Chapter 147
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 147
Chapter Title: A Man (3)
“Pfft! Ha! Ahahahahaha!!!”
Bright laughter echoed through the basement, dimly illuminated by the gloomy lights.
“Wow, you really did know everything, huh?”
Sosuke, held by the collar by Sakaki, looked at Oh-jin with gleaming eyes full of interest.
Even though all the plans he had prepared had gone up in smoke, he remained completely relaxed.
‘Either he’s lost his mind, or he still has another trick up his sleeve.’
Perhaps both.
Oh-jin looked at Sakaki and Koshiro with a cold gaze.
“…Koshiro, is that true?”
“……”
“I asked if it was true.”
Sakaki stared down at Koshiro, his eyes turning ice-cold.
Koshiro lowered his head and sobbed.
“I’m sorry… Boss.”
“……”
Sakaki slowly closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh.
His tightly clenched fist trembled.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry…”
Tears streamed down Koshiro’s face as he repeated his apologies like a broken machine.
“He’s begging so pitifully. Why not show him some mercy? Just like you did for me.”
Sosuke grinned as he taunted Sakaki.
“Kurosaki Sosuke.”
A thick vein bulged on Sakaki’s forehead.
He yanked the collar he was gripping and swung his fist viciously.
His fist, wrapped in an invisible shock wave, struck Sosuke squarely between the nose and upper lip.
THWACK!
A wet, squelching sound echoed through the basement, as though he had punched a puddle rather than a human face.
Sosuke’s face had caved inward in the shape of a fist, but it returned to its original form as if time itself had been reversed.
‘Is he the T-1000 or something?’
Watching Sosuke turn his entire body into water like a liquid monster, Oh-jin let out a hollow laugh.
The handcuffs restraining Sosuke possessed the power to suppress Stigma energy, so under normal circumstances, transforming his body into a liquid monster like that should have been impossible.
‘Koshiro must have disabled them.’
After all, Koshiro was the one who had brought Sosuke down into the basement.
With his younger sister being held hostage, there was no way he would have properly restrained Sosuke.
“Hahaha! Attacks like that don’t work on me!”
Sosuke burst into laughter and casually twisted his body.
Gurgle.
His body liquefied, slipping smoothly out of Sakaki’s grasp.
“Where do you think you’re going?!”
Sakaki roared and raised his fist again.
He drew his arm back like a bowstring pulled taut.
The Stigma of Taurus blazed with fierce light as shock waves condensed around his fist.
If Sosuke could turn his body into water to absorb the impact, then all Sakaki had to do was put enough force into his attack to scatter the water itself into countless droplets.
—WHOOOOOSH!
His fist, charged with condensed shock waves, hurtled toward Sosuke.
At that moment, Koshiro, who had been crouching with his head lowered, abruptly sprang to his feet and stepped in front of Sosuke.
A blue shield materialized over his crossed arms, forming an X.
“Kgh?!”
Sakaki tried to stop his fist in alarm, but it was already too late. He couldn't halt a punch that had nearly completed its swing.
KABOOOOOM!!
A deafening explosion rang out as Koshiro was pushed backward across the floor.
“Cough!”
The shield shattered miserably, and a thin stream of blood trickled from between Koshiro’s lips.
“What? Did you protect me? That's so cool, I'm about to fall in love with you.”
“Shut… up!”
Koshiro glared viciously at Sosuke, who was mocking him.
“Hmm? Are you sure you should be talking to me so insolently?”
Sosuke smiled maliciously and leisurely raised a hand.
“All I have to do is twitch a finger, and the poison inside your little sister will start acting up, you know?”
“Th-That…”
Koshiro’s face turned deathly pale.
“N-No!! Please, anything but that!!!”
He hurriedly fell to his knees and clutched at Sosuke’s trouser leg, begging desperately.
“Let’s see~ What should I do? Should I spread the poison only around her waist and cripple her? Or should I send it toward her face so she’ll never be able to show herself in public again?”
