"Damn, who’s got a death wish and wants to go to the Kure Clan?"
Someone immediately replied. Their username was “Shadow-sama.”
"Just asking. I want to make a deal with them."
Luke replied.
"Have you never read the manga? Every member of the Kure Clan is dangerous. Being confident in your skills doesn’t mean you should play it like this, does it?"
Someone else chimed in.
"Yeah, and do you even have the money? You need at least ten billion yen to do business with the Kure Clan."
...
The public channel erupted into discussion about the Kure Clan. Before long, the conversation went completely off the rails, and the flood of messages buried Luke’s original question. Just as he was about to ask again, an Explorer named “Little Mushroom” posted a set of coordinates in the public channel.
"This is Kure Village. Good luck."
Luke checked the coordinates. They were longitude and latitude. After locating them on a map, he figured the other person was probably not messing with him. The destination was roughly five hundred kilometers from Tokyo, matching the manga’s description.
"Thanks. If those coordinates are accurate, I owe you one."
After replying, Luke immediately set off. He wanted to pay the Kure Clan a visit first and have a little martial arts exchange.
The Kure Clan was a powerful bloodline in the world of Kengan Ashura, and it also had certain ties to this world’s ultimate boss.
The Kure Clan of modern Japan ruled the underground assassination world. No other organization could match their professional capability. So long as the price was right, the Kure Clan would even assassinate the prime minister.
To Luke, the scale of their influence was utterly ridiculous. Their home, Kure Village, was an entire city. It had at least several hundred thousand residents by rough estimate, while the Kure Clan itself had tens of thousands of members.
An armed force like that had developed inside the country while running an assassination business, yet the government did nothing about it. All Luke could say was that this world’s setting was truly bizarre.
The Kure Clan’s origins actually lay across the sea. Their main family still remained there: the Wu Clan.
The Wu Clan’s lineage was as old as that of an ancient eastern civilization. Five thousand years had passed since the founder of “Wu,” Wu Hei.
Then, thirteen hundred years ago, something happened that directly split this enormous family into three branches, scattering them across the world.
They became the Kure Clan that traveled to Japan, the Wu Clan that remained in the East, and the Westward Faction in the West.
Countless secret techniques had been lost over the course of history amid brutal internal struggles. Yet one secret art had been inherited by all three branches.
That was Luke’s purpose in coming to the Kure Clan—Removal.
According to the manga’s explanation, this secret art removed the brain’s restraints on the body, releasing every last bit of the body’s power.
Luke considered it a powerful berserk skill, one that would be immensely useful when facing a formidable enemy.
As for Possessing Spirit, the technique used by this manga’s “protagonist,” Ohma Tokita, Luke felt it had far too many side effects. Overall, it was less practical than Removal.
After half a day of travel, Luke arrived at Kure Village by bullet train.
He watched the office workers moving along the streets, the intermittent cries of vendors outside their shops, and high school girls on their way home, eating crepes as they walked...
Luke’s first impression was that it was a small third- or fourth-tier city. The pace was slow, and the atmosphere peaceful.
But a closer look revealed that among the pedestrians, a small number had black sclera and white pupils. Eyes abnormal enough to be horrifying—yet the locals seemed completely accustomed to them.
"The Kure Clan is on patrol again? You all work hard. These potato cakes just came out of the fryer, so take some back to eat."
A middle-aged woman selling fried potato cakes by the roadside warmly greeted a passing patrol. Her smile was anything but fake.
"No thanks, Aunt Yoko. We’re still on duty. Maybe next time."
The young Kure man at the head of the group declined with a smile and led his people onward, greeting quite a few locals along the way.
Luke stroked his chin. It seemed the Kure Clan was highly respected here.
He had not finished the manga back in the day, but he had caught up on it in Endspace. He had already known that the Kure Clan was a strange family of assassins that protected their corner of the world, but seeing it firsthand, they seemed even more human than he had imagined.
Luke walked down the street and passed the Kure patrol. Stopping in front of the potato cake stall, he said, "Give me ten potato cakes."
Before long, the potato cakes were ready. After paying, Luke carried the bag in one hand and held a potato cake wrapped in paper in the other, ready to take a bite.
But after taking only two steps, he was surrounded.
Luke unhurriedly blew on the potato cake and took a bite. "Well, that’s a little unexpected. They look so weak, yet they can still notice that there’s something different about me?"
Six Kure Clan members encircled Luke, their expressions grave and their white pupils fixed on him.
The young man in the lead spoke. "For a wanted criminal, you really have no self-awareness at all."
Luke froze for a moment. He had thought these people had become wary after sensing his strength. He had completely forgotten that he had escaped from prison.
Then again, it made sense. Not only had he broken out of prison, but he had also killed the president of Ten Kings Communications. Without some powerful figure shielding him, being wanted was only natural.
"Don’t misunderstand. I’m not here to cause trouble. I merely came to have a martial arts exchange with the legendary Kure Clan."
Luke gave what he believed was a friendly smile. Internally, he praised the Kure Clan’s efficiency. In just a few moments, people had already taken positions on high ground in every direction. Three sniper rifles were aimed directly at his head.
This city belonged to the Kure Clan. Historically, no one who caused trouble here had ever walked away unscathed. The Kure Clan was an assassin family, not a group of pure fighters. If a real fight broke out, they certainly would not insist on a one-on-one duel. In a group fight, they would use every weapon available—cold weapons and firearms alike.
Luke had not come here to challenge their dojo. He really had approached the Kure Clan with peaceful intentions, hoping for an amicable exchange. But from the looks of it, they did not seem to welcome him.
"You want a martial arts exchange with us? A wanted criminal like you?"
The Kure youth sneered. "Surrender quietly. We’ll send you back to prison."
Luke’s expression turned strange. He swallowed the remaining half of his potato cake. "You’re an assassin family, and you’re going to send me to prison?"
He felt that this world was truly fascinating. The Kure Clan carried out assassinations every day, yet not only did the government ignore them, it seemed they were not even wanted criminals.
Some Kure members even went out to get regular jobs. Karla Kure’s family, for example, lived in Tokyo, and Karla attended school there. Whether her parents had any side hustles on top of their day jobs was hard to say.
Seeing that Luke remained casual and showed no intention of surrendering, the young man at the head of the group moved. A dagger slid from his long sleeve and slashed straight for Luke’s neck.
The Kure Clan maintained order in the underground world and protected this city. He would never allow a dangerous murderer like Luke to move freely through it.
Clang—
A sound like metal striking metal rang out. Under the disbelieving gazes of the surrounding Kure Clan members, the dagger stopped four inches from Luke’s neck.
And what had stopped the blade was not a weapon, but... a single finger.
Luke looked into the young man’s black eyes, grinning to reveal a mouthful of gleaming white teeth. "Looks like I’m not welcome. If the lady up there fires her gun, I won’t mind turning this place upside down."
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