Chapter 67: Slay! Dr. Stylish!
"You're right about that, Kobayashi."
The Doctor didn't bother to hide, stepping generously out of the shadows and explaining, "I thought it was strange. A mere blacksmith couldn't possibly have such strong environmental adaptability. I didn't expect to actually find Night Raid's headquarters."
"But what if this is just a false image, deliberately set up to lure someone into a trap?" Kobayashi tilted his head, looking at the excited Doctor.
"...What do you mean?"
"Nothing."
The Doctor's question was met only with a strange smile from Kobayashi, which gave him a slight sense of crisis. But he forcibly suppressed it.
"Kobayashi, you didn't appear here to help me eradicate Night Raid, did you?"
"No. I came here specifically to find you, Doctor."
Although the two of them were smiling as they talked, the smell of gunpowder between them grew thicker, and their killing intent grew stronger.
There was no mention of the fact that they were currently on the same side, both members of the Jaegers. Because they both knew that tonight, only one of them would leave here alive.
However, Kobayashi still had a question.
"Doctor, why didn't you choose to report my contact with Night Raid to Esdeath first?"
"Because there are as many excuses as one could want."
The Doctor shrugged and said nonchalantly, "Even if you were originally a member of Night Raid, General Esdeath wouldn't care. After all, that's the kind of person she is. And you could very well say that you forsook the darkness for the light and joined the Jaegers. The contact just now could be fobbed off with the excuse that you rejected their attempts to win you over."
"I see. I've learned something."
In reality, Kobayashi hadn't thought that far ahead at all. He had been hoping that the Doctor would jump out and cause trouble while he was in contact with Akame and the others. That way, after taking out the Doctor in front of them, he could give a more reasonable explanation for his own abnormal behavior and make the members of Night Raid more convinced that he had a good reason for his actions.
Unfortunately, he didn't jump.
"But I can tell you clearly, Doctor. I am not a member of Night Raid. I never was."
"Is there any point in saying that now?"
"Mmm, you're right."
Kobayashi nodded. But then he said something strange. "Doctor, I've actually seen your future."
"My... future?"
The Doctor's eyes glinted, and his fingers twitched slightly. He seemed to be talking to Kobayashi, but he was secretly issuing a command, ordering the men who had already formed an encirclement to launch a surprise attack.
Kobayashi acted as if he hadn't noticed at all.
He asked in return, "But I have a question—can the future be changed? If the future can be changed, how can it be changed? And what impact will that change bring? I'm very curious."
"That kind of thing... you can think about it slowly after you're dead!"
The Doctor had no desire to listen to Kobayashi's nonsense. With a wave of his hand, he ordered the enhanced soldiers in the shadows to attack in unison, including the Teigu user he had specially brought along to ensure he could eradicate Night Raid—the new master of [Extase].
Dozens of bizarrely shaped enhanced soldiers howled and charged forward, their eyes revealing a fanatical glint, drool of unknown meaning dripping from the corners of their mouths. Their eagerness made it seem as if Kobayashi were some kind of delicious delicacy.
But even surrounded by so many enemies, Kobayashi was not nervous at all.
"Honestly, can't you let a person finish speaking?"
Snap—
The sound of a finger snap echoed crisply in the silent night.
The enhanced soldiers, who had been continuously approaching him, some with their fingers about to touch the hem of his clothes, were instantly frozen in place as if the pause button had been pressed. A tiny distance, like a celestial chasm, prevented their rude advance.
At the same time, RyuZU suddenly appeared.
She elegantly held her skirt and curtsied slightly, as if what she had just done was a trivial matter.
"Wh-what's going on...?!"
The Doctor's eyes widened. He was very dissatisfied with his men for stopping. He scolded loudly, "Hey! What are you doing?! Get him for me, now! Quickly!"
But no one in the field obeyed his command.
In fact, because of his loud scolding, the enhanced soldier beside him seemed to be startled and trembled slightly.
Then.
Several blood-red threads appeared on the soldier's body.
