The light from the crystal chandeliers shined through dozens of raised glasses, casting glowing patterns across the guests of the Soma Familia banquet.
It was a toast to new beginnings and a celebration of victory.
Or, if you asked the girl standing at the epicenter of the grand hall, it was an elaborately staged hostage party designed to disguise the booze mafia's violent change in management.
Liliruca Arde was in a gown woven from imported fabric she couldn't even name. It was a deep, midnight blue, tailored so perfectly to her small frame that it felt lighter than air. It was entirely devoid of the dirt, the stains, and the stench of cheap leather she had worn just three days ago. She looked like a princess. Judging by the way the deities were fawning over her looks, she was certainly being treated like one.
But Lili knew better than to indulge the illusion.
"What a waste of time," Lord Soma muttered into his glass. He sat at the head table, his fingers drumming impatiently against the oak. The celebration bored him. The speeches bored him. Everything that wasn't fermenting in a barrel bored him.
A few paces away, Shiu Kong caught the deity's glazed gaze and offered an imperceptible nod.
The broker rose, tapping his glass with a silver spoon just loud enough to cut through the ambient chatter. "Our patron wishes to address our esteemed guests."
The orchestral music gradually faded, followed by the hushed gossip of the gods.
Soma stood. Every eye in the hall fixed upon him. The god rarely spoke, let alone left his private chambers. For many of the deities present, this was the first time they had seen their peer in decades.
Soma lifted his glass. His eyes were dull as he recited the script Kong had drilled into him, the perfect lie to ensure the Guild never raised an eyebrow at the sudden disappearance of roughly 30% of his Familia.
"My former Captain, Zanis, was murdered," Soma began, his voice flat and obviously disinterested. "When terrorists struck our home and chaos threatened the Familia, my dear child Liliruca Arde assumed command of the surviving members. Through her leadership, order was restored and the unknown attackers were driven out." His expression remained completely vacant. "And from this day forward, she will serve as Captain of the Soma Familia as a reward."
Soma took a long sip of wine, clearly relieved the chore was over. "To Captain Arde," he muttered, rushing the toast as he slumped back into his chair.
Kong immediately raised his own glass, flashing a brilliant, charismatic smile to keep the room's energy. "To Captain Arde!"
"To Captain Arde!" the crowd of gods and handful of adventurers echoed.
In truth, not a single deity cared about the internal politics of the Soma Familia. None of them would have attended this banquet if the exclusive, gold leafed invitations hadn't explicitly promised free flowing Divine Wine.
They had been bought with alcohol.
"It's been ages since Soma opened up his little stash for us! Ahh, now this is divine!" Loki laughed, already on her third bottle, cheeks glowing red as she thrusted one toward Finn. "C'mon, Finn! One sip won't kill ya!"
"I would rather keep my brain intact, thank you," Finn Deimne replied, raising a polite hand in refusal.
The Braver's piercing blue eyes remained fixed on the small Pallum girl standing at the center of the hall who had risen from a common member to captain in the span of a single week.
It had immediately caught Finn's attention because not only was the new Captain a fellow Pallum, but she was a female Pallum, an extraordinarily rare occurrence in Orario's hierarchy.
"Heh. I still can't believe ya pushed back our upcoming expedition just to come eyeball one little Pallum girl." Loki grinned, elbowing him in the side. "What's this? My Finn's finally lookin' for a wife?"
Finn coughed, a rare flush reaching his ears. "I don't know what you're talking about, Loki. I am merely here for intelligence gathering."
Internally, however, Finn couldn't deny it. He was desperate to elevate the standing of the Pallum race, and if this girl had truly orchestrated the defeat of a supposed massive terrorist attack, she might be a suitable candidate.
Loki snorted, lazily looking around the packed banquet hall. "Sheesh...even Freya crawled outta Babel for free booze. And look, she brought her little Warlord too." She pointed her skewer toward the towering boaz. "What's he gonna do? Protect the wine?" She barked out a laugh before spotting another familiar face. "Oho! Ishtar's up there too. Look at that face! Hahaha...those two can't even have a drink without wantin' to kill each other."
Finn nodded absently as Loki continued rambling about how Soma's miserly nature made a free banquet like this rarer than a miracle, enough to lure nearly every deity in Orario under one roof.
"Excuse me for a moment, Loki," Finn said, stepping away from the buffet. "I'd like to introduce myself."
"Hah!? Oi, Finn! Don't ditch your own goddess just because ya spotted a cute girl!" Loki shouted after him. "At least bring her over so I can have a look too!"
Meanwhile, Lili was trapped in a nightmare of small talk. She forced her lips to curl into a perfect mask of grace, accepting congratulations from minor gods and executives. She nodded, she smiled, she thanked them.
Internally, her stomach was violently turning.
"Terrorists." What a joke. She wanted to scream the truth. She wanted to yell that the "terrorists" were standing right in the room. But doing so would do more harm than good to her.
Shiu Kong had made it abundantly clear: this was a mutually beneficial arrangement. She would be the pure, innocent face of the Familia to hide their underworld business. In exchange, she wouldn't be rotting in a cell.
Of course, Lili never would have traded iron shackles for golden ones just to save her own skin. But Kong had leveraged her desperation perfectly.
Three days ago, the world had been entirely different.
She was bruised, bound by iron cuffs, and on the freezing stone floor of the Familia's subterranean dungeon.
Then the cell door opened, and Shiu Kong stepped inside with none other than Toji Fushiguro, Bell-sama's captain.
༻❁༺
"You're his Captain, right?" Lili begged after learning Bell-sama was alive, her voice cracking as tears carved tracks through the dirt on her face. "Please. Let me go back to Bell-sama. I won't say anything to the Guild. I swear it!"
Toji didn't even look at her. He was busy picking a speck of dirt out from under his fingernail.
"Go back with what?" Toji asked, his voice completely flat. "You robbed him and lost his trust. You got no money, no gear, no leverage. You're completely useless."
Lili flinched violently. "Bell-sama is—"
"Not my problem," Toji cut her off, finally dropping his dead, bored eyes onto her. "But if you think crawling back crying with empty pockets fixes a botched hit, you're an idiot. You are a waste of breath."
The words tore right through Lili's chest. She choked on a sob, dropping her head. Deep down, she knew he was absolutely right. She had nothing to offer to earn her forgiveness.
"Fushiguro words might be crude, but his assessment of human nature is quite accurate," Kong interjected, his voice smooth and cultured as he stepped into the torchlight. He looked down at her the way a merchant evaluates a slightly damaged piece of jewelry. "I could just kill you, Liliruca. It will be so easy. Sweep your ashes into the sewers and be done with it."
Kong crouched down, forcing her to meet his eyes. "But a dead Pallum doesn't help me. I need a face. A clean, tragic face the Guild won't think twice about." His gaze remained fixed on hers. "The remaining executives of the Soma Familia are nothing more than wine addled fools. You, however...I've heard you're different. Clever enough to not bite the hand I'm willing to extend."
A thin smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "You become Captain. You read the speeches I write. You sign the documents I place before you. You smile for the Guild while we conduct our business from the shadows."
"And if I refuse?" Lili whispered, shaking.
"Then you rot in this cell, and Bell Cranel forgets you ever existed," Kong said matter-of-factly. A faint smile crossed his face. "Or...you accept my offer."
