A/N: I've decided to just post all 3 remaining chapters of the "Boring Ass Arc" At once ahead of schedule. After Chapters 21, 22 and 23 we go back to the crux of the story š
You can just skip the remaining chapters if you really don't like them.
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On the way out, Yuzuki wasn't surprised.
What happened was exactly what he already knew would happen.
How clichƩ of you, Pitmaster, he thinks as he walks toward the exit.
Before reaching the doors, twenty men quietly fan out and block the hallway. Yuzuki had noticed them earlier, far before they expected him to. So before approaching, he casually told Emma and Ronda to stay back while he "fixed something." They were unsure, exchanging glances, but they still nodded.
Of course, they only pretended to listen.
A moment later, their footsteps trailed after him as they snuck behind pillars and decorative displays, trying to stay hidden.
When they peek around the corner and see Yuzuki surrounded, Emma clamps a hand over her mouth, her eyes going wide.
"Yuzuki is in trouble," she whispers, voice shaky.
Ronda steps closer, gripping Emma's arm. "Maybe we should help him."
"Help him how?" Emma hisses. "We can't fight twenty men!, let alone one."
Ronda scans the crowd, desperate for something, anything but then Emma points at two of the men.
"Those are the casino guards," she mutters. "Look, there's the one with the big scar on his noseā¦ and that short guy. They were with the Pitmaster earlier."
Ronda squints.
The realization hits her hard.
Her shoulders sink, despair creeping across her face.
"What are we even supposed to doā¦?" she murmurs.
---
Back in the center of the ring of thugs, Yuzuki stands relaxed, hands in his pockets, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
"Quite a crowd you gathered here," he says lightly. "I think I already know why, but I'll ask anyway. What is it you need from me? Unless the casino decided to bless their biggest winner with a personal escort to make me look cooler. Very thoughtful."
A ripple of irritation passes through the group.
The man in front, tall, broad, with a deep scar slashing across his nose steps forward with a scowl.
"Don't start making jokes, kid," he snaps. "You made quite a lot of money."
His lips curl into an oily smile.
"Can't you spare a little of it for the casino?"
Yuzuki chuckles softly.
"No can do. That money's going toward building my own empire, you know? I need every bit of it."
The scarred guard's smile fades into annoyance.
"That's too bad, kid," he growls. "Guess we'll just have to take it by force."
Yuzuki slowly reaches up and pulls the right side of his blindfold down. His eye piercing, sharp, impossibly blue, fixed on the man with sheer disdain.
"Do you really think people of your level can trouble me?" he asks. "I'm being disrespected."
For a moment, the scarred guard freezes.
That eye locks onto his, and something inside him trembles.
Beautifulā¦
The thought slips through his mind before he can stop it.
The short guard at his side notices the eye too. His greedy grin spreads instantly.
"Jimmy, boss," he says to the scarred man, "we should just kill this kid. Look at that eye, it would probably sell for a fortune."
Jimmy's expression changes.
A flicker of greed.
Then a slow, approving smirk.
"You're right, Gun. This might be our chance to get rich."
Yuzuki's expression shifts.
"Huh," he breathes, half anger, half disgust.
"Mere insects whose fate is already decided, which is to be killed by me dare to talk about selling my eye?" His voice drops, cold and sharp. "Do you have any idea who you're talking to? If you want to kill me, go call Isaac Netero or something."
The men burst into laughter.
One points at Yuzuki mockingly.
"Listen to this kid, talkin' like he's some big shot!"
Another snorts.
"What's next? He gonna say he knows the Zoldycks?"
A third wipes tears from his eyes.
"Man, I needed this laugh. Thanks, brat."
---
Emma and Ronda watch from their hiding spot as the men jeer.
Emma whispers, panicked, "Why is Yuzuki making things worse for himself with his words? Andā¦ are his eyes really that beautiful? I want to see them."
Ronda doesn't take her eyes off Yuzuki. Her voice lowers, thoughtful and oddly calm.
"Emma, remember when Yuzuki talked with Lissa? He told her not to worry because he's pretty strong."
She swallows.
