93. The White Wolf and the Shadow Demon

The Yakuza members rushed towards the pillar where Hakuro was hiding. Hakuro, who had been in hiding, came out from behind the pillar and aimed a gun at the Yakuza. Two Yakuza holding pistols aimed their guns at him, but before they could pull the trigger, bullets struck their heads and they died instantly.

"(Damn!!)"

Other Yakuza fired at Hakuro. But Hakuro equipped a pistol on his side and dodged their gunfire, then dove between them and pulled out his knife. He used several Yakuza as shields while moving his body left and right.

"(Wait!!)"

"(Don't shoot⋯!!)"

The Yakuza who heard their comrades' shouts tried to stop shooting, but it was already too late. Some Yakuza were killed by their comrades' bullets, and others attacked Hakuro by swinging their knives.

But Hakuro moved very flexibly, dodging their attacks and at the same time cutting their vital ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠points or stabbing and twisting to kill them. Hakuro's knife work was precise, very fast, and merciless. Yakuza who were hit by his blade died with red blood flowing from their necks or vital points, or collapsed with guts spilling out from split abdomens. Before the Yakuza completely fell, Hakuro continued to dodge or block the next attacks on him and killed the Yakuza.

Hakuro's knife fighting style was unique. While swinging the knife at Yakuza, he slightly twisted the trajectory of the moving blade to swing it in an X shape so the opponent couldn't respond properly. This technique of swinging the blade in an X shape is Junichi Katsuyama's technique, and besides Junichi, only three others in the organization can use it naturally: 1st Division Leader Sakaguchi Taiki, 2nd Division Leader Kanemura Yoshio, and Hakuro.

A Yakuza with a silenced pistol pointed at Hakuro, but Haneda Shinichi stopped him.

"(Wait. The distance between the target and his subordinates is too close for using a gun.)"

Meanwhile, Hakuro continued to dodge or block the attacks from the Yakuza swinging knives at him and brought them down one by one. At that time, one Yakuza swung a knife at his neck. Hakuro dodged the attack, stepped back, and leaned against the wall.

"(They're cornering me!!)"

"(Now I'll stab you!!)"

They believed that by cornering him against the wall, they had the upper hand over him. But a few pups trying to corner a wolf. The moment the Yakuza rushed at him swinging knives, Hakuro dodged their attacks and at the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠same time cut or stabbed their vital points to kill them. Hakuro leaning against the wall no longer needed to worry about his back, so he swung the knife more boldly than before, cutting down the Yakuza. No matter how much the Yakuza swung their knives, their blades couldn't reach Hakuro. In that way, several Yakuza who were counterattacked by Hakuro died at his hands.

'(Damn⋯. Numerically we have the advantage⋯. Why can't we even touch the tip of this guy's hair?)'

Another Yakuza extended his knife at him. Hakuro dodged the attack, then repeatedly stabbed his blade into his abdomen and pushed him. Then, other Yakuza rushed to take advantage of his opening. Hakuro skillfully dodged their attacks and brought down the Yakuza who were swinging knives at him.

'(Inducing overconfidence to secure the opponent's opening in return⋯. Bold yet cautious action. Using his own body as bait to find the opponent's weakness.)'

Shinichi evaluated Hakuro's combat style by watching him slaughter the Yakuza. As the number of Yakuza attacking Hakuro noticeably decreased, Shinichi instructed Hashimoto Ryuhei and other subordinates beside him.

"(Hashimoto. Support with the others. And you all, look for an opportunity to use firearms.)"

"(Understood.)"

Ryuhei took out two Karambit knives and approached Hakuro, with several Yakuza following behind him. And he swung his knife flamboyantly at Hakuro who had just pulled out his knife from a Yakuza's lung. Hakuro stepped back and dodged Ryuhei's attack, and another Yakuza rushed at him swinging a knife. In response, Hakuro knocked away his blade with his own blade, hit his face with his elbow, and bent down to gut his abdomen. Hakuro's sharp blade cut the Yakuza's neck or split the abdomen, and the Yakuza died miserably.

"(Die, you bastard!!)"

The remaining Yakuza swung their knives at him, but Hakuro easily dodged their attacks. At that time, Yakuza with firearms pointed guns at him. In response, Hakuro used the surviving Yakuza as a human shield, pulled out his own pistol, and dove between them.

"(Spread out!! Spread as much as possible!!)"

