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When Emiya Juzen's proposal was submitted, the higher-ups at Umbrella didn't rage or reject it outright. On the contrary, they discussed it with interest.
After all, when it came to being inhuman, Juzen and Umbrella's executives were about on the same level.
One side didn't treat humans as people.The other didn't treat life as something worth anything.
In the end, after a round of discussion, the executives made their decision.
If humanity was to "evolve," sacrifices were unavoidable.
For the sake of mankind's happiness, the people of Tokyo would just have to suffer.
And once the perfect Blacklight Virus was complete, surely those Tokyo residents, even in their graves, would rest easy knowing they had contributed.
A win on every front, really.
But once the plan moved into execution, Umbrella quickly realized it wasn't so easy to bring Tokyo to its knees. After all, this was the capital of Japan.
Security here was… annoyingly solid.
Especially with the Onmyoryo—those humans with extraordinary powers—stationed in Tokyo. If anything went wrong, they'd swoop in immediately and crush it.
That meant the Blacklight Virus might never get a proper chance to show its full potential.
So after more debate, Umbrella decided to avoid Tokyo and instead target Chuangzhu City, a smaller city nearby.
Close to Tokyo, but with much weaker defenses. No sizable army presence, no major exorcists stationed there.
If an outbreak started, Tokyo's response would take time. And even then, they wouldn't commit all their forces to such a small city.
In short, a perfect test site.
Not long ago, Umbrella operatives seeded the city's water supply with the Blacklight Virus, spreading it quietly into thousands of homes.
When Akio accessed John Smith's memories and saw this, he couldn't help but frown.
He'd found out far too late.
The virus had already been planted in Chuangzhu's waterworks. The only reason it hadn't erupted yet was because it was still in its incubation stage.
Once that period ended, the Blacklight Virus would explode into full outbreak.
That was why the epidemic in Chuangzhu had hit with such ferocity—no warning, no gradual build-up. Just instant catastrophe.
But not even Umbrella's own people had expected the mutation rate to be so outrageous.
It was completely beyond control.
The virus could even infect supernatural beings like youkai.
So once it broke loose, Tokyo fell in a month, and within half a year, the whole of Japan was gone.
Total collapse.
But then Akio thought of something else.
If this world had been stitched together with the Nasuverse, then Alya must really exist here too.
Japan collapsing, hundreds of millions turned into zombies—Would Alya really just sit back and do nothing?
Impossible.
In the original stories, Alya went to ridiculous lengths to safeguard humanity. It even appointed Emiya Shirou as a Counter Guardian, tasked with erasing threats to mankind's survival.
And this time, it wasn't some minor danger. We were talking about hundreds of millions of lives lost.
There was no way Alya would ignore it.
It should have deployed Heroic Spirits to fight the crisis… so why had things spiraled beyond repair?
Why?
Akio couldn't figure it out. Unless—something else had happened. Some unforeseen twist.
After pulling the truth from John Smith's mind, Akio left Umbrella's base with Saeko Busujima at his side.
"I've pieced together most of the situation," he told her. "But I've got some bad news."
Saeko's expression darkened.
"Umbrella spread the Blacklight Virus through Chuangzhu's water supply," Akio explained. "Right now, countless people are already infected."
"The virus is still in incubation, but once that ends, the outbreak will explode immediately."
"And there's only one way to stop it."
"Find a cure."
Saeko's eyes sharpened. "Lord Akio—where is the cure?"
Akio sighed. "Here's the worse news. There is no cure."
Her face went pale in an instant.
"You mean… the hundreds of thousands of people in Chuangzhu are doomed?"
"Not completely hopeless," Akio said after a pause. "Just… troublesome."
Saeko dropped to her knees with a loud thud. "Lord Akio, please—I beg you to save Chuangzhu!"
If there was truly no hope, she wouldn't force him. But since he'd said there was a way, she would cling to that.
No matter the price.
After all, we were talking about hundreds of thousands of lives.
Truthfully, Akio didn't care much about those lives. But seeing Saeko's desperate plea, he thought for a moment and said, "I can try."
That very night, Akio and Saeko made their way into Chuangzhu City.
The streets were silent, shrouded in night.
"Lord Akio," Saeko asked as they walked the empty roads, "what should we do now?"
Akio smiled. "Just watch."
With that, he stepped upward—onto air itself—and rose higher and higher until he hovered more than two hundred meters above the ground.
From there, the entire city lay within his gaze.
The next instant, his body erupted with dazzling light, like a sun descending from the heavens.
In a single breath, the world inverted.
Night turned to day.
That holy radiance didn't just bathe the streets—it pierced through rooftops, flooding every home and every body in the city.
The power of pure light invaded the infected, effortlessly scouring away the Blacklight Virus still in its dormant stage.
The virus never even had the chance to react. It was simply erased.
Even the contaminated reservoirs and pipelines of the waterworks were cleansed by his light.
Before long, Chuangzhu was free of every trace of infection.
When it was done, Akio drew his light back into himself and descended to the deserted street once more.
Darkness reclaimed the sky as night fell again.
"It's done," he said lightly. "Chuangzhu's Blacklight Virus has been completely purified."
Saeko blinked. "…Wait, that's it?"
"You said it was supposed to be really troublesome!"
Akio raised an eyebrow. "And you think that wasn't troublesome? Even when I fought Nurarihyon's brat, it didn't cost me this much effort."
"..."
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