A windless night.

Dust and fine grit mingled in the dry air, and from within it—

"Hmm. The basement levels have been thoroughly demolished. No wonder the castle came down."

The Hegemon City Elmekia — Istalsil Outer Keep.

A small, elderly man peered down the underground stairwell leading to its hidden floor and let out a low rumble from his throat.

Before him rose a towering heap of rubble and earth. Five days ago, Party "Knight of Reincarnation" had left these marks of intrusion behind.

"I came expecting a leisurely inspection stroll, and here I am scrambling down a slope of rubble. Cruel treatment for an old man with bad legs, wouldn't you say?"

"Spare me."

The words came out like something spat, delivered by a middle-aged knight carrying a bastard sword.

Close-cropped copper-red hair. Cold gray eyes. The skin exposed by his combat attire had been scorched dark by years of training under a blistering sun — tanned so deeply it nearly blended with his black armor.

Heretic Knight — Casadine.

Though the Royal Seventy-Two Rank Special Ops Knights — Elmekia Dusk — had been placed under official suspension by the Elmekian royal house, his name still appeared among the order's top commanding officers.

"Get down here. You've been expelled from the Party. It'd be a nuisance if anyone found you wandering this castle's ruins."

"Come now. There's not a soul around. It's just the three of us."

The old man with his metal cane leaped down into the rubble-strewn crater with the nimbleness of a cat.

Former Rank Four — Mad Blade — Naphress.

He was the researcher who'd supposedly been expelled from the Party, held responsible for both the manufacture of the Eidos and the attack on Holy Land Canaan.

"And yet the killing blow was a dragon's Breath. How absurd. That Arcane Domain you housed the Eidos in was supposed to be your masterwork, wasn't it, Naphress? The hardest sealed space there was?"

"Exceptions exist for all things. Hardly cause for surprise."

The deepest point of the crater.

The old man and the knight reached the underground level, now barely recognizable. The two Elmekia Dusk commanding officers stood in what had been the Eidos research facility before it collapsed along with the outer keep.

"Dragon Princess Kyelse's Breath... Ah, magnificent. A pureblooded specimen of the fabled Heavenly Silver Dragon. A shame I couldn't observe her in person, but it only makes the research appetite burn brighter."

"Sour grapes."

"Perish the thought. But speaking of things unseen — I hear you crossed blades with that Sword Saint Shion, did you not? A pity I missed that as well."

"Nothing worth recounting. A mutual feint, nothing more."

Casadine's reply came in a low voice.

He pressed deeper into the wreckage of the underground floor.

"What a waste. All those beakers we'd prepared, buried under rubble."

Shards of glass littered the ground.

Squinting into the dark underfoot, one could make out the pools of solution that had filled the shattered beakers, now gathered into standing puddles.

"Well then — did I keep you waiting?"

"No. I was only sleeping down here. You could have come later and it would've been fine."

The reply echoed from deep underground.

At the far end of the floor, where the liquid from the broken beakers had pooled into a small lake, a young man who had been crouching motionlessly raised his head with a strange smile.

A young man with long white hair tied back in a single tail.

He looked as though he'd only just turned twenty. His refined, pale features could fairly be called beautiful — yet most who saw him would arrive at a different impression entirely.

Namely: unsettling.

An empty smile. Beneath eyes drained of every trace of emotion, his face wore the inorganic grin of a puppet in a marionette show.

Rank Two — Ouga.

Though his name belonged to the world-renowned Elmekia Dusk, only his rank and name had ever been disclosed to the public. A swordsman whose identity remained unknown.

"So, what brings you here?"

"That matter we discussed — the Elmekian royal house has finally granted approval. I've come to deliver the news."

"It concerns the reorganization of our Party."

Casadine picked up where Naphress left off.

Party "Knight of Reincarnation"'s incursion into Elmekia had exposed the manufacture of the Eidos, and thanks to the Sacred Vessel of Canaan Pilgrimage — who'd been present at the scene — word of the affair had already spread across the world.

The Elmekian royal house, alarmed by this, had shifted all blame onto Elmekia Dusk.

The result: the expulsion of Rank One Knight King Zelbright and Rank Four Naphress, along with the Party's official suspension.

