The chamber was quite high.
By a rough estimate, it was about twenty meters. High enough that a bad fall would be fatal, and even a clean one would leave a body wrecked beyond repair.
As he fell, Hitokawa opened his metal case and drew out a twin-blade Quinque.
It had been crafted from the Kagune of the Artist he’d captured six years ago. Its name was “Tarantula.”
At first glance, it looked like an ordinary sword, but true to the nature of a Rinkaku-type Quinque, it possessed remarkable flexibility. The segmented blade, resembling a box cutter’s edge, split apart and transformed into a whip-like form as it lashed out.
The blade-whip wrapped around a passing pipe, and he used the momentum to brake his descent.
Snapped upward by the whip’s elasticity, Hitokawa landed on the pipe and quickly took stock of his surroundings.
The first things he noticed were the Ghouls spread throughout the chamber, wearing monkey and dog masks.
They were members of the Ghoul organizations [En] and the Black Doberman. So that was where they had been hiding all along.
Wary of the Ghoul Investigators who had suddenly appeared, they continued their assault on the Kakuja Ghoul that had dropped from the ceiling alongside them.
He didn’t know what the conflict between them and the Kakuja monster was, but he was grateful for the distraction. With just over ten investigators, it would have been impossible to handle both groups at once.
Especially their leaders, Maen and Kuroinu, who were both extremely dangerous SS-rated Ghouls.
Even if he fought only one of them, Hitokawa knew he could never win alone.
So those are Maen and Kuroinu.
Two Ghouls fighting the Kakuja at close range stood out immediately.
Their subordinates were joining the fray, but it felt more like they were providing support than leading the charge.
Maen and Kuroinu landed powerful blows through the openings their underlings created, yet they kept their eyes fixed on Hitokawa.
A jolt ran down his spine.
Huh? Why do I feel like they’re only glaring at me?
He had fallen with the other investigators, but for some reason, the two Ghouls’ attention lingered solely on him. Had they figured out at a glance that he was the one commanding the group?
As expected of the Ghouls who ruled the underworld of the 20th Ward, Hitokawa silently admired their intuition.
“No doubt about it. It’s that bastard from back then.”
“Having Ghoul Investigators mixed in here and turning this into a mess isn’t ideal... Still, if we get the chance, shouldn’t we at least land one hit?”
Enji and Kaya had not forgotten the psychological humiliation Hitokawa had inflicted on them during their first meeting. If it were up to them, they would have abandoned the Kakuja monster and rushed over just to smash his face in.
Since the Ghouls showed no sign of attacking immediately, Hitokawa checked on the other investigators.
It had been a hastily assembled group sent to find Arima, but since they were venturing deep into Ghoul territory, they had gathered investigators with solid skills. Each had landed safely using their own methods.
He had been worried about Hoshino, as her skills were relatively lacking, but by some stroke of luck, she had also managed to hook herself onto a pipe and survive.
Arima...
He couldn’t see Arima among the landed investigators, so he scanned the area. It didn’t take long to find him.
When he did, Hitokawa’s eyes flew wide open and a shout burst from his lips.
“What the hell is that crazy bastard doing?!”
At the end of Hitokawa’s gaze was Arima, who had somehow already moved into position and was now charging into the epicenter of the battle between the Kakuja and the two Ghoul groups, armed with nothing but a single weapon.
***
“Graaahhh!!!”
The enraged Kakuja monster forcibly tore off a section of a pipe as thick as its own body and hurled it.
Enji slid across the floor to avoid it, then kicked off the ground with his Bikaku to accelerate forward.
In an instant, he closed the distance, his leg shooting up like lightning to stab at the monster’s neck.
On the opposite side, Kaya twisted her body as she dropped, spinning her Ukaku like a gear.
The sharpened Kagune blade slammed into the back of the monster’s neck, which had been driven upward by Enji’s kick.
KWA-GA-GA-GAK!!!
“Tch!”
Seeing the result, Kaya clicked her tongue. The monster’s neck had been grotesquely twisted by the joint assault, but it was nowhere near enough to kill it.
It had been quite a while since they had last consumed human flesh, so their Kagune output had dropped significantly.
For Enji, who used his Kagune as support and specialized in close combat, it was manageable. But for Kaya, whose Ukaku consumed energy rapidly, her condition was poor.
If only we had enough firepower...
As that thought crossed her mind, the monster twisted as if swelling up and bounced the two of them away. It was like a rubber ball springing back after being compressed.
Dodging the powerful follow-up strike, Kaya and Enji put some distance between themselves and the monster.
Their subordinates attacked from all sides to buy them time to reset their stance, and the monster swatted those attacks away as if they were a mere annoyance.
