It was just a few minutes before the battle between Rintaro and Retto reached its climax.

The only thing that makes a mysterious being a mysterious being is the presence or absence of “mysterious being cells” stipulated in the local disaster countermeasures basic law.

Scientists around the world have spent a great deal of time and effort trying to unravel the mystery of the mysterious being cell. However, the diversity of these cells has made research difficult, and only two mechanisms have been proven to be able to confirm the existence of mysterious being cells at present.

First, almost without exception, the bodies of mysterious beings are extremely robust and have a high regenerative ability.

Therefore, existing weapons are of little use against mysterious beings. Even damage that would cause serious injury to a human body can be recovered in a matter of minutes.

「Samecchi, are you injured?」

「Uun…… Ojiki…… Ssu?」

Hundred Beasts General Bearion tapped the cheek of a girl crawling on the ground with his paw.

Samecchi were blasted off at a speed of nearly 100 kilometers per hour by the shock wave emitted by Victor Red, and fainted for “just a few minutes”. However, as for the injuries, only minor abrasions remained on her knees and hips, and she immediately regained consciousness when her comrades called out to her.

「Ojiki, Minato is……?」

「Oo, it’s become a bit of a problem. She was shot in the vital part with an anti-mysterious being bullet.」

The words “anti-mysterious being bullets” made the blood drain from Samecchi’s face.

The second thing that’s known about mysterious being cells. The mysterious being cells themselves can be dramatically altered by giving them certain substances.

This characteristic allowed the mysterious beings to rapidly change their body size, but it was also a fatal weakness. A good example of this was the deadly poison that was once applied to the blade of the unique “Kuroageha” weapon wielded by the Victor Black Mayuzumi Kirika.

The chemical caused temporary defects in the mysterious being cells, thereby suppressing their amazing regenerative abilities and inhibiting the regeneration of wounds in the mysterious being cells themselves. The warheads of the anti-mysterious being munitions that are being rapidly deployed at the Hero Headquarters are coated with this deadly poison.

Being pierced through the heart by an anti-mysterious being bullet means, in the end, that there is no chance of survival.

The chest of his red coat was stained reddish black with blood. Bearion, Mikarikki, and Samecchi took desperate measures, but despite their efforts, Kenmochi Minato’s body rapidly grew cold.

「Hey, Mikarikki!　Do something about this, you son of a bitch!」

「Aaaah, I can’t do it, I can’t do it. Even if I try to close her wound, she had already bled this much. There is nothing more we can do about this. At least let her die in peace.」

「How about Zazoma’s medicine!? Did you not bring it!?」

「Unfortunately, I have run out of stock. If only Zazoma-sama was here… Oh, please stop, if you pull so violently, I’ll lose my sense of touch.」

Minato’s cheeks, which had already went beyond white and were losing their color, were held by Samecchi’s small hands.

「Ji- Jinkonkonkyuu, ssu! Hapuu!」

Samecchi bit into her lifeless, half-open lips and breathed in without hesitation.

「Hapuu! Don’t die, ssuyo, Minato! Fuuh!!」

However, no matter how much oxygen was blown into the body, the heart that pumped it throughout the body has completely stopped beating.

Even the three of them, who had no medical knowledge, could understand what that meant. If there had been a doctor, they would have shaken their head in the same way.

「Let’s stop now, Samecchi……」

「No, ssu! It’s all Samecchi’s fault, ssu…… It’s because Samecchi took her outside…… It’s because Samecchi called the hero over, ssu……! Because of Samecchi, Minato is……」

「Samecchi, we are mysterious beings. Sooner or later, this day will……」

「Just because we are mysterious beings! With that kind of reason, Samecchi will not give up, ssu! Hapu, Fuuuuuh!!」

A drop of water trickles down Minato’s cheek. Was it a drop of rain or a girl’s sorrow.

As if responding to the girl’s atonement.

From the gaping hole in the middle of Minato’s chest, dokun……

Like the footsteps of the Grim Reaper coming from the depths of the abyss. The sound was dark, heavy, and cold.

「……Ssu? Minato……?」

「Oi, Isn’t this bad……!?　Hey!?」

「Ororororo, this is unexpected. Let’s run away, yeah, let’s do that.」

As if resisting the fate of death, a steel-colored torrent erupted like a geyser from her gaping chest.

………………

　

…………

……

On a deserted national highway, a state-of-the-art armored car was moving forward, dodging debris. Inside the car, which was in no way comfortable to ride in, a woman in a flashy suit, which did not match the rugged interior, was at the wheel.

