All of a sudden—
Something caught Adrian’s eye.
“Stop.”
Shizuka Marikawa slammed on the brakes.
Adrian stayed perfectly steady, but Exusiai lurched forward and crashed into him.
…Her halo smacked him right under the chin.
“What is it?” Shizuka asked, turning around.
“I think I saw someone.”
Adrian got out of the Humvee and looked toward the spot he’d noticed out of the corner of his eye.
There.
A little girl with pink hair.
A small white dog stood faithfully by her side.
The girl was kneeling beside a corpse, crying, while several zombies slowly closed in around her.
😭
Alice Maresato.
Adrian recognized her from Highschool of the Dead.
He stepped forward.
The ground sank beneath his foot.
He could manipulate the direction of energy, compress it, reshape it, and even give it entirely new properties.
With only the tiniest amount of force, he could unleash overwhelming destructive power.
By concentrating all the force beneath his foot into a single point, he could propel himself through the air—or move so fast it looked like teleportation.
Just like now.
In the blink of an eye, he appeared right in front of Alice.
⚡
“Woof!”
The little white dog barked.
“Y-You…”
Alice looked up at him blankly, tears still clinging to her face.
Adrian clenched his hand.
Dark, lightning-infused water erupted outward.
It swallowed every zombie nearby in an instant.
Crackle!
Pitch-bark lightning tore through them.
Every last zombie was burned into charred corpses.
🧟♂️🔥
His cold gaze shifted toward a nearby house.
Several pairs of eyes were peeking through a half-open door.
“Hmph.”
He snorted and stomped the ground.
The earth surged like a rising tidal wave.
It crashed into the house.
Under the horrified stares of the people hiding inside…
The entire building was flattened into rubble.
🏚️💥
Before Alice could even process what had happened—
Adrian scooped up both the girl and her dog under his arms.
One step.
He vanished.
The next moment, they were back beside the Humvee.
The whole sequence happened in one smooth motion.
“Ehhhhh?!”
Everyone inside let out a synchronized scream.
What just happened?
He’d stepped out for only a few seconds…
…and came back with a little girl and a dog.
Alice looked around at the unfamiliar faces, utterly confused.
“Um… how did I end up here?”
…
After Alice explained what had happened, everyone learned her story.
When the zombie outbreak began, she’d escaped the chaos with her father.
But while seeking shelter, they encountered a group that refused to help them.
Not only did they refuse…
They murdered her father.
“Oh my God… They wouldn’t help, and then they actually killed him?!”
Shizuka stared in disbelief.
“How can people be this horrible?”
“Where are those bastards?! I’m going to kill them!”
Saya Takagi exploded with rage.
“I’m coming too!”
Rei Miyamoto, who had mostly recovered emotionally, immediately chimed in.
“I think trash like that deserves to die too.”
Exusiai narrowed her eyes with a cheerful smile.
But behind that smile…
Was unmistakable killing intent.
“Calm down. There was a building collapsing just now. That was you, wasn’t it, Adrian?”
Saeko Busujima remained calm, carefully piecing together what had happened.
Adrian nodded and gently rested a hand on Alice’s head.
“I buried those pieces of garbage already.”
“Nice.”
His actions earned unanimous approval.
“Thank you…”
Alice’s eyes filled with grateful tears.
In the end, everyone agreed to bring Alice along with them.
…
The rest of the drive went smoothly.
Before long, they arrived at the location Saya had been guiding them toward.
But…
Something was wrong.
This didn’t look anything like a survivor settlement.
The place was devastated.
😰
Buildings were wrecked, debris was scattered everywhere, and zombies wandered through the ruins.
“Saya… are you sure this is the right place?”
Rei asked in confusion.
“Of course it is! There’s no way I got it wrong!”
Saya unfolded the map and pointed at it.
“Look. This is exactly where it should be.”
Adrian spoke up.
“She brought us to the correct location.”
“Something must have happened here.”
“What?! Dad! Mom!”
Saya’s face turned pale as she rushed out of the Humvee.
The settlement had become this…
Then what about her parents?
“No… I don’t believe it!”
She was about to sprint into the ruined settlement when Adrian grabbed her shoulder and stopped her.
“Calm down. Charging in won’t accomplish anything.”
“But my mom and dad…”
“Adrian.”
Exusiai suddenly pointed into the distance.
“I hear gunfire.”
Everyone immediately ran toward the sound.
“Mom!”
Saya spotted her mother.
Yuriko Takagi.
…
The settlement had been overrun by a massive zombie horde.
Her husband, Soichiro Takagi, had been killed.
💔
She had managed to escape…
Only to become surrounded by zombies once again.
Ratatatatat!
Her final magazine ran dry.
Yuriko tossed the empty rifle aside.
🔫🫓
“So… this is where it ends?”
“I’m going to die…”
She collapsed onto the ground in despair.
There was no escape left.
“Mom!”
Was that…
Her daughter’s voice?
Or just a hallucination before death?
She weakly lifted her head.
A tall figure stood before her.
Not a zombie.
He slowly raised a hand.
Across the battlefield, pools of black liquid writhed over the ground.
Like living water, they flowed across the earth, wrapping around and clinging to everything they touched.
CRACKLE!!!
Dark lightning exploded in every direction.
The zombies collapsed one after another— 😎⚡
As fragile as dying candles snuffed out by the wind.
“…..”