Chapter 36: The Hunter and the Prey (Two-in-One)

As Kōsetsu was unsheathed, crimson pupils gradually lit up within Izou's pitch-black eyes.

In his vision, lines of blood threads wound around the woman's body. If he simply swung his blade along their trajectory, he could deal her a devastating blow.

And yet, despite such a precious opportunity, he stood still.

The stronger the opponent, the fewer threads appeared—because openings on their bodies were difficult to find.

But this woman had far more threads than even unarmed civilians.

It was simply unbelievable.

His instincts, honed through countless deadly battles, screamed at him wildly, yet his Teigu told him that this woman was defenseless, and one slash would be enough to kill her.

There could only be one explanation for this.

She was entirely unguarded.

But not out of foolishness. Simply because, when facing a Teigu user like Izou, she felt no need to defend herself at all.

"Yare yare, what a terrifying opponent. To think I'd encounter a monster like you on my very first day in the imperial capital."

Izou licked his lips and narrowed his eyes. "Hehe... but if I manage to cut you down, Kōsetsu will become even sharper."

As his words fell, he shot forward like an arrow.

The icy blade of Kōsetsu aimed directly for the enemy's throat. Against such a formidable opponent, Izou had no intention of toying around.

From the outset—it was a killing blow.

Faced with this deadly decapitation strike, Honjou Nia didn't move a muscle. Bathed in the moonlight pouring through the shattered window, she calmly examined the curved-blade Teigu she had taken from Enshin, not even bothering to turn her head.

Floating beside her, the recording quill continued writing rapidly in the divine-corruption grimoire.

The next moment, the carpet beneath Izou suddenly jerked.

As if a ghost were playing tricks on him, an invisible force yanked the carpet away, causing him to lose his balance for a moment.

"What?!"

Izou instinctively believed he was ambushed—there had to be more than one enemy.

The skills forged in life-or-death combat allowed him to recover instantly, retreating back to his original position in a rather embarrassed state.

His blood-red pupils opened to their limit, but with the vision granted by his Teigu, he could only see the life signs of the mysterious woman and the dying Enshin.

There truly was only one enemy.

"That move just now—was it your Teigu's ability?"

Izou looked toward the floating book and pen beside Honjou Nia. Clearly, that was her Teigu.

Having served under Syura for over two years, he had gathered quite a bit of information on various Teigu from the Teigu hunter herself.

But a book-and-pen-type Teigu—he had never heard of such a thing from Syura.

An unknown Teigu. A mysterious enemy. This situation couldn't be worse.

In a battle between Teigu users, intelligence was everything.

Fighting an opponent whose abilities were a complete mystery—no matter how strong you were—could easily lead to a humiliating death.

Calling for reinforcements was the best option.

Fortunately, he was currently in the Minister's mansion, so he wasn't alone.

However, before he could do anything—he realized he couldn't move.

Whether it was his sword hand, his feet, or his head—they were all immobilized.

The next moment, a sense of impending death seized his entire being.

A pitch-black arrow materialized beside Honjou Nia—like a soul-hunting projectile, it aimed directly at Izou's head.

"Move—! Move, damn it—!!"

Faced with this unavoidable death, veins bulged on Izou's neck. He exerted every ounce of his strength trying to break free.

It felt as if a thousand tons of sand and rock were pressing down on him. Even though every muscle had been pushed to its limit, it wasn't enough to move this mountain.

But luckily, this restraint seemed to have its limit too.

"Aaaaahhh—!!"

As the black arrow flew, at the very last moment, Izou erupted with the full potential of his body.

In that instant, it felt like something inside him shattered, and in return came a liberating sense of lightness.

The restraints placed on him finally broke. Izou narrowly dodged the arrow made of spiritual energy, gasping for breath.

The arrow grazed his cheek, pierced through the wall of the room, and vanished into the distance.

At that moment, Honjou Nia finally turned her face slightly, glancing at her opponent—almost as if surprised he had broken free from her binding.

Though still silent, Izou could clearly feel the oppressive aura from her grow even heavier.

"This is bad… Sorry, Kōsetsu. I might not be able to offer you a sacrifice this time—heck, I might not even make it out alive…"

Izou took a deep breath and gently flicked the blade with his pinky finger.

A crisp sword ring echoed—quiet, yet it traveled nearly a kilometer.

Honjou Nia raised her hand, and a barrier constructed from spiritual energy surrounded her, guarding against any possible special attack.

However, the sword chime did not seem to contain any offensive power.

BOOM—!

The next moment, Enshin residence was violently blasted open.

Amidst a cloud of smoke and dust, a tall man in a chubby clown suit appeared beneath the moonlight.

"Looks like things are pretty urgent, huh."

The clown's tiny eyes scanned the room, passing over Enshin corpse and the grim-looking Izou, finally landing on Honjou Nia.

He pulled six small spheres engraved with various characters from his coat and said with a sinister grin, "I don't know what's going on, but killing this woman first should solve it, right?"

