A Human Little Girl

The Black Tachi made from koukaku was not only incredibly hard but also perfectly weighted. It moved nimbly in Yu Fura's hands, repeatedly deflecting the incoming Ice Blades.

A tachi's strength lay in its powerful slashes and thrusts. Its drawbacks were limited maneuverability and middling reach.

But this tachi made from Quinque Steel compensated for those shortcomings to a degree. Not only were its slashes extremely fast, but its blade could also extend and retract somewhat.

Longer weapons offered greater reach; shorter weapons were more dangerous up close. The Black Tachi combined both advantages, making it hard for Louis to find an opening.

After they exchanged blows for a while, Louis took the initiative to pull back, ending the clash.

"Your fighting skills are on par with Shizuri's. Add that special freezing ability of yours, and it's no wonder she lost to you so quickly." Yu Fura transformed the black dagger in his hand back into a tachi and pointed it at Louis.

"No, I never actually matched her in taijutsu." Louis offered a brief explanation as he watched the Black Tachi in Yu Fura's hand. That weapon was giving him a serious headache.

Made from koukaku, the hardest type of kagune, it was difficult for him to destroy. And Yu Fura himself was a battle-hardened Associate Special-Class Ghoul Investigator who left almost no openings.

Should I let him stab me and trap his weapon, like I did against Mado last time?

No. Even setting aside whether I could take that stab, the tachi's blade is too smooth and has too little surface area. I might not be able to immobilize it with crystals.

Besides, he had already used that trick once. Ghoul Investigators learned and improved, so they would surely have prepared a countermeasure.

He might end up taking a stab for nothing.

"To be honest, I didn't think I was a match for you." Yu Fura did not attack again. Instead, he looked at Louis. "You defeated Mr. Mado, so your strength deserves recognition."

"But your performance just now was a little disappointing."

Although Mado had suffered from not knowing his opponent well enough, the man before Yu Fura was fairly ordinary in both speed and strength. If he had not been constantly guarding against the kagune that had yet to appear, he would have had several chances to wound him.

"I'm being underestimated..."

Although Louis had only been probing him with those attacks, he had to admit that Associate Special-Class Ghoul Investigators were no pushovers.

Still... I've figured out his attack patterns...

A smile tugged at Louis's lips beneath his mask. His opponent had no way to defend against a wide-area weapon attack, and the power and speed of his slashes were within manageable limits.

With that thought, he tucked both Ice Blades behind his waist. Numerous tiny, barely visible Ice Needles began appearing out of thin air and hovering around him.

Unlike those brittle, low-grade solid crystals, these Ice Needles were all level-two strength, tiny and sharp.

Against ghouls, whose bodies were exceptionally tough and healed rapidly, these Ice Needles would do almost no damage. But against Ghoul Investigators, who were ordinary humans with no means of countering this kind of attack...

They were extremely effective...

Yu Fura frowned at the ice-masked man who had suddenly stopped moving, unsure what he was up to.

Under the dim streetlights in the darkness, Yu Fura completely failed to notice what Louis was preparing. Out of caution, he hesitated for a moment.

That brief hesitation gave Louis enough time to finish creating over a hundred translucent Ice Needles. Light and clear, they were easy for Louis to hold aloft with cold air, surrounding his body.

If he were a little stronger, he could produce Ice Needles like these instantly. To Ghoul Investigators without the appropriate defenses, that would be a nightmare.

"It's getting colder..." Only then did Yu Fura belatedly realize something was wrong, and he lunged forward.

"Too late." Louis sent over a hundred Ice Needles shooting out at once, blanketing Yu Fura and the space around him.

The Ice Needles carried little kinetic energy, but piercing skin did not require much.

It was an attack that was hard to detect in the darkness. Before Yu Fura even understood how his opponent was attacking, sharp pain struck all over his body. A wave of cold immediately spread through him, and before long, his limbs grew sluggish as his body temperature dropped too low.

"What's going on..." Yu Fura raised his arm and looked at the pinprick-sized wounds on his forearm. He had not worn the combat uniform from Headquarters, and that omission had cost him dearly.

No blood flowed out. The blood on the surface of the wounds had already frozen, and whatever had struck him rapidly dispersed inside his body, sending waves of cold through him.

Once Louis confirmed that the attack had landed, he immediately drew an Ice Blade and charged. Yu Fura still tried to resist, but he was noticeably slower in raising his sword, and Louis seized him by the neck.

A massive amount of cold poured into Yu Fura's body. The sudden drop in temperature robbed him of his ability to fight in an instant.

He suddenly understood why Shizuri had been brought down without any obvious injuries. The ghoul before him was simply too bizarre...

The long black sword fell from Yu Fura's hand, and he lost consciousness.

Hypothermic anesthesia. Highly effective.

"If only I could condense higher-level Ice Needles. One hit would be enough to knock someone unconscious."

Louis had seen higher-level ability users. Level-nine Ice Needles could not only pierce steel with ease, but also freeze an enemy into an ice sculpture the instant they struck. They froze not just the surface of the body but its interior as well. Whether they hit a vital spot or not, death was immediate.

For crystals of the same size, the more cold compressed into them, the higher their level.

Louis came back to himself, picked up Yu Fura's weapon-the Black Tachi-and tapped it.

Kureo Mado had still been using that same Bone Blade, so Louis was now certain that Quinques carried some kind of Tracker, and that it was waterproof.

"Maybe it's inside..." Louis casually tossed it aside. Although he liked this kind of weapon, keeping it was pointless when it had a Tracker installed.

This half of the battlefield had fallen quiet. Two Ghoul Investigators and one ghoul lay defeated, leaving only Louis standing.

Just then, the sound of a camera shutter suddenly broke the silence, instantly putting Louis on alert.

A camera?

Louis frowned and looked toward the bushes in the greenbelt. If he remembered correctly, Nishiki Nishio had been kicked over there too, but he clearly could not have brought a camera, much less be taking pictures.

"Who's there..." Louis drew an Ice Blade, assumed a fighting stance, and slowly approached.

Three meters, two meters, one meter...

Louis sniffed, confirming that whoever was there was definitely not Nishiki Nishio, but a human.

Just as Louis hesitated, a little girl holding a camera suddenly stood up in the bushes before him, startling him into a shudder.

"Smile!"

Louis froze, then touched the Ice Mask on his face, suddenly unsure of himself.

Am I not wearing a mask?

But the little girl paid that no mind. With a click, she pressed the shutter. This time, she was even bolder-she actually turned on the flash.

"Got it!"

The little girl still seemed utterly unconcerned and circled Louis, taking several more photos.

Wait... I'm supposed to be a ghoul in public, right? You're really making me look bad here...

Louis grabbed her by the back of her collar, lifted her up in front of him, and sniffed her carefully.

She really is human...