“I-I did everything you told me to!!! I mean, I did everything you asked! P-Please, just spare my little sister…”
“HAHAHAHAHA!!”
Sosuke clutched his stomach and roared with laughter, unable to contain his amusement at Koshiro’s desperate pleas.
“…Koshiro.”
Sakaki looked down at Koshiro, who was bowing his head at Sosuke’s feet, his expression stiff and grim.
His tightly clenched fist trembled.
Just as he reached the limit of his patience and was about to take a step forward…
“You’re really making a damn spectacle of yourselves.”
Oh-jin kicked off the ground first and charged at Sosuke.
His acceleration was so explosive that it seemed as though his body had stretched into a long streak.
Blue lightning blazed fiercely in his wake.
As he rushed toward Sosuke, he pulled a metal rod from his waist and infused it with mana.
Clatter! Click!
The metal rod glowed as the mana flowed into it, transforming into a spear.
—SHWIP!
The spear thrust forward in a clean, precise motion, piercing Sosuke through the solar plexus.
However…
THWACK!
Sosuke’s body turned to water once again. The spearhead passed straight through him and emerged from his back.
“I told you it was useless!”
“Oh, really?”
Oh-jin smirked and channeled lightning into the spearhead.
He pictured a lightning rod.
As though a bolt of lightning were falling from the sky and converging at the tip of his spear…
Blue lightning gathered around the spearhead embedded in Sosuke’s body.
‘Spear Lightning.’
The blue lightning erupted in a fan-shaped burst, slamming into Sosuke’s liquid body.
—KZZZZZZT!!
“Kgh!!”
Sosuke’s face twisted in pain.
Groaning, he hurriedly retreated, escaping beyond the lightning’s range.
“You bastard…!”
The pain of the lightning coursing through him seemed intense. Sosuke glared at Oh-jin with his face contorted in anger.
“I’ll handle that bastard, so Mr. Sakaki, please restrain Koshiro.”
“…But…”
“Your attacks don't work on him anyway.”
“……”
Sakaki stared at Sosuke, whose entire body had turned into a writhing mass of liquid, then nodded heavily.
“Understood.”
“Don’t worry, old man. I’ll vaporize that slime bastard without leaving a trace.”
Ha-eun stood beside Oh-jin, her eyes blazing fiercely.
Sosuke, who had barely recovered from the shock of the lightning, curled his lips into a sinister smile.
“But do you really have time to leisurely fight me here?”
“What?”
“It should be starting about now.”
“…What’s starting?”
Ha-eun, who had been glaring at Sosuke with contempt, asked.
Sosuke whistled and gave a short answer.
“A massacre.”
“…What?”
At his chilling reply, laced with the stench of blood, Ha-eun’s shoulders flinched.
“I gave my men waiting in the incineration room an order. If you guys didn't show up on time today, they were to attack the people around them indiscriminately.”
“Y-You crazy bastard!!”
Ha-eun shouted in horror and pulled out her smartphone.
She couldn't read Japanese, but a live news broadcast showed the streets of Osaka engulfed in flames.
“If you don't hurry over there and stop them, the number of casualties will spiral out of control.”
Sosuke chuckled, his shoulders bouncing as he taunted them.
‘So this was the move he had prepared.’
Oh-jin clicked his tongue and looked at the burning streets of Osaka on Ha-eun’s smartphone.
He had seemed far too relaxed even after his plan was exposed. So he had prepared a move like this.
“Oh-jin, what do we…?”
Ha-eun stared at the smartphone screen, her face contorted with worry.
The streets of Osaka were engulfed in flames.
The shaky footage vividly showed Awakeners of the Seahorse constellation attacking people indiscriminately.
“You bastards…!”
Ha-eun clenched her fists, trembling with rage.
Unlike Oh-jin, who barely cared whether other people lived or died, she had a kind heart.
