Day 15
The yakuza climbed the stairs with murder written all over their faces.
Thick beads of sweat stood out on those savage features.
These stairs are a bitch. They were a bitch even when I came up in the cool dawn, but now…
High summer. The sun hammering down without mercy.
Sweat poured just standing still in this godforsaken heat, and they were climbing hundreds of steps? Pure hell.
They were probably cursing their boss to hell and back in their heads. Obvious.
They had already passed the halfway mark.
Come a little higher.
I soothed my twitching hand and waited. Not yet.
As the distance closed, the yakuza started bellowing. Phlegmy, threatening roars.
“Bakayaro!!”
“You made us climb this shit?!”
“We’ll fucking kill you!!”
I laughed in their faces and flipped them the middle finger. The enraged yakuza charged up the stairs with murderous intent. But only for a moment. Their legs slowed again almost at once. They gasped for breath, frantically wiping away the sweat streaming down their faces.
About eighty percent of the way up. And not a single one left at the bottom…
I dug into my pocket and pulled out the Hyeoldan.
Three pills.
The safe dose—no life-threatening side effects.
I swallowed all three at once.
My vision flooded red. Bloody tears welled from my eyes. Every sense sharpened to a razor’s edge; my body felt light as air.
If I take just one more… damn it. This shit’s addictive too?
I reached behind me and crooked a finger. The black-clad man waiting in the wings stepped forward and handed me a door panel—freshly ripped from the shrine.
And a sacred door panel, at that.
I laid the panel flat on the ground, climbed on top of it, and kicked off, sliding down the stairs like I was snowboarding. Normally impossible. But with this slope and my weight, it worked just fine.
The door-board shot downward. The yakuza panicked and raised their weapons. I drew the Japanese sword from my waist at the same time. The man in front flung himself sideways in terror, barely dodging me.
The second one wasn’t so lucky. The blade carved deep through his body and he collapsed. I hopped off the board. The door panel kept sliding, slamming into the yakuza below. They lost their balance and toppled backward—straight into the men behind them. Instant human dominoes.
“Gyaaaaaaah!”
Bodies tangled and rolled, cascading down the stairs. A human snowball. The mass of thrashing limbs grew larger the farther it went. There was a limit, of course—after a point it stopped expanding. Instead, plenty of yakuza simply got crushed to death underneath it.
The stairs were a blood-slicked mess in seconds. More than half of them were out of the fight. Satisfying result.
Now came the real combat.
The ones who’d been lucky, or whose reflexes were sharp enough to dodge the human avalanche. Those were the ones I still had to kill.
“You little shit!!”
A yakuza with a Japanese sword charged me. I slipped his swing with almost casual ease and cut. The blade whispered across his throat. I grabbed the collapsing man by the collar and shoved his corpse out in front of me like a shield.
Bang bang bang!
Gunshots cracked. Bullets punched into the body shield. None of them made it through the thick meat.
I closed the distance and fought them at point-blank range. No backing off. Staying glued to them was the only way to stay alive.
“Fuck! Stop shooting! You’re hitting us!”
“Stab the bastard in the gut!”
“He took Hyeoldan! We take it too! Hurry up and swallow!”
“You think popping Hyeoldan is going to change a damn thing?”
I sneered and kept swinging. Hyeoldan boosted physical ability and had an awakening effect—heightened focus, basically. What it didn’t do was hand out experience you never earned. The gap between their skill and mine was heaven and earth.
Beat me without guns? With you lot?
I cut down every man in sight as I worked my way down the stairs.
The steps were slick with blood, so I had to be extra careful on the descent. One slip and it was over.
And I always kept someone in front of me—alive or dead, didn’t matter. A shield was the only real protection against guns. I never put much faith in body armor.
Living ones make better shields anyway.
When I grabbed a still-breathing comrade, the rest of them hesitated.
“This crazy fuck…!”
“What the hell is that monster?!”
The yakuza stared in horror.
I sank deeper into the fight. In that blood-red world the only things that existed were enemies that needed killing. I dodged their attacks and took their lives with the sword in my hand.
It felt like standing on a skyscraper rooftop railing with no safety line.
Razor-thin.
Complete Recovery was unavailable. More than two hours left on the cooldown.
Die here and it was game over.
This is fun! How long has it been since I felt this…!
A blade came at me—shorter than the Japanese sword I held. It was aimed straight at the carotid in my neck. I sucked in a breath and arched my throat. The tip scraped past, nicking the skin and drawing a thin line of blood.
His attack was finished. My turn. I feinted a cut and drove my foot into his gut instead. He tumbled down the stairs and crashed into a comrade. That one lost his balance too—fate sealed.
Kill. Kill. Kill.
I cut down everything in front of me as I descended.
I staggered.
My body was burning hot, every muscle screaming at its limit. But that wasn’t why. I’d thought there were still stairs beneath me—only to realize I’d already reached the bottom.
“…You. Are you one of those modified humans the Kaminoyama made?”
Kizaki stood in front of me. Eyes wide, pistol leveled at my head. Four yakuza flanked him.
