The Crowd-Pleasing Shura Showdown (Bonus Chapter) / A Shura Showdown, a River of Blood!

These infamous anomalous creatures almost simultaneously fell into a brief silence as Kevin passed by, seemingly sharing a common fear of SCP-001, "Eden Angel."

Therefore, as the data was uploaded, the researchers responsible for real-time monitoring immediately classified these observations as top-secret information, equivalent to the "Twin Gods."

At the same time, combined with Kevin's previous achievements, feelings of admiration and awe grew wildly in the hearts of the observers.

Led by Heidewilli, he finally arrived at the relatively loosely guarded operating room, which was also the cell prepared for SCP-049.

When the founder snapped his fingers, the surrounding space was completely isolated. The observers wisely shut down all the detection equipment and waited for the founder to finish negotiating with the "Plague Doctor".

Heidewilli politely knocked three times on the door, and only after receiving permission from the deep voice did she step forward and open the door. Inside the well-soundproofed operating room, the chanting of church hymns filled the air.

The doctor in the bird-beak mask is dissecting bizarre creatures, including various Honkai Beast remains, the dead Jenova parasites, and fragmented Gastrea.

The doctor was very skilled in treating the epidemic, and he recorded the analysis and classification of these materials in a black-covered notebook with a quill pen.

According to documents Kevin reviewed within the SCP Foundation, this plague doctor, who enjoyed "treating patients," had become quite well-behaved since returning from Skull Island.

It not only actively cooperated in dissecting the remains of various bizarre life forms, but also collected experimental data for the SCP Foundation.

Moreover, recent experiments have shown that while contact with it is still fatal to ordinary people, its lethality is negligible if the target is a high-level life form of Knight Tier or above.

From then on, it rarely talked about topics like catastrophes, plagues, or treatments, but only requested that the SCP Foundation provide it with some rare materials on a regular basis.

"Good sir, you've finally arrived. Can I ask you for a favor?"

The plague doctor stopped what it was doing and asked Kevin in a muffled voice. At the same time, it pointed to the door and gestured for its old friend Heidewilli, who often visited it, to step aside for the time being.

Heidewilli hesitated for a moment, and after the two nodded in unison, she slowly retreated with a hint of worry in her eyes.

"Could you... kill me...?"

Kevin was equally curious about the changes in the Plague Doctor, and what was even more interesting was that everything seemed to have changed from the moment he killed it on Skull Island.

"Why?"

The doctor paused for a moment, thought for a second, and then answered seriously.

"You are the cure for this world, possessing the power to correct its mistakes..."

Could it be that if this thing dies a few more times at his hands, it will return to normal? Kevin pondered this, then stepped forward and grasped the Plague Doctor's wrist, using the Herrscher of Reason Core to analyze its body structure.

Although one can vaguely discern that there is a living human body inside, the strange black mist on the outside seems to contain a rejection of the world's rules and malice.

This feeling... it's a bit like when I first illegally entered this world. Kevin's gaze was filled with doubt. As he unearthed the four Herrscher Core, he was getting closer and closer to the Great Source of this world.

In a sense, it seems to have taken over from the Honkai, becoming a tool for purifying filth, possessing a strong bactericidal effect on all things that are out of place.

For example, the former alien god Jenova, even under his bloodline, could not escape the fate of being cleansed.

Perhaps, we could give it a try?

As he pondered, a spatial force shifted, slicing through Kevin's palm and spilling dark red blood onto the Plague Doctor's black latex suit and ceramic bird-beak mask.

"Snap!"

A crisp sound rang out, and cracks appeared on the hard bird-beak mask, while a strange dissolution appeared on the iconic clothing that covered the plague doctor's body.

So, let me see what's hidden down there!

Seeing that his thinking was on the right track, Kevin simply cut his wrist, drew out a clump of blood, and let it drift evenly toward the doctor.

As the ceramic mask shattered completely, scattering like dust, the tattered rubber suit on the plague doctor's body also completely disintegrated and fell away, finally revealing the full figure beneath the black cocoon.

Just as Kevin was stunned, a delicate body with long gray-blue hair and blood-red pupils fell into his arms. The stale, lifeless aura of the girl made her seem like a specimen that had been preserved in formaldehyde for centuries.

Because of the presence of this deathly aura, any contact with her would still be fatal to ordinary people.

However, Kevin lifted half of the girl's long, gray-blue hair, and his gaze was instantly drawn to the familiarity revealed in the contours of her face. He couldn't help but gently stroke the girl's smooth hair, his tone soft.

"Do you remember your name? Where are you from? Why have you become like this?"

