CHAPTER 33: THE RAZOR'S EDGE
{ Rodem! Close in slowly. }
Q-Taro was a mercenary who had survived real wars. Even with the overwhelming advantage, he didn't drop his guard. He visualized every possible counter-move.
{ They've likely set traps. They're waiting for you to charge in blindly... }
{ But don't worry. We are the lucky ones! Our goal is the very top of Kakerou! }
"Ah... the one behind... is dangerous. Must kill... quickly..." Rodem rasped, his head twitching backward to look at Ren Shiroki, who was standing still, as if frozen in time.
{ Forget him for now, Rodem. He's broken. }
Q-Taro was about to give the order to strike when Madarame Baku's voice crackled over the speakers in the office.
"Hey, old man. Can you hear me?"
Hmm?
Q-Taro blinked. He signaled Rodem to face forward.
Baku was standing at the end of the hall, looking entirely too relaxed. "I'd advise you to give up on taking over Kakerou. If you keep overestimating your own worth, the only thing you'll acquire is a grave."
{ Tch. Rodem, ignore him—wait! }
Q-Taro's eyes widened. "What did the Lie Eater just say?"
"He said 'taking over Kakerou'... how could he possibly know what I said to Rodem?!"
The comms were private, not on a loudspeaker. Baku couldn't have heard the conversation unless...
A bug?!
Q-Taro's face twisted with irritation. He remembered Yagyo's "accidental" drop earlier. "Referee Yagyo... that 'fountain pen' you picked up. Let me see it."
Yagyo: "..."
To be honest, the Referee was starting to regret his choice. He had initially hidden the pen-bug just to see what Baku would do with the opportunity. But that "idiot" Baku had clearly heard Yagyo pick it up and decided to use the Referee's presence to rattle Q-Taro's mental state.
It was a brilliant, if incredibly annoying, play.
"..."
Seeing Yagyo remain silent, Q-Taro exploded. He drew his cane-sword and slashed, cleaving the Referee's high-end fountain pen in half on the desk. He then leveled the blade at Yagyo's throat.
"It was a bug! You old fossil! Care to explain yourself?" Q-Taro hissed through his teeth. "As a Referee... you're taking sides?!"
"..."
Yagyo's face remained a mask of polite indifference. "Master Kujo, please do not misunderstand. This gamble has no formal rules."
"While I am an adjudicator, I am free to choose my own perspective and actions."
Yagyo sighed. "Kakerou Referees are known for their distinct personalities. If I feel a gamble needs a little more... spice, I might lean one way or another. After all, did I not warn you repeatedly to take the guests seriously?"
Yagyo's eyes opened slightly, glancing at the blade near his throat. A spark of cold irritation flared within him. Q-Taro had ignored every professional warning, mocked his expertise, and was now threatening him with a cheap piece of steel.
Hikoichi Yagyo was many things, but a patient man when dealing with fools was not one of them.
"I am not 'helping' the Lie Eater," Yagyo whispered. "But if I were... I would suggest you shut your mouth before I lose my professional composure."
6th Floor Corridor.
Before the audio cut out, Baku heard the muffled sounds of the argument.
"Oh? Sounds like they're having a lover's quarrel," Baku smirked. He glanced past Rodem. Ren was still in his deep stance, the air around him seemingly thickening with every second.
"Ren-chin needs a few more seconds to finish his warm-up. We need to buy him that time."
Baku locked eyes with Rodem and spoke to his companions. "Get ready, boys. The old man is about to snap."
{ DAMN YOU, YAGYO! I KNEW YOU WERE UNRELIABLE! BUT I DON'T NEED YOU! }
Q-Taro's voice roared through Rodem's harness. { RODEM! KILL THE LIE EATER! ERASE HIM! }
{ KILL! }
Rodem exploded into a sprint, his boots hammering the floorboards.
"Here he comes," Baku said, raising an eyebrow. He nudged Kaji and looked at Akagi. "So, Akagi-san... do you think we're going to win this bet?"
"Heh. Who knows?"
Akagi knew Baku was baiting him, but he gave a thin smile. "If the odds were 100%, it wouldn't be a gamble. We've placed our bets. We've made our move..."
The Man of the Divine Realm watched the approaching demon. "The rest is up to luck."
5th Floor. Office.
