Chapter 149 Scarlet Demon
Assassination of a key figure in Asgardam. After hearing the details, Zetsu Träumerei decided it would be a boring job.
In reality, it was pretty dull. Thanks to her partner causing confusion, they achieved their goal without much effort or trouble.
All that was left was to disappear into the night. For having come all the way from the far-off Capital of the Holy Western Country, it was a job with no thrill or challenge. The man who approached along the way didn't even catch Zetsu's interest. Just chewing on something tasteless and odorless didn't satisfy her at all.
As Zetsu had predicted, this mission could be summed up in one word: boring.
On the way to meet up with her partner, who was acting separately, she walked under the moonlight, even though she was being pursued.
She wanted to quench her dissatisfaction with the moon's light. That much, her heart was parched.
That's why this encounter soaked Zetsu's thirst to the core.
On the outside, the man looked like a run-of-the-mill roadside thug. But he exuded a scent of 'ruin' and 'collapse' that Zetsu had never encountered before. The moment she caught that scent, a flood of libido drove Zetsu even more insane.
To put it bluntly,
She fell in love at first sight.
──Zetsu. Become this guy's bride (killer).
──I want him. I love him. So let's kill each other. Right now.
The thought of reuniting with her partner was no longer in Zetsu's mind.
The fight was going well too. While he was still inexperienced compared to Zetsu's skills, his tricky fighting style delighted Zetsu. It was frustrating that he had a misplaced sense of inferiority, but Zetsu could sense his mentor's intentions.
He was probably a 'decent' person. To prevent this man's dangerous talent from awakening, he had deliberately branded him with inferiority. Something like that.
While lamenting how wasteful it was, Zetsu was trembling. What would happen when she peeled away the seal from this man who already drove her mad?
Kneeling while supporting herself with a heavy object, she was pierced by the man's gaze, which shone with a fierce, wolf-like intensity. Zetsu felt a thrill.
Desire dripped, and she licked her tongue. Her heart raced like a maiden's.
"──But, ah."
And finally, the man's presence changed.
The blood from the flash wound on his chest congealed, and he stood up unsteadily. Then the change extended not only to his presence but also to his clear appearance.
A blood-like crack ran across the man's cheek, making his villainous look even more ruthless. And at the tip of the iron mass he was leaning on, a large amount of blood quickly gathered. To Zetsu's eyes, it looked like a chrysalis hatching into a butterfly.
"Ah, ha...!"
Eventually, when the gathered crimson took on a certain shape, Zetsu let out a delighted cry. So excited that she bit her index finger hard enough to draw blood, Zetsu didn't care at all.
She was so captivated by the presence before her that even pain was transformed into exquisite pleasure.
"Ahh. What is this. No way. You can't do that, darling. If you show me a sight like that, no matter how many pairs of underwear this Zetsu has, it won't be enough!"
"You're way too vulgar."
"It's because darling is just too wonderful. I mean, you look just like that──like a red-colored grim reaper. Ahaha. This is just splendid...!"
The villainous figure adorned in blood wore a [Scarlet Scythe] made of his own blood.
Its imposing presence, aura, and ruthless appearance were truly that of a grim reaper.
It was more than just touching Zetsu's heartstrings; it was so beautiful in her eyes that it felt like it could crush her.
"Eh heh heh heh. I can't hold back anymore! More, more, more! Let's love each other a lot, darling!"
"Prove it first, ya slut!!!"
Zetsu could no longer sit still. Thrumming with excitement, she lunged forward, and Hiiro also lowered his stance, scythe in hand.
Zetsu's momentum was like a bullet. Without any feints or distractions, she unleashed a straight bamboo-splitting strike. Hiiro met it with a sweeping motion infused with centrifugal force.
"Take this!!"
"Ugh!?"
A shockwave pierced through Zetsu.
The cold, calculating swordsmanship predicted a future where the scythe would slice through her before the bamboo-splitting strike could land, redirecting the downward trajectory to counter the sweep. In that case, Hiiro would have the upper hand in a battle of strength. However, it was more than just an upper hand. The moment the weapon changed from the iron mass to the scythe, the power surged up a notch or 2.
As a result, Zetsu was sent flying like a ball, rolling across the ground.
"Don't underestimate me!"
Hiiro seemed to take Zetsu's reckless charge, driven by pure instinct, as an insult. With anger still seeping from him, he rushed forward to launch a counterattack.
"Shadow Fusion..."
But Zetsu once again cloaked herself in shadows, melting into the shadow swamp with a splash. She had used the surprise attack from before to avoid Hiiro's strike.
