Amano Hiro swept his gaze over the figures rapidly closing in from the surrounding shadows, his eyes cold as ice.
"I hadn't even gone looking for you yet, and you delivered yourselves to my door," he said in a low voice thick with suppressed fury. "Daring to trespass in my territory... you're courting death."
He released Rize. The dark-red Carnage form instantly covered his entire body. He drew out the Ashbringer warblade—no, correction, both hands transformed into savage claws.
Tonight's leisure time with Rize had been interrupted by these uninvited guests, and his killing intent boiled over.
A burst of clear applause came from below. Kaiko stepped calmly out of the shadows, an unpleasant smile on his face.
"Excellent reaction," he said. "With strength like yours, you should join our V organization."
His gaze swept over Rize. "If you're willing to join and hand over the woman beside you, we can spare your life tonight. What do you say?"
Amano Hiro laughed outright from anger. This was the legendary Kaiko? Arrogant to this extent?
"Heh heh heh heh..." A low, warped chuckle spilled from Amano Hiro's throat, laced with unsettling static.
Boom!
The corridor beneath his feet shattered as his figure shot out like a cannonball, claws aimed straight for Kaiko's head.
The sudden ferocity of the attack drenched Kaiko in cold sweat. He could no longer maintain his earlier composure and hurriedly raised his quinque to block.
Clang!
With a deafening impact, Kaiko and weapon were blasted away together. His body punched through the wall across the street and crashed into a residence.
He struggled up from the rubble, horror flooding his mind. This "Carnage" far exceeded estimates. He was more than a tier above Yoshimura Kuzen.
Looking at his already twisted and deformed left arm, he realized that in a single exchange he had brushed the gates of death.
Outside, the V members saw their leader heavily wounded in one blow. Their scalps prickled, yet they still forced themselves to close in.
Amano Hiro released a thunderous roar. Sharp spikes erupted across his body. Six tentacles spread from his back like demonic wings as he lunged into the crowd.
These V members, reputedly each possessing special-class strength, were utterly unable to withstand Amano Hiro at full power. In moments several were dead.
Kaiko staggered out of the ruins and hissed, "Arima, move!"
Kishou Arima's figure appeared at once, diving straight toward Rize.
Amano Hiro caught this in his peripheral vision yet did not turn back.
Rize was no longer what she once was. Even if she could not defeat Arima, she was far from someone to be handled at will.
Narukami stabbed toward Rize's chest with a razor wind. Arima intended to grievously wound the target first, then capture.
But Rize merely smiled faintly. Eerie markings instantly spread over her body. Four dark-red rinkaku unfurled like living things.
Bang!
Rinkaku and Narukami collided violently, and the fierce strike was deflected solidly away.
A flicker of undisguised shock crossed Kishou Arima's eyes. He had never imagined Rize's strength had grown to this level. This power even surpassed Eto.
Kaiko clutched his twisted left arm and retreated to the edge of the battlefield, his face ashen.
Waves of agony kept surging. He knew clearly that in his current state, forcing himself into the fight would change nothing.
His gaze swept the field, and his heart sank.
Those subordinates he had painstakingly cultivated were being harvested like weeds under Amano Hiro's stormlike assault.
In just this short time, over half the squad had been killed or wounded. The few remaining were about to follow.
"Trash," he cursed under his breath, rage barely contained, as if he had completely forgotten how he himself had just been crushed in a single blow.
When he turned his eyes to the other side of the fight, his brow furrowed deeper.
Kishou Arima and Rize were locked in stalemate.
He almost suspected Arima was holding back. The CCG's strongest investigator, the White Reaper, unable to take down Rize.
"That Rize..." Kaiko gritted his teeth, disbelief flashing in his eyes. "She's become this strong."
Seeing the tide turning sharply against them, Kaiko staggered back clutching his arm and shouted hoarsely to Arima, "Withdraw!"
Before his words even fell, several smoke grenades burst across the street. Dense gray-white smoke instantly blanketed the battlefield.
The well-trained V members retreated swiftly under cover, movements uniform as if drilled countless times.
"Trying to run?" Amano Hiro's fury-laden voice tore through the smoke. Six tentacles ripped the haze like phantoms.
One tentacle lashed out and snared the rearmost V member, smashing him hard into a wall. The sound of shattering bones was chilling.
Narukami shifted form in Arima's hands. Dazzling lightning exploded through the smoke, briefly cutting off Amano Hiro's pursuit path.
Amano Hiro blasted through the lightning. His scarlet eyes locked onto the retreating Kaiko in the haze.
His wings flared wide as he prepared to give chase, but he sharply caught the glint of sniper scopes reflecting from distant rooftops.
Those snipers lurking in the dark did not concern him in the least.
At Rize's current level, this degree of ambush was easily handled.
Just as that thought flashed and Amano Hiro moved to pursue again—
Whoosh!
A piercing tear split the night sky. Three black streaks trailing long tails of flame screamed in at terrifying speed. They were three miniature missiles.
Amano Hiro's pupils shrank violently. The blood in his body seemed to freeze in an instant.
"Shit!"
He could ignore sniper bullets. He could tank quinque strikes. But this was entirely different.
The destructive power of missiles was enough to level an entire street. Even he was not sure he could endure it. Regardless of whether he could, Rize certainly could not.
At the brink of life and death, his reaction reached the extreme. He spun, seized Rize around the waist, and with his wings fully spread shot skyward like an arrow, fleeing wildly into the distance.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Deafening detonations erupted in succession. Blazing fireballs rose and swallowed the entire area.
Terrifying shockwaves swept outward with stone and metal fragments. Buildings on both sides shuddered violently. Street-facing walls collapsed. In the blink of an eye the whole street became ruins.
Amano Hiro landed with Rize atop a distant high-rise. Scorching air blasted their faces, whipping Rize's hair.
Looking down at the sea of flames, veins bulged on his forehead, and icy killing intent churned in his eyes.
"They even dared use missiles... quite the grand gesture."
Seizing that gap, Kaiko and Kishou Arima's figures vanished into the labyrinthine alleys.
Faint sirens wailed in the distance. Clearly tonight's commotion had alerted the ordinary police.
"Let's go," Amano Hiro said, arm around Rize's waist. "We'll settle this debt slowly another day. There's something else to handle now."
Amano Hiro spread his wings and shot into the sky, leaving behind a battlefield of devastation.