A Good Person?

"Stop dawdling. Throw it, now!" Duan Mu barked in a low voice, cutting off Iwao's question.

Iwao opened and closed his mouth, then seemed to steel himself and snarled, "Fine, I'll throw it!!"

As he spoke, he glanced at the steadily approaching crowd around them, pulled a scarlet firework from his waist, and hurled it straight at the ground.

Bang—!

Amid the deafening explosion, pungent red smoke instantly enveloped the area where Duan Mu and the other five stood. Everyone approaching them involuntarily stopped, warily watching the strange red haze.

"Bakudō #21: Sekienton!"

At the instant the red smoke erupted, a low chant rang out.

The red smoke suddenly bulged, as if something were compressing it, then exploded outward in an instant, spreading before anyone nearby had time to react.

"What is this... My eyes... Cough, cough, cough, cough~~"

"It burns..."

"Fall back! Cough, cough, get back..."

"..."

Wherever the red smoke passed, screams rose one after another. Some people rubbed their eyes frantically, while others covered their mouths and noses, their faces flushed crimson.

"What is this?"

Iwao stared blankly at the smoke billowing around them. Instantly casting a spell in the twenties was surprising, but hardly unheard-of—not enough to make him react like this. The timing of this spell's release, however, had been unbelievably perfect!

At the instant the Blood Tear Bead exploded, Duan Mu had cleverly used the shockwave produced by Sekienton to push the pepper smoke outward, keeping even a trace of it from reaching their group.

The smoke came and went quickly. As his vision began to recover, Iwao's first reaction was to look toward where Duan Mu had been standing.

"Take Hawk and the other three and run to the left rear!"

The low voice made a puzzled look appear on Iwao's face. Although it was Duan Mu's voice, the tone he used gave Iwao a strange sense of unfamiliarity.

Following the voice instinctively, Iwao looked over—only for Duan Mu to suddenly vanish from where he stood.

Iwao's eyes widened. He looked utterly bewildered, as if he had witnessed something unbelievable.

Was that Duan Mu?

It had only lasted an instant, but that figure just now... Had it really been Duan Mu, the gentle, helpful "good old man" from his memories?

"B-Brother Iwao?"

After the sudden change, Hawk and the other three finally came to their senses. Seeing Iwao's dazed expression, they asked in trembling voices, "D-Do we run in the direction Little Duan Mu... cough, Brother Duan told us to?"

"Huh?"

Iwao came back to himself. Meeting the four boys' horrified gazes, his expression hardened. Given their current situation, it clearly wasn't the time to investigate Duan Mu's change.

Daimaru stood in the distance. Cautious by nature, he had already retreated when Iwao took out the Blood Tear Bead, avoiding the pepper smoke.

"Who is the black-haired young man standing beside Shiba Ganju? Is he a student of the Soul Reaper Academy?"

Daimaru asked his aide. Perhaps it was just his imagination, but after Iwao threw the pepper smoke bomb, the particles around the black-haired youth seemed to stir. Their reaction was somewhat like that of a Soul Reaper releasing Kido.

"That black-haired young man?"

The aide froze for a moment before replying, "He isn't a student of the Soul Reaper Academy. His information is easy to find, because hardly anyone in the settled areas of West Rukongai doesn't know him. As far as I know, he only came to Rukongai four years ago. He opened a 'Yorozuya' in District 38, a shop that takes on all kinds of work."

At this point, a strange smile appeared on the aide's face. "They say he's kind and helpful—the universally acknowledged 'good old man' of West Rukongai."

He had only arrived in Rukongai four years ago?

The tension Daimaru had just felt ebbed away again. He hadn't joined the Soul Reaper Academy, and he was merely a kid who had come to Rukongai four years ago. How could he possibly know Kido? Daimaru must have seen wrong.

"The smoke is about to clear. Keep your eyes on them. Don't let... Hmm?"

Daimaru's words abruptly cut off. Almost at the same instant, a commotion came from the distance.

Following the sound, he saw a ghostlike figure suddenly appear in the middle of the crowd!