Champ, the last member of Wild Hound.

His Teigu was a spherical Teigu called " Chaos Throw: Big Leaguer ". It consisted of six balls—each representing Flame, Thunder, Ice, Wind, Corrosion, and Explosion.

While he wasn't particularly strong himself, the Teigu was extremely troublesome. If any of those balls hit, it would either cripple or kill the target.

Just then, a green hexagram magic circle appeared in Enshin room.

From the formation emerged a well-built young man with tan skin.

It was none other than the son of Minister Honest—Syura.

His Teigu was a spatial-type called "Dimensional Array: Champbhala", which could place spatial arrays to teleport himself or others to designated locations. A highly tactical and extremely difficult Teigu to counter.

The remaining members of Wild Hound had finally all arrived.

"Where are the others?"

Syura scanned the room with dissatisfaction. "Where are Cosmina and Dotya?"

"About that, sir... Cosmina and Dotya are dead." Izou's tone was grave. "If we don't give this our all, we'll be joining them soon."

Upon hearing that two of his subordinates had died, Syura's expression turned gloomy.

He had spent years traveling the world to gather these Teigu users—and now, three were dead just like that.

His good mood was completely ruined.

"Daring to infiltrate the Minister's mansion for an assassination… Even Night Raid wouldn't dare something like this. You've got guts."

Staring at Honjou Nia, now surrounded by three Teigu users, Syura's lips twisted into a vicious smile.

"But this is the end for you. Since you've been found, there's only one conclusion left. I assume you were prepared for this when you decided to come here alone?"

The Minister's mansion—just like the General's estate—was located at the very core of the capital.

Aside from the palace, there was no place more heavily guarded.

Even if an assassin had the skill to sneak in and succeed in their mission, once discovered—there was no escape.

Aside from Teigu users, the royal capital also gathered elite martial artists from the Royal Fist Temple, battle-hardened veterans from the front lines, and highly skilled swordsmen and warriors hired for their abilities.

Many of these fighters were even stronger than Teigu users.

Once targeted by their pursuit, no matter how seasoned the assassin, escape was impossible.

"Oooooooooooooh—!!"

From afar, the sound of a blaring war horn echoed.

It was most likely Syura who, upon receiving Izou's distress signal, immediately alerted the guards of the Minister's residence, prompting them to sound the alarm.

Soon, not only would the private guards of the Minister's estate arrive, but elite soldiers responsible for guarding the inner city and other Teigu users would also rush over, tightening the encirclement.

As for Syura, Izou, and Champ, the three of them didn't even need to defeat Nia Honjo. As long as they could stall her for a few minutes, she would be captured.

By then, she would be like a fish on a chopping board—at the mercy of others.

"Hmph... now that I look at you more closely, you're actually quite the beauty for an assassin."

Syura looked Nia Honjo up and down, eyes gleaming with lewd intent. "Come to think of it, I've never had fun with an assassin before. Usually, it's guys who come to kill me. This is the first time a woman's tried. I really look forward to seeing what you're like in bed after I snap your limbs one by one."

After saying that, Syura cracked his knuckles and stretched his ankles, assuming a fighting stance.

He didn't seem to intend on using his Teigu.

But that wasn't surprising. Beyond being a Teigu user, he was also an innately gifted martial artist.

Not only was he a graduate of the Royal Fist Temple, but during his travels across various nations, he also learned many local martial arts, incorporating their strengths into a fighting style uniquely his own.

When it came to hand-to-hand combat, you could count on one hand the number of people in the Empire who could definitively beat him.

However, the reason he chose to fight with martial arts wasn't simply because he had immense confidence in his skills.

Though he was confident in his physical abilities, the real reason he refrained from using his Teigu was that Champbhala's activation requirements were extremely harsh.

Among the forty-eight Teigu, Champbhala was considered a borderline broken ability. But to use it consumed an immense amount of stamina.

A regular untrained person wouldn't even be able to activate it once. Even someone like Syura, a trained martial artist, could only use it five times in one go.

After five uses, he would collapse from exhaustion and pass out.

Seeing Syura about to engage in close-quarters combat, Izou immediately grew tense.

"Sir, I strongly advise against engaging her directly," he warned. "Her Teigu is very strange. It has the ability to freeze people in place. The best approach is to stall her and wait for reinforcements to overwhelm her in one strike."

"Hah? Izou, when did you become such a coward?" Syura scoffed. "That doesn't sound like you at all. We've got three Teigu users on our side, and you're scared of one woman? Maybe I need to reconsider whether you're really fit for the Wild Hunt."

Just then, Champ—who had been silent up to now—suddenly launched an attack.

With no sense of honor or warrior's code, he chose to strike while Nia Honjo was still generously giving them time to talk.

He hurled two orbs: one imbued with paralyzing lightning, the other with freezing ice.

"Haha! Strike first, ask questions later!"

Champ cackled as he mentally controlled the two status-inflicting orbs, aiming them precisely at Nia Honjo's body.

