Superhumans were fundamentally divided into two broad categories.
Martial types and Ability-types.
However, as mentioned before, it was impossible to classify every Superhuman's traits, abilities, and individuality using only those two categories.
A little thought made that obvious.
Even ordinary technical professions were divided into countless specialties depending on one's duties and aptitude.
So how could those who were continuously being discovered throughout this vast galaxy be described using only two simple terms?
Of course, martial types were somewhat simpler.
They were warriors who had inherited centuries of physical enhancement and training.
Because their defining characteristic was using their own bodies as weapons to produce supernatural phenomena, they could generally be categorized by family, school, or individual grandmasters.
'But Ability-types are fundamentally different.'
From the very beginning, they devoted themselves to deeply researching and developing Psionic energy and Gears, pursuing a single perfected result.
That was why they could imitate the same result or phenomenon, or serve as a guide for others.
But unlike martial types, they could never influence another person beyond a certain point.
Take Runners, for example.
They all pursued the same phenomenon—absolute speed.
Yet every one of them reached that goal through different methods.
'Some simply reduce their own body mass. Others manipulate the surrounding gravity. Others alter the terrain itself.'
An even more extreme example would be healing abilities, commonly categorized as support types.
Other cadets and instructors often said one should stay on good terms with support-type cadets simply because of their rarity and usefulness.
But Famille knew the fear that lay beneath that reasoning.
A fear no one openly displayed or bothered to acknowledge.
'Because even Superhumans can't easily defend against attacks that begin inside their own bodies.'
If someone could manipulate the inside of the body to heal it, then they could also manipulate that same process in the opposite direction.
Of course, another Superhuman could generally resist such interference.
But if they had already suffered injuries severe enough to lose consciousness, they would be utterly helpless.
For that reason, Ability-types branched into countless different paths.
And because of that, each individual's understanding of Psionic energy differed fundamentally from that of martial types.
'……Baek Hui-young.'
That was why Famille had instantly noticed his growth.
While still only half-conscious, he had grabbed her wrist.
In that instant, she sensed the traces of the Gear spinning furiously to accelerate his recovery.
But she was not someone who would be surprised merely because of a Gear.
Even if he was only a first-year cadet, reaching Quad Gear—despite being an elite student at the Central Special Service Academy—was certainly astonishing, but not without precedent.
Had that been all, she would have simply congratulated him.
But she had seen it.
'……A monster reduced to rags. A monster wearing countless wounds and shackles across its entire body, drowning as it swam through an ocean of corpses.'
The source from which Psionic energy flowed.
A Gear was merely a measurement of a Superhuman's abilities.
The heart itself was called either the Psychic Core or the Psychic Furnace.
In other words, Psionic energy projected something that represented the very essence of that individual taken to its extreme.
Perhaps because of that.
The impression she had once held—that he was simply Miel's somewhat taciturn childhood friend who was difficult to read—had completely vanished.
Now she could only stare blankly at him, utterly speechless.
“……”
No.
This was closer to fear.
An instinctive rejection of an incomprehensible anomaly.
Just then.
Whether he had noticed her expression, or whether he disliked having his true nature exposed, Baek Hui-young narrowed his eyes slightly before quietly speaking.
“……Well.”
His voice was hoarse, tinged with awkwardness.
And at that moment, seeing his characteristic gray eyes from so close, and for so long, she finally realized she had been mistaken all along.
...Instructor Jin Crow was not the only madman.
No.
Perhaps he was the normal one.
The moment she looked into Baek Hui-young's gray eyes—which at first glance seemed completely empty, yet somehow contained something utterly incomprehensible within that emptiness—Famille found herself thinking exactly that.
It was then.
“H-Hui-young!”
Perhaps she had heard the commotion from inside the room.
Miel, who had been sniffling outside the entire time, hurriedly rushed in.
Baek Hui-young, as though he had never worn that eerie expression moments earlier, casually pulled the IV drip from his wrist before catching Miel as she came running straight into his arms.
“Waaah....”
“It's alright. Anyone looking at you would think I'd died.”
“B-but.... Waaah!”
