“…… Now, just like your name, you have finally grown into the sweetest 'fruit'. ”

Mio Ito's voice rang in her ears.

Manami Mizuhara felt as if her body had been slowly melted into an asphalt pool, and layers of sticky things wrapped around her body, dragging her body and mind into the infinite abyss.

"Senpai...... Why? ”

Manami Mizuhara muttered.

The originally clear vision as a mirror was constantly infected by turbidity, but despite this, the only remaining sight looked over, and the entire crew and soldiers inside and outside the main control room were also dragged into it by the blood-colored pool, and in an instant, they turned into a part of Mio Ito.

— Fontos, Stanny, everyone else.

“…… Why? ”

Mio Ito's gentle voice was filled with clear compassion.

"There's only one reason – to transcend."

"Beyond ......"

Minami Mizuhara repeated quietly.

"Yes.

"—In order to transcend the existing limits, break through the heights of spirituality, and reach the higher realms."

……

Tokyo, National Diet Building.

With the announcement of the Prime Minister's "declaration of state of emergency", the entire venue was in an uproar, and the parliamentarians and reporters also became the followers of the uproar, and the loud argument seemed to set off even the top of the venue.

Despite this, the Prime Minister immediately arranged for an orderly action, introducing the military police into the meeting hall and leading the unarmed men into the nearest underground bunker near the parliament building.

Tokyo has a long history of preparing for air raids.

And near key buildings such as the National Assembly Building, there are many bomb shelters or security bases that have been built long ago for the big people to live in at this time.

So, just as parliamentarians and reporters entered the underground bunkers in droves, the prime minister also took steps back into the background.

He walked past the respectful staff and went straight to Fang Shican, who was standing there blankly, looking at him with complicated eyes, with a calm face, faintly revealing majestic dissatisfaction:

“…… Fang Shijun, what's going on, why don't you lead the rest of the personnel into the underground fortifications to avoid the next air raid? ”

“……”

Fang Shican did not answer for the first time.

After about a few seconds, he looked at the "prime minister" in front of him and made a difficult voice:

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister...... Is he really still the Prime Minister? ”

"Shhhh

The administrative staff and security personnel next to him all showed shocked expressions, and the expressions on their faces seemed to say, "Does this kid know what he's talking about?" ”

Many people looked angry and were ready to come up and scold Fang Shican's "boldness", but at this moment, the prime minister waved his hand and told them to go away:

"Please stay away a little, Fang Shijun seems to have some misunderstanding, I want to talk to him."

The prime minister spoke, and others could only obey even if they were unhappy, so everyone threw themselves at Fang Shican with dissatisfied and puzzled eyes, and retreated some distance, opening up a private space for Fang Shican's conversation with the prime minister.

And just when everyone else retreated to the distance where they couldn't hear the conversation between the two of them, looking at Fang Shican, at this moment, the prime minister's eyes changed slightly.

- no longer the resolute and fearless look in his eyes.

Instead, it became a kind of indifferent, calm, as if the external world was incorporated into its own body.

"You can see that...... Fang Shijun. ”

Fang Shican's face sank.

The suspicions in his heart were finally confirmed, but he was not happy at all.

All is just a deepening despair.

In the face of the most terrible enemy in the world, he firmly calmed his breath and did not want to show the slightest flaw.

“…… Flag raising days and non-flag raising days are very different. ”

"At that time, when I was simulating a conversation with myself, I was wondering if this flaw would be discovered by Fang Shijun. I didn't expect you to find out and live up to my expectations. ”

The eyes of the "Prime Minister" stared at him without blinking.

Fang Shican felt that his breathing was becoming more and more stagnant.

"What does it mean to 'simulate a conversation with yourself'? Could it be that in addition to being able to disguise yourself as the person you devoured, you can also divide into another body? ”

Obviously, he thought about it and couldn't be shaken in front of him, or "her", but Fang Shican felt that his sweat glands were a little uncontrollable, sweating like pulp, and his body seemed to be exposed to the sun on dog days.

And the "Prime Minister" looked at him, and a smile gradually appeared on his face.

"It's easy to do it, Fang Shijun, you're really smart."

……

On the "Lambry", Mio Ito's quiet narration continued.

And except for her and Manami Mizuhara, who was wrapped in it, the others had been assimilated into the sea of Ito Mio's blood.

"I accepted the invitation of the Prime Minister to be a member of his Japan Reconstruction Plan. But at that time, it was good for me to be in the world, whether it was Tokyo or Japan.

"I agreed to this offer only because I wanted a space where I could quietly study my abilities.

