The End's Christmas (3) Extra
Sector 10 of Londinium. Anatolia Noble Academy. Early morning.
Someone shook Rin awake.
“...Captain, Rin... Esmeralda...”
Who was it? Suddenly, the title of the report I had been burning the midnight oil on until dawn floated faintly in my mind. [Lambda Parasite: Growth Characteristics and Biological Contamination Process by Host Type] Was it. By the way, is it already morning? But the alarm hadn't rung yet. Then it meant it wasn't time to get up yet? Moreover, tomorrow is Christmas. It was the day when even angels who don't rest and work go straight to hell and receive punishment.
“Captain!”
“Huh? What?”
The duty sergeant in the dormitory shouted.
Rin jolted awake, eyes wide.
“The principal's urgent summons. Hurry and prepare.”
Still half-asleep from being woken so abruptly, her mind was foggy.
“The principal? What on earth is going on?”
“The explanation will come from someone else.”
The principal? Why the principal?
The principal was a full lieutenant general.
Why summon a mere captain like herself?
Questions coiled around one another.
“Prepare quickly. In exactly eight minutes, wartime posture will be ordered across all units in Sector 10.”
Wartime posture?
What the hell was that supposed to mean... No, don't think about it.
She hurriedly dressed, fumbling with her clothes.
“My headband... my headband...”
While searching for it, something dropped with a thud from the desk.
A colorful postcard. Handwritten, distinctive script.
[Merry Christmas, Captain Rin. The parcel is a gauntlet I made myself. Elia also wishes you a merry Christmas. ~Eve~ / ← This last line is a joke. Our Eve is a bit crooked. Anyway, Rin! Tone down that creepy ink-squid research and go date your boyfriend! Your face is too precious! ~Irien~ / Take care. ~Treval~ / Date request accepted, noona? Even after Christmas is fine! ~Yann~ / Irien was rude. Instead, I apologize. And thank you always. ~Violet~]
A smile curved her lips.
“Captain Rin! Are you ready?”
At the duty officer's prodding, she rushed out of the room.
A limousine waited in the pouring snow.
“Please, get in. He is waiting.”
The moment she stepped into the vehicle, a figure came into view.
It was not the principal. Far higher than that.
“Nice to meet you, Dr. Rin Esmeralda.”
Even from a glance, the crimson robe was luxurious.
The person before her was a high-ranking member of the Elder Council.
“We honor Londinium! Dr. Rin Esmeralda!”
She sat facing the mysterious figure. The vehicle soon pulled away toward a destination Rin did not know, accompanied by a soft engine hum.
“I am Lumia Endel. You must have heard of me?”
Lumia Endel? She had heard the name plenty of times. It had stuck in her ears like glue. Daughter of the Third Elder, eldest daughter of the Endel family. The final project of the research paper she was writing. The Sigma Parasite. Head of the secret Endel Research Institute in Sector 09, responsible for its classified management.
“No time, so let's get straight to the point. Two hours ago, the Endel Research Institute was bombed.”
“...What? Is that true?!”
A lightning bolt out of the blue.
The shock felt like being hammered with a hammer, sleep vanishing instantly.
“Current situation?! Surely not—”
“-I don't know the details either. But in the worst case—”
Sector 09 was mentioned, and worry clouded Rin's face.
The team of 'praying nuns'—they would be fine, right? They would be fine.
She trusted Elia, who led them.
“-We are prepared to issue a Hetacomb. Sector 09 falls under our Endel family's jurisdiction.”
“What? W-what does that mean...?”
“Oh, you know, don't you, Captain Rin?”
Lumia's gaze sharpened.
“This operation name is taken from your paper.”
Rin's mind went blank.
What was this young lady saying?
Hetacomb? She was adopting that insane theory?
“Are you out of your mind?! Stop it right now!”
“That is not for you to decide.”
“Absolutely not, absolutely!”
The research paper Rin had written when she was still a second lieutenant.
“Surely you aren't seriously believing that insane hypothesis, are you?”
“Hypothesis? How interesting. That theory is no longer a hypothesis. Nakiri, give it to me.”
At Lumia's gesture, the subordinate named Nakiri handed her a folder. Rin took it and continued.
“Your paper has already completed the clinical trial stage.”
“W-what? What did you just say...?”
Rin could not believe the words coming from her mouth.
“In the clinical experiment conducted in Sector 09, your paper's value was proven. Congratulations. Now you too—”
“-Wait! What the hell is this...?”
“You've been unable to grasp the words since earlier. I thought you were smart. Shall I make it simpler?”
Experiments that must never be conducted on sentient beings.
She had clearly stated that in the paper's conclusion.
Yet it was called a clinical experiment?
“Foolish rebels who oppose the Elder Council... After conducting the experiment with two thousand prisoners, the scholars of the Endel Research Institute concluded that your hypothesis has quite a bit of plausibility. I read it myself, and it was interesting.”
