I was trying to create my own entries in the Watchman series.
Episode 19
Watchman Series
I doubt you have anything to contribute regarding a plan to reach the Sphere.
Allow me to show you, then.
The Watchman series—
Your gloves.
My coat.
And these boots.
Entries in the Watchman series have existed far longer than any other vital instrument.
The power housed within them is immeasurable.
Their owner must have had an exceptionally strong anima.
No matter how I tried, I was unable to create a new entry in the Watchman series.
But the experiments led me to a whole new creation—
a beast of the Ground, powered by a vital instrument,
only superficially similar to the wild variety.
I'm sure you've seen one at least once before.
We're going to fly there
on this trash beast.
Look at him. Creepy, right?
That's the murderer's son.
Yeah, they say his father killed a ton of people.
They should lock a kid like that away.
Creepy little brat.
They should throw him into the Pit already!
No kidding!
He'll break the law and end up there sooner or later.
Don't give them another thought.
They just don't know the real you.
People fear what they don't understand. They try to expel it.
Once you come to know each other, you'll understand each other eventually.
Filthy son of a murderer.
That kid's a murderer, too.
Damn murderer.
Murderer. Murderer. Murderer.
Murderer.
Rudo!
You're okay, Rudo.
It'll get better.
You're okay.
Take it easy, Rudo.
Nice and slow.
Rudo.
I don't know how much help these will be,
but they should at least protect your hands.
...series.
Watchman... series?
Such incredible power.
The quality of the Watchman series truly is in a class all its own.
But it seems it's still not enough.
My gloves, your coat, and Amo's boots...
are a series?
A series?
Does that mean there's more parts of it?
Why...
If parts of that series exist on the Ground...
how did Regto end up with one of them?
Rudo, what you said in the restaurant suggested
that you didn't know about vital instruments before you came to the Ground. Correct?
Quite a mystery.
For a Sphereite who knows nothing of vital instruments
to have a piece of the superior Watchman series...
And despite becoming a Giver with it, he retains his sanity.
What the hell...
What are these things?!
The entries in the Watchman series—
They were all originally used by one person.
Having used one yourself, I'm sure you've noticed
the bottomless power it holds.
One person.
One person created all of it.
How do you have to live to make something that powerful?
If used by someone with all their needs of life met,
anima powerful enough to cause madness will infect them bit by bit.
I've had these a long time... but...
I haven't gone mad.
I see that.
We use the Watchman series in the normal way.
It seems we lost an important part of our humanity somewhere.
Why get down on yourself?
It's what lets us access this overwhelming power.
Aren't you curious...
If someone capable of using an entry in the Watchman series without issue
were to wear all parts of it, what would happen then?
To achieve my goal, I must know.
I must experiment!
I experimented with making items in the style of the Watchman series for insurance.
That was a failure.
But failure does not mean waste.
An imitation trash beast using my failed Watchman series entry as its core
evolved through offerings of other vital instruments.
This has all been an experiment.
The fact that I approached you with your comrades there, too,
was part of a worthwhile experiment to take down the Sphere!
Don't tell me...
When you said we're going to fly...
We're going to ride this trash beast across the border.
Then we'll see for sure
who will live and who will die.
The weather report wasn't a waste, either.
There's a good wind blowing in.
We're going to ride this trash beast across the border.
This trash beast...
Trash beast... Trash beast...
Huh?!
We're inside a trash beast?!
For real?!
How long have you been here?!
Hooray!
Kaiju battle time!
An earthquake?!
Oh crap! Oh crap!
Wait a minute, Mr. Zodyl!
I haven't even started fighting yet!
What's that? Is your boss the one causing this shaking?!
Yes! I bet he's trying to rush me along!
Darn it, this is why I wanted you to strike first!
Oh, it stopped.
Huh? Huh? Huh?!
Wh-Why'd you start walking away?
Doesn't seem like anything's going on around here.
I'm going to have to find my team.
B-But c'mon! Help me out here!
P-Please don't go!
Um, um... I'll fight you!
I can totally take you, got it?!
Here I go!
Just wait a minute already!
I can't do anything unless someone tells me what to do!
Mr. Zodyl said it's a flaw of mine and told me to fix it!
So please, I'm begging you!
Can you please just hit me?!
No.
Until I figure out a way out of here and where the rest of my team is,
I'm not going to be in any mood to fight.
If you smash a vital instrument really hard against a wall, you can probably get out!
We're inside a trash beast, man!
Huh?!
We're inside a trash beast?
For real?!
I don't know where the rest of your team is...
But do you feel like fighting now?
Nah.
Really, Zodyl, that's sooner than expected.
I still have a lot of questions to ask these guys.
What is this shaking?
Don't tell me...
Hey, Dear! You're fidgeting again?!
Are you sleepy? Is the dark making you even sleepier?
But I'm always saying, that's no reason to fidget!
You've already evolved it to the point where you're causing a natural disaster!
You're not serious, are you?
Well, this is a pickle.
Once we're sky high, we'll all go past the border together.
I guess I'll get to experience the feeling of crossing the border too.
Sky high?
Oh, yeah.
The trash beast we're in is a vehicle to the Sphere.
You're a Cleaner. You didn't realize?
Huh?!
We're i—
Sorry, Fu.
Humans aren't our specialty, you know?
I had my questions about all this, but if we're in a trash beast,
I guess I'll have to get my ass into gear.
Have you people already forgotten who we are?
All right now...
Let's get cleaning!
Huh?
Hey, what is this...
You're raring to go all of a sudden.
Vital Instrument!
Centralian.
Cloth!
Oh, of course! I see now!
The thought of facing a trash beast is what motivates you, eh?
That explains everything!
Very convenient, in fact.
You really had me fooled.
I was convinced we were underground.
Didn't think a trash beast this big was possible.
Come to think of it, how have we been okay without masks all this time?
I thought that the bigger the trash beast, the more toxic material it emitted.
All I can say is that this one is special.
I wanna know too.
Now then, we'd better hurry, or we're all Sphere-bound.
I'll set aside all the things I want to know and do for now.
Goodness me. Work's never fun.
Then we'd better tidy up here quickly.
Why did you tie him up?
You threw him?!
That boy...
Is he going to break through the wall?
Bro.
Hey, Bro.
You'd better stop him already.
Even the most charming ragamuffin needs to be introduced to reality.
Overindulging them is toxic.
The real toxic behavior is trying to stop your child
when they're on the verge of making progress.
You want to keep your ears open to their progress as well.
The more he hits something,
the more power he drains from it, and the stronger he gets.
Drain!
That's the power of Dear...
The power of Centralian!
To Be Conlinued
To Be Continued