Komorodo Utako, seated in the driver’s seat herself, was biting her nails as she dexterously turned the wheel left and right.

「This is bad, this is bad!　The plan was to take hostages and bury Death Green from an advantageous position……　to think we would have lost so badly……!」

『You might bite your tongue if you talk、Chief of Small Accessories Department. Oya excuse me, was it the chief of Zakomorodo Headquarters.』

「Kiiiiii! You are noisy, desuwa! First of all, aren’t you too presumptuous to be a hostage!」

『I’m sorry, but I’m not from a very good family. I have only ever been treated like a big shot, so unlike someone else.』

「Ngigigigigii!!!!」

Inside a palm-sized crystal hanging in the car, Mayuzumi Kirika, who was supposed to be a hostage, held out her chest with a relaxed expression on her face.

In contrast to Kirika, Komorodo Utako, the chief of staff of the Hero Headquarters, had a look of impatience on her face. She was so restless that she even received a few complaints from the hostage.

「Thi- thi- thi- thi- this is weird, desuwa! Even though my plan should have been perfect……!」

『That’s what happens when you get greedy. It was a mistake for a little girl like you to deal with senpai…… heinous mysterious Death Green in the first place!』

Death Green, the name raised Utako’s thin eyebrows.

The strategy of using hostages was actually working. At least up to the stage of destroying the Hundred Beasts Legion’s base, things were going in the favor of the Hero Headquarters.

However, with the advent of the Heinous Legion, the wheels began to go haywire.

The hostage herself are of extraordinary sturdiness, and she seemed to be able to withstand any questioning or torture. Furthermore, not only did the legion ignored the hostage, they even sent provocative threatening letters.

If that’s all there was to it, there was still a way to deal with it, but the area specified in the crime notice was extremely unsatisfactory.

「More than anything, it’s in Minato Ward…! Ah, if they don’t stop the fighting soon, let alone a liability issue, I’ll have go to the international court!」

The three-kilometer radius around Shiba Park in Tokyo’s Minato Ward is what is known as an “embassy district”. If this area were to suffer catastrophic damage like Jimbocho and Haneda Airport, it would no longer be a matter of Japan alone.

Of course, the person to be held accountable was Komorado Utako, Chief of Staff at Hero Headquarters.

Now that she had lost Will and Lamar, two trusted pawns, the hostage were all she could rely on.

The sound of sword-fighting was getting closer as they crossed a pile of rubble and swords. Utako stopped the armored car and called out using the attached loudspeaker microphone.

『Ah, the heinous mysterious Death Green!　Do you hear me?　If you don’t stop fighting now, I don’t know what will happen to this hostage!』

『Kyaa, Senpai, Help mee. Aaree, そんなの入らないー』

『Mukii! Please do not disturb me at this time!!』

Utako threw out the microphone and tried to grab Kirika, but the hard crystal didn’t budge from Utako’s grip.

『Aren’t we in a stalemate now?』

「E- Even you! Aren’t you being abandoned by Death Green!?」

『I am sorry to disappoint you, but Senpai and I are bound by a strong trust that is not only superficial. We are, after all, partners who have pledged our future to each other.』

Perhaps it was because she had been accustomed to the vibrations on the rough road, or perhaps it was because her mind was racing. Utako, who was trying to get back at Kirika, was too late to notice the “vibration” that was faintly shaking the earth.

The rumbling of the earth, like a stampede of elephants, gradually got louder.

Gogogogogogogogogogogogogogo…………

By the time Utako became aware of the shaking, she could no longer even maintain her balance in the armored car.

「Wh- What is this vibration……!?」

『Isn’t that what they call the arrival of the prince on the white horse?』

The next moment, the armored car, weighing nearly 20 tons (ton), was pushed by some “huge mass” and turned over. Utako’s body bounced around like a pinball inside the carrier, which was large enough to hold more than ten heroes.

「Agih! Ogoh! Hebuh!」

Unable to see what was going on outside, Utako couldn’t help but put her hand on the rear hatch.

At that moment.

The rear hatch made a clicking sound on its own and was forced open from the outside.

「Geez, Thanks to the interruption at the right moment, I’ve completely cooled off.」

He was dressed in a green and black suit and a cloak with a hideous death-god pattern on it. And somehow, Kuriyama Rintaro, a.k.a. Death Green, the villainous mysterious being, appeared without a mask, bleeding from the head.