He rose to his feet and smoothed the wrinkles from his sleeve. "You wish to earn the boy's forgiveness? Very well. I'll hand you the Soma Familia's coffers. Its influence and resources. The next time Bell Cranel finds himself bitting off more than he can chew, you will be the one extending a hand."
His smile widened slightly, winking at her. "People rarely forget the one who saves them."
Lili stared at the freezing stone. It was a blatant golden leash. But the chance to actually be of use to Bell-sama, instead of being a burden, was a poison she couldn't resist.
She had slowly raised her head, looking at the two monsters holding her life in their hands, and nodded.
༻❁༺
"You don't seem drunk, Captain Arde. So what is bothering you?"
Lili blinked, snapping out of the memory as a calm, self-assured voice broke through the noise.
She stiffened. Standing before her was a man with perfectly styled blond hair and piercing blue eyes, and roughly the same height as her.
Finn Deimne! The Braver! Captain of the Loki Familia and the unquestioned hero of the Pallum race!
"Master Finn!" Lili almost squeaked, instantly bowing. "You honor us with your presence!"
Finn chuckled politely, but his eyes were entirely calculating. He was evaluating her.
"It is a remarkable feat," Finn said, gently swirling his glass. "Taking command during a crisis. The loss of former Captain Zanis must have been...chaotic. Yet you stand here, carrying the weight of a Familia. Tell me, how exactly did you coordinate the counter attack?"
Lili's breath hitched.
Finn's intuition was legendary, and he wasn't making small talk. He was interrogating the cracks in the story. The attack on the Soma compound had no reliable eyewitnesses, and the reports were wildly inconsistent. Finn wanted the real tactical breakdown from the supposed heroine who saved the day.
Lili forced herself to maintain eye contact, her mind spinning frantically. Kong hadn't given her a script for this! He hadn't expected the smartest tactician in Orario to corner her!
She shot a desperate glance toward Kong, but the broker was busy trying to charm a group of goddesses, completely oblivious to her panic.
She had to fake it.
"...At first, our priority was containment rather than pursuit, Master Finn," Lili started, her voice steadying as she fell back on the basic military theories she had memorized from discarded books. "The attackers were unfamiliar with the compound, while we knew the terrain. We secured the exits and divided our—"
Finn listened without interrupting.
It was a sound explanation. In fact, it was too sound. It followed orthodox battlefield doctrine to the letter: Contain. Divide. Isolate. Collapse.
But it didn't fit. The Soma Familia wasn't known for disciplined squad tactics. They were a fractured group of addicts who operated independently. Executing such coordinated maneuvers in the dark during a surprise ambush would require weeks of drilling and trusted officers.
Furthermore, Lili hadn't mentioned a single specific order she had personally given. She hadn't mentioned a single unexpected complication. She spoke like someone who had read how a battle should be fought, not someone who had bled in one.
"A textbook defense," Finn said. Then, his polite smile vanished. His voice dropped so low that only she could hear it. "But it lacks the chaos of reality. You didn't give those orders, Captain Arde. In fact, I'd wager you weren't even on the battlefield."
Lili's blood ran cold. Her heart slammed against her ribs like a trapped bird. She opened her mouth, but her throat clamped shut in pure terror.
Finn's expression softened, shifting instantly from interrogator to protector.
"Relax. I'm not the Guild," Finn said gently. "But as a fellow Pallum, I know what it looks like when one of our own is cornered. You are clearly intelligent, but you are not the one running this show. If you are in trouble and someone is forcing you to do something you don't want to, the Loki Familia can offer you asylum. Right here. Right now. Just say the word."
Finn was overstepping his authority by offering that and was risking a War Game against Soma Familia, but he couldn't just let an innocent fellow brethren be ravaged by wolves while he stood there.
Lili stopped breathing at the offer. It was a lifeline thrown by the greatest hero of her race. She wanted to grab it, scream yes and hide behind his heroic cape.
But then, the cold reality of her bargain settled in.
If she ran, she would be safe. But she would be penniless, powerless, and Bell-sama would forget she ever existed. If she stayed, she could use this golden cage to aid him and earn forgiveness for her wrongdoings.
Lili dug her nails so hard into her palms that they nearly drew blood, forcing her face into a mask of polite, unbothered grace.
"I appreciate your concern, Master Finn," Lili said. Her voice was steady, but her eyes were utterly dead. "But I assure you, my story is the truth. I am exactly where I choose to be, and I am in no trouble whatsoever."
Finn studied her for a long, heavy moment. He saw the lie, but more importantly, he saw the unbreakable resolve behind it. She was a puppet, yes, but she was holding her own strings hostage.
"I see," Finn said softly. He gave her a polite, respectful bow. "Then I wish you the best of luck, Captain Arde."
He dismissed her from his immediate calculations, sighing internally with mild disappointment. Such a potentially tactical mind, entirely wasted in this Familia.
But the moment Finn turned away to rejoin Loki, his famous intuition spiked violently.
His right thumb throbbed a sharp, piercing prickle that felt like a needle sliding under his skin.
Finn's gaze snapped across the room. He bypassed the laughing gods, the drunken adventurers, and the roaming waiters, his eyes landing squarely on a tall, muscular, black haired human leaning against a pillar. The man was in a pristine suit, casually drinking from a wine bottle, looking completely bored as he awaited something.
"What do we have here?" Finn muttered, his eyes narrowing as he recalled the incidents they had crossed path with this man.
It was time to finally have a chat with the suspected mercenary. And Finn intended to make every second count.
༻❁༺
The collar of the tailored shirt felt like a damn garrote wire.
Toji shifted his weight against the pillar, hooking a finger under the stiff fabric of his tie and violently yanking it down an inch to let his neck breathe.
Kong had insisted on the suit. "You are a representative of our new management so act like it," the broker had said.
"Representative my ass" Toji didn't care about management. He only cared about the weekly 100,000 Valis he was getting thanks to Kong and the deal he had struck with the wine freak.
A week had passed since he drank the famed Soma wine and called it trash. By the terms of his and Soma's bizarre agreement, Toji was obligated to return for a second tasting. It just so happened the crazy god had scheduled it on the exact same night as this ridiculous banquet.
Toji took a slow pull from a bottle of refreshments he'd snagged from a passing waiter, his bored eyes sweeping over the grand hall.
It was a room full of parasites, the kind he despised.
Gods dressed in silk and gold laughed over expensive wine, treating the Lower World like a board game between drinks.
It was a room full of people who had never had to fight for a damn thing. They were born at the absolute pinnacle of the world, looking down on those forced to claw their way up from the dirt.
A faint tingle ran across the back of Toji's neck.
Someone was eyeing him.
His sharp eyes followed the feeling without moving his head, catching the source in the reflection of a crystal vase before letting his gaze drift casually across the hall.
Freya.
The Goddess of Beauty stood among a gathering of deities, idly swirling a glass of wine between elegant fingers. Her violet eyes were fixed on him.
When their gazes met, a slow smile curled across her lips.
Then, as if nothing had happened, she turned back to the conversation around her.
Toji frowned.
"...The hell was that?"
He'd heard enough about the beauty freak to know she had a habit of collecting anything that caught her eye.
The last thing he needed was to end up on that list.
His gaze slid past her to the mountain of muscle standing silently behind her.
Ottar.
The so-called "King" and undisputed strongest adventurer in Orario, standing as the only Level 7 currently inside the city.
