Get It Done

It was noon.

Outside the dilapidated streets of West District 79, a young man with black clothes and black hair arrived. With his arrival, the residents hidden in the shadows of the surrounding houses began to stir.

Although they had all agreed to invite Duan Mu to help, aside from the few who had gone to Yorozuya with Diao Ao, the others still felt somewhat guilty and afraid when they saw Duan Mu.

Duan Mu looked around. This place really hadn't changed at all.

Not only were the people scattered about, but despite a great battle being imminent, there was still no sense of tension. However, when he had come here with Iwao last time, these people had looked exactly the same. Once they took action, though, the scattered people would immediately gather and surround the enemy.

They were lax, yet always prepared for slaughter.

Even if they were about to enter the battlefield the next second, they wouldn't show the slightest bit of tension.

These people were truly frightening.

Duan Mu silently assessed the residents of West District 79.

However...

"That Smiling Asura is here."

"I didn't expect him to actually accept our commission. I thought Brother Diao Ao and the others were done for."

"Yeah, I thought the same thing when Brother Diao Ao went. I never expected him to return completely unharmed. Looks like he doesn't seem to like eating people."

"Keep your voice down. Don't let his smile fool you. We've seen with our own eyes what this guy looks like when he becomes someone else."

"..."

The residents looked at Duan Mu with terror in their eyes.

Although many of them had never seen the Great Villain from District 80, that figure radiating a sinister aura from within and without a month ago had already left them with an impression of what a "Great Villain" should be.

He looked at people as though they were lambs awaiting slaughter, and his methods of killing were exceedingly cruel.

Afterward, when the battlefield was cleaned up, everyone who had fought the other side, without exception, was killed in extremely brutal ways. Some were torn in half, others had their heads ripped off by force, and someone's heart had even vanished...

It was the first time they had learned that a person's death could look so varied.

Moreover, as far as they knew, the other party had only been in Soul Society for four years.

Even people as wicked as them had mostly spent several dozen or even hundreds of years struggling to survive in the later-numbered districts before gradually developing their current personalities.

But the other party...

Four years was fundamentally not enough time to change a person. That meant this young man barely in his twenties had already possessed his current personality while he was alive.

What exactly had he done before his death?

"I get the feeling these people's gazes... are pretty dangerous."

After arriving, Duan Mu sensed the gazes directed at him from all over the town. He secretly decided that he should avoid contact with these dangerous people as much as possible in the future.

"Boss Duan Mu!"

Not long after Duan Mu entered the town, Diao Ao hurried over after hearing the news. When he saw Duan Mu alone, he froze slightly and kept searching behind him.

"What are you looking for?" Duan Mu asked.

"That..."

Diao Ao seemed to have thought of something. He moved closer to Duan Mu and said mysteriously, "Could it be the same as last time?"

Duan Mu: "???"

What did he mean, the same as last time?

Could it be that they hadn't had enough of fighting last time, and had spent two hundred thousand rings to summon him here so they could settle things with him again?

"You know, that big sister from the Shiba Clan!" Diao Ao said.

That big sister from the Shiba Clan?

Duan Mu was stunned for a moment. Connecting this with what Diao Ao had said that morning, he gradually understood.

These people had commissioned him not because of his strength, but because of Shiba Kūkaku?

Still, that made sense.

Duan Mu didn't feel looked down upon, because that was simply the truth.

He had been the one making assumptions earlier, thinking that Diao Ao and the others knew he had been training throughout the past month and had come to seek his help with the desperate hope that even a dying horse might be treated as a living one.

But from their perspective, he had nearly died at Daimaru's hands a month ago, and now they were facing an enemy even stronger than Daimaru. With Duan Mu's strength, it was impossible for him to defeat the opponent, so the only solution was to ask Shiba Kūkaku to act.

After figuring this out, Duan Mu said to Diao Ao, who kept scanning the surroundings from the corners of his eyes, "You don't need to look. I came by myself this time."

"Huh? Mm? Eh???"

After his tone changed several times in succession, Diao Ao was dumbfounded. He instinctively said, "Then what did you come here for? To die?"

The corner of Duan Mu's mouth twitched slightly. Just a few seconds ago, this guy had been calling him "Big Brother" every other word, but the moment he heard that Shiba Kūkaku hadn't come, he had immediately changed to "you." His change in attitude was so quick that it could rival the two gatekeepers from the Shiba Clan.

