On a cliff atop one of the mountains on the outskirts of the Empire's Gifu Nora Tree Sea, two men sat chatting as they waited for something.
One of them was Gozuki, one of the Four Rakshasa Demons. However, he had temporarily left the Four Rakshasa Demons and was now specifically responsible for training the Empire's elite assassins.
"Speaking of which, there are quite a few more people this time than usual. There were never this many before. And wasn't it supposed to be a hundred? No matter how I look at it, there are more than a hundred people thrown into the tree sea now, aren't there?"
A somewhat frightening-looking bald man with a monocle over his left eye leisurely turned to look at Gozuki beside him.
Gozuki sat atop the corpse of a massive Danger Beast. A piece of meat cut from the creature still hung from the dagger in his right hand.
He brought it to his mouth, took a bite, and said, "Don't worry about such trivial things. After all, people are bound to die during a trial meant to assess their strength and aptitude. It's normal to have a few more people."
Besides... that monstrously gifted woman would be taking some people away too. More candidates was better.
Thinking of that woman, Gozuki could not help but shudder. She had already possessed the strength to defeat the Four Rakshasa Demons, and afterward, she had mastered two more Imperial Arms.
Especially one of them—the powerful blood-type Imperial Arms, Demon Extract.
He truly could not imagine who in this world could possibly stand against someone like her.
Being unable to wield two Imperial Arms at once was common knowledge, yet she had effortlessly shattered that rule and wielded three Imperial Arms simultaneously. At that thought, he viciously