Toji took another sip, silently evaluating the man. The Boaz's posture was flawless. No wasted movement or blind spots. His sheer physical presence was heavy enough to suffocate anyone with a lick of combat experience.
But as Toji stared at Orario's absolute pinnacle...he felt completely bored.
Toji had fought a real monster before he ended up in this shithole. A flying, blue-eyed freak who bent space with a flick of his finger.
Compared to Satoru Gojo, this giant bacon was just a massive slab of meat holding a heavy stick.
Sure, he looked like the type to solve every problem by swinging harder.
Nothing Toji hadn't worked around before.
Out of the corner of his eye, Toji registered movement approaching him, forcing him to redirect his gaze.
Approaching him was a blonde shrimp in a pristine white uniform.
Toji recognized him immediately.
Finn Deimne.
Captain of the Loki Familia, which meant he was the boss of that blonde, sword-swinging stalking bitch.
Just great.
"I believe we've crossed paths before, though we haven't been formally introduced," Finn said immediately upon seeing Toji focus on him, stopping a polite distance away. He offered a charming smile. "I am Finn Deimne. Captain of the Loki Familia."
"Toji," he replied gruffly. He didn't offer a hand or a full name: he simply didn't care.
If Finn was insulted by the disrespect, he didn't show it. The polite smile remained plastered on his youthful face, but his blue eyes were calculating every millimeter of Toji's relaxed posture.
"A pleasure," Finn said smoothly. "I remember you from the 18th floor. That was you, right? When we suspected you of being the killer of Hashana Dorlia."
"Must be mistaken," Toji lied effortlessly, his face a mask of supreme boredom and dismissiveness.
"Oh, I rarely mistake a face," Finn hummed, exchanging his empty glass for a fresh one from a passing waitress. "I saw you there. So did my Familia. Then the plant monsters attacked, the redheaded woman fled, and you disappeared. An unfortunate coincidence." His blue eyes remained fixed on Toji. "If you weren't involved, I can't help but wonder why you chose to leave."
Toji sighed. Just what he needed: a boy scout playing detective.
"Do I look like a charity?" Toji deadpanned, deciding to throw the Pallum a bone about his line of work if it meant getting him off his back. "I swing when the check clears. Nobody paid me to weed a garden, so I left."
"I suppose not," Finn chuckled dryly.
The answer neatly fit the profile he had been building. A mercenary. Professional. Pragmatic. Likely strong. Whether he was connected to the forces operating in the Dungeon remained to be seen, but the possibility had only grown stronger.
The Braver took a step closer, dropping his voice low into something strictly business.
"You strike me as an efficient man. That's a valuable trait in my line of work. From time to time, Loki Familia has use for...discreet contractors. Independent mercenaries for quests requiring a certain degree of plausible deniability." His gaze met Toji's. "Would you entertain private contracts, or are you already committed to another employer?"
It was a test. A subtle trap designed to figure out who Toji worked for, what his rates were, and where his loyalties truly lay.
Toji stared down at the Pallum.
He let the silence stretch for a long, uncomfortable moment, the ambient noise of the banquet buzzing around them.
"Look, shrimp." His voice was flat. "Got a job? Bring a name and the money. If not, quit yapping." He rolled his eyes. "Who hires me is my business. You start making it yours..." A thin, humorless smile tugged at his lips. "You'd better be able to back it up."
Finn blinked.
That...hadn't been one of the responses he'd anticipated.
Most men, when confronted by a Level 6 who knew too much, scrambled to explain themselves or hastily denied everything.
Toji had done neither.
He had acknowledged the implication without hesitation, dismissed Finn's investigation as irrelevant, and drawn a line only when it threatened to interfere with his work.
Finn's eye twitched.
Then a genuine chuckle escaped Finn. "I see."
The smile suddenly vanished, leaving behind only the calm, calculating captain of the Loki Familia. "Then allow me to be just as clear."
His blue eyes never left Toji's. "As long as you're taking contracts that don't concern my Familia or the safety of Orario, I have no reason to act. The moment one does..." His voice remained perfectly even. "I'll treat you as I would any other enemy."
"Get in line, pal," Toji muttered, dismissing the warning outright.
"Is there a problem here?"
Both men turned.
Lord Soma drifted from the crowd like a ghost haunting his own banquet, a pitch black glass bottle cradled carefully against his chest. He spared Finn only a passing glance before his sunken eyes settled entirely on Toji.
Finn shook his head.
"No problem at all, Lord Soma. I merely wished to introduce myself to your guest here." A diplomatic smile crossed his lips. "Thank you for your hospitality. I'll return to my goddess."
He melted back into the crowd without another word.
The moment the Pallum disappeared, Toji held out a hand. "About damn time. Pour it so I can get out of this damn monkey suit."
Soma answered by uncorking the bottle.
A heavy, metallic aroma drifted into the air. It smelled like rain before a thunderstorm.
"I bled for this batch," Soma murmured, carefully pouring the dark liquid into a crystal glass. "One drop of my ichor." He offered it with both hands.
Toji took the glass, tossed the entire thing back in one swallow, then stood silently for a few seconds. "...Tastes like a rusty coin soaked in rubbing alcohol."
He shoved the empty glass back into Soma's hands. "See you next week, wine freak."
Already pulling at the knot of his tie, Toji walked toward the exit. Halfway to the doors, he ripped it from his neck and stuffed it into a pocket without looking back.
Soma stared at the empty glass. "He swallowed it." A slow smile crept across his face.
Last week, the mercenary had spat his wine onto the floor.
Not this time...
A quiet laugh escaped Soma's lips.
Progress.
Meanwhile, across the room, Freya watched the assassin swing the hall doors shut behind himself. The smile on her face had cooled into something more lethal.
She slowly lowered her glass and tilted her head toward the towering Boaz beside her.
"Ottar," Freya murmured, her voice like velvet wrapped around a blade.
"Yes, my goddess," Ottar rumbled, leaning down slightly to catch her words.
"Can you be a dear and go inform the brothers that they don't have to search the entire city for their target?" Freya commanded smoothly, her silver eyes sharpening. "Tell them to intercept our departing guest, then remove him from the board permanently."
"As you wish," Ottar bowed deeply, immediately stepping backward, then toward the exit to relay the order.
From an elevated balcony overlooking the hall, Ishtar took a long drag from her kiseru pipe. She exhaled a thick veil of purple smoke, her eyes following Ottar's movements before drifting to the slow, unsettling smile spreading across Freya's face.
A vicious sneer tugged at Ishtar's lips.
"So...the silver bitch's found herself a new toy."
Beside her, Aisha rested a forearm against the balcony rail, following her goddess's gaze toward the grand doors Toji had just disappeared through. She'd noticed Freya watching him as well. The Goddess of Beauty didn't look at men like that without a reason.
Ishtar tapped the bowl of her pipe against the railing.
"Aisha."
The Amazon straightened immediately.
"Take a few of the girls and shadow him."
Aisha raised an eyebrow. "You want him brought in?"
A slow smile spread across Ishtar's face. "If the opportunity presents itself, I wouldn't mind having him for a night."
She took another drag from her pipe. "But don't force it."
Smoke curled from her lips as she looked toward the exit. "I want to know who he is. Who he belongs to. Where he sleeps. And most importantly..."
Her eyes flicked back toward Freya. "...why that silver bitch is smiling at him."
Aisha held her gaze for a moment before giving a sharp nod. "Got it, my lady."
