Saori Saiyonji pushed aside the documents in front of her and rubbed her tired eyes.
As the president of the People’s Coalition Party, which was built around Espers, and currently in a coalition government with the new Liberal Democratic Party, Saori Saiyonji was naturally in charge of superhuman affairs.
But as superhuman technology advanced, more and more matters fell under her jurisdiction, increasing the pressure she felt.
That was why she had recently been pushing for the “Normalization of Superhuman Politics” bill.
No special departments. Distribute the authority to manage Espers and supernatural incidents across various government agencies.
When Espers and their related affairs become common and important in society, integrating their management into the regular system—avoiding specialized institutions that might carry discriminatory or isolating undertones—is a way to pursue equality and efficiency.
However, many members of the Liberal Democratic Party opposed it.
Their reasoning… was that Espers far surpassed ordinary people in both ability and energy.
If they weren’t confined within a unified organization, the government would have no place for normal people.
Some even believed that Espers, as beings with advantages in every aspect, would soon form a new class.
Historically, any group with significant advantages in ability, resources, or status, without institutional constraints, would eventually become a ruling or dominant class.
The People’s Coalition Party was both a political gathering for Espers to keep warm and a cage.
Its current status as part of the ruling coalition and manager of superhuman affairs already constituted an institutional framework that constrained Esper power.
Breaking that framework might weaken both the protective and restrictive functions.
The Liberal Democratic Party was clearly more worried about losing the restrictive function.
Young as Saori Saiyonji was, she still understood the Liberal Democratic Party’s intentions.
She also understood the lingering fear that ordinary people still held deep inside toward Espers…
That fear was temporarily suppressed by the broader post-war recovery backdrop.
What Saori Saiyonji worried about was whether this fear would escalate into the “Superpower Panic Incident” of the past… or even become the fuse for a bigger explosion.
The Light Extinguishers had been eliminated, but their theory of “Superhuman Superiority” was secretly agreed with by some Espers.
‘What a pain…’
The study door opened gently, bringing in a sliver of warm light from the corridor.
Ren Kirishima walked in, her cherry blossom-like long hair tied up in a somewhat casual bun.
She was holding a steaming mug.
“Saori… still reading documents? Take a break.”
She placed the warm cup on a corner of the desk piled with papers, careful to avoid the important sheets.
Saori Saiyonji looked up, saw her fiancée, and her expression instantly softened.
She gave a tired smile. “What a pain…”
Ren Kirishima walked behind her and gently pressed her fingers against her temples, massaging softly. “Are they giving you a hard time again?”
“The same old story…”
Saori Saiyonji sighed in comfort, leaning back slightly to rest her head against Ren’s body, feeling her warmth and the temperature from her fingertips.
Half-jokingly, half-seriously, she said, “I really want to just quit.”
“President, superhuman affairs—throw it all away. Let’s just find a place where nobody knows us, open a little café. You bake cakes, I brew coffee, and every day we only care about the waves and the sunset. How wonderful would that be?”
Hearing this, Ren Kirishima stopped her movements.
Without a moment’s hesitation, she leaned down. Strands of her pink hair slipped down, almost touching Saori’s cheek.
She brought her mouth close to Saori’s ear, her warm breath brushing past, her voice playful. “That would be absolutely wonderful!”
Saori Saiyonji was startled. She turned her head to look at her, surprise and curiosity in her eyes.
Ren Kirishima’s eyes sparkled, filled with laughter and sincerity. “I mean it, Saori.”
“Rather than watching you get crushed by these never-ending conflicts every day, I’d rather you be nothing at all—just my Saori.”
Saori Saiyonji reached out, gently took the hand that was massaging her temples, and brought it to her lips, planting a tender kiss on the back of Ren’s pale hand.
“Ren…”
Ren Kirishima took the opportunity to bend down, wrapping her arms around Saori’s neck, pressing her cheek against her temple.
The two nestled together quietly for a moment, only their interlaced breaths filling the study.
[99]
[Childhood sweethearts are too sweet]
[So does Momo-chan’s wife know about his MyGO?]
[It’s fine, just in time to play 4i]
As the comments scrolled past, the second episode gradually drew to a close.
The ending theme melody echoed through the empty room, the rolling credits on the screen accompanied by a chibi version of the trio running under a sunset.
Slap.
Jiang Jian Yue’s head slammed back into the headrest.
The room fell into dead silence.
She didn’t go to patrol the Vision World or take a bath in the bathroom as she usually did after finishing an anime.
She just sat there quietly, hugging her knees, burying her face deep in her arms.
‘They’re getting married…’ Jiang Jian Yue’s voice was muffled, sounding a bit hoarse.
‘Why does it have to be now?’
She lifted her head. In her blood-red eyes—normally enough to make anyone tremble in fear—there was now an indescribable guilt and conflict.
Kidnapping the groom from the wedding, killing him, stealing his ability… That was the cruelest act for anyone.
Especially for Ren Kirishima, that girl whose smile was as warm as a spring day.