Rin's mind went blank in an instant.
Lumia continued reading the documents she had received from the subordinate.
“Compared to Alpha, Beta, Lambda, and Gamma parasites, this Sigma Parasite appears far more complex and erratic. The scholars at the academy thought the criterion for choosing a host was physical durability. But that was a mistaken belief.”
The document she held was
the paper she had written.
“From what I observed, the Sigma Parasite is estimated to feed on the host's level of intelligence or some aspect of the mind. The experiments observed at the academy prove this. The experiments were conducted with seven types of monsters: Naul, Vivas, Pedal, Siren, Geede, Galok, and Geros. Listing their intelligence levels in order: Hwum, I'll skip the numbers for now.”
Sweat trickled down Rin's spine.
“...It was confirmed that the higher the monster's intelligence, the longer the average parasitism time. Especially among the monsters, Geede—known for its strict hierarchical relationships and tactical hunting strategies—had a parasitism time about three minutes longer than the others. It was three times longer than a normal Geede when parasitizing the Geede leader.”
Lumia turned the page and continued reading.
“This parasite is a swarm yet possesses a single consciousness, so it is estimated that a central mother—namely, a queen-level individual—exists. This is very similar to the situational characteristics of the 'Dia Opus Telede' mentioned in the doomsday prophecy by the firefly priests of the ancestors' era. Then, how did the priests stop this apocalypse? They demanded a great sacrifice of sentient beings to discover the 'vessel' for the queen... Was it?”
She closed the folder and handed it back to the subordinate.
“The explosion occurred in Sector 13. The secret zone storing a large quantity of Sigma Parasites. Unfortunately, what happened happened. A good chance to prove your hypothesis—”
Rin could not hold back her anger and grabbed Lumia's collar.
“-You are all insane! Insane! Right now—”
“Rude!”
The subordinate who had been silent until then stopped her.
“Show gratitude to Lumia-nim, who graciously came all this way.”
“Hah! Gratitude? How amusing. What exactly are you saying right now—?!”
At that moment, the subordinate grabbed Rin's neck with her hand.
Rin struggled, clutching the subordinate's arm with both hands.
“How disrespectful to a high-ranking member of the Elder Council, a mere noble. That crime deserves a thousand deaths.”
“K-k...!”
The force choking her neck grew stronger.
As breathing became difficult, consciousness blurred.
“...That is enough, Nakiri.”
“As you command.”
With those words, the force around Rin's neck vanished instantly.
“Huff, cough, hah...”
“Shall we continue?”
Lumia glanced at Rin's pained face, then sat beside her in a strangely flushed state. She cupped Rin's chin with her hand. Whether a faint current was leaking from her palm, Rin trembled at the eerie sensation.
“We have no other choice, do we?”
“...Then what do you want?! Are you telling me to take responsibility for creating that hypothesis?! What the hell do you want from me—”
“-It's simple. Complete your hypothesis into a complete theory.”
Rin froze in place.
“The firefly priests mentioned in your paper. How many did they sacrifice? Ten thousand, no, twenty thousand? The 'vessel' that survived after sacrificing twenty thousand brought one hundred years of peace to the ancestors' country?”
The ancient characters inscribed on the wall of the ruins said so.
But it was merely a legend,
no one knew the truth behind it.
“Then, what about the vessel that sacrificed two hundred thousand? Aren't you looking forward to it?”
The total population of Sector 09, approximately two hundred thousand.
The daughter of the Third Elder intended to sacrifice them all.
Lumia, pressing even closer, wrapped her arm around Rin's waist.
“Do you get the picture? The moment you give up, what will happen.”
Infinite proliferation of the parasite.
That had to be stopped.
Rin bit her lip.
“Of course, the choice is yours. If you refuse, we will simply find another capable person to complete the hypothesis. But even then, how well can someone other than you implement it? How many more people will die because of it?”
As her face turned to despair, Lumia smiled. What was hidden behind the smile was pure madness. Rin's body, pulled into the darkness of the abyss, became taut like rubber about to tear.
“Do you feel guilt? You will become the hero who protects Sector 08 and 10, or... even all twenty sectors of Londinium. By sacrificing only two hundred thousand, you will stop this crisis, and it will be worth it. So...”
The pressure from the arm around her waist grew stronger, making Rin forget to breathe. At the same time, she felt Lumia's lips moving near her ear and heavy breath approaching.
“Just say it nicely and shut up. Don't waste my precious time.”
Lumia whispered that and returned to her seat.
“It is decision time.”
Rin saw herself being sucked into the darkness in Lumia's eyes. Along with a cold feeling as if all heat was leaving her body, something inside her heart broke with a sound.
“Sacrifice? Or...”
Only one choice.
“...All of us wiped out?”
Amid the suffocating tension,
Rin made her decision.