"You little brat, get lost!"
"This one's mine!"
A rough-looking woman lunged forward, her attacks vicious and unrelenting, aiming directly for Kaizen's vitals.
If she landed a hit, Kaizen would be seriously injured—if not dead.
A figure stepped between them.
A shimmering shield formed in front of Natsu.
Clang!
The woman's strike collided with the barrier, producing the sharp ring of metal on metal.
Kaizen's gaze locked onto her, his brows knitting together.
The woman's expression darkened when she realized her attack had been blocked.
"Still not moving aside?"
In a blur, she flickered to Kaizen's side, attempting to bypass Natsu to strike him directly.
Seeing Natsu, she immediately recognized Kaizen as a one who specialized in summoning Nen Beasts.
That meant his true body was likely his greatest weakness.
Just as she was about to reach him—
Schlick!
A dark, clawed hand pierced through her chest.
It twisted, then withdrew.
A still-beating heart was ripped from her body, dark red with blood.
"How... how is this possible...?"
Her eyes widened in shock.
"A mere brat..."
Her body collapsed with a heavy thud.
Kaizen looked down at her corpse.
"She wasn't particularly strong, but she was ruthless."
It wasn't that she lacked power—rather, Kaizen's strength had already reached an impressive level.
She had been a C-rank Nen user.
The same rank as Kaizen.
But after his battle with the Kurta clan warriors, he'd expended a significant amount of energy, leaving him in a less-than-optimal state.
In terms of pure ranking, she was on the lower end of C-rank.
Kaizen, however, was already on the verge of reaching B-rank.
By his own estimation, one or two more Nen Beasts would be enough to push him over that threshold.
His abilities were unique.
Far stronger than the average Nen user of his level.
Natsu, his strongest Nen Beast, was already formidable—but after fusing with Akutagawa Ryunosuke, it had evolved even further.
And the abilities it wielded in Kaizen's hands were far stronger than those of its previous master.
The woman hadn't specialized in defense-type abilities either.
Even at the same C-rank, the gap between their strengths was immense—far wider than the difference between an average C-rank Nen user and an ordinary person.
Even before creating Natsu, Kaizen had already surpassed Wendy, Roben, and Ted.
They were prodigies among Nen users.
Yet Kaizen had utterly dominated them.
Even when the three of them fought together, he had held his ground without issue.
And now, with Natsu, the gap had only widened.
One strike.
One kill.
As the realization sank in, Kaizen understood why this woman had fought so savagely.
The Kurta clan warriors were strong.
Ordinary villagers who lacked Nen had already been slaughtered in the initial wave of attacks or forced into hiding.
But the Kurta warriors who had activated their Scarlet Eyes possessed tremendous power.
Each of them could be considered a genius in the greater Nen world.
Yet they were outnumbered.
The enemy forces overwhelmed them several times over.
And those enemies had modern weapons.
Guns. Shells. Grenades.
Despite their strength, the Kurta were slowly being pushed back.
Their defeat was inevitable.
And with that certainty came another grim reality—
The battle had turned into a hunt.
The Kurta had become prey.
The invaders were hunters.
Many sought trophies, and there weren't enough to go around.
So the hunters fought amongst themselves.
Kaizen frowned.
He swept his gaze across the battlefield, and his eyes narrowed at something unseen.
A shift in Nen.
Greed.
The greed of the invaders spilled from their bodies, merging into a collective aura that grew denser by the second.
But it wasn't just greed.
The Kurta exuded something else—
Rage.
Hatred.
They had done nothing wrong.
They had provoked no one.
Yet their home was under siege.
"Why?"
"Why are you doing this to us?"
"What have we done to deserve this?"
"Is it because of our eyes?"
"Just for that—you would slaughter us all?"
"Even those who haven't awakened their Scarlet Eyes?"
A young Kurta man screamed, his eyes bloodshot, his face contorted in anguish.
Before his eyes, his wife and child had been murdered by the invaders.
He had been restrained—
Forced to watch.
Powerless.
And they hadn't even killed his family quickly.
They had tortured them.
Toyed with them.
They wanted him to suffer.
To rage.
To awaken his Scarlet Eyes.
And he did.
But that only fueled his hatred more.
"You all deserve to die!"
"Burn in hell!"
"I swear, I won't let a single one of you live!"
A spear materialized in his hands.
With a roar, he thrust it forward.
Schlick!
An invader's heart was skewered instantly.
But more enemies rushed in.
"He's weakening!"
"He's running on fumes!"
"Kill him!"
They swarmed him.
The young warrior fought back, but—
Boom!
His body was sent crashing to the ground.
One of the invaders strode forward and pried his Scarlet Eyes from his skull.
Then—
They began arguing over the spoils.
The sight sent a chill through the surviving Kurta.
They were human.
Yet they were not being treated as such.
They were nothing more than prey.
Mere commodities.
The invaders didn't care about them.
Didn't care whether they lived or died.
A middle-aged Kurta man watched helplessly as his daughter's limbs were severed.
A woman shrieked as her parents' skulls were shattered into pulp.
...
Above them—
Greed.
Rage.
Hatred.
All tangled together, forming an oppressive force that weighed down on the battlefield.
The air itself felt heavy.
And then—
A chorus of tortured screams rang out.
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