Different rules applied to different SSS-rated talents. For Eishi and Megumi, it depended on the spirit attribute. Amane, on the other hand, relied on life-level. So long as the life-level of his target does not exceed three levels above his, he could use the [Omniscient Brain] to capture information related to them. That was how he was able to access information related to Eishi.
Now, he is using it to figure out what went wrong with his predictions!
His mind gradually obtained information from nowhere. Memories flashed haphazardly, followed by brief worded explanations regarding it. Amane's mind began aching. His head felt like a balloon bursting. The more information he gained, the greater the burden on his mind, and then his spirit. It is the main culprit behind his successive comas.
Nothing worked whenever they tried to lessen the [Omniscient Brain]'s impact. Be it healing superpowers or medicines, it couldn't stop the burden exacted upon Amane. It was as if it was a steady 'rule' of this world. They could only watch as his groans became louder.
Amane's eyes shot wide open, his expression coming to a grinding halt. His terrified looks could not be hidden from the two.
"World… rifts… coming…"
Thud-!
Those were the only words he could squeeze out before fainting. Hachiman immediately caught onto him, placing his back on the chair to prevent his fall.
"World rift… that sounds bad."
Seeing the cluelessness in Motoi's face, Hachiman couldn't blame him. When would the Prime Minister get the time to read through light novels and manga?
"I've seen it before in fiction. It is typically a 'gate' to another world."
"...It is dangerous."
Motoi had fared through the entirety of the apocalypse. The danger of superpowers and espers doesn't need to be said. If there was another world with hostile people similar to that, Earth's already dire straits would only worsen. They cannot gamble whether or not the people across the rift are good or not.
Based on the zergs' reactions, there are higher chances of the latter probability. That could explain the reason why they would attack pre-emptively. Humans and zombies alike are good nutrients for these zergs, as evident when they ate almost anything they passed through.
"We can only wait for him to wake up… and send the information to Hiraoka-san."
A rare trace of respect appeared within Motoi's eyes. Eishi is a humanoid nuke who could resolve most of the problems they found insurmountable.
Rumble-!
The strong earthquake prompted Hachiman to use his superpower.
"Halt."
With a single word, the entire building stopped shaking. He directed a look towards Motoi, to which the latter gave a nod.
"Go. I'll have someone transport Fujimiya-san somewhere safe."
*****
Eishi's orders were transmitted effectively. It took less than five minutes to deploy the 10,000-strong esper army towards various places. The most important thing they had to do was to safeguard the shelter against the external oceanic attacks and the internal attacks in the form of zergs. It was clear humanity is destined for extinction… if Eishi wasn't present.
Rumble-!
Boom-!
Within those five minutes, the entire city was turned into a warzone. The mortals who didn't have power had already evacuated to the designated underground shelters. Dozens of esper squads safeguarded every single pathway.
'It just has to happen today..!'
Sayuri and Eriri were no exceptions to the evacuation order. They were escorted by thirty second-order espers towards a shelter on the surface. Amongst them are several other important staff and employees.
Clearly, the survivor camp prioritized those with practical value. Eriri felt slightly bitter towards it, though she understood its rationale. She felt relieved upon their perfect timing. Her tense heart loosened, which led to her asking one of the escorts a question.
"Where are we headed?"
"Hm? Haven't you been oriented yet? We are headed towards the shelter built beside Hiraoka-san's villa. There is a fourth-order esper guarding that place."
"Fourth-order..?"
The last time the city saw the Valkyrie Squad act was when they were third-order espers. Even at that time, their power was overwhelming. They could deal with hundreds of people at once. Eriri couldn't imagine how strong a fourth-order esper could be.
Just then, the sky darkened for a few seconds. The large shadow cast above everyone took their attention. Their small and feeble bodies couldn't imagine what its exact size was. One thing was for certain, however.
They saw their life flashing right in their eyes.
Grunt-!
A loud, trumpet-like noise echoed within their ears. The next second…
Bam-!
…a loud cosmic boom severed the humungous body into nothingness. It was a strange sight that made them drop their jaws.
"I am not dreaming, am I?"
"I saw it too…"
"A whale that big…"
Eriri keenly caught the figure high above in the skies. Though she couldn't see his face well, she recognized the attire he was wearing. He is none other than Eishi!
When she blinked, she found him gone. Cosmic booms, loud growls, and terrifying earthquakes occur every now and then. Her mind blanked out, and only when they had reached the shelter did she snap out of it. Eriri found her wrist tightly held by her mother. She pulled her upwards. Eriri's legs couldn't stop shaking. A slightly yellowish liquid crawled out of her hips.
It wasn't just her who was frightened; everyone was. It was their will to survive that forcibly pulled them together.
The shelter was similar to a reinforced residential building three-storeys tall. The recently dried-up cement was obvious to their eyes alongside the strange but powerful feeling they got from the building.
"Listen! The rooms will be split according to the previous plans…"
The leader of the escort spoke naturally. Eriri felt like they missed out on something huge as a newcomer. One of the employees saw her confused looks and explained:
"We are already prepared for these situations. Yukinoshita-san ordered us to carry out evacuation drills every now and then…"
Turns out, Haruno held exclusive drills for the camp's core employees. Everything was already pre-arranged in case of emergencies. She didn't miss out on Eishi's intel the moment she heard about it.
The kind woman guided Eriri and Sayuri along the way. The latter seemed emotionally shaken up until now, which was why Eriri communicated with her the most. When the other party found out they are Eishi's recently-selected Valkyrie Squad members, her attitude instantly became formal and respectful. Eriri was caught off guard by the sudden change, but then she realized something.
'They will still treat me… us like this. Because we're his girlfriends.'
