Deep inside the brightly lit laboratory stood an enormous screen, displaying the laboratory's utterly devastated central area and Ice Mask, once again surrounded by Ghoul Investigators.
Kanou Akihiro, the petite Bandaged Woman, the red-masked Tatara, and the burly Shachi watched intently in front of the screen.
"Did you see that, Tatara? The attack power Eyepatch unleashed after swallowing Ice Mask's flesh and blood, with his [Kakuja Egg]... even going all out, you'd probably have trouble withstanding it..."
Eto murmured as she watched the now-collapsed Eyepatch, though Tatara merely gave a quiet grunt in response.
"It seems Ice Mask's ice-crystal body isn't indestructible after all... hmm..." Eto rewrapped the bandages around her face, seemingly lost in thought. "He has some regenerative ability, but it's still far too weak compared to a ghoul's... can his severed arm grow back?"
"..." Shachi frowned at the severed crystalline arm on the screen. It wasn't as though he hadn't used his full strength when fighting Ice Mask, yet even then, he had been completely unable to shatter that strange crystalline body.
In other words, at that moment, Eyepatch's attack power had surpassed his own.
"Most of the data has been deleted... a shame we can't take so many of the test subjects with us." Kanou took his hands off the console and looked at the screen as well, just in time to see Ice Mask surrounded and in terrible shape.
"In that case, I might as well give you a hand..." After a moment's thought, Kanou pressed a rather inconspicuous but distinctive button.
Release all test subjects. That was his signal to abandon this place and escape.
"He looks like he's reached his limit..." Tatara glanced at Kanou Akihiro. "If we're going to capture him and take him away as a test subject, this is