"Nata... Nata... Siberia... Brother..."

The girl's gaze was dazed. As she concentrated on searching her memories, a sharp, needle-like pain shot through her mind, causing the mutated life form, now stripped of its shell, to clutch its head and groan. Deathly energy surged around it, and a nearby potted plant, touched by the energy, immediately withered and died.

"If you can't figure it out, then don't think about it..."

Kevin immediately stopped her, extending his bleeding right index finger and placing it into the girl's mouth. She immediately took it in and sucked on it like a little bird finding its owner, then curled up in Kevin's arms and fell into a deep sleep.

"Welcome back, Raven..."

The man, like a father, looked down at the little one hatching from its shell, a smile playing on his lips as he murmured softly.

"My dear family, it's been so long..."

Just as Kevin relaxed his guard, the believers who were still inside the Space Prison couldn't wait any longer and pushed open the door to enter.

In that instant, Heidewilli was shocked to see someone holding a naked, pale-skinned girl in their arms, a strange smile on their lips.

P. S.: Surprised? Unexpected? (The reason will be revealed in the next chapter.)

Just to clarify beforehand, the other two members of [World Serpent], Gray Serpent Jackal, had their accounts hacked and were terrible players, so I don't plan to revive them.

If you are interested, please let us know.

There will be one more update before midnight.

Chapter 565, Section 594: A Much-Wonderful Battleground (Bonus Chapter)

In the bedroom, Heidewilli gently covered the sleeping blue-gray-haired girl with a blanket, held her cold hands in her palms, glanced furtively at the Master Angel sitting quietly in the living room, and then whispered in the girl's ear.

"Nata, get some rest. Once Lord Uriel has fully healed you, we'll go out and have fun in crowded places together..."

After whispering her secret, Heidewilli placed the crucifix she had given to Nata into her hand, silently prayed for a moment, and then slowly withdrew, turning into the front hall.

"What exactly are the SCP anomalous creatures in this world?"

At this moment, Kevin, chewing on a few mints, asked Hatsune Miku, the second chairperson who always slacked off and skipped work, a question.

To invite this "Salty Fish Princess," he paid the price of more than a dozen songs. Whenever he had free time, he also had to bring the entire SCP Foundation's top management to the concert to show his support.

Simply put, it's a product of fragmented rules, a consequence of global disharmony...

Hatsune Miku skillfully pulled a box of Mentos from Kevin's pocket, ate it while talking, and used easy-to-understand metaphors to explain her thoughts.

"Well, they're like deformed children born into this world; they're often not accepted, and ordinary physical rules rarely apply to them..."

"But existence implies rationale, which is why these SCP supernatural beings created rules that apply to their own existence..."

Kevin recalled the girl lying in the bedroom and was immediately puzzled.

"Wasn't it said that the [World Serpent]'s existence was erased? What's going on with that child?"

As a deity representing the Human Collective Consciousness, humanoid life forms have almost no secrets from her. Hatsune Miku rested her chin on her hand and looked at Kevin with great interest.

"[Raven], one of the three main subordinates of [World Serpent], whose real Nata Xiola, was born in Siberia and was a victim of the Second Honkai."

"Later, she was saved by Cecilia's holy blood, gaining powerful Honkai energy resistance. By chance, she joined [World Serpent] and became a key member..."

"This is probably what history was like before it was revised..."

"As the process of correcting the world unfolds, the other two core members, [Gray Serpent] and [Jackal], who were born before your arrival from the other dimension, naturally cease to exist..."

"But this outcome will not affect [Raven] joining [World Serpent] after the Second Honkai Calamity..."

"It's just a coincidence that you still changed her fate..."

Hatsune Miku tore open a bag of potato chips, dipped them in ketchup, and crunched away while gesturing with the chips and casually responding to others.

"Remember the massive Spacequake that the Second Herrscher, Sirin, caused in Siberia region?"

"The Herrscher are actually manifestations of the rule-based abilities of the Earth Mother Goddess Gaia. They were extracted and ordered to destroy Human Civilization and purify the world. In doing so, the planet's overall self-defense capabilities will be greatly reduced..."

Kevin suddenly realized something and seemed to be deep in thought.

"Therefore, especially when the Space Herrscher, Sirin, triggers a large-scale Spacequake, it will undoubtedly cause various distorted fragments of rules to form. These fragments will act on various objects, giving them all sorts of special abilities, such as the SCP-173 statue..."

