Hard Fists Are Best for Reasoning

"You're Chad Norma?"

Reapers were all bald, eyebrowless, and covered in bulging veins. Aside from differences in size, they were genuinely hard to tell apart.

Several Reapers stood or crouched around him like guards. His eyes were also less murky than those of the other Reapers, which was why Mike asked.

"That's right." Chad Norma replied, "A human?"

"Yeah! What, got a problem with humans?"

"Humans, Vampires... Only after becoming this kind of monster did I realize they're all the same."

"Heh."

Mike sneered. "Could it be that you're different?"

"I am very different."

Chad Norma actually gave it serious thought before seriously answering, "A special kind of pain. The bloodlust torments me almost every moment. When I'm hungry, I want to eat my fill. When I'm full, I want to eat well. Once I've eaten my fill and eaten well, I want nothing but slaughter..."

Chad Norma stared at Mike with bloodshot eyes. "Don't humans have a saying? The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Why are you working for Vampires?"

Mike curled his lip. "Not necessarily. The enemy of my enemy can also be my enemy. But let me clarify: I'm not working for Vampires. Right now, the Vampire Kingdom has a huge number of soldiers lying in ambush outside, waiting for us to tear each other apart before cleaning up the leftovers. I don't like following someone else's script, so I came up with a new one. Interested in hearing it?"

Chad Norma picked up the Physics Holy Sword—a rusty crowbar—and said, "Whether I'm interested depends on whether you have the strength to make me listen."

"Oh!"

One Sword Style: Bird of Prey!

Faced with the flying slash, Chad Norma was somewhat surprised, but he did not dodge. Instead, he grabbed a Reaper beside him and held it in front of himself.

"A flying slash carrying the aura of the sun?"

The Reaper in his hands turned to ash, leaving Chad Norma even more surprised. He stared at the Nichirin Sword in Mike's hand. "That really is a dangerous weapon."

Clang, clang, clang...

Sparks flew everywhere, especially conspicuous in the dark sewer.

"Your strength and speed aren't bad."

Mike's palm felt slightly numb. "This is the first time anyone has perfectly blocked my attack."

Mike was a little excited. Norma was the strongest enemy he had encountered so far.

Though saying that made it sound... Well, on second thought, Mike had not really encountered any worthy opponents. Gang thugs, mediocre terrorists—Vampires were already the ceiling.

A Vampire mutant like Norma, whose physical abilities completely surpassed those of ordinary Vampires, stood out among Mike's enemies.

"Huff, huff~"

After taking two deep breaths, black Armament Haki had somehow spread across Mike's arms. He realized that it would be difficult to kill Norma with ordinary moves alone, or at least would take a great deal of time.

Mike thought, Can Norma block the ultimate technique of Three-Sword Style?

"Wait."

From the darkness, Norma suddenly spoke.

"I'll die!"

That was what Norma's sixth sense told him.

He wanted to die, but not now.

He had something he wanted to do. The only thing was to take revenge on Makisno—the father who had turned him into this monster.

Many people in this world could bring you pain, but only those you loved most could hurt you the deepest. Because they did not merely wound your body—they gnawed away at your soul.

"Deal!"

Mike smiled and sheathed his sword.

If you wanted others to listen to your words and accept your reasoning, the best opening was always a powerful fist—Mike firmly believed that.

There were far more Reapers than expected. The Vampire Kingdom had estimated the number at over a dozen, meaning more than twelve but no more than twenty-four.

But there were actually hundreds. Perhaps the Vampire Kingdom had deliberately concealed the truth, or perhaps the infection had spread faster than expected. Mike thought the former was more likely. If Makisno could use his own son as an experiment, using his daughter as bait was hardly surprising.

Realizing that the number of Reapers far exceeded the estimate, Blade immediately activated the Sunlight Bomb.

When the ten-second delay expired, the bomb did not detonate.

Blade was surrounded by Reapers and gradually began to falter. Fortunately, he held on long enough to manually detonate the Sunlight Bomb.

Boom!

Blue light illuminated the entire sewer.

After a while, the surviving Blade, Nyssa, and Reinhardt emerged from the sewer water.

Suddenly, Blade lunged to the side and rolled with the momentum.

Pfft, pfft, pfft...

The sound of bullets striking the ground.

Reinhardt drew his sword and ambushed Blade, and the two exchanged blows evenly.

"What are you doing? Stop!"

Nyssa loudly ordered Reinhardt, but he did not stop.

"He is merely following the High Chancellor's orders."

The one who answered Nyssa was Makisno's corporate lawyer, Kelo Kunan. He led a fully armed Vampire squad in, their gun barrels aimed at Blade.

In such cramped terrain, there was no room to maneuver or evade. Of course, firing directly would also injure Reinhardt, who was fighting Blade. But they clearly did not care about Reinhardt.

"Stop, Blade. Considering that you helped us eliminate the Reapers, we don't want to hurt you." Kelo called out while signaling his men to take aim and prepare to fire.

They did not want to hurt him? They simply coveted Blade's body and wanted to use him for experiments.

Blade forced Reinhardt back with one slash, then calmly looked at the Vampires preparing to reap the benefits and said:

"Your actions really aren't surprising in the slightest."

Kelo remained unmoved. "Not surprising? Then what exactly is this situation before us?"

"Let me explain." Mike's voice came from the darkness. At some point, he had leaned against the wall, seeming like a spectator watching everyone perform.

A large number of bald heads emerged from beneath the water.

"Reapers!"

Someone shouted, and gunfire immediately erupted. Before long, the gunshots gradually died down.

Clearly, the armed squad Kelo had brought in had been wiped out. In another twenty minutes or so, they would become fresh additions to the Reapers' ranks.

Reinhardt's expression became extremely ugly.

Nyssa demanded loudly, "You actually joined forces with the Reapers!"

"Calm down. I said I'd explain everything one by one." Mike waved his hand. "First, you don't know that the so-called Reapers aren't naturally evolved mutants. They're failed artificial experiments."

"Second, you were bait your father used to gain Blade's trust. His goal was to make Blade and the Reapers fight each other to the death."

"What the Reapers want most is to kill the Vampire who turned them into monsters. That's the basis of our cooperation. That Sunlight Bomb just now was an ordinary bomb that emitted blue light. So, as you can see, the Reapers are still alive."

Nyssa already believed him seventy or eighty percent, but she still said, "How do I know you're not lying?"

"You can ask Kelo Kunan. He's a human your father trusts deeply."

Mike pointed at Kelo, who had wet himself in terror as the Reapers surrounded him.

"H-he's right. Let me go, I-I can still be useful."

Kelo had already wet himself.

But the Reapers did not mind. They rushed forward to bite and tear at him, sending flesh and blood flying everywhere. Kelo's screams lasted only a few seconds before he was torn into pieces.