Grasping at Straws (
Summary
Part 1
In the midst of the attack on Kyokai Headquarters, Zaybi steals back his staff from the storage room and begins navigating the base to find the exit.
Outside, the mother Tyrant Bear is fighting three Titan weapons manned by the Lawless. All of this is witnessed from a distance by Masayoshi, Glasp, Samone, and the old man from Gaia's Wrath, Taihi. Taihi berates Masayoshi for his foolish action, although Glasp thinks this might actually help Zaybi in his escape.
Samone points out that Zaybi is alive and has escaped to the outside of the Lawless base. Keila, her men, and the others go out to help the mage. The Tyrant Bear swipes its paw at the defending Lawless, right near Zaybi, who uses magic to dodge the blow. Grig uses one of the Titan weapons in drumming mode to wrestle with the bear but even this is not enough to subdue the beast.
Inside Kyokai Headquarters, Rinri walks to the area where the Lawless have confined multiple people. One of the men inside the cells realizes that they are in a Kyokai stronghold and not a church, where many had hoped the priests would take them in. Ignoring their pleas to be freed, Rinri uses his Soul Container to absorb all the souls of the prisoners in one of the cells, commenting that he was surprised the man knew what the building originally was and adding that he still could not fathom why people put trust in something that will not fill their bellies.
Outside, the Titan weapons lie defeated before the Tyrant Bear. Zaybi, hiding behind some debris, wonders if there's anything humans can do against the beast. He spots Rinri walking out towards the Tyrant Bear and releasing the Soul Container, which transforms into a giant railgun. Rinri explains that the bullet in the weapon is loaded with fifty human souls and fires it at the bear. A shot pierces the Tyrant Bear's abdomen, leaving a gaping hole. The beast then falls dead, leaving a shocked Zaybi questioning whether Rinri is even human.
Rinri, having detected Zaybi's hiding spot, orders his men to recapture the mage, surrounding him and pointing their weapons at him. Taihi, joining the rescue party approaching the Lawless base, is in disbelief that the Tyrant Bear was taken down. Samone urges everyone to hurry, but Keila sees that they won't make it in time. Zaybi is trapped, as he has no magic to spare, but now he sees that the Lawless will do anything to survive and wonders if this is a strength humanity can achieve if they abandon their morals. The mage considers using the Parasite bomb but regards it as too dangerous, as Parasites are more threatening than the Lawless.
Cartel from Parasitica, who is with the rescue group, then spots movement in the corpse of the Tyrant Bear. The corpse soon rises, clearly mutated and infected with a Parasite. Keila, seeing this, is confused as to how the monster contracted a Parasite. When the Combined Forces of Humanity first encountered the Lawless infected with Parasites, Cartel assumed they contracted the Parasites from other refugees but realizes now that the infection originated from the Crimson Forest, which has already been taken over by the Parasites. This draws concern from Samone, as they ate animals from the forest, although Cartel thinks they should be fine since they cooked the meat, and Parasites are weak to heat. Cartel warns that a Parasite's deadliness is proportional to the host's life force.
Rinri looks at the Parasite-infected Tyrant Bear with disinterest before ordering it to be burned. However, the Parasite shoots out tentacles, spearing multiple Lawless. Rinri and Gore dodge the attacks but see that the Natural Enemy is absorbing their bodies into itself. Among the victims who are absorbed is Gaut, who, before being consumed, pleads to Grig for help, but Grig abandons him.
Cartel continues her explanation of the Parasite threat to her allies: in that once a host becomes parasitized, it will become a type called a Wurm, which will act on instinct, attacking other living beings and absorbing them. Through this, they feast on their prey and grow, creating a stronger host. The faster it grows, the more unstoppable it will become.
As proof, the parasitized Tyrant Bear has now grown more grotesque, assimilating the bodies of not just the Lawless but the Titan weapons as well, becoming a Wild Beast Wurm.
