Their deafening shouts swept through the surroundings.
What the hell are these guys doing?
“Good! Looks like you’re full of spirit now that you’ve gotten some rest!”
“It’s all thanks to you, Oyabun!” Koshiro replied with a crisp salute.
“Kahahaha! Is everything ready?”
“Of course, Oyabun! The boys have all grabbed their gear and completely surrounded the hospital so those bastards can’t escape!”
“As expected, you’re a man of action!”
Sakaki smacked Koshiro on the back, sending him flying like a cannonball.The impact was so strong that the nearby wall that Koshiro crashed into cracked and collapsed into rubble.
Song Ha-Eun laughed at the buried Koshiro twitching under the broken wall. It felt like watching some cheap B-grade comedy.
“Is he dead?” she asked.
So Koshiro was an action leader, huh.
Koshiro suddenly shot up to his feet from under the rubble.
His clothes were torn and covered in dust, but surprisingly, he didn’t have a single scratch.
“A real man doesn’t go down that easily!”
“My apologies, Oyabun!”
“It’s all in the core! I keep telling you, Koshiro, you lack core strength! How are you supposed to protect your little sister like that?!”
“I will strengthen my core from now on!”
Sakaki laughed heartily and patted Koshiro’s shoulder. “Kahahaha! That’s more like it! You need to grow stronger and find a good woman. Isn’t your sister nagging you to get married?”
Sakaki was always easygoing with his subordinates; Koshiro was the only one he treated this way. Rather than a boss and his subordinate, they seemed more like an uncle and his nephew.
“How did you two meet?” Kwon Oh-Jin asked.
“I’ve known him for a long time. Back when I first formed a vigilante group to fight monsters, this guy came looking for me. You know what he did then?”
“O-Oyabun! That story...!” Koshiro hesitated, looking flustered.
Sakaki grinned and patted Koshiro’s shoulder. “This little brat, who wasn’t even an Awakener, declared that he wanted to become a real man to protect his little sister. He knelt in front of our vigilante base and refused to leave for days!”
Koshiro’s face turned bright red.
Kwon Oh-Jin looked at Koshiro with interest. “Mr. Koshiro, you joined the vigilante group despite not being an Awakener?”
Even in Japan, where Awakeners were scarce, it was hard for groups to allow non-Awakeners to fight against monsters. After all, attacks without the power of a Stigma were practically useless against monsters.
“That’s right. We rejected him multiple times and told him we couldn’t accept non-Awakeners, but the little punk kept begging to join,” Sakaki said with a pleased smile. He pounded Koshiro’s back. “Well, I guess even the heavens couldn’t break this guy’s stubbornness. Not long after, he became an Awakener of Scutum.”
“Ugh... Please stop, Oyabun,” Koshiro groaned, shaking his head in embarrassment.
Stigma of Scutum, huh?
It was known as the most impenetrable defense-type Stigma. That explained how he could be slammed through a wall and still come out unscathed.
“Alright! Now that we’re ready, let’s go hunt down those Black Star Society bastards!” Sakaki exclaimed. Taking the lead, he confidently strode forward.
Behind him, Koshiro and the rest of the Kuroushi members followed.
With the group, Kwon Oh-Jin and Song Ha-Eun headed toward the abandoned hospital where the Black Star Society was supposedly hiding.
Kwon Oh-Jin activated his Stigma of Canes Venatici and scanned the area around the hospital. No one was around, not even sentries.
What the hell? Is our intel wrong? His doubts only lasted a moment. Soon, roughly fifty people emerged from the hospital as if they had just finished a meeting.
They weren’t wearing the same ominous black robes as the Owl faction, but the fact that such a large group had gathered in an abandoned hospital was already suspicious enough to tell who they were.
A woman with piercings on her lips, nose, and even eyebrows frowned at the Kuroushi members surrounding the hospital. “The hell are these guys?”
“M-Ms. Mika, aren’t those guys Kuroushi?”
The woman named Mika narrowed her eyes. “That definitely is Sakaki Ryo.”
The handsome man standing next to her bit his lip anxiously. “How the hell did they get here...!”
Mika glared at the Kuroushi members in confusion. Then, she shouted at the Black Star Society members, who appeared to be her subordinates, “What are you guys standing around for! Get ready for battle!”
The Awakeners who had emerged from the abandoned hospital hastily took out their weapons. Contrary to their disorganized appearance, the black mana emanating from them was so powerful that it caused the ground around the hospital to tremble slightly. These Awakeners were undoubtedly of the Seahorse constellation.
“Boys! Are you ready?”
With a heavy stomp, Sakaki unsheathed a katana from the scabbard on his back. Though katanas were usually thin and sleek, his was so large and thick that it made one wonder how someone could even swing it.
“What did I say a real man is?!” Sakaki shouted
The Kuroushi members unsheathed their weapons.
“Someone who protects their family!”
“Someone who protects their loved ones!”
“Someone who fights to protect their country!”
What the hell is it this time?
“Oh-Jin, do you think they overdosed on drugs or have they not taken the drugs they’re supposed to?” Song Ha-Eun asked.
“I haven’t heard of any drug that causes those symptoms, so I think it’s the latter.”
