Chapter 157: The Hunter and the Hunted Switch Roles
Asagiri ignored Sato's words.
Behind him, the Human Asura stepped forward at an unhurried pace, then stopped at his side like a silent guardian. The faint red patterns on its black body pulsed, dim and ominous.
"Hah…"
Sato drew a deep breath without meaning to.
His muscles tightened until they felt numb. Sweat slicked his palms. His heartbeat accelerated, thudding loud enough to drown out the rain and the distant chaos of the base.
He was afraid.
It was a sensation so unfamiliar it almost made him laugh. Ever since he discovered he was an Ajin, ever since he became immortal, fear had turned into something abstract. A concept. A story other people told.
But now, just standing in front of Asagiri, he felt it again. That long-lost tension. That thrill of standing at the edge of death, right before a true life-and-death struggle.
When was the last time he felt like this?
Probably back when he was still human. Before the yakuza executed him. Before immortality turned the world into a playground.
"Just as I thought… you're the best prey!"
Sato's eyes lit up with feverish excitement. He raised the automatic rifle in his hands, aimed at Asagiri, and squeezed the trigger without hesitation.
Bang bang bang!
The Human Asura stepped in front of Asagiri and took every round head-on.
And because it had already been "killed" by rifle fire not long ago, its resistance had climbed again through [Regeneration of the End]. The bullets barely did anything. The impact points only caved in slightly, as if the metal had punched shallow dents into stone.
"So guns don't work, huh…"
Sato's brows tightened. His thoughts raced for a new approach.
Then the Human Asura moved.
Its motion was completely wrong for something that massive. In a blur, it rushed at him. A giant palm swung down like a guillotine.
Sato's reflexes were sharp. He stepped back and barely slipped out of range.
But before he could stabilize, Asagiri shot out from behind the Human Asura and flicked his Rope Dart toward Sato's shoulder.
"That was close…"
Sato twisted his body. The dart tore through fabric and carved a long, bloody line across his shoulder.
His eyes narrowed.
This guy was clearly fighting an Ajin for the first time, yet his attacks were… precise.
Sato had a talent for combat analysis. Combat intelligence. He saw it immediately.
Asagiri had aimed for the shoulder on purpose. The intent was obvious: cripple both arms without killing him. Take away his ability to fight back, and more importantly, take away his option to pull a gun and commit suicide on demand.
While Sato tracked the Human Asura's movements, he heard the faint rattle of chain.
Asagiri closed in.
His left hand clenched into a fist and drove straight toward Sato's abdomen.
Sato's eyes flashed with disdain.
A simple straight punch, completely exposed. No feints, no guard, no concealment.
Powerful, sure, but reckless.
In Sato's experience, this was the weakness of many Players. They had strange abilities, but they lacked real combat experience. Some had never even fought in their lives. They relied on their powers, but didn't understand how to use them efficiently.
So even if this masked Player was strong, Sato assumed he was the same.
In an instant, Sato's mind formed a dozen countermeasures. A joint lock to break the arm. A chokehold. A step-in and a shot to the head.
You have a monster like that Human Asura, and you still rush in yourself? How foolish.
He reached for Asagiri's arm.
Then, at the last possible moment, the punch accelerated.
Sato's pupils shrank.
Too fast.
He couldn't react in time.
The fist drove into his abdomen like a piledriver.
"Cough… cough… pfft!"
Blood sprayed from Sato's mouth. The pain was so intense his body folded in half.
"You bastard…"
Sato stared up at the calm black eyes beneath the dark gray Persona. His face twisted with fury.
He had been played.
Speed variation. Rhythm control. Drag the enemy into a pattern, then suddenly break it and land the real blow.
And the strength behind it was absurd.
Even with Sato's experience with death, his body told him the truth immediately. Internal organs were damaged. Internal bleeding was severe. Fatal injuries, but not the kind that would kill instantly.
"So that's your goal…"
Sato did not counterattack.
Instead, he shoved a hand into his pocket and pulled the pin on a grenade without hesitation.
Ding. Ding…
Asagiri retreated immediately. The Human Asura moved with him, blocking the corridor.
Then the grenades went off.
Boom!!!
Fire swallowed the space. Several grenades detonated together, blasting Sato apart. His body was reduced to scattered chunks and charred fragments.
He died instantly.
Then the black particles appeared.
They swarmed the remains like iron filings drawn to a magnet. Flesh knit. Bones aligned. Blood returned.
Sato's body reassembled and restored itself as if nothing had happened.
When his consciousness cleared, he understood one thing.
He couldn't win.
No. That was too soft.
They weren't even on the same level.
This masked Player was fighting an Ajin for the first time, yet every move was professional. Every target, every angle, every choice was built around one objective: capture him and remove his ability to resist, without giving him the easy escape of immediate death.
Sato knew his own combat skills, honed through professional military training, might even be superior.
But with a gap in stats this large, skill became decoration.
After that self-detonation, he had also confirmed another problem. Aside from the mobile combat suit stored in his inventory, he had no more weapons worth using. No tools that could bridge the difference.
In a single heartbeat, Sato made a decision.
The black particles appeared again and condensed into a six-fingered black figure.
Inside the combat meeting room, Shimomura Izumi watched through the surveillance feed and lowered her voice.
"Mr. Tozaki. Sato has summoned his IBM."
Totsaki Yu stared at the screen, then pushed up his glasses, his brow deeply furrowed.
"That Hat… is finally going to use his full strength. In the end, who will—"
He froze mid-sentence.
Because Sato did something no one in the room expected.
After summoning his IBM, he didn't charge.
He didn't commit.
He turned around and ran.
"He… ran?" Totsaki Yu's voice cracked with disbelief. "Hat… actually ran?"
Sato was "Hat."
An extremist terrorist. Cold-blooded. Ruthless. Cruel.
A battle maniac.
Totsaki Yu had expected an all-out life-and-death clash. Instead, the IBM was nothing but cannon fodder to buy time, and Sato chose to escape.
"Mr. Tozaki, Sato's IBM…"
Shimomura Izumi watched the next moment on the screen.
The Human Asura rushed the IBM, smashed it to the ground, and pinned it there.
Their silhouettes looked similar, both black, both unnatural. But the difference in power was humiliating.
Sato's IBM struggled like a fragile doll, thrashing uselessly beneath the Human Asura's grip.
The entire meeting room fell silent.
On-screen, Asagiri did not immediately chase Sato.
Instead, he bent down and picked up a tactical helmet from a dead mobile unit member.
Then his calm voice came through the public channel.
"Let's talk."
Everyone in the meeting room stiffened.
Asagiri lifted his head, looking directly into the surveillance camera.
Even through a screen, even knowing he was kilometers away, the pressure of that gaze made people instinctively avert their eyes.
The silence in the room thickened.
"Open the line. Give me the headset."
At Totsaki Yu's order, the technician shut off the public broadcast and handed him the headset connected to the helmet's microphone.
Totsaki Yu put it on, voice tight.
"I am the head of the Anti-Ajin Special Forces."
"Oh. Totsaki Yu."
Asagiri spoke his name like he had been expecting him.
Totsaki Yu's expression shifted sharply. He opened his mouth to speak, but Asagiri cut him off without hesitation.
"Shut up and listen. The terms are simple."
"The group that was with me just now, you will ensure their route to the archive room stays unobstructed through the central control system. Make sure they don't run into anyone. They will safely obtain the experimental data stored there."
"Sato is my enemy, but he's an Ajin. I haven't found a way to kill him permanently yet. So I will capture him and strip him of the ability to resist. What you do with him afterward, I don't care."
"These are the terms of the transaction."
.....
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