Mutagen

Inside an empty void, the TEPCO Toyosu Building steadily stood.

With the machinations of the traitors, the massive building and its immediate vicinity were engulfed inside the isolated space. The building remained intact. However, everything outside was nothing but an empty void.

Inside the isolated space, there was no sun. There was no light.

There was only darkness.

The electricity was cut off. The building\'s staff, still confused, hurried to the basement with the flimsy light sources in their hands in order to return the light within the building.

Inside the conference room where the Alliance Meeting was ongoing, the representatives of the Reclaimed City were in utter panic. Their private guards and escorts immediately jumped to secure their bosses. However, due to the sudden darkness, it was questionable if they would be able to do anything if something bad did happen.

Everyone in the meeting waited in silence as instructed by their guards and escorts.

And then...

BAM!

The lights returned. Unfortunately, powering up the whole building with a few generators would be impossible. At least, lights returned within the important areas of the building.

One such area was the conference room.

Once the lights returned, the voices of the representatives also returned.

And when the staff of the building arrived at the conference room, they were immediately bombarded with questions.

"Why did the lights go off?"

One of the questions was such.

But to the confusion of the representatives, the staff was unable to give a direct reply.

There was one thing that everyone inside this room did not manage to see.

The conference room chosen for the alliance meeting was one without a window. It was not surprising. Everyone inside this room was just as important as the agenda of the meeting. This room was chosen to ensure that no attacks from outside could endanger the representatives.

And since it was far more secure inside this room during the sudden power outage, none of the representatives had gone out at all until everything was deemed safe.

But due to this same fact, everyone inside failed to notice the happenings outside.

After failing to answer the question imposed on them, the staff told the representatives to go out and see what was going on outside.

And just as they stepped out of the conference room, the glass wall in the hallway already displayed the void surrounding the building.

"What is happening?"

That question came out of the mouth of one of the representatives. A question filled with fear and uncertainty.

But then, an answer unexpectedly came.

"It\'s an isolated space," The Mitsui Clan Head, Mitsui Kinjiro, spoke as he turned to the Empress. "Tamamo-no-Mae knew more to this, I believe."

It was an inquiry without an ounce of respect. Mitsui Kinjiro even called the Empress by her name.

At those words from the Mitsui Clan Head, the Empress let out a frown on her beautiful face. Even so, she answered.

"It is an isolated space created using an artifact in order to confine something within that space."

As the Empress explained, the faces of the representatives slowly became suspicious of her. All of this suddenly happened, and she knew the reason. And given that Auraboros was a hostile organization, it was not wrong to suspect that the alliance was just a ploy in order to gather the people with the highest authority in the Reclaimed City and confine them.

However, before the suspicions took a deep root in their hearts, the Priestess spoke.

"This is unexpected, Kinjiro," The Priestess spoke as if she was talking down to a child. "How come you knew of that information?"

The Priestess turned to the Empress.

"That is top secret information, am I right?"

"Yes," The Empress nodded. "It is top secret information that barely a handful of people knew, even within our organization. To know of such information is impossible unless someone of the same position as I do, told him. So far, I never told him about that. And there is only one other person in this country where he could get that information."

The Empress looked straight at Mitsui Kinjiro.

"It is Gar\'Vlam. The leader of the Demons of the North."

When the Demons of the North were mentioned, everyone\'s eyes immediately shifted to the group from the Mitsui Clan.

Every representative here knew the main reasons for this alliance between the Reclaimed City and the Auraboros Japan Branch. First was because of the current state of the country overrun by the [Infected] and Alien Robots. The second was the Demons that gathered in the North led by the faction of Auraboros, who were against the alliance and wanted to eradicate the humans in this country.

The leader of that hostile faction of Demons was Gar\'Vlam.

It meant that the Mitsui Clan had contact with Gar\'Vlam or his associates, where they could have possibly learned of this information.

But... The suspicions rose.

The Mitsui Clan had contact with the Demons in the North. Rather than just information, it became more likely that they were the ones responsible for this isolated space.

And to their suspicions, Kinjiro...

"Hahaha. That\'s right. It\'s our work."

Mitsui Kinjiro did not deny it and admitted it immediately.

"What are you saying?!" One of the representatives shouted. "You and your clan are betraying the country? Why? What\'s your reason?"

"Reason? It\'s something you had nothing to do about." 

Kinjiro shook his head.

"You..."

That representative seemed to be seething with anger and anxiety. They had no idea what in the world the Mitsui Clan was planning.

And then, Kinjiro turned to a certain person.

"Prime Minister, you\'ve been awfully quiet. Your answer had been long overdue."

At those words, the representatives turned to the Prime Minister, who was gripping his fists tightly.

"Prime Minister..." One of the representatives looked appalled. "You\'re in cahoots with the traitors..."

"I\'m not!" The Prime Minister immediately denied it. "They... They tried to win me over."

"Prime Minister..."

That voice from one of the representatives sounded like they had lost trust in the new Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister then sighed.

"I knew of their betrayal... And I\'ve been indecisive about it... I didn\'t do anything... I\'m sorry."

As Mitsui Kinjiro had said, the Prime Minister\'s answer had been long overdue. The Prime Minister did not give in to their temptation. However, he was also afraid and did not do anything.

At this time, everyone was now sure of the Mitsui Clan\'s collusion with the Demons.

"Guards! What are you doing? Capture them immediately!"

One of the politicians present ordered the guards to capture the traitors.

However...

"What are you doing?!"

The politician shouted as the guards he ordered began restraining him.

"Shut up."

The guard that grabbed the politician spoke as he pointed a pistol at the politician\'s head.

"W-what..."

The politician shivered as he felt the cold barrel of the pistol too close to his forehead.