No matter how powerful a Kakuja was, its strength wasn't infinite. Proof of this was the way the regeneration of its wounds had begun to slow noticeably.
If the Ghoul Investigators hadn’t been interfering, they could have finished it off with a few fatal blows. Yes, if only they hadn’t interfered...
A chill ran through them.
It was pure instinct.
An instinct only those who lived on the edge of death could feel.
The dreadful certainty that something silent had reached their throats—the scythe of the Grim Reaper. Feeling this, Enji and Kaya swung their fist and foot backward without hesitation.
And then, they vanished.
As if someone had erased a part of the world with an eraser, Enji’s fist and Kaya’s leg disappeared without a trace.
Then, in the corner of their vision, fragments of an arm and a leg scattered and fell like trash.
A shadow swept past, lightly brushing over their heads. A dark red longsword.
It wasn’t over.
Even after losing a limb each, the scythe of death had not disappeared.
Time seemed to flow slowly, as if they had sunk into mud, and Enji and Kaya looked at each other. Something was falling from above. The scythe of death. There was no way to resist it.
There was only one option left: escape the Reaper's range.
KRAK!!
As if they had planned it, Enji and Kaya moved simultaneously. Enji with the sole of his foot; Kaya with the palm of her hand.
The strikes they hurled at each other met at a single point, shoving them both backward at once.
Their bodies lifted off the ground, and the scythe of death passed by so closely it only clipped a few strands of their hair.
Whoosh!!
What emerged from that red arc was none other than a boy in a school uniform.
His expression was calm, his breathing undisturbed.
The boy’s face showed no emotion, as if the murderous strike from a moment ago had been a lie. He was simply like a machine that cut whatever stood before him.
“Who the hell is that?!”
“Big brother! Are you all right?!”
“Sis!”
The subordinates were stunned, not only by the sudden intruder but by the sight of blood spraying from their leaders’ severed limbs.
With their leaders badly wounded, the underlings began to waver, and the balance that had been holding steady began to collapse.
“Graaahhh!!!”
BOOOOM!!!
“Cough……!!”
Driven by instinct rather than reason, the monster seized the opening the subordinates had exposed and drove a fist forward.
One Ghoul, ribs crushed, vomited blood and fragments of organs beneath his monkey mask before being sent flying dozens of meters to crash down among the Ghoul Investigators.
The investigators recoiled in alarm, but seeing that the fallen Ghoul was critically wounded, they tightened their grip on their Quinque. The oldest among them commanded,
“Restrain him... no, that’s not feasible here. Finish him off! I don’t know what’s happening, but let’s use this chance to cut down the numbers of [En] and the Black Doberman to secure our own safety!”
“Yes, sir!”
Two investigators moved toward the groaning Ghoul, who was still barely clinging to life.
“You bastards! Stop!”
A Ghoul wearing a dog mask charged in, refusing to stand by.
They were usually hostile factions, but they were allies for now, and even if the other was irritating, it was hard to watch a fellow Ghoul die at the hands of an investigator.
When the Black Doberman Ghoul stepped in to protect the [En] member, more investigators rushed over, and the Ghouls responded in kind.
As a result, the number of people keeping the monster in check inevitably dropped.
The monster rampaged all the more happily.
At a time like this, their leaders should have been controlling the chaos, but they were too wounded and preoccupied with fighting Arima.
In the end, Arima’s intervention caused the invisible balance to collapse like dominoes, and a chaotic melee broke out everywhere.
“At this point, this isn’t just a melee... it’s a war of destruction.”
Watching the situation, Hitokawa realized this was no time to worry about sparing lives.
Ghouls, investigators, and the Kakuja monster. The fighting would not stop until two of the three were dead and only one remained.
A battle that would not end until one side was wiped out completely. It was, quite literally, a war of destruction.
“……Huh?”
As he scanned the battlefield, Hitokawa spotted a silhouette that stood oddly apart from the fighting.
A Ghoul wearing a monkey mask was carrying an injured Ghoul in a dog mask, quietly backing away from the battle.
If the goal was to help a wounded comrade, it was a plausible sight.
Hitokawa wasn’t the type to doggedly chase fleeing Ghouls, so he had no immediate intention of intervening. That would be a different matter if he judged the Ghoul to be a future threat...
Still, though it was an ordinary sight, it drew his eye.
He had an uneasy feeling. The way the Ghoul was slipping away reminded him of a friend. Furthermore, the Ghoul being carried had a build similar to Eto’s.
“……”
No. No matter how much that guy goes off the rails once he gets an idea, there’s no way. Jumping into the middle of a war between Ghouls and investigators...
