__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
This time, in order to purge the Blacklight Virus from the bodies of hundreds of thousands of people in Bedmaster City, Akio didn't just unleash tremendous power—he even managed to rein in the full destructive force of the Light.
He cleansed only the virus, without harming a single person.
It might've looked like it all happened in just a few minutes, but the precision required was razor-thin.
The strain on Akio's mind was no small thing.
That was why he had called it troublesome.
Saeko Busujima didn't understand the principles behind it, so to her it hadn't seemed all that difficult. But if she had, she would've realized just how much focus Akio had poured into those few minutes—far more than any normal person could bear.
Fortunately, Saeko wasn't slow. She pieced it together quickly enough. After all, cleansing a virus hidden inside hundreds of thousands of people all at once was far too outrageous to take lightly.
Just imagining the scope of it made her scalp prickle.
"You've worked hard, Lord Akio."
Akio waved her words aside. "It was tiring, yes, but if it's the plea of my believers… As a god, isn't it only natural to answer them?"
That moment struck Saeko like an arrow to the heart. A wave of emotion surged up in her chest, deeper than anything she'd ever felt before. Her respect for him grew even stronger.
But just then, she sensed a powerful aura closing in. Instinctively, she stepped in front of Akio, weapon raised, body tense.
Seconds later, a man with white hair and a red leather coat dropped from the sky, landing before her.
Akio recognized him immediately.
Alya's enforcer.
The Heroic Spirit—Emiya.
Akio wasn't surprised at all. The fall of Japan, hundreds of millions turned into zombies—how could Alya possibly ignore something like that? Of course it would send out a Heroic Spirit to deal with it.
The only question was why, in the "first loop" of this timeline, it had failed.
"Who are you?"
Saeko tightened her grip on her wooden blade, ready to strike the instant he moved.
Emiya quickly raised both hands. "Easy. I'm not your enemy."
He had no desire to cross blades with her; his instincts screamed that this woman was dangerous. Even more dangerous was the man standing behind her.
He'd seen what Akio had just done. Without a doubt—that was a monster in human skin.
Akio gave a small nod. "He's right. This one's not an enemy."
Saeko blinked, then slowly eased her stance and lowered her killing intent, trusting Akio's word.
Emiya arched a brow. "So you already know who I am."
"Alya's executor. I haven't met you before, but I've heard of you."
"Didn't expect someone like you to have heard of me," Emiya muttered with a trace of resignation. Fame was the last thing he wanted.
Akio's tone was flat. "So, tell me. What did you come here for?"
Emiya's expression hardened. "The Blacklight Virus. I'm sure you already know the situation."
Akio nodded.
"I want to join forces with you to completely wipe it out," Emiya said. "What do you think?"
Saeko cut in, "Lord Akio already purified every last trace of the virus in Bedmaster City."
Emiya's reply was cool. "But only here. The virus is still in Umbrella's hands. If we don't deal with the company itself, there'll just be another Bedmaster City. Maybe next time it won't be here—it could be Tokyo."
Saeko fell silent.
He was right. Umbrella was the root of all of this. Solving today's crisis meant nothing if the source was left unchecked.
Akio tilted his head, curious. "But why come to me? Umbrella's a massive transnational group, yes, but behind you stands Alya. With Alya's strength, a few more Heroic Spirits would be enough. Umbrella's army can't possibly stand against top-tier Servants. Especially the Grand ones."
Even Emiya alone could slaughter a fully armed special forces unit without breaking a sweat.
But Emiya shook his head. "Umbrella isn't as simple as you think. The higher-ups already know of Alya's existence, and they're prepared. The moment Alya deploys Servants to strike them, Umbrella will trigger the viruses they've hidden all over the world. Humanity would face annihilation. At best, we'd be crippled."
"Which is why even Alya hesitates. It can't risk making the first move."
Akio understood.
Umbrella might not be able to defeat Alya directly, but it held the power to drag all of humanity down with it. A stalemate. A game of chicken with the fate of the world as collateral.
Umbrella was sharper than he'd thought—sharp enough to make Alya flinch.
"So then," Akio asked, "what kind of cooperation are you after? You don't seriously expect me to storm Umbrella myself. Wouldn't that just make them flip the table?"
Emiya's voice was steady. "Umbrella's trump card is the virus. If the threat of that is removed, they're nothing. That's why I need you. Find where they've hidden their stockpiles across the globe—and purify them. Once the virus is gone, Alya will send Servants to wipe the company off the map."
Akio nodded slowly. The logic made sense.
The problem was, finding those hidden caches wouldn't be easy. Umbrella's executives would've buried them deep, secured every site. Tracking them down would be far more troublesome than purging one city. Endless travel, endless work.
It sounded like a pain.
But he didn't reject the idea. He'd grown used to the conveniences of civilization. If humanity's world collapsed into ruin, he'd gain nothing from the wreckage.
"..."
________________________________________________________________________________________________________