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A sharply impatient tone tugged the already tense atmosphere even tighter.
"You bastard…"
Mugino Shizuri fixed her gaze on Fang Li, her eyes suddenly deadly, her teeth clenched so tightly they showed, as if she might bite through flesh.
That annoying brat, she couldn't stand, and now even a worthless Level 0 dared to sneer at her?
"Mugino!"
"Mugino!"
"Mugino…"
Frenda and Kinuhata Saiai, both handcuffed and dumped on the ground, called out to Mugino Shizuri; even Takitsubo Rikou, whose arm Fang Li had held, cast a worried look her way.
But Mugino didn't answer them. She turned her gaze away from her teammates and fixed it only on the enemy. After all, in organizations like the dark side, you couldn't expect every person to have any sense of decency.
Frenda, Kinuhata, and Takitsubo weren't saints, they'd killed before if a mission demanded it, but at least they cared for comrades. Mugino was different.
Beneath the beautiful-girl exterior of the Number Four lurked a violent, unpredictable temper. She could snap at her own people when in a bad mood; some even said it was precisely because she was so brutal that she could wield an ability as destructively potent as Meltdowner.
So yes, she'd had trouble with tough enemies before, nothing new there. But in Mugino's mind, Fang Li was just a Level 0. Even if he led Scorpius, he was only somewhat capable; compared to the people who'd grown up in the dark, these armed, powerless groups were play-acting, not truly cruel.
And now her teammates had failed even to take down someone like that. Mugino couldn't be bothered with them anymore.
Only one thought consumed her.
"I'll kill you all…"
That was directed at Fang Li and Misaka Mikoto, pure, blinding rage.
"I will definitely kill you! I'll wipe you all out!"
Shouting this, Meltdowner spheres flickered into being around her body one after another, and she raved on.
"Not only you! Whoever's with you, friends, family, lovers, I'll find them! One by one I'll kill them all! You'll regret this!"
Her words dripped with murderous intent and madness; it wasn't something anyone could take as a joke.
In short, Mugino Shizuri had been consumed by fury to the point of madness.
"You…!" Even Misaka Mikoto couldn't help but flare with anger.
But Misaka's anger was nothing, nothing at all compared to what erupted the next instant.
"…What did you just say?" At that voice, a lethal murderous aura spread across the space.
It was as if it could crush hearts, a deadly stench of blood that poured into the air and expanded outward.
In that moment, Misaka's breathing faltered.
Frenda, Kinuhata Saiai, and Takitsubo Rikou all felt their hearts skip a beat.
Mugino Shizuri, the one who had been targeted, watched her own rage and madness vanish without a trace from her eyes and face.
In their place sat sheer terror.
An unprecedented terror.
"Clack…"
Footsteps began to sound. They fell like blows on everyone's chest, making every person present shudder.
Everyone could see it clearly.
Fang Li had already released Takitsubo Rikou's arm. Ignoring the girl, who had collapsed to the ground in sheer terror, he began walking toward Mugino Shizuri, one slow, deliberate step at a time.
His expression was calm, so calm it was terrifying.
"Y-you…"
Watching Fang Li approach, Mugino Shizuri wanted to retreat. But her body refused to move, her legs felt as if they no longer belonged to her.
With each step he took, the overwhelming murderous aura surrounding Fang Li grew denser, more suffocating, pressing against her like a storm crashing down from the heavens.
At that moment, Mugino Shizuri felt as if she were watching Death itself walk toward her, helpless, frozen in place.
A fear she had never known before welled up inside her chest.
When Fang Li finally stopped in front of her, he lifted his head and met the eyes of the Level 5 ranked fourth in Academy City.
Those ice-blue Mystic Eyes glimmered with a soul-piercing light.
"Ah…"
That was all Mugino could manage to say.
The remaining fragments of control over her body only allowed her to produce that broken sound.
Until now, Mugino Shizuri had always believed that even if she stood face to face with death, she would never flinch, not even for an instant.
She'd lived her life in the dark world, where fear of death was something long since discarded, lost somewhere she could no longer remember.
But at this moment, she realized how naïve that belief had been.
When faced with overwhelming death, one's indifference to dying was utterly meaningless, pathetically small.
Now that death stood before her, its very embodiment taking human form, Mugino could only tremble.
"Ah…"
Again that weak sound slipped from her throat, filled with fear and despair.
Fang Li, however, showed no reaction to her terror.
"Go on then," he said softly. "Try saying that again."
His voice was calm, almost gentle, yet it struck like an icy needle straight into her heart. He reached out, his hand resting lightly on her cheek, almost tenderly.
"What was it you said just now?"
"You said you'd find my lover… and do what, exactly?"
Those words were soft, but every syllable carried the weight of a blade.
The hand on her face felt as sharp as a knife, as though it could slice through flesh and sever her head at any instant.
And in that instant, Mugino understood.
She wasn't going to survive this.
She would die.
Absolutely, without a doubt, she would be killed.
In a single instant.
She would be erased as if she had never existed. Her mind began to crumble under the realization.
"Pah!"
Suddenly, a hand shot forward, grabbing Fang Li's wrist tightly.
"That's enough…"
Misaka Mikoto had appeared beside him without anyone noticing. She held onto his hand with all her strength, her brown eyes fixed firmly on his.
"Please… don't go any further."
Fang Li turned his head toward her. The ice-blue Mystic Eyes met hers, sending a chill of primal fear through her body. But Misaka didn't let go. She held on tightly, refusing to look away.
Even though her hand trembled, even though her eyes shook, she didn't back down.
Fang Li narrowed his eyes slightly at her. Then, quietly, he withdrew his hand.
The Mystic Eyes faded away. The terrifying killing intent receded, like a passing typhoon leaving only silence behind.
"Clack…"
Only then did Mugino Shizuri collapse to the ground, limp, motionless.
Her expression was blank.
Her mind, utterly shattered.
(End Of This Chapter)