Capital star of the Free Planet Alliance.
Mercato.
As befitted the citizens living in a city where wealth and power were concentrated, most of the planet's population belonged to the middle class.
Even among them, there were those who lived better and those who lived worse, but what mattered was that everyone lived with basic human dignity.
Of course, that only applied to citizens.
As the Public Security Bureau and the various factions turned a blind eye, and because mercenaries and drifters frequently passed through, those without official citizenship remained hidden in society's shadows.
Most of them were far from impoverished, but the problem was that no one knew how life might turn out.
Those with citizenship, at the very least, would inevitably leave for industrial planets, whether willingly or unwillingly, if their financial circumstances worsened.
If not, they would throw themselves into the Black Market or the underworld businesses of the various factions, and while they might not become wealthy, they would not be called paupers.
But those without citizenship were different.
If one had neither citizenship nor money, they literally became a different kind of castaway in space.
Most of the social institutions meant to deal with people like them existed in name only, much like the Public Security Bureau.
In the end, they had no choice but to become paupers, barely surviving day by day in the deepest shadows beneath the towering skyscrapers.
“Waaaaaaah!”
“We can't live like this anymore!”
“Smash everything!”
Because of that, when the riot first broke out, neither the citizens nor the mercenaries looked particularly surprised.
In truth, it was nothing unusual.
The only ones caught off guard were mostly tourists.
The locals, or those already familiar with the Free Planet Alliance, merely muttered, "Here we go again," or watched as though enjoying an entertaining spectacle.
“……Kill them!”
“Huh? Huh!?”
However, it did not take them long to realize that this situation was far more serious than the previous ones.
Fine, bringing in trucks to ram buildings was one thing.
Throwing firebombs at the Public Security Bureau's Public Safety Administration and wielding crude nail-studded clubs was also believable.
But when outdated rifles and even crude homemade bombs began appearing among the rioters, everyone found themselves thinking, Isn't this a bit too much?
Then the blackout struck.
And when the Public Security officers, who had been laughing and chatting while watching the spectacle, suddenly received some kind of report and began withdrawing, the crowd also started sensing that something was wrong.
-What's going on?
-Why are they going this far? And are those really paupers? Why are they all so huge?
Only then did they notice the strange unease hidden beneath the shabby clothing and the darkness.
Most of the paupers who had staged demonstrations before had never gathered in such large numbers.
Even if they did, they would scatter the moment someone tossed them food or the Public Security officers stepped in.
Naturally so.
It wasn't as though they had risen up to change politics.
Most of the time, someone behind the scenes simply stirred things up to create a bit of gossip, or they had gathered because they were hungry and ended up throwing a tantrum.
Craaaash!
“Hey! That's one of those bastards who works for Carpe Diem!”
“Get him!”
“H-hiiiik!”
But this time was different.
The riot that erupted alongside the blackout displayed far greater aggression than expected and directly targeted the major factions.
Once people realized that the Five Major Forces' businesses were the rioters' true objective, everyone began retreating without hesitation.
“Tch. Today's business is ruined.”
“Yeah. Tell me about it.”
The merchants locked up their shops and even lowered blast doors made from reinforced alloy.
“Sigh... I was supposed to get off work early.”
“What can you do? Manager Liston, let's head back upstairs.”
Office workers and employees who had been about to leave due to the sudden blackout also sighed and returned to their buildings.
Of course, mercenaries and a handful of fearless people still watched with amusement.
At least until then, no one regarded the situation as truly serious.
Naturally so.
At worst, it was simply a violent protest involving only a few thousand people.
There was no way the factions would feel threatened by something like that.
No one feared children playing with fire.
But then—
A chilling sound brushed past the ears of both the citizens standing beneath the emergency lights and the protesters gathered in the square.
-Kiiiiiiiiik.
The abnormality began with those throwing stones at an office belonging to the Interstellar Transport Union in an alleyway.
“Hey, you sons of bitches!”
Crash!
Perhaps because it served as a gathering place for day laborers, the office used cheap-quality glass.
After only a few bricks, the windows shattered into pieces.
Naturally, shards of glass rained down upon the heads of the protesters holding torches below.
But they paid no attention whatsoever, instead shouting back at the people inside who cursed at them.
“What? Got a problem? Then come out here! Let's settle it!”
“Fine! I'll beat every last one of you to death before I go to prison!”
Day laborers usually lived rough lives, and that often made them rough people as well.
As a result, the union members on night duty immediately grabbed whatever tools they could and headed downstairs.
But when they reached the first floor, what greeted them was not an angry mob charging forward.
Instead, it was a human head rolling across the floor.
“H-hiiik!”
The person who had been throwing bricks at them only moments ago was dead.
Realizing that, they slowly raised their stiff necks.
The unbelievable sight before them made their vision spin.
Despite the darkness, the occasional emergency lights cast the shadows of death.
“M-monsters?”
“They're Creatures!”
The instant the monsters heard the voices filled with shock, fear, and overwhelming terror, the creatures—looking like someone had forcibly fused a wild dog and a cockroach together—turned their heads toward them in unison.
-Grrrrrrr!
-Kyaaaaah!
Their sinister eyes glowed crimson.
And between those raised heads lay the corpses of the protesters who had been taunting them only moments before.
“A... ah....”
Hunter and prey.
Once that reality became unmistakably clear, it no longer mattered how heavily muscled or tattooed they were.
