“Rifts are the source of Earth’s calamity.”
Amane started off with an explosive information. He managed to glean onto many things when he used his [Omniscient Brain]. He merely expected an explanation regarding the sea monsters’ out-of-schedule attack. In the end, Amane happened upon the truth behind Earth’s Apocalyse.
“They are gateways connecting Earth into other worlds. They appeared right after the blood rain started. The insects we faced and the blood rain all came from those rifts.”
Amane’s information was incomplete, leaving him behind to form a general flow of events.
A week prior to the rifts’ arrival, the endless snow began. It pushed the growth of evolution fruits. Simultaneously, it also pre-maturely awakened the superpowers of some lucky fellows. It is similar to a gift given by Earth itself.
A week later, the blood rain descended, turning most of humanity into zombies. A few days after that was the vanguard pods’ descent onto Earth’s heavily populated cities. These two catastrophes arrived on Earth with the help of rifts. The rifts used by these two were the earliest to appear. The rest of the rifts were either dormant or hadn't appeared yet.
That was the second shocking thing Amane stated.
“Earth continues to form rifts leading to other dimensions.”
“Other worlds…”
Earth is currently similar to a piece of paper that continues to get pierced. It cannot be stopped at all. Worst of all, they didn’t know when those rifts would bring stronger enemies.
Thus came the third shocking thing.
“Whenever a rift opens for the first time, it will emit special energy. Its nature is similar to evolution fruits, capable of pushing an esper’s life level to new heights.”
“Those sea monsters.”
“Mhm.”
It wasn’t hard to guess that the sea monsters came across newly-opened rifts. The special energy they emitted plus their huge population was enough to push talented monsters into the seventh-order, if not the eighth-order.
‘Why did they carry it out in advance?’ Eishi thought. ‘They must be accumulating power. The same went for those zergs.’
Amane did not disappoint him.
“The ocean’s rifts led to a strong world. They were driven by someone to attack first.”
“...”
Eishi fell silent, and so did Amane.
Within Japan’s vicinity, there were already seventh-order evolved beasts. There was still the eighth-order beast that Eishi hadn't seen yet. The invincibility formed by his Time Dominator was shaken at this moment.
“That was everything I saw. I tried to look further, but I almost died.”
“...Understood. Thanks for the good work.”
The two men didn’t say anything else. Eishi left the hospital room with heavy thoughts.
“Ninth-order? No, could they be tenth-order?”
It felt utterly ridiculous to Eishi. He was already hacking his way through, yet he was only at the fourth-order. How could they face enemies of that rank?
“...No.”
If there were worlds holding malicious intents toward Earth, then there would also be worlds who might be willing to help Earth. It was a naive and idealistic possibility, but it exists.
Still…
“I need to become stronger.”
…Eishi wasn’t one to place his life on others’ palms.
*****
The world became more chaotic. The first wave of nuclear weapons became the last time it was used. Military bases kept being overrun. Conventional modern weapons are extremely strong, but when it comes to those evolved beasts with strong and fast bodies, they are of no use. Cities kept on being overrun. Military bases kept falling one after another. Humanity’s only saving grace are the espers. They became the core of every group.
Fortunately, they were able to survive the first few days of onslaught. Some smaller groups who survived up to now became stronger due to the flesh and blood of the sea monsters. The survivors belonging to the 1% survival rate were further reduced. In exchange, most of the survivors grew stronger.
It was a different thing in Yokohama and Tokyo. Eishi’s interception of two seventh-order beasts allowed them to have more breathing room. There were also the talents belonging to various ACGs growing stronger as time went by. Yokohama, especially, entered a stable state. Monsters kept on besieging them, but the city’s espers held them back.
As for Eishi and his confidantes, they all entered a state of high-speed improvements.
It took another two days for Saya to verify the efficacy of seventh-order beast blood. Upon comparing the whale and the swordfish, the latter’s blood was extremely potent. Its small body housed the equivalent of the whale’s. It also meant that the whale’s blood was ‘diluted’ due to its huge size, making it the most suitable for everyone to raise their life levels with.
They were lucky that Saya was able to remove the strong blood taste in them, lest they would have suffered from it.
Nothing else happened in the next five days. Before long, it was already nine days since the siege began; almost a month and a half since the apocalypse began.
In the corner of Yokohama city, a small earthquake erupted. The shockwaves it sent out caused the nearby buildings to shake intensely. Fissures appeared on the ground, causing some buildings to cave in.
Bam-!
Rumble-!
Shockingly, several rubbles floated atop a seated man. The invisible electromagnetic field surrounding him pushed them back.
Boom-!
Shatter-!
The large rubbles filled with cement and steel bars shattered as Eishi opened his eyes. He stored the empty plastic packet reminiscent of a juice container back in his spatial backpack.
“Sixth-order.”
He muttered as he opened his status panel.
[Eishi Hiraoka]
Innate Talent: Time Dominator (SSS, Sixth-order)
Non-exclusive Talent: Spatial Backpack (3,610,000 Cubic Meters), Constitution Boost (SS, Fourth-order), Weak Electricity (A, Fourth-order), Spirit Boost (B, Fourth-order), Metal Sharpening (A, Fourth-order), Clairvoyance (A, Fourth-order), Super Regeneration (S, Seventh-order), Law Penetration (S, Fourth-order), Qi Burst (S, Fourth-order), Cosmic Barrier (S, Fourth-order), Sun’s Essence (SS, Fourth-order), True Dragon Will (SS, Fourth-order)
Life Level: Sixth-order, One-star
Strength: 6,371 (21,024)
Agility: 6,330 (20,889)
Constitution: 9,730 (61,299)
Spirit: 13,195 (17,150)
A lot of changes happened in his status over the past five days. The seventh-order whale’s blood was the best tonic up to date, far surpassing the likes of evolution fruits. Not only did it manage to bring up Eishi’s life level, it also upgraded his [Super Regeneration] to the seventh-order. It brought up the recovery rate of his genetic energy, spirit, and his physical body to unknown heights.
