Chapter Ninety-Seven: The Heavenly Spear

"What is going on here?" The moment Irina looked past Jin Ning, she could no longer keep her composure. The deck was covered in blood, and not far away lay a motionless human body. All of this made her wary. Could this guy actually be a bloodthirsty murderer? Since the senior sister has found out, don't blame me for upholding justice and bringing you back to Deer Academy for trial.

"Wait, this wasn't me." Seeing the hostile look on Irina's face, Jin Ning quickly stepped back twice, waving his hands as he explained. What a joke. He did not want to be beaten half to death by Irina and then sent back to Deer Academy for a merciful execution.

Only after Jin Ning called over Ueno Tsukuhisa and Afra to explain everything did Irina's expression finally soften somewhat. Even so, she still glared at him fiercely. "In any case, when you get back, you still have to write a report."

"So this is your trial?" Fifth Jue had somehow appeared behind Irina. "Don't mind me, I'm only asking casually. They aren't under my jurisdiction anyway, and in a sense I even helped fan the flames. How was it? Didn't it feel amazing afterward? I have always believed that when the law cannot grant justice to the victim, private vengeance becomes justified, even noble, from that moment on."

Jin Ning did not know how to answer. After glancing at the silent Ueno Tsukuhisa, he changed the subject. "Is something brewing over there?" In truth, he had not yet reached the level where he could sense mystical fluctuations in the air, but the SCP-CN-655 within him was extremely sensitive to energy.

Fifth Jue clapped lightly. "Very good. Three minutes before the explosion, you finally noticed the burning fuse."

"Explosion?" Jin Ning was confused.

"Yes. A mystical explosion is taking shape. If nothing goes wrong, by tonight Tokyo will be erased from the world map."

"And the people in Tokyo?"

"Just hope none of your friends are there, or you can start ordering funeral wreaths now." Fifth Jue patted Jin Ning on the shoulder.

"Anyway, it's Japan. What does it have to do with me?" That thought flashed through Jin Ning's mind for an instant, but soon another thought struck his heart like a hammer. His soul seemed to tremble. "Qin Mo is still there..."

Afra, beside him, looked anxiously at the others. "And Catherine too. Can you stop this explosion? Professor Fifth, please."

Fifth Jue shook his head. "To me, they're only two insignificant ordinary people. There's no need to waste energy on them, and in all likelihood the SCP Foundation will deal with this tide. If worst comes to worst, they are still Deer Academy students. As long as they receive the warning and follow the survival methods taught by Deer Academy, their lives may not be in danger."

Irina was just about to speak, but the helpless and despairing look in Jin Ning's eyes made her sigh softly. "Maybe she has already evacuated. In situations like this, governments usually receive the SCP Foundation's evacuation notice as quickly as possible, and what Professor Fifth said isn't wrong either."

"What if she hasn't? There are fourteen million people in all of Tokyo. Less than half an hour has passed since that concentration of mystical energy began gathering. Only a small portion of them could leave in time. What if they didn't realize? What if Qin Mo didn't get to higher ground in time?" Jin Ning clenched his fists. Time seemed to stand still. He could never place his hopes in a gambling-like surrender to fate. The consequences of losing were more than he could bear.

The heartbreaking embrace in the empty shopping mall. The answer on the park bench, where she had been willing to leave her hometown and cross the ocean with him. The girl at sunset, rising onto her toes to gather the helpless him into her arms.

In this unfamiliar world, they had each other. It was not merely a vow unto death, but a mutual emotional dependence. No matter what, he would make the same choice. He had brought her out of that endless night, so he was responsible for leading her to the ending of a fairy tale.

The SCP Foundation had once taken away his ordinary life. Back then he could only curse in secret and do nothing about it. But now, this malicious world wanted to take away the most precious person in his meager life as well?

He ground his teeth, and within him a voice cold enough to freeze the soul rang out. That girl is one I pulled out of the abyss. If this world wants to drag her back again, then I will fight until death.

He was terrified that the gentle girl would die in some dark corner where he could not see her. He also could not imagine how he would face a world in which he was left entirely alone. The fury born of fear tore through the skin of his palm with his nails, and hot blood dripped from his clenched fist.

