Second Hayashzaki District.

"Team 3, cover Team 1. Team 5, retrieve the wounded and grant them a merciful death before they turn into zombies," — said a mature, beautiful woman with long violet hair and matching purple eyes. She stood atop a transport bus, firing her handgun into the horde while barking orders across the battlefield. She was the commander of this group of survivors.

This woman was none other than Takagi Yuriko, the mother of Takagi Saya and wife of Takagi Souichiro.

After Souichiro trusted Tanaka and allowed him into his estate, only to be betrayed, he chose to remain in the mansion and fight alongside his men until the very end, buying time for the survivors to escape. Though Yuriko wished to accompany her husband out of duty as his wife, Souichiro forbade it and commanded her to take care of Saya. Reluctantly, she accepted, for her concern for her daughter outweighed her wish to die beside her husband.

Even though Saya's chance of survival was slim, Yuriko held faith in her daughter's intelligence. She trusted Saya not to act recklessly and throw her life away. And even if Saya had already perished or become one of the undead, Yuriko believed there was still time for her to follow her family into death.

With such thoughts coursing through her mind, Yuriko and the survivors fought with ferocity. For if they faltered, it would mean the end. They would be bitten and turned into mindless monsters driven only by hunger for the living.

"Come on… Mesarthim-Adamas, Regulus-Aurum!!" — a calm yet razor-sharp voice suddenly echoed through the chaos, cutting across the battlefield.

Before the astonished eyes of all present, countless diamond shields materialized, blocking the zombies' advance. At the same time, a sheep encrusted with tens of thousands of glittering diamonds appeared from nothingness, floating in the sky above.

A moment later, a golden lion wreathed in terrifying lightning manifested, unleashing hundreds of golden thunder-threads upon the immobilized zombies.

Rumble!!

Rumble!!

Rumble!!

The battlefield shook as deafening explosions of lightning erupted. The zombies were vaporized, leaving not even dust behind, under the horrified gazes of the survivors.

In the blink of an eye, hundreds—perhaps thousands—of zombies were annihilated, the celestial beasts vanishing just as abruptly as they appeared.

Engine Sound*

Engine Sound*

Engine Sound*

As silence and awe fell upon the survivors, the rumble of an engine drew their attention. A Humvee M1025 rolled into view. From its hatch emerged a pink-haired girl with twin tails and golden eyes, scanning the field anxiously.

Most recognized her instantly. She was none other than Takagi Saya, daughter of Yuriko and the current leader's child.

"Mama!!..." Saya cried out, a voice filled with both joy and worry as her gaze landed on her mother atop the bus. Yuriko, staring back at her daughter, felt a surge of emotions—relief and happiness shining most clearly in her expression.

While many were either stunned by the supernatural scene or rejoicing at the reunion, Kojou's focus lay elsewhere. In the very spot where the zombies had been vaporized, something impossible remained: a glowing stone. Lightning from Regulus-Aurum should have reduced even metal to dust, yet this stone endured.

"Mana Stones…" Kojou muttered, astonished. To normal humans, it might look like nothing more than a glowing gem or a rare piece of jade. But to him, it was a concentrated core of mana.

Mana was the natural magical energy born from the world itself. Unlike ordinary magical power, anyone could harness natural mana. It could strengthen the body's energy reserves and even serve as a near-limitless power source. Such things were exceedingly rare—and had no place existing in a world devoid of the supernatural, let alone inside zombies.

"This isn't pure mana stone… it's tainted with vampire cells," Kojou murmured, inspecting one closely. Unlike pure mana stones, these contaminated variants carried unpredictable side effects if consumed by beings other than vampires or those linked to them.

Still, Kojou was unconcerned. With a wave of his hand, all the scattered mana stones flew into his palm before vanishing into his storage ring. Though of little use to him, they could prove invaluable to Nagisa and the others, who were pseudo-vampires. For them, such stones could be consumed safely without risk of harmful backlash.

After collecting and storing the stones, Kojou began walking back toward the others, eyes fixed on the floating guild screen before him.

The countdown ticked away.

[ 00:00:59 ]

...

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