The scythe's arc of pursuit cut through the air, and as a splash sounded behind Hiiro, he must have predicted the surprise attack. He spun around and swung his scythe, but there was only darkness behind him.
"Ehehehe."
Again, a splash sounded behind him. Zetsu hadn't moved from where she had submerged; she had faked her movement. By going against their expectations, she managed to get behind Hiiro without moving.
Zetsu let out a sensual tongue-licking sound and swung her sword, believing that a beautiful crimson flower would bloom in the darkness once more.
"────."
"Huh?"
But the blade didn't reach its target.
Hiiro kept his back turned, and only his arm holding the scythe extended backward, blocking Zetsu's surprise attack.
Zetsu's eyes widened in surprise, as if he had eyes in the back of his head. No, that wasn't it. Her intuition whispered something else. The strangeness wasn't in that.
The movement she just witnessed was forced, as if someone other than Hiiro himself had momentarily forced his arm to move.
(Isn't that darling?)
Her sharp intuition allowed her to notice the strangeness, but sometimes it could also be a curse. Hiiro's scythe blocked the sword, and drops of blood fell from the blade, like a blade chip, staining the ground at Zetsu's feet.
"Ruthlessss!?"
"Ouch!"
However, even if she had noticed, it didn't mean she could react in time. The blood that fell to the ground seemed to steal Kuroto Kage's signature move, as it transformed into a spear and pierced Zetsu's arm.
Zetsu, having suffered a non-negligible injury from an unexpected attack, couldn't help but leap back.
"Huff, huff...huff. What a coincidence. I control 'shadows', and you control 'blood' with your White Beast ability."
"'White'? What're you on about?"
"I didn't expect our abilities to be so similar. You got me good, Darling. Ehehehe."
".........That's gross."
Even though Zetsu had almost rendered one arm useless, she looked genuinely happy. Hiiro couldn't help but feel exasperated, but the real source of his frustration wasn't just the craziness of the woman in front of him.
(Master's so clumsy! If you aimed for the heart, it would have been a one-shot!)
(What gives you the right to mess with my blood like that? I was goin' for her shoulder, almost got her!
)
(Why? It would be better to just kill someone like this quickly, right? Are you worried about that talk about aiming for a fatal wound earlier?)
(Ugh. Look, I ain't sayin' I don't want her dead... but snatching her up and handin' her over to Captain Shidou is the smartest play.)
The words of Ruthless echoed painfully in Hiiro's ears and head. Physically painful.
The brutal act of unleashing Ruthless's blood hidden within Hiiro was tormenting him, even piercing through his excellent mental resistance. Right now, Hiiro had an increase in status and the ability to manipulate blood, but he was being hit with a horrifying headache. Even so, the fact that he was managing to hold it together on the surface was already quite abnormal.
(You're taking your time. But this mode... ah, since it's a collaboration of beast and human, I guess we can call it [Demon Mode]. That said, since my blood hasn't fully settled in Master yet, a long battle is impossible. Both of us aren't used to it, so our control is shaky, so let's keep our expectations in check, okay?)
(Man, that "Demon Mode" sounds like somethin' outta a cheap novel.)
(What are you saying now after using me (Ruthless)? Enough with the complaints, let's just take her down quickly!)
(Right on!)
Despite the lack of tension in their exchange, the sight of Hiiro wielding a large scythe was that of a berserker, a fusion of human and demon.
His pale green eyes pierced through the enemy without a hint of carelessness, and just then, chaos erupted under the moonlight.
(Master, to the right!)
"Huh!?"
A chain-linked weight, moving in a snake-like trajectory, flew toward his temple. Hiiro instinctively ducked, and it whizzed past right in front of him. Without Ruthless's sensing, it would have shot through his temple.
It's a sharp ambush. Following the trajectory immediately, he spotted a man in a dark green hood hiding behind a thin tree, wielding a chain scythe and clicking his tongue.
"Ugh, you dodged that one, huh? This is just annoying. Just when I thought things were going smoothly for once, there's a pitfall at the very end. Give me a break. I really hate this unexpected twist."
"...You bastard."
"I thought you'd never show up, and here you are wasting time in a place like this. Seriously, teaming up with you is hard on my stomach, you know that, you jerk!"
"Oh dear. Iggy, you're so fidgety."
The one lurking in the shadows strikes when the moment is just right.
Here comes a new wave of reinforcements. The ambush may have failed, but thanks to Ruthless's new technique, the tide that was about to turn is now back to its original state. A cold bead of sweat trickled down Hiiro's cheek.
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