"Enough chit-chat~"
Takatsuki Sen seemed to lose patience with small talk. Beneath the bandages, her body began to twist and swell in a grotesque way.
"Non-Killing Owl, your kagune… looks delicious."
Riiip—!
The bandages were blown apart and torn to shreds. An even larger, more warped, more horrifying kagune surged out in a frenzy.
In an instant, a gigantic kakuja no less fearsome than "Owl," a stitched-together abomination, loomed over the ruins— four enormous kakugan blazing with feral light.
An SSS-class kakuja—the One-Eyed Owl.
Yoshimura Kuzen's single huge eye tightened to a pinprick. Alarm bells screamed in his heart.
As expected—another SSS-class.
"I suggest you surrender quietly."
Eto's One-Eyed Owl form let out a shrill roar; that massive body lunged at Yoshimura with annihilating force—
When—
"Manager!!!"
A familiar, urgent female voice split the dead battlefield.
Yoshimura, braced to fight to the death, jolted. Eto halted as well. Arima Kishou's sharp gaze snapped toward the source.
On a broken wall at the edge of the field, two figures had appeared without a sound: one was Kirishima Touka—who should have escaped with her life— the other, a casually dressed young man, outrageously handsome, carrying a cool, ethereal air: a stranger.
"Touka?!"
Shock and worry flooded Yoshimura's huge eye. "What are you doing here?! Get out, now!"
He'd bought them a chance to flee with his own life—was it going to be thrown away like this?
"It's okay, Manager!"
Touka shouted back. Even under the crushing stares of two SSS-class kakuja and the CCG's grim reaper, she pointed firmly at Rei Ao beside her.
"I brought help! He's really strong—he can definitely help us!"
"Help?"
All four of the One-Eyed Owl's pupils fixed on Rei Ao. The torn bandages revealed a face twisting into an intrigued expression.
"A ghoul? No—no ghoul scent. Human? Looks tender… probably tastes good~"
She licked kagune-formed lips, deliberately speaking in a way to horrify.
But Arima's face had never looked more grave. He pushed up his glasses, eyes locked on the man who radiated no detectable power at all, and said in a low voice:
"Careful. He isn't a ghoul. But…"
"He's terrifyingly strong."
Arima's grip on IXA tightened of its own accord. His body leaned forward a fraction, entering maximum alert. Not even facing SSS-class ghouls did he feel this kind of mortal peril.
A battle-honed instinct, born of countless brushes with death, screamed at him— this suddenly appeared man was beyond understanding.
An extreme danger.
Bathed in moonlight, Rei Ao seemed oblivious to the suffocating killing intent that would make any creature crack. He simply glanced over the two hulking kakuja below and the bristling Arima, the corner of his mouth curving in a half-smile.
The real show was only just starting.
On the field, the air congealed like iron. Eto's One-Eyed Owl radiated savage violence. The SSS-class ghoul Owl—Yoshimura Kuzen—stood grimly ready. The CCG's grim reaper, Arima Kishou, clenched IXA.
Three apex forces, frozen in a weird standoff by the arrival of two uninvited guests.
Feeling the crushing pressure that seemed to grind the very air, Touka's palms went clammy— but she still mustered her courage and pleaded to the unruffled Rei Ao at her side: "Group Owner! I'll leave it to you!"
Rei Ao turned and gave her a faint smile— a composure that blew away every shadow in her heart.
"Leaving it to me is no problem."
His tone was easy as his gaze swept the three taut factions below.
"But I think what you're missing is a calm conversation. All this fighting—so uncivilized."
Conversation?
Yoshimura, Eto, and Arima all felt the same absurd thought. Ghouls and investigators, opposing factions soaked in blood feuds—what is there to "talk" about?
Before any of them could move, Rei Ao casually lifted a hand, pointed at the kakuja forms of Yoshimura and Eto, and tapped lightly at the air.
No earth-shaking blast. No dazzling light. Just that offhand tap—
"What?!" "Impossible?!"
Two disbelieving cries rang out at once.
Yoshimura's massive, armored kakuja—and Eto's twisted One-Eyed Owl—both began to melt and crumble like ice under the sun. The vast kagune that made up their kakuja forms collapsed and scattered beyond control, becoming motes of red light that winked out into the air.
In the blink of an eye, both dreaded "Owls" were gone.
Left where they'd stood were only two people—
an old man in tattered clothes, face lined and world-weary, eyes full of shock and confusion: Yoshimura Kuzen;
and a small-framed woman swathed in bandages, one crimson kakugan showing, her expression just as aghast and disbelieving: Takatsuki Sen (Eto).
They tried to rouse their RC cells, to summon kagune— only to find, horrified, that the power that once obeyed like an arm at their command was utterly sealed, silent, without the slightest response.
W-what is this power?!
Stripping away a kagune with a single touch?
It was beyond anything they could comprehend. Even the figure of legend could never have done it so lightly.
The way Yoshimura and Takatsuki looked at Rei Ao changed completely— now filled with a fear and disbelief they had never known.
~~~
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