Shinichi pulled out his pistol and shouted to his subordinates, stepping back to increase the distance from Hakuro. But the subordinates who didn't hear this in time turned their bodies as Hakuro dove towards them, and were killed by rapid gunfire all around or neutralized. How fast the gunfire was, the Yakuza fell without time to respond, hit in the chest or abdomen by his bullets. When Shinichi pointed his gun at Hakuro, Hakuro used the neutralized Yakuza with a bullet in his abdomen as a shield and sprayed bullets at Shinichi. Shinichi who had taken cover behind a nearby pillar fired bullets at Hakuro without worrying about the human shield subordinate. Hakuro continued to push the body of the Yakuza who was being shot and dying. And he ran towards Shinichi who was pointing a gun at him after coming out from behind the pillar. Hakuro who approached in front of Shinichi pushed the body of the dying Yakuza to the side. At the same time, he tilted his head to dodge Shinichi's gun muzzle, then pointed his gun at his head. At that time, Ryuhei swung a knife at his neck and torso. In response, Hakuro kicked the floor and threw his body to the side to skillfully dodge Ryuhei's attack. At that time, Taiki who had been standing still rushed at him and swung his knife at him. Hakuro pulled out his knife with his left hand and swung it left and right to block Taiki's attack. And he tried to shoot Taiki with the gun in his right hand, but Taiki grabbed Hakuro's gun with his left hand and slightly pulled back the slide. In response, Hakiro removed the magazine and forcefully pushed the gun forward to eject one round from the chamber, then dropped the gun himself and stepped back to increase the distance from Taiki. Taiki swung his knife at such Hakuro, but the timing was off and his blade couldn't cut Hakuro.

'(Damn⋯. Even with Haneda and Hashimoto, it's tough⋯. Including Sakaguchi⋯.)'

Hakuro who stepped back stared at the three executives facing him. Haneda Shinichi was holding a pistol with a silencer attached, and Sakaguchi Taiki and Hashimoto Ryuhei were staring at Hakuro while holding knives. And Hakuro rolled his eyes and slowly looked around at the Yakuza of Katsuyamagumi surrounding him.

'(I can't drag this out any longer. So from now on, I have to put all my effort into escaping as quickly as possible.)'

Hakuro decided to flee, and he backed away towards the exit. In response, Ryuhei and several Yakuza rushed at him, and other Yakuza tried to point guns at him. Seeing this, Shinichi shouted at Ryuhei and the Yakuza who rushed at Hakuro.

"(Wait!! Don't rush in!!)"

At that moment, Hakuro threw some objects on the floor, and they emitted white smoke.

'(Smoke grenades⋯.)'

Taiki stood still and calmly pointed his gun around while focusing on the sounds coming from all directions. At that time, a pained groan was heard, Taiki shot his gun towards the direction the sound came from. And a sound of someone running quickly, Taiki shot again towards there. After a while, the smoke slowly cleared and Hakuro was no longer visible.

'(Has he already escaped⋯. Sly bastard⋯.)'

Taiki took a deep breath, gathered his anger, and instructed Ryuhei and Shinichi.

"(Chase.)"

And Shinichi, Ryuhei, and the Yakuza ran out of the building and started looking for Hakuro.

Meanwhile, in some villa in Japan. The villa located deep in the mountains was where Katsuyama Junichi, the boss of Katsuyamagumi, was staying. As it was a place where the boss of Katsuyamagumi, one of the massive Yakuza organizations, was staying, the security there was quite strict. The Yakuza of Katsuyamagumi who were under the moonlight were patrolling around the mansion with machine guns or assault rifles in hand.

At that time, one of the Yakuza on security, feeling something suspicious, approached somewhere with an AKM assault rifle in hand. And another Yakuza who saw this asked him.

"(Fujimori. What's going on?)"

"(I feel something suspicious. I'll check around for a bit and come back.)"

"(It must be your imagination. Who the hell⋯.)"

At that moment, someone from behind the Yakuza who was saying this pressed a knife to his neck, and he died with his carotid artery severed. After hearing the sound of his comrade falling, Fujimori Yakuza turned around, and what he saw in his eyes was the corpse of his comrade who had died with blood flowing from his neck.

"(Tanaka⋯? What the hell⋯?!!)"

At that moment, someone approached behind Fujimori and stabbed his lung with a dagger to kill him. This phenomenon was not only happening to them. The Yakuza currently guarding the mansion were falling from a mysterious ambush.

"(What?!! What's going on!!)"

