Caught in a Sneak Attack

Higashino Makoto's fingertip had barely touched Psykos's forehead when her body jolted.

Her pupils contracted sharply, then rapidly dilated, as if something had struck her vacant blue eyes.

Threads of pale purple magic extended from Higashino Makoto's fingertip, seeped into her temples, and burrowed deep into her brain like tree roots.

"She really did lose her memory?"

he murmured.

Psykos's memories unfolded before him like a book that had been torn apart and hastily pieced back together.

Most of the pages were blank, with only a few scattered images lingering in their corners.

A young woman in a white lab coat stood before a massive glass window.

Outside, a sea of flames raged. The city was burning, and monsters ran rampant through the streets.

Her lips were moving, but Higashino Makoto couldn't hear a sound.

A deep, hoarse voice, as if rising from the depths of the earth.

Speaking a language he couldn't understand.

Higashino Makoto frowned.

He increased his magic output slightly.

The threads of magic burrowed deeper, passing through the blank pages, the fragmented images, and the mental barrier Psykos herself had erected.

No, wait! He saw—

Images like a broken film.

A massive meteor fell from the sky and struck the heart of a city.

The shock wave spread in every direction. Buildings collapsed, the ground split open, and countless people vanished in the flames.

Then came a tsunami.

Waves dozens of meters high surged in from the coastline, swallowing everything.

Then came the monsters.

They weren't ordinary monsters. They were powerful and divine, beings that seemed to have stepped out of myth.

They walked across the earth, crushing a city beneath each step.

Survivors huddled in underground shelters, their eyes full of fear.

They waited, waited for the Heroes to save them.

But what they didn't