Q-Taro's face was a map of madness.
Lie Eater, you think I'm some amateur? You think I don't see your petty psychological tricks? You want to shake me? You want me angry so you can take control of the narrative?
I am not the mercenaries you broke with your bare hands. You have no tricks left!
Rodem was closing the distance. The end was seconds away.
"Now! Akagi-san, trigger it!" Baku shouted.
Q-Taro countered immediately: { RODEM! PICK THEM UP! }
SHING!
Akagi yanked on a nearly invisible thread of piano wire.
Concealed in an alcove was another discarded handgun. Baku had sabotaged it while Ren was distracting Rodem earlier. He had jammed the barrel with debris, packed it with extra gunpowder from the mercenaries' spare rounds, and piled a handful of gravel on top.
As Akagi pulled the trigger-string, the gun didn't fire—it detonated.
BOOM!
A cloud of high-velocity stone and shrapnel sprayed toward Rodem like a point-blank blast from a shotgun.
But in the next microsecond—
ZIP!
Rodem snatched "them" up—the corpses of the fallen mercenaries on the sixth floor.
He held a body in each arm, using the dead men as meat-shields to absorb the blast of stone and powder.
Thwack-thwack-thwack!
The corpses were shredded by the shrapnel, but Rodem was unscathed.
{ HAHAHA! On the battlefield, there is no shield more reliable than human meat! I saw your plan coming a mile away! }
Q-Taro barked: { TOSS THEM, RODEM! }
Rodem hurled the two corpses forward with monstrous force.
The bodies didn't hit Baku's team. They hit "Something" in the air between them.
PIANO WIRE.
The hallway was still rigged with Q-Taro's own traps. Rodem had used the bodies to clear the path.
SQUELCH!
The corpses hit the wires and were instantly bifurcated, fountains of blood spraying across the corridor and drenching Akagi, Baku, and Kaji in a gruesome red shower.
{ Hahaha! You thought I forgot my own traps?! }
Q-Taro put his comms on external speaker so his voice echoed through the hallway. { You tried to lead Rodem into the wires! You thought you could use my own weapons against me! }
{ A decent strategy, but Rodem and I are superior! }
But then—
Rodem stopped. He slowly turned around. His body camera centered on Ren Shiroki.
Ren was crouching on the floor, looking like he couldn't even stand up. But Rodem's predatory instincts were screaming. His hair was standing on end.
{ What are you doing, Rodem? Face forward! }
Q-Taro slammed his fist onto the desk. { FINISH THEM! }
But Rodem didn't move. He reached up with both hands and began clawing at his own mask, rubbing his eyes through the goggles. Blood began to leak from behind the plastic.
{ GET YOUR HANDS OFF THE CAMERA! RODEM, DO YOU HEAR ME?! }
"Guh... h-h... HISS!"
Rodem let out a strangled, animalistic cry. Saliva and blood mixed as he retched.
Baku stepped forward, wiping blood from his cheek. "Ah, sorry, old man. Rodem is a bit busy. You aren't there, so you can't see the fine details, can you? Right now, Rodem is..."
"Covered in acid."
{ ...Acid?! }
Q-Taro froze. { The shrapnel? You hid it in the exploding gun?! }
"No," Baku smirked. "The shrapnel was a distraction. We moved the corpses earlier and seeded them with a specialized powder. When Rodem picked up his 'meat shields,' the powder coated his hands and gear."
"Then, when the bodies hit the wires and the blood sprayed... the moisture acted as a catalyst. The powder turned into a corrosive acid vapor right in his face."
"His eyes are melting, and his lungs are full of toxic fumes. He's out of the game."
Q-Taro's face went pale. { Impossible... }
"Heh. Dirty? Cruel?"
Akagi lit a cigarette, the smoke mixing with the scent of copper and acid. "A gamble is just a messy brawl where the unexpected happens every turn."
Q-Taro tried to scream another command, but the sound of a heavy, vibrating footstep echoed behind Rodem.
"You can't understand it, can you?" Ren's voice boomed from the shadows. "Because you can only follow orders from a man in a room."
"Goodbye, Rodem!"
WHOOSH!
Ren Shiroki launched himself into the air. He didn't use a fist; he used his entire momentum for a massive, flying circular strike.
[ZANGIEF: CYCLONE WHEEL KICK]!