Anyone struck by this combination of projectiles would basically be incapacitated—completely unable to move.

Even a Danger Beast of the highest class would be caught without a fight.

He could already envision the glorious rewards he'd receive for this great achievement.

But just as the orbs were about to hit Nia Honjo—they suddenly froze midair, hovering motionless beside her.

"Huh?"

Champ furrowed his brow and increased the force of his mental control.

But this time, his will seemed to vanish into thin air, having no effect at all.

It wasn't that he had lost control of the lightning and ice orbs—it was that another force was actively resisting him, preventing the orbs from advancing any further.

However, just a moment later, the two orbs began to move again.

Only this time, they were flying straight toward Champ.

"Wait—"

Realizing something was terribly wrong, Champ—who had never experienced anything like this before—immediately panicked.

Before he could even speak, the two orbs struck him squarely.

The lightning orb paralyzed his entire body, while the ice orb froze him solid.

Thus, the grotesque ice sculpture of a clown was born.

Whoosh—!

A black arrow made of spirit energy pierced Champ's forehead.

Frozen in the ice, Champ didn't even have a chance to resist. His eyes remained wide open, staring in horror at the death rapidly approaching him.

With the Teigu user dead, the effects of Fast Pitch Madness: Grand Pitcher vanished.

The ice melted, and Champ's heavy corpse thudded loudly to the floor.

Syura and Izou stared in shock at the scene.

Everything had happened far too fast—and was far too unexpected—for them to even react.

By the time Champ's body hit the ground, they finally realized: one of their comrades had just died—killed by his own Teigu—in under five seconds.

Just moments ago, Syura had been smug and confident, but now a wave of fear washed over him.

This woman's power was far too strange. She had done nothing—not even moved—and yet a powerful Teigu user had died on the spot.

At last, he understood why the usually fearless Izou had been so terrified.

Without hesitation, with not even a thought of avenging his fallen comrade, Syura immediately reached into his pocket to activate Champbhala.

But before his hand could touch the Teigu, he suddenly lost all feeling in his arm.

Confused, Syura looked down—and was horrified to see that his arm was gone.

It was as if it had been erased with an eraser. From the smooth stump, blood dripped steadily.

"What the hell…"

Before he could even process what had happened to his arm, a wave of dizziness overtook him.

As his vision realigned, he looked ahead—and saw his own headless body.

His mouth opened, trying to say something—but not a word came out.

Darkness swallowed his sight, and his consciousness faded quickly.

Thud!

His powerful bronze body collapsed to the ground with a resounding crash.

The son of Honest, dead.

The martial arts he had taken such pride in were utterly useless. He hadn't even managed to use his Teigu before death claimed him like a feather falling from the sky.

Witnessing this, and realizing he had no chance of survival, a bitter smile formed at the corners of Izou's lips.

It was like a final release of frustration. Understanding that his opponent was someone no mere mortal could resist, his entire aura deflated into hopeless resignation.

"Please… use this sword to take my life."

Having completely lost the will to fight, Izou held out his beloved blade with both hands and offered it to Nia Honjo.

"As a sword demon born of slaughter… it is only fitting that I should die by…"

Whoosh—!

Before he could finish, the black arrow that had previously missed him returned—and pierced his skull.

His body, finally bereft of strength, collapsed to the floor.

The blood pouring from the four corpses drenched the floor in a demonic crimson, made even more eerie under the pale moonlight.

Yet around Nia Honjo, there seemed to be some kind of barrier, keeping that filthy blood from approaching her in the slightest.

With a slight flick of her finger, the three remaining Teigu were drawn toward her, floating obediently to her side.

Earth Tremor: Gravity BurstBlood Collection: Absordex Blood for Blood: KosetsuMoonlight Waltz: Wind Blade SwordDimensional Array: Champbhala

Chaos Throw: Big Leaguer All six Teigu dissolved into radiant light and vanished from this world.

"Too easy."

At the same time, in the General's residence, the one controlling Nia Honjo projection—Yoshino—let out a soft sigh.

When she summoned the inverted version of Nia Honjo with the Random Spirit Projection Ticket, she never expected that it would generate an inverted spirit form.

But that turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

While the regular Nia Honjo wasn't weak to begin with, her inverted form was on an entirely different level.

Forget the Wild Hunt—even if the founding Emperor himself showed up with all forty-eight Teigu users at his side, they would still end up as corpses.

Although Izou had broken free of the binding spell God-Eroded Codex, it wasn't due to his own strength—it was because Yoshino had intentionally let him go.

As she had expected, after witnessing her overwhelming power, Izou had immediately sent for reinforcements.

Which gave her the perfect opportunity to take out Syura and that chubby guy whose name she couldn't even remember, all in one go.

"Tonight's operation is a complete success."

Yoshino glanced at the timer for how much longer the projection could last, then thought:

"Still... ending things here feels like a waste... Why not go for something even bigger?"