Chapter 92: Slaughter, Kaito Shirogane vs. Basha
"AAGH!"
"HELP ME!"
Reed was jolted awake by the screams. His condition was terrible; his eyes were sunken and his body was gaunt, a clear sign of extreme mental exhaustion. He walked out of Shoko Ieiri's medical room only to find that not only was Shoko gone, but all the other Jujutsu Sorcerers had vanished as well. The thick, overwhelming stench of blood pulled his senses back to reality. He let out a cold laugh, his hands hanging limp at his sides as black Cursed Energy dripped from them like liquid.
Geto Suguru and Shoko Ieiri had been right. Only this hatred, this all-consuming resentment that made him want to set the entire world on fire, could give him the strength for revenge. Cursed Energy might not be as versatile or have as high a ceiling as magic, but what did he care? He just wanted revenge. If he could drag [The Fifth Element] down to hell with him, it would be worth it.
He followed the scent of blood, his steps unsteady, until he reached the first floor. The door to the conference room was closed, but blood was steadily seeping out from under it. He sniffed the air. He had never realized before how wonderful the smell of blood was. It was... making his mouth water. Perhaps, before he died, he should try a few things he'd never dared to before.
A malicious smile spread across Reed's face. He reached out. The moment his Cursed Energy touched the door, it began to sizzle and melt, as if being eaten by acid.
BOOM!
A black shadow shot out from the room. Reed instinctively raised his arm, and his Cursed Energy instantly corroded most of the spherical object that had been thrown at him. He looked down and saw that it was a severely deformed human head.
"Yo. Fancy seeing you here. You're not dead yet, either."
Kaito Shirogane recognized the man who had so generously given him a ride. His high-spirited appearance from their first meeting was gone. If it weren't for the fact that he was wearing the same clothes and the same signature silver rings, Kaito wouldn't have recognized him at all.
Reed was in a daze. This lone wolf player... he had actually survived until now? But what about him…? He looked down at his own hands, the Cursed Energy surging even more violently.
Kaito sensed the killing intent rising from him. He shifted his breathing, and golden ripples of Hamon began to flow from his hands, radiating outwards like glowing golden wings fluttering behind his back.
"Reed. Are you ready?" Kaito asked. "Ready to die here, where no one will ever know?"
Kaito could guess what had happened to him. It was the classic story of a positive, friendly, energetic new Reincarnator being tortured by the dark and cruel reality of the Nexus until he was broken. But Kaito felt no sympathy for him, nor did he have any intention of holding back. If you were going to attack him, he was going to kill you. It was that simple.
Reed sniffed, the intense killing intent from Kaito washing over him. Perhaps because of his new affinity for Cursed Energy, he was now far more sensitive to it. This lone wolf, who hadn't even given them his codename, was clearly no simple character. That brutal aura… he must have killed hundreds of people to acquire it. Standing there, surrounded by a room full of mutilated corpses, he truly looked like a demon.
A sliver of his rationality returned. His life shouldn't be wasted here. He turned, preparing to leave.
[You have completed the Side Quest: Stop the Nuke.]
[Reward: 1 C-rank Singularity, 3000 Dimensional Points.]
The Minister of Defense, forced by the threat of death, was on the phone, his voice shaking like a sieve as he demanded that the Americans cancel the launch.
Kaito, seeing the quest complete, patted the man on the shoulder, then called out to Reed. "Reed. Interested in getting some revenge on the people who turned this world into a mess?" He thought for a moment, realizing that kind of appeal held no weight for a Reincarnator, and rephrased. "No, what I mean is… are you interested in going on a slaughter spree against the Reincarnators who murdered your teammates?"
Reed froze. A moment later, a strangled, whimpering sound escaped him, before he spoke in a voice that seemed to crawl up from the abyss. "Where?"
Kaito walked to the wall, his hands in his pockets, and kicked.
BOOM!
The wall exploded outwards, revealing the giant, bird-like Cursed Spirit waiting outside. Kaito tilted his head at Reed.
"The Dead Silent Capital. Tokyo."
After they were both on its back, the massive Cursed Spirit beat its wings and ascended into the sky. This was the mount Geto Suguru had prepared for him. The time for the final battle had come.
The Cursed Spirit flew at an incredible speed. In just forty minutes, it had brought them over Tokyo. The thick aura of death and curses made the Cursed Spirit even more agile.
But at that moment, Kaito suddenly felt a sharp killing intent lock onto him. He turned his head, and his hawk-like eyes focused on a building several hundred meters away. A woman in a baseball cap was on the roof, a sniper rifle aimed directly at them.
BANG!
Before Kaito could even shout a warning, the gun fired. The bird-like Cursed Spirit convulsed, and a hole the size of a dinner plate exploded from its body, sending a spray of blood everywhere. In an instant, the curse lost all power. Kaito knew that had to have been an enchanted bullet or some other specially-treated ammunition. These high-level Reincarnators would never be as reckless as him; they came prepared for every world.