Meanwhile, the Psionic energy that had been raging moments earlier had already settled into stillness.
Along with it, his face returned to that of an ordinary young man wearing a faint smile.
Around that time, Dokgo Ran and Hino Kanae, who had been outside, also realized Baek Hui-young had awakened and entered the room.
Perhaps because they felt indebted after hearing he had thrown himself into danger to save them.
Both wore expressions of obvious relief.
Even Beatus, who had previously been silently cleaning his firearm with an expressionless face, looked no different.
“……”
Within that heartwarming atmosphere, there was nothing Famille could do.
No.
She had no idea what she was even supposed to say.
So she quietly stepped back and watched them.
Perhaps because everyone already knew her usual personality.
Not a single cadet questioned why she stood there in silence, wearing such a strange expression.
That peaceful moment did not last long.
After gently stroking Miel's brown hair once she had finally stopped crying, Baek Hui-young looked toward Beatus.
“How's the situation?”
“……Well, it's not good.”
Baek Hui-young had collapsed before the situation truly spiraled out of control.
For that reason, Beatus explained everything as briefly as possible while trying to spare him the worst of the shock.
Even so, his own anxiety remained.
Without thinking, he took out a cigarette, placed it between his lips, and continued.
“We still haven't gotten a proper explanation from the Instructor or the Mafia... ahem, anyway. But it looks like the lunatic running the Free Planet Alliance released the Creatures. Then the Void Rift suddenly opened.... We tried escaping while you were unconscious, but we've already completely lost control of the skies.”
Despite preparing himself because he assumed Baek Hui-young would inevitably be shaken by the news while they themselves felt trapped with no hope in sight—
The young man's face remained perfectly calm.
“……I see.”
As though he had always known something like this would eventually happen.
Unfortunately, only Famille noticed that subtle sense of incongruity.
Still, with the final member of their group finally awake—
“Apart from the Instructor, we shouldn't involve ourselves any further in this.”
Hino Kanae, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke.
Dokgo Ran also nodded obediently, apparently realizing that this was not the sort of situation where she could behave recklessly as usual.
Perhaps because of that, Hino Kanae cautiously shared the information her family's shadow operatives had gathered.
“I've heard that the Human Composite State's 4th Fleet is coming to rescue its citizens. Even now, if we contact the embassy and join them...”
At first glance, it sounded like the best possible course of action the cadets could take.
Even Famille unconsciously nodded.
But life rarely went according to plan.
The moment those words left Hino Kanae's mouth, shouting erupted outside.
Immediately afterward, Satra, her face stiff as stone, shouted,
“……They're coming!”
-Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
-Kiiiiiiiiiiiiik!
Moments later, all that echoed from outside were the horrifying screams of the Creatures.
Ordinary people had little understanding of Special-duty officers.
Perhaps that was only natural.
Humans—
No, all sapient beings—
were inevitably narrow-minded regarding experiences they themselves had never gone through.
Perhaps because of that.
Many people misunderstood.
Some even wondered.
Why did the overwhelming majority of Superhumans stagnate at Triple Gear or Quad Gear?
And why was a Penta Gear individual treated as someone capable of opening an entire front line alone?
“Hahahahahahahahaha!”
Even Stero Mer had no choice but to admit it.
Through Nectar, he had seen the future.
He believed he had already understood and accepted the limits of his own abilities.
Yet the body of a Penta Gear, which he had pursued for so long, existed on a level that could never have been understood through mere observation.
Craaaaack!
Concrete erupted from the fingertips of his outstretched hand.
The skeletal remains of the already-collapsed building twisted as though possessed by murderous intent.
The Creatures filling the tilted lobby were instantly reduced to nothing more than chunks of flesh.
“……With this power.”
Outwardly, he looked no different from a pampered young boy.
But to those holding their breath while witnessing his overwhelming might, it was nothing short of shocking.
The Pawn that had been massacring Black Mer's elite brigade only moments earlier was split cleanly in half.
Hundreds of Creatures charging from every direction were torn apart with a mere wave of his hand.
Covered in revolting green and purple blood splattered from all directions, Stero Mer reveled in the omnipotence he had finally grasped.