It wasn’t just him and Song Ha-Eun who found their behavior odd. Mika, who had been tensely staring at Sakaki, incredulously laughed in bewilderment.
Sakaki, at the front, swung his massive katana horizontally. The force of his swing created an invisible wave that crashed against the Black Star Society members.
Like a gust of wind sweeping through the area, the intense wave sent a Black Star Society member flying backward like a pebble.
One of the Black Star Society members had to reach out and hold onto something on the ground. “Sakaki Ryo! Focus on Sakaki Ryo!”
The Seahorse faction’s Stigma, etched on his left chest, emitted a dark light.
A massive stream of water surged from his outstretched hand, spreading out like a net. Mixed with dirt, the water turned into thick, sticky mud and began to wrap around Sakaki.
As Sakaki violently twisted, the mud that had wrapped around him exploded outward. Meanwhile, five Black Star Society members chanted incantations and aimed their weapons at him.
A massive stream of water, like from a fire hose, shot toward Sakaki.
Koshiro stepped in front of Sakaki and crossed his arms in an X shape. A three-meter blue shield appeared before them, deflecting the stream of water.
Swept up by their own water, the Black Star Society members tumbled to the ground.
“Don’t do such useless acts, Koshiro!” Sakaki yelled at Koshiro, who had blocked the water to protect him. Sakaki then glanced at his members, who were fighting fiercely all over the area.
The Black Star Society had significantly fewer members compared to them, but their attacks were so powerful and full of mana that it seemed as though they had consumed an elixir. Hence, the Kuroushi members had trouble dealing with them.
“Go help them!” Sakaki ordered.
“A real man doesn’t talk back!”
After a brief moment of hesitation, Koshiro ran toward their other group members.
As Koshiro moved out of the way, fierce water blasts slammed into Sakaki.
Sakaki felt like he was being hit with a hammer instead of a stream of water.
“With such an attack...”
Sakaki’s muscles swelled, and his yukata grew tighter, seemingly about to rip open at any moment. The eight strokes carved on his left chest gleamed brightly.
“Do you think you can stop a man like me?!” Sakaki roared as he took the violent water head-on and charged toward the Black Star Society members.
“Y-you crazy bastard!”
“Stop him! Stop him!”
“M-Ms. Mika! This guy’s too strong!”
The Black Star Society members urgently calling out to Mika were sent flying after colliding with Sakaki.
They looked crushed and mangled as if a dump truck had struck them.
“Khahaha! I was wondering how strong the Seahorse faction was, but you guys are nothing special!”
Sakaki laughed heartily as he swept through the Seahorse Awakeners like a wolf among sheep.
“M-Mika, I don’t think we stand a chance.”
“Dammit! Can we reach Sosuke?!”
“He’s not answering!” the handsome man said with an anxious expression, shaking the communication orb in a panic.
“Shit... Why the hell is that crazy Taurus bastard here...?!”
Grinding her teeth in hysterical frustration over the unresolved question, Mika turned and scanned her surroundings. In her line of sight, she noticed a man and a woman watching the battle from a slight distance.
“Shiranui. Do you see those two over there?”
“They’re not Kuroushi.”
“I’m not sure, but...”
Mika’s eyes narrowed. They weren’t a part of the Kuroushi, but they were with them. This fact was important.
Those guys are all about being loyal and whatnot.
If those two people had relayed the Black Star Society’s location to Sakaki, she was certain that Sakaki would protect those who helped him at all costs.
“Let’s take them hostage...” Mika said.
Shiranui turned and exchanged a look with Mika. “I’ll take care of the woman. You handle the man.”
Mika sharply looked at Shiranui and unintentionally questioned, “Don’t fucking tell me that she’s turning you on even in this situation?”
She knew this wasn’t the time to be nitpicking about this kind of thing. However, the woman with the eye patch on her left eye looked so stunningly beautiful that even Mika couldn’t help but admire her.
“Is this really the time to be asking that?”
Mika and Shiranui simultaneously took off.
As they moved, puddles of water formed under their feet and propelled them forward with explosive speed.
Noticing their advance, Sakaki immediately chased after Mika and Shiranui.
“Hold up, Mr. Crazy Taurus.”
Mika reached Kwon Oh-Jin in an instant and wrapped her arms around him as if giving him a back hug. She then pressed a sharp blade made out of water against Kwon Oh-Jin’s neck and glared at Sakaki.
Sakaki, who had been rushing toward them, abruptly stopped in his tracks.
Sakaki’s flustered expression made Mika conclude that taking the two hostage had been a brilliant decision. “Hmm. Looks like I guessed right. Move even one step and I’ll slit his throat.”
“Ugh!” Sakaki growled and clenched his fists.
“Hehe. Good, good. Stay just like that, nice and still.”
Kwon Oh-Jin turned indifferently to look at her.
“What, too scared to even speak?” She grinned slyly at Kwon Oh-Jin. “Up close, you’re actually pretty cute.”
Mika stuck out her tongue, the skull piercing in the middle of it gleaming brightly. “If you just listen to me, you won't get hurt. Stay still, okay?”
Smiling seductively, she licked Kwon Oh-Jin’s cheek.