya went through a lot during the past twenty days.
Not only was she torn apart from the student council president that she liked, her valet also turned out to be a mole planted by her older brother.
Her mind is in a complete mess. Now that she saw their upright auditor suffering from severe depression, Kaguya's mood was inevitably infected.
A few days ago, she accidentally overheard her brother talking about Miko's father.
He is dead.
To keep her motivated, they did not tell her.
The suffocating atmosphere inside the Shinomiya residence only grew stronger.
'What should I do?'
Just then, a new batch of visitors came inside her bedroom.