| In the Hiruko cavern, Shide considers Haine/Hiruko (who has transformed into an injured infant) to be useless now. He describes Ushio, who has taken on the red 'Observer's Eye' as 'the egg'. He attributes her rapid evolution to 'the power of love'. "All I gotta do is steal that eye from ya and my wish can still be granted!" he says. And, "In this timeline, the egg has yet to come". Ushio vows that Shide's wish will not come to be. Haine says she can recover if she just has lots of bodies to eat. But Shide only cares that she remain alive, since her dying would cause his armor to vanish. Shide leaves, creating a sort of vacuum that threatens to suck everyone after him. Shin laments his inadequate strength. Ushio warns that if he pursues Shide he will be 'lost forever'. Ushio wants to be the one who chases Shide, alone, but Shin won't have it. Both of them (and Ryuunosuke, who is within Shin) agree to pursue him together. Shin finds himself (and Ryuunosuke) alone at a strange lake under a red sky (see image below). This must be Haine's home, he concludes. While searching for Ushio he and Ryuunosuke find a cliff-like barrier where the "flow of time gets cut off". He senses that looping won't work here and getting killed would be permanent. Ryuunosuke senses that Ushio is nearby--the shotgun she printed still exists, so she must be within 50 meters. Ryuunosuke convinces Shin to turn command of his body over to him so that Shin will be spared the extreme pain of a leg injury he has sustained. Shin's physical body won't be able to survive otherwise. The two observe that this place is similar to Hitogashima. They also discuss how to address each other. They spot the ball Haine used to play with and follow it as it rolls into town. Black Shide-like beings appear, but they don't seem to be hostile. The ball leads them to Ushio, who is in pain--and Haine. Ryuunosuke remembers how Hizuru once said that Ushio's body had split from Haine's, and if Ushio's personality were eliminated and Haine reappeared, Haine should be killed. Thus he wants to shoot Haine but Shin convinces him to wait. Ushio says this Haine is different from the one they've been fighting. She says Haine's personality once split into the human girl Haine (who Hizuru befriended) and Hiruko, and this is the former. Ushio says she and this girl are one; and that Haine wants to talk to them. Haine appears alongside Ushio and says she has just undergone 'the longest dream' which has consisted of Ushio's memories. She tells them that they are now in Tokoyo, the 'realm of the dead' and 'a plane of existence above the world we come from'. Time stands still here, which means Shin cannot loop and Ryuunosuke has lost his two-second advantage. Haine says Shide hopes to use this place to steal Ushio's eye. "The possessor of this awakened eye is able to transcend to an even higher dimension" and if Shide does that "time and space will be at his command" (not good). Haine also says the newly awakened eye is 'unstable' and can only be used to its full capability in the mortal realm. Ushio has read Shide's mind and says he wants to destroy the entire world. Suddenly deafening air raid sirens sound and a formation of WWII-era B-29 bombers approach the island. This air raid comes from Hiruko's unhappy memories. Incendiary bombs rain down. Shide is riding one of the planes with the injured infant Hiruko. He vows to burn Ushio to a crisp then take her eye. Shin reasons that Shide must plan to return to the normal world once he has done that, which would mean there is a way back. Haine says they must kill Hiruko, which is possible if Ushio 'corrodes' Shide's defenses. That would cause Tokoyo to vanish, since Hiruko's memories are connected to it. Haine directs Ushio to prepare to leap upwards, but warns her that Shide's armor can reflect any force back against the assailant. Shin realizes that in order to kill Shide they will need to hack him and erase his armor. But this might also kill Ushio. Ushio is nevertheless eager to try. Haine brings time to a halt and Ushio uses bombs suspended in midair as stepping stones to race upwards towards Shide's plane. She slashes through Shide but there doesn't seem to be anything inside. He in turn splatters her, but she reforms before he can snatch the eye. Ushio touches Hiruko and erases her memories of the raid which causes the bombers to disappear. "Shide's real body is in our world" she tells Shin. Only his armor was here and he was remotely controlling it via Hiruko. Half of him, which she erased, remains missing but the rest is intact. Ushio has lost consciousness as she tumbles to earth. |