He hasn’t tried as to where his current limits lay, but it would definitely exceed his desperate twelve hours of struggle against the huge whale.
‘That swordfish… its defense is weak as hell.’
Eishi realized new things as he stepped onto sixth-order. The power that filled his body made him feel like he could cause enough impact to flatten an entire city. The seventh-order swordfish traded defense and resilience in exchange for extreme speed and piercing strength. Similarly, the whale traded off strength and speed in exchange for extreme defense and resilience. Still, Eishi felt like there was something more to the whale compared to the swordfish.
Bam-!
With a single stomp, all the large rubbles surrounding Eishi crumbled into fine dust. A large cloud of dust was kicked up mid-air.
Boom-!
A punch cleared up most of the dust cloud. The loud sonic boom resounded throughout the city. Hearing this, even the foolish sea monsters trembled before retreating back.
This set of actions roused Eishi’s fighting spirit. A faint black slit appeared on his irises. His body uncontrollably let out a strong but intangible mental pressure. It swiftly spread all over the city, causing everyone to look in his direction.
Fright, admiration, affection…
All sorts of emotions struck Eishi. He remained unaffected as he reined in his power. The only thing that remained was his highly active dragon rod.
“How troublesome…”
Before, he had resolved the issue of being overwhelmed with hormones via Sun’s Essence. It purified his essence, turning it into the sun’s, which allowed him to properly control his desires.
Ever since he knew about Amane’s discovery, however, he grew more wary towards Earth’s possible dangers. He had rid the two cities of seventh-order monsters, but the ones above them remain. That was why he took the chance to level up as fast as he could.
Still, Eishi thought it wasn’t enough. After a long deliberation, he used his stored [Potential Enhancement Fruit] slot on [Dragon Blood (S)]. The major issue he faced was the duration of his time stop. Raising his spirit attribute became the most direct solution to it.
However, his [Spirit Boost] was only B rated. The best he could reach was an S rating. Compared to it, the [Dragon Blood] which helped in his recovery rate became the better option. Hence, it was upgraded into [True Dragon Will]. The recovery speed he possessed increased more than a dozen times. Eishi also received a huge boost to his mental pressure and electromagnetic field.
Most importantly, his virility skyrocketed. Not a day had passed without him having sex. While it wasn’t as erratic and uncontrollable as his hormonal ‘rampages’, he would feel uncomfortable without the presence of a woman. That was the sole downside of this otherwise broken talent.
It just so happened that Eishi’s level-up was designated as the time his reserve confidantes would be taken in. Even Kuroneko agreed to this matter. They all agreed to do it all at once.
Thinking about them made his dragon rod excited about it.
‘The fifteenth reward…’
*****
The stable, pure-white rift, suddenly spat out a person.
Splash-!
He fell into the shallow waters, rolling several times before stopping. The man, Aki, immediately got up. He caught his breaths. He placed his right palm on his chest and felt his heart beating erratically.
“That was close…”
The pair of glasses he wore was long gone. His irises trembled as he looked at the rift with lingering fear.
“Fucking hell. I thought it was a nice world.”
The moment the rift appeared, a special energy seeped out. Aki didn’t know what it was, but his body instinctively absorbed it. That was enough to push his life level from the first-order to the third-order.
After receiving that benefit, he thought that the rift was a place where a ‘treasure’ lay. He thought it was a place where evolution fruits could be found en masse, hence he entered.
The first thing that greeted his mind was a cold and mechanical voice. It was something ripped out of an RPG game, announcing how a ‘Unique Skill’ was being generated for him. What he didn’t understand was that it was shaped by his mind. He ended up getting an incredulous unique skill—[Sex Fiend].
It granted two things. First was the passive charm effect. Women would find him pleasing to the eye. It was a subtle change and couldn’t fully subvert their thinking. The other was the enhancements. For each time Aki had sex, he would receive all kinds of feedback. Physical attributes, “skill”, and even artifacts are of no exception.
His mood was over the mood, thinking he could stage a comeback. The first thing he thought was the Valkyrie Squad that humiliated him!
‘Just you wait…’
Unfortunately for him, that was as far as his luck went. Aki was sent to another world, with another rift appearing on the place he landed on. He explored the endless forest for five days, but to no avail. His [Unique Skill] could not be used at all!
In the end, he was forced to run towards the rift, returning back to Earth. The moment he did so, the horde of fantasy-esque monsters that chased him were blocked off.
“It’s good that they are blocked off…”
It took a while for his adrenaline to calm down. Aki now faced a decision: to return to his impromptu base in Kawasaki or head straight to Yokohama for his revenge.
He took note of his current strength and compared it to the Valkyrie Squad members. They couldn’t match him at all.
‘I need to test it out for now…’
His cautious side finally reined his reckless side. Without another thought, he went straight towards his base, only to find his ‘subordinates’ had already rebelled. They thought Aki was dead after being unresponsive for nine days.
“You bastards..!”
That day, every esper in Kawasaki knew terror.