"Retreat, retreat! Big Brother Naki was killed by the Doves! Boss Jason and Mr. Nico are missing... What about Boss Ayato?! Bottle—"
"Forget Ayato! Boss Ayato was killed! Retreat, retreat! We've fallen into a CCG trap! That foreign Dove is a monster..."
"Don't come near me... stay away—aaaaaah! Ssshhh—"
...
Just minutes ago, this street, calm and orderly, was now filled with chaos.
Gunfire, shouting, screams of pain, wails, screeching brakes, the sound of surrounding shop walls cracking and collapsing, shattering glass, the dull, grating blasts of Q Bullets specialized for ghouls—one after another, the clashing of blades between investigators and ghouls...
A multitude of sounds intertwined and layered, composing a bloody, fiery symphony.
Whether by design or accident, one thing was certain: in this battlefield of carnage, that sleek, black figure stood as the symphony's crescendo.
Shhhh—
At a speed and force far exceeding human limits, Vela swung her Quinque longsword, carving a pale arc through the rain.
Clang! The blade cut through the ghoul's terrified Kakugan. Forehead, nasal bone, and skull all shattered. Without pause, the blade swept outward, red and white fluid trailing behind. Blood mist sprayed in an arc along the sword's path.
"A Kakuja—it's a Kakuja, a monster!"
Ukaku shards pinged off Vela's helmet. Within the sleek black armor, her slender hands moved with surgical precision. She ducked low, slashing sideways, severing the joint of a charging Koukaku ghoul's arm.
"Gun III" occasionally raised, its piercing cone-shaped rounds screeching as they tore through an enraged Ukaku ghoul, turning him into a sieve.
Blindingly fast, Vela didn't even slow down. Her longsword cut through the Koukaku's shoulder joint, swept forward in a short arc, and before the S-rated ghoul could retreat, her blade opened his chest with pinpoint precision.
Clang! The blade burst through with a spray of blood. Flesh, lungs, esophagus, bronchi, intestines spilled out with a wet splurch. Screaming, he was flung with the sword still embedded in his shoulder's Kagune shell, slamming into a nearby wall.
The mangled body hit the ground. The air reeked of blood.
Kneeling, the ghoul desperately tried to shove his rain-soaked innards back into his torn torso. But partway through, he froze. The growing pool of blood around him tinged the rainwater red.
Vela advanced.
With "Gun III" now a broad-bladed short sword, she swept through the battlefield. One slash after another, slicing throats, decapitating, dismembering. Flesh and limbs flew, screams resounded—a blood flower bloomed with every stroke.
The living armor of "Arata Proto" accentuated her curvaceous figure with lethal elegance. It gleamed with metallic sheen and exuded razor-sharp menace.
This—this was the joy of a berserker.
Why dodge?
Just charge! Just WAAAAAAGH!
No need to care about appearances, no need to stay spotless—Vela stomped on a rooftop, sending rubble flying. Her form streaked like a matte-black bolt through buildings and enemy ranks.
A bloom of blood in the downpour.
...
"Huff... huff... Touka, Mr. Yomo, what happened? Why did CCG suddenly send reinforcements to the 20th Ward? Why is there a battle? Isn't the 20th Ward supposed to be stable? Why are there so many ghouls fighting CCG investigators—and where are Mrs. Fueguchi and Hinami..."
"You're so noisy! Useless guy, why are you asking so many questions?! One after another—what's the point in telling you anything? You think I don't want to find Mrs. Fueguchi and Hinami?!"
Running against the tide of the crowd on the sidewalk, Touka—acting every bit the delinquent girl—snapped at the frail boy chasing behind her.
"Oh..."
The boy, wearing an eyepatch over his left eye, lowered his head weakly.
"Enough. Touka, Kaneki... the situation is bad. With such a large-scale operation, it seems the Doves have found what they were looking for..." Yomo Renji stopped, his expression dark.
Up ahead, sirens blared. Police had already set up barricades, traffic cones, and roadblocks.