"Customer, why don't I leave?"

"Don't."

Diao Ao also realized he had misspoken and grabbed Duan Mu by the arm. "Big Brother, you already took the money! If you leave just like this, then even if we add bricks to Seireitei's killers after we die, we'll absolutely become road bricks. The moment you come near, the road will collapse!"

Although Shiba Kūkaku hadn't come, Duan Mu's strength was still far greater than that of people like them. They absolutely couldn't let him leave now.

Besides...

Even if he had to die, he wanted to drag Duan Mu down with him. That way, after hearing of Duan Mu's death, that big sister from the Shiba Clan might still help avenge them.

"I thought you were going to say, 'When you approach, listen closely—the creaking road bricks are my resentment.'" Duan Mu shook off Diao Ao's hand and was just about to say something when his expression suddenly turned solemn. "There's no time for idle chatter. Someone's coming. About two hundred people."

As soon as he said this, Diao Ao's expression tightened. Without asking how Duan Mu had discovered them, he raised a hand and made a gesture.

The atmosphere in the dilapidated town abruptly changed. The people hidden in the shadows throughout the area gathered toward one location at the same time.

Killing intent quietly rose.

After the residents of West District 79 had gathered, a group appeared in everyone's sight.

At the head was a woman standing two meters tall. She wore a tight athletic tank top on her upper body and shorts below, and carried two axes...

The muscles that made her look even more like a Terminator than the Terminator itself gave Duan Mu, a man, an inexplicable feeling of inferiority.

Daimaru had been like this, and so was this woman. Could all these people have been bodybuilding champions when they were alive?

Behind the woman, nearly two hundred people all had blood-red eyes. They looked as though they had fallen into demonic possession. Even without saying a word, they made it clear that they were excited for the slaughter to come.

Duan Mu didn't immediately move forward. Instead, he carefully observed these villains from District 80 at the rear of the group.

Although they looked quite similar in appearance, it had to be admitted that the spiritual pressure of the people from District 80 was generally somewhat stronger than that of the people from District 79. In particular, the woman at the very front of the group, named Habutae, possessed spiritual pressure that was still within the realm of a High-ranking Officer, yet was far stronger than Daimaru's.

"Kill them all!"

Just as Duan Mu was considering how to complete the commission, Habutae suddenly waved her hand.

The villains behind her responded with a roar. Their formation split into three groups, with the middle one charging toward the residents of District 79 while the others moved around both sides to prevent anyone from escaping.

"Kill them!"

"Roar, roar, roar..."

The residents of District 79 were not afraid in the slightest. They charged forward with loud roars.

Duan Mu: "???"

What the hell?

What was going on? They were already fighting? Hadn't they come to reclaim the district? At least ask them first!

And normally, shouldn't both sides exchange some harsh words before starting a war?

Duan Mu had been planning to try communicating first and reveal some of his strength if necessary to avoid a battle. The sudden turn of events caught him completely off guard. He grabbed Diao Ao, who was roaring and about to charge forward.

"Hey, what's going on? Did you make some kind of vow to fight them to the death?"

"What vow?" Diao Ao struggled instinctively, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't break free of Duan Mu's grip. He could only say anxiously, "Hurry up and get in there! They've already started fighting. Why are you still standing here?"

"...Do you people always start fighting without saying a word?"

"Otherwise?"

Diao Ao looked at Duan Mu in confusion. "It's been almost a week, and we already issued our ultimatum. Since we didn't go, there was no need to communicate anymore. What use would a whole bunch of nonsense be? Wouldn't it be simpler to just kill them?"

Duan Mu opened and closed his mouth. He actually felt that Diao Ao made a great deal of sense...

Indeed!

The other side had given Diao Ao and the others time to consider and had issued a final ultimatum. There was no need for further communication, but even so...

"Besides, when you attacked us back then, didn't you also suddenly come out and kill us?" Diao Ao said with narrowed eyes. "Compared with you, who didn't say a word, that bastard at least shouted, 'Kill them all!'"

"..."

Duan Mu let go of Diao Ao. After a few seconds of silence, his still fairly handsome face twisted fiercely.

"Get it done!!"

Why consider strategy against these lunatics who always wanted to solve everything in the simplest way?

Just get it done!!

He had to admit it—Diao Ao had convinced him...