Doug, Melissa and Kanako were cooperating with the investigation without any signs of unhappiness, as Rikudou Hijiri had assured them that their futures were secure.

However, Murakami felt a strange discomfort at how Rikudou Hijiri had behaved.

Something is off.

No matter what, he couldn't shake off this unpleasant, sinister feeling.

What was so off about him? His behavior? The way he'd talked like an important person? ... No, that wasn't it!

It's the words he said, the words we wanted to hear! I said similar things to Death Scythe and Marionette! If you're going to kill them anyway, empty promises are fine!

So then, the reason he asked us to come here and hand over Pluto's body, with which he was so obsessed, was...!

Having suddenly realized something, Murakami stood up from his seat, driven by his sensation of fear. He approached the reinforced glass to look at Pluto's corpse, which was under investigation.

"W-what's wrong, Murakami-sensei?"

Ignoring the surprised voices of the others, Murakami looked at Pluto's corpse just in time to see an employee touch Pluto's corpse with a dissecting scalpel.

"S-STOOOOOOOP!" Murakami screamed.

But the scalpel didn't stop, and it broke through Pluto's skin. And then something resembling a black gas erupted from that point with incredible force.

"W-what?!"

"Death-attribute Mana detected! This is... already beyond critical levels!"

Inside the laboratory, the researchers who were wearing protective equipment that included magical defense as well crumpled onto the floor, one after another. An alarm sounded, and operators' screams filled the air.

Nobody knew exactly what had happened, but Murakami was the only one to instinctively realize it.

This was the 'death' that Pluto had accumulated for almost ten years. This immense amount of death was supposed to have been poured into Narumi, but now that Pluto had died, it had nowhere left to go and it was overflowing!

"S-Sensei! What happened?!" Doug shouted.

"Don't think about it, we're getting out of here!" Murakami shouted back with a completely different expression. "You're in the way, move!" He cast a spell towards the exit that was flooded with Hexagon employees, blowing them away along with the door.

Screams echoed in the room as blood and fragments of bone and flesh filled the air.

"W-what are you doing?! If you slaughter the employees of the national state of defense, you'll be questioned for treason!" Melissa shouted at the apparently deranged Murakami.

Doug and Kanako stared at him, dumbfounded.

"I don't give a shit! Hurry up and start running!" Murakami said as he broke off into a sprint.

When the other three looked behind them, the black fog was somehow closing in on them through the reinforced glass.

Melissa, Doug and Kanako watched the smoke make contact with a young female operator, who let out strangled noises as she was mummified in a matter of seconds. Their expressions changed and they hastily ran after Murakami.

However, they quickly caught up to him.

"Th-this is bad, we're surrounded!" Murakami muttered.

The passageway in front of him... the passageway that led to the elevator that would take them to the ground surface, was filled with black smoke.

The black smoke had moved more quickly than they had thought.

"M-Melissa, use Aegis, protect us with Aegis!"

"Y-yes!"

"Doug, break the ceiling! We'll escape through there!"

"Alright!"

The four of them quickly took refuge inside the Aegis's shield. And then Doug opened a hole in the ceiling with his telekinesis. Rubble rained down, but Doug sent it flying with his telekinesis as he tried to continue digging.

If he could continue digging like this all the way to the surface, they would be saved. Or so the four of them thought, but then Doug suddenly began convulsing.

"D-Doug?!"

"W-what is this smoke, it's mixing in with the rubble... Touching it even with your abilities is bad...!"

Kanako let out a scream. Right before her eyes, the moisture was stripped from Doug's body, leaving behind only skin and bones. He collapsed with a dull thud.

"You can't touch it with your abilities, either?! Melissa, you...!" Murakami began as he turned around to see that Melissa was already dead, having become mummified where she stood. "E-even Aegis doesn't work?!"

"Wall of Water and Wall of Ice disappear right away as well! This fog absorbs Mana?!" Kanako was trying to build walls with spells, but it seemed that the black fog absorbed not only life force but Mana as well; her spells simply vanished like mist.

And with Melissa's death, the Aegis had been undone. The black fog closed in on the remaining two relentlessly.

