The opening party was proceeding without a hitch, and the day, which would soon come to an end, was taking on a different rhythm. The excitement of the morning had given way to a more subdued atmosphere, dominated by business conversations and similar topics. Prime, however, was not participating in these discussions. He found himself in his office, located on the top floor of the building he had constructed.

Prime didn’t know exactly where the girls were, but he didn’t imagine they would get into any major trouble. And even if they did, it wasn’t like before, when he needed to protect them at all times. Now, at least, they had enough strength to defend themselves to some extent.

(Dad!)

While he pondered over a few matters with a glass of wine in hand, Prime received a mental message from Ema. He raised an eyebrow, surprised, as this was the first time she had used this type of communication. Prime knew that Ema wouldn’t do this without a significant reason.

(Did something happen?)

(Yes, I’m in the basement now. I came here because Agony warned me about suspicious men heading this way. I followed them, and indeed, they are doing something strange. They are sticking something to the pillars around me)

Prime lowered his gaze, a confused expression appearing on his face. He couldn’t quite understand what was happening, no matter how hard he tried to find an explanation. If it was really as Ema had mentioned, from any angle he considered, there was no doubt: they were definitely involved in something suspicious.

Prime sighed at his current situation. If he could, he would prefer to end the day without many incidents, but he knew that was unlikely. Pushing those thoughts aside, he felt Agony’s presence and had a basic sense of her location. Still in his office, Prime’s body dissolved and vanished without a trace.

A few minutes later, a reddish goo with white tones slithered through the ducts, reaching the basement of the building. Upon exiting the duct, the substance fell to the ground and quickly took on a humanoid shape.

Prime sighed in relief as he finally arrived at his desired location. Although he was still not familiar with the building’s ducts, which led him to take a few wrong paths, in the end, everything turned out fine.

Prime looked around and noticed several luxury cars parked, but he didn’t pay much attention to them. Sneaking between the vehicles, he spotted a girl with black hair and instantly identified who she was.

“Ema”

Prime approached from behind Ema, who jumped slightly before turning her gaze to him. Her eyes had a subtle purple glow that disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

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“It’s just you, Dad. Don’t do that again! Agony almost sliced you in half”

“Heh, I’d love to see her try”

Prime smiled humorously in response to Ema’s words, which elicited a brief, soft laugh from her. He then directed his gaze to the spot where Ema had been watching earlier.

There were two men dressed in completely ordinary outfits, but their actions were anything but normal. They frequently looked around and seemed to be sticking something to the building’s pillars. From what Prime knew about construction, any damage to the pillars could cause the building to collapse under its own weight.

“See? I told you they were acting suspiciously”

Ema exclaimed beside Prime, a confident smile on her face. To Prime, it seemed like she had an intuition that the two men were doing something wrong, even though she didn’t know exactly what they were plotting. However, Prime began to get an idea; everything became quite obvious when he saw what the men were adhering to the pillars.

“Ema, wait here for a moment. I’ll be right back”

After saying those words, Prime stepped away and began to walk toward the men. He wasn’t trying to hide, so the men easily noticed his approach. When he was just a few steps away from them, Prime stopped and stared at them, noticing that now the men were watching him strangely.

“Gentlemen, this is not the appropriate place for guests. I imagine you’ve gotten lost, so I’ll guide you back to where the other guests are”

Prime said all this with the friendliest smile he could muster, while the men exchanged glances for a few seconds. He imagined they might be communicating in some way, though that wasn’t of his concern.

“Sure, please show us the way”

When one of the men spoke, Prime nodded and turned around, beginning to walk in a random direction. He was sure the men wouldn’t follow him. The proof of this came when Prime noticed that, while they followed him, one of them discreetly began to pull something out of the large bag they both carried.

Without turning around or showing any sign of alarm, Prime continued walking. Behind him, he felt one of the men pull something sharp from the bag and then start running toward him. It wasn’t hard to imagine the man’s intentions; Prime suspected he was probably armed with a knife.

Then, Prime felt a pressure on his back, an object piercing him exactly where his heart should be—if he even had a heart to begin with. Although his body looked human, with organs and genetics, it was actually all the result of his symbiosis. In short, Prime’s internal organs were all artificial.

“Don’t blame me for this, buddy. Blame yourself for getting into a fight with someone you shouldn’t have. I hope you have better luck in your next life”

“Hahaha... I feel the same about you”

The man who had just stabbed Prime lifted his head, confused, upon hearing a response from someone who, at this point, should be agonizing in pain while dying slowly. However, soon his eyes widened in realization of what was really before him.

The man felt something grip his neck, a squeeze so tight that it made him realize that with a simple movement, his neck could be broken. He looked to the side, trying to call for help from his companion, but what he saw was a headless body, slowly falling to the ground.

He turned his head back to the front and faced a being that was definitely not human, with a mouth full of extremely sharp teeth.

“P-Please, don’t kill me! I’ll do anything!”

“... Don’t blame me for this, buddy. Blame yourself for getting into a fight with someone you shouldn’t have. I hope you have better luck in your next life”

After these words, an open mouth approached the man’s head, and in an instant, his entire field of vision was consumed by darkness, while his mind slowly faded away, enveloped in that gloom.