>>715023116 (OP)
honestly, it's hard to tell
Kido established it was impossible to remove the protein in the formula that caused death
it was also established that Shono was too afraid of letting go, as it would mean total abandonment of his plans
Pretty rational so far, but Shono was also an extremely emotional coward. I think the ending implies that he was such a coward he basically deluded himself into believing that neutralizing the fatality of the protein was possible.
So the ending is him basically saying to himself "this to be THE ONE", because otherwise it would mean that nothing he did ever mattered
but who am I kidding, you could also just argue that everyone involved with KD-9 were just blind greedy fucks