The bridge from the port to the Ivory Christmas Tree—this was the first time Inori Yuzuriha had crossed it so openly.
They had commandeered a GHQ Endlave transport truck that hadn't been destroyed yet and were rolling slowly across the bridge. The air was still. The virus sound waves that had earlier thrummed like some eldritch whisper had fallen silent. The wide bridge was deserted: not a single person, not even a single vehicle in sight. The silence was unnerving. Per their usual arrangement, King Crimson drove while Inori sat in the passenger seat, expression blank, eyes fixed on the road ahead.
Shu Ouma stayed in the rear cargo bay, the one designed to carry Endlaves, resting and organizing his Void weapons.
He knew what had happened. He wasn't going to ask.
What Souta had done crossed Inori's personal line in the worst possible way: sabotaging the entire operation. If she hadn't used that uncanny "traversal" ability of hers, there was no telling how badly things could have spiraled.
That man brought it on himself.
Shu kept repeating this to himself. He couldn't afford to disturb Inori's focus right now. What lay ahead was the most dangerous enemy they had ever faced, and if they slipped up even once, the consequences would be far worse than a simple setback.
Ten years ago, the Lost Christmas had crippled all of Japan's government and national infrastructure, leading to GHQ's intervention and the loss of national sovereignty. None of that mattered much to a boy like him; he didn't particularly care about things like national dignity. But that disaster had taken his beloved older sister from him. He would not let the same tragedy befall anyone else who mattered.
The bridge was eerily quiet the entire way. It wasn't until they drove through the main gate unimpeded that they saw the first signs of conflict: several half-crystallized corpses and wrecked Endlaves. It seemed GHQ had experienced an internal conflict of its own.
"Out."
"Got it."
Inori sent him a message after the truck stopped. Shu acknowledged and loaded every Void weapon into his glove: Ayase's Leg Armor, Argo's Dark Room Gate, and Yahiro's Scissors.
This method was something Inori had taught him. Beyond absorbing the virus, his glove Void could also temporarily store other people's Void weapons.
Preparations complete, the boy opened the cargo bay, straightened his Funeral Parlor uniform, and walked resolutely toward the final battlefield.
The situation inside the base could no longer be called merely abnormal. Inori used Epitaph to scan ahead and confirmed what the exterior already suggested: the facility was completely deserted. Not a single patrol. Not even an alarm. The security systems had all been shut down.
She remembered her last visit, when she had encountered soldiers or personnel around every corner, moving through the base like an insect crossing a spider's web, alert to the slightest misstep that might wake the sleeping spider. Now the place felt less like a military installation and more like an abandoned haunted house.
Shu kept his eyes wide open, every nerve on edge, Yahiro's Scissors Void gripped tight as he followed close behind Inori.
"It's so quiet."
When they finally located the elevator, Shu let out a breath and muttered a remark.
"There's no GHQ personnel anywhere. It's completely different from the battlefield outside."
"They probably deployed all their forces to the main front."
Wait. Why does this conversation feel so familiar?
Inori had barely stepped into the elevator when a strange sense of déjà vu struck her. Something about this exchange felt off, like a note played slightly out of key. Was she imagining things?
"But none of that matters now."
"As long as we win this fight, everyone will be saved... Ayase and the others are fighting hard out there too. I've got to do my part!"
Shu looked at Inori, his ochre-red eyes bright with resolve.
The elevator doors closed. Inori pressed the button for the highest floor on the control panel. Just as she had expected, with the alarm system disabled, the elevator didn't even require ID verification. Each elevator in the facility operated independently, servicing only its designated floor, but the observation deck at the very top was universally accessible, probably because only the workers who operated the searchlights ever went up there.
The elevator began to accelerate upward. A faint sensation of weightlessness settled over them.
"Inori..."
"After this battle is over, will you leave Tokyo?"
"You really think beating Keido will end everything?" Inori gave him a weary look and sighed. "The virus has already spread, and the Anti-Bodies have mutinied. GHQ may well 'purify' the entire Loop 7 area with nuclear weapons. They might even abandon this country altogether. We have to find a way to survive through the chaos that comes next."
"There's still a long road ahead. But everything we've built up so far hasn't been for nothing."
"From here on out: as long as we keep moving forward, the road will keep stretching on before us."
The words carried real weight. Even Shu found himself moved. The future was still shrouded in darkness, but as long as the all-powerful Inori led them, everyone would surely reach a brighter one.
Then the elevator stopped. Top floor. A chime sounded and the steel doors slid apart, but Shu froze where he stood.
Three soldiers in white were already waiting, rifles raised. The instant the doors opened, all three fired without hesitation. A hail of bullets poured into the cramped elevator. In that confined space, there was nowhere to dodge.
"Inori! What are you doing?! Inori!"
Shu's voice cracked with panic. Inori had stepped directly in front of him.
Is she trying to protect me? No... she's the one everyone's counting on. She can't sacrifice herself for someone like—
Huh?
She stood with her back to him, her posture utterly resolute, as if she meant to block every last bullet at the threshold. Shu nearly broke into tears, but he quickly realized something was wrong: the bullets were passing through her body, passing through his body, without leaving a single wound.
Only then did he notice a hand resting on his shoulder. He looked up, trembling, and found King Crimson, Inori's humanoid Void, standing directly behind him, emerald-green eyes fixed straight ahead.
Inori allowed herself a cold smile. She had activated roughly three seconds of Time Erasure while King Crimson maintained physical contact with Shu, pulling him into that brief world without time. The same method she had used to protect Hare and the others before.
King Crimson's fatal weakness was its inability to attack during Time Erasure. But that same limitation was also its greatest strength: during the process, its user was completely invincible.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
When the soldiers finally emptied their magazines, Inori released the Time Erasure, drew her pistol in a blur, and put three rounds into three skulls. One shot each.
"Heh. Not bad aim, if I do say so myself."