Renji Kurogane, a completely normal high school student, was on his way back from a convenience store late one night when he was suddenly enveloped in a blinding light and lost consciousness.
When he awoke, he found himself in a decaying ocean world ruled by 'Hakos Baelz.' The sky was shrouded in murky clouds, and the sea was black and polluted. The world was slowly being devoured by colossal monsters known as 'Kegareshin' (Corrupted Gods).
Renji manages to reach an underwater 'Safe House,' wh
Elpis of the Corrupted Sea -A God's Despair Game- - Shattered Peace
A full day had passed since that alarm blared. Ever since the moment Kirsche fought the Crawler swarm while injured, everything had been quiet.
Sitting at the small desk in his room, Kurogane Renji stared intently at the smartphone in his hands. The screen no longer lit up. Even so, he couldn't help pulling it out of his pocket. The habit from his days in Japan still hadn't left him.
The Lumen stones embedded in the walls flickered faintly. He already understood that these stones were the lifeline of the safe house, "Kaleidoscope." If that orange light ever went out, the only thing waiting for them on this ocean floor was death.
"...I wonder if she's okay."
He murmured the words to no one in particular. Kirsche was still in the infirmary. The wound to her left side apparently wasn't deep, but her vocal cords had also been strained. The doctor told her not to sing for a while, and she seemed to have reluctantly accepted it.
(I, on the other hand)
Couldn't do anything, as usual. Just stood there frozen in the shelter. Even while she fought alone, I couldn't move properly. I want to do something. But I have no power to fight, no power to sing.
Just an ordinary high school student.
That's when it happened.
*Knock, knock.*
A dry knocking sound echoed.
"Huh?"
Before he could answer, the heavy metal door slowly opened.
Standing there was a tall woman with short-cropped silver hair streaked with white. She looked to be around forty years old. Sharp blue eyes stared down at Renji. On her neck was a large scar, perhaps from an old surgery.
She wore a relatively clean navy-blue uniform. In one hand, she held a black notebook and a pen.
(This person is...)
If he remembered correctly, Kirsche had mentioned her.
The commander of Kaleidoscope. Mira Vestine.
She glanced at Renji's expression, then silently opened her notebook. Her pen moved swiftly. The handwriting was neat, precise block letters.
*'Follow me. We need to talk.'*
Renji caught his breath for a moment.
"...Understood."
The commander was already walking away.
The corridor was silent. Only the low hum of pipes running along the walls could be heard. Occasionally, the flickering of the Lumen stones illuminated old scars and repair marks. The sound of ocean currents pounding against the outer walls echoed faintly.
As Renji followed Mira's back, he thought to himself.
(The commander wants to talk to me? About what?)
It had only been three days since he was transported here. Far from being useful, just yesterday he'd had his hands full just guiding people to the shelters. And yet, she specifically wanted to talk to him.
They climbed a staircase and passed through a corridor lined with pulse communication relays.
The top floor. Mira quietly pushed open the heavy door beneath a plate that read "Command Center."
The room was surprisingly sparse. A large desk, and instruments covering one entire wall. Beyond that, a few nautical charts and graphs showing the luminance levels of the Lumen stones. A board for written communication was kept ready on the central desk.
Mira offered Renji a chair, then sat down across from him. She straightened her back and fixed her blue eyes directly on him. Then, she slowly began writing in her notebook.
*'I'll be blunt. Kaleidoscope is slowly bleeding out.'*
Renji's throat made a gulping sound.
Mira's pen didn't stop.
*'Lumen stone mining output has halved in the last six months. The Phosglen veins are nearing depletion.'*
"Halved..."
*'At this rate, the Corundum Council will cut off our supplies. Effectively, they'll be leaving us to die.'*
The letters were written dispassionately. But Renji saw her fingers tremble ever so slightly.
"...That can't be."
*'If resources run out, the Lumen lights on the outer walls will go dark. The purification reactor will stop. When that happens, a swarm of Crawlers will form a scrum and crush this dome, along with the water pressure at a depth of thirty-five meters. Everyone will die.'*
The handwriting was detached. That only made the words heavier.
Renji couldn't say anything.
"...What can I do?"
He forced the words out.
Mira paused for a breath, then turned another page.
*'If this were just a report on our dire situation, I wouldn't have called you here. The problem is this.'*
The next words written in the notebook.
*'There are suspicious alterations in our communication logs.'*
Renji couldn't believe his eyes.
"...Alterations?"
*'There's a possibility that someone is leaking the safe house's defense schedules to the outside.'*
The commander's face was like a mask of ice. But beneath it, he could feel a deep, burning anger.
(A traitor.)
A chill crawled down Renji's spine.
Here, on this ocean floor. In this place where the last remnants of humanity huddled together to survive.
Someone was selling out their comrades.
"...But why tell me?"
This time, she wrote in large letters.
*'You are an outsider. You don't belong to any faction. The prophecy of Elpis is irrelevant for now. Simply put, you don't trust anyone yet. That's precisely why you might see something we can't.'*
Elpis.
The word Kirsche had mentioned, meaning "hope." It seemed to be connected to why he was transported here. But it still didn't quite click for Renji.
"Do you think I'll see something?"
*'I don't know. However.'*
Mira's pen nearly stopped, then started moving again.
*'At this rate, sooner or later, Kaleidoscope will shatter from within. By the traitor's hand, or by a chain of distrust. I want to stop that.'*
On the last line of the page, the letters were written with slightly more pressure.
*'Please.'*
The commander was a person who had lost her voice. So these two words were everything she had.
Something pulsed deep in Renji's chest.
It was terrifying. A conspiracy of unknown origin. His own powerlessness.
But.
(This person asked me.)
