"How could this be? How is this even possible? That damned bastard!!!"
A hysterical curse echoed violently through the dimly lit room. Furuta Nimura sat on a chair, his once-handsome face now twisted and contorted with rage. On the wooden table before him sat a laptop, its screen casting the only faint light in the pitch-black room.
Playing on the screen, frozen at the most harrowing moment, was the image of Uesugi Ryu driving his long blade through Kamishiro Rize's face.
That scene was paused right there, her once-beautiful visage forever captured in the moment of destruction.
Before fleeing, Kano Akihiro had copied the surveillance footage from the research facility and then destroyed the rest. Kamishiro Rize had been sent to the lab by Furuta Nimura himself, and Kano had since informed him that she was most likely dead.
Using Kamishiro Rize as a test subject wasn't just because of her powerful bloodline; it also stemmed from Furuta's own twisted desire for revenge. After helping Rize escape, she had completely abandoned him, living freely, recklessly hunting and indulging herself.
But revenge was one thing. She could be tortured, imprisoned, defiled, but death was unacceptable. That, Furuta Nimura could not tolerate.
Kamishiro Rize was at the core of his grand plan, and she was also the forbidden fruit deep within his heart, untouchable, sacred.
Now, it was all ruined.
The woman he admired most, the one most important to him, had been killed in a single stroke by Uesugi Ryu. Her once-gorgeous face, now unrecognizable.
Furuta's shoulders trembled violently. He curled up in the chair, eyes locked dead on the frozen image of Uesugi Ryu. His irises, once tinged with a pale crimson, were now completely stained in blood-like red, eyes so filled with hatred they seemed ready to weep blood.
After a while, Furuta gradually calmed himself.
As much as Rize's death infuriated him, he cared more about his plan.
To turn everyone in the world into ghouls, this was his vision of true peace. Dragonification did not necessarily have to be Rize's role, but from an emotional perspective, Furuta had always hoped it would be her.
In a twisted way, he had dreamed of "having children" with her through this transformation.
If Rize became the mother that transformed humanity into ghouls, wouldn't all those new ghouls be their children?
Furuta slowly closed the laptop. The room went completely dark. He folded his hands before his forehead, his expression now serious.
Uesugi Ryu was a variable he had not accounted for, previously dismissed, since his movements were relatively predictable. Most of the time, he was moving alongside CCG personnel. His actions were easy to track.
But this time, his sudden appearance in the underground laboratory was entirely unexpected.
"Uesugi Ryu... just what are you?"
Now that he had calmed down, Furuta didn't immediately focus on revenge. Instead, he began to analyze Uesugi Ryu's motives.
Everyone acts for a reason.
So why had Uesugi Ryu come?
If his hatred of ghouls was born purely from personal experience, he wouldn't need to act alone, he could've easily brought along the full force of the CCG to surround the facility.
Yet, he didn't kill those experimental ghouls. He went straight for Rize.
What exactly did he know...?
...
Within the ethereal black vortex, the illusory soul-mill rotated slowly. Magic power served as fuel, churning the blood-colored light inside, grinding it down, removing impurities.
The once-murky soul-glow gradually became translucent, then condensed into a crystallized shard of blood-red essence.
[Soul Essence: Martial Spirit]
[Effect: Willpower +3, Intelligence +1, Slight increase to Soul Strength, Mana +32]
[Acquired Memory: Kamishiro-style Martial Arts (Partial)]
Uesugi Ryu exhaled softly, a heavy glint flickering in his eyes. From the soul-space, he retrieved the blood-colored shard.
"Literal interpretation, huh? I'm supposed to... bite it?"
"That said, if this thing isn't auto-fused... maybe it can be used as material for crafting something?"
He turned the weightless shard over in his hand, mind briefly wandering. He lacked the mystic knowledge to verify that possibility now, but it was worth considering for the future.
Snapping back to focus, he opened his mouth and lightly tossed the shard inside.
It dissolved instantly on his tongue, slipping down his throat with no resistance. Aside from a faint coolness, it had no flavor or scent.
Fleeting fragments of memory surfaced in his mind, a distinct martial arts style. As the memories emerged, the muscles across his body twitched slightly.
Unlike the usual swelling or bursting sensation when acquiring a skill, this was subtle, perhaps due to the shard's limited data.
His mind felt extraordinarily clear. The vast mana within him became slightly more refined.
---
Name: Uesugi Ryu
Race: Human (Undetermined)
Strength Level: SS (Only base stats calculated, not skill proficiency)
Strength: 15 (SS)
Speed: 17 (SS+)
Constitution: 14 (A+) (+1 from equipment)
Intelligence: 14 (SS-) (Each point = 10 mana)
Mana: 742 (Recovery: 21 per hour)
Health: 240
Innate Ability: Soul Devour
Skills:
C-Rank: Blood Frenzy
D-Rank: Phantom Clone, Instant Step
E-Rank: Hand-to-Hand Combat Mastery, Hand of God
Energy: 11/100
Remaining Draws: 0
Inventory:
C-Rank Rare: Soul of the Broken Dragon
C-Rank Rare: Wine-Sack Rice-Bag
D-Rank: Pharmacists's "Treasure"
SSS-Rank Quinque: Elegy
S+-Rank Quinque: Jason (Ver. 2)
A-Rank Quinques: Destroyer, Sakikage
B-Rank Quinque: Viper
Assorted Sedatives, etc.
---
"Just one more Intelligence point, and I'll finally be able to devour the Soul of the Broken Dragon," Uesugi Ryu thought to himself as he glanced at his system panel with a trace of regret.
Currently, there were three ways to gain Attribute Points:
1. Be promoted to Special-Class Investigator.
2. Kill an SSS-rated ghoul.
3. Complete the "Father-Daughter Terminator" mission.
Though three in name, they were essentially one and the same.
Rising to Special-Class so quickly without a major achievement was impossible. And what counted as a "major achievement"? That went without saying.
Right now, the most plausible SSS-rated target was Yoshimura Kuzen. It wouldn't be long before the CCG initiated operations against him.
Hoito Roma was hard to capture, and she had a group of troublesome allies: the priest Donato, Uta, Nico, Itori, and Kijima Rie.
All the clowns had assembled. Dealing with them would be no easy task.
"Yoshimura Kuzen..." Uesugi Ryu murmured to himself.
Picking on a lonely old man might be shameless, but he didn't care anymore. Giving the manager a swift, clean death was the last bit of kindness he could offer.