"C-Chronos!"

Murakami used Chronos on himself and Kanako, trying to delay the effects of the black smoke, but he could only do so for a few dozen seconds.

His Mana was absorbed with incredible speed; even his second ability, Super Mana Recovery, couldn't keep up with it.

Kanako screamed in despair. "This, I don't want to die like this, why?! Why?!"

"SHIIIIT! You knew this would happen, and you set us up, Rikudou! Damn it! CURSE YOOOUUUU!" Murakami roared.

The two of them watched each other turn into mummies as they perished.

----------------------------------------------

The death attribute that the federal state's Hexagon had been researching went out of control, causing the deaths of all Hexagon employees inside the building at the time, as well as Murakami Junpei and three other former Bravers.

The black, fog-like substance engulfed the grounds of the national defense department and tried to spread even further.

The army was urgently summoned to counteract this, but they weren't even able to slow down the spreading of the fog.

Just as the flustered cabinet ministers started pressing the president to fire a nuclear missile at the Hexagon, the Bravers, whom the entire world was viewing with eyes of suspicion, arrived on the scene.

At the 'Avalon' Rikudou Hijiri's suggestion, the Bravers used a plan centered around light and life-attribute magic, utilizing Amemiya Hiroto's powers, to dispel the black death-attribute fog that covered the Hexagon.

-------------------------------------------

At a meeting where the most important of his cooperators were gathered, Rikudou Hijiri was repeatedly joining his fingers together and separating them again, seeming to be restless.

"What's the matter, Rikudou?" said one of his cooperators, calling out to him. "It's unusual for you to be so restless, isn't it?"

Hijiri gave a bitter smile. "This is a bad habit of mine that I've had since the past. I feel uneasy when things go too well. If there was a plan that I would consider a great success if it accomplished seventy percent of its goals, and then it went and accomplished ninety percent of them, I can't be blamed for finding it hard to believe, right?"

The chain of events for which Rikudou Hijiri had pulled the strings. Everyone who was an obstruction or a danger to him had now disappeared, save for one person.

Those who had been obstacles to his plans, forcing him to build roundabout plans – the 'Oracle' Endou Kouya, Calculation, Inspector, Gazer and one more person.

Those with abilities that had posed a danger to him – Death Scythe, Marionette and Mage Masher.

The ones he had used to dispose of the above-mentioned individuals, the ones who had known that he was the mastermind, vulgar people whom he couldn't trust because they would betray their allies for unimportant reasons – the 'Chronos' Murakami Junpei and six others.

And those who obstructed him and his cooperators from monopolizing the death attribute – the Eighth Guidance members who harbored death-attribute Mana within them, as well as the survivors from the military nation's secret laboratory who had been hiding in the Hexagon to conduct research into death-attribute magic.

Hijiri had succeeded in having all of them die without using his own hands, except for one.

"The only one left is Amemiya Hiroto, huh," one of his cooperators murmured.

"The Braver... the hero is tenacious, after all," said another.

"No, it's not like that at all. If he, the leader, were to disappear, there's a chance that ability-users in the Bravers organization would scatter. It's more convenient for all of them to be gathered in one place. It's more convenient to utilize them, and dispose of them, that way," Hijiri explained, correcting his cooperators.

In fact, he had made his plans to ensure that Amemiya Hiroto wouldn't be killed by Pluto. It wasn'tHiroto who was in the way.

"Naruse Narumi... no, Amemiya Narumi. To think that Pluto would stop herself from killing her."

The death of the 'Angel,' Naruse Narumi. This was the only objective of this chain of events that had not been accomplished.

"It was unexpected that she was in the early stages of pregnancy, but... I suppose the most unexpected thing was that Pluto was more of a romanticist than I'd expected," Hijiri said.

"Unless you were being served by the goddess of destiny, bringing about all of your desired results under those circumstances would have been impossible. Or is that one of the abilities you possess?" asked one of the cooperators.

"No. As I explained to you people, the abilities I possess are Increased Learning Speed and Unlimited Development."

