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CHAPTER 279 – THE SCHEMES OF NO-FACE 2

――The Forgotten City of Salvana.

The ancient city, buried beneath the sands, lingered in the vast underground chambers.

Crumbling columns, cracked stone pavements, broken waterways.

In the gloom, streams of sand swayed in the faint wind, wearing down the remnants of a civilization long gone.

Yet only the heart of the ruins shone with an unnatural brightness. Magic lamps had been placed throughout, casting a sterile, laboratory-like glow across the wreckage. Proof that someone had made this place their base of operations.

At its center, the voices of two scholars echoed.

「Ohhh…! Look, Miraj! This tablet—it says ‘Fusion of Different Species’! A forbidden art of crossbreeding monsters!」

「Calm yourself, Viraj. This isn’t mere crossbreeding. It speaks of ‘rewriting structures’. Which means what’s born isn’t a hybrid—it’s an entirely new species… Magnificent, isn’t it? Not a record of the past, but a blueprint for the future.」

A sand-stained boy—Viraj, the Grave Robber—clutched the stone tablet in both arms, eyes gleaming with feverish light.

The girl—Miraj, the Chronicler of Madness—scribbled into her notebook, announcing with perfect composure an interpretation that trampled upon all human decency. Her voice carried no hesitation, only a tremor of exultation.

Then a low voice intruded from behind them.

「――As expected. But your interpretation is still shallow.」

The words came from a masked man, No-Face. His mere presence made the air taut.

Resting his hand on a crumbled altar, he spoke calmly.

「Fusion is but the means. The true purpose was to create an obedient and overwhelming army. The ancients did not dream of gods. They dreamed of weapons.」

Viraj gasped, then erupted into wild laughter and shouts.

「Amazing! The forbidden art was real! Let’s do it too, Miraj!」

「…As a historian, it’s unforgivable. But as the Chronicler of Madness—there is no greater subject.」

Her eyes were as cold as ice, yet burned with hidden frenzy.

The twins turned to face No-Face together.

「Something this fun—keeping it all to yourself is cheating! Let us join!」

「I will record both success and failure. Even if you say no, I will be part of it.」

The eyes behind the mask narrowed faintly.

「Very well. Your madness points toward the same horizon as mine.」

With that, No-Face drew two books from his magic bag and handed them over.

One—a forbidden tome bound in black-leather, stolen from the Arto Kingdom’s forbidden library.

The other—a ‘Report on Demonization Research’, recovered from the imperial capital’s depths.

「Decipher them. The theories within are the keys to monster fusion and demonization.」

The twins silently accepted the books and immediately began devouring the pages.

◇　◇　　◇　　◇

――About a year later.

Through the hands of Viraj and Miraj, an egg was created and planted within an army ant nest near an oasis village.

Experimental Subject No. 8――“King Crimson Ant.”

Its research records were compiled with chilling detachment.

• Experimental Record – Subject No. 8

Confirmed egg hatching. Outer shell three times harder than normal specimens.

Behavioral changes in colony observed—nest expansion speed 2.4× previous baseline.

Actively hunted surrounding creatures, rapidly destabilizing ecosystem.

27 days after hatching, began attack on Neela Village. Current estimated survival rate of villagers: zero.

Conclusion: Artificial generation of disaster-class monster swarms is possible. Reproducible.

The screams of the people, the stench of blood—to the researchers, it was nothing but “data.”

「Kufufu… going smoothly.」

「Yes. Just as planned.」

――But then, an unexpected intruder shattered the plan.

A unique wyvern, and upon its back—a skeletal knight.

Too aberrant to be called a mere ‘monster’.

Miraj alone kept writing furiously with wide eyes. The other three froze without realizing it.

The wyvern turned ant after ant into corpses, mutating grotesquely in the process. The skeletal knight, meanwhile, stormed the nest alone—an act of pure domination.

Every scene of the spectacle was so unnatural that even No-Face, rarely shaken, was struck with awe.

「What now? If you order it, I’ll go fight…」

「No. For now, we must not let anyone suspect our existence. We will watch in silence.」

In time, the skeletal knight emerged from the nest as though nothing had happened, mounted the three-headed dragon, and vanished into the skies.

「T-that’s insane…」

「…What of Subject No. 8?」

「Life signs gone. Likely killed by that skeleton knight.」

「Kufufufu, who would have thought… Not only killed, but the entire nest destroyed!」

Even the normally manic Viraj refrained from celebrating too loudly, though his face was lit with the thrill of witnessing the unknown.

Miraj too forced her frenzy down, continuing her notes, though the ink blotting her page betrayed her shaken hand.

Only No-Face drew a wholly different conclusion.

「…Freedom is not merely the cutting of chains. It is devouring the world’s laws, and rewriting them as one pleases. That skeleton… he too embodies another form of freedom.」

The muttered soliloquy reached no other ears.

◇　◇　　◇　　◇

Back in Salvana, No-Face and his companions discussed the results and their next plans.

「…That undead. We’ll call it an unforeseen accident. But the project itself was no failure. If anything, it gave us exactly the proof we sought.」

「Agreed. Besides, we still have other test subjects seeded across Ordila. And now we know—King Crimson Ant creation is reproducible.」

「Ahaha! Though the cost is hella steep!」

「Still, a major step forward. We move to the next phase. What monster is up for observation?」

「Given the timelines for generation and growth—either the Steel Scorpion Sandvalza, or the Dread Roc.」

「Both promise S-rank or higher performance. And we’ll continue deciphering the demonization research in parallel.」

「That’ll be fun too, kufufu…」

「Oh hey, oh hey! Shouldn’t we pick a name for our group already??」

「…So long as I can experiment and record, I care nothing for names. Honestly, we don’t even need one.」

For a moment, silence hung at the childishly wicked suggestion.

But behind his mask, No-Face smiled deeper.

「Then there is only one name fitting for those without a name.」

「Kufufu… I see. Nameless, is it?」

Thus, a new organization was born.

――The secret society Nameless.

Monster fusion. Demonization. Ancient forbidden arts.

A twisted pair of scholars, a madman crying freedom, and a blood-drenched lunatic joined hands, sinking their fangs into the abyss of the world.

The name they bore—Nameless—would become the harbinger of a storm that would one day shake the entire continent.