I checked the surroundings in silence. The only ones left were the five right in front of me.
“Do I look like a modified freak like Shibata to you?”
“Not a modified human? You think a normal person could do what you just did?!”
“I took Hyeoldan.”
“Don’t make me laugh! Even Hyeoldan has limits!”
“Those are your limits.”
I raised the blood-smeared sword.
Kizaki started to shout, then stopped. His voice came out calmer than before.
“…I don’t want to waste talent like yours with my own hands. Join us. We’ll treat you right.”
“Oh? That’s exactly the offer I wanted. I accept.”
“Is that so.”
Kizaki pulled the trigger. I threw my left arm up to cover my head and charged. He never had any intention of letting me live. Nearly a hundred of his men had died by my hand. Recruiting me after that? Pure fantasy.
His shooting was excellent. My left arm was shredded to ribbons. Thanks to the Hyeoldan I didn’t feel the pain. No chance of dying from shock either.
Kizaki’s muzzle dropped. Fast thinker. Once he realized the head was protected he went for my chest—except my chest was covered by body armor.
“Don’t just stand there—stop him!!”
“Yes, sir!”
All four yakuza rushed me at once. The concentration I’d pushed to the absolute peak still hadn’t loosened. Their movements looked slow. It felt almost like I was using Charna.
In that sliver of time I swung. All four clutched their throats and dropped.
Kizaki stared at me like he was looking at an incomprehensible monster.
“What the hell are you…!”
I considered answering, then decided against it. He was dead anyway.
The sword carved through the air and reached Kizaki’s neck.
“Gyaaaaaaah!”
I’d meant to take the head clean off, but the blade must have been damaged—it only cut halfway. I discarded the sword and lunged. Grabbing Kizaki’s head, I smashed it into the ground with everything I had. A few more times and his skull caved in completely.
It’s over.
I dropped onto the ground on my ass.
The furnace heat in my body slowly cooled.
I kept the tension loose but ready. There might still be someone alive.
With things like this, anyone playing dead will keep playing dead to the end. Or they’ll run for the mountains.
I looked at my left arm. Shredded. Two hours until Complete Recovery.
I’ll have to tough it out with more Hyeoldan.
The moment the current dose wore off I planned to take another. Side effects be damned—I only needed to last two hours.
A little later the shrine maiden, Nakagami Risa, and Hagawa Ryoko walked toward me. The maiden’s loyal subordinates were already cleaning up the corpses.
The shrine maiden was smiling faintly as she looked at me. Unexpected. I hadn’t known her long, but I already knew she wasn’t the type to show emotion openly.
“Seong Yujin. I have confirmed your ability. Truly… magnificent.”
“Glad my skills meet your approval.”
Hagawa Ryoko watched me with complicated eyes. She stepped closer and began first aid on my ruined left arm. Thanks to her I might not even need more Hyeoldan.
“Unbelievable. What the hell are you really? Are you even human?”
“I’m human. Didn’t expect you to help me, though. Don’t you want me dead?”
“Fifteen days. I’m not like you. I keep my promises.”
“Heh. Not calling me Chosenjin anymore?”
“Sh-shut up, Chosenjin.”
I turned to Nakagami Risa, who’d been quiet the whole time. And I was surprised. She was trembling, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. Her eyes were full of pure rapture and pleasure as she stared at me. Even more surprising—her right hand was inside her pants.
And that hand was moving roughly.
“Haaah… I-I can’t hold it…!”
Nakagami Risa yanked her pants and panties straight down. Her smooth, bare pussy was twitching and trembling. She staggered over to me on unsteady legs, forcibly stripped my blood-soaked pants, and started stroking my cock. It hardened instantly. She wasted no time climbing on top of me.
“Haaaaaaaaaang!”
Nakagami Risa came the second she took me in, squirting a little. She didn’t stop. She rolled her hips with zero regard for my condition. I used my good hand to strip her top and grab her bouncing tits.
I’d already been craving sex. Risa’s behavior was more than welcome. The bloodlust transformed cleanly into pure carnal pleasure.
“…….”
“…….”
The shrine maiden and Hagawa Ryoko were giving us some very strange looks.
“Hngh, ahn! Aaahn!”
Squelch squelch.
Risa’s and my lower halves were soaked in clear, sticky fluid—all of it her juices. That musky scent overpowered the smell of blood.
“Haaaaaaaaaang!”
Risa screamed in climax and toppled backward. Her hips stayed proudly raised, convulsing in full view of everyone as she sprayed filthy liquid everywhere.
What a woman.
Impressed, I looked at the shrine maiden and Hagawa Ryoko.
“You two strip as well.”
“I-I…”
“Yes. Understood.”
Hagawa Ryoko hesitated. The shrine maiden stripped without a shred of shame and climbed onto me. Just like Risa, she started moving her hips, swallowing my cock and enjoying herself.
Her pussy’s already dripping wet. Is this one the same kind of woman as Risa?
Compared to those two, Hagawa Ryoko was still normal.
I stared at her steadily. She bit her lip and began undressing.
“A promise is a promise…”
Two hours passed in a blink.