Terrifying Strength

Meanwhile, thanks to Albert's continuous attacks and the others below constantly distracting Koenji as they chased and cursed at him,

Ryuen Kakeru had taken advantage of the opportunity to reach a perfect hiding place.

Looking at the man on the tree, still admiring himself, Ryuen's eyes were fierce. He clearly had no intention of giving him even the slightest chance to escape. He loaded the tranquilizer gun and aimed through the grass at the man's head.

"Heh. Koenji, you may be tough and quick on your feet, but if I hit you there, even an elephant will go down."

"Die!"

"Bang!"

The gunshot rang out, deafeningly loud. Even passersby on the street at the other end could hear it clearly.

The gun had been specially designed for the school's Security Department to prevent violent incidents. Though it was officially meant primarily to tranquilize, its penetrating power was no weaker than that of an ordinary firearm.

As the white smoke cleared, Ryuen immediately looked toward his target, unable to wait another second. He had taken care to aim, but he had always been cautious; he would never feel at ease until he saw a body.

"Huh? He's gone?" Ryuen stared for a while, puzzled.

Koenji was no longer in the tree, and there was no report of success from his men below.

For some reason, just then, Ryuen suddenly felt the surroundings grow very quiet. It was as if the gunshot had plunged the entire world into silence.

"Hey! Where are you guys? Say something!" Ryuen shouted.

"..."

But after waiting a while, he still couldn't hear a single sound from his men.

Instead, the darkness made the terrifying silence around him feel even more oppressive.

"Something's wrong!" Ryuen immediately sensed a faint danger.

Whoosh~

A cold breeze drifted past.

As he slowly backed away, carefully scanning his surroundings, the corner of his eye caught a glint. Looking closer, he saw a tiny shard of mirror on a large tree a few steps in front of him.

"Huh? How did this get here..."

Boom!

Before he could finish speaking, a black figure with disheveled blond hair suddenly lunged out of the darkness and struck him with a powerful punch. The blow came so fast it was invisible to the naked eye. By the time his senses barely registered it, the force had already crashed down.

Ryuen, completely unable to react, was sent flying by the blow.

"Pfft!"

The punch had been aimed at his chest. The obvious depression there made him spit out a spray of blood.

"Who... who was that? What just happened? Tell me! Tell me! Cough, cough..."

Lying on the ground and clutching his chest, Ryuen stared wide-eyed, unable to believe what had just happened.

The impact had felt like being hit head-on by a car. If it weren't for the fierce pain in his chest, he would have thought he was dreaming.

"Could that have been Koenji just now...?" Ryuen muttered blankly.

"No... No way. Absolutely not!"

The more he thought about it, the more he rejected the idea. How could a human being have that kind of strength? That speed and power were completely beyond common sense.

While he was still struggling to understand, in the darkness at the other end, a black figure with golden light shining from his eyes walked expressionlessly toward Ryuen.

But after only a few steps, an unnatural gust of cold wind swept past, and he abruptly stopped.

"Heh heh. Koenji, you can stop now."

A chilling voice seemed to come from all directions.

The blond man sensed something and spun around. When he saw who it was, his face filled with astonishment.

"Rin...ya?" Koenji's eyes narrowed, and he looked utterly disbelieving.

He wasn't surprised that Rinya had shown up here. What unsettled him was that, in a place strewn with stones and weeds, Rinya had managed to approach him from behind without making a sound...

This guy's no ordinary person.

That was Koenji's first thought.

Even so, when he remembered that someone had tried to kill him tonight, an act that had completely crossed his line, he knew he couldn't simply let the culprit off.

Staring at Rinya, Koenji wore a serious expression for the first time since enrolling. "Rinya, would you mind stepping aside? I cannot forgive that man's despicable conduct."

"Hold on, Koenji. It seems you didn't hear what I just said."

Rinya's eyes gradually widened. A chilling pressure filled the air, making the surroundings feel even more sinister and terrifying.

