"Ito, you old dog, I'm setting an alarm for you. Twelve hours."
Yue Xiaofei continued into the phone, his tone as matter-of-fact as ever.
"Every hour, I'll take a piece off your great-grandson. You'd better hurry."
As his words fell-
"Snap!"
The call ended.
No, he hadn't hung up.
Yue Xiaofei casually tossed the black satellite phone onto the floor.
Then he raised his foot.
"Crunch!"
With one stomp, he crushed the expensive, military-grade encrypted phone into a pile of useless electronic junk.
The entire private dining room fell deathly silent.
Ito Makoto's mangled face was filled with utter terror and despair.
His greatest source of confidence-his great-grandfather, who wielded immense power and influence in Eastern Japan-had not only failed to intimidate his opponent, but had thoroughly enraged this demon!
Twelve hours!
One piece removed every hour!
What a brutal form of torture!
He dared not imagine what awaited him.
Meanwhile, in Eastern Japan.
Inside an ancient, heavily guarded estate built in the style of the Edo period.
"Crash!"
A priceless vase was hurled against the wall and shattered instantly.
"You bastard! You bastard!!!"
Ito Yūgorō, an old man nearing a hundred, now resembled an enraged lion, his eyes bloodshot and his expression crazed.
He smashed everything in the room that could be smashed.
The tatami floor was a wreck.
"Dragon Kingdom scum! Filthy swine!!"
"How dare you humiliate me! Humiliate the Greater Eastern Japan Empire!!!"
He roared, veins bulging across his wrinkled face, making him look particularly terrifying.
Though he was almost a hundred, his body had been modified using the Empire's most advanced technology, and the power within him was more terrifying than that of a warrior in his prime!
After venting his fury, Ito Yūgorō forced himself to calm down.
He picked up another secure phone,