"Edge. That's your codename?"
With calm composure, Talulah watched the Rhodes Island operators retreat. She didn't move to pursue them—instead, she kept her gaze fixed on Revy.
"…More or less. It's a name from long ago."
Revy responded unusually seriously, though his eyes never left Talulah.
He knew this woman wasn't refraining out of mercy—she was simply supremely confident. Confident that even if he blocked her path, she could dispose of him quickly and still catch up with the Rhodes Island squad afterward.
Talulah regarded him with approval. She didn't want to kill him. She wanted him to join them.
"Your noble actions have earned you a chance—join us. Become one of us, and fight for the infected."
"Or you'll die here. Either way, I'll see to it that you and the friends you're protecting are buried together."
Revy's mouth curled slightly, as if about to say something, but he paused.
He had noticed several figures slowly emerging from behind Talulah.
There was a Catastrophes-infected Cautus girl surrounded by frost, exuding a cold air completely opposite to Talulah's burning heat. Mephisto stood nearby, his hateful eyes locked on Revy, next to the boy holding a broken crossbow. And among them—a Sarkaz mercenary Revy recognized all too well.
The moment she saw him, her eyes lit up with hostility—pure and unfiltered.
"You know him?" Talulah asked offhandedly, not even glancing back, just tilting her head slightly.
"Of course I do. We go way back… old friends," W said with a bright smile, though the grit in her voice betrayed her unease.
"Yo, W. That's how you greet an old friend?"
Revy joked casually, but there wasn't a hint of a smile in his eyes.
"What, you want me to cry tears of joy at our reunion?" W's smile stayed on her face. "Maybe I'll consider it—after I take your head as a trophy."
"Well, that's a shame…"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
W didn't even let him finish. Her grenade launcher roared with three consecutive shots, covering nearly every possible dodge path.
But Revy had anticipated her. The moment her barrel tilted upward, he leapt backward, vanishing from where he stood.
"Hmph… since he's your old acquaintance, I'll leave him to you," Talulah said coldly, turning to walk away. With so many enemies around, she saw no need to waste her time on someone fated to die.
But then—she stopped, a flicker of irritation in her eyes.
A bullet struck the ground right in front of her foot.
Revy's silhouette reappeared not far off. He had narrowly dodged one of W's grenades and now, with a quick flick of his wrist, shot both claymore mines she had tossed mid-air, detonating them before they could land.
"…I wasn't planning to return anyway. But I suggest you don't underestimate me," he said between breaths, smirking. "As your rear guard, I'm prepared to drag you down with me."
"Even if I'm down to just one arm, one leg, one finger, or one tooth—so long as my heart is still beating, I'll keep you stuck here."
"Tch… annoying!"
Talulah whipped a blade of searing heat forward.
Accompanying it was a wave of frigid wind that blanketed the scorched earth in frost, clashing violently with her flames. Behind the frost—hundreds of grotesquely deformed "warriors" charged forward.
Not just W and Talulah— even the frost-wielding Cautus girl had joined the assault. The twisted soldiers, unmistakably, were Mephisto's creations.
Now, with only Faust injured and unable to fight, every core leader of Reunion had joined forces in an attempt to crush this one man.
"…Bring it on."
Standing at the storm's eye, Revy let out a low chuckle. Rather than retreat, he charged forward, dual pistols blazing. First, he shot down several grenades in mid-air, using the resulting blasts and smoke to block the advancing frost.
Then, with a sidestep, he let Talulah's flaming slash gouge a thirty-centimeter wound across his chest—but kept moving.
Now the mutated warriors were less than twenty meters away.
"Pack! Kill him!"
Mephisto's eyes burned with zeal. He could already picture the man who had defied Talulah being torn apart by the swarm.
But in the very next second—something changed.
The front line of the pack stopped.
They writhed in agony, their bodies twisting unnaturally as though attacked by something invisible.
"What's happening?! Pack! Attack!"
Mephisto shouted, but the creatures were out of control. W's eyes narrowed in realization—then her face turned pale.
"No! Mephisto, pull them back right now or—"
Boom!
As if answering her, dozens of the frontline creatures suddenly changed color. Veins and sinew bulged grotesquely beneath translucent skin. Those covered in Originium crystals became walking contagions, and countless new shards burst out from beneath their skin.
And then—massive explosions erupted among them.
"No! My pack! What the hell is going on?!"
Mephisto turned on W, eyes wild with fury and desperation.
She only sighed.
"Hypergrowth. That's the man's Originium Art," she said grimly. "It accelerates biological cell metabolism by tens of thousands of times."
"Your creatures didn't ignore your commands—they lost control of the Originium inside their bodies the moment they entered his range."
"Be careful. That man… a long time ago, he was the most feared, most formidable warrior in all of Kazdel."
"The former Supreme Commander of the Kazdel Royal Guard—Regulus Harvey."