"Ah…"
The female ghoul let out a soft moan of pain. After Hōjō Yoru's punch, the lower half of her face had already twisted out of shape—yet her mouth still hadn't closed.
It couldn't.
Because her jaw had snapped off in that collision of force, flying who-knew-where.
"Oh?" Yoru said with a smile in his voice. "You took a punch from the front and you're still not dead? Interesting."
Yuuki Asuna's mind went blank.
Was that… the right line?
Which one of you is the monster here?!
The female ghoul, now shaken out of her dizziness and agony, stared at the boy who was walking toward her step by step. Terror flooded her eyes; even her body began to tremble.
Is he an investigator from the Ghoul Suppression Bureau?
She'd never met one in person, but she'd heard stories: they dressed properly, carried special suitcase-like weapons called quinques, and…
Investigators were terrifying, yes—but at the end of the day they were still ordinary humans. They fought ghouls with skill and specialized weapons.
But the black-haired creature in front of her—
That level of strength and reflexes couldn't possibly belong to a human.
"Y-you're a gho—"
"'Gho' my ass."
Before she could finish, Yoru seized her by the throat with one hand and lifted her off the ground. The ghoul thrashed violently, trying to break free.
Yoru's eyes held no pity. No hesitation.
His five fingers tightened.
"Die."
Crack.
Asuna had never imagined she would witness a scene like this in her life—never imagined she would ever hear a sound like this.
It wasn't the clean, crisp "neck snap" you hear in movies.
It was the sound of flesh and bone being crushed by brute force.
And because her throat was locked in his grip, the female ghoul couldn't even scream—her body only struggled… until it degraded into nothing but reflexive spasms.
Thump… thump…
The male ghoul—drawn over by the noise—arrived with an impatient scowl. His meal had been interrupted; he was about to scold his partner for being so slow, making such a commotion just to kill two ordinary humans—
When something bumped against his foot.
He looked down. The woods were too dark for him to see clearly at first.
Then, in the pale moonlight, he finally recognized what it was.
A severed head—frozen in despair and terror—lying quietly on the ground.
"How… is that possible…?"
As the male ghoul stared at his dead partner in disbelief, an intense sense of danger surged through him. Instinct took over; he threw his arms up to protect his face.
BANG!
Yoru's fist smashed into his guard—and almost in the same instant, he shifted his stance and drove a sharp side kick into the ghoul's abdomen, chaining the motion into a smooth, ruthless combo.
"Kh—cough…!"
The male ghoul flew backward, his back slamming into a solid tree trunk. Something like a tail burst out of his body in an instant, extending behind him.
"A Bikaku type," Yoru said.
While observing the ghoul's movement, he explained to Asuna in a relaxed tone.
"Ghouls have a special organ called a kagune. There are roughly four types. That one just now was Ukaku—advantages are burst speed and agility, plus limited flight capability. The downside is endurance. This one is Bikaku—more balanced, enhances overall physical performance. The downside is it doesn't have a decisive one-shot finisher."
Hearing him casually "lecture" mid-fight, Asuna froze.
And even the male ghoul—who had just deployed his kagune—froze too.
What is this…?
Hey—this is still a fight! Why are you giving a tutorial?!
Do you even see me as an enemy?! Do you think this is play-pretend?!
"Arrogant bastard…"
The male ghoul had mistaken Yoru for someone coming to steal his food—or even a ghoul who intended to eat his own kind. Given Yoru's strength and speed, far beyond human limits, that misunderstanding was… understandable.
"I'll kill you!!"
The male ghoul lunged forward.
Yoru's reaction was a bored shrug.
"You're not running—so you're coming straight at me? Interesting."
Not far away, Asuna clasped her hands at her chest. Worry shone in her hazel eyes.
Yoru had just instantly deleted that Ukaku ghoul, but that was because she'd mistaken him for an ordinary human and dove in from the air without any caution—giving him the initiative.
And logically speaking, if this Bikaku ghoul could order the Ukaku one around, then it should be stronger.
Hōjō-kun…
Will he win?
"Die!"
The Bikaku ghoul thrust his right hand out, tearing straight for Yoru's face. As a Bikaku type, he had absolute confidence in close-quarters combat—if he could get into range, this black-haired "ghoul" couldn't possibly—
"Are you trying to make me laugh?"
Yoru dipped his body slightly, slipped the attack, and in one continuous motion captured the ghoul's right arm. Using a textbook shoulder throw, he slammed the ghoul hard into the ground.
"Ghk!"
The Bikaku ghoul felt like his organs had been shaken apart. Before he could do anything, Yoru stomped down on the joint between the ghoul's right arm and shoulder, then yanked with sudden force—
ripping the entire arm off.
"Did you see that?"
As the ghoul's scream tore through the woods, Yoru looked over at Asuna and spoke evenly.
"Most ghouls have never received professional combat training. If you can find an opening, then even if your physical stats are equal—or even slightly lower—you can still find a chance to kill them."
"Mm… I understand."
Watching Yoru dismantle the Bikaku ghoul with such clinical brutality, Asuna pressed her lips together. Her emotions were tangled and heavy.
So this was the strength of a professional Devil Hunter.
She'd thought Yoru fought through sheer stat-checking—pure numbers crushing everything. But the battle at the train station, the "fake panic" escape to bait the ghoul, and now this straight-up close-quarters dismantling all proved one thing:
It wasn't just stats.
His combat awareness and technique were professional—terrifyingly so.
A shoulder throw might not look complicated, but to land it that smoothly in real combat, you have to evade the strike, predict the opponent's center of gravity, and catch the exact point where their force breaks.
Right now, Asuna had only one question in her mind:
Before Hōjō-kun became a Devil Hunter…
What exactly did he do?
This was way too professional.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 90)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 95)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 80)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter70)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter70)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter50)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter60)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 20
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 20
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