"...... ability of 'flesh and blood resonance' has reached its limit, adding up to tens of thousands of souls and memories are about to confuse my essence, if I merge with a few more people, I will become a monster with no main axis, infinite expansion, and simply merge for the sake of fusion.

That's not my vision.

"What I want to create is a beautiful world where everyone can function beautifully in my body forever, not a weird space full of chaos.

"But if it lasts, I'll either stagnate, or I'll turn into a monster – it's a dilemma.

"So after that, I agreed to cooperate with the prime minister, and in this rare calm, I studied my own strength more and more deeply, looking for ways to break through my limits.

“…… On my own, there is no possibility of breaking through the ceiling. However, in the process of research, I have developed some new abilities, such as using my "flesh and blood resonance" to make a specific person not be integrated into my body, but differentiated into a seemingly independent individual outside my body. ”

“…… That is, doppelgangers? ”

Mana Mizuhara asked with difficulty and slowness as she applied her last thinking ability.

"That's right—but unlike a clone in the ordinary sense, it can't be too far away from me—more than a few thousand kilometers away, for example, and has no independent consciousness, and if it is formed, it must last for more than a few days, and if it is less than that, I can't transform it into another form......

"However, despite all these restrictions, it still gave me more freedom - although I couldn't use it to push my own limits, I also used it to do some small things - such as assimilating myself and becoming prime minister, successfully taking the supreme power of the country, but because my doppelganger was still acting as my true being, it was covered up perfectly—and after a while, I used my doppelganger to assimilate as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party and reported another 'supernatural potential', and' The existence of the 'transcendent thing' made the U.S. military move, and finally the doppelganger transformed into the 'Darcy Lieutenant Colonel' of the United States...... Success led to the conversion of the person I had in mind. ”

"That person is ...... I ......"

There was only darkness left in front of Manami Mizuhara's eyes, and she said with no sadness or joy.

"That's right."

Mio Ito's voice is conveyed in my heart.

At this moment, Minami Mizuhara no longer knew whether it was Mio Ito's voice or his own voice, or if the two of them were about to completely merge and not distinguish each other.

"Manami...... That's how I finally came up with pushing the limits.

“…… If, with my own transcendence, I can't break through the upper limit of my own life, then what about you?

"If you become transcendent, and you awaken the same 'transcendent characteristics' as I do—1+1 is not just equal to two in some way, they may be able to become the handover of 0 and 1, and expand the infinite space on the transcendent path in a binary mode. When you fully awaken your transcendent spirituality and acquire unique and wonderful abilities—you and me, our hearts will be free from the impact of orders of magnitude higher ordinary human souls and memories......

“…… That's what I envisioned.

"It's just that you seem to be a little afraid of becoming extraordinary, so I have to do these things so that you can devote yourself to your transcendent path until the moment when you are completely 'spiritual'."

Mio Ito's wonderful voice seems to spread from every cell of her body.

The last bit of independent consciousness gradually resolves into nothingness.

“…… So, Senior Sister Mio, has your vision come true? ”

“…… Achieved it, and it was done so wonderfully. I can already feel that the whole world has been completely renewed. ”

Mio Ito's faint joy permeated every corner of Manami Mizuhara's soul, making her unhappy.

- Because, Mio Ito's joy......

- Because, Mio Ito is herself......

- So, the one who is happy is yourself.

This is unequivocal evidence.

"Yes, I'm having fun!"

Manami Mizuhara smiled and completely integrated into Mio Ito's body, and her soul was no longer estranged, and she was united with the world in the deepest part of Mio's mind.

Everything has been done.

That's it.

- Next, it's the final stage.

Mio Ito flew out of the main control room on the "Lambry", and using the mental power she had just obtained, she floated into the sky and opened her arms high to the world in front of her.

"What's next—"

……

……

"And then—

"It's the final curtain...... It's called—

"Heaven of flesh and blood."

In the backstage of the National Assembly building, the voice of the "Prime Minister" sounded in some strange tone.

The "Prime Minister", who was still calmly talking, suddenly said such a sentence, which made Fang Shican's brain unable to turn around for a while.

However, it was only in this second before he could react.

- The sea of blood churned, and the sea of red completely filled the space in the background in an instant.

And just after it flooded the entire backstage, it surged towards the world beyond the Capitol with even more rapid momentum.

Target...... It is Chiyoda-ku, where this council hall is located.

It is also a port ward adjacent to Chiyoda Ward.

But the best way to put it is – the whole of Tokyo.

Red water is coming.

The flood has arrived.

(End of chapter)