At this very moment, before Susanoo had made its appearance, Akira Mado and Seidou Takizawa were en route to find Amaha Byakuya.
But they had inadvertently stumbled upon Aogiri Tree members who had infiltrated Ward 20...
Tatara and Noro—two executives—had appeared simultaneously, with several ordinary members following behind them.
Tatara and Noro alone posed an extreme threat. Even an Associate Special Class investigator would struggle to handle just one of them.
"Aogiri Tree...? When did they—?" Akira recognized the opposing force as Aogiri Tree from the ordinary members' distinctive attire.
But Ward 20 was supposed to be surrounded. When had Aogiri's ghouls broken through?
"Aogiri?!..." Takizawa's face went pale with shock.
He immediately radioed command. "Reporting to HQ! Aogiri Tree has appeared!"
The message should have gotten through, but what was he supposed to do now?
Fight?
I... I have to fight!
Even though fear made his legs tremble, Takizawa gripped his Quinque tightly and aimed it at Tatara.
Akira watched Tatara with wary eyes. Her instincts told her that this figure—whose attire and presence set him apart—was likely an Aogiri executive. She didn't dare let her guard down for even a moment.
"The 'King' needs to pass through..." Tatara murmured, seemingly to himself.
He and Noro had come here precisely to clear a path for the "One-Eyed King," then rendezvous with him—that is, with Kishou Arima...
Unfortunately, they had run into Akira and Takizawa. Now they couldn't let them go...
In the original story, it was Koutarou Amon, Seidou Takizawa, and Associate Special Class Chino Senzou's Fourth Squad who had the misfortune of encountering Tatara and Noro. And then...
One could say that in the original, Takizawa's tragedy and Amon's transformation into a half-ghoul were inextricably linked to Kishou Arima.
But for the sake of the bigger picture, Arima had paid no mind to Amon, Takizawa, or those "sacrifices" killed by Tatara and Noro.
Just then, before Tatara could make any move, Takizawa's nerves had already snapped. Terrified yet forcing himself to fight, he was on the verge of breaking down under the pressure.
"Takizawa... calm down!..." Akira noticed his distress and immediately whispered a warning.
But Takizawa was beyond hearing. "I have to fight! I'm a ghoul investigator!!"
His legs shaking, he screamed and fired wildly with his ukaku-type Quinque, Douhi.
His aim was actually decent, but Tatara dodged effortlessly with a slight tilt of his head.
Worse, Tatara recognized the weapon as having been made from one of his former comrades. "'Hi's' kagune... Is that Houji's Quinque?"
His gaze turned ice-cold. Almost instantly, he flickered to appear right in front of Takizawa, grabbed him by the collar, and lifted him into the air. His voice was frigid as he demanded, "Are you Houji's subordinate? Does he have 'Yan'?"
The "Yan" Tatara spoke of was his brother—the former leader of Chi She Lian, a Chinese ghoul organization.
He had been turned into the SS-rated Quinque "Chi She," now wielded by Houji Kousuke.
But Takizawa was too paralyzed with fear to hear the question. "Ahhh! Let go of me!!"
"Fine. I'll let you go."
Tatara casually hurled Takizawa into the air and called out, "Noro."
Noro immediately released a massive kagune, its tip forming a giant maw ready to bite off one of Takizawa's arms.
But at that moment, Amaha Byakuya suddenly appeared in midair. With 13's Jason in sword form, he severed the gaping-mouth kagune just as it was about to clamp down on Takizawa.
"...?" Tatara's brow furrowed.
"No... please no..." Takizawa was certain he was about to die. He could feel the warmth spreading through his pants.
But instead of death, he found himself being lowered to the ground by Byakuya.
Unable to steady himself, Takizawa landed on his rear. Having been certain his life was over, he stared blankly at Byakuya.
"You alright? Did I arrive too late?"
Just moments ago, Byakuya's main body had been heading toward the rooftop when he spotted Akira and Takizawa below, facing off against Aogiri Tree.
"Akira... Takizawa..."
Byakuya made an immediate decision to alter his plans. He stowed his Akatsuki Robe and white mask in the System's inventory, and his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan reverted to normal black pupils. Then he appeared in his capacity as an investigator.
In his place, one of his Wood Clones would head to the battlefield where the Manager was fighting. He had allocated that clone a substantial amount of chakra—manifesting Third-Stage Susanoo shouldn't be a problem.
Whether it was Akira or Takizawa, he didn't want to see tragedies like those from the original story play out again.
"A-Amaha-san..." Takizawa stammered, still dazed.
He definitely wouldn't be recovering anytime soon.
"Not too late..." Akira shook her head slightly. "If anything, you arrived just in time."
Seeing that Byakuya appeared unharmed, a relieved smile crossed her face.
But she immediately realized she couldn't let her guard down yet. "First Class Amaha, Aogiri Tree is here. Please be careful..."
Only then did Byakuya turn his gaze toward Tatara. His tone was casual as he spoke. "Nothing but a rabble..."
The essence of this statement was his rejection of Aogiri Tree's methods. Led by Kishou Arima and Eto Yoshimura, Aogiri Tree had sacrificed so many people and created so many tragedies, all to eventually establish a brief period of relative peace. Of course he couldn't accept that.
Regardless of this world's limitations, now that he had arrived here, he wouldn't stand idly by and watch Aogiri Tree's actions unfold.
"A rabble? Then let's put that to the test..." Tatara sneered coldly.
Byakuya stood before Akira and Takizawa, 13's Jason in hand.
Not only that, but the Uchiha Gunbai was strapped to his back.
Since Byakuya had altered his scent earlier—originally to prevent the Washuu from identifying him beneath the mask—Tatara failed to recognize him.
Otherwise, Tatara wouldn't have taken this attitude. Anyone who could identify him would have simply walked the other way.
Tatara launched himself at Byakuya at high speed. The term "rabble" was an unmistakable insult to Aogiri Tree. He would make this investigator pay dearly for it!
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