Chapter 31: The Crimson Drop Card
Satoshi Suzuki's eyes were wide, his pupils still trembling. He stared in disbelief at the hand pressed against his side. A terrifying, twisting force had instantly pierced through his body.
Squelch!
His muscles were completely shredded. His heart, caught by the penetrating force, was twisted and crushed in an instant, like a rag being wrung dry.
"Urk!"
A spray of dark, almost black blood erupted from Satoshi's nostrils. A wave of nausea washed over him, and he vomited a mouthful of purplish-black blood, mixed with fragments of his internal organs.
Seeing this, a look of utter defeat washed over Satoshi's face. He knew his end had come.
"Rakshasa's Palm… what kind of mon… ster… are you…"
With a final gasp, Satoshi collapsed, his body beginning to twitch uncontrollably. It was the last, desperate cry of his still-living organs and cells, trying in vain to restart his body's functions.
But no miracle was coming.
Kaito Shirogane simply stood over the body of "Evans the Clown," watching until the last tremor ceased.
[You have killed ID# JK74195131 (Evans the Clown) in the real world.]
[Power level comparison is 1:1.18. No additional reward bonus.]
[The highest attribute of ID# JK74195131 (Evans the Clown) will grant you a fixed attribute point.]
[Your Agility attribute has increased by 1.]
[The private space of ID# JK74195131 (Evans the Clown) has been merged with your own. You may view it upon entering the Nexus.]
[Special Sequence: Sin and Karma detected. Your Slaughter Points have been converted to Karma Points. Current total: 1] (Note: Karma Points affect the drop rate when opening Crimson Drop Cards.)
[You have unlocked the special Milestone: Hunter.]
[Hunter: Kill 3 Reincarnators in the real world (1/3).]
…
Kaito watched impassively as the notifications scrolled past like a waterfall. When they finally stopped, he let out a sigh that was devoid of any satisfaction, accepting the reality that Evans was truly dead. He touched the twisted muscles on his chest; the sharp pain was the only thing that let him savor the stimulation of the battle a little longer. His wildly pounding heart began to slow, but the feeling of being on the razor's edge of life and death was intoxicating. He stared at the corpse on the floor, almost wishing it would get up so they could fight again.
"Tsk. Evans, you didn't even master a single Niko Style ultimate technique? How disappointing."
Kaito suddenly felt a bit let down by Evans. While his opponent had, to some extent, shed the mentality of an ordinary person, his strength was ultimately not as great as Kaito had anticipated. Both the level of his Seer Sequence and his mastery of the Niko Style had been a disappointment.
Kaito suddenly grabbed the twisted flesh on his chest and violently tore it downwards. The bone-deep pain made his face contort.
Katsu, still lying on the floor, heard the sound of ripping muscle and the hair on his body stood on end. He was absolutely certain that what he was witnessing was something no human being should be capable of. A normal person would be crippled for half a day from a simple muscle cramp. How could someone manually reset their own dislocated and mangled muscles…?
In truth, Kaito hadn't taken the full force of the Rakshasa's Palm.
The moment he entered his [Absolute Territory], he had completely seen through the force and rotation of the attack. He had then mimicked the [Niko Style - Redirection Kata - Weeping Willow] he had seen earlier, applying his own force in the same direction as the violent, twisting power of the blow. As a result, while he was sent spinning through the air and crashing through the door in a spectacular fashion, the devastating twisting power of the Rakshasa's Palm had been mostly dissipated by his own rotation.
This was why his organs hadn't been turned to pulp, and why he had been able to get back up and continue fighting.
Every seemingly insane action was underpinned by a cold, inhuman logic that outsiders could never comprehend. This was what Kaito considered his own special brand of "rationality."
Kaito stood up, his gaze falling impassively on Akane and Katsu. The two of them began to tremble uncontrollably. Akane's face was chalk white. Her hand had already been pierced through, and now, seeing Kaito's handsome face twisted into this monstrous visage, his eyes completely devoid of warmth, a hot stream of urine instantly ran down her leg.
"B-Big… Big Bro Kaito… don't kill… us…" she stammered, too terrified to form a complete sentence.
Katsu was shaking like a leaf. He had seen Kaito fight before, and that madness had terrified him. But in all those other times, Kaito had never killed anyone! He was absolutely certain that Kaito had just murdered the other, equally terrifying young man. Murder… He had witnessed it. He couldn't think of a single reason why the now-unhinged Kaito would let him live.
His scalp prickled with a pain so intense it felt like it was being torn open—a physical manifestation of the absolute terror of knowing he was about to die.
"Katsu, take your woman and these others and get out. As for what happened today…"
In that moment, Katsu seemed to feel none of the pain from his shattered hand. The overwhelming desire to live sent a massive surge of adrenaline through him. He immediately got on his knees and began kowtowing, swearing an oath.
"We'll take what happened today to our graves! If anyone asks, all we know is that there was a gas explosion in the basement today! Nothing else…!"
"Heh."
Kaito's soft laugh made Katsu's words die in his throat.
Kaito patted Katsu on the head. Even though the touch was light, Katsu instinctively flinched and pressed himself flat against the floor, a searing pain seemingly radiating from the spot Kaito had touched. It was a sign of his absolute fear.
But Kaito had no need for his oaths or promises.
Before leaving the Nexus, he had consulted the system about its confidentiality agreement and the protocols regarding Reincarnator deaths in the real world.
Because Reincarnators carried an excess of [Information] from other worlds, they had, in essence, become a type of asset to the Nexus. Therefore, when a Reincarnator died, their body would eventually disappear, transforming into a Crimson Drop Card. All memory of them would be wiped. Their family, their friends, even a stranger who had just met them—they would all forget the person ever existed. A dead Reincarnator became a blank file, their entire existence erased.
After Katsu had dragged the urine-soaked Akane and the two unconscious men out of the basement, Kaito reached out and touched Satoshi Suzuki's body.
The intricate pattern on his right hand appeared again, now glowing a deep crimson. It seemed to phase through his skin, enveloping the corpse. In a matter of moments, Satoshi's body completely vanished, leaving behind a single, crimson-glowing drop card hovering in the air before Kaito.
He reached out and took it.
[You have obtained a Crimson Drop Card.]
[Crimson Drop Card - Evans the Clown]
[Description: A special drop card containing the complete information of a Reincarnator. It can only be obtained by killing a Reincarnator in the real world or in a non-cooperative mission world.]
[Effect: After crushing, you may draw one or more of the following rewards, based on a comparison of both parties' Karma/Slaughter Points.]
[A: 30%-100% of their Dimensional Points]
[B: 1-10 items from their inventory]
[C: Gain 10% of their main attribute, added to your own]
[D: Randomly draw 1-3 proficiencies (capped at Lv4)]
[E: Randomly gain 1-2 abilities (capped at Lv1)]
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Yo, it's Hollowborn here—trying something new!
If this fanfic gets 6 more reviews, I'll drop 2 extra chapters!
If we gets 50 Power Stones in the next 24 hours,
I'll release 1 bonus chapter on top of that!
And going forward…
Every 5 new reviews = 2 extra chapters
Every 100 Power Stones = 1 extra chapter