From beginning to end, he had always known he was an outlier in Deer Academy. He was neither smart nor especially gifted, a useless sort who followed behind his senior brothers and sisters, coasting on cheap praise, without even the qualification to sit at the gambling table and go all in. When trouble arose, he could only turn to others for help. This time it was a senior; next time it would be Professor Fifth. It seemed he could always stand behind others and reap the benefits, but luck would eventually run out. A man who lacks the ability to protect what is his will inevitably face the day he loses it.

The only thing he could do now was stake everything. He understood clearly that someone as mediocre as he was, even after a semester of training at Deer Academy, had to be prepared to gamble with his life if he wanted the right to become a desperate gambler. But this was not misfortune. It was a blessing, because it was the only chance he had left to seize.

"655, I want to save her." At this moment, Jin Ning's voice was calm. It was the calm of rage and terror compressed to the extreme.

"All right."

SCP-CN-655 had never disappointed Jin Ning. This time would be no exception.

"What do I do?"

"I need the spear behind that man called Fifth Jue."

Jin Ning looked at Fifth Jue. "I can stop this explosion."

Fifth Jue's tone remained flat. He only let his gaze linger on Jin Ning for a moment before continuing to stare out over Tokyo Bay beneath the night sky. "Then go stop it. I will make sure the academy recognizes your achievement."

"I need to use the spear behind you." Jin Ning ignored the faintly mocking words.

"That is the Heavenly Spear, the source of Japan's thousand-year tide, and the reason Professor Fifth and I came here. In Japanese mythology, its purpose is to create the first landmass. The power contained within it is far too immense. I'm afraid you won't be able to use it." Perhaps understanding Jin Ning's state of mind, Irina spoke to explain.

"If I can master that power, I'm confident I can stop this storm." SCP-CN-655's voice sounded again.

Jin Ning looked at Fifth Jue. "You said that if I needed help, I could come to you. Then this is the time."

Only then did Fifth Jue turn around and coldly stare at Jin Ning. After seeing that fearless gaze meeting his own without hesitation, he revealed an unreadable smile and then snapped his fingers.

The entire sea was instantly shrouded in freezing cold. Even the splashes on the water were frozen in midair. Only then did he remove the Heavenly Spear from behind his back. One elaborate seal after another was undone by his hands, and the unremarkable-looking spear gradually revealed the majesty of a divine artifact. Simply looking at it made Jin Ning's eyes sting until tears streamed down his face.

"Take it."

Fifth Jue casually tossed the Heavenly Spear over, showing not the slightest respect for the sacred weapon.

Violent energy, with visibly chaotic fluctuations, assailed Jin Ning's eyes. He forced himself to keep them open and walked toward the spear. The pain, as though he were staring directly into the sun, made him weep uncontrollably, but he still did not hesitate as he grasped the Heavenly Spear before him. A sizzling sound rose from his palm, like flesh meeting a red-hot iron plate. The searing pain lasted only a few seconds before it cooled. SCP-CN-655 within Jin Ning rapidly covered the contact area between his hand and the spear. Cells died and proliferated ceaselessly; after thousands upon thousands of changes, those cells, already beyond the scope of human flesh, were finally able to withstand the spear's energy radiation. SCP-CN-655 also severed every nerve impulse from Jin Ning's hand to his brain. By now, his right hand was no longer under his control. SCP-CN-655 had taken absolute command.

Just a few seconds after Jin Ning seized the Heavenly Spear, Fifth Jue was no longer as indifferent as before. In his eyes, Jin Ning now looked like a nuclear fusion reactor. The endless energy of the spear was being continuously drawn into him, and the immense power had already begun to cause biological changes. His boiling blood twisted the air like molten magma, and everyone could clearly hear the crackling of every bone in his body. Everything within him was repeatedly collapsing and regenerating.

The base pairs in his genes, driven by energy, shifted ceaselessly. Those disordered peptide chains broke apart and were then reassembled into brand-new long chains under SCP-CN-655's command. Every life on Earth had undergone this process. It was the secret by which life had remained standing through the long river of time, continuously adapting to new environments. Humanity called this process evolution.

