"This is what I’m going to use to erase every force on the Earth that will counter me."

The President slowly looked up from the opened nuclear football.

Blood continued dripping from his side wound while emergency lights flashed red across the ruined corridor.

Even now, despite everything surrounding him, there was still hatred in his eyes.

"You think I’m helping you launch anything?" he said weakly.

The Japanese man sighed quietly.

"I was hoping you would cooperate willingly."

The President laughed bitterly.

"Go to hell."

Then the Japanese man slowly crouched in front of the President.

His expression no longer carried amusement now.

Only cold patience.

"You humans always mistake resistance for strength," he said softly.

The President stared directly back at him.

"And you mistake power for victory."

The Japanese man tilted his head slightly.

Then he smiled faintly again.

"Maybe."

His hand slowly reached forward.

The President immediately tried pulling away.

But the moment the man’s fingers touched his wrist—

Something moved beneath the Japanese man’s skin.

The President’s eyes widened instantly.

The flesh along the man’s arm suddenly pulsed unnaturally.

Then it split open.

Thin black tendrils erupted directly from his pores.

Dozens of them.

They slithered outward like living wires, twitching violently before wrapping around the President’s arm.

"What the fuck—"

The tendrils immediately pierced into his skin.

The President screamed.

The black strands burrowed directly beneath his flesh, spreading rapidly upward across his veins like an infection crawling through his body in real time.

Kaguya simply watched silently nearby.

The President tried pulling away violently, but more tendrils erupted from the man’s arm, latching onto his chest, neck, and face.

The corridor filled with wet cracking sounds.

Veins darkened.

His skin twitched uncontrollably.

"GET OFF ME!"

The President slammed backward against the wall while desperately clawing at the tendrils embedding themselves deeper into his body.

But it was useless.

The black strands continued spreading.

Up his neck.

Across his jaw.

Toward his eyes.

The Japanese man calmly maintained physical contact the entire time while the biological invasion continued.

"Relax," he said softly. "This will only hurt for a moment."

The President screamed again.

Blood vessels burst visibly beneath his skin while his body convulsed violently against the concrete wall.

The tendrils pulsed repeatedly.

Like something transferring information directly into his nervous system.

Then his movements began slowing.

Not because the pain stopped.

But because control itself was disappearing.

The President’s fingers twitched weakly.

His breathing became uneven.

The black infection-like veins finally reached his eyes.

And then—

His pupils darkened completely.

The whites vanished.

Both eyes turned pitch black.

Silence filled the corridor.

The President stopped struggling entirely.

His body slowly relaxed against the wall while the tendrils retracted back into the Japanese man’s arm one by one, slipping cleanly back through the pores as if they had never existed.

The wounds they left behind closed unnaturally fast.

The Japanese man stood slowly afterward.

The President remained motionless for several seconds.

Head lowered.

Breathing steady now.

Then slowly, he looked up.

His eyes remained completely black.

Like something hollowed out from the inside.

The Japanese man studied him calmly.

"Can you hear me?"

The President answered immediately.

"Yes."

His voice sounded wrong now. It was flat and mechanical.

His hands moved mechanically across the secured systems while opening encrypted command interfaces inside the football.

Authentication cards.

Launch protocols.

Strategic command access.

The Japanese man slowly walked behind him while observing the screen interfaces illuminating the corridor in pale blue light.

"See?" he said softly toward Kaguya.

"You humans always break eventually."

"You humans always break eventually."

Kaguya remained silent beside him while blood continued dripping from her katana onto the corridor floor.

The President continued working without resistance.

His blackened eyes remained fixed on the illuminated command interface inside the nuclear football while his fingers moved across encrypted authentication systems with mechanical precision.

The emergency command tablet flickered repeatedly beneath the flashing red lights of the collapsing bunker.

Authentication sequence after authentication sequence opened successfully.

[PRIMARY STRATEGIC COMMAND AUTHENTICATED]

[NUCLEAR LAUNCH AUTHORITY CONFIRMED]

The corridor briefly fell silent.

Even the infected behind them remained strangely still.

The President continued typing.

Launch trees appeared across the interface.

Submarine assets.

Silo-based ICBMs.

Strategic bomber payload coordination.

Nuclear response packages.

Entire continents appeared on the tactical display inside the football.

Thousands of red markers illuminated across the digital map.

The Japanese man slowly smiled.

"Beautiful."

The President’s hand moved again.

Another secured menu opened.

[ACTIVE NUCLEAR COMMAND ACCESS GRANTED]

[AUTHORIZED USER: PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES]

The final authentication layer disappeared.

A quiet electronic tone echoed from the nuclear football.

ACCESS COMPLETE.

The President slowly stopped moving.

His black eyes stared blankly at the glowing screen in front of him.

Now the entire nuclear arsenal of the United States sat waiting behind a single command authorization.

Ready.

The Japanese man stepped beside him slowly and looked down at the interface.

Rows of selectable launch options filled the screen.

Counterforce strikes.

Full strategic retaliation.

Regional annihilation packages.

Target selection grids.

Estimated casualty projections.

The system was horrifyingly efficient.

Kaguya glanced toward the display briefly before looking away again without interest.

The Japanese man, however, looked fascinated.

"So this is it huh? Okay, let’s get down to business. I want you to target every major military installation of the United States and her allies as well as the Chinese, Russians, North Koreans, Pakistan, India, and every country that has a nuclear arsenal."

"So this is it huh? Okay, let’s get down to business. I want you to target every major military installation of the United States and her allies as well as the Chinese, Russians, North Koreans, Pakistan, India, and every country that has a nuclear arsenal."

The President obeyed instantly.

His blackened eyes remained emotionless while his fingers moved across the tactical interface with mechanical precision.

Target grids began appearing rapidly across the display.

Washington D.C.

Moscow.

Beijing.

Pyongyang.

London.

Paris.

New Delhi.

Jerusalem

Islamabad.

And as well as all major military installations and bases across the world.