"Duyen… Miss Duyen… Wake up, Miss Duyen…"
Through the haze of unconsciousness, Duyen heard someone calling her name—a man's voice. In an instant, she jolted awake as if ripped out of an unspeakably horrific nightmare.
The moment she opened her eyes, she was met with Amuro's gaze—two blood-red irises glowing sharply in the darkness. Terror shot through her body.
"Ah!"
Duyen flinched and scrambled upright. Amuro immediately grabbed her shoulders, steadying her.
"Miss Duyen, don't be afraid. It's me—Amuro."
Hearing his low, gentle voice, Duyen finally began to calm down, though her breathing was still uneven and shallow.
"Amuro…" she murmured his name, as if she still couldn't quite believe what she was seeing.
For a moment, she had thought Amuro, the Queen, and the world she had just experienced were nothing more than fragments of a fever dream. But seeing him standing in front of her now, Duyen didn't know whether she should feel relieved—or deeply uneasy.
Suddenly, a violently sour, putrid stench slammed straight into her nostrils. The shock nearly made her retch.
"Ghk—!"
Yet she couldn't throw up.
The smell was unbearable—like a massive industrial gas reactor left to rot, so heavy it made her head spin, like seasickness on open water. Seeing her pale and trembling, Amuro quickly rubbed her back and shoulders.
"Miss Duyen, are you all right? Don't breathe too deeply. Take it slow."
"Thank you…"
Duyen managed a faint smile, brow furrowed as she forced herself to adjust to the foul air.
Where had she been brought this time? What was this smell coming from?
Only after her body slowly acclimated to the oppressive atmosphere was she finally able to take in the world around her. And what she saw was far worse than any nightmare she could have imagined.
Duyen and Amuro were standing in the heart of a city—one made entirely of living flesh.
Crimson walls bulged and writhed, connected by colossal blood vessels like exposed mucous membranes. There was no skin—only raw, grotesque tissue. Embedded throughout were massive, disjointed eyes of all sizes, rolling and twitching independently. Sometimes, they turned toward her.
Each time they did, Duyen's legs nearly gave out.
It was a vast, inside-out world of flesh. And everything in it was alive.
"This place… This place is…"
Duyen whispered, unable to believe her own eyes. This was worse than a nightmare.
Amuro finally let out a slow breath and followed her gaze.
"…We're still in Yomi City. Unfortunately, this is all that remains of it."
What…?
This was Yomi City?
The magnificent metropolis once reserved for the most beautiful and perfect gods, draped in gold and wealth, radiant beneath the Queen's divine splendor—
Had it truly become… this?
Duyen clamped a hand over her mouth. Memories of the last moment she had seen the Queen flooded back.
It hadn't been her imagination.
Yomi City had already been in the midst of a massacre.
The beautiful, majestic Queen—hung suspended in the air, assimilated into a writhing mass of flesh. From her body, something like a disease had spread throughout the city…
Back then, Amuro had carried Duyen away just in time.
So this… was everything that was left?
The Queen. And all the people of that city.
Duyen couldn't hold back her tears—not even for strangers she had only met once. Somehow, she could feel their agony, their endless suffering, as if it were her own.
"Why…?" she choked, eyes shimmering with tears. "Why did something like this happen?"
Seeing Duyen's shattered expression stirred even someone as cold and steel-hearted as Amuro. His voice remained restrained, but sorrow seeped through it as he spoke.
"At that moment, beings from another galaxy arrived. We don't know their true name—only that they are called those from the Red Star."
Duyen looked up at him through tear-filled eyes.
"Those from the Red Star…?"
"They exist for no purpose other than to wander from galaxy to galaxy, spreading suffering and evil to any living planet they deem must be destroyed," Amuro continued calmly.
He glanced at the blood-soaked flesh walls that never dried, at the clusters of egg-like sacs resembling those of some colossal spider.
"They left long ago. And this… is what they left behind. The Queen's blessing has become a curse—one that binds these unfortunate souls here for millions of generations."
Duyen struggled to push herself up from the ground. The surface beneath her was slick with blood-like fluid—if not for Amuro thoughtfully spreading his cloak beneath her earlier, it would have been worse.
