Hirako's expression turned ice-cold, his fury evident. Without a moment's hesitation, he slashed at the "Arima" before him.
"Arima" was decapitated in a single stroke.
Uta, now headless, immediately put distance between them.
Despite losing his head, Uta appeared completely unfazed.
Flesh rapidly regenerated at his neck, and within moments his head was restored—complete with his noseless mask.
"Hm? Not even a moment's hesitation at Arima-san's face? Are you angry? Or maybe... you hate him?"
Uta's tone was deliberately provocative. His earlier transformation had been purely to mock Hirako.
"By the way, please return these to him for me."
Uta suddenly pointed.
Looking down, Hirako saw several daggers embedded in his dominant left arm—Suzuya's daggers, which had been used against Uta earlier.
Hirako hadn't even noticed when the attack had happened...
"..."
Despite this, his gaze remained fixed on his opponent, not sparing even a glance at his wounded arm.
He showed no fear, continuing his relentless assault.
But the arm injury inevitably affected him. His power and speed had noticeably declined.
"That wounded arm is giving you trouble, isn't it, Hirako-san?"
Uta continued to dodge effortlessly. None of Hirako's attacks came close to touching him—a clear demonstration of the gap in their abilities.
Uta kept chatting casually even as he evaded, "Not a single reaction? You really are boring..."
Hirako's perpetually expressionless demeanor was starting to bore him.
On another front, Itou Kuramoto noticed that Hirako was struggling.
Even Take-san is having difficulty against "No Face"...
"No Face" was the CCG's designation for Uta, earned from his frequent use of a featureless mask.
Itou himself wasn't faring much better. He and his teammates were being completely suppressed by the strange clown-masked woman.
"The Clowns really are troublesome..."
Itou sighed.
Membership: Unknown. Territory: Unknown. Objectives: Unknown.
This was the extent of CCG's intel on the Clown organization.
All anyone knew was that they were hedonists who rarely acted as a group. But when they did gather, they displayed formidable organizational capability. They remained an enigma among ghoul factions.
"That's about enough..."
Just then, Uta seemed to sense something. He abruptly stopped toying with Hirako and moved to Roma's side.
"Eh? But I'm not done playing yet~"
Roma pouted reluctantly.
"If we don't leave now, we won't get the chance..."
Before he could finish, Uta suddenly turned his head. "No, wait. It's already too late."
His gaze was fixed on a direction where two figures had just appeared.
One of them materialized before them almost instantaneously.
"Di-Director Amaha! Those three ghouls are from the Clowns!"
Itou Kuramoto recognized Byakuya's silhouette and immediately called out a warning about the situation.
"I know."
Byakuya nodded slightly, then addressed Uta and Roma, his expression flat and his tone cold: "Don't you think you owe me an explanation?"
"Wait, wait! Byakuya-sama, please don't be hasty! We were just playing around with them. We didn't do anything too serious."
Roma immediately scrambled to explain.
It was precisely her wariness of Byakuya that had prevented her from killing any investigators.
Otherwise, she and Uta could have easily wiped out those squads.
"Byakuya-sama...?"
Itou Kuramoto's face registered shock.
Did Director Amaha know ghouls from the Clown organization?
And their relationship seemed... unusual?
"First Class Hirako, how are your injuries?"
Byakuya turned to address Hirako, ignoring Roma for the moment.
"Nothing serious. I can continue fighting."
Hirako finally spoke.
Seeing this, Roma immediately felt a sense of foreboding. She rounded on Uta: "Uta, you went way too far!"
"Sorry, sorry. Seeing an old friend again, I just couldn't help myself..."
Uta scratched his head.
"Besides the Clowns, other ghoul factions have also interfered with this operation..."
Byakuya continued calmly, "I'll give you two choices: either die by my hand, or go clean up those other factions."
Because the Dragon Orphans in Ward 24 required substantial manpower, the number of investigators allocated to this auction operation was limited. Besides Byakuya himself, the main combat strength consisted of only three First Class investigators: Suzuya Juuzou, Hirako Take, and Ihei Hairu.
That said, Suzuya, Hirako, and Hairu each possessed combat abilities at least at Associate Special Class level, approaching Special Class. They couldn't be judged simply by their First Class rank.
As for Akira and Matsuri, both were at the command post directing overall strategy.
Given the current situation, Suzuya was wreaking havoc in the venue itself; the Qs Squad was en route to provide him backup; the Hirako Squad and others had been tied down by the Clowns; and Ihei's squad also appeared to be engaged in combat.
But the Suzuya Squad, Hirako Squad, and Ihei Squad were the three main forces. Several other squads were also participating in the operation, yet they still hadn't made smooth progress. This suggested a third-party force had intervened beyond just the Clowns...
"Do we even need to choose? Whatever Byakuya-sama says."
Roma nodded obediently.
Perched on Uta's shoulders, she pointed in a particular direction and declared, "Let's go! Time to see which blind fools dared to interfere with Byakuya-sama's operation!"
Without another word, Uta carried Roma and quickly disappeared.
They didn't take the opportunity to flee. Instead, they obediently went to "work" for Byakuya.
They weren't stupid. If they didn't behave, Byakuya would certainly settle accounts with them later.
"Has Ihei's squad also encountered ghoul factions beyond the Madam Organization?"
Itou asked with concern.
"It wouldn't be surprising. The VIP ghouls present tonight aren't limited to just the Madams. Other influential ghouls have their own forces too—ones the CCG hasn't discovered yet..."
Byakuya spoke evenly.
The Tsukiyama family was one example. To this day, the CCG still didn't know the Tsukiyamas' true nature.
There were quite a few ghoul families like the Tsukiyamas who hid their identities while running legitimate businesses.
"But enough about that. The immediate priority is rescuing all the civilian victims. Continue with the original plan."
Byakuya gave brief instructions.
The investigators present all nodded in acknowledgment.
...
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