Pain racked his entire body as though it had been torn apart. That was Shiki's first sensation upon regaining consciousness. No matter how he thought about it, he could not understand how someone of his strength had been attacked in Konoha Ninja City without noticing a thing.
The ninja city guards were no pushovers. Even those Otsutsuki aliens would find it difficult to escape unscathed under the guards' layered defenses, let alone anyone else.
His right eye hurt most of all, as if it were about to burst. He could not help letting out a muffled groan as he slowly opened his eyes.
Everything before him was unfamiliar. This was not the home he knew. Looking around, he found himself in a dim, abandoned room. It was piled with garbage, tables and chairs lay scattered everywhere, and the stale smell of alcohol still lingered in the air. Shiki guessed that this was probably an abandoned bar.
Before he could sort out his thoughts, a noise suddenly came from next door. Shiki's heart stirred. He immediately got up, silently walked behind the door, and cautiously peeked out. At the abandoned bar counter, a fierce battle was underway.
A twin-tailed loli of seven or eight was locked in a fierce fight with a monster resembling a starfish, covered in tentacles. The little girl was small and nimble, dodging left and right between the counters. The monster's tentacles repeatedly struck empty air, smashing countless bottles and jars while tearing the surrounding furniture to pieces.
"My, my. I didn't expect this unexpected gain to be so formidable."
At that moment, a man's voice came from the corner. Only then did Shiki notice that a blond youth was standing there as well. He could not help frowning. When had his senses become so dull? At such close range, he had failed to notice someone else's presence entirely.
Just like this battle between the loli and the monster—he had not sensed the slightest trace of it before.
No, it was not that he had failed to sense it. Rather, his past experience was completely useless here. And judging by the language, it was Japanese. Was this Japan?
Shiki raised a hand and picked up an empty liquor bottle from a nearby table. In the dim light, he caught a glimpse of his reflection—he had become younger again.
In an instant, he understood his situation.
...I see. Another inexplicable transmigration...
Before he could think any further, the battle at the counter changed again.
After the blond youth joined in, even though he did not attack and merely stood there, he affected the loli's movements. She quickly fell into a disadvantage and had no choice but to throw out two gemstones. The gems exploded on the monster like grenades, and the shockwave hurled the loli toward Shiki.
"Ah!!!" Her cry jolted Shiki awake.
If he did nothing, the loli would definitely crash into the wall. At that speed, she would be seriously injured, perhaps even killed.
Though his mind was still in chaos and he had no idea what was going on, Shiki instinctively reached out and activated his force-field control ability, moving the loli's body to his side.
The loli glanced at him, then tilted her head and fainted.
That child had been far too reckless. Still, thankfully, his power remained. He just did not know how much of it was left.
Shiki carried the loli to a corner so she would not be caught up in the battle to come.
The bizarre turn of events quieted the room for a moment. The blond youth shifted his gaze over and finally noticed Shiki.
A puzzled expression appeared on the youth's face. "Huh? There's more than one unexpected gain here." When he saw Shiki clearly, a hint of malice entered his expression. "My, my. An unexpected surprise among surprises. You're not the child Old Master Qingxu likes best, but I'll deal with this surprise myself. Kill him!"
At the youth's command, the bracelet around his wrist emitted a dim glow. The previously quiet monster instantly went berserk and charged at Shiki.
The tentacles were as thick as an adult's thigh. Shiki instinctively knew he could not confront them head-on right now. He quickly stepped back and dodged the monster's whip-like strike, continuously evading its tentacles. But the space around him grew tighter and tighter, and his situation became increasingly dangerous.
"Oh, impressive! What agile movements!" The blond at the exit whistled and exclaimed, "You're no ordinary boy. You're from our world, which makes you even more worth killing. With the power bestowed by Old Master Qingxu, I'll crush you into minced meat. Don't hold back—enjoy this dinner to your heart's content! Hahaha!"
The young man shouted wildly, his expression vicious, the very picture of a villain.
With his only open left eye, Shiki glanced at the blond, then focused on the battle before him. While doing his best to evade the tentacled monster's attacks, he analyzed his own condition.
First, his physical condition was terrible. He was extremely weak, as if he had only just recovered from a serious illness. He might not even be as strong as an ordinary person, much less a child at the ninja academy. Second, his stamina was about to run out from all the consecutive dodging. If he wanted to avoid dying right after waking up, he had to make a choice.