She stared at the walls, at the countless eyes staring back. There was no longer any room for doubt.
They were all still alive.
Merged into this world of living flesh.
They were standing atop millions of lives—everywhere, endlessly, on an unimaginable scale.
"You mean…" Duyen whispered. "They were the people of Yomi City?"
"Yes—and no," Amuro replied.
"After enduring hundreds of millions of years of torture and bodily degradation, they continued to multiply uncontrollably. The area of this place now exceeds tens of billions of kilometers."
"Tens… of billions of kilometers!?" Duyen gasped, staring at him in disbelief, desperately hoping this was some kind of cruel joke.
But Amuro's expression was solemn. He nodded gently.
"Yes. And they—this entire place beneath our feet—no longer possess emotions or intellect like their ancestors once did. Their divine blood makes them difficult to kill, and their unchecked reproduction has become an enormous problem. They are no longer pure. They cannot become gods. And they can never return to what they once were."
The scale of it all crushed Duyen's mind. Even what she could see already felt infinite—yet billions of kilometers?
It was inconceivable.
The Queen…
Had she truly created this place?
And why—why had she chosen to trust Duyen?
What could she possibly do to help her… or these wretched beings?
"Find the Queen's throne, Miss Duyen."
Amuro turned to her, his voice firm.
"You still have her hairpin, don't you?"
His words jolted her memory. Duyen hurriedly searched around herself—only to realize the Queen's hairpin was already in her hand.
Or rather, a massive golden needle, shining brilliantly, larger than a dagger.
"…She told me to find the throne," Duyen murmured. "To save Shana… Save Shana…"
Her eyes suddenly widened in shock.
"Shana!? Why is Shana here!?"
She spun toward Amuro, desperate for an explanation. But he only looked at her silently before speaking softly.
"Go find Miss Shana, Miss Duyen. Perhaps now… only you can."
"Even if that's true…" Duyen's voice trembled under the crushing weight of the responsibility suddenly thrust upon her.
She was terrified—utterly terrified. But knowing what had happened… knowing Shana might be somewhere in this hellish world…
Her heart pounded violently.
She was afraid—but she couldn't turn away.
"…After I do what the Queen asked," Duyen asked quietly, "after I save Shana… what happens then?"
Amuro smiled at her, as if he already understood how she felt.
"…You will also free all these unfortunate beings. And in return, a reward awaits you—something the Queen prepared for those who are chosen."
"Chosen…?" Duyen frowned, confused.
Amuro's voice dropped to a whisper.
"That is why the twins were able to escape so easily… One of the small worlds they created has finally borne fruit…"
Duyen didn't hear those words. Amuro was sometimes like this—cryptic to the point of bewildering her.
Clutching the golden needle, Duyen suddenly felt an unfamiliar resolve rise within her.
But finding the Throne in a place this vast—how long would that take? Amuro merely smiled gently.
"Don't worry, Miss Duyen. I'm here. And I know exactly where it is. We're already inside the heart of the 'city.'"
He looked up at the colossal mucous walls towering higher than the sky itself. The sight made Duyen's chest tighten—but Amuro extended his hand.
She looked at it.
One hand held the golden needle. The other reached out and grasped his. Together, they stepped forward—into the grotesquely transformed heart of the city.
No one knew how much time had passed.
How many days. How many months. How many years.
It no longer mattered.
Their legs kept moving, tirelessly carrying them across endless fields of living flesh, through hollow chambers stretching for dozens of kilometers. Along the way, they encountered grotesque, gigantic creatures that could fly through the air—and sometimes beings that looked human, yet unmistakably were not.
Strangely, there was not the slightest trace of fatigue. As if time itself had never mattered.
And perhaps time had already been devoured by this place long ago.
At times, Duyen felt something deeply unsettling—yet eerily familiar.
It was as if she had wandered like this countless times before, in dreams, along infinite corridors.
As if she had always been meant to search for something. As if she had been born for that very purpose.
Suddenly, Duyen turned to Amuro.
"But why are you trapped here?" she asked. "You said you were waiting for me."