More and more CCG investigators were gathering in the forward area—some in civilian clothes with handguns and Quinque cases, others in combat uniforms carrying long firearms and arriving in personnel transport vans.
Televisions outside shops had begun broadcasting news of a large-scale battle between ghouls and investigators in the 20th Ward.
For the first time in over ten years of stability, the 20th Ward was in chaos.
Yomo said, "We won't get through the front."
The 'delinquent girl' Touka and the 'timid boy' Kaneki followed Yomo's gaze. People were being stopped from entering, while panicked pedestrians fled outward, stumbling and shouting about ghouls—so many ghouls.
"Don't wear your ghoul masks for now. Follow me." Yomo pulled up his hood and donned a mask.
"Huh?" Kaneki hesitated for a moment before being dragged along by Touka.
Winding through backstreets, they found a narrow alleyway. While the CCG was busy sealing off the main roads, the three of them jumped past the perimeter and darted through a few more alleys.
As soon as they landed—BOOM!
Explosions and fires erupted. Columns of thick smoke rose several stories high. Gunfire and blasts of varying intensity echoed around them.
Kaneki swallowed, his visible right eye wide with shock.
"It's worse than I thought."
Yomo stepped aside to let remaining civilians flee. In the distance, beyond the scattered citizens, ghoul figures began clashing with CCG investigators.
"Mrs. Fueguchi, Hinami... please be okay."
Touka clenched her fists.
"Let's move."
Yomo signaled them to follow and dashed toward the bookstore Mrs. Fueguchi had mentioned visiting earlier.
A breeze swept through the rain, thick with the stench of rot and blood. Suddenly, Touka froze.
As if struck by lightning, she stopped in her tracks, whipping her head around. Her entire body tensed. Her eyes were filled with disbelief—and deep fear.
"Ayato... why are you here?! And that scent... Dad?!"
Kaneki noticed the change in his companion and turned. "Touka?"
"Touka, what's wrong?" Yomo looked over.
"I have to go. It's Ayato—he's here. And my father..." Touka's voice faltered. Her face went pale, eyes trembling with fear. "A Quinque made from my father..."
Touka knew very well—her father had been killed by CCG investigators when she was a child.
The dead do not return. And the scent—passed through ghoul bloodlines—could not lie. There was only one explanation: her father's Kagune and Kakuhou had been turned into a Quinque by the CCG!
"What?! Ayato—your brother is here too?!"
For the first time, Yomo's calm expression cracked into panic.
Touka's mother was his sister. He was the uncle of Touka and Ayato Kirishima.
"Damn it! What's he doing back in the 20th Ward at a time like this..."
"Run, run... Ayato, Boss Ayato was killed..." A crazed Ukaku ghoul tumbled from the sky, crashing to the ground and scrambling to flee.
"Wait, what did you say? Say that again!"
With a flash, Yomo Renji grabbed the ghoul, his Kakugan flaring from emotional intensity. He enunciated each word clearly.
"Ayato... Boss Ayato was killed by that foreign Dove. His head was blown off..."
Trembling like a leaf, the Ukaku ghoul was clearly terrified, sobbing as he spoke.
Touka Kirishima swayed, nearly fainting. Her mind echoed with the unbelievable news. Even if Ayato had left Anteiku due to differing beliefs about survival, he was still her younger brother.
"What happened? Tell me. Why was Ayato in the 20th Ward?" Yomo pressed.
"It was Lord Tatara and Lord Noro... the organization ordered us to monitor that foreign female Dove, to probe her strength..."
"I'll avenge Ayato!"
Grinding her teeth, trembling hands clenched tight, Touka bit down hard on her lip, nearly breaking the skin.
This time, Yomo was truly shaken. His eyes cleared. He released the ghoul and gripped Touka's shoulders firmly. "Your mother and Arata only had one daughter—you must live!"
"But Ayato... Mr. Yomo, Uncle! He was my brother..." Her eyes brimmed with tears. Her delicate, pretty face twisted in grief and rage.
