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Last Embryo Volume 4 Chapter 8 Part 4

Izayoi said that whole looking at the Albino girl lying on the bed whose face was still quite red and her breath still ragged. Krishna described her and the girl who was now Parashurama’s host as 「The buds that will one day turn into {Absolute Evil}. But whole they are 「one of the buds」, they are definitely not the only ones.

The amalgamation of Original Sins necessary for mankind’s survival. International corporations running out of control and the victims of their rampages. When the energy born form the malicious intention of the former and the suffering of the latter will get amplified and gets accumulated in one place, the incarnation of {Absolute Evil} will manifest itself, and the last, most terrifying Demon Lord will wake up to walk the earth once again.

「So essentially it is like saying that either we are going to die in fifteen years if nothing is done about the catastrophic eruption, or die when this {Absolute Evil} gets reborn. I do not know about you, but it does nor look like that much of a difference to me.」

「Yeah, it is almost as if someone decided to pick the route that leads to a multi bad end ending without giving humanity the option to load the save file and decide for themselves. And what do you know? It really looks like reality is just a shitty game, as some people used to say.」

「Do not even joke like that. Do you not know that pessimistic words like that have this unhealthy tendency to come true?」

「I know, I know. I might joke around, but trust me, I fully understand the seriousness of the situation we are currently in.」

As well as the reason why Homura was saying that they will not be able to achieve the breakthrough they needed with the methods that they are currently employing. He thought that they were not all that similar, but they are definitely siblings in that one, most important regard.

Izayoi’s face softened up as he poked Homura with his elbow and said:
「A method that makes sure that the number of human Star Particle Bodie experimental subjects. On paper it might sound simple enough, but I think we both know that theory is almost never equal to how things are going to turn out in practice, but that is beside the point right now. So in short. . . you want to use me as a walking example of the human experiments that have been successfully carried out?」

「No. That would have been a mistake. I would have never done something like that to you.」

Homura gave Izayoi the look that was clearly saying that he was greatly offended by him even suggesting such a thing. Even though they have been through a lot together, both good things and bad things, Homura would have never forgiven himself for using someone he considered to be his genuine family member just to further his own goals. Even though in this particular situation it would have been the most logical and efficient thing to do, Izayoi thought that the desire to not be a perpetrator, but one of the related parties of the experiments instead was a very Homura-like thing to do of him.

「. . . . . . . . Good grief. You sure like to talk in an exaggerated manner for someone who was literally losing their shit about there being not enough time to properly take care of everything, my little brother.」

「Yeah, I admit that I was losing my shit about that. In fact, I still am. But even despite that, I would never speak frivolously about such serious matters. That said, are you really going to be fine with it if you get yourself more involved in our research, Big Bro Iza? If you do, then you will definitely have to keep going back and forth between Little Garden and The Outer World. . . our world.」

The risk was huge and there was almost nothing for him to benefit from, aside from the pride of knowing that what they are doing is the right thing to do.That is why Homura asked him if he was really all right with it.

Izayoi did not give him an immediate reply, but instead looked at the Albino girl sleeping on the bed without changing his expression. Her cheeks are still so red as if there was fire burning beneath them and she has yet to regain her consciousness, but her current breathing is definitely a lot calmer than it was just this morning, when he was worried if she would even be able to make it past today, and that was a definite proof that Homura’s treatment was effective. This caused Izayoi to smile and laugh heartily.

This morning, when she managed to briefly regain her consciousness, she desperately grasped his hand and told him in a weak voice:

「. . . . . . . . I. . . . . . . . . . . I don’t want to. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . die. . . . . . . . . 」

She had no one else to turn to with her feverish plea: no father, no mother and with no relatives to speak of in the entire world. That is why she turned to the only person she could have turned to: to Izayoi. A complete stranger who told her that everything is going to be alright and that he will not let her die.

「. . . . . . . . Help . . . . . . . . 」

With tears in her young eyes, she squeezed that word out from her burning throat even though it must have been painful for her. And yet, since that was the only thing left for her to do, she chose to reach out with that small hand of hers and try to reach out with it through the darkness that surrounded her, hoping that she will be able to touch salvation. In that sense, she was similar to that one condemned soul that tried to climb out of hell by handing onto little more than a single strand of spider’s thread. (TL Note: A reference to Akutagawa Ryuunosuke’s 「The Spider’s Thread」, a short story about a criminal who tries to climb out of hell by scaling the spider’s thread that Buddha lowered down to hell from paradise,only to fall back down due to his own selfishness when he tried to hog the thread all to himself when other sinners begun climbing it behind him) And since he decided to grab that hand and pull her up from the hell she was not able to escape with just her strength alone, then he has a duty to see this through to the end, and so he responded with:

「You were not there when I said it, but I promised that girl that I will not let her die. And since I made such a promise, you can be damn sure that I am going to do everything in power to keep it. Besides, if I were to tap out here at the very last minute, I would have regretted it for the rest of my life. You can call me many names, but coward is definitely not one of them.」

Living a life while being plagued by regrets about something that you might have done but ultimately chosen not to do it is no better than being dead. If he is able to do something to save that girl and free her from her suffering, then of course he is going to do it instead of carrying the burden of refusing to act on his back until his dying breath. And now that he has resolved himself into going through with his promise to that girl, he is going to be hell-bent on saving her without fail. That way he will be able to proudly say that he did everything he could for her without holding anything back.

Since she was gasping painfully with every breath, he wanted to pat her on the head in an attempt to reassure her that everything was going to be all right. . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . but when he tried to place his hand on her forehead, her young body suddenly began to emit ungodly amounts of heat which were like a blaze.

「. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .!!!!!!?」

This unexpected occurrence caught both of them by surprise, but that was not the end of it.