Rei'an the "Tsundere"

The lights of the skyscrapers hung like an inverted river of stars, illuminating the veins of Tokyo.

From the neon of Roppongi to the glow of Ginza, every beam of light told of the city's vitality and rhythm. Amid the dazzling lights, crowds flowed like small streams through the streets and alleys.

Behind the prosperity, darkness also lurked in the shadowed alleyways.

A man fled in terror, as though demons were chasing him from behind.

At last, his steps came to a halt. Despair filled his eyes, because he had reached a dead end.

People sometimes found courage in despair. Gritting his teeth, he produced a pistol in his left hand and a dagger in his right, awkwardly crossing the weapons as he stared intently at the man emerging from the darkness.

"Why are you after me?! I didn't do anything! I don't know anything!"

The Explorer whose space name was Koyasha shouted, "Don't come any closer! No matter how fast you are, you can't outrun a bullet!"

Under the night sky, the wind swept the clouds aside, and moonlight fell upon the figure in the darkness.

He was a young man in casual clothes, around 1.8 meters tall. His hair cascaded down like a waterfall, and his face was so handsome that even women would envy it.

Yet the bulging muscle lines beneath his clothes spoke of his sex—and of his strength.

The young man seemed mentally unstable. His once-handsome face twisted into a grimace. "It was you... you people who took away the god I loved... you! Ah... without my god, how am I supposed to face this miserable world?"

"Setsuna Kiryu, you... listen to me. I don't know where you got your information, but I'm just an ordinary fighter! Tokita Ohma's death had nothing to do with me!"

Cold sweat poured down the Explorer's forehead. He knew why he was being hunted.

The man before him was Setsuna Kiryu, Tokita Ohma's perverted stalker from the original story. His strength was just as monstrous as his obsession. He held a twisted love for Tokita Ohma, and now that Ohma was dead, he had naturally gone even more completely insane.

Koyasha cursed the bastard who had killed Tokita Ohma ten thousand times in his heart, but that did nothing to resolve his current crisis.

He was a level-seven Explorer himself, possessing a superhuman Constitution compared to the fighters of this world. Yet after only a brief exchange, the skin on his chest, along with his ribs, had been twisted into a vortex by the other man's Rakshasa Palm.

"Ohma... don't worry. I'll definitely tear the person who killed you into pieces, then come from the pleasure of avenging you."

Setsuna Kiryu crossed his arms over his chest, his face flushed red as he walked toward Koyasha.

"Fuck, you sick freak!"

Koyasha suddenly fired, charging forward with his dagger at the same time.

After the gunshot rang out, Setsuna Kiryu and Koyasha passed each other. Koyasha's entire neck twisted backward, and he crashed to the ground.

Setsuna Kiryu stood atop Koyasha's corpse and gazed at the moon overhead. "Ah~ Ohma..."

In the training ground packed with wooden stakes, two figures flashed past at extreme speed. The echoes of their fists and feet colliding rang out without end.

After another clash, the two figures separated and landed atop separate wooden stakes.

The figure on the right had skin that had turned purple. Veins bulged across his body like demonic lightning patterns, and his face bore an ecstatic fighting spirit. "Lu Li, come on, keep going!"

This man, whose facial expressions rivaled abstract art, was the Wu Clan's genius, Wu Rei'an.

The one standing opposite him was naturally Lu Li.

Lu Li was bare-chested. The surface of his skin looked different from normal; as his body's output increased, his muscles had visibly swollen. The protruding veins were dark purple, like lightning tearing across a pale sky.

He had also used the Wu Clan's secret technique, Removal, but its effects differed noticeably from Rei'an's. His entire body did not "change color"; only the blood vessels where his blood flowed at high speed took on an unusual hue.

Hui-Li-Yang Wu had said it was his first time seeing a Removal like this. Lu Li guessed it might be related to his Constitution, and also because he had not reached a high Removal rate.

This was already his fifth day at the Wu Family's home. His deal with the Wu Clan had gone pleasantly: he had given Hui-Li-Yang Wu the cultivation method for Armament Haki, while Hui-Li-Yang Wu had taught him Removal.

