Spirit Descendant Evolution Company, Americas.
New Metropolis.
This supercity, reshaped by capital and technology, remained brightly lit even at night.
Skyscrapers soared into the clouds like needles, slicing the sky into countless irregular fragments.
Neon lights flashed, and holographic projections darted between buildings, displaying all kinds of over-the-top advertisements. The most common featured the Spirit Descendant Evolution Company's iconic blue-green logo and a dazzling serum slowly rising into view.
Beneath the city's splendor lay the dream countless people yearned for: no painful training, no cold machinery—just one serum to gain extraordinary power and change their fate.
This was the Americas' "Way of Freedom."
In the eastern suburbs, a sprawling complex covering dozens of square kilometers stood in quiet isolation.
High electric fences and heavily armed security guards surrounded the complex, while drones patrolled overhead. The giant sign above the main gate bore the words "Spirit Descendant Evolution Company," glowing an eerie green in the night.
Deep inside the complex lay the company's most important research facility.
Through the thick blast-resistant glass, the brightly lit laboratories could be seen.
Dozens of researchers in white coats hurried about. Their movements lacked the orderly rigor of ordinary scientists and instead carried an eerie, ritualistic quality.
Various unrecognizable substances were arranged on a massive workbench. Some were deep-purple ores whose surfaces shimmered with strange light. Others were organs soaking in nutrient fluid, twitching faintly. Still others were black powders of unknown origin that gave off an unsettling aura.
The researchers held various instruments as they added the substances to a huge reaction vessel in a set order.
Each time something was added, an eerie glow flashed inside the vessel, and thick white smoke billowed out.
The smoke filled the room before being sucked away by a powerful ventilation system, but the smell of chemicals