Many heroes had been brought to the General Hospital in Narashino. After all, the mysterious being attack had caused unprecedented casualties of over 250 people in one night, the worst disaster since the Battle of Haneda.

Numerous ambulances made constant trips between the Narashino branch, where the incident occurred, and various hospitals throughout the prefecture. It was well after sunrise before all the victims were admitted.

Most surprising is the extent of the damage: every one of them has been slashed with a single sword.

「Geez, this is no longer the sengoku period. So, how is the patient’s condition!?」

「Apparently he was slashed with a sword from his left shoulder to his right side.」

「How is he still alive!? How is the bleeding!?」

If the reports from the emergency unit are true, time is of the essence. But when the doctor asked, the nurse assisting him replied with a pale face.

「That, doctor, there’s…… no bleeding!」

「What stupid thing are you saying!?」

When the ambulance arrived, doctors and nurses twisted their necks at the strange scars as they carried the patient on a stretcher.

「Uuu…… It hurts……!」

「What on earth does this mean… where did the wound go…?」

The hero suit had undoubtedly been slashed from the chest down in an exaggerated manner. However, there are no wounds anywhere on the exposed body.

The wounds had disappeared cleanly, leaving only pain so severe that even trained heroes could not stand up.

…………

Rintaro, who had been beaten to a pulp by Colonel Usanyi-chan, was receiving simple medical treatment. His bruised face, the result of a flesh-and-blood human being repeatedly punched by the mysterious being’s real punch, was now wrapped in bandages. Combined with his lifeless eyes, Rintaro looked like a bizarre murderer from a mystery novel.

「I’m truly sorry, Captain Death Green…」

「No, un. This time, I also share some responsibility, un.」

「I’m sorry, Rintaro, Colonel Usanyi-chan… it’s all my fault in the end.」

「No, I think it’s better to let the cat-and-dog duo take responsibility there.」

Rintaro adjusted his glasses over the bandages and put on a deceptively clumsy smile. Aside from the fatigue that covered his entire body and the pain in his face where he had been punched, Rintaro’s eyes were fixed on his left arm, which still throbbed with a dull pain.

There was certainly not a single scratch on the areas that had been hit by gunfire in last night’s battle.

He was completely healed in just one day after a fierce battle, something that would have been impossible for a human body. There is only one thing that can explain the astonishing regenerative powers that happened to Rintaro.

「……Mysterious being Cells……」

The bodies of mysterious beings, to varying degrees, are extremely tough and boast high regenerative powers. This is due to the ‘mysterious being cells’ that exist only in the bodies of those who have awakened into a mysterious being.

However, if Rintaro had awakened as a mysterious being, then there is an unexplainable event. Rintaro gently traced the wound on his cheek over the bandage so that they would not notice.

「Rintaro?」

Hearing the sudden voice, Rintaro came back to his senses.

「Ah, Aah. What’s wrong, Minato? You’ve suddenly become so serious.」

「What, so you didn’t hear me after all? I am going to go and apologize to everyone I caused trouble to.」

Minato said she will personally go around clearing up the misunderstandings surrounding her death.

「That’s… how should I put it, that’s very polite.」

「I think Rintaro should prepare to apologize too… to Samecchi and Kirika.」

「That’s right, I’ll think of something.」

Immediately after parting with Minato and Colonel Usanyi-chan, Rintaro received a message from a Zako fighter.

The person who had sent the message was none other than the leader, Dragius III, so he couldn’t just refuse because of his injury.

『We need to talk about the sword.』

Although the content of the message was very short, it did not take Rintaro long to grasp the intentions of Dragius.

…………

Ceilings so high you can’t even look up to see where they are. Underground space reminiscent of a dark esoteric cathedral, lit by blue flames.

The evil leader was sitting in the same place as the day Rintaro was brought to Ark Dominion, almost six months ago.

「Kukukuku… Rintaro, you’ve really grown more manly.」

「I got beaten up pretty badly by Colonel Usanyi-chan.」

「I wonder how the wound is?」

「As you can see. Shall I remove the bandages to show you?」

「I wasn’t talking about your face.」

Saying this, Dragius waved his withered, twig-like hands. It turned out that the old man knew everything that had happened to Rintaro’s body.

「If you had awakened as a mysterious being, why is the wound on your face, which you received after the wound on your arm, still not healed? Fuhahaha, that’s a perfectly natural question to ask.」

「I’ll explain that to you, noja!」

Opening the door of the Dark Cathedral and suddenly interrupting the conversation was Tagaraak in a wheelchair full of gears. Rintaro’s gaze fell on a large coffin being dragged behind Tagaraak by the wheelchair that moved by itself.

「Kukuku, What a good timing.」

「What is that strange thing, General Tagaraak?」

「Why don’t you guys try to help me carry it a little? I’m just a weak and pretty beautiful girl, you know, jazo.」

The injured man and the old men joined forces to carry the coffin to the front of the throne, and with a shout of ‘heave-ho’, the heavy lid was opened.

「This is……」

「I retrieved it along with you, noja. I analyzed it a little bit, wai.」

Lying there was a sword.

A streak of green runs down the blade, which looked as if it has been painted black with darkness, as if it does not care about the existence of light. The dying Minato presented Rintaro with a magical sword that contained a green flame.

Rintaro fearfully reached for the magic sword and gripped its hilt again, as he had last night.