This wasn’t just destroying a wedding; it was ruining two people’s entire lives.
Yue’s ability to shape a “human body” was an extension of Sculpting Transmutation.
Although it looked no different from an ordinary person on the surface, its active time was limited. It wasn’t truly creating life.
She couldn’t give Ren Kirishima back a complete Saori Saiyonji.
‘Am I… a piece of trash?’
Jiang Jian Yue smirked bitterly. Her nails dug deep into her palms, the pain keeping her awake.
But…
If she didn’t do this, if she couldn’t get Saori Saiyonji’s conceptual ability of “Trade”…
She turned her head, her gaze piercing through the heavy curtains, looking out the window at the purple-black sky.
Looking at the remains of the Bug God floating above the Seoul ruins, bound by countless chains.
Compared to completely ending this Heartbug Era filled with tragedy…
One person’s happiness, the joy of a single wedding, or even the future of a couple…
Did it really matter?
‘It matters.’
Jiang Jian Yue answered herself softly.
Then she took a deep breath. The conflict in her eyes gradually faded, replaced by a near-cruel resolve.
Her hands were already stained with blood.
What did a little more matter?
‘It’s okay… Saiyonji.’
She stood up, her fingers gently brushing across the cold desk.
‘I’ll make it up to you.’
‘After I finish that plan, after I create a world without Heart Worms…’
‘I’ll throw the most magnificent wedding for you and Ren in the Vision World.’
‘You want to open a café? I can build you a whole street of them.’
‘You want to watch the sunset? I can make the sun in the Vision World stay at dusk forever.’
‘Just… lend me your power.’
‘Even if you hate me, even if you want to kill me… I don’t care.’
It was a kind of self-hypnosis.
She had to think that way to stop her heart from trembling, to continue walking down this inevitably lonely path.
Jiang Jian Yue closed her eyes. When she opened them again, the tenderness in her gaze was gone, replaced by nothing but a stagnant blood-red.
Whoosh!
The black battle suit covered her body instantly. Red veins lit up across its surface like blood vessels, radiating a dangerous aura.
She pushed open the French window. Seoul’s cold night air rushed in, blowing her ashen-gray hair.
‘It’s about time… to start tonight’s work.’
Above Seoul was a forbidden zone of life.
Gravity was twisted there, and the air was thick with high-concentration anomalous energy.
An ordinary person who got close would instantly mutate into a mindless monster.
But Jiang Jian Yue walked on it as if it were flat ground.
She transformed into a black-and-red streak of light, shooting straight up into the sky.
The higher she went, the thinner the air became, the stronger the sense of pressure.
It wasn’t just a change in atmospheric pressure; it was the pressure of a higher-dimensional life form.
In other words… Divine Might.
Even though that “god” had been dead for years.
Deep within the purple-black clouds, the enormous remains of the Bug God floated silently.
It was so impossibly large that even the part of its torso exposed below the clouds was as majestic as a hanging mountain range.
Its shell was a strange bronze color, covered with rust from the ages and scars from countless battles.
Thousands of thick chains extended up from the ground, tightly binding its body—proof that the neighboring countries had temporarily set aside their conflicts and cooperated to barely seal it back then.
Jiang Jian Yue hovered in front of the Bug God’s massive head.
Before this colossal being, she was as insignificant as a speck of dust.
The Bug God’s “face” had no features—only a huge cavity like a black hole.
That was the wound left by the core weapon that SAAC had fired through it long ago, and also the source of its shattered Godhood.
“Experiment number three hundred and forty-two.”
Jiang Jian Yue stared coldly at that black hole, her voice clear in the fierce wind.
“Godhood Theft Experiment, begin.”
She slowly spread her arms. The space behind her began to warp, and countless dazzling points of light surged out like fireflies.
The colorful lights converged and extended into wings of light. Then, wisps of threads coiled around the Bug God’s remains.
There was no sound—only pure energy collision.
The moment the threads touched the Bug God’s remains, a visible shockwave swept outward, instantly shredding the surrounding clouds.
Jiang Jian Yue let out a muffled groan. A trickle of blood seeped from the corner of her mouth.
It was severe backlash on a spiritual level.
Even though the Bug God was dead, its remains instinctively rejected any external invasion.
A vast, chaotic torrent of malice, carried along the energy connection, slammed into Jiang Jian Yue’s brain.
【Hunger… Feed… Breed… Destroy】
【Pathetic… Mortal】
【Get out…!】
Countless voices exploded in her mind, as if trying to tear her consciousness apart.
Jiang Jian Yue’s body trembled violently in midair. Blood seeped from her seven orifices, staining her pale face.
But her eyes remained fixed ahead, unwavering.
‘Shut up… you… dead bug!’
She clenched her teeth, forcing herself to withstand that terrifying spiritual pressure, and manipulated the multicolored streams of light to delve deeper.
‘I don’t care if you’re a god or a ghost…’
‘Give it to me!’
Her hands snapped together with a clap.