Chapter 17 – Illusions and Webs

I'm not…"

"Quick…"

"Stay away from me!!"

Kirisu Madoka's voice trembled as she suddenly pulled a small dagger from beneath her wedding dress and plunged it toward Ethan Kane's back.

But her other hand immediately caught her own wrist mid-thrust. Her face twisted in pain and confusion, as though fighting a war within her own mind.

"Cut… what a stubborn woman!" hissed a voice from the shadows.

Without warning, a black, razor-sharp claw blade shot through both Ethan and Kirisu, impaling them together in one brutal strike!

Kirisu gasped.

Ethan's eyes widened in disbelief. "This is...?!"

From the darkened corner of the hotel suite, manic laughter echoed out.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"I did it! Finally killed him!!"

"You two bastards! I wanted you to feel what it's like to be destroyed!"

From the shadows emerged a horrifying figure—Sagami Minami, now fully revealed in her true form: a grotesque hybrid of human and spider.

She had lured Ethan here with fake messages sent from Kirisu Madoka's phone—crafted the perfect trap, forced the teacher to unknowingly attack him, and created a murder-suicide scene that would forever ruin their names.

This was Sagami Minami's twisted revenge.

"Cough…"

Kirisu's eyes fluttered as her consciousness returned. She looked down and saw the blood—her own and Ethan's—mingling on the floor.

"I... I dragged you into this…"

She looked up at Ethan, her voice thick with regret. "I'm so sorry… You came because of the messages from my phone..."

Ethan managed a bloody grin. "It's okay, Kirisu-sensei."

"As they say… if I die under a peony blossom, even as a ghost I'll die smiling."

"Idiot..." Kirisu muttered, her lips twitching between a sob and a smile. "You're dying and you still joke?"

She realized something odd—she didn't feel any pain anymore. No tightness. No wound. Was this… her mind giving out?

Meanwhile, Sagami Minami's face twisted with hatred. "You… YOU—!"

"You dare to joke at a time like this?! You're not even afraid of death?!"

"You're disgusting!"

But Ethan calmly looked at her and said, "No. That's your misunderstanding."

"I'm not afraid of death."

"But I refuse to let someone like you have the last laugh."

Minami snarled and leapt toward them, claws ready to rip Ethan apart once and for all.

But as she shredded into their bodies, something strange happened.

They vanished.

Gone.

"What—?!"

Minami spun around, and there they were—Ethan and Kirisu, standing completely unharmed across the room.

"What I just tore apart… was an illusion?!"

Kirisu Madoka stared, utterly stunned. "We're alive…?"

"Impossible!" Minami screamed.

Behind her, Ethan's red Sharingan gleamed in the dark.

"You were never close to killing me," Ethan said, brushing his jacket. "The moment I walked into this room, I sensed your presence."

[There's no fooling me with illusions. Not when I have both psychic perception and the Sharingan.]

"You're telling me…" Kirisu breathed, "...you knew the entire time?"

Ethan gave her a lopsided grin. "Well… yeah."

Kirisu's face flushed bright red as her memory flashed back to the wedding dress, her provocative poses, and the seductive lines she'd spoken under possession.

"You... you saw everything…?!"

Sagami Minami's expression turned venomous.

"You tricked me!! You made a fool of me!"

"Poor you," Ethan said flatly. "Would you like a participation trophy with that tantrum?"

"RAAAAAAH!!"

Minami opened her fanged mouth and unleashed a torrent of spider silk, aiming to mummify them both!

Kirisu gasped. "Ethan, behind you!"

But before the silk could hit, an invisible shockwave pulsed outward.

BOOM!

All the silk disintegrated mid-air.

Minami stumbled back, stunned.

[That aura… so strong!]

Ethan stood there calmly, not a hair out of place.

"That's Conqueror's Haki," he muttered. "You're not the first cursed freak I've dealt with."

Spider legs slammed into the floor as Minami, or rather the creature possessing her, shrieked in fury.

"You lowly human! I'll devour you and lay thousands of my children in your corpse!!"

Gray hair sprouted along Minami's cheeks. Her body contorted and her face stretched unnaturally, more beast than girl.

A glowing orb of gray fluid formed in her throat, which she fired like an arrow with a screech.

"Incoming!" Kirisu cried out, diving aside.

Ethan stood his ground.

FWIP!

His arm moved like lightning. The arrow struck his forearm—

CLANG!

—but was instantly deflected.

A metallic gleam shimmered across his skin.

"Armament Haki," Ethan said, shaking off the impact. "One of my newer upgrades."

Kirisu stared in disbelief. "You… you blocked it with your bare hand!?"

"Only martial art that can't be beaten," Ethan said with a smirk, "is speed. And I catch bullets for breakfast."

Kirisu blinked. "...Did you just quote Kung Fu Hustle?"

But before she could process further, the spider-woman leapt again, screeching—

Ethan pushed Kirisu to the side and raised both fists.

It was time to end this.

---

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