In that instant, the fist tore through the air, releasing a muffled, thunderous roar!
Tomie's arm was like a heavy cannon discharging from its barrel — the force fierce beyond compare, a no-frills uppercut that came roaring toward the Slit-Mouthed Woman's jaw!
Wherever the fist passed, even the air seemed compressed into visible shockwaves!
No matter who one was, taking the full weight of this blow meant an inescapable, lethal end.
However, the Slit-Mouthed Woman was not a person!
The Slit-Mouthed Woman's scissors were a hair faster than Tomie's fist!
In the very instant before Tomie's fist was about to make contact with the Slit-Mouthed Woman's jaw —
"Squelch!"
The muffled sound of a blade biting into flesh and the sharp whoosh of an edge slicing through air ripped apart the explosive roar of the fist's pressure wave.
The open scissor blades, like two guillotines rushing toward each other at high speed, bit savagely into Tomie's body, then ploughed clean through her chest like a knife through bamboo.
The tremendous impact drove the blades deep inside her in an instant, all but slicing Tomie in two!
"Ergh —!"
Tomie's entire body convulsed violently; the fully-charged fist froze abruptly in mid-air.
Searing pain — like a bursting electrical current — exploded from her body in a flash, drowning her senses.
The colossal kinetic energy of the charge did not diminish in the slightest. The Slit-Mouthed Woman's whole body was like a heavy truck out of control, slamming forward while driving Tomie — the scissor blades buried deep inside her — viciously ahead!
Like a roadblock struck by a truck at full speed, Tomie's body was helplessly shoved by that immense force, both feet leaving the ground as she was hurled backwards through the air.
For that brief moment, Tomie's body was like a kite with its string severed, or like a ragdoll skewered on the scissor blades, pushed by the Slit-Mouthed Woman as they hurtled madly forward down the corridor!
"Clang! Crack! Crash!"
Fire extinguisher cabinets along the way were crumpled and sent flying, the fire-emergency glass covers on the walls shattered, the bulletin boards mounted on the walls were torn straight off — debris, glass, and shredded paper scattered everywhere.
The two of them became a destructive hurricane, ploughing a wrecked trail through the corridor.
Several dozen metres of distance vanished in the blink of an eye under that terrifying charge.
"BOOM!!!"
Finally, with a tremendous crash, the Slit-Mouthed Woman — Tomie still impaled before her — slammed heavily into the end of the corridor.
The wall shuddered; plaster dust rained down.
Tomie's body was pinned tight between the wall and the Slit-Mouthed Woman, the scissors driven straight through her body and embedded in the wall itself.
Blood gushed from the enormous wound and from all seven orifices, streaming down the blades and down Tomie's body, staining the wall and the floor beneath her feet crimson.
As the storm swept past, Amamiya Rin dragged Yusuke — who hadn't yet fully grasped what was happening — and only just managed to duck into the space above the staircase, evading that bulldozer-like, savage onslaught.
Watching Tomie pinned to the wall like a torn rag, Amamiya Rin's heart clenched sharply, but his hands didn't stop.
Alarmed he might be, but the work that had to be done couldn't wait.
He went down on one knee, his cane propped against the side. With practiced efficiency he drew back the bolt — the scalding spent casing chimed to the floor — and his right hand fished a fresh round from the ammunition pouch at his waist, slid it into the chamber, closed the bolt, and locked it home.
The entire sequence flowed smoothly in the dim light, taking less than three seconds.
Even so, it was still too slow.
This jury-rigged, hand-assembled electromagnetic rifle was too crude — the slightest movement of it made noise. Almost before Amamiya Rin had finished loading the round, the Slit-Mouthed Woman had already homed in on Amamiya Rin, her sworn enemy.
Her face contorted in an instant into something more grotesque than a demon's. With a violent jerk of both hands, the scissors ripped free from the wall and from Tomie's body, dragging out a great spray of blood, and she turned at once to charge over and shear that man's head off — together with that damnable, freakish gun in his hands!
