"Ugh..."
Nomiya, whose jaw had been twisted out of place by Arima, finally shook off the shock to his brain and regained consciousness.
He hadn't expected to be taken down so effortlessly.
To have the inherent weaknesses of a humanoid form exploited like that... it made him realize that, aside from durability, there was little difference between a human and a Ghoul.
"...This isn't the time for philosophical reflections. What happened to that investigator?"
"Nomiya! Get down!"
As Nomiya braced a hand on the ground to push himself up, he reflexively ducked at the shout of a subordinate behind him.
Something chilling swept inches above his head.
He couldn't see what it was.
But judging by the goosebumps erupting on the back of his neck and the thunderous impact that followed, it was clear that a direct hit would have been fatal.
KWA-GA-GA-GA-BOOOOM!
Above the prone Nomiya, the wall shattered into a brutal spray of debris.
Slicing through the fragments was a girl with red wings: Eto.
She moved with the silent, effortless grace of an owl. Not a single shard of rubble managed to graze her.
Then, like a raptor diving for its prey, she shot toward a single point.
Beak, claws, wings—she poured every weapon at her disposal into one target: Arima.
But nothing landed.
The "prey" parried every incoming strike with a single blade as sharp as a fang, countering in one fluid motion.
That single sword was so lethal it looked ready to bury itself in the owl's nape at any second.
This was not a fight between a hunter and its prey.
It was a clash between two apex hunters.
KWA-GA-GA-GA-CRACK!
How many murderous exchanges were flashing between them while they remained suspended in the air?
The attacks were so densely entwined that even a Ghoul would have struggled to track them.
When Koma Enji, once the Black Doberman's arch-rival, and their leader, Irimi Kaya, joined the fray, the area dissolved into absolute chaos.
The other Ghouls present had no choice but to flatten themselves against the ground like soldiers in the heart of a war zone. One careless move and they would be swept away in the carnage.
KWA-GA-GA-GA-BOOOOM!
The storm reached its peak when Enji's fist smashed through the ceiling.
Or rather, the battle simply shifted locations.
Using a fallen pipe as a springboard, Arima leaped through the hole in the ceiling, with Eto hot on his heels.
Kaya and Enji glanced back at their subordinates before pursuing him.
"Nomiya! Take the others and get out of here! I'll clean up that bastard and follow you!"
"Katsura! Make sure you protect that human you're carrying!"
With those final orders, the two vanished through the breach in the ceiling.
The survivors listened as the thunderous booms grew distant, finally realizing the storm had passed.
Rising from the wreckage, Katsura looked back at the man on his back. The leader had commanded him to protect this man.
Takaki Koma.
He wasn't a Ghoul, nor was he an investigator.
From what he'd heard, he occupied the bizarre position of being a human father raising a Ghoul. Honestly, Katsura had no idea why someone like him was even involved in this.
A civilian who had suddenly stumbled into a war between Ghouls and the CCG.
However, he knew one thing: they owed this man a debt.
Normally, he would have dismissed a human as mere livestock or an insignificant speck. But he couldn't simply ignore a debt of honor.
Katsura looked over at Nomiya.
As enforcers of their respective organizations, they had clashed countless times. Because of that, Nomiya was both his bitterest rival and the one person he truly respected.
"What do you think?"
"If it were up to me, I'd chase after the boss right now, but..."
Nomiya shifted his gaze to Koma.
"Kaya made it very clear. We are to protect that man. We can't just ignore her orders."
"It feels wrong to leave the leaders behind, but..."
Katsura fell silent, recalling the fight.
Amidst that whirlwind of violence, the only one who had matched that monster of a boy blow for blow was Eto.
Perhaps the leaders viewed her as their trump card against Arima.
"Protecting this human might not just be about the debt. It might be to ensure that girl can run wild without any distractions."
"If that's the case, I guess we have no choice but to follow orders."
Katsura surveyed the injured subordinates.
Some were struggling to move and leaned on their comrades, but they were mobile enough to evacuate.
With Koma still on his back, Katsura took the lead. "All right. First, we get out of—"
He stopped dead in his tracks.
It wasn't an enemy attack. A hand had suddenly clamped onto the back of his head, yanking him backward.
