On the mountain road.
Having secretly followed Yoshimura's group, Touka Kirishima and Kaya Irimi opted to proceed on foot after leaving the city, utilising their Ghoul physiology and Kagune to take shortcuts to the testing site.
At the elevated road sign, only the petite Touka could observe the battle from a distance due to the sign's size and concealment:
"Touka, what's happening?" Squatting below, Kaya asked anxiously, her view obstructed.
"The manager struck first with his Kagune... Tch, that bastard dodged it."
"Dodged it?" Kaya looked up in shock. "How could anyone evade the manager's Kagune at that extension speed?"
"No idea." Touka bit her lip in frustration. "I couldn't even see it clearly—he just suddenly moved."
"Wait, he's bringing out a Quinque—he's opening the case, eh?!"
"Eh what?" Kaya groaned at Touka's hushed exclamation. "Explain properly!"
Peering over the sign, Touka strained to see the distant scene:
"It's not a Quinque in the case—it's a gun! He's using a gun? Perfect, the managers won!"
"...A gun?" Kaya didn't share Touka's sudden optimism. "Firearms are useless against Ghouls. Even I know that—would he not?"
Touka's smile froze.
Right!
Firearms, despite their immense power, could hardly be withstood by any Ghoul below SSS-rank capable of Kakuja transformation.
Yet precisely because of their overwhelming force, bullets typically pierced straight through a Ghoul's body, resulting in limited lethality.
Given a Ghoul's regenerative abilities, those above B-rank could heal a bullet-sized wound in five seconds—let alone an SSS-rank like Yoshimura.
Luo Shu, who most likely knew this, still chose to use a gun. Didn't that blatantly suggest the firearm was unusual?
"It's fine. The manager will definitely win. The other side doesn't even have a Quinque—how could the manager lose?"
Touka Kirishima muttered to herself, as if reassuring herself.
Since childhood, she had never seen Yoshimura lose—whether against Ghoul-hunting investigators or S-rank and SS-rank Ghouls, they were all effortlessly crushed by him.
This time would surely be no different.
Just as Touka was bolstering her confidence, she saw Yoshimura suddenly leap up, launching a surprise attack with Kagune bullets at Luo Shu.
"Tch! The manager—"
"What about the manager?" Kaya Irimi wanted to stand and watch but feared exposing their position, so she could only ask impatiently.
Yet Touka's expression turned peculiar as she replied,
"The manager seized the moment and fired Kagune bullets at that detestable man. Hmph, perfect timing."
'Practically an ambush... but then again, it wasn't the manager's fault if that man let his guard down...' Touka justified inwardly.
But the moment the thought crossed her mind, she watched as Luo Shu abruptly vanished again, reappearing on the side of the mountain road. Her eyes widened as if she'd seen a ghost.
"Touka? Touka?!"
Kaya called twice before Touka snapped out of it, murmuring,
"Is that man... really human?"
Kaya frowned and pressed, "Human or not, what just happened?"
Touka swallowed hard before answering gravely,
"The manager suddenly jumped and blanketed that man's position with Kagune bullets, but... but he disappeared again, dodging them completely."
"Again?" Kaya froze in disbelief. "Evading the manager's ambush twice in a row—how is that possible?"
"I don't know."
Touka stared at the testing grounds, her voice low.
"Kaya, I've got a bad feeling. That man is too unnatural. I can't make sense of his methods at all."
Hearing this, Kaya fell silent for a moment before standing up decisively, hiding behind a road sign to watch the battle directly.
"We've already chased him this far. What else can we do? Worst case, we just fight him to the death."
Touka opened her mouth but said nothing.
Right—worst case, they'd just fight Luo Shu to the death. She was tired of living in hiding anyway.
After spending a month in this world without being hunted, she couldn't bear the thought of returning to her old life.
"Then let's fight him..."
As Touka muttered to herself, steeling her resolve, she suddenly noticed Yoshimura glancing in their direction.
"Damn it, the manager spotted us!!"
Touka Kirishima instinctively tried to evade, but at that moment, she saw Yoshimura suddenly leave the cliff edge, inching closer to Luo Shu.
"What's wrong with the manager? Why isn't he jumping off the cliff? There should be a forest below..."
A sinking feeling gripped Touka's heart as ominous premonitions surged.
Then—bang!
A gunshot rang out.
...
"Ugh—wah~!!"
Yoshimura clutched his chest, vomiting copious amounts of saliva mixed with stomach acid. His massive two-metre-tall frame, clad in black-red Kagune armour, immediately crumpled—first onto one knee, then collapsing fully onto his hands, convulsing violently on the ground.
Opposite him, Luo Shu calmly raised the gun's muzzle and stated:
"So-called Cursed Spirit Bullets are essentially created when Onmyou Agency's Onmyoji replicate curse techniques from Grade 3 Abyss Artefacts onto bullets, specifically designed to target spirits like ghosts."
"For spiritual entities, the most lethal aspect is the soul-targeting curse technique replicated on the bullet."