Kaito instantly formed his hands into blades, and, channeling Cursed Energy, plunged them deep into the bird's wings and yanked.
Basha had landed her shot. She saw the Cursed Spirit begin to fall from the sky, but then, it suddenly spread its wings and began to glide toward her. Her expression changed, and she immediately gave a warning over her comms. "Jugo, get over here! I have a situation!"
She was cautious. She would never underestimate an opponent. The moment she saw the dead Cursed Spirit gliding toward her, she slung her rifle and sprinted for the stairwell behind her. As she expected, with a terrifying roar of wind, the massive Cursed Spirit, being manually steered, crashed into the middle of the hundred-meter-tall skyscraper. The glass facade shattered instantly, and the Cursed Spirit became lodged in the wreckage.
Basha's movements were fast and stable. The moment the impact occurred, she leaped like a cat, ricocheting off the walls of the stairwell to avoid the blast, and descended over a dozen floors in seconds. She had already swapped her sniper rifle for a combat shotgun, better suited for close quarters.
Just a few seconds later, she saw him: a figure struggling to pull himself free from the bloody, mangled corpse of the Cursed Spirit. Her eyesight was excellent. She instantly recognized him as the lone wolf who had escaped from [Bat]'s pursuit.
BOOM!
She fired. The Cursed Spirit's flesh exploded, taking a chunk of the floor with it. This gun was incredibly powerful. An ordinary [Mortal]-tier Reincarnator, in terms of explosive power, was no match for a high-caliber firearm.
Basha racked the shotgun, already reloaded. As she leaped down from a broken ledge, she aimed again and pulled the trigger.
A massive force suddenly grabbed her ankle from the floor below. Basha fired, but the shot went wide, shattering the floor where she'd been. Her expression was perfectly calm. Her shotgun vanished, and two primed grenades appeared in her hands.
Kaito, who had grabbed her foot, had intended to smash her into the ground, but her reaction time and composure were terrifying. Those two grenades were enough to kill them both in the ensuing blast.
Kaito's breathing flowed. His muscles became as hard and immovable as rock. He took a step, and his center of gravity shifted.
CREAK!
With a sickening sound of muscles being torn to their limit, Basha's heart leaped. The immense force, instead of pulling her down, was now redirecting her, swinging her in an arc and throwing her out the window.
WHOOSH!
Basha, who weighed less than 140 pounds, was thrown with such force that she could hear the air shrieking in her ears. Her pupils contracted. She was outside the building. It was only then that she got a clear look at her attacker: his skin was blood-red, he was wearing a pink robe, and his face was grotesquely ugly.
BOOM!
The high-explosive grenades in Basha's hands detonated in mid-air, engulfing her in the blast.
Kaito's senses sharpened. No kill notification. Not even an attack notification… She has a special ability!
Kaito instantly dropped low, then stomped both feet, launching himself up through the ceiling to the floor above. In a few more steps, he was gone.
At that moment, a blue portal opened in the wall, and the woman stepped out, shotgun in hand. She hadn't expected her target to be so quick-witted. That trap of hers had killed many skilled opponents.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
The walls began to shake violently. Basha tracked the sound. He's on the floor above me! She ran for the stairwell, but the ceiling above her suddenly exploded. A shower of concrete rained down, and through it, the red figure descended, trailing what looked like wings of golden light, falling from the sky.
His hand was already twisted to its absolute limit.
Basha's dynamic vision was excellent. She tried to turn, to raise her gun, but he was too fast. She could only watch as that impossibly twisted hand unfolded and slammed into her.
She raised her arm to block.
CRACK!BAM!
The intense, twisting force instantly snapped her right arm, and in the next moment, it exploded into a mess of shredded flesh. Kaito's [Sage Art - Rakshasa's Palm] continued, unstoppable, slamming directly into her chest. Basha was sent spinning backward through the air.
A flash of light appeared in Kaito's left hand. His revolver was out. He didn't even aim. He just fanned the hammer.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
"ROOOAR!"
With a terrifying howl, a massive figure smashed up through the floor from below, shielding the woman's body. All three bullets slammed into its face. The massive werewolf just roared, tore the bullets and the flesh they were embedded in from its face, and tossed them to the ground, unfazed.
[Jugo] had arrived.
At that same moment, Reed finally pulled his body from the Cursed Spirit's corpse, which his own Cursed Energy had completely corroded. Though Kaito and Basha had exchanged many moves, from her first shot to her arm being blown off, less than thirty seconds had passed.
"A werewolf… Jugo…"
Reed saw the iconic, giant wolfman. He instantly realized that both of them were core members of [The Fifth Element]. A smile that was uglier than a grimace spread across his face.
"So good… to finally meet you… so good… AAGH!"
With a piercing shriek, his dark Cursed Energy exploded into a boiling torrent.
~~~
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