Without another word, she signaled to a handful of Amazons stationed nearby. The women peeled away from the banquet as one, disappearing into the crowd in pursuit of the mysterious mercenary.
༻❁༺
Toji walked down the streets of Orario, hands shoved deep into his suit pockets. The magic stone lamps lining the roads were just beginning to flicker to life.
His mind was running a lazy calculation of the night's events. Finn Deimne. The blond shrimp was definitely going to be a headache. The Braver was too perceptive for his size. If the entire Loki Familia decided to pry into Toji's business, he would either have to renegotiate his rates with his clients or start cracking high-level skulls. Neither option sounded particularly relaxing.
He could always just "defect" to the good guys' side for the right price, but playing the hero was rarely lucrative—
"Someone's watching." Toji didn't break his stride, but his heightened senses flared, mapping the environment in a fraction of a second.
Four presences.
They were masking their bloodlust expertly, sticking to his blind spots and mirroring his footsteps so perfectly that a normal high-level adventurer wouldn't have noticed a thing. But to his body, tuned entirely to the physical laws of the world, the microscopic vibrations of their boots practically screamed their locations.
"Oi, look where you're going!"
Toji stopped dead in the middle of the street, forcing a stream of civilian pedestrians to split around him.
"Watch it!"
"Move, you idiot!"
A merchant nearly dropped the crate balanced on his shoulder as he stumbled around the suited man. A mother hurriedly pulled her child behind her, throwing Toji an irritated glance before quickening her pace.
"If you're planning to jump me, make it quick," Toji called out into the evening air. He figured a public spectacle might force them to back off, assassins usually hated an audience.
Curious onlookers slowed down, exchanging puzzled, uneasy looks.
"Who's he talking to?"
"Is he drunk?"
"Just ignore him, let's go."
A few people laughed, stepping past him.
Those laughs were abruptly choked out as a wave of crushing killing intent swept across the street. Toji's hope of scaring them off with public exposure instantly evaporated. These guys didn't give a damn about witnesses.
Four blurs dropped from the rooftops and exploded out of the alleyways in perfect unison, bringing a violent pressure wave with them.
Toji barely had time to click his tongue before spitting out a familiar, grotesque purple mass. The Inventory Curse ripped its mouth open, and Toji grabbed Playful Cloud just as the attackers got to his position.
CLANG!
A massive greatsword slammed into the three section staff, the sheer kinetic force cracking the cobblestones beneath Toji's feet. But before Toji could leverage his weight to throw the attacker off, a spear thrust hiding perfectly in the greatsword's shadow came directly toward his throat.
Toji twisted his neck by a mere inch. The blade opened a bleeding gash across his cheek. He spun Playful Cloud to trap the spear and wrench it away, but a heavy battleaxe crashed into the staff's center joint, completely locking his momentum. Simultaneously, a fourth figure slid under his guard, delivering a devastating war hammer slam directly into Toji's exposed ribs.
Toji was launched backward, tearing through an abandoned fruit cart and sending splintered wood and crushed apples flying across the road. Nearby civilians panicked, ducking behind market stalls and stone pillars as debris rained over the street.
He backflipped through the air, digging his heels into the cobblestone to arrest his momentum, only to find the four assailants already descending upon him like a pack of rabid wolves.
He ducked a decapitating sword swing, parried a hammer blow, but was instantly intercepted by the spear. Another shallow cut traced his bicep, followed closely by an axe strike to his shoulder that he barely avoided by throwing himself into a hard roll.
"Tch..." He clicked his tongue. "It's like fighting one bastard with four bodies."
Realizing he was caught in a brutal meat grinder, Toji gripped the outer handles of Playful Cloud. Pouring his monstrous physical strength into the special grade tool, he swung the staff in a ferocious, 360-degree arc.
The compressed air exploded outward, rattling windows and ripping hanging shop signs clean from their chains. The nearest civilians cried out as the resulting shockwave nearly knocked them off their feet, forcing them to scramble even farther away to watch the madness unfold.
The air pressure of the strike forced the four figures to cross their weapons and leap backward, landing perfectly side-by-side in the center of the street.
The dust settled.
The once busy boulevard had become eerily empty. Doors slammed shut one after another. Window shutters banged closed. Those too slow to escape peeked nervously from behind stone corners, watching from what they hoped was a safe distance.
Toji wiped a thin trail of blood from his cheek with the back of his thumb. He analyzed the four identical, armor clad Pallums blocking his path, distinguished only by the weapons they held and the colors on their gear.
Bringar. The Gulliver Brothers. Freya Familia elites. Four Level 5 adventurers.
Why the hell are they attacking him? Did he fuck with them unknowingly?
"Color me surprised," Alfrigg, the eldest, spoke, his voice echoing flatly beneath his helmet. He lowered his spear, pointing the bloodied tip at Toji. "We thought we'd catch you completely off guard. You took four fatal strikes, and all we got was a grazed cheek and a bruised rib. You're definitely not a Level 1."
"Takes a lot of effort to track you, as well," Dvalinn added, resting his great hammer on his shoulder. "Whatever stealth skill you have, it's something else. Kept us running in circles for days until Freya-sama herself directed us to you."
"What exactly does the Goddess fear in a scumbag like you?" Berling muttered, gripping his great axe tight.
"Who cares?" Grer grinned viciously, raising his greatsword. "He bleeds like anyone else."
Toji spat a wad of bloody saliva onto the cobblestones, his eyes narrowing. "You guys compensating for your height with all this talking, or do you actually have a point?"
Alfrigg's eyes narrowed behind his visor. "We came with a clear mission to pluck you out. But our Captain has extended a rare mercy: Leave the boy alone. Leave Orario tonight, never return, and we will let you live."
Toji frowned. "...Bell?" For a second he simply stared. "You're jumping me over that useless brat?" He scratched his cheek with his thumb. "The hell does he have to do with me?"
Alfrigg's grip on his spear tightened, a murderous anticipation bleeding into his tone. "Though, speaking for my brothers and myself...we'd much rather you refuse."
Toji stared at them. Then, a dark, mocking chuckle escaped his lips, building into a harsh laugh.
"Mercy? From a walking piece of bacon and four angry garden gnomes?" Toji cracked his neck, a feral, adrenaline-fueled smirk spreading across his face. "I'm gonna make you even shorter."
The Gullivers didn't need another word.
They vanished.
The second clash was an absolute nightmare of high-speed coordination. The brothers didn't leave a single blind spot. If Toji attacked one, two others covered the counter. If he dodged, he stepped directly into the path of a fourth.
"What, do you idiots sleep in the same bed too?" The joke earned him four weapons aimed at his skull.
"Tch." Every missed strike carved another trench through the cobblestones. Masonry exploded into clouds of stone fragments. Building walls cracked beneath the barrage.
The few remaining civilians fled without daring to look back, having gathered more than enough intel to know they needed to run.
Toji analyzed his opponents with clinical precision, his eyes tracking the micro-movements of their footwork as he deflected a hammer blow and narrowly sidestepped a spear thrust. They were a machine. And to break a machine, you jam the gears.
Grer's greatsword came crashing down from above, intending to cleave him in two, Toji raised Playful Cloud, catching the massive blade horizontally.
"Now!" Berling and Dvalinn lunged simultaneously from his left and right flanks, aiming directly for his exposed front.