This secret art of the Wu Clan was indeed extraordinary. It had taken him two days to learn it, and during that time he had also sought advice from Wu Rei'an and Garuda.

More accurately, Garuda had been the one who mainly taught him Removal. Rei'an, that hot-tempered guy, truly had no patience for teaching others. Garuda, on the other hand, was more than willing to teach, and since she was an excellent student at school, she was actually quite a good teacher.

The only flaw was that Garuda kept taking off her clothes while explaining, trying to move the lesson to a bed.

Lu Li had defended against every move from this troublesome girl.

"Let's stop here for today. You've made quite a bit of progress. Take a break and recall that feeling just now. You need to catch the point where power is generated, not merely watch with your eyes."

Lu Li jumped down from the stake, deactivated Removal, and returned to normal.

Garuda ran over from outside the training ground, offering him a towel and water. "Lu Li, let's have children!"

Lu Li had a headache. He felt he could not stay with the Wu Clan much longer, or something would happen sooner or later.

"How many days has it even been? What percentage is your Removal at now?"

Rei'an was anything but polite. He snatched a bottle of water from Garuda and guzzled it down, drawing an unhappy glare from her.

Lu Li and Rei'an sat on a bench beside the training ground. Lu Li wiped away his sweat. "About twenty percent, I guess. I'm not one of your clansmen, after all. This might be my current limit."

"Tch, that really pisses me off. I'll kill you sooner or later."

Rei'an's face was full of displeasure.

After Lu Li mastered Removal, he had still given the Wu Clan quite a shock. Even members of the Wu Clan's main family began learning this secret art from childhood and needed years of training before they could use it.

Even Rei'an, the greatest genius, had spent four months learning Removal, while Garuda had taken five.

Yet Lu Li, an outsider, had mastered the method of activating the secret art after only two days. Many in the Wu Clan began to question their lives.

"If you can do it, you're welcome to try anytime. Learn what I taught you first."

Lu Li smiled. Over the past few days, he and Rei'an had spent no small amount of time together, sparring for long stretches almost every day.

Although he had beaten Rei'an badly the first time they met, making it seem as though he had utterly crushed him, Rei'an was by no means weak.

It was simply that Rei'an at this point in time was still young—a reckless, hot-blooded punk with a violent temper and a thirst for killing. If it were Rei'an four or five years later, Lu Li would not have won so easily.

Lu Li clearly remembered that in the later parts of the original story, Rei'an had been one of those closest in strength to the "immortals" of this world.

Rei'an's talent was absolutely first-rate. Whether in raw stats or technique, he had no shortcomings in talent. What he lacked was simply... a thorough beating.

Yes, what Hui-Li-Yang Wu was most satisfied with was that Lu Li had been relentlessly schooling Rei'an these past few days, letting this Demon understand that there was always someone stronger.

Because Hui-Li-Yang Wu had grown old, no one in the Wu Clan had been able to defeat Rei'an anymore. As a result, Rei'an's "evolution" had actually come to a halt.

"Hah? Who do you think I am? Give me a few more days and I'll learn it, then kill you!"

Rei'an was as hot-tempered as ever when he opened his mouth, but after spending several days together, Lu Li discovered that Rei'an actually had a somewhat tsundere side.

Though he constantly shouted about killing Lu Li, Rei'an was only talking tough. Deep down, he had probably already acknowledged him.

"Rei'an, remember this: power without conviction is merely Violence, not martial arts. When you can turn your power into martial arts, come challenge me."

Lu Li spoke with a serious expression, offering a bit of advice to the sparring dummy he had spent several days with.

"You're not qualified to lecture me. You're so damn annoying. I'm going to train some more!"

Rei'an looked furious as he set down his water and rushed toward the training ground.

Lu Li watched Rei'an's retreating back, and his expression grew heavy as well.

He wondered whether, if Tokita Ohma were still alive, he and Rei'an would have become friends in Wu Village someday.

But the "protagonist" had died, and that had stirred up monstrous waves.

He glanced at the messages in the Public Channel and felt that it was time for him to set out.