"Hmph, I hope you're not just all talk!?" Mugino Shizuri scoffed with disdain, and the emerald green energy around her body erupted into powerful beams, shooting towards Rhode.
Rhode slightly tilted his head, dodging several energy beams in succession, and spoke indifferently, "Too slow."
Along with the sound of an explosion from the beams behind him, the dazzling light produced by the explosion illuminated Rhode's cold face.
Frenda inexplicably felt her heart sink, her beautiful legs wrapped in black stockings trembled uncontrollably, her cherry-like mouth gaped in shock, her face filled with disbelief.
"You're lying! That was Mugino's attack."
"That man is not a simple character." Kinuhata Saiai had already activated her Level 4 Item, "Nitrogen Armor," to its maximum, with swirling Qi around her body, completely on alert.
"..." Takitsubo Rikou, who was usually lazy and indifferent, now couldn't help but have fine beads of sweat trickle down her forehead.
"Hmph, quite capable, but you don't think my attack ends here, do you!?" Mugino Shizuri then revealed a sinister smile, and the emerald green energy quickly condensed into a giant sphere, with terrifying energy gathering within it.
"Boom!" The giant beam suddenly blasted out, and the wide-range attack completely shattered the floor Rhode was standing on. A violent explosion echoed again, and along with it, the smoke from the explosion caused Rhode's figure to quietly disappear.
The four-person Item stood back-to-back in the smoke, guarding against Rhode's sneak attack.
"Takitsubo." Mugino Shizuri called out to Takitsubo Rikou.
However, she received Takitsubo Rikou's panicked response, "No, Mugino, the target has no AIM Diffusion Field."
"What!?" The three of them exclaimed in unison, looking at Takitsubo Rikou in astonishment.
"Are you kidding me? With that kind of skill, you're telling me he's not an Esper!?" Frenda shouted in panic.
"..." The air fell silent for a moment, and then a terrifying pressure suddenly came from the front, a horrifying, bloody Qi like a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood rushing over. That Qi contained extreme malice, and even the Item four-person team, who had experienced or witnessed much darkness, couldn't help but feel an unprecedented fear.
This oppressive feeling made it difficult for the four of them to even breathe. Overwhelming evil pressed down on their fragile nerves.
"Hoo... breath..." Kinuhata Saiai couldn't even maintain her Item, and the gas armor around her silently dissipated, leaving only the girl drenched in cold sweat.
"I can breathe, right? I won't be killed because of this, right?" Frenda felt as if her heart was being tightly gripped by a large hand, her pretty face turned pale, and she gasped for air.
"..." Even without a single word, Takitsubo Rikou's trembling body fully displayed the girl's fear.
Mugino Shizuri bit her lower lip tightly, and because of the force, her lower lip broke, and blood slowly flowed down.
'Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, damn it!? I'm the Fourth-Rank of Academy City!?'
Even though she roared in her heart, the heart-pounding feeling did not diminish in the slightest; instead, it continuously intensified. In the silent environment, Mugino Shizuri could even hear her unprecedentedly violent heartbeat and...
The heavy footsteps that kept advancing grew closer and closer, and the trembling of the four people became more and more intense.
"You hold your heads too high."
At the same moment, the four of them, feeling the danger approaching, instinctively squatted down together.
An invisible slash flew past their heads, striking the wall behind them and carving a deep crack.
The smoke slowly dissipated, revealing Rhode's figure. At this moment, black patterns appeared on his face, making his countenance appear even more evil and charming.
"Submit? Or die! Choose."
As the faint words fell, the four girls, who had already buried their heads in the ground, all breathed a sigh of relief. If submission could spare them death, they would not resist to the death.
The weak obey the strong, isn't that the truth of the world?
"Sub... submit, we choose to submit." Mugino Shizuri raised her hands in a gesture of surrender, her delicate face already covered in sweat. Even she, who was usually a bit crazy, knew that if she showed the same defiant attitude as before to the person in front of her, she would definitely be the one to die.
She was crazy, but not stupid. The extreme malice emanating from that Qi just now had already dispelled any thoughts of resistance she had.
"Very good, your first mission is to help me investigate information about the First-Rank, Accelerator, his daily whereabouts, and the experimental projects he is currently participating in. The reward is ten million Japanese Yen."
Rhode ordered, and the Qi around him slowly receded, allowing the four women to finally relax completely, collapsing to the ground.
Although he could exploit them for free labor, Rhode wasn't someone who couldn't afford that money. For Rhode now, money was truly just a string of numbers. It was wrong to expect a horse to run without feeding it grass.
"Un... understood." Mugino Shizuri, not daring to ask further, nodded in agreement. Rhode casually threw out a string of numbers, then his figure disappeared from the spot.
"Hoo... I'm... I'm alive, that's great! Waaahhhhhh!!!" Frenda's eyes couldn't stop shedding tears, her pitiful appearance was truly endearing, but unfortunately, everyone around her was of the same gender, and they chose to ignore the beautiful girl crying her eyes out.
"What is that man's identity? I feel like I didn't even feel this terrifying pressure when facing the First-Rank." Kinuhata Saiai said with lingering fear.
"I don't know, but he is definitely not an Esper, that much is certain." Takitsubo Rikou, still trembling, answered with her arms crossed.
"..." Mugino Shizuri remained silent for a long time.
"Mugino..." Frenda looked at Mugino Shizuri worriedly, fearing to provoke her. Frenda knew Mugino Shizuri's arrogance, but at this moment, Mugino Shizuri had already chosen to lower her proud head and submit.
"Alright, you all heard it, didn't you? Item's new mission is to gather information about the First-Rank. Tell the people below to start acting." Mugino Shizuri's face was hidden by her bangs, her expression so somber that the three girls couldn't see her face.
"Yes!" The three of them responded in unison, turning to make phone calls.
However, in the shadows where the three of them could not see, Mugino Shizuri's cheeks were flushed, and her gaze towards the direction where Rhode disappeared was intense enough to draw strings.
Mugino Shizuri inexplicably murmured, "Is this submission? It's so stimulating."
It seemed that Rhode, inadvertently, had triggered a certain attribute in the girl. As the saying goes, characters with a Sadistic attribute also possess a Masochistic attribute.