They instinctively understood.
To those monsters, they were simply another set of walking meal kits that had interrupted dinner.
“R-run! Fuck!”
“Run away!”
At that point, it no longer mattered who was who.
It was not only the square where the protest had taken place that descended into chaos.
Naturally, the civilians could not escape this sudden catastrophe either.
Death spread in every direction.
As though the earlier riot had been nothing more than child's play, the Creatures released throughout the district, lacking the guidance of any Higher Species, acted purely on instinct and hunted every human they encountered.
The mercenaries and Public Security officers did fight back.
But with the population already concentrated because of the protest, the added chaos often caused even armed fighters to be swept away by the panicked crowds and die absurd deaths.
Then, at that very moment.
Rumbleeeeeee—.
A fleet of enormous warships emerged in the darkened sky.
〔All personnel of BM 3rd Regiment, commence assault on the purification zone.〕
The blast shields for the assault opened, and heavily armored assault troops connected to rails slid toward the ground amid the thunderous roar of machinery.
Boom!
Every one of them wore heavy armor based on black-painted reinforced exoskeletons.
Each platoon was accompanied by an improved tactical weapon platform built upon a Titan chassis.
And that was not all.
Among them were individuals wearing tactical coats and uniforms identical to those of Special-duty officers.
The moment the citizens recognized who they were, relief and hope filled their hearts as they shouted their name.
“It's Black Mer! We're saved!”
The Free Planet Alliance had no military.
More accurately, it once had one, until lobbying by the Committee eliminated it.
The organization that filled that void was none other than PMC Black Mer of Mer Corporation.
Stero Mer was no fool.
Knowing the danger a standing military posed, he had spent years reducing it to little more than a hollow institution.
At the same time, he replaced it with Black Mer, an organization completely under his control, while gathering into his ranks all those whose military careers had come to an end.
The result was the Black Mer of today.
Even then, ordinary soldiers were not their true strength.
Their real power lay in Black Mer's superhuman special forces.
“Whew... Just like the Chairman said. It's a complete mess.”
“Sure is.”
Unlike the regiment members, who radiated military discipline at a glance, these individuals wore no reinforced exoskeletons.
Instead, they silently watched the rampaging Creatures and the panicked civilians before each taking up their weapons.
Just then, a man being chased frantically by a Creature spotted them and cried out.
“S-save me!”
“Hm?”
-Kyaaaaaaaaaah!
The man was being pursued by a Creature that looked as though someone had pumped a monkey full of steroids before throwing only its face into a blender.
“Dean.”
“Right.”
One of the men in the coats, called Dean, calmly watched both the man and the Creature charging directly toward him.
He nodded once.
Then he drew his sword, rotated his Psionic energy, and slashed.
Slice-. Thud.
In that instant, a flash of light cut through the darkness, and both the man and the Creature were split cleanly in half.
“……Huh?”
The man's face, which had been filled with relief at surviving, twisted under pain beyond comprehension.
As his upper body slid across the ground and came to rest at Dean's feet, he forced out a question through his fading breath.
“W-why...?”
With trembling fingers filled with resentment, he grasped Dean's combat boot.
But all he received in return was quiet contempt, along with words he could never understand as his consciousness faded.
“It's the Chairman's order. Kill them all.”
“What about the Public Security officers?”
“All of them. That's the order the Chairman gave us.”
It was a madness that an ordinary citizen neither could understand nor ever should.
“Those insane bastards!”
Countless strange incidents occurred within the Free Planet Alliance, but it was only natural for Tita Genorua to explode in fury after hearing that Creatures had been unleashed and Black Mer was committing atrocities.
〔……Personally, I've always thought I was a little crazy myself, but this is... honestly beyond even me. Ha ha.〕
Even Geum Gang-hyeok, one of the masterminds behind this coup, could not hide the bewilderment written across his face.
Naturally.
No matter how obsessed one was with power, was he truly carrying out an internal purge that would slaughter hundreds of millions of innocent civilians?
Even more terrifying was the fact that by releasing the Creatures, he had created the perfect excuse to escape responsibility for all this chaos.
But they could not remain angry forever.
The incident had already begun.
And they all knew there was no choice but to see it through to the very end.
〔So then, Instructor—ahem, Mercenary Jin. What is he doing right now?〕
Knowing that, Geum Gang-hyeok changed the subject.
Tita Genorua, having barely suppressed her anger, frowned and stepped outside.
A man dressed in techwear followed behind her, but this was hardly the time to pay attention to him.
“Jin.”
“……Fuck. This wasn't part of the plan.”
What greeted her outside was none other than Jin Crow.
The ever-composed man cursed in a voice mixed with anxiety and shock.
It was completely unlike him.
Because of that, she unconsciously followed his gaze upward.
There, filling the heavens, was something where violet and crimson light intertwined.
“Th-that is...?”
At that very moment.
Whether he had finally composed himself or simply resigned himself to reality, Jin Crow lit a cigarette and spoke to the speechless Tita Genorua.
“Contact the Safety House immediately and relay my message to the cadets. Tell them to leave this planet at once.”
After saying those words, he stepped forward.
His footsteps carried a weight unlike anything before.
Rip-.
Unable to bear the suffocating feeling, he violently tore open the buttons at his collar.
Then he swallowed enough liquor to run down his chin before quietly adding,
“……Though I doubt those troublemakers will actually listen.”
Please.
Just listen to me this once.
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