Naniwa City Compound, Yamato Empire…

Ethan and the others stood in front of a massive building near the compound's center.

He'd ordered the Flamebirds to stop for a reason.

This place was clearly the warehouse for the compound's core supplies—and its crystal cores. Letting thirty thousand flying flamethrowers "finish the job" would be idiotic.

There was another reason, too.

Ethan had spotted four Awakened inside.

Nonrenewable resources.

He wanted them alive.

Ethan kicked the front doors in with one clean hit and strode inside with the squad.

More than twenty people were waiting in the hall—probably the compound's leadership. They stared at Ethan like they were looking at death itself.

Ethan casually pointed at four of them. "Those four stay. Everyone else—kill them."

"Don't… please, don't kill us!" The room instantly dropped to its knees, pleading in broken Federation Standard.

Ethan's reputation in Yamato was already infamous. None of them even thought about resisting.

A man in his fifties—clearly the head of the group—forced himself to speak through shaking lips. "If you let us go, I'll give you anything. Resources. Crystal cores. Women. Whatever you want—I'll give it all to you."

Ethan smiled. "If I kill you, it's all mine anyway."

He was just about to motion for the squad to start when the man's satellite phone rang.

The man almost ignored it—until he saw the caller ID.

His whole face changed. Hope flashed across it like a match.

He snatched it up. "Prime Minister! Save me!"

There was a pause on the other end. Then a calm voice said, "Put him on."

"Y-yes! Yes!"

The man nodded furiously, then looked at Ethan like a mouse asking a cat for permission. "Our Prime Minister wants to speak with you."

"Yamato's Prime Minister?" Ethan glanced at Mia. "Who's that supposed to be?"

"Before the apocalypse it was Ryuji Takahashi," Mia said. "After the apocalypse… no idea. But if they're saying 'Prime Minister,' it's probably him."

"Y-yes," the man blurted, eager to agree. "Prime Minister Takahashi."

"Still that guy?" Ethan chuckled. "Apocalypse has been going on forever and he's still breathing. Lucky him."

He took the phone and flicked on speaker.

"Prime Minister Takahashi," Ethan said brightly, "you ready to welcome death?"

The line went dead silent.

Actually—both sides went silent.

Maxwell would've wrapped it in polite words. Ethan didn't bother. He'd come to Yamato for one reason, and everyone knew it.

After a long pause, the voice on the phone finally asked, carefully, "May I ask who I'm speaking to?"

Ethan smiled and said a single word. "Bark."

Another pause—confused this time. "…Excuse me?"

"Like a dog," Ethan said, calm as water.

The whole hall went still.

So still it felt like everyone had forgotten how to breathe.

On the phone, the Prime Minister tried to salvage a shred of dignity. "…I don't think that's—"

"You called to beg," Ethan cut in, his voice turning sharp and cold. "So beg properly."

The air froze.

On the other end, there was a longer silence, like someone swallowing glass. Then the voice tried to swing back to authority.

"…This is the Prime Minister—"

"Then bark, Prime Minister." Ethan didn't let him finish.

In Yamato's command center, you could've heard a pin drop.

A few seconds later, an unbelievably restrained, humiliated sound came through the speaker.

"…woof."

The hall exploded.

"He actually did it!"

"The Prime Minister… he barked?!"

"This is insane!"

Ethan didn't react at all. He just said into the phone, "Louder."

There was a pause.

"…woof," the voice came back, even quieter, like it was trying to hide inside the word.

Ethan's tone stayed flat. "Didn't hear that."

On the other end, you could practically hear teeth grinding. Then the Prime Minister finally snapped, forcing it out at full volume—

"…WOOF."

Everyone in the hall went stiff like they'd been hit with a stun grenade.

Only then did Ethan nod, like he was grading a performance. "Good dog."

The air instantly turned… wrong.

Even Henry couldn't help shooting Ethan a look.

That was the Prime Minister.

Ethan acted like none of it mattered. "Now say it."

"…Say what?" The voice on the phone had dropped low, guarded.