It would be difficult for anyone to remain calm while watching hundreds or even thousands of people being slaughtered mercilessly.
“Sis, take the Black Ox Organization members and go stop them.”
“But…”
“I can handle that bastard on my own.”
Oh-jin looked at the sneering Sosuke and casually tightened his grip on the spear.
Judging by Sosuke’s relaxed attitude, there was a good chance he had prepared more tricks besides this one.
But…
‘It’s not like I’ve just been sitting around twiddling my thumbs either.’
There was one conclusion he had reached after fighting the Seahorse Awakeners up until now.
‘Those bastards can’t beat me.’
Oh-jin gave the sneering Sosuke a sinister smile and gently pushed Ha-eun forward when she hesitated.
“Go, sis. Hurry.”
“…You really can handle him alone, right?”
“Have you ever seen me lie?”
“A hell of a lot of times.”
Oops.
“Anyway, I'm not lying this time, so don't worry.”
“Ugh. If you say that and end up getting beaten to a pulp, don't think I'll let you off.”
Ha-eun turned and hurried out of the basement.
“You lot, follow her.”
Sakaki spoke gravely to the organization members who stood waiting for orders.
After Ha-eun and the Black Ox Organization members left, only Sakaki, Koshiro, Oh-jin, and Sosuke remained in the basement.
“Heh. You're going to fight me all by yourself?”
Sosuke glared at Oh-jin with a mocking smile.
The wound in his solar plexus, where the spear had pierced him, melted into liquid and regenerated.
“You land one successful hit and suddenly think you're invincible?”
“That's rich coming from the guy who was just writhing and screaming after getting hit.”
“Ha! Just because your lightning works on me, you've gotten pretty damn cocky.”
Sosuke clicked his tongue and sneered.
“But here's the problem.”
The Seahorse Stigma engraved on the left side of his chest began to glow.
The severed stump of his left arm wriggled, and a new left arm formed.
—Blub blub.
With a bubbling sound, his entire body began to boil.
Tiny particles invisible to the naked eye escaped from his body, mixed in with the bubbles.
“Pure water actually doesn't conduct electricity very well, you know.”
Tap!
Sosuke kicked off the ground and charged at Oh-jin.
Oh-jin swept his spear low across the ground, aiming for Sosuke’s knee.
The spearhead passed through his body with a splash of water.
‘Thunderburst.’
KZZZZZZT!!
Oh-jin detonated Thunderburst at the precise instant the spearhead entered Sosuke’s knee, but the blue lightning failed to spread through his body. Instead, it circled uselessly in place before fading away.
“I told you it wouldn't work, you little punk!”
Sosuke burst into laughter and slashed both arms downward in an X-shaped motion toward Oh-jin.
His descending arms transformed into sharp, sickle-like blades.
“……”
Oh-jin calmly activated the Stigma of Horologium.
The world seemed to slow down in an instant, like a scene in slow motion.
After identifying the direction of Sosuke’s attacks in advance, Oh-jin evaded them with the bare minimum of movement.
—Whoosh! Whoosh! Shwish!
“Damn it!”
The attacks cut futilely through empty air.
Oh-jin dodged every one of Sosuke’s attacks by the narrowest of margins, sometimes by less than three centimeters.
It looked as though a professional boxer were effortlessly dodging every attack from an amateur just to mock him.
—Whoosh! Shwish! Whoosh! Whoosh!
“Y-You fucking bastard!!”
Sosuke, who had been swinging his arms wildly, cursed in frustration.
Even if close-quarters combat wasn't his specialty, he was furious that he couldn't even brush Oh-jin’s clothes.
“Damn it!”
Sosuke retreated and spread both arms wide.
His entire body began bubbling violently again, and round droplets of water burst out from all over him.
Oh-jin looked at Sosuke, who was ejecting egg-shaped droplets from his body, and smirked.
“Come to think of it, male seahorses are the ones that get pregnant, aren't they?”
“Are you pregnant?”