The ruins of the Shibuya fortress.
After sending Nogi Reiji's soul to rest, the towering Light Giant slowly straightened.
His imposing, fifty-meter-tall body did not linger. Warm, peaceful golden ripples flowed around him, and then, under Tendou and Kagami's awestruck, reverent gazes, the giant dissolved into golden particles of light that drifted down across the sky.
"Shhhhh-"
Golden Light Rain fell.
Still wearing his spotless black high school uniform, Lin Xiao walked steadily out of the light, looking like a boy who had just finished a stroll through the park.
"Lin Xiao... big bro..."
Kagami Arata stared blankly at Lin Xiao and swallowed hard. His legs went weak, and he almost dropped to his knees before this "living god."
Lin Xiao paid no attention to Kagami's stupor. He walked past him and headed straight for the wreckage of the fortress's central control console.
There, Metropolitan Police Superintendent General Kagami Riku leaned against a cold pile of scrap metal. Blood bubbled from the enormous hole a Worm had punched through his abdomen.
"Father!!"
Only then did Kagami Arata snap out of his daze. He scrambled over, tears instantly spilling from his eyes. "Father! Hang in there!!!"
"It's no use... Arata..." Kagami Riku shook his head with a bitter smile, black blood seeping from his mouth. He used all his remaining strength to grasp his son's hand. "My organs... have already been eaten away by the poison... Seeing you become a true warrior... I... have no regrets left..."
"Save the melodrama for breakfast back home."
A gentle voice suddenly came from above.
Kagami froze.
Lin Xiao stepped up to the dying old man, bent slightly, and opened his right hand.
"Hummm..."
A pure, red-and-silver orb of [Gaia's natural life origin], carrying the earth's primordial maternal vitality, floated quietly above Lin Xiao's palm,