"Of course I know! This brat is also an Orphnoch, but he ambushed several of our brothers! How can I just let him go?" the Buffalo Orphnoch roared in anger.
"I'll warn you one last time: he is not someone you can afford to provoke." Raven calmly glanced at them. "Otherwise, you truly will die."
"I think the one who'll die is you!"
However, the Buffalo Orphnoch was stubborn. He immediately threw a punch at Raven.
Raven simply and effortlessly caught the incoming blow.
"What?!" Everyone was stunned.
An Orphnoch's strength is inferior to a human's?
"It's a shame you didn't listen to my warning."
Instantly, a surge of immense power flowed out from Raven's body through the point of contact. The Buffalo Orphnoch's body turned to sand in a flash.
"You! What did you do to him!" The surrounding Orphnochs were aghast, including Kaido, who looked terrified.
"You bastard!"
An Orphnoch who refused to believe his eyes swung his spiked club weapon toward Raven. But Raven merely gave him a cold look.
Crackle!
The aura of a King emanated from Raven, freezing the Orphnoch rigid in place. Raven walked over and lightly touched the opponent's shoulder, and the Orphnoch's body instantly turned to sand.
This ability, of course, originated from Kitazaki. It allows the user to project their Orphnoch power outward, instantly destroying the target object. In Raven's hands, this power was clearly amplified, allowing him to turn even low-level Orphnochs to sand in an instant.
"Monster!" The remaining Orphnochs were utterly terrified. Upon regaining their senses, they turned and fled.
"You... who exactly are you?" Kaido was shaking with fear. He had never witnessed anyone kill an Orphnoch so effortlessly.
"Teruo... Teruo..." Kaido immediately wanted to grab Teruo and leave, but when he turned around, he found the boy wasn't next to him.
Teruo was inexplicably drawn, walking toward Raven. As he did, a shadow behind him slowly rose, and the phantom materialized into a young man.
"What in the world is happening?" Kaido was completely bewildered.
"Who are you? You feel... so familiar..." The young, phantom Teruo spoke as he approached Raven. He felt an extremely powerful Orphnoch energy from Raven, the exact same aura as his.
Raven was also examining the phantom. With his current strength, he could easily kill this not-yet-fully-awakened Orphnoch King, but doing so would undoubtedly kill Teruo himself. He was trying to figure out a middle ground.
"System, is there a way for me to absorb only the Orphnoch King inside Teruo without harming him?" Raven asked mentally.
Ding!
[Yes, it can be done. The host only needs to gain the opponent's unguarded trust to safely strip it out of Teruo's body.] The System immediately replied.
"I need to gain his trust?" Raven felt a slight headache. But looking at the momentarily confused eyes of the young phantom Teruo, an idea struck him.
He said, "I am you; we were once one. Quickly abandon that body and come become a part of me."
After speaking, Raven released his full Orphnoch King aura, making no attempt to hide it. He was attempting to trick the still-immature Orphnoch King and gain his trust.
The phantom Teruo sensed the power from Raven, which was of the same origin as his own. He was immediately interested. Muddled and operating on instinct, he walked toward Raven, leaving the child Teruo standing blankly in place.
"What do I do next?" the phantom Teruo asked, having reached Raven's front.
"Don't resist..." Seeing his plan succeed, Raven couldn't help but admire his own cleverness.
The System began to exert its power. Following the System's instructions, Raven used his usual method of devouring and absorbing Orphnochs to absorb the unawakened Orphnoch King.
The azure-colored phantom Teruo instantly transformed into pure power, which was sucked into Raven's body.
Simultaneously, the child Teruo's body went limp, and he collapsed onto the ground. The rushing Kaido quickly caught him.
"Hey! Teruo!"
Meanwhile, after absorbing the phantom Teruo, Raven's Orphnoch King aura grew even stronger. His Amazon Origin power also experienced further growth.
"What did you do to Teruo?" Kaido questioned, terrified of Raven but unable to remain silent after seeing Teruo suddenly faint.
"I saved his life. Is this how you thank me?" Raven looked at Kaido.
