Chapter #39

Meanwhile Zeno was delivering his bone chilling speech, a tragedy was occuring in Takagi Estate.

Zeno had left more than half of the soldiers here to protect the Takagi family, it was his way of paying back for all these years.

Yet, fate decided on something else.

Souichirou was currently sitting on his desk gnawing on a leg of an adult male, the desk was covered in blood. Around him stood the corpses of his security detail shred to pieces.

Souichirou had a bite mark on his wrist, from the size of it, it no doubt belonged to a child. Not far away from the desk a zombified child was kneeling on the ground without any expressions.

"Damned Zeno, I should have known he did something to us... Then again it's only thanks to that I didn't turn into one of them... I became something else." Souichirou was monologuing despite knowing no one was here to hear it.

Child of one of his security detail had come to see his father, Souichirou being a softy allowed it. Who would have thought the child would turn into one of them on the spot and bite Souichirou.

Unlike other humans, Souichirou had the Silverlight in his system for over ten years, even longer than the government officials that Zeno infected before.

Even with him being healed the infection enhanced him in many ways that Zeno couldn't just take back. This allowed Souichirou to survive the turning process with his mind relatively intact.

Souichirou finished eating the leg he was gnawing on before devouring the rest, he savored the taste long enough.

He closed his eyes, feeling every undead around the estate, their desire to eat the living, and their deaths as the soldiers gunned them down.

"This wasn't an apocalypse but Divinity at work. Just because I survived with help does not mean others can't, this is a selection." Souichirou convinced himself before getting up, the child zombie followed him without a sound.

"I must share this gift with Yuriko and Saya... They shouldn't be deprived of such blessings." Souichirou nodded to himself before he jabbed his hands into the child zombie.

One could see that his hand was no longer human, his fingers had turned into sharp claws.

Followed by that the zombie liquefied and got absorbed into Souichirou. "but first I must get stronger, Zeno would no doubt try to stop me."

_______

Soon the convoy arrived at the Takagi Estate, one of the main entrances of Japan's underground bunker was located here.

Zeno could feel something was amiss from the moment they arrived because he couldn't sense Souichirou around.

A quick search on the security cameras revealed that he left long before they arrived, he didn't seem troubled or anything but he looked determined.

{He does look better though...} Ouryuu commented.

Zeno had a seeping suspicion that only got worse after he watched Yuriko enter Souichirou's room before exiting suddenly and puking.

[It seems Souichirou had turned into something else...] System commented while making an Oliver Queen impression.

'I knew we should have put cameras in every single room.' Zeno sighed.

The three had decided to give the Takagi's some privacy and not bug every room but it seems it came to bite them back.

{Well then, let's pull his plug. You still have those safety measures right?} Ouryuu commented, he was watching the recording of people cleaning the bloody room.

Honestly Zeno didn't know how Yuriko maintained order after people saw the prime minister's room like this.

Seeing the half eaten bodies of people made Ouryuu decide that Souichirou must die.

[I just checked it, the nanite bombs are still online. We can disintegrate him immediately.] System reported.

The bombs were not constantly connected to Zeno since a faraday cage could break the connection and Zeno just didn't want to bother with something complicated, thus Zeno didn't learn what happened to him until he bothered to check.

'Nah, let him have some fun. He'll have to eat the zombies if he wants to get stronger. Update the nanites with the latest Anti-Undead diagnostics.' Zeno gave his orders.

He already finished developing a resistance for the undead energy and updated the Goldlight. He can now safely infect Saeko without worries.

It wasn't immunity from magic or anything like that, just high resistance to undead energy. The Karmic Virtue helped a lot in this regard.

Goldlight itself was a part of him, his own Karmic Virtue would protect his loved one's as well.

'Also terminate the rest of the Silverlight survivors. Focus on the changes happening to Souichirou's body.' Zeno continued.

Once Zeno, Saya and Saeko left the vehicle they were quickly approached by the workers here, and were told Yuriko and Master Busujima wanted to see them immediately.

Nodding to the workers Zeno had the girls go first before he entered an empty room.

'You two ready?' Zeno grinned, feeling System's unease.

[No! Please don't do this! You'll doom all three of us!] System was hysterical.

{I will endure this, for the people...} Ouryuu sighed but his tone was determined.

Zeno shrugged before expelling two blobs of biomass that quickly took human shape.

Both of them looked similar to Zeno, but one of them wore orange ancient clothes with diamond patterns while the other was dressed like an agent from the Matrix.

"I fucking hate this already!" System cursed.

"Why am I the only one wearing ancient clothing? Not that I didn't miss my usual get up but it will stand out..." Ouryuu questioned.

"Shut it both of you, we lack manpower. There are things we cannot do just by giving orders. Go and save people in my name while I get laid." Zeno snapped back at them.

These two were getting lazier by day, they were loud on top of that. Also Zeno didn't want them in his head whenever he was having sex.

He didn't have a choice back then but now that he has the means he won't be keeping them in his head all the time, especially not when he is sleeping with his girls.

"Aye sir..." The duo replied unenthusiastically before leaving the room.

_______

By the time Zeno arrived at Yuriko's room, Saeko and Master Busujima had already left. Zeno knew Saeko immediately took off with her father without listening to Yuriko.

Yuriko herself was waiting for Zeno to arrive, no doubt to break out the bad news.

Seeing him come in, she gave him a small smile before gesturing for him to sit next to Saya who was pouting with a blush.

'What happened here when I was gone?' Zeno thought to himself. He was immensely satisfied when there was no other voice answering him back at his mind. 'Yep, best decision I ever had so far.'

After Zeno sat down, Yuriko explained what happened to Souichirou and how he stormed off. It was detailed enough to arouse Zeno's suspicion.

"My father turned into what!? Why can't anything go right for once!?" Saya yelled before she ran out of the room.

"She does that a lot doesn't she?" Zeno commented, watching her running figure.

"Yeah, I don't know where she got that from..." Yuriko sighed before looking at Zeno again. "You didn't look surprised when I told you all of this?"

"I had my suspicions and a phone so I could check the security cameras." Zeno shrugged. "But Yuriko, I don't remember there being a camera in Souichirou's room, how did you know everything that you learned?"

Yuriko even recited Souichirou's monolog, which was missed by Zeno. He was naturally suspicious.

"Well, I rigged his study just in case of any blackmail." Yuriko smiled shyly.

"You're taking this quite well?" Zeno asked.

"My husband died the moment he was bit. That thing using his body is no longer the man I loved and I will mourn him once his body is laid to rest. But explain this to me, Zeno. How much of this was your plan?" Yuriko showed a sad expression that got sharper as she spoke.

"None, I got you two infected with my special concoction to give you more energy, enough to take care of your child while doing your job.

Still you two neglected your daughter, once I saw that I healed both of you but it seems some of the improvements stayed even after I cured you both." Zeno explained.

"Like my figure getting better with each year?" Yuriko raised an eyebrow.

"That's the only thing you noticed." Zeno was dumbfounded. "Anyway, leave Souichirou to me, he isn't a threat." Zeno assured her.

"Fine, I will leave it to you... But first, check on Saya for me. I don't think she'll talk to me, I do come off as uncaring of what happened to her father." Yuriko said.

"Sure, we need everyone underground before nukes hit after all." Zeno nodded to her before leaving the room.

He was glad that Yuriko chose to trust him instead of asking more questions.

'She is slipping, I guess she took a really big hit to her mentality.' Zeno thought to himself before moving on.

What happened to Souichirou didn't concern him, after all, he did enough to protect them to not feel guilty.