「This is a pretty nice shelter.」

「A…… Ahi……! De-De-De-Death Green!?」

「……You are the one from that time, who was it again. It’s that, You are the chief of the Zako Mob, I remember you.」

Utako, who was not used to actual combat, panicked when an evil mysterious being suddenly appeared inside the armored car carrier, which was so narrow that she could reach him if she stretched out her hand.

「Abah- You! Do you not care about what will ha- ha- happen to this hostage!?」

「Ah, Mayuzumi.」

『Sempai, I knew you would come to save me.』

After a moment of silence, Rintaro gave a thumbs-up and faked a wry smile.

「……Of course!　Why wouldn’t I come running to you in your hour of need?」

Yes, the heinous legion leader Death Green would never abandon his comrades. Rintaro took Mayuzumi’s crystal from Utako as if he had forgotten about it.

But when Rintaro carelessly approached Utako, a thick, silver glove grabbed his arm.

「N- Now, desuwa! Go, “Hamerun Hand”！！」

It was a technique that drove the mysterious being cells mad and trapped the Hundred Beast Army …… and Kirika in crystals.

「Let me explain what the Hameln Hand is, suwa!　The Hameln Hand is a special vibrating wave-generating microscopic needle installed in the palm of the glove that injects a poisonous fluid that penetrates through all types of armor!　It is the ultimate secret weapon that inactivates mysterious being cells and instantly incapacitates any mysterious being, nodesuwa!」

「……Aah, is that so. Hee, that sure is amazing.」

「Nfufu, it’s time to pay the tribute, Death Green! Now, Cry and beg for your life!　Your life！　Life……! Are……?」

No matter how hard Utako gripped the “mysterious being” Death Green’s body, there was no change whatsoever. This is because the body of Kuriyama Rintaro, a.k.a. Death Green, does not contain any mysterious being cells.

Rintaro forcefully ripped the glove off Utako’s hand, and gave her a full-on poke on her broad forehead.

「Ahhh! ! It’ll break! My national treasure-class brain is going to break!」

While Utako was still struggling, Rintaro clutched Kirika’s Crystal and Hamerun Hand and opened the rear hatch.

「Thanks for lending me your shade. Now if you’ll excuse me, it looks like the next wave is coming.」

Ahead of Utako’s eyes, crawling on the floor, a hatch made of thick steel plate was being closed with force. While twisting the steel armor, forcefully so that it could never be opened again.

At the same time, the earth rumbled louder than before.

An external pressure that is even greater than the impact that could push an armored car down the road was right in front of her. As expected, Utako was not so stupid as to not understand the meaning of this.

「Aaa…… Wait, Please wait……」

「It would be just right to know the feelings of the trapped side. It’s rare to have such an opportunity.」

「Aaa, please don’t leave me!　I’ll do anything, anything at all! Death Green-san!　No, Death Green-sama!」

「How much weight can an armored car hold? I hope it doesn’t get flattened. Wouldn’t you be fine if your daily conduct was good?」

With a dull thud, the thick hatch was closed, leaving Utako alone in the carrier.

The next moment, the armored car was hit by a shock as if it had been trampled by a monster.

「Aaaaahhhhh!　Please help me, someone please help me!」

Utako, half-crying, hit the open/close button repeatedly, but the hatch, which had been closed by brute force, did not even budge. The other doors did not seem to open as well, probably due to the impact, and the armored car carrier turned into nothing more than a large iron coffin.

The entire carrier squeaked under the pressure, its frame squeaking and creaking.

「The ceiling!　The ceiling’s dented!　Is someone there?　Is there anyone here?」

Utako’s voice did not reach anyone, and the iron coffin was swallowed by countless swords weighing several hundred tons.

………………

…………

……

『Are, Isn’t Small thing-san dead?』

「The special Type 3 armored car made by the R&D Department will not be flattened by a direct hit from a meteorite. It will be hard to pry it open, though.」

After escaping the armored car just in time to avoid the sword tsunami, Rintaro looked up at the sky and frowned.

「Now then…… Seeing it once more is amazing…… Could it be Minato……?」

Each sword was an ordinary sword made of iron or bronze. But how many of them, or how many tens of thousands of them, would it take to make something like this?

It was a huge silver mountain, as tall as the 333-meter Tokyo Tower.

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<118: Burning Justice VS Freezing Evil
120: Sword Mountain Monster Swordminagon>