"Ghouls?!"
Hearing the exclamation beside him, Hiro thought, As expected, and couldn't help feeling like the entire world knew what it had become-except him, who had been kept in the dark.
Although Hiro knew he wasn't someone who paid much attention to current affairs, he didn't completely ignore trending topics on X or FB. He would even glance at the ads pushed to his phone.
Yet even under those circumstances, he had never heard even the slightest bit of news related to ghouls.
Feeling the trembling in his palm, Hiro swung Asuna's wrist in his right hand toward the path they had come from and spoke in a deep voice.
"Good that you know. Asuna, run. Now. I'll hold them off here."
"But..."
Biting her lower lip, a hint of hesitation flashed across Asuna's face.
She didn't immediately obey.
This old cliché again. She doesn't want to run?
Does she want to become doomed lovebirds with me? Though I probably won't die anyway...
"Hurry up and call the police. Don't come back just to be a burden."
Hiro glanced at her hesitation and spoke coldly, forcing her to recognize the situation.
While Hiro and Asuna were talking, the two ghouls on the other side weren't idle.
"Two students. Bad luck," the male ghoul said. "I'll take care of them first, sir. No need for you to worry."
The short yellow-haired ghoul with a tiger-striped mask tossed aside the food in his hand, stood up, and walked toward Hiro and the girl.
"The boy is yours to do with as you please. Bring the girl over here," the green-haired, one-eyed ghoul said indifferently. "Be careful not to hurt her."
He lowered his head and continued eating.
"Understood."
Bright red liquid covered the ghoul's mask and limbs, and four snake-like kagune extended from his back.
Being stared at by those eerie blood-red eyes made the fifteen-year-old Asuna's heart tremble.
"Nanamiya-kun, you-be careful!"
Wouldn't it have been better if she'd done that earlier? Why put on a melodramatic scene now...
Casting a sidelong glance at Asuna's retreating figure, Hiro muttered inwardly.
For the "original Asuna," who had never experienced the darkness of SAO or ALO and whose life had been filled with elite education, this reaction to suddenly facing man-eating monsters like ghouls was normal.
He was curious why Yoshimura Eto had left the "original Asuna" unharmed.
But the impending life-and-death battle left him no time to think.
"My food!!"
A garbled roar came from beneath the tiger-striped mask.
The male ghoul lunged forward. The four snake-like kagune on his back stabbed viciously toward Hiro's head, heart, and other vital points.
Whoosh, whoosh-
Amid the sound of torn air, Hiro didn't even use Intrinsic Time Control. He easily captured the trajectories of all four kagune.
With a slight movement of his feet, he shifted half a step to the right.
His body turned at a small angle. His head tilted lightly.
The four menacing kagune were perfectly avoided.
So this physical enhancement is far higher than I expected.
Staring at the male ghoul several meters ahead-whose kakugan had widened dramatically-Hiro thought calmly.
"What?!"
The ghoul stared at the composed boy surrounded by four kagune, his eyes widening further as he tried to halt his momentum.
But after such a rash charge, that thought was hard to realize.
This movement...
Not an ordinary person. An investigator of student age? Or an investigator disguised as a student?
Damn it.
I was so close to joining Aogiri Tree. How could I be this unlucky?
But it's fine. He has no weapons.
Barehanded, he's no match for me.
Ordinary blades couldn't even break a ghoul's skin, let alone human hands and feet.
Having decided that, the ghoul abandoned his kagune manipulation, clenched his right fist, and charged again.
Thump!
The four kagune brushed past Hiro's ears, shoulders, and sides, embedding deeply into the residential wall behind him.
At the end of the alley, Yoshimura Eto put down his food.
A trace of curiosity appeared beneath his mask as he watched the fight.
"Die!!"
As if shouting louder would increase attack power.
Do you think reality is a voice-controlled game...
Hiro watched the roaring ghoul charge and fell silent for a moment.
Intrinsic Time Control - Double Speed!
The instant the ability activated, the world before Hiro's eyes changed drastically.
The ghoul's movements entered slow motion, slowed several times over, losing all their former ferocity.
Even the curiosity in Yoshimura Eto's eyes was clearly visible from afar.
If the previous world was normal time, this felt like a weakened bullet-time state.
And this was only double speed.
Dynamic vision. Nerve reflexes. Brain activity. Blood flow.
All bodily functions doubled.
So this is what it feels like.
Dodging the ghoul's attack and moving to his side, Hiro still had room to think.
The ghoul slowly turned his head, locking onto Hiro's new position, shock surfacing in his eyes.
He clearly hadn't expected an "ordinary" human to move like this.
Even so, the ghoul didn't abandon his killing intent.
His right arm and the four retracted kagune shifted direction at the same time.
But to Hiro-
They were moving at a snail's pace.
Hiro stared coldly into the ghoul's kakugan.
His right hand rose. Index and middle fingers pressed together.
A human body surpassing steel-
Navy Six Styles - Finger Gun!
Shhh-
Two fingers pierced into the ghoul's temples.
Consciousness vanished instantly.
So did the ability to move.
The kagune and the fist froze at the same time.
Then-
Thump.
The tiger-masked ghoul collapsed face-first at Hiro's feet.
"Ho~ Killing a ghoul barehanded," a voice sounded. "Young man, you're not ordinary at all~"
Hiro followed the voice and looked over.
The green-haired, one-eyed ghoul had stopped eating.
Ukaku enveloped his entire body.
In the blink of an eye, he transformed.
The One-Eyed Owl.
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