The End

Gray Owl's taunts poured over Kazama In like cold, poisonous rain.

"Your target? It was you from the very beginning, Kazama Family's 'Arbiter'!" Gray Owl's voice brimmed with cruel delight as he kept his gun trained on Kazama In's heart. "The others? The Sakayanagi Family's canary? The Kanzaki Family's little wolf cub? And that sunny, irritating Ichinose? They were all just extras! Killing them would earn us a little more, but it wouldn't matter if we didn't! The organization's core objective, from start to finish, was to erase you—a rusted blade that still dared to reach for the sunlight!"

He stepped closer, the icy muzzle nearly touching Kazama In's rain-soaked chest. Raindrops gathered on the black metal barrel and slid down.

"Now, the game is over, young master." Gray Owl's voice held a trace of mocking pity. "Since you're the last of the Kazama Family's bloodline, I'll give you a chance. Go on, what are your last words? I'll pass them on to your poor mother waiting for you underground... Oh, and perhaps to the blonde girl who's about to meet her end because of your foolish 'protection'?"

The icy killing intent pierced Kazama In's nerves like solid ice. The image of his mother lying in a pool of blood, Ichinose's radiant smile, Koenji's grandiose figure as he walked away, the warm, grateful gazes at the Class D camp... Under the goading of Gray Owl's venomous words, they did not make him break. Instead, they became fuel thrown into a furnace, driving the icy flame in his heart to its utmost intensity! All his conflicts, struggles, and pain were compressed and tempered in that moment, finally crystallizing into something unprecedented, something utterly pure—killing intent!

Kazama In slowly raised his head. Rain trickled from the ends of his ink-black hair and slid along his sharply defined jaw. Deep in his dark eyes, the two icy flames were no longer merely burning. They had condensed, like the collapse of a universe, into two stars so profound they made the heart tremble! The corner of his mouth lifted with exquisite slowness, forming the faintest, coldest curve. There was not a trace of warmth in that smile, only absolute indifference, as if he were looking down at ants.

"Last words?" Kazama In's voice rang out, low and calm, yet like a blade tempered in ten thousand years of ice. It cut through the roar of the rain and reached Gray Owl's ears with perfect clarity. "Isn't it... a little too early for that?"

His voice carried a strange, bone-chilling certainty. "Seems like you're the one who should be giving your last words now."

The instant the words left his mouth—

Kazama In's right hand, which had seemed to hang casually at his side all along, suddenly yanked downward! The movement was as fast as lightning!

"What?!" Alarm bells erupted in Gray Owl's mind! He hadn't even seen what the other man had done! He only felt an enormous, irresistible force suddenly pulling at the submachine gun in his hands, as if countless unbreakable steel wires had snapped taut all at once! The gun was dragged violently downward against his will!

"Creak!" A metallic scrape that set the teeth on edge rang out!

The gun's sling kept it from falling straight to the ground, but the heavy weapon was wrenched down by that immense force, its muzzle instantly pointing at the muddy earth! Gray Owl's fingers nearly slipped off the trigger from the sudden pull!

In that split second, as Gray Owl's balance was thrown off—

Kazama In moved!

Without warning, without winding up! His body seemed to vanish from where he stood, leaving behind only a blurred afterimage stretched by the rain. In the next instant, he had appeared on Gray Owl's right!

"Whoosh—!" The sharp sound of his strike was swallowed by the rain!

A powerful, lightning-fast low sweep with his right leg lashed out like a steel whip, striking the outside of Gray Owl's right knee.

"Thud!"

A muffled impact, followed by the clear crack of breaking bone!

The full force of the blow landed without restraint!

Gray Owl's right leg instantly went numb. An indescribable pain and tingling shot straight to his brain! As if struck across the middle by a speeding truck, he lost his balance completely and flew backward with a scream!

"Splash—!"

He crashed heavily onto the muddy ground! Cold muck mixed with rotting leaves swallowed half his body at once. Mud and water flew everywhere! The impact made his vision go black, and it felt as if his organs had shifted out of place! A piercing pain shot from his right knee. His ligaments and bones had clearly suffered severe damage!

"Ugh!" Gray Owl groaned in pain, struggling to lift his head and reach for the submachine gun lying beside him. Mud coated his mask and combat uniform, leaving him in a wretched state.

Kazama In gave him no chance.

Like the Grim Reaper come to claim his soul, he walked toward Gray Owl, who lay sprawled on the ground, his steps steady and cold. Rain dripped from his hair and clothes. Every step seemed to land on Gray Owl's heartbeat, bearing down with a suffocating pressure!

"Bastard!" Gray Owl's eyes bulged. His immense humiliation and fear of death instantly overwhelmed the pain! Gritting his teeth against the agony, he snatched up the submachine gun from the mud with his still-functional left hand. He didn't even bother to aim. He pointed it at the slowly approaching figure, who seemed like a demon incarnate, and desperately pulled the trigger!

