Is this a Kakuja?! Could it be the Owl? No... impossible, the Owl could never be a female; according to the survivors of the subjugation battle and Marute and the others' descriptions, it's a male.
Huiqi swallowed hard, his eyes studying the behemoth before him, and this sight continuously stimulated his retina.
The Kakuja-form Ghoul possessed crimson Kakugan, its huge single eye staring straight at Huiqi, and its giant mouth opening and closing as if signaling Huiqi to make a choice.
24th Ward... I'll remember you.
Huiqi's face turned pale as he mentally and fiercely engraved the Ghoul before him in his mind; as long as he kept taking on missions to increase his strength, he would definitely be able to exterminate it.
Behind him, Kishou Arima pushed up his glasses, weighing the importance of the two in his mind, and without hesitation stopped his pursuit of Rise to begin guarding against the Kakuja.
"Huiqi, Third Class, stay back. The coming battle is not something you can..."
Before he even finished speaking, a look of disbelief appeared in Kishou Arima's pupils as he saw Huiqi reverse his longsword, using it like a dagger to attack the Kakuja's arm.
Unexpectedly, the attack actually worked; a deep slash was carved into the Kakuja's arm by his own hand, and under the pain, the other arm swept horizontally toward him.
Seeing the attack coming, Huiqi immediately adjusted his body angle, bending his knees slightly, bringing his arms in slightly, and after catching the attack, he used the Kakuja's force to fly straight toward Rise.
"What?!"
Seeing this, Rise, who had originally been watching the show, instantly froze. The next second, the longsword tore through the air with a ripping sound, fiercely cutting off several Kagune, and the Ghoul Investigator's corpse fell to the ground.
"You? How did you do that?"
Kishou Arima asked in shock; Huiqi's series of movements just now had been simply unfathomable, and even Arima himself believed that his current self might not necessarily be able to do it.
"I used to know some martial arts, but now it seems a bit rusty."
He answered Kishou Arima's question while dragging the Ghoul Investigator's corpse aside, blowing the dust off the corpse's face to reveal Kawashima's features.
"Sigh, what a pity for his family."
Huiqi used his hand to close Kawashima's eyes.
"There's no help for it; that's the job of a Ghoul Investigator, the One-Eyed..."
The expression on Kishou Arima's face didn't change in the slightest, his emotions remaining just as calm.
One-Eyed? What does that mean?
There was no time to mourn for Kawashima as Huiqi faintly caught the last two words of Kishou Arima's sentence.
The distant single-eyed Kakuja seemed to know that Kishou Arima was not easy to deal with and took the lead in launching an attack, its massive physique instantly shooting out dense Ukaku.
Seeing this scene, Huiqi turned toward Kawashima's corpse, silently saying an apology, and then scooped up Kaede Kawashima and held him in front of himself to block the attack.
Upon seeing this, the corners of Kishou Arima's mouth couldn't help but twitch slightly-just a moment ago, he had been acting like honoring the dead was paramount.
Clang clang clang!
Clang!
The flying Ukaku were all batted away by Kishou Arima, and from time to time one would even bounce back to strike the Kakuja's pupils; the Quinque longsword wielded in Kishou Arima's hands displayed a prowess far surpassing ordinary people.
Observing Kishou Arima's combat style from close range was simply jaw-dropping; all sorts of unexpected methods were employed by Kishou Arima, showcasing his terrifying talent.
"Help me attack in a moment; this round of attacks won't last long."
Kishou Arima's calm voice entered Huiqi's ears.
"Are you kidding me? Really not long?"
Looking at the Kakuja in the distance that was still firing wildly, a trace of cold sweat couldn't help but well up on Huiqi's face; no matter how he looked at it, it seemed to still have plenty of energy left.
"It won't be long, it's about to end. Get ready!"
"Huh? Have you lost your mind?"
Before he even finished speaking, Kishou Arima stopped defending and began to launch an attack, his longsword precisely cleaving through the Ukaku before his entire person arrived before the Kakuja with unbelievable speed.
"Unbelievable."
Seeing this, Huiqi subconsciously uttered two words and decisively raised his own Quinque to charge, though compared to Kishou Arima's unconstraint, Huiqi used Kawashima's body as a shield.
By the time Huiqi approached the Kakuja monster, Kishou Arima had already begun attacking, several flashes of cold light from his longsword forming cutting lines whose speed was so fast that the human eye could barely see them, and the next moment corresponding slash marks appeared on the Kakuja's body.
Splitch!
Roar!!!
Blood spurted from the wounds like a fountain, and at the same time the monster emitted a painful roar.
Seizing the opportunity, the two of them each sought out weak points to attack the monster; every strike from Kishou Arima inflicted trauma on the monster, while Huiqi didn't have it as smooth-where Arima needed one strike, Huiqi needed two or three.
At this moment, Huiqi once again recognized Kishou Arima's strength; although on paper he was a Associate Special Class Investigator, judging by strength alone he probably had already reached the Special Class level.
Roar roar roar!!!!
"Heeheeheeheehee!!!! It hurts... it hurts!! No... it's so itchy..."
The Kakuja, covered in wounds, let out wails and giggles, the two extreme sounds making one's scalp tingle, and even Kishou Arima stopped attacking to observe the Kakuja's state.
"A specialty of the 24th Ward?"
Huiqi's expression changed; ever since arriving here, he hadn't encountered a single normal Ghoul, regardless of their size in strength or other factors.
"Itchy itchy itchy... it feels like something is about to come out... feels so good... heehee..."
A harsh sound echoed through the quiet space as the Kakuja monster's body mutated once more, a multitude of barbs suddenly sprouting across its frame and encasing it in Ukaku, while two giant maws continuously extended from its head region.
Kishou Arima stopped making further observations as if he already knew everything that was about to happen next, bringing his longsword down in a heavy slash aimed right at the extending head, and the moment the two made contact, intense sparks flew.
At this breathtaking moment, Kishou Arima's gaze was firm and calm without the slightest trace of fear, his body tensed as he channeled his strength into the weapon in his hand.
In Huiqi's incredulous sight, a single slash actually severed the head, followed immediately by another vertical cut right down through the Kakuja's body.
Crack... The eerie laughter and wailing abruptly ceased, and the Kakuja monster's massive torso slowly toppled over.
"Invincible."
Huiqi instinctively uttered those three words, for the events of today had simply shattered and remade his concept of combat power, and it was not as though Huiqi had never witnessed battles involving CCG Special Classes, but a Special Class possessing this kind of almost overwhelming dominance simply did not exist.
"Come out and talk?"
Amidst this eerie aura, Kishou suddenly spoke to the monster.
A minute later, a voice emanated from within the quiet corpse of the monster.
"Heh, what is there to say? You won, just kill me."
"I don't want to."
"How funny, the winner takes all, and now I've lost..."
The atmosphere in the air grew increasingly wrong, yet Kishou Arima still maintained his placid expression.
"You're his child, aren't you? The Kakuja appearances look so much alike..."
"Shut up! I don't have him! And I'm nothing like him!"
Kishou Arima's words seemed to puncture the Kakuja monster's psychological defenses, instantly driving the other's emotional fluctuations to their absolute extreme.
"Eto Yoshimura, hear out my proposal. How about it?"
Before you continue