'I'll redraw the board.'
After clearing the entire lobby in less than five minutes, he leaped in a single bound to the highest remaining section of the collapsed building.
Crack!
Along the way, he tore out the tongues of Creatures that welcomed him.
He burst their eyeballs.
He split them apart as neatly as livestock at the slaughterhouse.
At last, he reached the highest point of the bisected Mer Corporation headquarters.
There, he gazed down upon Mercato, transformed into a living hell.
-Kyaaaaaaaah!
-S-save me!
The screams and desperate cries carried by the wind rang through his ears.
Far below, the Black Mer warships into which he had poured enormous sums of money crashed from the sky after being shot down by the Void Turtles.
The thick stench of blood filled his nostrils.
The skyscrapers he had built over countless lifetimes through changing one subject body after another continued collapsing.
Yet none of it bothered him.
“I'll use this incident as justification for a complete restructuring. I'll eradicate every seed of rebellion, deceive both the Empire and the Human Composite State, and build Noah's Ark.”
The fragment of humanity's destruction he had witnessed through Nectar.
Faced with the endless waves of Creatures and sapient civilizations destined to collapse under internal conflict and division—
What humanity needed was not cooperation.
Nor justice.
Nor camaraderie.
What it needed was overwhelming leadership.
And unity.
It fundamentally contradicted the freedom he had once championed.
But what he desired was not hollow, irresponsible freedom that left people slaughtering one another without realizing it.
He wanted freedom within an overwhelming and stable social system.
'They're lives destined to wander this vast galaxy without even a destination, dying like beggars. It was freedom that I gave them. What's wrong with reclaiming it for a while?'
His convictions had long since twisted into contradictions.
Yet he himself remained completely unaware.
Perhaps because of that.
He listened to the screams and shrieks echoing from every direction as though they were music.
Then he drew a deep breath.
However, the sense of omnipotence he enjoyed lasted less than five minutes.
“……!”
A chill ran down his spine.
He spun around.
With trembling eyes, he tore every piece of concrete and steel from the surrounding structures before hurling them behind him.
Craaaaaack!
The reconstructed mass shot forward like a machine following his command.
But through the swirling dust, the only thing that greeted him was a gaze that looked upon him as utterly insignificant instead of bleeding from the attack.
-False. Deceived. Therefore. Like us.
The black exoskeleton mimicked a human form.
Yet its size had already surpassed humanity.
The outer shell flowed like a dress.
Its eyes shone with ferocity yet mercy.
Malice yet innocence.
Revulsion yet ecstasy.
A monster born from contradiction.
One that existed solely to uphold contradiction.
The Queen of the Creatures.
The moment their eyes met, she gazed down upon the pitiful, fragile beast that had frozen before her.
Then, in a voice both sweet and terrifying, she whispered,
“Die!”
Perhaps because the body had only recently been fused together, leaving its compatibility incomplete.
Veins bulged across Stero Mer's body.
With his outstretched hand, he launched attack after frenzied attack toward the Queen.
But all that returned was an ever-growing sense of helplessness.
“Ghk!”
The Queen slowly raised her enormous body.
Then she reached out a hand toward Stero Mer's face.
The moment her massive, sticky hand closed around his head—
He understood.
-Truth.
The truth of the universe, impossible for a human ego to comprehend, flooded his mind.
Everything he had believed was nothing but delusion.
The requiem of destruction had already begun.
“N-no.”
His spirit broke.
He tried to reject it.
But the instant he realized that the goal he had pursued, compromised for, and sacrificed everything to achieve over hundreds of years had been nothing more than an impossible illusion—
His once-unshakable ego collapsed in an instant.
“AAAAAAAAAAAH!”
And into that shattered mind seeped the Queen's authority.
-My. Our.
She lovingly watched Stero Mer writhe in agony.
Craaaack!
Then she tore open her own abdomen.
Still struggling desperately, Stero Mer was shoved inside.
-Mate.
As she looked forward to the birth of a new King, the Queen slowly closed her eyes, using the dying screams of humanity and the ecstatic cries of her children as a lullaby for her unborn offspring.
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