"Pfft-pfft-pfft-pfft-pfft—!"

The silenced gunshots were muffled and rapid. They weren't loud in the rainy night, but they carried a deadly threat! Muzzle flashes flickered through the rain as more than a dozen bullets tore through the downpour like venomous snakes, pouring toward Kazama In!

Kazama In's reaction to the deadly hail of bullets was nothing short of superhuman!

He made no sweeping dodges. As he continued forward, his body shifted and swayed by the tiniest degree, with pinpoint precision!

He tilted his head slightly, and a bullet grazed his temple, taking a few strands of ink-black hair with it!

He lowered his shoulder, and another bullet whistled past, leaving a scorch mark on his soaked clothes!

His waist twisted like a snake, and several bullets barely missed, cutting through the spot where he had been a moment earlier!

His stride never faltered! Amid the dense hail of bullets, he moved like a ghost through a raging storm, leaving behind a series of almost overlapping afterimages that dazzled the eye! The deadly bullets seemed no more than insignificant raindrops in his path!

"Impossible!" Gray Owl's pupils shrank to pinpoints in sheer terror! He had never seen movement this terrifying! It was beyond human! He was a ghost! A monster! He kept firing frantically until the magazine ran dry and the gun gave a dry click.

The smell of gunpowder mingled with rain in the air. Kazama In stood unharmed a single step from Gray Owl, looking down at his enemy sprawled in the mud like a beaten dog. Cold rain slid down his stern face, and his dark eyes gazed at Gray Owl like an abyss.

"W-what kind of monster are you?!" Fear twisted Gray Owl's voice out of shape. His hand shook violently around the empty gun.

Kazama In did not answer. He simply raised his right hand again. This time, Gray Owl saw clearly: several nearly transparent, incredibly strong metal wires were wrapped around Kazama In's long fingers, reflecting a faint glint in the rain! Their other ends were connected to Gray Owl's own limbs and... neck!

It had happened when he fell! As Kazama In launched his sweeping kick, he had wrapped the wires around Gray Owl like a ghost. Gray Owl hadn't noticed at all!

"N-no! Don't!" Gray Owl felt an icy chill down to his bones! The shadow of death had never been so clear! He watched in horror as Kazama In slowly tightened his fingers, pulling the cold wires taut in an instant! A faint but bone-deep cutting pain came from his wrists, ankles, and especially his neck! His skin split, and warm blood seeped out, mingling with the cold rain and staining the mud red!

"How does it feel?" Kazama In's voice was so cold it held not a trace of emotion, as if he were stating a fact. "To be killed by the 'weakness' you looked down on? To be ended by the 'disgrace' you spoke of?"

"Stop! Kazama In! I can tell you who hired me! It was..." Gray Owl felt the true, inescapable terror of death and tried to offer up his last bargaining chip.

"Sakayanagi's father?" Kazama In cut him off. A flicker of understanding, and an even deeper chill, passed through his dark eyes. "Or that distant uncle who coveted the Kazama Family's inheritance? It doesn't matter anymore." His fingers tightened sharply!

"Ughhhhh—!!!"

A shriek, inhuman in its intensity, tore through the rainy night!

The taut metal wires, sharp as the strings of a finely tuned instrument, sliced through in an instant, pulled by Kazama In's terrifying strength!

Gray Owl's limbs were severed cleanly at the joints! His head, too, was torn from his neck with a grating rip!

Scalding blood gushed out like a fountain, instantly staining a wide stretch of mud crimson! His severed limbs and head rolled a few times in the muddy water before all life left them. Only his eyes remained, stretched wide as if they would split, frozen in boundless terror and disbelief!

The rain continued to pour. Its cold water washed over the muddy ground and the glaring scarlet stain. Severed limbs and a head lay soaking in a mixture of blood and mud, the scene savage and bloody.

Kazama In stood where he was, letting the rain wash a few drops of blood from his fingertips. His eyes swept coldly over the remains on the ground. His dark gaze held not the slightest ripple, only the absolute composure of a completed mission. He bent down and picked up Gray Owl's submachine gun and the long, rectangular weapons case. Then he searched the body for a communicator and any other potentially useful items.

"Arbiter..." he murmured, his voice swallowed by the curtain of rain, carrying a cold sense of finality. He turned, preparing to deal with the scene and go help Koenji.

Just then, beside Gray Owl's head, which had yet to cool completely and lay soaking in bloody mud, the communicator smeared with blood suddenly emitted faint, intermittent electronic static. A vague voice, edged with a manic laugh, came through:

"...Blood Claw... made it... Class B... blonde girl... captured... wait... 'Arbiter'... hahaha... you'll... never... find... him..."

Kazama In stopped abruptly! His dark pupils contracted! A chill sharper than the cold rainy night swept through him in an instant!