The boy's previously calm expression turned mocking. "I told you to stop. I never gave you the right to refuse."

"Hm? Do I need to repeat myself?"

Koenji had never heard anyone speak so arrogantly. He couldn't help laughing. "Rinya, you certainly give me a very unusual impression, but such excessive arrogance is hardly becoming."

"What, interested?" Rinya asked calmly, seemingly unconcerned by the anger on Koenji's face.

Koenji might not have cared about the provocation, but coupled with the act that had crossed his line, it meant there was no avoiding this fight.

"Since you put it that way, then you can be the first to break this beautiful restraint!"

"Is that so? Then I'll give you what you want."

Fwoosh~

As soon as the words fell, the two figures vanished into the night. A moment later, a fierce gale suddenly swept through the area, and the ground began to tremble irregularly.

In the endless darkness, the blood-red and golden flashes—so fast that they were only just visible to the naked eye—began to collide violently.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The thunderous crashes sounded like steel being struck, seeming to attest to the two combatants' peerless martial arts.

Branches and rocks flew through the air, raining down around them. Under the pressure of their terrifying auras, the scene looked like something out of a science-fiction movie, yet it was unfolding right before their eyes.

As their moves clashed again and again at the limits of their abilities, they grew increasingly ruthless.

But it seemed human strength had its limits... In the face of the seemingly endless, ever-escalating power, even he, with his extraordinary physical abilities, couldn't withstand a true strike from that force.

While Kushida and Ibuki watched anxiously from outside, only a few minutes passed before a spray of sparkling blood burst from the golden flash.

At that moment, the winner seemed to have already been decided.

But the golden light trembling in the darkness still refused to give in. Even though his movements had slowed enough for Kushida and the others to follow each one clearly, he still tried to fight back.

"Crossing my line is something I absolutely, absolutely..."

"Pfft!"

In the light of the blood-red flash, the battle seemed to go on and on...

Perhaps he really did have more potential left, or perhaps the boy simply wanted to play a little longer. No one could say...

But one thing was certain: Koenji wasn't the only one who would suffer terribly as a result of this battle. Perhaps another man had it even worse, enduring torment beyond anyone's knowledge.

At that moment, Ryuen lay gravely injured on the ground, utterly bewildered.

With his ear pressed to the ground, he had felt a violent tremor coming from beneath him.

At first, he'd thought his attacker was approaching. It had seemed that way initially, but for some reason, the further he listened, the more the tremors began to sound like two people fighting.

But the sheer intensity of those tremors made no sense...

"?"

"Damn it, what the hell is going on? Cough, cough..."

Ryuen patted his aching head. Lying on the ground, he thought it over, but couldn't come up with a single answer.

He'd originally suspected Koenji, at least on some subconscious level, even though he didn't believe it himself.

But now he was completely baffled—his left brain was confused, and his right brain was confused too.

It was bad enough that the guy who'd ambushed him had taken forever to show up for no logical reason. But were those ridiculous tremors really the sound of people fighting?

Ryuen Kakeru, a man of great intelligence, had never imagined he would encounter such a bizarre situation in his life.

Boom!!!

Just then, a thunderous crash, like an earthquake, suddenly erupted into the sky.

Ryuen was already gravely injured. There was no way he could take it, and he passed out on the spot...

In his dream, Ryuen finally realized he was dreaming~

Unfortunately, it didn't last long. Just a few minutes later, another tremendous crash suddenly rang out.

Ryuen, who had only just entered the dream, was instantly jolted awake, still dazed~

But before he could recover, another boom rang out not long afterward...

And so it went on. He had no idea how many times it happened.

Finally, Ryuen clutched his chest, his mind so numb that he could only scream with all his strength. "Ugh... Who... Who can tell me what's going on..."

But this time, the ground fell into an unbelievable silence.

As he worried about another tremor striking at any moment, the continuous shaking beneath him suddenly turned, bizarrely, into a soft sequence of footsteps, drawing closer to him.