Should he risk killing the tentacled monster, or attack the blond youth? Was there even a choice to make?
Shiki's heart clenched. Of course, he would take both.
The tentacled monster had only one type of attack and was not much of a threat. The key was the blond youth behind it, the one with control authority. This youth looked like an ordinary person and did not give Shiki any strong sense of danger. On the contrary, it was his bracelet that radiated a dangerous aura and posed a serious threat to him.
It was probably some kind of magical item from a fantasy world, like those scientific ninja tools. Even ordinary people could use it.
Dangerous or not, if he did not want to be beaten to death by the tentacled monster, he had to act.
The opportunity came quickly. In a tiny opening, Shiki stepped on the wall behind him, darted past the tentacled monster, and used the force of his arm against the floor to swiftly reach the blond.
He gripped a broken liquor bottle he had casually picked up from the floor and thrust it straight at the blond's throat without mercy, every move aimed to kill.
If it landed, the fragility of the human throat meant it would be pierced at once, dealing the blond a fatal wound.
But unfortunately, Shiki's attack did not succeed. Halfway through, his entire body became tangled as if in spider silk, leaving him unable to move.
Only then did the blond calmly take a step back, a mocking smile on his face. "My, my, young man. Did you think I would overlook what made you special? I already guessed that you would attack me, my weak point. This is a trap. Surprise! Hahaha!"
The dim light on his bracelet shone even brighter. The same-colored glow appeared around Shiki's body, and even his lone open black left eye was stained with that eerie color.
"Old Master Qingxu's Magic Dress Gear really is useful. No one can resist Old Master Qingxu's magic."
As he spoke, the blond took the liquor bottle from Shiki's hand and beckoned the charging tentacled monster over to attack together. "Young man, let me give you a lesson in death: never casually approach a stranger's body. Hahaha, die!"
Behind that savage grin was a heart bent on murder. The blond and the tentacled monster attacked Shiki from both sides while he was unable to move.
Yet at that moment of crisis, the corner of Shiki's mouth curled upward into a faint smile. Under the blond's astonished gaze, he slowly opened his right eye, where a vivid flash of green and red appeared.
"What!?"
"That's what I should be saying! Don't approach strangers!"
A powerful force field instantly enveloped the space around Shiki. In the blink of an eye, the violent force blasted both the tentacled monster and the blond away.
The tentacled monster smashed directly into the wall and burst apart with a splat, staining the wall a deep crimson.
The blond flew away as well. Protected by his magical item, he did not suffer a fatal wound. He merely rolled awkwardly more than a dozen times before shooting upward with fragments of his shattered bracelet, flying out of the abandoned bar along the stairs.
Only then did a thunderous boom erupt through the air, like an exploding mass of compressed air, blowing away countless fragments.
Once free again, Shiki's legs went weak. Had he not grabbed the ruined bar counter beside him in time, he would have embarrassingly collapsed onto the floor.
"Ha... huff... ha!"
He panted heavily as hot sweat ran down his cheeks and dripped onto the wreckage-strewn floor.
Using his ability in such a weakened state had indeed drained all his stamina. He had no fighting strength left now. To ensure he could eliminate the tentacled monster and the blond, he had held nothing back and gone all out.
Still, listening to the blond's furious voice from above, Shiki was puzzled. Why was that blond so hard to beat? How had he withstood a force-field attack that could snap steel and crush boulders?
"Ah!! I won't forgive you! You actually dared to destroy Old Master Qingxu's Magic Dress Gear! Just wait! I'll be back!"
After hearing the keyword "Magic Dress Gear" several times, Shiki froze. Then he saw several bracelet fragments on the floor and understood why the other man had survived.
"Magic Dress Gear... In that case... this world..."
Before he could think more deeply, the voices of children suddenly rang out around him.
"Where is this?" "Waaah, I want my mommy!" "Wah!"
Like a chain reaction, cries and wails rose one after another, making Shiki frown even more deeply. It was too noisy. It felt as though he had not heard such sounds in seven or eight years.
"I should leave."
Shiki quietly left the abandoned bar and climbed to the rooftop.
Under the night sky, a modern city unfolded before him, traffic flowing through its streets and neon lights flickering everywhere. In the distance, an iconic gigantic red bridge stood out vividly as he sensed the faint, mysterious aura in the atmosphere.
Shiki spread his arms as though embracing the entire world.
"Hello, world."
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