Chapter 24: Guidance of Blood

I have felt the wind of the wing of madness pass over me.

– Charles Baudelaire

"Kukukuku, they're gathering in droves. Those lowly Aragami."

A thin, pale, bespectacled middle-aged man in a white lab coat twisted the corners of his mouth into a fearless smirk as he watched the screens in the monitor room.

"Confirmed a large multitude of Aragami. Approaching from all directions. They are beginning to make contact with the test subject."

"Small, Medium, Large, and Ash Aragami confirmed. The induction via the Resonance signals emitted from the test subject was a success."

Several other similarly white-coated individuals were busily operating keyboards at their consoles. Was this some sort of research facility?

On the numerous monitor screens displayed, various types of Aragami from the surrounding area were running madly in the same direction toward a single destination.

At the epicenter of the converging Aragami sat something bizarre—an exceptionally colossal, almost absurdly large humanoid entity.

With a human-like upper body reminiscent of a mythical centaur, covered in sharp, thorny armor jutting out from its entire frame, it rolled its compound eyes wildly. It then raised the massive front legs of its lower half, which resembled a quadrupedal beast, and took a step forward.

Could it even be called an Aragami? It shook a massive body that rivaled the giant monsters seen in movies and television, letting out a terrifying, earth-shattering roar.

"Kukukuku, based on the experimental data collected from Artificial Aragami, combined with my Oracle technology, I have modified and remodeled the captured Megiddo Odin into the ultimate Aragami annihilation weapon: 'Damned Odin'. It's a completely autonomous, self-propelled model that eliminates the inefficient piloting restrictions of conventional AGEs. Our brains are simply on different levels! A monster for a monster, an Aragami for an Aragami. Let the freaks crush each other. What a simple, clear, ecological, and ingenious idea! Ah... yes, I truly am a genius!"

The bespectacled man, Inukai, babbled rapidly and triumphantly.

The massive horde of Aragami began to converge, surrounding the aforementioned Damned Odin.

Bending its giant frame, Damned Odin spread its long arms wide. The surrounding space warped, and countless black, spear-like objects manifested in multiple circular rings around it. Then, as if possessing a free will of their own, they were launched all at once at high speeds toward the horde of Aragami encircling it.

A carpet bombing of black spears. Under an endless, relentless hail of projectiles raining down from every direction, the vast majority of the Aragami were mercilessly skewered through every inch of their bodies and culled.

Regardless of whether they were Small, Medium, or Large-sized, they were pierced and obliterated one after another.

It was nothing short of a one-sided massacre.

"Hahahahahaha! Look at them! Look!! The Aragami look like absolute trash!!!"

Shoving the staff aside, Inukai glued himself to the monitor in sheer excitement.

Yet, even more Aragami kept appearing one after another, slipping through the barrage of spears to close in.

"Hmph! It's useless, useless! No matter how many of these grunts gather, they are no match for my Damned Odin!!!"

"Damned Odin's Oracle pattern is changing."

"Confirmed Damned Odin is entering its Activated state."

The compound eyes of Damned Odin on the monitor took on an eerie glow.

Crossing its arms as if hugging its own upper half, it hunched its back. Black waves rippled outward from its entire body, and a sinister aura enveloped its form.

Instantly, a terrifying tsunami of pitch-black shockwaves was unleashed with Damned Odin at its epicenter.

The sheer force of the impact disrupted the monitor's image with heavy noise until it fragmented and cut out completely.

A few moments later, the monitor lit up again, restoring the image to display the scene.

Damned Odin stood there, its colossal frame completely unharmed as if nothing had happened.

Of the massive horde of Aragami that had swarmed around it just moments before, not a single trace or shadow remained.

────────They had been Devoured.

"Magnificent!!! What destructive power!!!"

With bloodshot eyes and spit flying from his mouth, Inukai slammed his fists hard onto the console desk.

"...By Devouring Aragami in massive quantities, it sustains its own operational energy, realizing a semi-permanent cycle of further Activation and activity... With this, we could utterly eradicate the cursed, spreading Ashlands—no, the very region itself, leaving not a speck of dust behind..."

Seeing him sink into deep thought and begin muttering to himself, the surrounding staff rolled their eyes in exasperated annoyance—thinking, Here we go again—before returning to their tasks.

"Detecting a second wave of Aragami via Resonance signals... Wait... this is... I'm catching a single, astronomically different Oracle pattern mixed in with the Aragami readings! It's making contact with Damned Odin... It's too fast!!!"

The staff member screamed, causing everyone to look up at the monitor. Inukai, bearing a puzzled expression, followed suit and looked up.

Flying at a hyper-transcendent speed, it was Chaos incarnate.

Assaulting from above, it was an embodiment of unreasonable atrocity.

Its massive body was clad in an exoskeleton armor of sharp, azure and black crystals.

Flying in, it clenched its raised talons into a drawn-back fist that roared through the air, sinking deeply into the face of the gigantic quadrupedal Aragami before it, violently punching straight through.

Damned Odin's torso folded into a sharp 'V' shape, its head violently knocked backward by the sheer force.

Its absurdly massive body, far larger than its stature suggested, let out a loud creak as it tilted and staggered several steps back.

Hovering in the air was a colossal, azure-black dragon sporting wings of roaring thunder.

Its jaw, lined with grotesque, razor-sharp fangs, slowly parted to reveal what lay within.

"...WAs iT yoUUu? THe onE wHO DaRE caLLed mEee!?"

Terrifying eyes harboring roaring, fiercely burning purple flames.

A vicious glare illuminated the darkness with a deadly gleam.