The hand belonged to Koma, who had somehow woken up.
"Hey, you jerk! Don't touch my hair! I'm already losing it lately—it's a huge complex for me!"
"You're the one who shouldn't be yelling. My head is still ringing."
Koma grumbled, rubbing the blood-streaked side of his head where Arima had struck him.
"Damn it. I thought a nap would dull the pain, but no luck. The noise and the throbbing woke me right back up."
"You think sleeping would actually fix it?! And what kind of nerve do you have to be trying to take a nap in a place like this?!"
"Shut up. I don't have a fancy constitution like you guys, where you eat a snack and your wounds just vanish. If I want to get back to normal, I have to grasp at every straw I can find."
Even if it was only for a minute, it didn't matter.
Whether it was to acclimatize to the pain or loosen his stiff muscles, Koma spoke as if he were desperate to reclaim any shred of physical functionality.
"Anyway, forget that. What's the situation? Where is Eto?"
Anxiety gnawed at her.
Every missed attack fueled her impatience. Every counter from an unexpected angle sparked a flash of irritation.
KAAANG!!
This strike was no different.
It had been a perfectly timed blow, launched while Enji charged in and Kaya diverted Arima's attention.
But the moment it seemed Arima had casually deflected it, his blade followed through with two more lightning-fast strikes.
SCHWAAAK!!!
"Ghk...!"
"Tch...!"
The top of Enji's wrist was cleanly severed, spinning through the air.
As if in retaliation for the wound on his forehead, the blade swept across Kaya's right eye.
But they didn't flinch.
Even with a severed wrist, Enji lunged; even with a blinded eye, Kaya attacked.
They knew the truth.
No matter how monstrous his abilities were, Arima was not a Ghoul. He lacked their regeneration.
One strike.
If they could land just one decisive blow, they could win.
Eto knew this well, which was why she never ceased her onslaught.
She drove him relentlessly, attempting to overwhelm his senses. She had launched dozens, perhaps hundreds, of attacks.
Yet the deadlock remained. The frustration spiraled into a vicious cycle.
"Pathetic."
As if reading her mind, Arima muttered at the exact moment the Quinque and Kagune clashed.
"'If I land one hit, I can win'... Do you think you're the only Ghouls who have attacked me with that thought?"
BOOOOM!
Arima seemed to be pushed back by the recoil, but he used that momentum to plant his foot firmly on the ground.
Among the wreckage of the sewer, a piece of piping bounced up like a seesaw.
It flew toward Eto from a blind spot.
Even from outside her line of sight, Eto's heightened senses detected it instantly.
The problem was that her body reacted instinctively.
Thud!
"...!!"
She quickly raised her arm to block the blade flying toward her eye.
Eto had read in novels that a single opening in a duel with a master could cost a life, but she never expected to experience it firsthand.
It wasn't even a true opening.
She had simply knocked away the pipe rising from her flank while keeping her eyes locked on Arima. Her reaction speed had dropped by a fraction of a second to accommodate that movement.
Arima seized that infinitesimal gap like a ghost and lunged.
Swoosh!
The blade pierced through her arm and kept going. Instead of recoiling, Eto thrust her body forward even further.
Even as the blade sank into her neck, she didn't stop. She lunged forward, stabbing like a spear toward Arima's opposite armpit.
RIIIP!
Arima did not simply take the hit.
Before Eto's strike could puncture his lung, he arched his upper body back. Aside from a slight tear in his clothing, he remained unscathed.
Arima continued the momentum of his lean, nearly lying flat against the ground.
In one fluid motion, he kicked Eto's elbow as it passed his hem, used the rebound to spin in the air, and ripped the Quinque out of Eto's body.
Thud!
The Quinque emerged drenched in crimson blood.
Like a brushstroke of red ink, Arima swung the blade in a wide arc as he landed.
The spray of Eto's blood became a line, and that line intersected with Enji and Kaya, who had been closing in on Arima's back.
In a single flash, both of them had one leg severed.
Crash! Clatter!
Unable to halt their momentum, the two tumbled violently across the floor.
Even while rolling, they lashed out with their Bikaku and Ukaku, but Arima evaded them with effortless, minimal movements.