It was the changes brought by Eishi's status. Without it, Eriri and Sayuri would have been left in some other shelter. While it is in their best interests to prevent zergs from killing other humans, they wouldn't exhaust most of their manpower on protecting civilians. They are the safest around Eishi.
While they were absent-mindedly following others, Kuroneko's gaze landed upon them before moving away. Her gaze penetrated the window on the third floor, her mind still on the lingering pressure left by the humongous whale. She could barely find the strength to stand still.
Kuroneko was the designated protector of this shelter. Though she hasn't reached fourth-order yet, her power is comparable to one. Haruno didn't bother correcting her previous words as it would give the evacuees a greater sense of protection.
'It was those two…'
She heard about the two new 'members' of the Valkyrie Squad. Eishi didn't have the time to make them official, but she heard the surrounding people talk about them.
'How lecherous…'
Her personality dictated her to be disdainful of Eishi's way of living. But, her rationale tells her the complete opposite. It is his superpower to begin with. When survival is paramount, it is natural to choose the option that would grant him more safety. It becomes perfectly reasonable that Eishi chose to have more women for the sake of his superpower. Moreover, he didn't mistreat them… at least in Kuroneko's eyes.
Her thoughts were silenced as she mulled over his offer from before. Eishi talked with her alone in this regard, to which she was given time to think it through. Becoming his confidante meant receiving all sorts of buffs as well as Eishi's trust. It was completely different from now. They are more of a boss and a subordinate.
"W-what's wrong, nee-chan?"
The deafening silence inside the office was broken by one of Kuroneko's sisters. The second eldest, Hinata, has her long hair styled in a ponytail. She was the one responsible for taking care of the youngest, Tamaki, whenever Kuroneko was out. Their situation forced her to become more mature. Her sharp perception was something that stemmed out of it.
Kuroneko's shoulders jolted as she faced her younger sister. She wasn't aware of her brooding look and how it was caught on by Hinata. She spilled out a panicked look.
"No, it's nothing…"
"Was it Hiraoka-san?"
"..?!"
Kuroneko's expression froze as she heard of it.
"W-what… why do you think so?" She asked as her elegant and serious facade dropped.
"Because he's a prince charming!"
"..."
Her simple and naive answer silenced Kuroneko… because she was right.
Eishi appeared out of nowhere and gave her a future she didn't dare think of. When she killed the government's esper team, her future looked extremely gloomy. She was left alone to fend for herself, all the whilst suffering from extreme fatigue. It was unknown whether she could even defend herself once zombies or other espers come in.
His arrival prevented all of the bad things from happening. He offered her all sorts of valuable rewards from then on, allowing the life of her and her sisters to become better. Even, they surpassed their quality of life prior to the apocalypse.
All because of him.
If it wasn't for Eishi already having a girlfriend, Kuroneko might have fallen for him right then and there. When she knew about him having multiple girlfriends, however, she was turned off. She didn't bother with Eishi's life, but her initial enthusiasm was extinguished. It wasn't until his explanation came did it come back.
Bluntly put, Kuroneko was conflicted.
Facing her younger sister…
'I don't know…'
…she didn't know what to do.
Bam-!
Rumble-!
The disturbance outside brought Kuroneko out of her thoughts. Hinata went off to hug her trembling younger sister. Kuroneko froze as she saw the scene outside the mirror. Several huge corpses exploded mid-air one by one. Their traces didn't remain, but the aftermath of the attacks sent shockwaves comparable to earthquakes.
Shadows began crawling all over the room, spreading outside. It didn't take long before strings tied each and every shadow within the shelter. All of them were connected to Kuroneko's own shadow, acting as her waypoints and temporary helpers.
"Remember. Don't leave this room."
"Mhm…"
Gone was her hesitant side, replaced by the Queen of Darkness that could control shadows with a thought!
*****
The captain of the Valkyrie Squad is Saeko. Her combat intuition allowed her to make the best decisions in split-second windows. Underneath her is Shizuka-sensei. Her sense of responsibility has no bounds. She is the most mature out of everyone. Saeko barely bested her in terms of calmness—a huge part stemming from her special tendency.
"Splitting our forces like this…"
"I saw everyone's improvements while I was gone. It's more than enough."
Shizuka-sensei received Saeko's calm gaze before giving in to her suggestion. Just like that, the twelve-person team was split into two teams of six. One was led by Saeko and the other was led by Shizuka-sensei. They went towards the ocean walls and the zerg sinkhole, respectively.
Boom-!
Splat-!
Rumble-!
The latter experienced how it was to fight in a war. Artillery strikes caused thick clouds of dust to rise. One crimson explosion set off after another. The thick scent of gunpowder overwhelmed their sense of smell.
"Cough…"
Even Shizuka-sensei couldn't help but cough. She scanned her surroundings with the 'thermal vision' gained from her level up to the fourth-order. Bodies of soldiers lay all over the place. Aside from them, there are a bunch of other soldiers operating the mortals, RPGs, and other artillery. Most of the lower-leveled insects died from the salvos of gunpowder, but it didn't deal much damage to the stronger insects.
"Blue veins… We need to target them first."
Everyone heard her words. Shizuka-sensei then proceeded to look behind her back.
Mahiru, who was behind her back, had just finished remotely treating several wounded. A wave of her hand was all it takes to bring back a dying person back to life.
Seeing the looks directed by Shizuka-sensei towards her, Mahiru paused before nodding. She stopped treating others even if it went against her heart. The third-rank [Restorative Pills] no longer recovers their consumed energy instantly. The downtime for their recovery became longer. Treating her teammates' injuries are more important than treating others… for this occasion, that is.
Shizuka-sensei wasn't indifferent to Mahiru's plight. She could only sigh out of helplessness.
'When will this end..?'