"No buts."
Yomo turned to the timid boy nearby. "Kaneki, take Touka out of here. In her state, going after someone would be suicide. Go back. I'll look for the Fueguchis..."
Before he could finish—
Another hysterical scream tore through the air. "Yuu-kun!" Then came the crash of a collapsing wall.
"Damn!" Alarmed by the danger, Yomo instinctively shoved Touka and Kaneki into a side alley near a sewer grate, hiding in the shadows.
Boom—
A figure dropped like a cannonball, slamming into the road, scattering debris. He wore a light purple cloak, and the white mask marked with a red "P" shattered. His Bikaku collapsed, limp and powerless.
"11th Ward, the elder of the Bin Brothers."
From the shadows, Yomo's brow furrowed deeply. His eyes narrowed. As Anteiku's most frequent field agent, he was well-versed in the infamous ghouls of Tokyo.
"Dad..." Only Touka stared, tears rolling down her cheeks, eyes locked on the one carrying her father's scent.
A black-armored figure.
Her armor appeared to flow, like semi-solid Kagune. Crimson light pulsed across the surface, rolling and writhing—alive, eerie, and mesmerizing.
The silhouette was tall—female.
She was slaughtering the retreating ghouls. It wasn't combat—it was a massacre.
Being spotted meant death.
That crushing pressure—Yomo had only ever felt it from Tokyo CCG's top agent, the "White Reaper" Arima Kishou.
And yet, Vela Adelheid... it had to be her. This investigator from the North American branch fought with even more brutality and savagery.
Each motion of hers—whether still or in motion—sliced the air with shrieking brilliance. Every contact injured. Every touch maimed. Twisting, darting, she tore ghoul bodies apart with ruthless grace.
"Touka, if you want to go back alive—if you still want to find Mrs. Fueguchi and Hinami—then be silent and follow me. Otherwise, we're all going to die." Yomo's voice was grave.
...
"S-rated, Bikaku, Bin Brothers..."
Crack! As the white mask marked with a red X shattered, the younger Bin Brother was hurled back.
He slammed into a wall.
"Bastard..." Coughing blood, his face crushed beyond recognition, he growled. Rc cells flared throughout his body. His thick Bikaku swung in an arc.
Thud! He stomped the ground, and a split-second later, Vela's armored fist collided with him in a thunderous impact.
The Bikaku cracked and twisted, spider-webbing fractures spreading.
The force rebounded the Bikaku into his own body. The wall shattered. Bricks scattered like shrapnel.
Vela casually twisted off his head. Drenched in blood, she stood over the headless corpse, footprints of blood trailing behind. She turned and blasted the elder Bin Brother's head apart with her Quinque.
"One minute sixteen seconds. Slightly over time."
She walked slowly, muttering, tossing away the snapped longsword.
"Yukimura"—a standard-issue CCG B-grade Quinque longsword. A consumable, nothing more.
Vela scanned the battlefield. Her peripheral vision caught a glimpse of the now-vanished gaze from the distant alley.
She didn't care. All named S-rated ghouls had been dealt with. The remaining A-rated ones... were irrelevant. The 20th Ward's investigators could handle them—as long as those in the Safe Zone didn't get themselves killed.
Now, it was time to collect her spoils.
"At least S+ rated: Dual Ukaku 'Gourmet' ghoul, S+ rated half-Kakuja 'Gecko' Jason, S-rated Bin Brothers, Clown 'Nico'..."
...
Meanwhile, in the wide alley—
Gunfire and shouting faded.
The ghouls outside were either dead or had fled. More CCG investigators were arriving, surrounding the area.
Psshhh~
Following Associate Special Class Investigator Russell's orders, investigators continued firing Rc suppressing serum rounds nonstop into two twisted figures pinned beneath the shop's rubble by a black spear.
Then, at the reminder from a certain bug-eyed First Class investigator, they finally turned their focus back to the original targets:
The "mother and daughter."