Instead of retreating, Toji let go of one end of Playful Cloud with his left hand. The Inventory Curse quickly offered the hilt of the Split Soul Katana into his open palm.
In a freak display of ambidexterity, Toji held the greatsword at bay with the staff in his right hand while executing a blindingly fast, reverse-grip slash with the katana in his left.
The sudden appearance of the soul-cleaving blade came within inches of taking off the incoming Pallums' heads. It would have been an instant death sentence, but the brothers, shocked as they were, used a microsecond lapse in their own rhythm to violently jerk their torsos back and escape its edge.
Toji pushed off Grer's greatsword, and planted his feet flat against the vertical brick wall of a nearby building. With an explosive burst of leg strength, he launched himself clean over their heads, landing gracefully a dozen yards down the street.
The Gullivers retreated, regrouping instantly as they stared at the strange katana.
Toji rolled his sore shoulder. "Pain in the ass..."
"Two completely different weapon classes? Drawn from thin air?" Alfrigg muttered, genuine wariness finally lacing his voice. "Spatial magic. And a physique rivaling a Level 6. There is definitely something special about you. I wonder why the goddess isn't interested in your soul."
A few rooftops away, concealed in the darkness of a chimney smoke, Aisha Belka pressed a hand to her forehead, her eyes narrowed in sheer disbelief. Beside her, three other Berbera elites held their breath, completely paralyzed by the spectacle below.
"Did you see that?!" Lena exclaimed, her voice frantic and hushed. "He is taking Bringar head-on. Alone!"
Aisha didn't answer. Her mind was racing. The brothers were Level 5, but their flawless teamwork made them a threat to even a Level 6. Yet, this unknown man in a ruined suit was trading blows with Freya's absolute best and holding his ground.
Just who the hell is he, and why is Freya trying to kill him?
Back on the street, Toji spat another mouthful of blood. Four Level 5s. Too coordinated.
He could win.
Just not here.
Somewhere in the distance, heavy alarm bells began ringing.
Word of a catastrophic clash between high-level adventurers was already spreading through the district. The Ganesha Familia would arrive soon to contain the brawl.
"...Great." Toji clicked his tongue. "As if tonight wasn't annoying enough." There were already too many witnesses. He didn't need the city guard crawling up his ass.
He needed a tight, chaotic environment to isolate these midgets, take them apart, and finish the job ASAP.
Toji glanced over his shoulder. The towering, twisted, labyrinthine neighborhoods of Daedalus Street loomed just a few blocks away.
Perfect.
Toji lowered his weapons. He slid Playful Cloud back into his curse and rested the Split Soul Katana over his shoulder, adopting a completely relaxed posture. He looked at the four brothers, a nasty smirk stretching across his face.
"Here you are, busting your asses trying to please a woman who's probably out hunting for dick right now." He flashed them a vicious, mocking grin. "Once I'm done stomping you four into the pavement, maybe I'll go pay her a visit and see what the hype is all about."
The brothers froze.
For a single heartbeat, the only sound was the distant, rhythmic tolling of the alarm bells.
Then, every single one of their faces twisted into pure, demonic rage.
"I WILL TEAR YOUR TONGUE OUT THROUGH YOUR THROAT!" they roared in absolute unison, whatever discipline had held their formation together completely shattering beneath a blind fury for their insulted goddess.
"Got 'em." Toji smirked at the successful bait. He was already moving before the last word even left their mouths, sprinting at full speed toward the suffocating maze of backstreets leading directly into Daedalus Street.
"After that trash!"
The chase was fast. The Gullivers pursued him like rabid hounds. Their rage propelled them at breakneck speeds, kicking up shockwaves that cratered the ground and shattered the street behind them.
They bursted into Daedalus Street.
A woman carrying a basket looked up just in time to see five blurs tear across the rooftops. The resulting shockwave knocked her flat, scattering her basket content across the alley.
"Inside!" an old man shouted, yanking two children through a doorway as chunks of brick rained from above.
Windows slammed shut all along the crooked streets.
The open boulevard vanished, replaced by a suffocating nightmare of narrow corridors, dead ends, vertical drops, and crumbling brick walls stacked like a madman's jigsaw puzzle.
They instantly lost Toji's trail. The brothers' four-man formation immediately fractured, the terrain outright refused to accommodate a wide front. Forced into a staggered line, their flawless synchronization was finally disrupted by claustrophobic ceilings and blind corners.
"Split 'em up." A crooked grin tugged at Toji's lips as he bounded silently across the rooftops.
His eyes followed the four armored blurs weaving through the maze below. "Let's see how tough you are when you're not holding hands."
Berling, stationed at the rear of the vanguard and just as blinded by anger as his brothers, followed his siblings without a second of doubt, his eyes darting across the shadows.
Toji plunged his hand deep into the Inventory Curse's mouth, drawing the Chain of a Thousand Miles. He paired it with a Grade 2 cursed tool—a blackened kama with the ability to temporarily smother all ambient sound. Once its blade bit into a target, every scream, struggle, and impact was swallowed into absolute silence.
Like a viper striking from the dark, Toji hurled the blade downward.
It bypassed Berling's armor entirely, hooking violently around the Pallum's ankle. Before Berling could even register the attack, Toji threw his immense physical weight backward, ripping the Level 5 adventurer off his feet and yanking him into the darkness of an abandoned multi-story building.
Alfrigg, the eldest and the tactical head of the group, regularly checked their flanks. This time, he turned to find empty air. "Where is Berling?!"
Inside the crumbling structure, Berling didn't panic. He was a seasoned veteran. As he was dragged upward through the floorboards, he swung his heavy axe, aimed at the chain's origin.
The blade smashed through the support beam Toji was standing on.
The structure shook violently as portions of the ceiling caved in. Toji was forced to retract the chain to dodge the falling debris. Berling used the momentary slack to land on a crumbling balcony, roaring out, "Up here, brothers!"
"Follow the voice!" Alfrigg ordered, the remaining three dashing toward the structure instantly.
Toji clicked his tongue. He needed to finish this before the others arrived.
"Persistent little bastards..." He leaned back just enough for Berling's axe to whistle past his nose.
The edge of the axe caught Toji's shoulder, tearing through his suit jacket and biting into the muscle. Blood sprayed across the wooden floor. Berling pressed the assault, screaming in fury, launching a flurry of high speed strikes threatening to overwhelm Toji in the cramped space.
Exactly as Toji wanted him to.
Berling went for a downward cleave. Instead of retreating, Toji stepped directly into the attack's dead zone. His left hand shot out, catching the Pallum's wrist with an immovable grip. With his right hand, the Split Soul Katana materialized from his curse.
Toji thrust the blade directly through Berling's breastplate, sinking it to the hilt in his chest. The cursed blade effortlessly bypassed the hardened durability of a Level 5. A wound that might have been survivable with a normal weapon instantly became a death sentence.
Berling's eyes widened in absolute shock. The blade didn't just pierce his heart, it severed his very soul, instantly draining the life from his body.
"Guess you weren't the tough one." Toji ripped the blade out and brutally kicked the corpse out the window, vanishing through the opposite side of the building before the body even began to fall.
The entire exchange had lasted less than a minute.
Berling's body plummeted from the structure just as his brothers closed in, crashing violently onto the cobblestones right at their feet.
"BERLING!" Dvalinn roared. He stared into the lifeless body of his brother, rage shattering his composure.
Toji wouldn't give them time to mourn.