It was none other than Duan Mu. The warmth that usually filled his eyes had vanished, replaced by something... indifferent, as if he had cast aside all emotion in an instant.

The two people at the very front were rubbing their eyes. Their faces changed, and the habits they had developed from constantly living on the edge of life and death made them swing their fists at the sudden intruder almost instinctively.

Who could have expected Duan Mu to have seen it coming? His body swayed like a pendulum, leaving two afterimages. Like a slippery loach, he slipped between them with uncanny ease.

At the same time, Duan Mu held both hands like blades. They skimmed past the two men's chests like venomous snakes before striking their Adam's apples with pinpoint accuracy.

With a crisp crack, both men's eyes bulged. The tremendous force lifted their feet off the ground, and blood poured from their mouths. Before they even hit the ground, they had already breathed their last.

Everyone nearby couldn't help changing expression at the sight.

What a vicious bastard!

Killing people was practically an everyday occurrence for them, but it was rare to see someone as powerful and ruthless as this black-haired youth. Duan Mu felt nothing like an ordinary resident of Rukongai. Instead, he seemed more like one of them!

Even so, the deaths of two people did not frighten them.

Almost the instant the two men died, viciousness appeared on everyone's faces. They charged at Duan Mu with an almost frenzied momentum!

"Kill him!!"

"Get him!"

The crowd surged toward Duan Mu like a tide.

Duan Mu slowly raised his head. A sinister aura seeped from the depths of his soul. It seemed to have been suppressed for a long time, and the moment it was released, even the surrounding air grew colder.

Compared to the vicious criminals around him, he somehow looked even more terrifying.

Watching the swiftly approaching tide of people, Duan Mu not only failed to retreat—he leaped into the air and charged straight at the crowd like a great bird.

The wind howled past his ears like blades. At that moment, Duan Mu's pupils began to dilate. His body reacted as if by instinct, making even him sigh inwardly...

People truly couldn't change that easily!

In the center of the crowd, everyone scattered as they watched Duan Mu plummet toward them like a meteor. The various weapons in their hands swung toward him as he hurtled down from the sky.

The weapons were all ordinary pieces of iron, but empowered by spiritual pressure, they whistled through the air with fierce might!

A clear shout suddenly rang across the sky.

"Windmill!"

Just before he landed, Duan Mu flipped through the air. His spiritual pressure surged explosively, no longer the pitifully weak presence it had been before. One leg swept up a powerful gust, knocking away every weapon that struck at him.

Boom!!

The ground shattered. The resulting shockwave sent several people nearby flying.

The next moment, screams erupted from the crowd. A black figure tore through them like a tiger among sheep, leaving screams in his wake wherever he went.

The tightly packed crowd descended into utter chaos, while Duan Mu moved as nimbly as a loach.

As time passed, the crowd rapidly dwindled.

It was not merely an overwhelming difference in spiritual pressure, but also an overwhelming difference in technique. With the two combined, Duan Mu did not even need to use any particular moves. Everyone who encountered him died by his hands without exception.

The black work clothes on Duan Mu's body were dyed bright red with blood before long.

The survivors continued charging toward him, but the frenzy in their eyes was gradually replaced by fear.

It was not because of how many people had died, but because...

They had discovered something terrifying. When the brutal black-haired youth had first begun fighting, he had clearly seemed inexperienced. Yet as the battle continued, that awkwardness gradually disappeared. In an incredibly short time, he had adapted to the sensation of fighting to the death!

Moreover, his methods of killing had grown more and more brutal, more and more concise!

Could a human truly possess such an ability to adapt?

His heart pounded wildly. Neither in his previous life nor in this one had Duan Mu ever felt anything like this.

If he had to use one word to describe it...

Refreshing!!

Those two words were undoubtedly the best description of Duan Mu's current mood.

"Is this what you call a good person!?"

Daimaru turned his gaze away and glared darkly at the aide beside him.

If this counted as being a good person, then most of the people in District 79 could be called angels. Had those idiots in the settled areas lived peacefully for so long that they had gone blind?