Her words made Amuro halt for a moment. He stood there, frozen, before quietly resuming his steps. His voice remained calm, almost mechanical.
"I am here because I was punished. But in the end, I remain because I must wait for those who are chosen."
"The chosen huh?" Duyen frowned. "So… it's not just me?"
Amuro replied, "…Yes. And at this very moment, I am also searching for her. Fate has already arranged everything here. Sooner or later, she will find her way to you. Even so…"
His voice suddenly lowered. A trace of unease slipped through as he stopped walking altogether. Seeing this, Duyen grew worried.
"Amuro? What's wrong? Are you tired? Should we rest for a bit?"
But Amuro merely stood still—then abruptly covered his face, as if trying to hide from something. Hide from what?
"Duyen…?"
A voice called her name. Duyen froze.
That voice was impossibly familiar—so familiar it made her blood run cold.
No…
It couldn't be. There was no way she could be here too.
Trembling, Duyen turned around.
Standing before her was—
"Mina…?"
Mina stood there in a horrifying state—filthy. As if she had just crawled out of a swamp made of blood. Dried crimson streaks clung to her still-beautiful face, darkened stains crusted around her mouth. One of her eyes glowed with an eerie red-orange light.
But that wasn't the only thing wrong. One of Mina's arms had become grotesquely abnormal. Her entire right hand had transformed into a massive biological gun—made of her own flesh.
Duyen stumbled backward in shock.
"Mina!? W-wait—your arm!?"
"Duyen…" Mina murmured her name again, smiling vacantly—childlike, yet devastatingly beautiful.
Strangely enough, she looked even more beautiful than before, despite her condition.
Then, as if Duyen's reaction had startled her, Mina suddenly panicked. Her face flushed as she frantically touched her own cheeks with both hands—one normal, one monstrously deformed.
"Ah— I'm sorry, Duyen… I must look awful, right…? I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"
Her voice cracked, on the verge of tears. Hearing that voice, Duyen knew—it really was Mina. She waved her hands in a panic.
"No! That's not it! You're not ugly, Mina! I didn't mean that!"
But Mina's insecurity spiraled out of control. She noticed her mutated right arm and glared at it with pure disgust.
"…This is definitely your fault, you useless piece of shit."
With that, Mina suddenly turned away, doing something frantically. Duyen stood there, utterly confused.
Mina's body began to convulse violently. The grotesque arm twitched, warped—then reformed into a perfectly normal arm. Even the filth covering her body vanished without a trace, as if she had swallowed every imperfection back into herself.
Even Amuro stared in disbelief. Duyen was even more shaken.
Mina turned back, gazing at Duyen with a dreamy expression. The red-orange glow in her eye was gone. Her face was flawless—unnaturally clean, almost wrong.
"Duyen," she asked softly, "am I prettier now?"
"Mina… y-you just—"
Of course Mina was beautiful. Terrifyingly so.
But this beauty frightened Duyen.
What had happened to her? How could she do something like that?
Before Duyen could say another word, Mina suddenly lunged forward and kissed her—hard. No regard for their surroundings, no care for the situation they were in.
Duyen flushed deeply as Mina's tongue traced her mouth, accompanied by wet, desperate sounds.
"Mmm—Mina… wait—calm down… calm down…"
After a moment, Mina finally pulled away, pouting.
"What is it, Duyen?" she asked sulkily. "Don't you miss me? I never stop thinking about you. Not for a second. I'd die for you. I'd kill for you. Don't you know that?"
"Mina…"
Duyen was speechless. That obsessive intensity—there was no mistaking it. Only Mina could feel like this.
Seeing her here filled Duyen with warmth, with a strange sense of joy.
But why was Mina here?
"Mina… why are you here? You—"
Before she could finish, Mina's gaze turned icy cold, snapping toward someone behind Duyen.
"Who are you?"
Her voice was sharp with contempt as she shoved Duyen behind her, shielding her possessively.
Duyen had completely forgotten—Mina was terrifyingly jealous.
As Duyen struggled to figure out how to explain Amuro's presence, Amuro suddenly dropped to one knee before Mina without hesitation.
"I, Amuro Sawada," he said solemnly, "offer my allegiance to the young lady."