"Silence, do you know the beliefs of the Laterano?"
"I do, what's wrong?"
"These three months, I feel like I've witnessed the miracles spoken of by those people. Science, science shouldn't be like this."
This kind of ugly appearance.
Looking at the twisted biological remnants in the distance, Saria, wearing the Rhine Lab director's cross-insignia uniform, revealed a hint of bewilderment in her eyes.
"Too fast."
Saria looked at the land cruisers patrolling the horizon; her face, harder than diamond, couldn't help but show a trace of confusion.
Really, too fast.
This was simply unimaginable in scientific research.
Looking at the corpses scattered across the mountains and plains, and the hallucination-like miserable howls from the defense line, Saria closed her eyes, her heart filled with a weariness she had never felt before.
Research in any discipline isn't accomplished overnight; everything requires time and the support and accumulation of data. Saria wasn't a pedantic person; after confirming the feasibility of a theory and verifying its safety, Saria would also support human experimentation. She valued order, but was definitely not pedantic.
However, the things written in the Lazarus File weren't a matter of order or chaos at all; they were entirely the ravings of a madman, chaotic noise. No rational person would choose to believe the things written on it. But it was as if God played a cruel joke on her; the madness recorded in that file was all real, even having produced considerable accomplished products, and then used in ways that absolutely couldn't be called good.
"It doesn't matter anymore. Saria. We are safe."
Looking at her former colleague's back, Doctor Silence comforted in a low voice:
"Ifrit and we successfully escaped together, most of the other staff are also unharmed, and Rhine Lab's professors and directors are basically fine too. We still successfully survived, didn't we? What's more, Raythean Industries has already promised us defense against Umbrella Bio's attacks; that's enough."
"No, Silence. What I worry about is precisely this point—"
"—If Director Saria is worried about Raythean Industries' defensive capabilities, then you can rest assured. No one can break through our defense."
A slightly gloomy voice came from behind the two.
A sturdy-looking, elderly Forte man looked at the two Rhine Lab members conversing, completely ignoring the displeased expressions on their faces, but instead patted the railing before him proudly, looking at the moving mountain peaks in the distance.
No, those weren't mountain peaks. Rather, they were prototype machines forged using some technology sealed away by Raythean Industries. The machine recorded in that document was simply too magical and terrifying, not something that could be completed in a short time. But just the verification machines forged were already enough to give Raythean Industries considerable confidence, even to the point of challenging the Columbia government and Umbrella Bio.
"Colossus, Titan, Celestial. Call them whatever you like. They are just a part of the war machines we can publicly disclose. We, Raythean Industries, promise to end this war. Whether it's Rhine Lab, Umbrella Bio, or the split Columbia, what we want is a complete and unified country; only then can we live better. So we provide protection services for you at an extremely low cost. This includes our four prototype machines and the initially built War Fortress series products. They can help you block all enemies."
"Is that so…"
"Of course. We, Raythean Industries, as the most powerful industrial company in the world today, possess much technology you cannot imagine. Regarding war, we are the true experts. And Umbrella Bio is just a gang of madmen composed of nouveau riche. They have absolutely no possibility of breaking through our defense line. Optimistically estimated, in three months, Columbia will return to its normal track. And your esteemed company will once again become a top-tier biological company."
"As the price, I must transfer Umbrella Bio's files to you, correct?"
"Yes, this is part of the deal."
"…"
Lazarus File.
Compared to the visible Oripathy, facing the invisible enemy, Saria felt an even more bone-chilling cold.
It was as if an invisible hand began sowing seeds upon the earth.
Everything, everything conservative, everything orderly, everything neat, was changed. Displayed at an unsettling speed, with a terrifying posture, in the cruelest way. She saw the smile on that Raythean Industries director's face. It was the same smile as the former Rhine Lab director who defected to Umbrella Bio.
The smile of being swallowed by something, called by a brilliant god, dedicating one's everything. They craved change, craved the appearance of turmoil. The expression this director had looking at those steel mechanical creations was no different from the expression the former Rhine Lab director had seeing the tumor in the petri dish. It was all the madness of looking down from a higher place, as if proving something, as if grasping some divine will. It was the expression Saria detested the most.
Did I reject one demon, only to welcome another devil?
Looking at the steel defense line gradually being assembled along the Great Rift, Saria's diamond-hard heart was overshadowed for the first time.
It was the bewilderment towards the changes in the known world, the sign of her own common sense collapsing. She didn't know what exactly happened; it seemed like nothing changed, yet it seemed like everything changed. Intuitively, she felt this world shouldn't be like this, yet the world laid before her was so cruel.
"Why did it become like this…"
Pressing her Rhine Lab badge, looking at the earth covered in dim light, the girl, strong as diamond, rarely showed an expression of incomprehension.
But steel does not speak; it only completes its tasks methodically.
Three months after the outbreak of the Columbian Civil War, Raythean Industries announced it would end the war by force. Joining forces with Rhine Lab and the Southern Kingdom, they began deploying defenses along the Great Geological Rift. Tyre, Sidon, Sodom, Gomorrah—four prototype machines were distributed at the corners of the Great Rift, monitoring Umbrella Bio and the Northern Kingdom controlled areas.
The Columbian Federation government existed in name only . Blacksteel International headquarters dissolved, reintegrating into the ranks of the Columbian military. Countless veterans were once again called up, stepping onto the battlefield bewilderedly with the youth, learning increasingly strange technologies and operating methods. And more and more eyes worldwide began turning towards this increasingly stalemated front line, facing the weapons displaying cross-era combat power, starting to ponder the meaning they brought.