"I think he wasn't lying. That right there" she gestures to Yuzuki's confident stance "is the cockiness of someone who genuinely believes ninety percent of people in this world can't touch him."
Her gaze lingers on his eyes, glowing under the dim hallway lights.
"And as for his eyesā¦" She bites her finger lightly, almost seductively. "Unless he has sex with his blindfold on, we should get to see them."
Emma's eyes widen.
"So you think he can beat all of them alone?"
"I believe so," Ronda says. "I once watched a match at Heaven's Arena. Some people near me were talking about a mysterious power fighters used. I think Yuzuki has that power."
Emma frowns.
"Don't be ridiculous, Ronda. Superpowers don't exist. That's only in fiction."
Ronda smirks faintly.
"Wellā¦ let's see for ourselves, shall we?"
Back at the center of the conflict, Yuzuki slowly slides his left hand out of his pocket as well, now with both hands free. He grips the edge of his blindfold and pulls it all the way down, letting the cloth hang loosely around his neck.
With his face fully revealed, an aura of pure regality radiates off him, cold, untouchable and kinglike. A maniacal smile spreads across his features.
"I don't need my eyes out to beat lowlifes like you," he says, voice dripping arrogance, "but my girls are watching, so let me flex a bit. I want to look cool."
Jimmy's jaw tightens.
His irritation spikes instantly.
"Fire! Shoot him!"
His men react without hesitation.
Gun barrels rise.
Triggers click.
A storm of bullets erupts toward Yuzuki.
Emma, unable to stop herself, screams from behind the pillars:
"YUZUKI!"
But right before the bullets reach him, within a single meter they all freeze in midair, hanging motionless like metal raindrops.
Yuzuki doesn't even flinch.
He simply smiles.
Without turning, he calls back calmly, "It's okay, Emma. Me getting killed by bullets is one thing you'll never see in your life."
The hallway goes dead silent.
Jimmy's eyes widen.
Gun's mouth falls open.
The bullets remain hovering, dozens of them suspended around Yuzuki like ornaments.
Emma stares, stunned.
"Whatā¦ what the hell just happened?"
Ronda exhales shakily, eyes glued to Yuzuki's back.
"I told you, Emmaā¦ Yuzuki has superpowers." her face turns red and she starts breathing shallower.
Emma swallows hard.
"...I guess you were right, Ronda."
---
Back on the battlefield, Jimmy's face twists into confusion and anger.
"What the hell are you?" he demands. "How are the bullets not hitting you?!"
Yuzuki taps his own chest playfully.
"Me? Wellā¦ I'm a human, I think. And as for why the bullets aren't hitting meā"
His smile sharpens.
"they know better than to stain a king."
Jimmy snarls.
"Fire again! There HAS to be a limit!"
The guards reload in a panic, hands trembling.
They take aim and unleash another frantic barrage of hundreds of rounds, overlapping like a metal storm.
But just like before, every bullet stops the moment it hits that one-meter boundary.
A shimmering sphere of stillness surrounds Yuzuki, bullets floating inside it like trapped insects.
He grins.
"Now it's my turn, correct?"
Without warning, he bends his knees and launches forward.
His body blurs.
In an instant, he's gone from his spot.
He reappears atop one of the guards, landing on the man's shoulders with frightening agility. His shoes dig into the man's collarbone, pinning him in place.
The guard looks up.
Yuzuki's crazed smile is the first thing he sees.
Terror washes over his face.
"One down," Yuzuki whispers.
He floods his arms with nen, pure, unrestrained Enhancer strength. Because of his Specialist nature, he can use Enhancer at 100%. That overwhelming power is his primary fighting style.
His fingers curl around the guard's cheekbones.
Then, with a single brutal wrenchā
RIP
Yuzuki tears the head clean from the body of the guard.
Blood explodes upward in a violent spray, coating Yuzuki's arms, his face, his clothes, the nearby floor, everything. The guard's headless body collapses with a heavy and wet thud.
Yuzuki drops the severed head.
It rolls across the tiles, leaving a smeared trail of red.
He lifts his gaze to the remaining nineteen.
A calm, chilling smile spreads across his face.
"Who's next?"