"What...?"
Yugo and the others stood frozen, reeling from the shocking news that the culprits they had just apprehended were dead.
Just what on earth had happened to them? As the group stood in a daze, Jinba continued his grim report.
"The Security Force hasn't been able to pin down the exact details yet. Their bodies simply exploded in the middle of the interrogation. And just like that, they were gone..."
"Their bodies exploded? Is that even possible?"
"It stands to reason that some kind of trap was laid when they were granted the power of the Magic Armor Beasts," Marcos observed, his voice steady despite the tension. "In fact, I can't think of any other possibility."
It was clearly a move to silence them, but the sheer brutality of killing all three in such a gruesome manner left everyone shaken. Amidst the heavy silence, Ryuga finally spoke up.
"That explains why they felt so different from the Magic Armor Beasts we've faced until now."
"What do you mean, Ryuga?"
It seemed Ryuga had sensed something off about the culprits—or rather, the forms they took when they transformed. Recognizing Yugo’s confusion, Ryuga began to articulate the anomaly he had perceived.
"Normally, a Magic Armor Beast is born when the soul of one monster fuses with the body of another. Setting aside the exception of Clear Plate Magic Armor Beasts, the same principle should apply to individuals created by granting a human the abilities of a monster. However, with the opponents we just fought, I couldn't even tell what kind of monster's power had been bestowed upon them. I’ve never heard of a creature that looks like a beast but has a cannon for an arm and multiple sets of eyes."
"Oh...!"
"Now that you mention it," Marcos added, "the Magic Armor Beast I fought was riddled with contradictions as well. I know of several monsters capable of planting parasites in other organisms, but that ability has nothing to do with a massive physique or a battle-axe. When you really think about it, none of it adds up."
Both Jando, whom Ryuga had faced, and Mikardo, Marcos's opponent, possessed the abilities of monsters they had never heard of.
None of them knew of a tarsier-like sniper monster or a rigid, axe-wielding monster that planted parasites. In fact, it was highly doubtful such creatures existed in nature at all.
The same likely applied to Yakaba, the man Yugo had defeated. A monster made of crystal with a megaphone built into its head and the power of hypnosis simply didn't exist.
"There are three components," Yugo realized aloud. "These weren't just fusions of humans and monsters. They were a New Species of Magic Armor Beast—a hybrid of human, monster, and advanced weaponry."
They were fundamentally different from any Magic Armor Beast they had encountered before.
Yakaba and his cohorts were more akin to the monsters created by the evil organizations the Red-Masked Hero fought—artificial New Species that fused biological organisms with mechanical hardware.
The mastermind behind the culprits had likely customized them for specific roles: a sniper cannon for Jando to compliment his supernatural sight; a sturdy frame and heavy axe for Mikardo to compensate for his frail body; and a hypnosis megaphone for Yakaba to satisfy his desire for lackeys.
It was exactly what an evil organization did to its captives: remodeling surgery. And during that process, the mastermind had planted a self-destruct device inside each of them.
More likely than not, those three were merely experimental subjects used to test the combat effectiveness of these New Species. They were meant to be discarded from the start to ensure no information could be leaked.
Yugo’s fists trembled as he realized that the culprits' short-sighted, self-centered personalities were likely the reason they were chosen—the masterminds wanted people too dim-witted to realize they were being used. Beside him, Jinba groaned, covering his mouth in disbelief.
"First we see humans transforming into Magic Armor Beasts, then we see enhanced Level 2 versions, and now we have these... remodeled monstrosities? What is happening? The Magic Armor Beasts are evolving at a terrifyingly rapid pace. This has all happened in just a few months!"
Jinba’s confusion was justified. Even from Yugo’s perspective, it hadn't even been a year since he had been reincarnated into this world, yet these New Species were already appearing one after another.
Does this abnormal rate of growth have something to do with my presence here? As he pondered this, Setsuna finally spoke.
"I’ve suspected this for a while, but it seems there really is someone pulling the strings behind the scenes. Abyss, the one we fought on Wind Island, was likely just one piece of the puzzle."
"There are others like the man who attacked my home?" Elena whispered, her eyes wide with shock. "What could they possibly hope to gain from all this?"
As Elena spoke, a specific face flashed through Yugo's mind.
To be precise, he had never seen the face hidden beneath the hood. However, that man had certainly been in league with Abyss, and undoubtedly belonged to the same faction.
Thinking of the mastermind who had likely engineered the Magic Armor Beasts he had fought—including Rush and Neid—Yugo spoke a name in the silence of his heart.
Lost... is it you? What are you trying to do?
Certain that the masterminds were on the move again, Yugo felt instinctively that Lost—who knew Yugo was a reincarnator—was also an outsider to this world.
What was the goal of this man, a fellow reincarnator, in creating these monsters and orchestrating these incidents?
Perhaps the reason for my own reincarnation is hidden within his motives, Yugo thought. He felt his resolve harden, ready to face the encroaching threat alongside his friends.