"Say who your master is," Ethan said, cold as steel.

Silence.

Long enough to feel like the line had gone dead.

Then, finally—

"…You are."

The hall detonated.

"He called him master?!"

"That's not surrender!"

"That's swearing loyalty like a slave!"

Ethan's face twitched—pure disgust. He turned to Henry. "You didn't record that, right?"

Henry froze. "…I didn't stop it."

Ethan made a face. "Cut it. I don't want that on file."

Henry nodded quickly. "Yeah. But the storage is Rowan's system. I'll have to ask him."

None of them knew that, at that exact moment, the Atlas Federation was running a full live broadcast.

Every viewer watching had the same expression: mouths open, brains buffering.

The phone crackled again. "...Master, we are willing to join the Atlas Federation—"

"Stop." Ethan cut him off immediately, brows pinched. "Don't call me that. It's disgusting."

A beat of stunned silence. "…Understood."

After a brief pause, Ryuji Takahashi tried again, voice strained but controlled. "We surrender. The Yamato Empire wishes to join the Atlas Federation."

"Join the Atlas Federation?" Ethan's smile didn't reach his eyes.

"Yes." Ryuji spoke fast now, like speed could buy mercy. "I'm willing to bring the entire Yamato Empire under the Atlas Federation. From now on, Yamato will be part of you."

"It's the apocalypse. Population is the rarest resource. Yamato surrendering gives you massive manpower. We're resource-rich. Militarily strong. Our medicine is advanced. We can bring the Atlas Federation enormous benefits."

"Heh." Ethan chuckled softly. "Alright. I'll talk to my leadership. Wait there."

Then he hung up.

The people kneeling in the hall practically collapsed in relief for half a second—until Ethan turned back to them.

"Kill them."

"No! Wait!" the middle-aged leader shouted, desperate. "We surrender too! We'll follow our Prime Minister's decision! From now on we're the Atlas Federation's dogs—please don't kill us!"

Ethan's expression went icy. "Atlas Federation doesn't need dogs."

He tilted his head. "Especially the kind that still bites."

A flash of cold light—

—and the man's head hit the floor.

Big Mike and the others moved at the same time, wiping out the rest in seconds.

Only the four Awakened Ethan had pointed out were left alive.

They were already collapsed on the ground, shaking so hard they couldn't even crawl away.

Garrick walked over, expressionless, and shattered their limbs—quick, efficient breaks—then had them tossed into a makeshift cellar like prisoners.

It was the same treatment they'd used on Awakened captured in other compounds: keep them alive, keep them useless, haul them back all at once when they were done in Yamato.

At their current strength, a few days without food wouldn't kill them.

And with this many Flamebirds, carrying extra "cargo" wasn't a problem anymore. They could take as many Awakened as they wanted.

Honestly, the squad had even joked about bringing back other "souvenirs," too—porn stars, celebrities, whatever. With so many Flamebirds, it felt weird to leave empty-handed.

Once the hall was handled, Ethan led everyone down into the building's underground storeroom.

It was packed with crystal cores and rare supplies.

Ethan dumped everything else out of his storage ring, clearing space until the ring was basically dedicated to crystal cores alone. The remaining supplies got bundled up for transport—later the Flamebirds would fly it all back.

He didn't have a choice. His storage capacity was nowhere near enough.

While they looted the warehouse, the Flamebirds finished their work above—wiping out everyone else left in the compound.

By the time Ethan's group came back up, the entire place had been reduced to ruins, blackened and smoking.

Ethan dusted off his hands and grinned. "Alright. Next stop—Edo City."

He glanced around at the squad. "I mean… the guy barked for us. Called me 'master.' Even if I don't want to claim that, I've gotta go see the look on his face."

He started walking.

Then, like he was remembering something funny, he added under his breath—half to himself, half to the idea of Ryuji on the other end of the line:

"Join the Atlas Federation?" Ethan let out a short laugh.

"You bark once and now you want a leash?"

"Sorry. I'm not adopting you."