"A 'new regime,' they'll call it, I expect."

The old man's cane struck the ground with a sharp tap.

"First — with Zelbright's expulsion, each member's rank advances by one. Casadine moves to second. And Ouga, that puts you at first."

"What about you, Naphress?"

"Me? I've been expelled, lad. Saddle this creaking old body with the duties of a commanding officer and my back would snap clean in half."

The old researcher's voice rang with amusement.

"I've been relieved not only of my position as a Party officer, but also from Elmekia's development bureau. From here on, I'll be dropping in as a mere facility visitor."

"......"

"Hm?" The white-haired young man tilted his head in puzzlement.

"It doesn't seem like anything has changed at all."

"Correct. Not a single thing. If anything, we've accelerated."

The Heretic Knight answered with force.

— The restraint had come off.

Knight King Zelbright — the man who had ruled the Party through overwhelming authority, who had kept the Three Sages of the Epitaph's ambitions in check, who had held the O-PARTS known as Eidos in suppression — was gone.

There was nothing left to stop those who had been seduced by the power of the Eidos from acting on their own.

"First, we rebuild the facility. In parallel, we begin mass-producing Eidos test subjects."

Casadine stared down at the Eidos before him, a keen light in his eyes.

"The watchers from Holy Land Canaan are still hiding somewhere in Elmekia. We'll need to proceed carefully for the time being."

"Understood."

The white-haired young man remained crouched.

He spared only a brief glance at the Eidos test subject nestled beside him.

"Is the completed form ready yet?"

"Now, now — no need for haste. All in due order. Producing even a single one of those requires an extraordinary amount of effort. In any case, you needn't do a thing. Casadine will take command if anything requires it. For now, just keep getting along with that one of yours."

"......"

Ouga sat in the puddle of test solution.

Standing silently behind him was a single towering figure of radiant light — a test subject of the entity known as Eidos.

It wouldn't leave the young man's side.

As if a newborn dog were pressing close to its human master.

"The one behind you — it's taken quite a liking to you."

"It'll break soon enough anyway. It's only a test subject."

Ouga answered in a voice devoid of all feeling.

Yes. This was the uncanny power the white-haired young man possessed.

Just as Sword Saint Shion and the Fake Brave Hero Ren were beloved by spirits — Ouga was beloved by the Eidos.

Just as the holy maiden Elies could hear the voices of spirits — Ouga could command the Eidos at will.

But if there was one critical difference:

Wicked Swordsman Ouga felt nothing whatsoever for the Eidos that clung to him.

"By the way — what happened with the matter from before?"

"Well now, that's rare. You, raising a topic of your own accord."

Naphress tilted his head at Ouga's question.

"So rare I can't begin to guess which matter you mean."

"The Gate of Heaven being destroyed."

He'd been shut away underground this entire time — who could have told him?

"The one that was right near Elmekia. The gate Sword Saint Shion should have used when he came to Elmekia. That's the one, isn't it?"

"...You've saved us the trouble of explaining. Gathering intelligence through the Eidos — quite the clever trick."

It was Casadine who confirmed this, his tone matter-of-fact.

"I doubt even Shion would have done this. We've had the Three Sages of the Epitaph rush their analysis, but the most likely culprit — nine times out of ten — is the Silent Agency. Their aim is probably to sever every route connecting Earth to Heaven and Earth to the Underworld."

"Just so. They struck while our attention was fixed on Elmekia's defense."

Naphress let out something close to a sigh.

"Zelbright's presence had been keeping even them in check, I'd wager. Losing the Gate we'd been studying stings, but with this, they should be done watching Elmekia. Their next target will likely be the Knight of Reincarnation. If they and the Silent Agency tear each other apart fighting over the Encore, so much the better. And if not..."

"Then we crush both parties at the Isle of the End and take the Encore ourselves. That's all."

The commanding officer of Elmekia Dusk answered with a fearless smile.

— From the world's greatest military city to the world's most dangerous puppet city.

Elmekia, having lost Knight King Zelbright — its greatest restraint — plunged headlong into the abyss with nothing to stop its fall.

The rampage of those seduced by the power of the Eidos had begun.