At the sound, Ryuen finally forced himself to stay alert. He understood that the person who had ambushed him had finally arrived.

He still couldn't make sense of what had caused those tremendous tremors, but no matter what, he had to see who had hit him with such inhuman strength.

He gritted his teeth and tried to sit up and look, but the earlier punch had been far too powerful. Even his body, which he considered stronger than an ordinary person's, couldn't manage to rise just yet.

The footsteps drew closer, then stopped right beside him. Yet Ryuen still couldn't catch a glimpse of his assailant. He waited, sensing that the person was right next to him, but lying there, he couldn't see his face.

The feeling drove him frantic, as if ants were crawling all over him. He struggled so hard to get up that for a while, he even forgot the pain.

"Ugh!"

"Bastard!"

"You hit me, so why don't you show yourself?"

"Are you a coward, trash? You're pathetic!"

Ryuen had never been afraid of dying. What he feared was having the truth he wanted right beside him, yet being completely unable to do anything about it.

He'd meant to keep cursing and lure his attacker into striking again. As long as he could see the face of the person who'd attacked him, he'd be content to die.

But reality always seemed to have other plans.

Just then, Ryuen suddenly felt a chill above his head. It felt like a gust of wind, but it was clearly the wind stirred up by his visitor's hand. It was right over his head now.

"Heh heh. You're going to finish me off right here?"

"How heartless."

Ryuen smiled numbly. He could tell that the other person simply wanted to kill him and didn't want him to see anything else.

But was that really what was happening this time...?

As he closed his eyes and awaited death, he suddenly felt a roll of white bandage being wrapped around him.

Sensing something was wrong, he immediately opened his eyes. But when he looked up, his pupils dilated to their limit. Instead of the mysterious, powerful figure he had imagined, there was a girl's face, gentle and sweet beyond compare.

"Ryuen, you're so badly hurt. You need to rest quietly, okay?"

"Mmph! Mmph! Mmph! Mmph!"

Ryuen wanted to speak, but at some point, his mouth had already been completely wrapped in bandages. The doctors from the Emergency Department had arrived right away and were carrying him onto a stretcher.

Even as he was carried far away, he kept his eyes fixed on Kushida Kikyo, his face filled with disbelief.

But then the corner of his eye caught sight of a blond man, covered in bloody wounds and even more urgently rushed into an ambulance than he was. At that moment, he... was completely stunned.

"Hello, is this Teacher Sakagami from Class C? This is Kushida Kikyo from Class D."

"Oh, what is it at this hour?"

"Well, there was a localized earthquake near a residential area in the northwest part of the school tonight. More than ten students from your Class C were there and got hurt. Could you come check on them when you have time, Teacher Sakagami?"

"What? I... All right, all right."

"Thanks for letting me know. I'll be right there."

"Beep..."

Looking at the phone after hanging up, the girl, who had been sweet and adorable just moments before, suddenly looked worried and dejected.

"Master... I'm sorry. I didn't handle this operation well."

"Me too." Beside her, Ibuki Mio also lowered her head guiltily.

Seeing this, the young man before them stretched lazily, then smiled faintly. "Heh heh, who said that? You both did very well in this operation."

"I was the one who failed to control my strength, and I made you come up with a lie to cover things up. I'm sorry for the trouble."

"N-no, it was our duty to do that."

The two girls hastily reassured him, overwhelmed by his praise. Before, they would have been delighted.

But in this situation, his slightly distant words only made them feel that he was already rejecting them without saying so outright.

"Th-then... will you eliminate us in the future, Master?" Kushida and Ibuki Mio bit their lips and asked in trembling voices.

After all, they had already placed their faith in their master. Now, having witnessed Rinya's terrifying, almost inhuman strength tonight, even they couldn't help understanding who their hopes for the future truly depended on.

"Hey, I already gave you the answer, didn't I?" Rinya gently lifted their chins, his gaze three parts teasing and seven parts approving.

At that, the two girls finally understood. They hugged their master tightly, crying tears of joy.