The 'Avalon' Rikudou Hijiri. He was the reincarnated individual who had received the plainest cheat-like abilities among the Bravers. The ability to learn knowledge and skills more quickly than others, and the ability to develop as a person with no limits, were not abilities that he could show others and say, "Behold, my powers!"

He hadn't been used to draft plans like the 'Oracle' Endou Kouya, nor had he been noticed like the 'Noah' Mao for the convenience of his abilities. He was also unable to act on the field using only his abilities, like Death Scythe, Hecatoncheir and Gungnir had done.

But using his abilities, he had studied diligently and had become one of the technical personnel of the Bravers... a magic specialist. This was the result of him focusing solely on increasing his skill with magic while the other reincarnated individuals struggled to learn to use their abilities.

And because of this, Hijiri had a certain ambition. He had gathered people to join his side to turn these ambitions into reality, and they had now assembled for this meeting.

Members of the Bravers just like Hijiri, religious officials, those in the political and business fields, military personnel – powerful people from all kinds of backgrounds.

Hijiri separated his fingers once more and pointed at the monitor that displayed all of these people as he addressed them.

"Now then, let's leave the reflection at that. Today is a celebratory party. From this point onwards, we will nurture humanity, stepping onto a road towards a new human race that has evolved both physically and spiritually. First of all, we will acquire the power of the 'Undead'... the person who was supposed to become the 101st Braver!"

Quite early on, Rikudou Hijiri had arrived at the truth that the 'Undead' had been one of the reincarnated individuals... probably Amamiya Hiroto, whom Naruse Narumi had mistakenAmemiya Hiroto for.

He had come to this conclusion from the fact that the 'Undead' had enjoyed rice at the research laboratory in which he was raised.

The Undead had desired not meat, fish or sweets, but rice. He had been Asian, but raised in a European culture. Despite being raised in a laboratory, where the only food he knew should have been what was fed to him, the Undead had desired rice.

Other people might have simply assumed that he had heard one of the workers at the laboratory talking about rice, but Hijiri was different.

The time he was born is around the same time as us, too. Wasn't he reincarnated from Japan as well?

Having instinctively realized this, Hijiri had destroyed the document recording the fact that the Undead had desired rice.

And then, with the hypothesis that the Undead was a reincarnated individual, he'd started his own independent research into the death attribute.

"This is reasoning stacked upon reasoning, but let me declare this. Our hands shall reach the death attribute! And through the death attribute, we will evolve into a new humanity!" Hijiri said.

Hijiri's cooperators stirred and cheered, and they gave a round of applause.

Rikudou Hijiri's ambition was to develop in a way that truly transcended all limits.

Due to the effects of Unlimited Development, it was possible for him to develop his stamina, Mana and skills endlessly, becoming a superhuman.

But even then, he would still be within the restrictions of being a 'superhuman.'

If he continued studying diligently for the decades to come, Rikudou Hijiri would likely leave his name behind in history as a mage with the magical mastery of a god.

But he would not be a god.

Even if he pushed his skill with magic to the limits, one day, he would grow old and die. From an average person's perspective, he may appear to be omnipotent, but in reality, he would be limited in all kinds of ways, far from omnipotent.

Most importantly, his body was too frail.

No matter how much it develops, the time it takes for the brain's commands to reach the nerves cannot be shortened. Sensory organs, internal organs, muscle, bone, they're all too weak. My ability only removes the restriction of development, after all. It isn't something that can make me evolve from something other than a human.

But if he were to master death-attribute magic –

That will be the moment I become a member of a new human race beyond the Homo sapiens... No, I will become a god!

As his cooperators gave him a standing ovation, the genius with the burning desire to become a supernatural being reaffirmed his determination to achieve his ambition, even if that meant using others as seeds to nurture his growth.

Murakami Junpei, Tsuchiya Kanako, Doug Atlas, Melissa J. Sautome, deceased.

Remaining reincarnated individuals: 79.

Completely unrelated to these events, the god of Origin was moving.

Like the god of Earth, it was a being that had been created after humanity's birth, from humanity's religions, fears and imagination.

