Between Human and Kabane

"Not human?"

Ikoma was completely stunned.

At that moment, Mumei suddenly lunged forward, darting right in front of Ikoma, and before he could react, she grabbed hold of his cloak tightly.

"Rip—!"

With the sound of tearing fabric, Mumei ripped Ikoma's cloak clean off, exposing the body beneath it to the air.

The moment Ikoma's body was revealed, everyone present drew in a sharp breath.

There, welded all over Ikoma's body, were metal plates—like unyielding bandages—wrapping around nearly a third of his frame.

Moreover, Ikoma's skin not only had an unnatural pallor, but was also covered in red vein-like Patterns that spread across his body, extending toward the area of his heart.

And then, inside his chest, there was a glowing object.

That was Ikoma's heart.

A glowing heart.

Exactly like a Kabaneri's heart.

"Ka... Kabaneri!"

The surrounding crowd let out screams.

"You...?!" Kurusu Kunoichi's heart tightened, his expression completely overtaken by killing intent as he shouted, "You bastard, you really are a Kabaneri!"

"No... that's not it!" Ikoma stumbled backward, as if betrayed by the entire world, unwilling to accept the truth, and cried out, "I'm not a Kabaneri! I'm not a Kabaneri!"

But before the ironclad evidence, no one would believe Ikoma.

Kurusu Kunoichi had no intention of saying anything more. He aimed his Steam Gun directly at Ikoma's heart, his finger already pressing down on the trigger.

However, just before the gun fired, a hand suddenly reached out and pushed it down.

"Hey, when are you going to fix that temper of yours—seems calm but actually gets worked up way too easily?"

The one who pushed down Kurusu Kunoichi's Steam Gun was Fang Li.

"Don't rush." Fang Li didn't look at Kurusu Kunoichi, but kept his eyes on Ikoma, watching his deeply shaken state, and said, "Give him some time to explain."

"Explain?" Kurusu Kunoichi's expression didn't change at all. Like Fang Li, he kept staring at Ikoma, his cold gaze unwavering, and said, "What else is there to explain? Isn't that heart enough to prove he's a Kabaneri?"

"But have you ever seen a Kabaneri that looks this human?" Fang Li curled his lip and added, "Besides, someone just said he's not a Kabaneri, didn't they?"

At Fang Li's words, the first to react wasn't anyone else—it was Ikoma himself.

Ikoma turned his head and looked at Mumei, who had torn off his cloak and caused this situation, yet now stood there like an indifferent bystander, yawning. He instinctively opened his mouth to speak.

But before Ikoma could say anything, Mumei explained herself.

"I've said it many times—he's not a Kabaneri. He's just not human anymore either."

Mumei seemed to have recovered some of her energy. Her lazy eyes began to regain their luster as she swept her gaze across everyone present.

"He... no, I should say we—we are beings that exist between humans and Kabaneri: Kabaneri."

With that, Mumei turned her back, undid the outer coat draped over her, and exposed her back to everyone's view.

In that instant, everyone's expressions changed.

"You..." Ikoma gasped in shock. "You... you're the same?"

Yes.

The same.

On Mumei's slender, pale back, right where her heart was, there was also a glowing heart.

Looking at the glowing hearts of Mumei and Ikoma—identical to those of Kabaneri—everyone lost their words, unable to react any further.

Only Fang Li already understood everything.

—Kabaneri.

As Mumei had said, they were beings that existed between humans and Kabaneri.

When a person bitten by a Kabaneri dies, they transform into a Kabaneri.

That was common knowledge in this world.

Even if bitten but not killed, they would gradually transform into a Kabaneri after an incubation period, becoming a monster.

However, the world was never short of exceptions and special cases.

When someone was bitten and infected by a Kabaneri, but for various reasons the virus failed to reach the brain, that person would not fully turn into a Kabaneri. Instead, they would become a being between human and Kabaneri.

That being was the Kabaneri.

Kabaneri possessed the physical abilities of Kabaneri, yet retained a human heart.

The reason Mumei was so strong lay precisely here.

This girl had become a Kabaneri for some reason, and through specialized training, she had gained extraordinary combat power.

As for Ikoma, he had transformed into this existence without even knowing that Kabaneri existed.

In the original story, when Aragane Station fell, Ikoma escaped from prison. To fight the Kabaneri, he returned home to retrieve his Tsuranuki-zutsu, engaged them in battle, but was bitten.

In desperation, Ikoma's solution was to weld metal plates onto his body, blocking the Kabaneri virus from invading his brain. He succeeded, and did not become a Kabaneri.

However, even though the virus did not invade his brain, Ikoma's body still transformed into that of a Kabaneri.

Thus, Ikoma became a Kabaneri, a non-human existence.

Of course, Ikoma still managed to preserve his humanity, not turning into a monster that only attacks people.

The others, unaware of this, naturally could not accept it.

But at that moment, Mumei suddenly pulled her coat back on, turned around, and gazed into the distance, saying this.

"Let's put the rest aside for now. The Kabaneri you've been going on about are already here."

Hearing this, everyone was startled. They reflexively turned their heads to look in the direction Mumei was staring.

There, a black tide surged forth.

"Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

A terrifying roar, unprecedented in its intensity, spread through the air like a wave of sound.

Hundreds upon thousands of Kabaneri, dense and packed, surged forward like a black tide, like a stampeding herd of beasts.

That sight made everyone's hearts tremble, fear rising within them.

"Quick!" Fang Li said without hesitation.

"Get on the Iron Fortress!"

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