"(Ambush!! Protect the boss⋯!!)"

"(Everyone, snap out of it and form ranks!!)"

The Yakuza of Katsuyamagumi confronted the mysterious assassins with their weapons in hand. Some assassins died from the random bullets fired by the Yakuza, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but they didn't stop attacking. They moved nimbly in narrow spaces, swinging knives or using silenced pistols to massacre the Yakuza. Their appearance was like ninjas. Eventually, one of the assassins who had wiped out all the Yakuza guarding the mansion contacted somewhere with a walkie-talkie.

"(Control room?)"

"(Secured, and communications blocked.)"

Corpses who died from knives or bullets were scattered around the assassins in the mansion's control room. The assassin who seemed to be the leader asked the others.

"(How many are left?)"

"(About 20 left.)"

"(Enough. Let's go.)"

And the assassins went deeper ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠into the mansion and fought with the Yakuza in the corridors. In the middle of the fierce battle, several assassins reached Junichi's room. The assassins who had eliminated most of the guards inside the villa slowly opened the door while hiding their breaths. And the Yakuza who entered Junichi's room slowly looked around the empty room and pointed silenced pistols at the surroundings.

'(What? Why is there no one? Where the hell did they go?)'

And Junichi who was hiding in the space above the entrance slowly came down and caught the assassins from behind. They turned around at the sudden feeling of presence, but it was already too late. Junichi pulled out his knife which seemed to be about 20cm long, and slashed the assassins, and some assassins swung knives or shot guns at him. But Junichi grabbed one assassin and used him as a human shield, then approached close to one of the ones holding guns while dodging their gunfire. When he pointed a gun at Junichi, Junichi got close to him, repeatedly stabbed his blade into his abdomen, and pushed him into the other assassins. And when he saw someone pointing a gun at him, he quickly closed the distance, and cut their wrists, arms, or split their abdomens with the knife to neutralize them. Soon, all the assassins holding guns fell, and now only the assassins holding knives remained.

"(They're still amateurs. Using a gun at such close distance wouldn't be the case⋯.)"

And he turned the blood-stained knife and held it in reverse, and asked the assassins.

"(Who sent you? Yamazaki's remnants? Or Okudakai bastards?)"

In response, the assassins chose to attack Junichi instead of answering. The assassins rushed at him again. Junichi dodged one assassin's attack, and with his left hand slapped another assassin's hand to block the attack. At the same time, Junichi slashed the assassin's chest and stabbed the blade between his right ribs. When other assassins tried to attack taking advantage of the opening, Junichi twisted the blade and pulled it out, then dodged the other assassins' attacks and found their openings to cut or stab them to death. Junichi, after dodging the opponent's attack, swung his blade towards the opening visible to them. For an ordinary person, finding that opening would not be easy. But for Junichi who has killed many people in various ways from 19 to 45 years old, finding that opening was not particularly difficult. Shunji who saw Junichi slaughtering his subordinates without allowing even a small attack felt cold sweat and couldn't even think of rushing at him.

'(Damn⋯!! This is unbelievable⋯!! An old man in his mid-40s is this strong⋯?!)'

Junichi was still threatening even in his mid-40s. Indeed, the reputation of Japan's top assassin, Kageoni (Shadow Demon), had not completely faded. In an instant, all assassins except Shunji fell, and Junichi wiped the blood on his face with the back of his hand and asked Shunji who stood alone.

"(Speak honestly. Who sent you?)"

"(Fuck you, you bastard!!)"

Shunji shouted and rushed at Junichi swinging his knife. In response, Junichi dodged Shunji's attack, slapped his knife-holding hand with his left hand to deflect it, and tried to stab the blade towards his abdomen. Noticing this, Shunji turned the knife in reverse and tried to hit Junichi's knife-holding hand with his left hand to face him. At that moment, Junichi stopped the blade he was about to stab into Shunji's abdomen.

'(Suddenly stopping⋯?? If you suddenly stop moving in such a fast state, it would be hard on the body⋯?!)'

And Junichi lightly stepped back and turned the knife in reverse. After that, Junichi lowered his body and approached Shunji at the same time, swinging the knife towards his thigh. The blade Junichi swung quickly cut Shunji's thigh-side femoral artery in an instant. And he knocked away Shunji's barely resisting attack, then stabbed his heart with the blade and cut off his breathing. The time it took for all this action was less than 3 seconds.

'(This is⋯. Unbelievable!! How can a person's speed⋯!!)<|eos|>