And it was not just the guard. One after another, the private guards the representatives brought with them began restraining the people they were supposed to protect.

Of course, these people would not take it lying that easily. They began arguing with the guards and even tried to threaten them.

Amidst their protests and defiance to comply...

BANG!

A single gunshot to the head of one of the representatives was more than enough to shut the rest up into compliance.

That representative lay on the ground as blood flowed out of the gunshot wound on his forehead.

The representatives and the politicians were restrained without a hitch. The only ones left were the groups of the Priestess and the Empress.

"I believe you two know where this is going."

"Are you going to kill us?"

The Empress said with a tone of ridicule.

However, Mitsui Kinjiro and the elders were unaffected by her provocation.

"I know we are no match for you two. However, it\'s better if you two shut up and cooperate."

Then, Kinjiro opened his coat, revealing a strange vest underneath it.

"Because you two can\'t kill me either."

There, the vest had vials attached to an explosive detonator. Inside the vials, a strange thick blackish smoke could be seen churning.

"[Miasmic Poison]..."

The Empress recognized the smoke inside the vials. It was a form of [Miasma]. However, unlike the [Corruptive Miasma] that would convert almost anything and grow uncontrollably, [Miasmic Poison] would make the magical energy of people it touched berserk. The higher the magical energy of an individual, the more damage it could cause. And to humans who barely had any magical energy, it was more or less a deadly poison.

This type of [Miasma] would likely not kill the Empress and the Priestess. However, since their magical energies were immense, it would cause irreparable damage to them.

"The moment my heart stops, this will explode."

Kinjiro said with a smile.

"What do you want us to do?"

The Priestess asked with a frown.

"Order all your people inside this building to stop any resistance. Then, go back inside the conference hall and stay put."

Mitsui Kinjiro only needed to confine these two until the Demons conquered the Reclaimed City. After that, everything about the Empress and the Priestess would be left to the Demons. Still, Kinjiro and the elders were expecting some resistance from the two powerful women.

However...

"Is that all? There is no problem then," The Priestess readily complied as she turned to the Empress. "Do you have any problems?"

The Priestess then shook her head. And without saying anything out loud, she contacted her subordinates to comply with the Mitsui Clan\'s demands.

At the same time, the Priestess took out a talisman. It made the members of the Mitsui Clan raise their weapons. However, it was just a communication talisman. Due to the isolated barrier, she could only contact her people inside the building. Nonetheless, Kinjiro and the elders still took their stance.

Nonetheless, what the Priestess did was nothing but instruct the members of the Temple inside the building not to resist.

It did not take long, and Kinjiro received a report from his subordinates within the building. All of the people under the Priestess and the Empress surrendered without resistance. The two women, with the representatives and politicians, were also confined within the conference room.

The elders signed in relief. The targets were cooperative, and the plans were going smoothly.

However, it was going too smoothly that it was appalling.

Both the Priestess and the Empress were willing to comply just like that? It was too good to be true.

At this time, Kinjiro looked at the dead body left outside the conference room.

"Get rid of this trash. Throw it outside."

Kinjiro ordered one of his men.

The body was dragged out and thrown inside a dumpster behind the building. Thrown away like trash.

This time, no one realized. After the dumpster was closed by the disgusted grunt that threw the body away, the corpse turned into a piece of paper cut in a humanoid shape. The paper had a hole through its head part, reflecting the gunshot that killed the representative.

Fifteen minutes passed after the confinement. Kinjiro would personally check on the prisoners inside the conference room.

And the prisoners were strangely compliant. Nonetheless, nothing else seemed weird. The representatives seemed to be afraid, which could be the reason. But the Priestess and the Empress just sat on their chairs in silence.

After checking on the prisoners, Kinjiro tapped on his chest, feeling the vest underneath his suit. He was prepared to die to fulfill this mission. Nonetheless, he would not want to if he did not have to.

Still, Kinjiro kept feeling that something was not right. As he was a person who would not trust people unconditionally, he personally began checking places that could be the source of his strange feeling.

First was the boundaries of the portal outside the building. Kinjir also went to check the core of the artifact that was planted and hidden inside the basement. He also checked the people guarding the vital parts of the artifact\'s formation.

However, Kinjiro saw nothing wrong. Maybe, he was just being anxious. And to erase this feeling, he chose to smoke one stick of luxury cigarette he managed to get hold of the other day in an auction.

Kinjiro finished the cigarette as he reached the back of the building without seeing anything wrong. Not finding any trashcan to throw the cigarette into, his eyes landed on the dumpster.

The subordinate reported throwing the dead representative in the only dumpster behind the building. Kinjiro was unwilling to open it, but there was no other place to throw the cigarette away without littering.

As such, Kinjiro opened the dumpster. He should just close it immediately after throwing his trash.

However, Kinjiro\'s eyes opened wide as he did not see any trace of a corpse inside the dumpster. The first thing he thought was that it could be a different dumpster. But the report he received clearly said that there was only one dumpster here.

And then, his eyes grew wider. Kinjiro reached into the dumpster. Something he never knew he would do.

Kinjiro took out a piece of paper cut into a humanoid shape with a torn hole through its head from inside. Remembering the same area where the representative was shot, it was the same part where the hole on the humanoid paper was.

The odd feeling Kinjiro had intensified.

Without further ado, Kinjiro ran into the building and into where the building staff was being held.

And to the surprise of his subordinates, Kinjiro rushed into a staff member and beheaded the poor guy with a single swing of a katana.

But when everyone watching expected a corpse, the headless staff member suddenly disintegrated, leaving a piece of human-shaped paper with a cut neck. The staff member\'s head also turned into paper.

"Kill them all!"

Kinjiro ordered his men, and all the staff members of the building were beheaded while trying to resist.

However, all of them turned into beheaded pieces of human-shaped paper.