Part 2
The Lawless panic at seeing the mutated monster, with some even suggesting in fleeing. In response Rinri uses his Soul Container absorbs the souls of his own subordinates who suggested that. He orders his men to fight lest they will be harvested for their souls.
Having no choice the Lawless reassume their attack on the Wild Beast Wurm. Zaybi regroups with the rescue team, with Samone urging the mage that they need to escape while they still can. Zaybi though rejects this as the situation has changed and that they need to assist the Lawless in putting down this threat. The others are in disbelief of this as the Lawless were just about to kill them, however Zaybi clarifies he’s not doing to this for the Lawless but for the people from other worlds in the church that are still imprisoned.
Not only that Zaybi points out that if one of the Natural Enemies gets too strong then humanity’s chances of survival will drop. He lets his allies decide for themselves whether or not to help him. Samone caves in admitting that she will help as her people share the responsibility for fusing the worlds together. Rinri engages with the Wild Beast Wurm again with his Soul Collector, summoning a railgun weapon. The weapon blow a hole in the Parasite, but quickly regenerates. It then attacks the Lawless forcing Rinri to dodge. Gore also fight to protect Rinri, urging his boss that they need to run and abandon the church and start over.
Just of several tentacles shoot toward Rinri, they are met by Fireballs. Zaybii and his allies arrive. Keila's men promise to rescue the captives, with their captain ordering them to pass out weapons to those who can fight. Freen creates a barrier to act as a shelter for the injured. The fight against the Parasite acts with more coordination. Rinri watching this, comments to Zaybi that the mage shaved down the Lawless so they could rescue them, believing that Zaybi acted naive to come after them. Zaybi denies this, as this was not his intent and that they are honestly here to help. The mage urges that they need to work together to survive. Rinri is not moved by this, accusing Zaybi of being even crueler than him, in that he seeks to kill everyone. The accusation leaves Zaybi stunned.
The Wild Beast Wurm then shoots a shower of small Parasites at Zaybu and Rinri. Keila manages to get Zaybi out of the way, but Rinri takes the full brunt, becoming infected. Something then begins to happen to the Wild Beast Wurm. Suddenly the head of Gaut forms out of the mass of flesh which then begins rabbling random sentences. This leaves Grig and the other Lawless stunned. Cartel tells everyone that the situation is getting worse as the Parasite is now using Gaut's brain as a template and gained intelligence. Grig unfazed starts berating his former subordinate, ordering to submit to him. The Parasite though takes a tentacle to grab Grig, throwing the Lawless on the ground briefly before jerking the man to Gaut's face.
Grig now seeing the danger tries to plead for his life, but is consumed by the monster. After feeding on Grig the Wild Beast Wurm desire more to consume. The Lawless then panic and run, but their way is blocked by extensions of the Parasite, which spring from the ground. It then proceeds to snatch the Lawless absorbing them into its body. Cartel seeing this in a horror can only say that it's over as there is nothing they can do. By now the monster has become a Super Wurm.
In face of the tower Super Wurm, Cartel drops her weapon in defeat, as her companions and the Lawless look in fear. Zaybi looking at the Super Wurm realizes that the Parasite has assimilated everything from magic, firearms, etc.
With no other recourse, some of the Lawless fall to their knees and begin praying for a miracle. Naurai seeing this desperately tries to stop the Kyokai Lawless, urging them to stop, though it is too late as something has heard their prayers and its eye is focused on them.
Characters in Order of Appearance
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| Volume 1 | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 |
| Volume 2 | 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 |
| Volume 3 | 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 |
| Volume 4 | 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 |
| Volume 5 | 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 |
| Volume 6 | 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 |
| Volume 7 | 30 • 31 • 32 • 33 |
| Chapters not yet in Volume format | 34 |
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| Introduction Arc | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 |
| Titans vs The Neo-Humans Arc | 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 |
| Demons vs Aliens Arc | 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 |
| Demons vs Titans Arc | 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 |
| Lawless Kyokai Arc | 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 |
| Current Arc | 28 • 29 • 30 • 31 • 32 • 33 • 34 |