Using the shifting shadows and his absolute lack of presence, he tried to hook on a good position. With one down, their flawless teamwork was crippled and he needed to exploit their confusion and shock.
Dvalinn and Grer boiled in rage, frantically scanning the rooftops for Toji, while Alfrigg desperately tried to assess the situation. Their murderous intent bled into the air, creating a suffocating pressure. They spun around, weapons raised, expecting an attack from above.
Instead, the brick wall directly beside them exploded outward.
Toji burst from the adjacent building, tackling Dvalinn with the force of a bullet train. The impact sent both the assassin and the Pallum crashing entirely through the opposite alley wall and straight into a civilian home.
The air instantly filled with choking plaster dust and terrified screams.
They had crashed into a cramped, dim living room. A family of three, a husband, wife, and teenage son, were huddled in the corner, screaming in absolute terror.
Grer charged through the gaping hole in the wall a second later, completely unhinged.
"I'LL KILL YOU!" he screamed, swinging his massive greatsword in a wide, horizontal arc aimed at Toji's torso.
"Leave us be! Please!"
Toji didn't dodge. With clinical efficiency, he reached out, grabbed the screaming father by the collar of his shirt, and violently yanked the man directly into the path of Grer's blade.
Grer's eyes widened. "Damnit—!"
He tried to pull his swing, fighting against his own wild momentum and the immense weight of his weapon. He managed to tilt the blade at the last possible microsecond, but the sheer kinetic force of the heavy steel still slammed into the fragile civilian. The man was practically ripped in half, his blood and viscera spraying across the cramped room.
The mother and son let out ear-piercing shrieks.
Grer stumbled, his balance completely ruined by the aborted swing and of him butchering an innocent bystander.
"Not even a shred of care. Not what I expected," Toji mocked out loud, chuckling darkly. "So much for Freya's noble knights."
"This was entirely on you, worm!" Grer roared, recovering his footing and raising his sword again.
Using the ruined body of the father as a distraction, Toji kicked the corpse upward, the spray of blood masking his silhouette just long enough to close the distance. The Split Soul Katana drinking in the dim light.
"Forgetting someone!?" Dvalinn, recovering from the tackle, roared and swung his great hammer at Toji's head, entirely uncaring of the collateral damage now.
Toji was forced to abandon his attack. He ducked effortlessly, letting the hammer smash into the ceiling's main support beam. The wooden structure groaned violently, beginning to splinter. Toji drove a brutal front kick into Dvalinn's chest, launching the Level 5 back through the rubble and out into the next alleyway.
The ceiling above them began to collapse.
"Get back here, you coward!" Grer screamed, charging after Toji as the assassin slipped out of the crumbling house, coldly leaving the screaming survivors to the falling rubble.
The fight spilled back out into the nightmare maze of Daedalus Street.
The clash became apocalyptic. The narrow alleyway was torn to shreds as Toji traded blows with the two enraged Level 5s.
Grer, completely blinded by bloodlust, rushed past his brother, leaving a massive opening as he swung his greatsword in a desperate cleaves.
"DIE! DIE! DIE!"
"Yeah, yeah." Toji slipped past another desperate swing.
"Shut up already." Toji didn't bother parrying. He stepped directly into the strike's path, raising the Split Soul Katana in a reverse grip, with a single blink, he slashed.
The Katana sliced through the thick steel of Grer's greatsword as if it were wet paper. Without losing an ounce of momentum, the blade continued its upward arc, carving through his breastplate, splitting his torso, and slicing cleanly out through his neck.
Grer's body froze. The two halves of his ruined greatsword clattered onto the cobblestones. A second later, a splash of blood erupted from his body, and he crumpled against a brick wall, the life choking out from him.
Dvalinn witnessed it. For a microsecond, the Pallum's brain stalled, utterly paralyzed by the sight of a second brother dying right in front of him.
That microsecond of grief was his death sentence.
Toji didn't pause for breath. In one fluid, motion, he pivoted on his heel, stepping smoothly past Dvalinn's stalled guard. The Split Soul Katana flashed forward.
Dvalinn's head separated from his shoulders, tumbling onto the blood soaked cobblestones, his small body collapsing a second later.
Three down. Erased permanently from the board.
Toji exhaled a ragged breath, resting the katana on his good shoulder. He was bleeding from various cuts, and he likely had a few cracked ribs from the earlier exchanges, but overall, he was fully operational.
Alfrigg dropped down from the rooftops into the alleyway. He stood amidst the ruins of Daedalus Street and the fresh corpses of his siblings, his face twisted into a grotesque snarl beneath his visor.
The eldest brother didn't drop his weapon. He didn't cower. "YOU...!"
A primal scream ripped from Alfrigg's throat. "I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL TEAR YOU TO PIECES!"
Alfrigg launched himself at Toji, moving faster than he had the entire night. It was an assault fueled by pure rage. He thrust his spear a dozen times in a single second, aiming for Toji's heart, his throat, his eyes.
Toji met the assault head-on, sparks flying everywhere from their brutal exchange.
But the dynamic had fundamentally shifted. Alfrigg was fighting with blinding rage while Toji was fighting with cold calculation. Toji parried, dodged, and weaved, purposefully letting the Pallum exhaust his muscles.
Alfrigg overextended on a lunge. Toji sidestepped by a hair's breadth. With a flick of his wrist, he brought the Split Soul Katana upward, cleanly severing Alfrigg's extended arm off at the bicep!
"Gah!!!" Alfrigg shrieked in agony, but he didn't stop. Operating on pure adrenaline, he used his remaining arm to swing his spear like a tornado, trying to force Toji back.
Toji vaulted smoothly over the Pallum, the Inventory Curse spitting Playful Cloud into his free hand. Taking advantage of its reach, he smacked the shaft of the spear. The sheer force rattled Alfrigg's bones and sent the spear flying from his grip.
As Toji landed, he brought the end of the staff down viciously onto the disoriented Alfrigg's kneecap, shattering the joint into pieces.
"Damnit!!!" Alfrigg screamed, his leg buckling completely. Toji wiped a smear of blood from his cheek, smirking down at the crippled Pallum.
"Die already, trash!" Alfrigg screamed. Drawing a short sword from his hip with his one good arm, he thrust it upward at Toji's stomach from his kneeling position.
"Really?" Toji smirked smugly. He caught the bare blade firmly with his left hand. The steel cut deep into his palm, blood dripping down his wrist, but the blade stopped moving entirely.
Alfrigg stared at the bleeding hand holding his weapon. Cold sweat covered his body, exhaustion and massive blood loss from his severed arm were rapidly eating away his consciousness. He pulled frantically, but Toji's grip was immovable.
Toji looked down at him.
Then, he drove his knee directly into Alfrigg's chest, snapping a massive chunk of his ribs inward with a single, devastating strike.
"Gah!" Alfrigg's lungs instantly collapsed. The Pallum was thrown violently backward, tumbling across the dirt until his back slammed against a dead end brick wall.
Alfrigg tried to stand.
He couldn't.
His arm was severed. His leg was shattered. His chest was caved in. He looked to his left and saw Grer's corpse slumped in the dirt. He looked to his right and saw Dvalinn's severed head.
And then, he looked forward.
Toji was walking slowly toward him. The assassin was moderately wounded, bleeding from a dozen cuts, yet he moved as if nothing had happened. He possessed the terrifying, casual grace of a predator that had entirely consumed its prey. The grinding shriek of the Katana dragging against the stone sounded like a death bell in Alfrigg's ears.
