Underground Base—
At the very center of the entire base stood an incomparably vast room. Aside from a single chair, there were no other furnishings, though numerous pieces of equipment floated throughout the chamber.
These were testing instruments. All the researchers were already in position, preparing to analyze, in the most direct manner possible, the powers of the other world and how the humans of that world differed from them.
Tap, tap, tap—!
Footsteps echoed from several surrounding passageways. Bogeku raised his head, an exceedingly arrogant curve appearing at the corner of his mouth.
"They're here?"
His calm voice echoed through the room, reverberating through the empty metal chamber.
An incomparably scorching aura swept in. There was no pointless chatter, no words at all. Terrifying flames instantly engulfed Bogeku, while a deep, aged voice resounded through the room.
"Zanka no Tachi: West: Zanjitsu Gokui!"
Boom—!
An explosion rang out from within the flames. Almost instantly, the metal walls of the room turned liquid and began dripping down. Bogeku's chair was burned to ashes in an instant.
Yet his posture did not change. It was as if he were seated upon thin air. In his raised hand, he held a blade—a blade burning with flames capable of incinerating everything.
The figure wielding the blade was a figure formed entirely from flames. Simply standing there had completely evaporated the moisture from the air and begun melting the metal throughout the laboratory.
"Hm?"
Bogeku frowned, feeling the stinging pain coming from his hand, and could not help but feel startled.
This temperature far exceeded his previous assessment from the footage. If it could make his battle-tempered body feel pain, then the temperature had already reached a terrifying level.
Meanwhile, the researchers who had been monitoring the scene descended into chaos.
"How is it?