Ultimately, the reason Teruo could be successfully separated from the Orphnoch King was that Teruo's body was merely a vessel for the Orphnoch King's awakening. They did not share a single consciousness. When the King fully awakened, the vessel would be destroyed. This is completely different from a normal human awakening as an Orphnoch and retaining their original consciousness.
"He's just a little weak now. Take him home and let him rest, and he'll be fine."
Raven finished speaking, mounted his motorcycle, and rode away. He made a mental note to call Yuji Kiba out next time and help him and the others resolve the Orphnoch's inherent flaw.
....
Upon returning to the Amazon café, a soft figure rushed straight into Raven's chest. It was naturally Yuka Osada.
"Mr. Raven, you're finally back." Yuka rubbed against Raven's chest like a kitten.
"Ahem, watch your image," Raven whispered. The shop was still open for business, and there were a few customers inside.
"Alright." Yuka reluctantly released Raven by the door.
However, with her sharp sense of smell, she detected a woman's perfume on Raven. She kept this information to herself, fearing that if she brought it up, Raven might find her annoying.
Raven headed straight for the second floor to change clothes before coming back down.
Sometime later, a customer entered the shop. It was Sawamura, one of the two detectives investigating the missing persons cases.
"Hello, two Americanos, takeaway please," Sawamura said to Yuka, who was busy working at the bar.
"Certainly, please wait a moment."
Yuka, having just finished one cup of coffee, immediately got busy again. After a while, she carefully packaged the two coffees and handed them to Sawamura. Sawamura gave Yuka the change, and as he did, he saw her face.
Initially, Sawamura didn't find anything unusual. It wasn't until he left the shop with the coffee and returned to his car that he started to feel uneasy, thinking he had seen Yuka somewhere before.
Back at the police station, Sawamura, following a hunch, began flipping through the collected case files.
"What are you looking for?" Detective Jyoji Soeno pushed the door open and saw him sorting through documents.
"I have something I want to investigate."
"Don't bother. Someone upstairs wants to see us. It seems to be related to the previous subway murder case," Soeno informed him.
"I understand." Sawamura nodded but continued to look through the files. He finally found what he was looking for.
"Wait up, Senior. Take a look at this." Sawamura handed a photograph to his colleague. "This is a picture of the mysteriously deceased members of Sakurabashi Girls' High School Basketball Team."
Detective Soeno looked confused.
"The only one still alive in this picture is... this girl," Sawamura pointed to Yuka in the photo.
During their previous investigation of the Smart Brain company, they had seen Yuka Osada and Yuji Kiba in surveillance footage.
"But we haven't been able to find her. Did you run into her somewhere?" Soeno asked.
Sawamura closed the door and whispered, "I saw her at a café today."
"Really?" Detective Soeno brightened up. They had been forbidden from investigating Smart Brain by their superiors; now, perhaps they could start by investigating Yuka Osada to uncover the secrets behind it all.
Bang!
Just then, a man in a trench coat pushed the door open and entered. It was Masahiko Minami, the elite officer from the National Police Agency who had visited them before.
"It's you again." Soeno was annoyed by the way Minami had simply barged in. He always acted with impunity, backed by his authority.
"I didn't have time to wait for you in the conference room, so I came directly here." Minami said casually, sitting on a chair and exuding the air of a superior officer.
"I'm here again to tell you to stop investigating those missing persons cases. These cases have no human element involved; they are merely accidents," Minami stated emphatically. He was concluding the matter, determined to prevent the truth about the Orphnochs from being exposed to the public.
"I know this is pointless, but is the pressure to stop these investigations coming from Smart Brain?" Soeno still wanted a clear answer.
"You're right, there's no need to ask that question." Minami replied with an arrogant attitude.
Then his gaze landed on the photo nearby, specifically on Yuka, who was marked with a red circle. His expression suddenly changed. He looked delighted, like a hunter spotting prey, and immediately asked, "Do you know this person?"
He was aware that Yuka Osada was an Orphnoch but had been unable to track her down.
Sawamura then told him about seeing Yuka at the café. Hearing this unexpected news, Minami immediately assigned Sawamura a task: find an excuse to lure Yuka out. His laboratory was currently short on Orphnochs for experiments, and Yuka Osada would be an excellent candidate.