「You’d better not touch that.」

「Eh?」

Immediately afterwards, Rintaro’s whole body felt a shock as if he had been hit with a high-voltage electric current. It spread out from the palm of his hand holding the handle, and every cell from the top of his head to the tips of his toes pulsed hot like burning iron.

「Hoagyaaaaaaaaaahhh!!!!!」

The shock was too great coming as a surprise attack, and Rintaro involuntarily threw his sword out and rolled around on the carpet. He did not seem to bleed, but his bandage-wrapped face hurt as if it had been pressed against a needle pile.

「Ouch ouch ouch ouch! What is this!?」

「Geez, young people are so impatient, nou.」

「If there’s a risk, you should have told me first!」

「I said it, mon ne! You were the one who touched it before asking, ja mon ne! It’s not my fault, mon ne!」

Jumping up and down on the spot, the little blonde girl claimed her innocence. Rintaro, on the other hand, just picked up the handle and could not understand what had happened to him.

Dragius, dressed as usual in a tuxedo and looking like a gentleman, stood soundlessly in front of Rintaro, who was crawling on the floor. The old man did not say anything or offer his hand, but simply placed a small hand mirror in front of Rintaro’s eyes in silence.

Rintaro gasped when he saw his own face in the mirror. Peeping through the gaps in the dishevelled bandages was his own scarless face, which he had become accustomed to seeing over the past 26 years.

「That’s ridiculous, after all that happened this morning… No way. You mean this, when you say you wanted to talk about the sword?」

「Kukuku. As expected of Rintaro, you are pretty perceptive.」

Dragius squinted his sharp, sword-like eyes, smiled, and held out his hand to Rintaro. Rintaro took the wrinkled hand, which looked like a dead branch, and staggered to his feet.

「This magic sword will, albeit temporarily, transform the body of its owner ……, i.e. you, into a mysterious being cell. Fuhahahahaha, haaahahaha!」

The mysterious being awakening experienced by Rintaro last night was said to have been brought about by this magic sword.

While the evil leader flipped his cloak and smiled broadly, Rintaro stared at the pitch-black sword again. Although the sword radiated an extraordinary atmosphere, it was hard to believe that such power was hidden within it. But in order to explain what had happened to him, he had no choice but to believe.

「So you’re saying that this sword is going to turn me into a mysterious being?」

「Well, I wish it was that simple, jagano…」

At Rintaro’s words, Tagaraak crossed her arms with a difficult look on her face. In her hand, she was holding what looked like a measuring instrument at some point.

「Mysterious being cells are like cancer cells, or in other words, cellular bug, ja. They make up about 20% of a mysterious being’s body. But… Uumu…」

Holding her head in her hands at the numbers displayed on the measuring device, Tagaraak glanced over at Dragius. Dragius nodded his head, as if in response to Tagaraak’s question, who was unsure whether she should speak or not. With the leader’s permission, Tagaraak continued speaking in an unusually serious tone.

「That magic sword… converts 100% of your body into mysterious being cells, without leaving anything behind. I can’t even imagine what would happen if you continued to use it. To be honest, it’s a cursed weapon, jana.」

The transformation of all the cells in his body into mysterious being cells was the true nature of the pain that had struck Rintaro’s entire body. It literally destroyed and repaired his entire body, which naturally manifested itself as a tremendous physical burden. The mysterious being’s unique super-regeneration attacked his entire body at a concentration of 100 percent, which was understandable.

And it does not affect only Rintaro’s own body.

「Yesterday, several people were struck by this sword… I’m sure the news didn’t say there were any fatalities.」

「Are you going to say you were in control of that? I think that’s a bit of a stretch, nou.」

When he was told that, he had no words to say back. Rintaro vividly remembered what he did last night, without the convenience of having his memory blurred. The force of the sword he wielded in anger was so great that several of the heroes must have received fatal wounds with no chance of survival.

Rintaro saw a report on the news this morning that mysterious beings had ‘systematically’ attacked the Narashino branch. The number of injured was 256. Apparently, the Hero Headquarters did not want to publicise that this was an incident carried out by a single mysterious being.

However, despite the horrendous number of victims, there were no fatalities.

If this magic sword was regenerating from the side where it had slashed through people, that would explain it.

「Rintaro, this sword may curse you to death. But you should have it.」

As he said this, Dragius tore the end of his cloak and wrapped it around the hilt of the magic sword.

「You shall receive. You are worthy of it. No, only you are qualified to hold this sword.」

「Leader Dragius……」

「Kukuku, don’t worry. My cloak is made of special fibers that block the activity of mysterious being cells.」

Rintaro fearfully accepted the magic sword from Dragius. Dragius was right, the hilt, wrapped in a piece of cloak, did not cause Rintaro any pain.

「Finally, Rintaro, I have something most important to tell you. Listen with an open mind!」

Rintaro gasped at Dragius, who was looking at him with an ever more serious gaze. Rintaro once again took seriously the responsibility of possessing a magic sword that can turn people into mysterious beings.

「I’m…… ready.」

「Umu, Good answer. Then…」

The evil leader grinned and flipped up his torn and slightly shortened cloak.

「We must inscribe a name upon this magic sword!!!」

The leader issued an emergency call throughout Ark Dominion, and the meeting to name the magic sword, with all the mysterious beings in attendance, continued until the early hours of the morning. During that time, Rintaro, with his heart in his mouth, continued to reject everyone’s opinions.

Author’s note :

It’s been a long time since I’ve updated due to another work being published in book form, moving and other manuscript work.

Thanks to everyone who waited for me during that time!

I look forward to your continued support in the future!

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