Jiang Chen now held a brand-new Zanpakuto!
It was called Suzumebachi.
In the night, he calmly drew the blade from its sheath.
He began to chant. "Sting All Enemies to Death! Suzumebachi!"
A finger guard, shaped like a bee's stinger, appeared on his left hand.
It extended from his middle finger and curled around his wrist.
The Fatty noticed that the snow around them had stopped falling.
The cold that had been bothering him was gone.
The Three-Headed Hound had already broken free of Sode no Shirayuki's Ice Seal. Its three heads and six bell-like eyes glared viciously at Jiang Chen.
It looked as if it wanted to devour him whole.
The Ghost-faced Man was perched atop the Three-Headed Hound's head, coughing laboriously.
Jiang Chen's attack had just now dealt him a serious blow.
If not for the Three-Headed Hound, he might already have been dead.
He looked at Jiang Chen and thought, I absolutely can't let this man live.
He was so young, yet already possessed such powerful abilities. He was sure to become a legendary figure one day.
Their enmity had been sealed today. If Jiang Chen got away and grew stronger, the first person he would kill would be the Ghost-faced Man.
Today, he had to die!
"Three-Headed Hound, kill him!"
The Ghost-faced Man stared at Jiang Chen and gave the order.
Even without the Ghost-faced Man's command, the Three-Headed Hound would have attacked Jiang Chen.
A mere human had dared to provoke a divine beast.
He would pay a price he couldn't afford!
It roared, "Lowly human, prepare to die!"
"That's exactly what I was going to say!" Faced with the Three-Headed Hound's power, Jiang Chen showed no fear.
His calm tone made it seem as though he didn't take the Three-Headed Hound seriously at all, and that thoroughly enraged it.
Did this human really think the divine beast was a pushover?
"Full Form—Release!"
The Three-Headed Hound shouted.
The moment he heard that, the Ghost-faced Man was stunned.
He had formed a soul contract with the Three-Headed Hound.
Summoning it consumed his soul energy.
The Three-Headed Hound wasn't in its full form yet, so the amount of soul energy it used was within the limit he could bear.
But if it took its full form, he would have to provide far more soul energy.
That would exceed his limits.
If that happened, his soul would be completely annihilated, and even his body might vanish.
The Ghost-faced Man tried to stop it. "Three-Headed Hound, don't forget our agreement. You said you wouldn't take more soul energy than I could bear!"
"A lowly human is nothing but food for this venerable one. What right do you have to bargain with me?"
The Ghost-faced Man's voice was full of terror. "If you release your full form, I'll die!"
"So what? Did this venerable one ever promise to keep you alive? The contract only says I won't consume too much of your soul energy. It never said I'd keep you alive!"
The Three-Headed Hound looked at the Ghost-faced Man as if he were a puppet in its hands, there for it to control. "It's your honor to die for this venerable one!"
"No!" the Ghost-faced Man cried, resisting with all his might.
He hadn't expected things to turn out this way.
Jiang Chen wasn't dead yet, and he was about to die first!
He struggled desperately, clinging to the last sliver of hope that he might survive.
He shouted at the sky, "Contract dismissed! Summoning over!"
But nothing happened.
His contract with the Three-Headed Hound wasn't broken.
The Three-Headed Hound didn't return to hell, either.
How was that possible? He had done everything right.
Why hadn't the contract been broken? Why hadn't the Three-Headed Hound returned to hell?
The Three-Headed Hound had clearly run out of patience. It roared, "Full Form—Release!"
"Ah! No!!!"
The Ghost-faced Man screamed at the sky, his voice filled with unbearable agony.
He felt his soul energy rapidly dwindling. His soul could no longer withstand the Three-Headed Hound's demands, and cracks began to form in it.
His body, too, began turning transparent.
"No!!!"
"Help! Somebody, help me!!!"
The Ghost-faced Man howled, but no matter how desperately he struggled, he couldn't stop his body from disintegrating.
At last, he turned completely transparent.
His entire body vanished.
The Fatty watched it all unfold, bewildered. "Brother Chen, what happened? Why did he disappear?"
"Did he see how strong Brother Chen is and run away?"
"He schemed against us like this. We can't let him get away!"
"He didn't run away. The Three-Headed Hound ate him!"
Jiang Chen explained.
"Huh?"
The Fatty clearly didn't understand. The Three-Headed Hound was supposed to be the Ghost-faced Man's Contract Beast. He had never heard of a Contract Beast turning on its master.
"Do you think just anyone in this world can make a contract with a divine beast? The Ghost-faced Man must have used some kind of forbidden art to contract the Three-Headed Hound."
"And the reason forbidden arts are called forbidden arts is because they're so dangerous and can easily backfire!"
"This is what he gets. He brought it on himself!"
That explanation finally cleared things up for the Fatty.
He'd thought the Ghost-faced Man was incredibly powerful, but it turned out he was just a fool who had used an unnatural method to increase his strength.
If you wanted power that didn't belong to you, you had to be ready to pay a terrible price.
Every student at the Supernatural Ability Academy knew that.
Soon, the Fatty thought of another problem.
The Ghost-faced Man was dead, but the Three-Headed Hound was still here.
The danger hadn't passed.
What were they supposed to do now?
No matter how powerful Brother Chen was, he wasn't a god.
How could he defeat a divine beast without godlike power?
As if sensing the Fatty's unease, Jiang Chen smiled and said, "Don't worry. I've got this."
"Human, in my current full form, I could kill you with a single swipe. What are you still acting so cocky for?"
The Three-Headed Hound was now in its full form, wreathed in black flames.
Through the flames, a pair of blood-red eyes without pupils could be seen.
Its teeth were razor-sharp.
Jiang Chen wasn't standing very close, yet he could still feel the heat radiating from the Three-Headed Hound. It was several times hotter than before.
He calmly stepped forward.
He took only one step, but the Fatty cried out nervously, "Brother Chen!"
"Don't worry. Nothing will happen."
Jiang Chen's words seemed to have a reassuring power.
After hearing them, the Fatty somehow felt that Brother Chen would definitely find a way to handle this.
He watched as Jiang Chen stood between him and the Three-Headed Hound.
Even in the face of the Three-Headed Hound's overwhelming flames, Jiang Chen wasn't affected in the slightest.
"Human, aren't you going to use that strange blade of yours?"
The Three-Headed Hound didn't seem in any hurry to kill Jiang Chen. Instead, it regarded him with a hint of amusement.
"My blade is right here!"
Jiang Chen raised his left hand, revealing Suzumebachi.
"What is that? Fake nails for human girls?"
"And you think you can use that thing to fight me?"
The Three-Headed Hound's tone was full of disdain.
"Human, I'll give you one chance to live. Attack me three times. If you can wound me, I'll spare your life!"
Jiang Chen shook his head.
"What, do you think that's too few?"
A mocking grin appeared on the Three-Headed Hound's face.
Jiang Chen seemed like an ant to it; one swipe would be enough to kill him.
He was going to die sooner or later anyway, so it might as well play with him first.
"No," Jiang Chen replied.
"Then what?"
"That's too many!"
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