Infinity, progressing from Arasaka

As the CCG investigators appeared and the crowd thinned out, Vera continued walking forward on the street where some shops had put up signs for rest. As she spoke, she slightly raised her head to estimate the distance to the investigation team led by Mado Kureo, while her peripheral vision kept scanning her surroundings.

The feeling of being watched grew stronger and stronger, and it seemed to be getting closer and closer.

"After all, Tokyo doesn't have walls, it only has 'ghouls.' Do you really believe that ghouls, who contribute nothing to society, readily gorge on their own kind, are insane, extremely mentally unstable, and worse than livestock, can really endure it? Not all ghouls have self-control..."

As she spoke, Vera stopped and looked at the other side of the street.

"There's only one answer: the ghoul organization. Don't you think so, you scumbags in the gutter..."

Before the words were finished, figures appeared in twos and threes behind an artistic three-dimensional billboard on the third floor of a shop, some dressed in white suits and others in dark red robes.

"alert!"

*Hiss! Buzz! Buzz!* The sound of the Quinque opening rang out, and Akira Mado brandished the Quinque, which resembled a chain sword and a long whip. The Senior Investigator, wielding a Quinque with a huge, long-handled, straight-bladed cleaver, also appeared to block Vera's path.

Other investigators, each wielding a different quinque, also shouted repeatedly, signaling to passersby still lingering on the nearby streets to leave.

However, the uninvited guest acted even faster.

Thud! Accompanied by the whooshing sound of Yuhe releasing the Rc cell crystal prism, a loud bang was heard, and the aluminum material and painted synthetic plastic of the three-dimensional billboard snapped off with a crack.

A broad white shadow shot towards them.

"Hoo hoo, you... hiss, smells so good—! You can definitely handle it..."

With a pair of wide-set, bloodshot, crimson eyes, dark sclera, and a flat, wide nose, accompanied by a drooling, indistinct, manic tone, he opened his index and middle fingers, which were covered in metal finger cots, and headed straight for Vera.

"Russell, First Class Officer!"

The senior investigator swung his quinque to block the feathered crystal prism. He looked at Vera, who still seemed to be motionless and hadn't even opened the quinque case, and exclaimed in surprise.

But, *sizzle*

A loud clang of hard metal rang out, causing the senior investigator to instinctively breathe a sigh of relief.

That makes sense. Given Russell's strength and track record as a quasi-Special Officer, how could he possibly need to worry about him?

Then came a hysterical, high-pitched roar, a crisp sound of bones breaking, followed by a muffled explosion, and the broad white figure was sent flying backward at a speed no less than when it had shot in.

The tattered and twisted umbrella lay on the ground.

Vera's left glove burst open from the pinkish-white quinque steel. "Gun III" was aimed at the broad white figure that was flying backward and briefly stiffened in mid-air. Thud! Thud! Thud!

Boom!

The Yuhe spiked warhead hit, and the quinque-modified Q-Baret material inside exploded, turning into a ball of sparks that enveloped the broad-shouldered figure in a white suit. Three consecutive shots exploded in mid-air, sending him flying into a wide alley.

In the alleyway at that moment, a voice shouted, "Mado, First Class; Amon, First Class, step back! Several S-rank dangerous ghouls have been detected operating in your vicinity!"

then.

A broad, charred black figure passed over the heads of two investigators, one tall and one hunchbacked, wielding quinques.

"Jason the Gecko?!"

Amon Koutarou, holding the black metal rod-shaped quinque named Dojima 1/2, suddenly changed his expression and entered a state of high alert. "Mado-senpai!"

"Hahaha... Hunting villains like this is what's fun! Amen, let's go!"

With his body hunched over, his sickly, disproportionate eyes seemed to bulge even more. Mado Kureo laughed wildly, and with a snap, the Quinque opened, revealing a white shell and red flesh. A gigantic chain blade, resembling a centipede, whistled menacingly and swept towards Jason, who had just crashed into the facade of a shop, with astonishing speed.

"Aaaaah—!" Kotaro Amon charged toward Jason with his big, thick stick.

They had seemingly put the mother and daughter ghouls they had previously surrounded out of their minds.

Everything happens in a flash of lightning.

Mrs. Fueguchi, who was spreading out her enormous moth-wing-like armor to wrap herself and her daughter and prepare to give her last words, was also somewhat confused about the situation.

Jason? Not only were they strangers, they were enemies. Her husband was forced to die by Jason...

"Mom...that's Dad, that's Dad's..."

Hinami stared intently at the giant chain blade Quinque, which was wielded like a centipede in the hands of the sickly middle-aged investigator, and burst into tears.

Without time to think or offer comfort, Mrs. Fueguchi grabbed Hinami's hand.

"...Perhaps Daddy will never come back, but Mommy will protect Hinami...Go, go quickly..."

Just then, a cracking sound rang out, and rubble flew everywhere. Amon Kotaro, who had been charging forward like a madman a moment before, was thrown back and fell in front of the mother and daughter with blood on his forehead.

“This…” The mother and daughter from the flute mouth were stunned.

...

"Dad! Back off!"

Amidst a deafening roar, an excited female voice suddenly burst into the alley.

The centipede-shaped giant chain blade Quinque continued to collide with the rough, saw-like, enormous kagune rising from the smoke and debris. Mado Kureo turned his head, "Akatsuki?"

