At the time, it had been a last resort.
Almost all the Flame-Chasers had charged into the Binding domain as if throwing their lives away.
This had pushed the Binding Herrscher's burden to the limit of what she could endure.
Then, at the instant she reached the critical point,
Kevin had crossed nearly a hundred kilometers and launched a killing strike at the Binding Herrscher.
Only then had they achieved victory.
This had also come to be known as the Binding Tragedy.
After that, only thirteen Moth of the Fire fusion warriors remained. They were Kevin and the others—the so-called Thirteen Flame-Chasers.
If the Thousand-Man Herrscher had shaken humanity's morale,
then the Herrscher of Binding had dealt humanity a tremendous blow in terms of sheer strength.
As for the Twelfth Herrscher, she was a genuine bastard.
Humanity was already in the midst of a crisis of trust.
And they had still set it up so that she would awaken only after dying! Wasn't that just messing with people's heads?
On top of that, the Herrscher's host had actually been Sakura's younger sister.
She was also the kind who carried a biological virus capable of corrupting every network and every electronic device—a shameless, utterly rogue-like existence.
What could anyone even say?
Dr. Mei and the others were completely numb.
Good grief.
After the Binding Herrscher, humanity had been reduced to only three cities.
Then the Corruption Herrscher had gone and wrecked all three of them, stomping hard on the coffin lid for good measure.
How the hell was that human?
"Ling... No. It can't be... She... she can't be a Herrscher..."
Sakura's pupils trembled, and she was shaken to her core.
To her, her younger sister was the most important person in the world.
She cherished her sister so dearly.
Even though her own hands were stained with blood, she still hoped that her sister could live happily.
The condition Dr. Mei had set when recruiting her had been to guarantee her sister's safety.
How could this have happened?
Of course.
Sakura also knew that she couldn't blame Dr. Mei for this.
If Little Griseo was telling the truth,
then humanity had probably already been at the end of its rope by that point.
Given the circumstances, nothing would have been surprising.
More than that.
Putting herself in their shoes,
if Ling really had been a Herrscher host
and had been detected to have Herrscher reactions,
then, in that state of shattered trust, declining combat power, and practically no hope, being outside might even have been less safe than staying in prison.
Fortunately.
None of this had happened yet.
Even if Ling really was a Herrscher, she would only be the twelfth.
There were still two before her.
That gave everyone enough time to prove whether this was true.
Sure enough!
They still hoped that it was all false.
But both Alicia and Verne said that these things were probably true.
Even if they truly didn't want to accept it, they could only come to terms with it slowly.
Wasn't that right?
Little Griseo continued speaking unhurriedly, glancing at Alicia as she did so.
The look left Alicia somewhat bewildered.
Why is she looking at me?
She didn't know why, but she inexplicably felt a little guilty.
After all!
The Thousand-Man Herrscher, the Herrscher of Binding, and the Corruption Herrscher...
Compared to what came next, none of them amounted to much.
The Origin was the real heavyweight!
"The Thirteenth Herrscher is Alicia."
"But she has been a Herrscher from beginning to end."
"..."
Little Griseo exposed Alicia's greatest secret without mercy.
Before you continue