Suddenly, the blinding rage fueled by adrenaline vanished from Alfrigg's mind. In its place rushed a cold, suffocating, paralyzing terror.
It was the primal, helpless terror of recognizing the absolute futility of his own existence in the face of an apex killer.
He was going to die. His brothers were dead, and he was going to join them in this filthy, nameless alleyway!
This isn't how it was supposed to end! They were supposed to kill this worm and walk back to their lady proudly! Not die in the dirt!
"You know," Toji said, scratching the back of his neck with his free hand. "I remembered something while you gnomes were chasing me. You four have a massive bounty on your heads in the underworld. Still active, too. You four ended up being worth more dead than alive!"
"Ahhh..." Alfrigg pressed himself against the brick wall, grabbing his head violently with his remaining hand. The only sound able to escape his shattered chest was a breathless rattle.
"I ought to thank that freaky bitch." Toji leveled the bloodied tip of the katana at Alfrigg's chest. "She dropped a sack of Valis right in my lap."
"Ahhhhhhh!!" Alfrigg squeezed his eyes shut. The invincible vanguard of the Freya Familia had been reduced to a broken, weeping wreck.
All Toji had to do was push the blade. One inch, and the vanguard of the Freya Familia would be permanently wiped out.
But Toji paused. His eyes shifted from the trembling Pallum to the blood soaked alleyway, running a quick, pragmatic calculation.
If this were some normal, run-of-the-mill Familia, he would have finished the job without a second thought. But the Freya Familia was essentially a cult of psychopathic zealots. If he completely eradicated their top brass, the resulting bloodlust from their Goddess and the rest of her followers would be a monumental pain in his ass. They would never stop hunting him.
But leaving one alive? Sending one elite Level 5 out of four back completely shattered, physically and mentally? That was a psychological deterrent. It was a message that screamed: I am out of your league. Do not send more.
"You know," Toji muttered, his voice devoid of any real malice. Why should he feel any? This worm wasn't worth his hate. "If you freaks were from some ordinary Familia, I probably would have killed you by now."
Alfrigg could only stare, paralyzed by the sheer weight of the assassin's gaze.
"But sending you back alive, crawling to your Goddess like a beaten dog..." Toji tilted his head, a cruel shadow falling over his eyes. "Maybe that'll make that freaky goddess hesitate before throwing more of her precious toys my way."
"M-Monster..." Alfrigg muttered.
Toji's boot lashed out. A vicious kick snapped Alfrigg's head back against the brick wall, instantly rendering the Level 5 unconscious.
Toji stepped back, exhaling a slow breath. He sheathed the katana, letting the Inventory Curse swallow it back into its spatial gut.
Around him, Daedalus Street was waking up. From the ruined homes came the muffled cries of panicked civilians, the shifting of fallen rubble, and the distant whistles of the Ganesha Familia.
It was time to gun it.
With a powerful flex of his calves, Toji launched himself up, clearing the four story slum structures in a single leap. He landed silently on the rooftop tiles, his Heavenly Restriction masking his presence entirely. Turning into a ghost against the moonlit skyline, he bounded across the rooftops, leaving the chaos far behind.
Toji came to a sliding halt on the slanted roof of one of the highest structures bordering the district. It was a perfect vantage point, offering a panoramic view of the smoke rising from his recent battlefield.
He stood there for a moment, the wind tugging at his ruined, bloodstained suit.
"You can stop creeping around, big guy," Toji called out into the empty air, not bothering to turn around. "I could feel your heavy ass presence from three blocks away."
From the shadows of the rooftop's spire, a colossal figure stepped into the moonlight.
The air instantly grew heavy with a suffocating, atmospheric pressure. It was the sheer, undeniable weight of an apex predator.
Ottar, the King and champion of Freya, stood at his full height, his eyes fixed on Toji with unnerving calm.
"The Bringar. Four Level 5s defeated so quickly." Ottar's deep voice rumbled across the rooftop. "Few could have accomplished such a remarkable feat." His gaze remained completely fixed on the assassin. "Freya-sama's judgment was correct. Unlike mine."
Toji turned around, shoving his hands into his pockets, his posture radiating absolute disrespect.
"Her judgment?" Toji barked a laugh. "She sent four garden gnomes to do a man's job."
His gaze drifted over the towering Boaz, lingering for only a moment before a crooked, mocking grin spread across his face. "So you're the strongest in Orario."
There wasn't the slightest hint of respect in his voice.
"I've put down monsters scarier than you." Toji rolled his shoulders lazily. "And I've already defeated one 'strongest.' Don't expect your title to impress me."
Ottar's expression didn't shift. His rusty eyes remained entirely tranquil, though the oppressive aura around him thickened.
"My Goddess's will is absolute," Ottar stated simply. "If Freya-sama desires your death, I will grant her wish."
Toji let out a low chuckle as he cracked his neck. The Inventory Curse slithered over his shoulder, opening its maw.
"So that's all you are." Toji grinned viciously. "A dog waiting for its master's next command."
The fight broke out with the suddenness of a lightning strike.
Toji didn't bother testing the waters. He moved with blinding speed, a blur of pure physical perfection. The Split Soul Katana materialized in his hand mid-dash. He aimed a lethal slash directly at Ottar's face, intending to end the fight in a single microsecond.
Ottar didn't flinch.
With a movement so minimal it bordered on the absurd, the Level 7 Warlord simply tilted his head to the side. The cursed blade whistled through the empty air, missing him by a millimeter.
Toji's eyes widened slightly, but his momentum didn't stall. He turned, launching a devastating flurry of high-speed strikes, a storm of thrusts, sweeps, and decapitating arcs.
Yet, Ottar navigated the onslaught with unreal precision. He sidestepped, leaned, and parried the flat of the cursed blade with his armored gauntlets.
'So that's it,' Toji clicked his tongue. 'No tricks. Just overwhelming strength.'
Toji feinted a low sweep and launched a heavy, spinning heel kick aimed directly at Ottar's head.
Instead of dodging, Ottar raised his left arm, catching the kick flush against his forearm. The impact shattered the stone beneath Ottar's boots, but the Boaz didn't budge an inch.
Before Toji could retract his leg, Ottar's massive right hand shot out in a blinding backhand.
SMACK!
The blow connected with Toji's jaw with a crack. His brain rattled violently inside his skull, his jaw slightly dislocating under the pressure. His vision went white for a fraction of a second as he was sent skidding backward across the rooftop, his heels digging into the tiles to arrest his momentum.
Toji spat a mouthful of blood, his head ringing like a church bell.
"Your instincts are exceptionally sharp," Ottar acknowledged, lowering his fist. "To still have this much explosive speed and power after battling four Level 5s is impressive."
"Shove it," Toji growled, gritting his teeth.
He cracked his jaw back into place, his dark eyes locked onto the towering Boaz as they sized each other up from across the ruined roof.
"What a monster," Toji muttered internally, a sudden, dark thrill creeping into his chest.
He had underestimated Ottar severally.
Gojo Satoru had been a monster of Cursed Technique—an untouchable god manipulating space itself. But Ottar was a monster of pure physical prowess. His durability, his speed, his sheer kinetic output. He was a physical anomaly, just like Toji.
A feral grin tugged at Toji's lips. "Big body. Big target."