"Or perhaps some supernatural being breaks through the rift between worlds, descending upon this This Planet in the form of SCP anomalous creatures, becoming so-called deformed fetuses, such as SCP-096 The Shy Man and SCP-106 The Terrifying Old Man... and SCP-049 The Plague Doctor..."

Hatsune Miku revealed a satisfied look. If one wasn't smart enough to see the situation clearly, there was no need to put all the possibilities on this guy.

"That's right. While Sirin was creating a massive Spacequake, Nata Xiola was caught in the rift and merged with a will to 'cure the plague,' thus transforming into the so-called SCP-049 Plague Doctor."

"Yes, in a sense, it was the intense resentment left behind by the dead during the Black Death in medieval Europe..."

"They longed to be healed and saved, so they instilled this will into Nata Xiola, creating the so-called [Plague Doctor]."

"You should have heard about the planet's Self-Defense System —Life Stream—from its creator, Jenova, and witnessed the will of the Dayart Civilization that buried countless lives that were eliminated..."

"Everything has two sides. The species' desire for continuation, its love for the world, and all other positive beliefs become the source of Life Stream's power..."

"When a soul encounters too much betrayal and resentment, and is ultimately discarded by the world as a harmful substance, this lingering sorrowful wish can still be activated and passed on if the time is right."

"They will continue to drift through the world as 'viruses,' carrying out corrections or retaliation..."

Kevin immediately understood and muttered to himself.

"The Dayart Civilization's cemetery is actually a result of the tribe's annihilation, which led to a desire to eliminate life and select a new Adam Eve to continue the civilization—that is, the [Divine Sense Organization]..."

"The Raven, possessed by the collective will of the Black Death sufferers, became the Plague Doctor in their minds—the bird-beak mask—treating more patients and correcting what they perceived as irrational..."

"However, Plague Doctor are themselves the embodiment of the will of the dead; the intense aura of death they exude is destined to kill anyone who comes into contact with them..."

Hatsune Miku opened the can, inserted the straw, and sipped Sprite to quench her thirst, nodding intermittently as Kevin guessed and summarized.

"Then why did she call me the cure for the world?"

Although he had solved most of the puzzles, Kevin still had some doubts.

Hatsune Miku rolled her eyes and responded irritably.

"It's all because you destroyed the Honkai Will, causing Earth's self-cleaning ability to fail, resulting in more and more SCP anomalous creatures appearing. I had no choice but to reorganize the Foundation to patch up this hole before you returned."

"As for why I'm waiting for you, need I say more? The one who tied the knot must untie it..."

"After eliminating the Honkai Will, you have been designated as the new generation's self-cleaning filter, responsible for protecting this This Planet..."

"Thankfully, you didn't make me wait ten years in vain. You resolved the rise of City of R'lyeh and the erosion by Creator Jenova in the very beginning..."

Kevin pressed his hand, feeling a headache coming on.

"So, you're saying similar troubles will come knocking again in the future? And I'm the first one to take the blame?"

Hatsune Miku shrugged and made a mocking nasal sound.

"Serves you right! I've reminded you more than once that the Honkai isn't the enemy, but you insisted on a fight to the death..."

"Now that you've made a mess of things, of course you have to clean up your own mess!"

Then, the Princess added gleefully.

"Furthermore, the existence of SCP-049 is an exception and does not mean you can use the same method to purify other SCP anomalous organisms."

"Otherwise, the Earth Mother Goddess Gaia wouldn't have thrown all these things outside the World Barrier..."

To vent his anger, Kevin snatched the Sprite from Hatsune Miku's hand, drank it all in one gulp, and threatened her fiercely.

"Don't say anything more, just let me take a few days off!"

Hatsune Miku readily extended one finger and responded with a smile.

"Spend a week carefully watering your backyard..."

"See you at the Far East Branch of the St. Freya Academy in seven days. Good luck, dear Master..."

The Princess playfully pointed out the French windows, where familiar faces were filing in in twos and threes, aggressively surrounding the office.

Skipping work is a no-go! This whole mess, the first time in ten years... it's going to get you in big trouble!

Hatsune Miku waved in a nostalgic gesture, then her figure blurred from solid to ethereal, her gloating expression making Kevin grit his teeth in hatred.

P. S.: The storyline is complete, and the plot is generally flowing smoothly. All the owed chapters have been paid up, and my integrity is preserved!

Thanks to reader @brokenstreamer588 for the tip.

Chapter 566, Section 595: A Battlefield of Bloodshed!

In the circular lobby of the SCP Foundation's German Branch, seven or eight desks were casually arranged, each equipped with tea, snacks, and everything else. A dozen or so female elites were chatting and drinking tea in a harmonious atmosphere.