"Disregarding kinetic impact, the spiritual damage inflicted equals a truck colliding with physical flesh—making it devastating against both body and soul."
"Though designed for spirits, it deals dual damage to humans by attacking both physical and spiritual forms."
"Hence, after development, the industry universally recognises Cursed Spirit Bullets as inhumane dirty bombs."
"But against evil forces, aside from high cost and low production, this bullet has virtually no flaws."
As he spoke, Luo Shu slowly approached Yoshimura, looking down with pity at the Ghoul now prone on the ground, even stomach acid expelled:
"Though a Ghoul, your soul clearly hasn't been enhanced enough to withstand a Cursed Spirit Bullet."
"Pity. You lasted the initial three minutes—with just slightly more effort against my police-trained self, fifteen minutes should've been manageable."
"If only your soul could recover as quickly as your body does."
"Cough~ cough~"
Yoshimura, now unable to even vomit stomach acid, lay sprawled like a rabid dog, teeth bared in agony.
A single bullet—one round blending mystical technology—had toppled the mighty SSS-rated Ghoul into the abyss.
Not because Ghouls were weak, but because the occult world's technology defied reason.
This was precisely why Luo Shu had never considered openly establishing a church, spreading his faith, or flaunting his divine status in this world, which was eroded by the Abyss.
Here, unforeseeable underhanded tactics lurked everywhere. Luo Shu had no intention of ending up like Yoshimura—felled by something as insignificant as a tiny bullet.
"Ah..."
Luo Shu sighed, raising his gun to point at Yoshimura's head at point-blank range:
"It's over, Yoshimura. Though it's regrettable, Ghouls... are simply too weak."
His index finger tensed slightly as he prepared to pull the trigger.
Yet in that instant, Yoshimura coughed violently before grinning and saying:
"You let your guard down, young man."
Luo Shu's expression changed as he immediately tried to retreat.
But Yoshimura's Kagune moved faster.
In the blink of an eye, four of the six Kagune had seized parts of Luo Shu's body while the remaining two pierced straight through his abdomen and chest.
"...A Ghoul's body may be immobilised, but that doesn't mean their Kagune can't move."
The kneeling Yoshimura coughed repeatedly, his back-mounted Kagune slowly retracting like the claws of demons.
With a voice trembling slightly with emotion, the prostrate Yoshimura said solemnly:
"Forgive me, young man... I just wanted those children to survive."
"Manager!!"
A voice filled with joy rang out from the mountain road above.
Touka Kirishima and Kaya Irimi vaulted over the guardrail, leaping down directly.
Tentacle-like Kagune extended out, anchoring into the cliff face like spider legs to cushion their landing.
Moving swiftly, Touka and Kaya rushed to Yoshimura's side, supporting his large frame.
"Forgive me, Touka... forgive me, Kaya."
Though his body still twitched unnaturally, the raised Yoshimura managed to force out words of gratitude.
As her initial joy at victory subsided, Touka steadied Yoshimura while glancing at Luo Shu's corpse:
"Manager, what do we do? We've killed someone from the authorities."
"...I never wanted this." Yoshimura fell silent as he looked at the body. "But he should never have taken you all as hostages."
"What?" Touka blinked in confusion.
Kaya interjected coldly: "Regardless, we can't stay in Tokyo. We need to dispose of the body, inform Yomo and the others, then leave the capital immediately."
After a pause, Yoshimura sighed: "...No other choice. We'll have to hide for now."
"In that case, let's dispose of it."
Touka's crimson eyes gleamed as she stared at Luo Shu's corpse:
"Let's eat this man's body - consider it payback for forcing us into hiding in the countryside."
"Touka, ah..." Yoshimura gave her a look but could only sigh.
He understood this was Touka's revenge for Luo Shu's earlier oppression, and while he found it somewhat inappropriate, given their circumstances, the Ghouls' unique methods were indeed the fastest way to dispose of evidence and delay discovery.
Taking Yoshimura's sigh as acquiescence, Touka immediately said:
"Rest first, Manager. I'll handle the body."
But the moment she released Yoshimura and stepped towards the corpse...
Luo Shu's body gradually dissolved into indigo mist.
Witnessing this, the pupils of Yoshimura, Touka and Kaya contracted violently.
And at that moment, there was a dull thud.
A hand picked up the hourglass resting on the stone and lightly tapped its surface:
"Six minutes have already passed... we're almost halfway there~"
Amidst this friendly reminder, Yoshimura slowly turned his head to look at the man sitting on the boulder beside the hourglass.
"...Since when?" Yoshimura licked his parched lips as he asked.
"Since when?"
The smile vanished from Luo Shu's face as he regarded Yoshimura with an utterly impassive expression:
"I believe I already made myself clear."
"The test subjects were only regular police officers from start to finish - false entities composed of Dying Will Flames."
"If anything, Yoshimura."
Luo Shu looked down at him and said coldly:
"When exactly did you develop the illusion that I would personally intervene?"