If that turned out to be true, Hitokawa wouldn’t be able to stop himself from grabbing his Quinque and storming his friend’s house to make a complete mess of things. He’d encouraged him to live a normal life away from the Ghoul world, and this was how he repaid him? Had he lost his mind?
He considered grabbing the Ghouls and ripping off their masks, but he didn’t have the luxury.
The Kakuja monster, rampaging through the Ghouls, lunged straight at Hitokawa. To a creature that made no distinction between friend and foe, a Ghoul Investigator was just another meal.
KWA-GA-GA-BOOM!!!
He leaped off the pipe to dodge the attack, then wrapped his Quinque around another pipe to shoot himself upward.
Just as he took the high ground and prepared to swing his blade, a bloodied Ghoul came flying in from the side.
“Ghk!”
It was the bloodied Maen.
While dodging Arima’s silent, fatal attacks, he had been forced into the space between the monster and Hitokawa.
With one arm severed, he was fighting one-handed, his body carved up with countless slashes.
Kuroinu, who had also lost a leg while fighting Arima, was in a similar state.
He did this to two SS-rated Ghouls in an instant...?!
Hitokawa was reeling from Arima’s overwhelming power, but he had to deal with Maen and the monster first.
Cutting down Maen would be easy.
Maen had only just realized Hitokawa’s position because he’d been distracted by Arima, and his face was etched with surprise.
Combined with his injuries, he was full of openings—enough for Hitokawa to easily take his life.
But the problem was the brutal fist flying in from behind Maen. The monster didn’t care who was in the way. If he cut Maen down now, that fist would crush him instantly.
Maen seemed to have reached the same conclusion. If he attacked Hitokawa now, he would be caught dead-on by the monster’s strike.
Maen and Hitokawa shared a brief moment of eye contact.
Maen’s Kagune and Hitokawa’s Quinque shot out at the monster’s fist simultaneously.
KWA-GA-GA-BOOM!!!
With a massive recoil, Maen and Hitokawa were blown back. Thanks to their joint attack, they managed to deflect the monster’s strike without too much trouble.
The moment they landed on the pipe, they glared at each other, returning one another to their list of threats.
The silent alliance had served its purpose. Now it was time to break it and stand as enemies once more.
Clang!
With a loud metallic crash, Kuroinu landed on the opposite side of Maen, his wounds having increased further.
Thud.
Arima landed skillfully a short distance from the monster.
Aside from a slight tear in his sleeve from Kuroinu’s Ukaku bullets, Arima had no notable injuries. Seeing this, Hitokawa seriously wondered, Is that bastard even human?
The monster, Maen, Kuroinu, Arima, and Hitokawa.
It was annoying to admit, but on this pipe battlefield, Hitokawa was the weakest individual fighter. Knowing that, he still gripped his Quinque and bared his fighting spirit.
Since when had he ever fought by sorting opponents into stronger and weaker ones?
He just had to drive his fangs into the opponent’s throat and cut off their breath. That was enough.
“Graaahhh!!!”
The trigger was the monster, which ignored the mutual vigilance of the others and tore through the space to charge in.
Here, too, the war of destruction began.
***
Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!!
I kept cursing in my head. Every situation was spiraling in the worst possible way.
Was wanting to survive just one more day such an outrageous wish? Ever since those mysterious men appeared, everything had gone wrong.
Eto was still unconscious and badly injured.
Enji, Kaya, and Hitokawa had entered a blood-soaked battle, now with the Kakuja monster and some school-uniformed boy thrown into the mix.
I had no idea how the fight would end, but it was certainly going to be a horrific sight.
I wanted to tell them to run. But there was nowhere to go.
The passages leading out of the chamber were all narrow.
Even if the Ghouls on Enji and Kaya’s side tried to flee, the narrow entrances would bottleneck them, and the others would not kindly let them escape.
The fighting couldn’t be stopped. They couldn’t be made to run.
All I could do was watch. Watch Ghouls die. Watch investigators die.
Watch people I’d grown attached to be slaughtered.
It was horrible.
Helplessness was a truly awful thing.
“Damn it!!!”
Thud!!
Smashing my fist into the wall in frustration changed nothing. All it did was make one useless bastard bleed.
And then, just as I shut my eyes in despair, I noticed something once my vision was blocked.
Gurgle, gurgle……!
……Water?
A faint sound of flowing water came from beyond the wall. It didn’t stop; it just kept going.
Was it raining aboveground? All rain that fell on the city flowed underground and gathered in the sewers. As I followed that line of thought, a realization struck me like lightning.
“……!!!”
I hurriedly unfolded the map I’d been clutching in my other hand until it was crumpled.
Studying the maze-like sewer system in detail, I muttered,
“……Found it.”
I’d found another escape route.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register