Watching Mado Akira, who was beheading a ghoul in a dark red robe with his chain sword Quinque outside the alley, his morbidly misshapen eyes seemed to return to normal at that moment.

"I'll kill you! I'll eat you! I'll kill you and then eat you!"

Boom! The kagune slammed into the ground, and the impact of the rampaging kagune that was still multiplying caused Mado Kureo to stagger.

Quink could still withstand it, but his mortal arms couldn't withstand the force. He was pulled and thrown against the wall of the alley with a thud, almost losing his breath on the spot.

"Akira, what are you doing here!" Mado Kureo almost shouted angrily.

As he spoke, he swayed and struggled to his feet, grabbing the No. 1 flute. "Retreat! I'll cover you. You and Amon, aren't you the kind of villains..."

That posture was exactly the same as Mrs. Fueguchi's posture when protecting her daughter not long ago.

Just as Mado Kuroo was about to launch an attack on Jason, a terrifying roar came from outside the alley. A figure flew backward and crashed twice into the shop's doorway, accompanied by a shaky signboard that fell in front of Jason.

"Yakumo, that...that foreign female white dove...she's so strong and so wicked...it seems we can't complete Lord Tatara's surveillance mission. Should we listen to her and retreat..."

The man with the bright, flamboyant eyes, a stubble-covered double chin, and heavy makeup, who looked like a sissy, clutched his bleeding abdomen and cried out in a coy manner, while reaching out and gently stroking Jason's chest muscles with his orchid-like fingers, as if he were a homosexual.

"Nick?"

His friend's voice brought Jason, whose mind was becoming increasingly frenzied and unstable as he unleashed his kagune to the maximum extent, to a slight calm. But it was only a brief moment of calm, because the feathered kagune bullet instantly tore apart the shop's signboard and swept over.

Along with that came a piercing, whistling sound as it pushed through the air, whoosh—

The jet-black spear, like a long, elongated black beam, hurtled towards Jason with immense power, carving a large hole in his right shoulder, which was already showing signs of being covered in kagune. Blood and flesh splattered everywhere, and the spear flew through the air, pinning Jason to the wall with a loud crack, causing cracks to spread in all directions.

"Boss Gecko!"

A blond man in a white suit, who looked like a ghoul with a hairstyle that was a combination of a slicked-back hairstyle and a bob, screamed.

Then she started yelling and screaming, and burst into tears, whether it was because her tear ducts were very developed or something else. She swung her katana and pulled away, releasing the clasp and throwing the white box to the ground. Vera, carrying only the black and gold box, rushed straight away.

"Noisy!"

Without any skill involved, Vera sidestepped the opponent's wide-open attack and kicked him in the knee. With her left hand, her fingers closed, the memory metal wriggled, and "Gun III" transformed into a broadsword. With a backhand slash, the gleaming blade severed his head.

S-class, Kagaku, I think it's called Naki... never mind, it's not important.

Whoosh whoosh—

Yuhe. Sensing the threat, as if with 'insight,' Vera took a few steps back, extended her left palm, and her five fingers transformed into blades. With a flick, the scarlet crystal prisms were deflected, not a single feather touching her.

Swing the red and white mixture on the "Gun III".

Without even looking, Vera blasted another ghoul who was trying to sneak up on her to the ground with a shot, then stomped her high heel through his temple under his mask and stepped on the dead ghoul's head. She looked towards the second floor not far away.

A male ghoul with purple-blue curly hair, wearing a half-face mask, and activating his double kagune that resembles the wings of a blood angel.

"Woman! Tell me, where did the things in your box come from?!"

Staring with a pair of scarlet eyes, his voice seemed to tremble, his killing intent deep in his bones was undisguised, it was boiling hatred, an uncontrollable desire for destruction.

"Russell, First Class Officer!"

Three other elite investigators arrived. "It's a dual-feathered S-rank 'Ghoul'." They freed Quinque and looked at Vera.

"Spread out, seal off the area, support Mado-no-kami, buy one minute, don't let any ghoul escape. Leave him to me."

"Yes!"×N

As she spoke, Vera glanced sideways at the ghoul and raised the black and gold box.

"You reacted to this? So, who is the SS-rank 'Corpse Collector' Kirishima Arata to you? You must be his descendant, no wonder."

"I'll kill you! I'll tear you to pieces! The pain my father suffered, you'll suffer a thousand times, a million times..."

As soon as Kirishima Shin's name was mentioned, the ghoul's eyes were filled with murderous intent, and whoosh!

The blood wings writhed, and the billowing feathers, like ignited gas, spewed out a high concentration of Rc cells, shooting out dense, thick, and long blood-red crystal prisms at the damned woman in front of them.

This time, Vera did not dodge.

She picked up the black gold box and pressed the fingerprint switch.

Click.

"New proto, loaded."

Blood mist filled the air as Vera activated "New Proto," instantly encasing her entire body in a full-body armor made of a mixture of kagune and quinque steel from a living kagune capsule.

The armor was entirely matte black, radiating a capillary-like shimmering light, and its surface was adorned with purplish-red patterns, making it look quite expensive.

Ding-ding-ding-ding!

The crystal prism was deflected by the streamlined shell of the kagune armor, producing a piercing metallic scraping sound.

"Backlash... a slight tingling sensation. Performance... wow... seems even better than the optimal parameters designed by Dr. Earthwalker."

The next moment, boom!

Vira pulled it.