At this moment, the door to evolution, which should have been opened only by long ages, was being forced open in Jin Ning's body at an unprecedented speed.

Unlike the random mutations of his ancestors, the changes within Jin Ning were directed and controlled by SCP-CN-655. The factors engraved within the human genome but never expressed were awakened one by one by SCP-CN-655. Whether it was the black membranous wings that grew from his back, or the white tailbone that pierced through the skin to become a long tail, everything existed to increase the body's tolerance for energy.

When Jin Ning's flesh had reached the maximum extent SCP-CN-655 could induce, only his face could still barely be called human. Though this body could not be linked to any known creature, anyone could sense the power contained within it. Muscle like alloy was plated across his body like armor. Those dark-gold vertical pupils seemed to reflect surging infernal magma. In those dark-gold irises, the flowing world appeared to slow to an impossible crawl.

The outstretched membranous wings seemed motionless, but the sonic booms in the air revealed that they were in constant vibration at a speed beyond visual observation. The glowing bone tail merely swayed unconsciously, yet it silently sliced through the deck. This was the most perfect body SCP-CN-655 had reconstructed from the human template. It was terrifying in appearance, yet possessed a beauty so intoxicating it was almost holy, like a blasphemer who embodied both sanctity and ruin.

Jin Ning possessed an unprecedented mastery over his body at this moment. Every cell, every electric pulse, seemed to obey a dedicated command. His vastly strengthened brain let him glimpse the essence of the world once more. In his eyes, all things began to curl and peel away, and the false stage of reality started to draw its curtain.

Everything, all the memories lying beneath consciousness, everything he had ever experienced, even a book he had casually flipped through ten years ago, every page and every sentence, became clear and vivid, as if within reach.

The drifting pheromones were instinctively and continuously absorbed by the body. Everything was orderly, awaiting command.

The bloodstains on the deck, the cruise ship moving ahead as it drained water away, the undercurrents churning beneath the briny sea, the violent mystical ions scattering through the air, countless streams of information surged toward him. Like some chemical reaction, he already knew how he must reach his goal.

Seon's mystical ritual had reached its final moment. She slowly exhaled the last words of prayer from her mouth. The mystical energy around her, already so dense it had become liquid, seemed at that instant to receive the command to be unleashed. It surged toward the destination she had prepared. That mystical energy pierced directly through the earth and struck the crust, triggering a massive earthquake. The sudden impact destroyed the submarine fault lines, causing part of the seabed to rise. The vast upheaval and elevation of the ocean floor instantly threw the seawater into chaos, sending it expanding outward in rapid, wave-like ripples.

Honolulu, Hawaii. The United States Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

Although this was the world's only multinational tsunami warning system, the famed center was merely a small one-story building, like a trailer home. Inside the lone cramped conference room, the desks were a little messy, and yellow sticky notes were plastered everywhere.

Aside from that, only the densely packed reference books on earthquakes and tsunamis, the large map hanging on the wall, and the sea-level analysis charts on the table made the place feel like somewhere related to earthquakes, tsunamis, and the ocean.

Inside the cramped room, a geophysicist and an oceanographer were staring intently at the data on the monitoring instruments. The steep curves had overflowed the valid range, and the devices installed on the nearshore seabed had lost their ability to monitor the tide, as though a mischievous child had used the hand of God to doodle on the recording sheet.

"How could the Pacific basin suddenly produce seismic waves of this scale?"

"How could the amplitude be this large? It's as if someone dropped a hydrogen bomb in the nearshore area."

Though both were filled with confusion, they did not hesitate to sound the warning. Although fifteen out of every twenty alerts issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center turned out to be false, that did not affect their duty.

When the red warning reached every country along the Pacific coast, the two fell silent, thinking to themselves that this one must also be a false alarm, right?

A few minutes later, a tsunami equivalent to the explosive force of twenty million tons of TNT erupted across the Pacific. Towering twenty meters high, the wave was like a massive wall of water, a wall comparable to a skyscraper, surging toward Japan's coast at the speed of a jet aircraft.

Before the sky-swallowing waves, the wind was black as night, time was endless, and no one remembered time at all. Only the silence held within the loneliness of all things could be heard.