Toji reached into the Inventory Curse. He didn't pull out a new weapon. Instead, he drew the Chain of a Thousand Miles, swiftly locking its carabiner into the pommel ring of the Split Soul Katana.
"You're going to die here, big guy!" Toji roared.
He swung the chain. The Katana became a blur of black steel, ripping through the air with a supersonic shriek. He lashed it at Ottar, forcing the Warlord to weave and deflect as the blade carved through the rooftop's architecture, demolishing chimneys and tearing up the stone.
For a moment, Toji had the absolute high ground, pressing the assault, tearing the environment to shreds, and forcing the Level 7 onto the defensive.
Then, Ottar had enough.
The Warlord's golden eyes narrowed. He reached behind his back and wrapped his hand around the hilt of his black greatsword.
"Silver moon's mercy, the golden wilderness."
A suffocating, golden aura erupted from Ottar's body, twisting the very air around him as the Boaz began chanting his magic.
'Something is off.' Toji's swing faltered. The Chain of a Thousand Miles went slack in his grip.
Every instinct he possessed, every nerve honed by a lifetime of surviving impossible odds, suddenly erupted in alarm.
Run.
Drop the weapons.
Turn around.
Survive.
A sickening sense of déjà vu washed over him.
'No...this is perfect!' He tightened his grip on the chain, his arrogant pride rearing its ugly head, completely blinding his unparalleled instincts. 'If I crush this bacon at his absolute best, I crush the Freya Familia's pride entirely!' he rationalized, a crazed grin returning to his face.
Ottar planted his feet. He gripped his greatsword with both hands, his muscles tightening as the golden magic condensed furiously along the blade's edge. One strike to end it all.
Toji readied up, preparing to launch the Split Soul Katana with everything he had.
"Hildis Vini," Ottar intoned, and swung.
A shockwave of compressed air and golden magic erupted from the blade, expanding to the size of a tidal wave as it instantly devoured the distance between Ottar and Toji.
'Shit—!' Toji's eyes widened in sheer shock. It was too fast. It was too wide. There was nowhere to dodge.
SLASH!
The attack hit him like a meteor.
The sheer force of the blow bypassed his guard entirely. It cleaved deeply across Toji's torso, a horrific cut that sprayed blood into the air. The impact was so monumentally devastating that even the grotesque Inventory Curse wrapped around his torso shrieked in agony as it tore in half by the pressure.
Toji was launched off the building.
He was shot into the night sky like a cannonball, entirely clearing the boundaries of Daedalus Street. He flew across the city skyline, bleeding openly, his limbs completely limp as the immense kinetic force carried him kilometers away from the Warlord.
The wind roared in his ears, deafening and cold. Unable to maintain its grip against the sheer wind pressure in its wounded state, the Inventory Curse fell away. The Chain of a Thousand Miles and the Split Soul Katana vanished into the darkness below, falling to who knows where.
Time seemed to slow down. The violent adrenaline faded, leaving only a cold, hollow clarity.
'Ah...' Toji thought, looking up at the serene night sky.
When the Gojo brat had hit him with that blinding purple mass back in his world, it had been instant. Just a flash of purple, and then he was waking up in this bizarre city's alleys.
But this? The agonizing tear of his own flesh, the numbing cold creeping up his spine, the sheer, helpless weight of gravity pulling him down?
This was death. Real, undeniable death.
An image flashed in his mind. Soft, kind eyes. A warm smile. His wife holding a small, dark-haired infant.
His Megumi.
Deep down, he had convinced himself he'd just been caught in some spatial anomaly. He had held onto the delusion that he'd eventually find a way back, finish whatever sick joke this world was playing on him, and somehow settle his debts.
But bleeding out in the sky of a foreign world meant he was never going back. He had abandoned his son to the Zenin, and he hadn't even left behind a final word or a crumb of protection to fix it.
He couldn't help his son anymore. All because he never changed.
He had felt the danger. His instincts had screamed at him to walk away, to survive, to treat it as just another job. But he hadn't. He had stayed to prove a point. He had tried to assert himself against 'the strongest' even in this world, unable to discard his petty pride, unable to just be the invisible, worthless monkey the Zenin clan had told him he was.
'I really am an idiot,' Toji thought, a weak, bloody smirk touching his lips as the ground rapidly rushed up to meet him.
His vision darkened, the edges of his consciousness fraying into the void. But right at the edge of giving up, two annoying faces flickered into his mind.
A broke, loudmouth, short Goddess in a rundown church. A naive, white-haired brat, trembling but still trying to stand.
He didn't give a shit about Bell Cranel or Hestia. They were weak. Pathetic. Convenient cover.
But...they were also the only ones who hadn't looked at him like he was a monster, a tool, or a piece of trash. They had just given him a roof, a couch, and a contract, and demanded almost nothing in return.
If he died here, that bitch Freya wins. He would just be another casualty in her sick little game, and she would do whatever she wanted with the brat.
Toji's fingers twitched. A stubborn, spiteful ember flared in his collapsing chest.
That crazy bitch of a goddess had tried to kill him just for being near her latest obsession.
Fine.
If he crawled out of this alive, he'd shove a massive middle finger in her face and tear every scheme she had apart. As a bonus, it'd bail out the shortstack and her idiot brat, too.
'Freya Familia...' Toji thought, a spike of pure, unadulterated spite pulling him just barely back from the brink. 'I'll paint this city with your blood.'
CRACK!
Toji's body violently crashed through the tiled roof of a storehouse on the outskirts of the city, plunging into the total, absolute darkness of the lower floors.
And then, there was nothing but silence.
༻❁༺
The End
༻❁༺
Wassup
Frequent question from last chapter: Why didn't Toji level up multiple times like Ryuu?
Short answer: Because it'd make him ridiculously overpowered and the story would be a lot less interesting
In-universe answer: Ryuu spent years without updating her Falna, continuously accumulating excelia. Over time, all of that unclaimed excelia effectively forced her "container" to expand beyond its normal limits. So when she finally received an update, it overflowed into multiple level-ups
Or something. Idk
Toji's situation was completely different. He earned an absurd amount of excelia, but he did it in like a month. His Falna container simply didn't have the time to undergo that same gradual expansion. The excelia was there, but the vessel itself hadn't been stretched over years the way Ryuu's had
So despite earning enough excelia to skyrocket his stats, he only qualified for a single level-up
Also, Toji can't have devolvement abilities because they also can be interpreted as otherworldly magical nonsense
So to he safe he just won't get them
Anyway
I'd like to thank you all for the support you've shown this story. I'm honestly surprised by how much love the last chapter received. I actually thought it was pretty cringe and probably the weakest chapter so far, but turns out I was wrong
I hope this one delivers the same excitement and leaves you all satisfied. (I know it's long as hell—trust me, this is actually the shortened version of what I originally wrote)
I think I've answered any remaining plot holes about what Lili is doing right now. Her fate has been shown clearly, and she'll get more screen time when it really matters
Also...Finn might actually have a solid chance of getting the shawty for himself~
There wasn't any Bell in this chapter because next chapter will be his time to shine. It'll be an exclusively Bell and Hestia focused chapter
As for Toji...yeah, he got fucked. You might say he went down too easily against Ottar, but that guy is an absolute monster and deserves all the glaze. And for those who think Toji beat the Gulliver brothers too easily...? I can't really argue with that. He absolutely did
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter
Leave a like/comment/review to support this work.