But the moment the Slit-Mouthed Woman turned, two blood-drenched hands suddenly thrust up from below and seized both of her arms in a death grip!
It was Tomie!
Her upper body had been all but cleaved apart by the scissors, the gaping wound still gushing blood, her face ashen from blood loss — yet the eyes peering out through the holes of her mask were frighteningly bright. No fear in them at all. Only a brazen tenacity, and a thread of mockery.
"Trying to run…? Ugly hag… your opponent… is me!"
Tomie's voice was broken by her injuries, her breath as thin as a wisp, but from somewhere — heaven knew where — she'd dredged up the strength to clamp down on the Slit-Mouthed Woman's arms and refuse to let her leave.
However, because her wounds were too grave to heal at once, her strength was nothing like its undamaged state. She couldn't pin the Slit-Mouthed Woman outright — she could only delay her movements by half a beat!
But half a beat was enough. Amamiya Rin had already taken aim at the Slit-Mouthed Woman's head, and squeezed the trigger.
"BANG —!!!"
From above the staircase, accompanied by a brief electric hum, the muzzle flash blazed bright once again — an ear-splitting gunshot rang out almost in the same breath!
The Slit-Mouthed Woman's pupils contracted; her body arched backward, one foot kicking off Tomie's body, and on the strength of inhuman speed and reflexes she wrenched herself out of the line of fire by the narrowest of margins.
The scorching metal slug tore through the air, grazing past the left side of her scalp by a hair!
"Skreee —!!!"
A sound like a grinding wheel rasping over hard bone rang out as the round — driven by tremendous kinetic energy and spin, like a red-hot branding iron — raked viciously across the Slit-Mouthed Woman's scalp.
In that instant, the Slit-Mouthed Woman's scalp, together with the temporal muscle beneath it, was sliced open by the terrible friction the bullet carried; a charred, peeled-back wound of curling flesh blossomed across the front of her brow.
"Crunch —"
A piercing grinding sound seemed to echo directly inside the Slit-Mouthed Woman's skull.
The outer periosteum was mercilessly torn apart, and the hard surface of the bone beneath was scored with coarse, abrasive grooves.
Though it hadn't fully punched through, the searing pain that transmitted directly to her nerve endings was like a red-hot iron skewer rammed savagely into her temple and then twisted around in a frenzy!
"Gyaaaaahhh —!!!"
The Slit-Mouthed Woman let out a shriek that warped off-pitch; her face contorted violently, twisted into something horrifyingly inhuman.
Agony!
Unimaginable agony erupted from her skull, instantly drowning her senses. The Slit-Mouthed Woman felt her vision go abruptly black, countless golden sparks bursting across her field of view.
A close-range gunshot — even a mere graze — had inflicted catastrophic damage on the Slit-Mouthed Woman, plunging her into a momentary daze and loss of balance.
She staggered on her feet; her left hand instinctively clamped over the wound on her head, her body swaying.
But those bloodshot eyes had already, once again, locked onto Amamiya Rin with a deathly stare.
Having failed to hit the temple, Amamiya Rin was just about to reload — when he sensed the dense malice rolling off the Slit-Mouthed Woman's gaze and a surge of acute danger.
No good! There's no time for another shot!
Amamiya Rin grasped this immediately.
Clutching her blood-drenched head, the Slit-Mouthed Woman's vision was blurred by the searing pain — but the venom in her eyes was nearly enough to burn straight through the air.
"Kill… you… absolutely… going to…"
She glared fixedly at Amamiya Rin above the staircase, strange, rasping sounds gurgling out from her throat.
Before the words had even fallen, she moved!
The Slit-Mouthed Woman's motions were no longer as quick as before — the head wound had plainly affected her balance and speed. Her charge came with an obvious stagger, like a beast with its head spun dizzy, lurching left and right.
Even so, her speed was still terrifyingly fast.
Because, from the corridor at the foot of the stairs to the top of the staircase — it was a matter of only a few short steps!
____
👻🔥Walnut-chan ;)🔥👻
🔥 New history: A Martial Arts Master Will Never Be Humiliated
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