"Hm? What's this?"
Hazenoki looked down at the movement beneath his feet, muttering in confusion.
Boom!
In the next moment, the ground under him shattered. Even with two floors between them, the heavy iron door Mukuro had thrown pierced straight through the ceiling and shot all the way up to the rooftop.
"That guy… is he a monster?!"
By the time Hazenoki reacted, his hands were already pressed against the iron door, barely holding it back as the remaining force made his body tremble. There wasn't even a trace of cursed energy on it.
The man below had thrown it up with pure strength.
* * *
"Reggie, save me!"
Downstairs, at the moment the eyeball exploded, Remi had been pulled back by Mukuro and shielded by the iron door he tore off.
But as soon as the smoke cleared, she turned toward Reggie, who was crouching in the corner, and cried out. Her face was covered in tears and snot.
Even though he hadn't cared about her life at all just now, she still clung to her illusion.
"Oh? So in the end, you still go easy on pretty girls. I thought you were the cold, heartless type."
Reggie ignored her cries and instead mocked Mukuro.
'He's strong. Definitely not normal. Could it be some rare Heavenly Restriction…?'
At the same time, he had already become fully alert, thinking through possible strategies even as he spoke.
"Want to guess why I didn't kill you?"
Mukuro followed Reggie's words and looked down at Remi. The number in his eye shifted back to "six."
"You love me, right? Reggie said he'd protect me. Say it! Say you love me. Say you'll protect me. I'll stay by your side!"
The girl clung to his leg, crying hysterically, as if she had found salvation. Her once pretty face was now completely ruined by tears and mucus. Standing on the edge of life and death, her expression twisted.
Before entering the Culling Game, her beauty had always worked in her favor, but here, it meant nothing. That was why, after Reggie said a few sweet words, she had decided on her own that he was her "knight," a knight who would protect his "princess" forever.
Now that she had been abandoned, she desperately wanted a promise. A promise that a man would protect her, that he would love her.
Whether it was true or not didn't matter. As long as he said it, even if it was a lie, she would believe it and accept it willingly.
"Wrong answer."
Pshk!
As Mukuro's voice fell, blood splattered.
Remi's body was slammed into the wall. The illusion faded, and her arm vanished again as if it had never existed. Blood sprayed out in large bursts.
Her consciousness faded, and she couldn't even groan in pain.
The only reason Mukuro hadn't killed her immediately was to let her understand before she died. He didn't want her to die still believing that her so-called "knight" would protect her.
Fear of death and stupidity were both on full display.
Normally, he wouldn't care much about trash like this, but she had annoyed him.
"You. Go kill her, and the one inside who got crippled."
While Reggie was speaking, Mukuro had already confirmed something through the Deva Path.
Souls could not merge. It was either one or the other, or both.
The man he had just crippled only had one soul in his body, something like the Death Painting Wombs. After being possessed, the original soul of the body would be completely erased.
Meaning it wasn't like Yuji, where two souls could coexist in one body. Or rather, from the moment of partial possession, only one soul remained.
It was just that he had only observed one case before, and that body happened to be compatible, so he hadn't noticed this detail.
But for Mukuro, this was actually a good thing. That way, he wouldn't need to worry about whether the original soul of the body still remained. There was no need to hold back.
"Huh? Me?!"
Amai pointed at his own face, his forehead practically filled with question marks.
Even after awakening his technique, his cursed energy was so weak that he was nothing more than a small fry. He could only survive by sticking close to stronger people and running errands.
Forget killing someone. He had never even killed a chicken.
"That's why I brought you here. Are you trying to tell me your existence has no meaning?" Mukuro tilted his head slightly and looked at him.
To Amai, that calm gaze felt like it carried killing intent so heavy it could almost take form.
"Y-Yes! I'll do it right now!"
He shouted and forced himself to move forward, his body trembling.
"As for us, shall we step outside and have some fun?"
Seeing Amai's state, Mukuro shifted his attention back to Reggie.
For someone who had never killed before, it was normal to struggle with such a sudden change. But this was the reality of the world. In this Culling Game, if one wanted to survive, even if they didn't want to harm others, they at least had to be prepared to kill.
As for the choice, it was Amai's own. Mukuro was willing to give him some space.
"Who said I want to play with you?!"
Just then, Hazenoki, who had been pushed back by the iron door earlier, jumped down through the hole blasted in the floors. Simultaneously, he splashed a strong-smelling liquid toward Mukuro.
It was gasoline.
He wanted to use it to amplify the explosion from his technique.
"You don't have the right to refuse."
Mukuro vanished from where he stood.
Before Hazenoki even landed, a hand was already gripping his face. Then his entire body was flung out of the building.
'So fast!'
Reggie, standing nearby, couldn't even react.
The next instant, Mukuro's kick had already reached him.
'Can't dodge…'
His eyes couldn't keep up with that speed.
Bang!
Although he raised his arms to block, it felt like being hit by a speeding truck. His body was sent flying out of the corridor, crashing down beside Hazenoki.
"That guy… something's off. His strength isn't human… cough!"
Reggie opened his mouth, but suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. It was just one kick, yet it felt like all his organs were shaking.
"Kill him!"
Veins bulged on Hazenoki's forehead, a bloody handprint still on his face. Being toyed with like this made his blood boil.
"You two are friends, right? If you have any last words, now's the time to say them."
Mukuro landed on the ground and walked toward them with a faint smile. After those two exchanges, he had already confirmed it. Both of them were fully incarnated players, with no second soul inside their bodies.
Which meant… they were all points.
Pfft!
As Mukuro approached, Hazenoki suddenly spat out another mouthful of blood, mixed with a tooth.
"That's enough!"
Just as Mukuro was about to make his move, a figure rushed in from nowhere and stood in front of him, blocking the blood and tooth.
**
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