It was far smaller than Earth's, but it had split into numerous divine beings modeled after legendary and mythical beings, and these all existed simultaneously.

It was in a state where angels and demons were constantly in direct contact with each other, and thus, its separate components had interfered with each other ever since its birth.

As a result of a negotiation with Zuruwarn, the god of space and creation, a god from the foreign world of Lambda, the god of Origin moved with a single purpose.

That purpose was to deliver the souls of the members of the Eighth Guidance to Zuruwarn, who resided in the foreign world of Lambda.

Normally, the rebirth of all souls was under Rodcorte's jurisdiction. Interfering with this was a grave violation of the rules.

However, the god of Origin had plenty of reason to commit this act.

After all, Rodcorte had reincarnated a hundred and one individuals in Origin from another world, without any previous warning, and even given all but one of them special abilities.

And the reason he'd done that was so that they could use Origin as a tutorial... a practice ground, before being reincarnated in Lambda.

Both the god of Origin's divine beings and demons alike had become enraged by this.

That was why god of Origin cooperated with Zuruwarn.

As the souls of the Eighth Guidance tried to obey the rules and return to Rodcorte, one of the divine beings in charge of the afterlife and reincarnation stopped them and sent them to Zuruwarn. As Rodcorte tried to interfere with this, all of the remaining divine beings drove him off.

As a god, Rodcorte had the upper hand in power and personal history. However, this was Origin. The only ones who knew of Rodcorte's existence were the reincarnated individuals, of whom about eighty remained.

There was no way that all of the gods of Origin's human race would be defeated by him.

The god of Origin had the feeling that it had accidentally picked up one different soul, but a divine being of love, among many others expressed the opinion that it should be sent along with the rest, and many of the demons, demon kings and spiritual monsters disliked the idea of going through the trouble of separating that one soul out, so the god of Origin simply sent all of these souls to Zuruwarn.

--------------------------------------------------

Zuruwarn, the god with the appearance of a winged, four-headed lion, awaited the souls of the Eighth Guidance.

Vandalieu had already created a vessel for them to be reincarnated into once the souls were received.

"At first, he simply intended to use Vida's relic to create them, but... though it's a coincidence, it's incredible that he's taken the base form of life with no soul and the base form of a spirit with no life, and then joined them together. As expected of Vandalieu, who was once those four."

Zakkart, Ark, Solder and Hillwillow. Vandalieu was living up to the expectations of possessing a soul born from the soul fragments of those four.

"Now, all there's left to do is to place the souls in the vessel in order, and wait for new lives to be born. I'm looking forward to it~"

Zuruwarn had always had the personality of a trickster. One of the things that he was looking forward to was this endeavor that would likely enrage Alda, the god of law and fate.

His original goal had been to send Vandalieu allies to prove that he was not Vandalieu's enemy, however.

"The god of earth's reactions are slow; the new siblings are still wandering about. Ricklent is still groggy from overusing his power... Aren't I amazing for continuing to work under these circumstances?"

As Zuruwarn talked to himself in a normal, informal tone of speech, the Eighth Guidance's souls arrived.

"Alright? ... Hmm? It seems that there's one unneeded one? ... Hmm, hmm, so that's how it is."

Deciding that this didn't matter, Zuruwarn went to put the souls, including that of the 'Gazer' Minuma Hitomi, into the vessel created by Vandalieu.

But at that moment, Rodcorte's enormous hand extended towards him.

"Hand those souls over!" Rodcorte demanded.

"Zuruwarn! Take those souls and pull back for now!" shouted Ricklent, the genie of time and magic, as he tried to stop that enormous hand. However, he couldn't even buy any time for Zuruwarn.

"How persistent of you, to chase me all the way to Lambda!" Zuruwarn muttered.

Rodcorte's hand sent Ricklent flying aside and grasped at Zuruwarn, trying to take the souls that he was holding.

This place was a part of Lambda, the world where Zuruwarn and Ricklent were worshipped. Normally, just like the god of Origin, they would have been able to repel Rodcorte.

However, unlike the god of Origin, Zuruwarn and Ricklent were in wounded states; they had continued using their powers despite not having