No mercy

Rantaro stood over the defeated thugs.

His presence alone felt heavier than steel, thick and unmoving, like a storm that had just passed but hadn't calmed.

He grabbed the trembling leader by the collar and lifted him effortlessly.

"Where is your base?" he asked, his voice so cold it chilled the very air between them.

The thug, half-crying, stuttered,

"I-It's... in the east... the big abandoned mill!"

Rantaro dropped him like trash.

Without another word, he vanished—a blur cutting through the night like black lightning.

---

Minutes later, he stood before the abandoned mill.

A foul stench of fear and rot clung to the air.

The building loomed ahead, massive and broken—its walls rusted, its windows shattered like old memories.

As Rantaro stepped inside, everything changed.

Inside the base, hundreds of thugs collapsed to the floor, gasping for air.

They trembled where they stood, a helpless swarm before something far greater.

"W-What is this pressure?!"

"It's a monster!"

"No... this is the power of an A-rank hunter...!"

Their fear only made Rantaro colder.

He moved.

The first group reached for weapons.

He slashed once.

Five bodies hit the ground, not a single drop of blood spilled—only silence.

His strike had torn through them with such precision it defied belief.

Gunshots echoed.

Bullets struck him—and shattered on impact.

He advanced, step by step, unshaken.

A nightmare wrapped in silence.

He grabbed one man by the throat and hurled him into the others—bones snapped, cries ended.

A dozen more tried to form a wall.

Rantaro snapped his fingers.

Spikes of darkness tore through the floor, impaling them before they could react.

No mercy.

No survivors.

Screams filled the mill.

Walls once echoing with laughter now rang with agony.

Within minutes, Rantaro had turned the entire base into a graveyard.

Only one thug remained—the one who had touched his sister.

The man tried to crawl away, sobbing uncontrollably.

Rantaro grabbed him by the neck and leaned in close.

"You made the worst mistake of your life," he whispered.

And with a swift, final motion, it ended.

The mill fell silent.

Only the wind whispered through the broken glass.

Rantaro turned and walked away.

The night swallowed him whole.

---

Later, after everything, Rantaro smiled warmly at Xiyau and said,

"Hey, Xiyau, let's go home. And be ready! Today I'm taking you out to have some fun. Before... we were too poor. You never asked for anything. But now, you deserve to enjoy it all."

Xiyau's eyes sparkled.

"Brother, can we take Juiji with us too?" she asked, giving a cheeky thumbs-up.

Rantaro laughed.

"Oho, what's cooking in that little head of yours?"

"Okay! I didn't know you were that strong."

"Huh? Your brother is much stronger than that—you've just seen a glimpse," he grinned.

"Okay, okay, don't flex that much," she said with a playful smirk.