Under the Doctor's terrified gaze, the threads tore wider and wider. A large amount of crimson liquid spurted out from the threads, dyeing his white coat red.
Without the connection of the skin, the flesh suddenly disintegrated, turning into several pieces scattered on the ground.
The enhanced soldier beside him was like a trigger. The other enhanced soldiers, including the new Teigu user of [Extase], fell like dominoes, setting off the same chain reaction.
A large number of severed limbs and a pool of fresh blood surrounded the Doctor. The scene, a mountain of corpses in a sea of blood, comparable to a hell scroll, sent his adrenaline skyrocketing, and the expression on his face grew more and more terrified.
"Oh dear, I seem to have overdone it a little."
Without a single stain on him, Kobayashi slowly walked out of the sea of blood and approached the Doctor. His leisurely stroll was just like when they had subjugated the bandits yesterday, and it stood in stark contrast to the Doctor, who was drenched in blood and in a pathetic state.
"Doctor, I actually hate you the most."
"...Huh?"
"But I didn't expect you to be able to live to the end. That's what I find so puzzling. So I wanted to conduct an experiment. If you don't live to the end, does that mean the future can be changed?"
The scene he had seen was missing two people. One was Esdeath, and the other was Leone.
Esdeath could be understood as being unwilling to submit and ultimately choosing self-destruction. But Leone was definitely not that kind of person. There were only two reasons for her absence. One, she was in the thicker fog on the stage; two, she had died twice and couldn't be resurrected again.
But regardless of which it was, he had to conduct an experiment.
Kobayashi smiled and said to him, "Doctor, thank you for bringing the Teigu out for me."
"The Teigu... Don't tell me you fought me for [Perfector]?!" the Doctor questioned, gnashing his teeth.
"No, I think you've misunderstood."
"Damn it! I won't just sit here and wait for death! Take this! This is the ultimate in fashion! I will turn myself into a Danger Beast, and then I'll beat you all to a pulp!"
A battle between Teigu users was a matter of life and death, so the Doctor did not beg for mercy. He used his own hidden trump card, using drugs to instantly make himself gigantic, turning into a large giant.
"...I told you, you've misunderstood."
Although he had intended to let him go on a rampage to put on a show for the people of Night Raid, it seemed the rampage was a bit too much.
He picked up [Extase]. This was what he had been thanking him for.
"Ahahaha? Are you thinking of using the Teigu that can cut through anything? Useless, useless! My body's toughness is equal to a Teigu's! [Extase] is useless! And you can't even use [Extase] in the first place!"
Seeing him pick up [Extase], the Doctor had guessed what he wanted to do, which was why he had mocked him so loudly. He was very confident in his own body's toughness.
"But you still have a weak point."
As everyone knows, a giant's weak point is the nape of its neck. Even if the human flesh Gundam didn't have a nape, the pilot, the Doctor, still had one, so all he had to do was aim for him.
"Well then, here I come!"
Kobayashi held [Extase] level and charged forward at extreme speed.
The giant palm of the humanoid Gundam swiped at him. Although it was powerful, it was too slow and couldn't stop him at all. Kobayashi continuously jumped up its muscles.
"Damn it! Like an insect!"
The Doctor released the syringes from his back, trying to intercept him, but all of them were dodged by Kobayashi using [Foresight].
In just one minute, he was in front of the Doctor.
"This is your final chapter, Doctor."
—[Extase]
A dazzling light burst forth from the scissors. It intersected with the afterglow of the setting sun, and together, they blinded the Doctor.
"N-no, impossible... How can you use [Extase]?!"
Snip—
With the help of the scissors that could cut through anything, Kobayashi smoothly sliced off the back of the Doctor's neck, killing him on the spot.
The humanoid Gundam, having lost its pilot, immediately fell forward.
With a cloud of dust, a huge thud echoed through the sky, startling countless birds in the forest, and also startling a flying-type super Danger Beast circling in the sky.
Kobayashi looked up and gave the sky a deep look.
Then he picked up the Doctor's [Perfector], took [Extase] with him, and his figure disappeared into the dust-filled forest.
(End of Chapter)