Seeing Ouroboros coil into combat with the vampire while Hojo Yoru simply stood there, Asuna couldn't help freezing for a moment.
He always fought personally—and honestly, there was more than a little "battle junkie" in him—so she never expected him to open with a summon this time.
But thinking it through, this was the most correct, cautious choice.
Hojo was already extremely skilled in combat, and his physical ability was absurdly high. Most of the time, compared to the stamina-hungry Ouroboros, it was simply smarter for him to fight directly.
But this time was different.
He'd never fought a vampire. He knew such supernatural creatures existed, but he didn't know their exact abilities—or their "stats."
That's exactly where Ouroboros came in.
Let it clash first; Hojo observes and analyzes from the side. Once he's gathered enough information, he enters personally. Even if Ouroboros gets injured—or torn to pieces—it won't affect Hojo at all.
As for why he didn't just swallow the vampire immediately…
Because Ouroboros's inside was more fragile, and it didn't possess true, guaranteed digestion power.
If the vampire forced its way out of Ouroboros's body, Hojo would waste a huge amount of stamina—and gain no reliable intel.
In other words: maximum caution.
Meanwhile, the vampire—frantically dodging Ouroboros's bites—looked like it'd seen a ghost. Its mind contained only one thought:
What the hell is this thing?!
Wasn't that guy a ghoul? So is this massive black serpent his kagune?
Impossible. What kind of kagune detaches from the body and moves freely?!
To Asuna—who'd watched Ouroboros show up after fights just to "clean up" and eat—this thing was basically a freeloader.
But to a vampire seeing it for the first time, the pressure from that enormous black serpent laced with faint golden patterns was overwhelming.
Its size was huge. Its speed was ridiculous. Even when its body was raked open with deep bloody gashes, it moved as if it felt no pain at all.
Worse—this serpent didn't seem to obey physics. It could move on the ground, and also slither through the air with complete freedom.
The vampire nearly wanted to curse out loud.
Was this even a supernatural creature anymore? It wasn't even trying to look reasonable. With that bizarre movement pattern, the vampire couldn't predict its next action at all. It could only keep moving nonstop—dodging in a humiliating scramble.
"How disappointing."
Watching, Hojo sighed, visibly let down.
"Your strength doesn't even meet the standard of an S-rank ghoul. You're at best equivalent to an A-rank. I thought whoever claimed a whole territory would be stronger… turns out you're only this much."
Hearing Hojo's voice, the vampire's crimson eyes snapped toward him—and a thought flared up.
He's not participating… so that means…
I see it! This is the solution!
No matter what that black-and-gold serpent really was—kagune or something else—it had to be summoned by that guy in black.
So if it killed Hojo, the serpent would disappear.
And since Hojo himself wasn't moving in… that meant his personal combat power was weak!
The vampire assembled a "reasonable conclusion" from those clues and acted instantly.
It seized the moment Ouroboros snapped at empty air—wings beating hard as it dove from above, talons reaching for Hojo, its face twisted with a confident, vicious grin.
"DIE!!"
Bang!
In the next second, through the binoculars, Asuna saw a blurred object streak dozens of meters away before smashing down into the ground.
She blinked—then only after noticing Hojo's clean side-kick finishing form did it click.
…He just kicked the vampire into a literal shooting star.
Hojo walked to the edge of the crater. Inside lay the vampire, twisted and shattered like it had been hit by a truck, wheezing faintly—barely a "thing" at all.
He said earnestly:
"Did you die?"
Then, with the same sincerity:
"Don't rush to die yet. Hang on a bit. I still want to run some experiments on you."
Hearing that, the vampire's body spasmed twice. It seemed to try to crawl away—then, because its injuries were too severe, its eyes closed, dropping into a "sleep" that looked permanent.
A little later, Asuna came down from the abandoned building and walked to Hojo's side.
"It's dead?"
"It has no heartbeat, no breathing. Blood isn't circulating. Body temperature's low. It was basically a corpse already."
Hojo glanced into the crater and spoke softly:
"Crush its head."
"Okay."
Asuna didn't hesitate. She re-summoned her metal sword and slashed down toward the vampire in the crater.
"W-wait—!"
The vampire couldn't keep playing dead. Its eyes flew open—
But Hojo didn't stop Asuna.
The sword punched through its skull, then shredded the body into pieces—ripped apart like animal-torn remains, hard to even reassemble.
"Mm. Now it should be actually dead."
Hojo said calmly while looking at the scattered chunks.
"Vampires seem to have strong vitality too, but it's not the same type as ghouls. Ghouls are essentially still 'humans' with vastly higher physical strength—fatal human injuries are still fatal to them. This thing was damaged like that and still didn't die… so it seems you need to destroy the head completely to kill a vampire for sure."
As he spoke, Hojo summoned Ouroboros and had it swallow the vampire's remains. He then took out his phone and sent a message to the Ghoul Countermeasures Bureau. Finally, he turned to Asuna with a smile.
"Alright. Clock out. We're going home."
"Huh? What about that man?"
"Let the Bureau handle him."
Hojo waved it off, unconcerned.
"They'll make him keep quiet. I'm not doing that annoying cleanup work. Oh—right…"
As if remembering something, Hojo pulled a small booklet from his pocket and handed it to Asuna.
She took it and opened it.
Inside was her photo, along with her name and profile.
[Public Security Special Anti-Devil Operations Division — Devil Hunter: Yuuki Asuna]
"Congratulations, Yuuki Asuna."
Seeing her surprised, delighted expression, Hojo grinned.
"From today on, you're a formally registered devil hunter."
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 175)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 126)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter105)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter100)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter134)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 87
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 79
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 64
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 73
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 45
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 49
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 45
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 45
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 31
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 27
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 26
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