Carrying the lives of everyone in Kaleidoscope on her shoulders.
"...I'll do my best. Whatever I can."
He said it awkwardly, but as directly as he could.
Mira narrowed her eyes just a fraction. Whether she was trying to smile, or if the light was simply too bright, he couldn't read her expression.
That's when it happened.
*--WOOOOOOOOO!!!*
A deafening alarm shook the entire command center.
The instruments on the wall all began flashing red simultaneously. The needle of the depth gauge trembled wildly, and the pressure gauge for the outer wall spiked.
"Wha—what is that!?"
Mira instantly reached for the communication panel. She tossed her notebook aside and struck the keyboard.
The monitor displayed footage from the external cameras.
The ocean floor at a depth of thirty-five meters. The dark sea.
And within it, a writhing, gigantic shadow.
"...A Kegare-shin."
A mass of carapace nearly forty meters long, flailing countless tentacles as it repeatedly rammed its body against Kaleidoscope's outer wall. A monstrous bulk that the Crawlers couldn't even compare to.
A communication like a scream came through from the control room.
"This is the Security Team! A crack in the outer wall of Residential Sector C! Confirming seawater inflow!"
"Black Tide miasma is flooding into the residential block! We need the Purification Team immediately!"
At the edge of the monitor, he could see the black miasma creeping through the corridors of the residential area like a crawling thing.
Mira clenched her teeth and wrote two large characters on the communication board.
*'All hands, battle stations.'*
At that moment, a clear voice cut through the communicator.
"Kirsche, heading out."
"Kirsche!? Wait, you're still—!"
Renji found himself shouting.
But the communication was already cut.
Mira's hand tapped Renji on the shoulder.
Instructions were written on the board.
*'You, go to the residential area. Guide the evacuation. Can you do that?'*
"...Y-yes, understood!"
Renji dashed out of the command center.
The corridor was hell.
Red alarm lights illuminated faces twisted in terror. Screams. Crying. Voices calling out for someone.
"This way! Stay calm and head to the shelter!"
He raised his voice. But the din was so loud he couldn't even hear himself.
That's when it happened.
*FWOOOSH!*
Further down the corridor, a section of the bulkhead swelled inward, and in the next instant, burst apart with a roar.
Black mist.
The stench of rotting sea, burning the back of his nose. The Black Tide miasma crawled through the corridor as if it were alive.
"Miasma! Run!"
People screamed and fled in panic.
While guiding people toward the exit, Renji desperately looked back over his shoulder.
"Just a little further! Hang on!"
That's when it happened.
"Uwaaah!"
An old man, pushed by the panicked crowd, tripped and fell. His legs tangled, and he collapsed onto the floor.
"A-are you okay!?"
Renji tried to run to him.
But.
The black mist was faster.
The miasma enveloped the old man's body.
"Gi—aaaaaaaahhh!!!"
Before his eyes, the man's skin necrotized. It turned a dark reddish-black, cracked, and crumbled away. The old man's eyes clouded white, foam bubbled from his mouth, and still he kept screaming—seconds later, he stopped moving.
"Ah..."
His legs wouldn't move.
(Right in front of me, just now.)
(A person—)
"Ugh, aaaah..."
Nausea welled up. His knees trembled.
(I couldn't do anything—)
That's when he heard another scream.
"Mommy! Mommy!!"
A little girl's voice.
Renji forced his head up.
There was a girl, pinned under rubble, her leg trapped and unable to move. And beyond her, from under a collapsed wall, only a woman's lower body was visible. Not moving a twitch.
"Mommy!"
The girl's eyes were filled with tears.
Something switched inside Renji's head.
(This time, for sure.)
"Hold on! I'm coming!"
Dodging the miasma, he ran to the pile of rubble. He grabbed a mass of steel beams and concrete with his bare hands. It was incredibly heavy. His fingertips split, blood seeping out. He clenched his teeth.
"Ugh, aaaaaah!!"
He heaved it up. Just a little, a gap opened.
"Hurry! Get out!"
Crying, the girl crawled out, dragging herself free.
At that moment, the arm supporting the rubble reached its limit.
With a crashing rumble, the concrete collapsed. New steel beams buried the spot where the girl had just been.
(Just in the nick of time.)
Renji scooped up the girl and ran.
"Mommy, my mommy..."
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..."
(I can't save her.)
That woman, she was already...
Heat burned behind his eyes.
(Damn it.)
(Damn it, damn it, damn it.)
Meanwhile, at the breach in the outer wall.
Amidst swirling spray and miasma, Kirsche stood alone, facing the enemy.
Her silver hair was disheveled by the sea wind. The wound on her left side ached. But she couldn't afford to care.
Before her loomed the forty-meter abomination. Its carapace was blacker than a normal Kegare-shin, coated in a thick, viscous layer of miasma.
Kirsche steadied her breathing and opened her mouth.
*--♪--*
The luminescent spots on her neck glowed pale blue. The melody of her purification song was released, vibrating through the air.
However.
The wave of her song merely flickered faintly on the surface of the enemy's body before dispersing.
"...Why?"
It wasn't working.
The dense layer of miasma covering the Kegare-shin's outer shell absorbed the resonance of her purification song, preventing it from reaching the interior.
"Once more."
Kirsche gritted her teeth and attempted a second song.
With stronger will. The melody between the earth and the sea. Using the imagination Renji had taught her, she amplified her inner power.
But.
*HYUUU!*
A tentacle of the Kegare-shin swung down with a howl.
"Guh...!"
Struck squarely on her left side, her slender body was sent flying. She was slammed back-first into the wall, blood spurting from her mouth.
She fell to the floor and didn't move.
Her hair, soaked with seawater mixed with blood, clung to the floor.
"...I'
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