“Huh? Why is he here?!”
The discovery by the Moon Rabbit combat unit stunned even Clara’s main body, who was causing trouble outside.
“Nix, send Fran to check the morgue!”
[Everything in the morgue is normal, no corpses have been stolen.]
As soon as Nix saw “that person,” she had already remotely checked the management system of the morgue. There was only one body inside, still perfectly preserved.
“Then what on earth….”
[I’m afraid it’s not the body that was stolen.]
Could it be the soul?!
The person who appeared before Moon Rabbit Clara was Azure Cavalier.
Although he looked a bit different—seemingly thinner—the aura was spot-on: that computer-like, rational, icy-hearted handsome man.
His soul was stolen, unable even to return to the Divine Abyss.
Is something like that even possible?
No, what’s there to doubt at this point? The facts are already laid bare.
The methods of the Fourth Calamity are truly terrifying.
In most people’s understanding, the worst that could happen when caught in an incident is death.
As long as you die, you can be reborn in the Divine Abyss.
But the Fourth Calamity intercepted the process before death, preventing the soul from returning to the Divine Abyss, manipulating it instead, and then using the Moon Rabbit’s body to resurrect?
In a way, the Fourth Calamity had forcibly taken over the role of the Divine Abyss.
While dodging ordinary Moon Rabbits thrown up by the rabbit soldiers, Clara couldn’t help but sigh.
“Those lunatics are really brazen. Even by the standards of evil organizations, isn’t this going too far?”
[Don’t forget, there were even blueprints for a wormhole device in Ps·ycho’s computer, and that’s a technology deemed forbidden. The Fourth Calamity as an organization has no taboos at all.]
To completely seal off the Dark Domain, wormhole technology had been banned more than a century ago.
“Aren’t they afraid of being punished for doing this?”
[All evil organizations aim to establish their own new order. Why would they care about mere laws? If even heroes can’t stop them, then the order of the next era will be set by the Fourth Calamity.]
By comparison, Nightmare is practically a model student among evil organizations!
“Azure Cavalier has become our enemy. What should we do next?”
Clara (Moon Rabbit) could see it clearly—he looked like he’d been brainwashed.
[Kill him again.]
“…Ah?”
[As long as we send him back to the Divine Abyss, he’ll be freed from the Moon Rabbit’s body.]
Clara thought for a moment, then shouted down to “Train King” Sista below:
“Sista, we need to withdraw!”
Upon receiving the order, Sista didn’t linger in the fight, immediately ascending and shaking off the pursuing rabbit soldiers.
For now, this huge discovery had to be reported to the others and the risks reassessed.
Dealing with Ps·ycho and the Moon Rabbit Matriarch was troublesome enough.
But now, even fallen heroes might join the other side—making victory even more unlikely for them.
Clara was about to climb higher when Nix asked:
[Even so, you’re still not going to release the virus?]
“No rush, now isn’t the time.”
Clara replied the same as ever, even a little impatiently.
“Besides, I’m the one who makes the decisions.”
Nix always liked to butt into Clara’s decisions.
For a drive unit, she was a little too naggy.
Hangar.
“Huh? My Number Two’s been resurrected?!”
Red Crimson Star General’s words were a little ambiguous, but the meaning wasn’t wrong.
With the explosive news Clara brought back, it took everyone a moment to process, especially since Sista hadn’t personally seen Azure Cavalier and couldn’t confirm.
Clara continued, “The Fourth Calamity has even prepared humanoid Moon Rabbits as their core force. From what I’ve seen, those ‘rabbit soldiers’ are stronger than normal combatants, roughly equivalent to lower-level monsters, but there’s a lot of them… We’re at a big disadvantage.”
On paper, the heroes were already outmatched.
Yet the Fourth Calamity hadn’t shown their hand, nor revealed the identity of the Moon Rabbit Matriarch—it was all very cautious.
Or perhaps, there were secrets they still didn’t know?
“Miss Dharma?”
Ogata Dharma looked a bit defeated.
She slumped in her chair, looking utterly lost.
“Um, what’s wrong with her?” Clara couldn’t help but ask.
“Mhm~ Whatever the reason, Azure Cavalier joining the enemy is a huge hit to Sigma Heroes’ reputation, you know?”
Fran grinned as she sidled up to Clara, pinching one of her soft little tentacles.
“This kind of PR is really tough! Fans don’t care whether you’re brainwashed or manipulated—if a righteous hero ** joins an evil organization, even just once, the public’s trust is lost. Their career’s basically over!”
“Why?”
Isn’t that a little harsh?
Clara didn’t quite understand, so Fran explained, a hint of sarcasm in her voice:
“People all believe a true hero can break free from brainwashing through sheer justice, you know?”
“Huh? If it were that easy, it wouldn’t be called brainwashing, would it?”
While there were indeed some who broke free through willpower alone, those cases were rare. If it were really that easy, the guy in charge of brainwashing would have been fired long ago.
Lucia also leaned in to whisper an explanation.
“The main thing is, Miss Dharma promised her livestream audience this morning that the show would go on and she’d broadcast the coming operation against the Fourth Calamity. But now… if fans find out Azure Cavalier has joined the enemy, the whole company will be implicated, and Miss Dharma will have to take responsibility.”
Sigma Heroes wasn’t some big company. These days, the only thing holding it together was the “Sigma Series.” If they went under, the company would too.
The hero industry was cruel—one less agency didn’t matter much.
“It’s over!”
Ogata Dharma was in despair.
“Pull yourself together, Miss Dharma. Things aren’t as bad as you think.”
Fran peeled open one of her secret stash of lollipops.
Who knows how many lollipops she kept in that suitcase of hers.
“Turn a crisis into an opportunity—weren’t those your own words? Doesn’t a greater crisis mean a greater opportunity?”
“For a Dream Witch, sure, it’s an opportunity. But little sister Clara hasn’t been brain—”
Fran stuffed a lollipop into Ogata Dharma’s mouth, cutting her off.
“Let me tell you two pieces of good news! First, almost all brainwashing can be undone; and second, I just happen to have that technology~”
Fran’s tone was confident.
With Azure Cavalier absent, this doctor was the smartest person present.
“Doctor, what should we do?” Clara asked.
“Everyone, listen up.”
Fran stood up and looked at everyone.
“Remember, Azure Cavalier hasn’t defected—he’s just undercover in the enemy’s camp, sending us intel… Did everyone get that?”
[Ah, I see, as expected of Dr. Fran.]
Nix caught on, but didn’t say it out loud.
Clara’s squid-brain took a second, then she understood Fran’s intent.
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They say squid brain like squids are stupid.