Killer Queen reached for Hasegawa Kaede's last remaining arm.
Click.
The arm shattered into fragments, the destruction creeping from the wrist to the shoulder and finally toward the chest. This flame didn't just pulverize the flesh; it scorched the soul.
"Reverse Cursed Technique!"
Hasegawa gasped, desperately pumping Cursed Energy to heal, but the spread of the explosion was relentless. Gritting his teeth, he focused his energy into a blade-like arc at his shoulder, hacking off his own arm to stop the chain reaction.
The limb fell to the ground. Before it turned to ash, the Cursed Energy trapped within it erupted, igniting the fine straw tatami mats.
But that small delay was all Kira needed. The blue tank was already pressed against Hasegawa's face by Killer Queen. The hollow skull of the tank stared into his eyes, its raspy mechanical voice chanting:
"Look over here."
BOOM—
The explosion didn't hit Hasegawa; it hit the floor beside him. Sheer Heart Attack dove downward, creating a massive pressure wave that pulverized the tatami and floorboards, erupting in dark blue flames amidst the flying splinters.
The Soul "Taiguang."Innate Technique: Detection.
When Hasegawa struck Sheer Heart Attack earlier, he had used this soul's power to analyze the tank's flaws. He knew its secret: It prioritizes the highest heat source.
Hasegawa had ignited the tatami on purpose. Now, the fire raged around his feet, devouring the wooden doors and billowing thick smoke into the air. Outside, the rain poured; inside, the inferno rose—a stark, violent contrast.
The sorcerers were at the foot of the mountain now. They had wiped out the rest of Hasegawa's forces.
Killer Queen pressed the advantage. It retracted the rampaging Sheer Heart Attack with a flick of its wrist. Its red, slitted pupils narrowed, and its cat-like ears twitched. It crouched, its feet cracking the floor beneath it, and then—
Acceleration.
A blur of pink light. Before the air could even catch up, the Stand was in Hasegawa's face. The following pressure wave caused the surrounding flames to tilt and flicker.
Hasegawa centered his mind, extending his soul fragments through his shoulders. The poins Tunzei and Fushi surged out, forming two pitch-black arms made entirely of spirit!
Pink arms clashed with black ones, weaving lines of light and shadow through the smoke. Every contact triggered an explosion; every separation created a vacuum. It was a total exchange of violence, a contest of mutual destruction.
"ORA ORA ORA ORA ORA!"
Hasegawa screamed, pouring every drop of his Cursed Energy into the brawl. With every punch he landed, he injected a soul poison; with every punch he took, he lost an arm to an explosion, only to have a new soul fragment replace it. In a heartbeat, they had exchanged dozens of blows. Hasegawa had already lost three poins: Tunzei, Fushi, and Chuhui.
But he had won. The poisons of Fear, Malice, and Grief—the toxins of three souls—had been successfully injected into Killer Queen's form. Visions began to bloom in Kira Nanami's mind. As long as Kira's heart wavered even slightly, the toxins would use his emotions as a bridge to rot his soul.
The sorcerers were almost back. This was Hasegawa's only path to victory.
But he was destined for disappointment.
Kira Nanami stood behind his Stand, his face a mask of absolute serenity. It was a calm so deep it felt inevitable, as if nothing in the world could stir his heart.
It was a calm... that didn't seem human.
The only change was his fingernails. They began to grow at a visible speed, longer and sharper by the second.
"My name is Kira Nanami. I am thirty-three years old."
"I do not seek intense joy... and in return, I do not know deep despair."
"To live like a plant, to lead a peaceful life—that is my goal. I must maintain my tranquility. And whenever my nails grow, whenever my emotions start to stir, I do something. That 'something' always brings me back to peace."
"I believe tranquility is the root of all happiness. Your true body is a beautiful woman, isn't it? I saw the shape of those soul-arms just now. They were the hands of a girl."
"I will treasure her."
This lunatic!This monster!
BOOM—
Hasegawa was sent flying by a punch from Killer Queen. He crashed through the wall of fire, through layer after layer of sliding doors, and landed hard in the central courtyard, right into the freezing storm.
The rain lashed his body. The wind bent the banana trees outside to the breaking point. The rows of cypress trees swayed violently, like ten thousand demons dancing in the dark!
Kira Nanami stepped onto the shattered doorframe, walking through the flames and out of the hole in the wall. His hands hung loosely at his sides, his nails still growing. Lightning split the clouds, and the flash reflected in his eyes—turning his deep blue pupils a ghostly, bone-white.
Only the eyes of a ghost could be that blue. Only the eyes of a ghost could be that terrifying.
"You... don't come any closer!"
Hasegawa clutched his collapsed chest, half-kneeling in the mud. His pupils shook with terror.
"Gakuganji's soul is still alive! If you blow me up now, he dies too!"
He was still trying to shake Kira's resolve, praying for the soul poison to trigger.
But Kira merely tilted his head. His deep blue eyes lit up with genuine, happy surprise.
"There's actually such a lucky bonus in this world?"
"...."
Hasegawa realized then that nothing he said would ever affect this man. This bastard was more cold-blooded and ruthless than any Curse.
Damn you!
He glared at Kira one last time, gathered his remaining Cursed Energy, and began to dissipate his soul fragments within the body.
...He had to retreat. He had to abandon the vessel and flee. This operation was a failure. As for the souls, he would save as many as he could. He still had the 'Guardian Soul' in his true body; given time, he could recover.
As if sensing the plan, Killer Queen lunged forward, footfalls crushing the rain.
Hasegawa collapsed to the ground, a black light glowing at his heart. Suddenly, the light blossomed, scattering in all directions.
One, two, three shadows. Two souls and one poin.
Killer Queen leaped into the wind like a nimble night cat. Its red eyes traced a smooth arc through the storm as it touched two of the shadows and pressed the detonator.
BOOM—
The Taiguang Soul, taking the shape of a young girl's shadow, struggled frantically in the flames, letting out a piercing shriek before being completely consumed. It turned into debris, then into sparks that vanished in the rain.
One soul and one poin managed to vanish into the night.
Kira Nanami stood alone in the rain, watching the two vanishing specks, looking out at the gloomy night and the dark, distant mountains.
He wore a calm smile.
"Brother Kira."
Aoi Todo used a wall for support, stumbling out from the burning building. "Should we... should we chase them?"
"No. We won't catch them. I'm sorry, I didn't have the strength left to keep them all here."
That was a lie.
"I have one more question." Todo's consciousness was fading fast. He forced his head up, staring at Kira. "If you knew who the Principal was all along, why didn't you expose him sooner?"
"I was afraid of alerting him too early. And whether he was the real Principal or not, we had to deal with the Cursed Plague first. If I had been wrong, and it wasn't a decoy, the consequences would have been world-ending."
That was a lie.
"I just didn't want more people to die. I didn't have any bad intentions."
That was a total lie!