"Damn it! What the hell is this guy?!"
Enji scrambled up, shouting in genuine disbelief at Arima's god-like precision.
Kaya regained her footing and looked at Eto in alarm. "Eto! Are you all right?"
Eto was clutching her neck.
The amount of blood seeping through her fingers was alarming.
"It definitely hit the artery," Arima noted, checking the blood on his blade.
"Wounds from a Quinque do not regenerate immediately. You won't last much longer."
"...The same goes for you."
The moment Eto spoke, a strange sound echoed from Arima's weapon.
Crack.
A fissure had formed in the blade.
Arima looked at the Quinque with narrowed eyes.
When had it happened? He traced his thoughts back to the moment he had pierced Eto's arm and stabbed her neck.
"You did something then. No wonder you were charging in so recklessly."
"If you lose your Quinque, your combat power drops significantly, doesn't it?"
"That assumes you're still alive by the time the sword breaks."
Arima lowered his blade and reset his stance, while Eto applied pressure to her neck and unleashed her Kagune.
No one can fight forever.
Not only Eto, whose style consumed stamina at a staggering rate, but even Arima—the endless monster—was breathing harder than before.
The toll of slaughtering an army of Ghouls single-handedly since entering the sewer was finally manifesting.
Blood loss, weapon durability, psychological fatigue, and the variable of allies.
Every factor accelerated the battle toward its conclusion.
Like an hourglass running out of sand.
The end was near.
"...What did you just say?"
Nomiya scratched his ear, asking as if he had just heard something utterly absurd.
Still perched on Katsura's back, Koma answered with a deadpan expression.
"Take me to Eto and your leaders. Right now."
"Did you even listen to us?! Our leaders and Eto are drawing that monster's attention! If we escape and they pull back, the mission is a success! That's the plan!"
"They won't make it back," Koma said, his voice turning heavy.
It wasn't a guess; it was a conviction.
"If we stay like this, everyone dies. Enji, Kaya, and Eto too."
Nomiya, Katsura, and the surrounding Ghouls exchanged bewildered looks.
"What? What are you talking about...?"
"I don't have time to explain. I spent a long time watching that guy from close range—against my will—so I know him better than anyone here."
Katsura spoke up. "Look. Even if you're right, what difference does it make if you go?"
"A huge difference."
Koma nodded confidently. "If I go, we can win."
"..."
The Ghouls stared at him with profound distrust.
Arima was an opponent who only seemed winnable when Enji, Kaya, and Eto combined their strength.
Even they would be lucky not to be dead weight in that fight, yet Koma—the weakest person present—was claiming he could secure a victory. How could they possibly believe him?
This guy is awake, but he's still dreaming.
Or maybe the investigator scrambled his brains.
After exchanging glances, Katsura and Nomiya spoke.
"Sorry, but we can't just throw you into the meat grinder based on a hunch. We were ordered to protect you."
"Yeah. Priority is evacuation. We'll go back for the others ourselves once we're clear."
They had already decided to retreat with Koma.
Seeing that reason wouldn't work, Koma decided to change his tactics.
"...Fine. I really didn't want to resort to this."
With a low sigh, Koma reached out.
His hands flew straight for the back of Katsura's head. Nomiya watched, wondering if he was planning to knock Katsura out and flee. A normal human like Koma couldn't possibly pull that off against a Ghoul.
Nomiya briefly wondered if it might actually be easier to just knock the human out now to prevent any trouble during the escape—but then—
Grab!
Koma's hands clamped firmly onto Katsura's scalp.
Katsura's expression froze. Nomiya felt a sudden, sharp sense of foreboding.
As if to confirm those fears, Koma tightened his grip as if he were about to rip the hair out by the roots and barked at the Ghouls.
"Hurry up and go after them! Or I'll pull every single hair out of this bastard's head!!"
"Y-YOU DEMONIC BASSSTAAAARRRRRD!!!!!!!!!!"
Katsura, who had been plagued by recent hair loss, let out a scream of pure agony and resentment.
"The Wild Card of Reversal - 1"
========================
The website for reading paid chapters is available on my Patreon. The number of chapters on Patreon: 156
Link: patreon.com/UltraMagnus_T